e-ARC, 425 pages
Release Date: June 17, 2014Published by: Simon PulseStandaloneSource: Netgalley (A huge thank you to the pulisher for providing this to me in return for a just and honest review!)For fans of: Chick-lit, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary Romance, YALucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.
When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions.
Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.
By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.
There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love…
*MY THOUGHTS*
It wasn’t my favorite by her that’s for sure. I’m thinking it was because all the others by her were strictly contemps. This one had more of a mystery feel, but not a thriller.
When I say it wasn’t my favorite by her, it’s because sooo much was different. For instance, the writing style. It was a mystery, but not a thriller, so it was pretty boring. Nothing really happened to keep me engaged in the story. Also, I’ve only read Bittersweet and The Book of Broken Hearts by her and they were both wonderful contemps. This one seemed out of place compared to this one. Like she was trying too hard to fit in with this generation.
I also thought if was extremely long. Normally I’m a-ok with a longer book, but there’s only so much that you can go through with an internet scandal. It got real boring because there was a lot of repetitiveness. I think had the fluff been cut down some, it wouldn’t have been so bad. I ended up skimming to the end just to avoid reading another detail again.
What I did like was the fact that I wasn’t able to find the killer. I complied all the evidence I did have and took a wild guess, but it wasn’t right. So kudos to Ockler for stumping me.Also, I liked the fact that the subject matter was so relevant. Teens today LIVE on Facebook and Instagram, so this was definitely a way to show them that their EVERY move and every meal is not needed. Sometimes it’s for their own image and even more so their safety that they don’t let every person they meet know their whereabouts.
Clearly this one just wasn’t a hit with me. Maybe because I know what else she’s capable of and this one missed the mark with me. Maybe it just felt too young for me. I noticed on some real teen’s reviews that they really enjoyed it. That may be because Twitter and social media is so important to them, but it just missed its mark with me.
Clearly this one just wasn’t a hit with me. Maybe because I know what else she’s capable of and this one missed the mark with me. Maybe it just felt too young for me. I noticed on some real teen’s reviews that they really enjoyed it. That may be because Twitter and social media is so important to them, but it just missed its mark with me.
Overall, I give this
Side Note: I didn’t ad quotes to this one because I did not read the story the entire way through. It was more of a skim so finding quotes was not my main priority.
I was going to read it, but I think I'll check other people's reviews now that I've heard how it was disappointing. Great review! Check out my review on To All the Boys I've Ever Loved here: myviewpointonbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/to-all-boys-ive-loved-before-book-review.html