e-Audio, 10:40:31
Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
Release Date: February 8, 2022
Published by: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Read from: February 15-17, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library Libby
TW: Catfishing
For Readers Interested In: Social Media, Romance, Friendship, LGBTQ+, Realistic Fiction, YAYou should know, right now, that I’m a liar.
They’re usually little lies. Tiny lies. Baby lies. Not so much lies as lie adjacent.
But they’re still lies.
Twenty one-year-old Max Monroe has it all: beauty, friends, and a glittering life filled with adventure. With tons of followers on Instagram, her picture-perfect existence seems eminently enviable.
Except it’s all fake.
Max is actually 16-year-old Kat Sanchez, a quiet and sarcastic teenager living in drab Bakersfield, California. Nothing glamorous in her existence–just sprawl, bad house parties, a crap school year, and the awkwardness of dealing with her best friend Hari’s unrequited love. But while Kat’s life is far from perfect, she thrives as Max: doling out advice, sharing beautiful photos, networking with famous influencers, even making a real friend in a follower named Elena. The closer Elena and “Max” get–texting, Snapping, and even calling–the more Kat feels she has to keep up the facade.
But when one of Max’s posts goes ultra-viral and gets back to the very person she’s been stealing photos from, her entire world – real and fake — comes crashing down around her. She has to figure out a way to get herself out of the huge web of lies she’s created without hurting the people she loves.
But it might already be too late.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I was plugging in my reviews to Netgalley/Edelweiss and I realized I never wrote a review for this one! And seeing as it’s about something that’s really popular, like social media, I knew I needed to write it. I think I blocked it out because I was kinda upset that I didn’t like her as much as Charlie Vega. The writing style was still priceless, but it just wasn’t the same.
Max Monroe has it all. She’s beautiful and she has thousands of friends and more. It’s just what she’s always wanted. Except, Max is all someone that Kat made up. All from different things she wished her real life had. But when one post goes ultra viral, the person who’s picture she’s actually been using, finds out that she’s been using her pics, Kat’s entire life (both of them) come crumbling down and she’s left alone.
Ok so first things first…. As a character driven reader, I was not impressed. Not because she wasn’t well written, but because she was. She was written so well that I actually did dislike her the whole time I was reading. I just watch Catfish religiously and see how hurt those people are all the time by people like her and it just grated on me. I remember arguing with her while I was reading and saying “Just tell the truth already!”
As for the romance, I thought it was cute. Yes, even though it was super fake. But it made me hella confused. I wanted to hate it because I knew it wasn’t real, but I also thought it was cute because Kat and [redacted for spoiler] had actual real feelings. As a romance reader I didn’t know what to think.
[SPOILER] I do like that she didn’t get to sweep everything under the rug. After what she did, she needed to be in trouble. And losing the job she loved and all the other things that happened, she deserved them. [END SPOILER] I also think this will help for teens who are thinking of doing the same thing. Like maybe they have or are thinking of doing this, and this stopped them because of the consequences that she faced. I can only hope.
This wasn’t my favorite book by Crystal Maldonado, but it was still so good and served it’s purpose. I really hope that teens read this and take the right message from it. It’s definitely going to be worth it.
Overall, I give this
