We were perfect together. Until we met. MishaI can’t help but smile at the lyrics in her letter. She misses me.In fifth grade, my teacher set us up with pen pals from a different school. Thinking I was a girl, with a name like Misha, the other teacher paired me up with her student, Ryen. My teacher, believing Ryen was a boy like me, agreed.It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And … agreed.
It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And in no time at all, we were arguing about everything. The best take-out pizza. Android vs. iPhone. Whether or not Eminem is the greatest rapper ever…
And that was the start. For the next seven years, it was us.
Her letters are always on black paper with silver writing. Sometimes there’s one a week or three in a day, but I need them. She’s the only one who keeps me on track, talks me down, and accepts everything I am.
We only had three rules. No social media, no phone numbers, no pictures. We had a good thing going. Why ruin it?
Until I run across a photo of a girl online. Name’s Ryen, loves Gallo’s pizza, and worships her iPhone. What are the chances?
F*ck it. I need to meet her.
I just don’t expect to hate what I find.
Ryen
He hasn’t written in three months. Something’s wrong. Did he die? Get arrested? Knowing Misha, neither would be a stretch.
Without him around, I’m going crazy. I need to know someone is listening. It’s my own fault. I should’ve gotten his phone number or picture or something.
He could be gone forever.
Or right under my nose, and I wouldn’t even know it.
*Punk 57 is a stand alone New Adult romance. It is suitable for readers 18+.
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Honestly, will there ever be a Penelope Douglas story that I won’t like? I haven’t found one yet, not that I’m looking or anything. But c’mon, she’s gotta have an off day right?
I really thought this book was going to do it. Show me that this author isn’t perfect. I hated Ryen at first. Well, maybe not so much hated but I strongly disliked her.
I learned a long time ago that you don’t need to reveal everything inside of you to the people around you. They like to judge, and I’m happier when they don’t.
I am no fan of pretenders and she not only lied about who she really was to look good to others and to feel good about her horrid self, she stood idly by while people were being hurt. Heck, she was part of the problem and did NOTHING until she was forced to. I say forced because we all know that she stood absolutely no chance with Misha with the way she was. Her behavior and lack of honor were turn offs to him and he wouldn’t want anything to do with her. And he didn’t. And I didn’t blame him one bit.
“We’re all ugly, Ryen. The only difference is, some hide it and some wear it.”
I loved the idea of the mix up for pen pals and how these two became fast friends without ever meeting. I loved how they supported one another and how real their friendship was, at least on paper. I didn’t love that Misha was 100% true in everything he did and didn’t receive the same in return. So yeah, I despised this chick with every fiber of my being for a hot minute. But then Misha gave her the wake up call that she very much needed and everything was right as rain.
Eventually we all have to weigh what we want more: wanting back what we had or wanting what could be. To stay or to risk everything to move forward.
Honestly there was so much to love in this book, especially because of the awesomeness that was Misha. This boy… he was so incredible. He kept me reading, turning the pages for more of his voice like a fanatic. And I have absolutely no shame. I’m a Misha fangirl, head of his fan club, and willing vessel for his seed. Okay, I went too far with the last one, but you know what I mean.
Amazing! The emotions one could feel whilst reading this was phenomenal, truly a great author!
This book has been on my TBR forever, I was finallyyyyy able to read it and I’m so mad it took me so long because this book was such a great read!
“I hold his eyes, seeing the pleading in his. Seeing, for the first time, the need. He’s desperate to hear me say it. And I know right then and there I want to be the only girl he ever looks at like that. ”
Misha and Ryen built a relationship at a young age as pen pals and continued for many years until Misha suddenly stopped, leaving Ryen wondering. I’ll be honest I was not a fan of the person Ryen portrayed to those in her life but loved the person she was in her letters to Misha. These two were all kinds of witty banter, hot as hell chemistry and secrets. There were twists and turns that had me gasping and revelations that had my heart breaking but this story dug it’s way into my heart and I’ll definitely revisit again!
“No one does you better than you. You can’t be replaced. Not everyone will see that, but only you need to.”
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW
So…I’m not usually a fan of a bully or high school romances but this book is an exception.
I’ve always heard of it being recommended and finally decided to dive in. I’m so glad I did.
My first Penelope Douglas listen and I’m in love.
Ryen and Misha’s relationship keeps you on your toes from the beginning. I really enjoyed this book and will be reading/listening to more Penelope Douglas stories!
5 stars!! Another book going straight to the favorites list!!
This book was amazing!! Heartbreaking. Frustrating. Sexy. Funny. Cruel. Perfect.
There were a few really good lessons in this book and with each lesson my heart broke. This is such a real thing that it hurts to see the other side. Bullying is scary and tragic. I love that this book pushes boundaries and makes you listen.
“Close your eyes, there’s nothing to see out here.”
I am in love with Misha and even Ryen. Yes, Ryen drove me crazy for awhile but once the big picture came out. I got it. But Misha even when he made me want to punch him he was a solid dude. Heart as big as a house. I love him. He is just perfect. This love story is anything but perfect. But I wouldn’t want to change a single thing.
