R.K. Ryals

***BONUS artwork now included at the end of the book!**** Book ONE in the stand-alone EMBRACE YOURSELF series. A poignantly humorous, whimsical new adult fairytale romance with a twist inspired by true events. Embrace your awkward. Be unique. Change your fairytale ... "If you are looking for a happy book about beautiful people, this is the wrong story. If you are looking for a narrative without emotion, without regrets, and without mistakes, this is definitely the wrong story. This is by no means an uncomplicated tale about uncomplicated people. It is by no means sweet or light. This story is ugly. This story is complicated. This story is emotional. This story is tragic. In short, this story is about being awkward." Peregrine Storke is an artist with an odd sketchbook full of pictures she’s drawn since she was a child. It is a book full of strange sketches and awkward characters, for there is no better way to hide from bullying and life than to create a world of your own. With a stroke of her pencil, she has given life to a spectacled princess, a freckle-nosed king, a candy loving troll, a two-horned unicorn, and a graceless fairy. At nineteen, Peregrine leaves her home, her sketchbook, and awkwardness behind. But what happens when something goes wrong in the world of Awkward? Trapped inside of her complex realm with the bully she thought to leave behind, Peregrine discovers there is nothing worse than falling for your own villain.

The Story of Awkward

Cortnie

In truth, it is evil beauty that is most devastating. For beauty isn't always good and ugliness isn't always bad. It is how we perceive ourselves that matters. True courage isn't about being brave. True beauty isn't about being beautiful. True courage is about being real. True beauty is about being happy.


Let me just say that starting this story out, I didn't expect to be tossed in a make-believe world, or to be drawn in as quickly as I was. From the first line, I was entranced; I was invested. I couldn't put the book down. Basically, I finished this thing (all but three percent), in one sitting.

Perri is awkward. That is basically the entire summary of the book. She didn't have a good home life, didn't have a fantastic school experience, and she most definitely isn't perfect and flawless. Growing up in a world with a father who is bi-polar and a mother who wanted to hide behind a medicine-induced cloud of disinterest, she was left to deal with the world in the only real way she knew how.

Awkward was a place she had created with characters who weren't perfect. It made her feel like less of an outsider and brought her comfort.

I adored all the characters in this book, but I think my favorite name had to be King Happenstance, just because that's one of my favorite words.

I was emotionally invested, it was well-written, and you're presented with very real, every day life things. People makes mistakes. They say and do things that they shouldn't, say and do things that can forever alter someone else's life, someone else's perspective. Sometimes, as much as words hurt the person they've been said to, they can hurt the person who did the saying.

I'm going to end this review by leaving a line that was put in the author's note that I wholeheartedly agree with. One that I think will stick with me for the rest of my life.


  Loneliness often fools us into believing everyone is bad.

The Story of Awkward

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