Weekend Reads #96 – #famous by Jilly Gagnon

Happy Saturday y’all! Today’s review is another book I read this Spring but never got the chance to share with you. If you enjoy contemporary YA, I think this may be right up your alley. Also keep reading after the review to see what book won the vote for this month’s TBR read.

I received this book via Edelweiss. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

#famous by Jilly Gagnon
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 2017-02-14
Length: 384 pages
Reviewing eARC from Edelweiss
Rating:
Reading Challenges: #NGEW2017, 2017 New Release Challenge

In this modern-day love story, Girl likes Boy, Girl takes photo of Boy and posts it online, Boy becomes accidentally insta-famous. And what starts out as an innocent joke spirals into a whirlwind adventure that could change both their lives—and their hearts—forever. But are fame and love worth the price?

Told in alternating points of view, #famous captures the out-of-control thrill ride of falling for someone in front of everyone.

@Mo_than_you_know I’m digging what they’re serving up at Burger Barn today. #idlikefrieswithTHAT

#famous by Jilly Gagnon is every teen girl’s worst nightmare come to life. Girl takes picture of her crush and tweets it to her best friend.* Tweet goes viral. Now not only does boy know, entire school and world knows.** Oh and she made the boy instafamous. Honestly as a former teen girl, I can think of nothing more mortifying than this. Seriously, I would crawl in a hole and never emerge.

*Really, who does this?! It’s asking to be caught!

**For the 90’s babies like me, allow me to translate: The note you’ve written to your friend about your crush is intercepted by the teacher and read allowed in class. Now the whole class knows, and by the end of the day, the entire school and your crush will know.

Rachel, to her credit, does not hide. Well, maybe she does a little, but eventually she holds her head up high and owns up to the tweet and resultant backlash. And poor Kyle has no choice but to be out in the open. He is suddenly famous and really doesn’t know how to handle it. While Rachel and Kyle were okay characters, I really didn’t connect to either. I did feel sorry for Rachel because (as I’ve already stated) what happens is any girl’s worst nightmare, not to mention the online bullying that follows.

The plot is fairly simple. It’s basically showing the backlash of the tweet that occurs in the first chapter. I liked the subtle ways the author pointed out online bullying, how people say things that they wouldn’t normally say in public when a computer screen is shielding them. Also the way one innocent tweet can become a viral sensation. There was nothing notable about the tweet that started it all, but nevertheless it was shared millions of times and changed Rachel and Kyle’s life for a few weeks at least.

Overall the story was just ok for me. While I didn’t connect with the characters or really understand what was going on (possibly because I am a 90’s baby and had to do a lot of googling to understand some of the social media terms), I did enjoy the dual POV and writing style of the author. The plot flowed well and the conversational writing style kept me reading til I finished the book in one sitting. If you enjoy contemporary YA, I think you will really enjoy this book.

Well it’s the second Saturday of the month so it’s time to announce the winning book for August. Thank you to all that voted! The book I’ll be reading from my TBR shelf this month is….

I’m so excited that Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas won. It’s been two years since I’ve read Queen of Shadows and I have really missed this world. I can’t wait to dive in. Check back on the last Saturday of the month for my review 😀

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