This is a book that you won’t forget. A book that cant be duplicated. A book that will be recommended and talked about forever. Perfection.
I think this is probably the first book I read where everyone is an asshole, but it makes sense. I’m aware the contents of this book are a bit divisive (and some of it might be considered problematic), but I think the author did such a wonderful job with the plot to make it all (kinda) justifiable and realistic. If anything, it was thoroughly entertaining.
PS.: I got the audiobook for it and I must say: audio is the way to go with this book! Trust me
Why did it take me so long to pick up this book?
It’s refreshing to see a female lead character who isn’t perfect, who is one of the “mean girls” the female lead is usually having to deal with, and to get insight into why she is the way she is.
As for the male lead – Misha … oh Misha, I could wax lyrical about him all day long. He’s also not perfect, he’s beautifully broken and trying to glue the pieces back together.
Penelope Douglas has such a way with words, she draws you into her world and you don’t take a breath until you turn the final page.
When a book comes along that is highly recommended by many other readers, I definitely put in on my To Read list. But when that book is also recommended by several authors as well, I know I need to jump on it. I just wish I wouldn’t have waited so long to jump! I wish I would’ve read this sooner!
This book was amazing! It was so insightful to how we see ourselves and the person we really want to be versus the person we think we should be around others. At no other time is this more obvious and pressing as it is in high school. All the high school love, hate, popularity, and teenage drama that we all think is sooo major when we’re that age. If only I could’ve learned it sooner.
This book also came with more twists and turns that I never saw coming! I couldn’t put it down.
I am now one of those other readers that highly recommend this book.
It is an excellent, excellent, fantastic read!!!!
When I picked up this book, I didn’t read it right away. I feel conflicted; because I was expecting a dark romance, yet when I read the blurb, it’s pretty much obvious that this book is going to be a classic, everyday New Adult. So yeah, I didn’t really expecting so much other than a romance NA novel.
Holy hell. How I was wrong.
One thing for sure, Punk 57 is not your regular NA novel. I don’t want to give out spoiler here, but all you need to know is that, if you’re a fan of Pen Douglas, or at least have read her novels before, this book won’t let you down despite the fact how sissy the synopsis is. This book is dark, but not as dark as Corrupt, strong, though not as strong as Bully. Yeah, Fall Away series is still the trooper.
Misha is mean and loving at the same time. Ryen is a bitch, but she’s also just a regular girl who’s like us. This book is slow but fast, romantic, but sad. The plot twist also caught me off guard. Though I was hoping for a better closure with Trey and Layla. I mean, I want to see their sour face at the end. But hey, just like Ryen said, “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
Look forward to read Pen Douglas’s newest book!
This story has been told before, teens in a small town, trying to find their way in the high school hierarchy but the new spin on it in this book is very unique! It’s about a boy and a girl who are pen pals from grade school through high school who have never met. Circumstances cause them to cross paths and they realize they haven’t been totally honest with what they have told each other and what they haven’t told each other. I think if the sex scenes were not so graphic, this book would be a good teen read also! I enjoy Penelope Douglas’ writing and think this is a story worth reading.
After hearing so much about Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas, I decided to give it a read. I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED! This book was absolutely wonderful. It gave a great representation of young/first love, friendship, who you can trust, bullies, those being bullied, self view, family issues, and so much more.
Misha and Ryen are the most amazing pair. Friends via pen pal for a long time and only one knows who the other really is and through their bickering and teasing they develop an in person friendship. From there secrets come out and anger shows, people change, but yet they find each other again. The underlying plot and story are just amazing and definitely not what I saw coming but wouldn’t have changed it any other way.
I can’t wait to read more by Penelope Douglas and see what else she has to offer!
put your words where your heart is.
I really enjoyed this YA friends to enemies to lovers book!
The characters have written to eachother since they were young children and became best penpal friends . But when Misha realizes she’s in the same room at a party and meets her but realizes she isn’t who he thought she was all goes south fast.
There’s issues such as grief and loss , heart ache, school yard bullying , lies and deceit and all those juicy kinds of things a good angsty book has !
I loved their journey! And am curious about Misha’s friends and cousins stories now too ! (I think this is a spin off to another series
By this author but you definitely don’t have to have read them !
How refreshing to read something outside the box.
I loved how the heroin was hard to like.
It gets tiring to keep reading about the same paper cutouts of so many same old same old female leads.
Ryan was fierce and had hard edges and yet when she showed her vulnerability, she was raw and so damn endearing. I loved seeing all her sides come undone for Misha.
Oh Misha., Misha, Misha… he’s everything and more!
I loved it so much that I stayed up, to finish it,
till 2:30 a.m. Now that’s saying something.
I will love this read forever
This book is definitely a must-read if you like bully romances. It is insightful and really steamy (too much so), with authentic characters and a realistic plot. It isn’t dark but it will definitely leave you thinking.
