When You Own the Universe

When You Own the Universe by Secretive
He’s perceived as a spoiled rich kid that always gets what he wants. She’s seen as a cynical loner with an anger issue. But neither are truly what they seem what happens when they begin to notice this? What happens when he “buys” her for a week?
Banner Credit: Marta

Helen Thinks: “When You Own the Universe” by Secretive is the story of Remembrance “Mem” Pierce and she has just been bought in a school auction by her worst enemy; Jonah Mills. However, because of their hatred, the pair of them often share arguments that end in insults but this one time they had a bet - whoever knew about more than the other was the winner and the loser was to leave the boarding school where they lived. Mem thinks she has this in the bag because Jonah is a shallow, spoilt rich kid, right? Wrong.

The pure delight in this story was that the characters; even though they can seem almost whiny and pathetic at times; were really padded out and had realistic flaws that you could imagine the rich kids having. The characters names are unique and quirky - hello, Remembrance has a twin called Remington. Can you say amazing? - which is just one of the traits that makes this story stand out to so many that have loved it.

The story bounces between points of views which could be viewed as annoying if not done correctly but I think Secretive had the perfect balance between all the characters. There was no seeing the same moment over and over again in each viewpoint, Secretive smoothly used the new viewpoint as a transition into the next scene which made it flawless.

My one downfall of this story is that it starts with an auction where Jonah buys Mem and nothing much happens with that, nor does much happen of their bet apart from the odd mention of the odd fact about a favourite. However, in the end when Mem does learn that there is more to Jonah than meets the eye, I believe Secretive makes up for the lack of fluidity with their plot.
Despite this, I believe that “When You Own the Universe” is a unique, funny little story that really stands out in the crowd. We may not own the universe as readers but we definitely own the time to read this fantastic piece of fiction.