{Review} Audacious By: Gabrielle Prendergast

Title: Audacious
Author: Gabrielle Prendergast
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Shelves: Young Adult, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Verse Novels
Recommended For Fans Of: Ellen Hopkins, Sonya Sones

Synopsis: Raphaelle has arrived in this new town, determined to start over. To bury the secrets of her past; to forget the skeletons in the closet. So Raphaelle becomes ELLA. The girl she has always wanted to be. Ella, the girl without the paradoxes of family, the troubled thoughts of her mind. But maybe meeting that one boy whose life is as enigmatic as Ella herself will change it all. 

Review: I am a bit ashamed to say that this is only my second or third time ever reading a novel in verse! Boy have I been missing out! Audacious not only kept me completely infatuated with the storyline, but it was also a super quick and easy read.

Bless Gabrielle Prendergast for writing this book. Honestly. She has boldly gone where many authors are afraid to go. Audacious brought out elements of love, loss, pain, secrets, darkness, religion, eating disorders, drinking and just basically LIFE. Life, guys. Audacious is the shadows of life that sometimes we refuse to acknowledge, but when we are confronted by it, we realize they've been present all along. I have finally found a book where the main character does not just have that ONE problem which is resolved in the end. Instead, Ella is surrounded by conflicts and emotions and just a whirlwind of crazy. teenage girl. life. 

Gabrielle Prendergast has a way with words. While novels in verse, or just novels in general may be sometimes confusing with the lyrical language, the author was able to write Audacious in a way that was both moving and appealing to readers. I've also seen many others on Goodreads talking about how much they loved the relevant use of multiple characters in the storyline, and I have to say that I agree. People fit into your life in ways that sometimes cannot be seen by the human eye, and Audacious was such a great example of the influence of the people around us.

I have no complaints towards Audacious besides the romance, which I felt was a bit erratic at times. Any relationship contains a lot of inconsistencies, but with the addition of Ella's ever-changing feelings, her and Samir's romance was a whirlwind of emotions that sometimes I could not understand. Of course, this doesn't in any way take away from the overall brilliance of this book. :)

Conclusion: I really look forward to reading the sequel to Audacious! I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick and easy, but meaningful read.