Ryen and Misha have been pen pals and best friends for 7 years. Even in the age of emails and social media, they kept writing letters and never looked for each other. They don’t know what they look like until one night when they accidentally meet and Misha realizes that the girl in front of him is Ryen.
Three months pass and Mischa enrolls in Ryen’s high school under a fake name and with a personal agenda unrelated to Ryen. And the girl he discovers is nothing like his best friend, the girl from the letters. She is a bully, she is shallow and mean. And he doesn’t like it at all.
We get a lot of archetypes in this book:
– Ryen: the popular cheerleader, posing as a bubblehead and being herself only in her letters to Misha. In the beginning of this book she is one of the villains. She doesn’t want to be bullied so she resumes to being the bully. It is all about her and her insecurities And as a mom, let me tell you that Ryen’s character scares me.
But as the story progresses, Misha challenges her to face her actions and their consequences and find her inner strength.
– Misha: the broken hero, the bad guy from the wrong side of the tracks, or that’s what he seems like. With his tattoos, his grunge look and “zero fucks given” attitude, no one sees that he struggles with some heavy stuff as well. He’s mom leaving when he was 2, his sister dying at 17 due to drug abuse because she wanted to accomplish too much. Misha is angry, so very angry and it shows in his awful initial attitude towards Ryen.
– Lyla: Ryen’s so called “best friend”. But their relationship is as toxic as they come. She wants to be Queen Bee instead of Ryen and she would stoop to nothing to get all the attention.
– Manny: the awkward kid, always bullied by the popular kids. His personal tragedy is heartbreaking and reminded me of 13 Reasons Why. If you want a reason for reading this book, go to page 322. His monologue is a testament to the impact of social media on teenage bullying.
– Trey: the entitled jock, the most popular guy at school. The one who thinks he has all the power and isn’t a stranger to abuse, coercion and cheating. He is the absolute villain, the one we root against.
Ryen’a arc made me hope and Manny’s words made me cry.
And this line will stay with me always: “Life is fifty wrong turns down a bumpy road. All you can hope is that you end up somewhere nice.”
My only critique: the sex scenes, which is why this book is not a full 5-star read for me. It is no secret this author likes to push the envelope but they were overdone, porny and way to dirty for these characters, in my opinion.
The audiobook: ok-ish. The female narrator was quite good but the male narrator drove me insane. I recommend reading the e-book/hard copy version instead.
love
WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG!?!
I don’t know but I have no doubt I’ll be reading this one over and over again! Just like the Fall Away series this book drags you in, hits hard, and leaves you sputtering. Misha is EVERYTHING!!! I will keep him forever.
I love the depth to these characters and the fact that the cliche side characters, that mattered, got there redemption too! This was an underdog story of triumph. There’s just something about a book like this that makes me wish I was 17 again, trying to tread water in the vicious tide of becoming a grown up.
Books like this make you want to live all over again.
I do not know where to begin with this book. It gave me all the feelings. I felt the love between Misha and Ryen. I felt every emotion they felt. This book is definitely a page turner and keeps your interest, Highly recommend!
I downloaded this story on Audible during a 2 for 1 sale. It is not a book I typically would have picked for myself but a few ladies I follow on BookTok recommended it so I figured why not.
This is a YA Bully Romance and I listed to it on 1.75X because while the narration was really good, it was extremely slow. I will say that I did not like either of the two main protagonists as they were both bullies in their own way. I can’t imagine how (I now know how her name is spelled) Ryen didn’t pick up on who she was actually dealing with.
Why am I rating it a 4 instead of a 3? The ending absolutely blew me away. I’m not sure if it was because I listened to it on such a high speed and missed some of the foretelling, but I honestly didn’t know and would not have guessed.
I’m really glad that I did not read any reviews or listen to any spoilers, it really salvaged the story for me.
Would I recommend it? Sure, if you like YA and Bully Romance, it’s a good one. It’s just not my cup of tea.
*5 Stars*
This was my first Penelope Douglas book, and it will not be my last. I started reading this, after it having been sitting on my kindle for a really long time. I’ve seen sooo many good reviews about this one, and I finally took the time to sit down and read it.
Man, at first I was like – what is going on? Are my thoughts and theories right? And then I was like – omg I love this book and I can’t put it down and just get your shit together guys! haha. I’ll be honest and admit it took me a while to even work out if I liked or hated the characters.
I absolutely devoured this book, and highly recommend. It was intense, thought provoking, sexy and emotional. It had lots of layers and was about flawed characters who are learning about life and themselves.
Don’t know why I waited to so long to read this – hard to try and explain it – so I’ll tell you to add it to your TBR!
i got this book because of tiktok they were hyping it up so much so i was like ok ima give it a try so i did duh lmao but anyways i read the book its good but tiktok over hyped mmmmmm not really over hype because the book is good but tiktok did say the book was spicy im ngl thats y i got it but in my oppinion its not that spicy lol but over all this is a really good book i rate this a 10000/10