Auburn: Outcasts and Underdogs by Valerie Thomas

By: Unknown on Friday, December 18, 2015

Title:  Auburn:  Outcasts and Underdogs
Series:  Auburn #1
Author:  Valerie Thomas
Publication Date:  November 1/15 by Ebbing Neptune Publishign
Length:    231pgs
Genre:  YA contemporary romance
Shelf:  review
Rating: ★★★

Back Cover Blurb:

We were the lost. We were the broken. We were the freaks, the losers and loners hiding in the corners of the world.

And then we weren’t. Every morning I had to pick up the jigsaw puzzle of my life and rebuild it into something vaguely resembling a person. A hazy shadow of the happiness I was faking.

And then I didn’t. I didn’t become whole. No, there was no glue that could bind me back together. No remedy to fix any of us. We weren’t lost anymore, but we remembered losing our way. We weren’t freaks, but we remembered living on the fringe. We weren’t losers or loners, but we still remembered hiding from the world.

We were Auburn. I was Auburn. And this is my story.

-Ashley Nimzovitch, lead singer of the punk rock band Auburn

* * *

Auburn: Outcasts and Underdogs follows self-proclaimed outcast Ashley Nimzovitch through her freshman and sophomore years of high school, as she struggles to gain notoriety with her band and to gain acceptance at her school. This first half of the Auburn duology is slated for release on November 1st, 2015.

My Review:

I found the characters intriguing and easy to get to know. It was a lot of fun to get insights into their lives. The 1st person perspective really added to it. Thomas develops her main character well, portraying life as a teen without being detrimental to the story. The mix of issues that are dealt with throughout are absolutely earth shattering. Thomas deals with them in a straightforward manner that really allowed me to look at them from every side. I liked the underdog aspects of the novel, it made the characters easier for me to connect with. At the same time, I did find the plot itself difficult to immerse myself completely into. It was well presented and put together. It was simply that the author’s writing style, although quite well put together, just wasn’t my thing.

This was a uniquely hard hitting and intensely intriguing novel. It was a powerful look at what many modern teens face today while also being an entertaining read.

Book Links 

Goodreads - Shelfari 

Amazon.com - Amazon.ca