*ARC obtained from Edelweiss
Author: Sarah Ockler
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Mystery
Goodreads Blurb: Lucy’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.
Published/ing: June 17th, 2014 Simon Pulse
Rating: 4.5/5
Review:
I related to Lucy Vacarro, the main character, on a personal level.
She is a kick ass girl, prepared for the zombie apocalypse, has nerdy, quirky side, and doesn't like going to large social events.
Through the entire book, there was reference after reference about The Walking Dead, one of my favorite apocalypse shows, Veronica Mars, my favorite detective show featuring the beloved Princess of Arendale Kristen Bell, and a lot more.
When I first picked up this book, I was bit wary of the title and the beginning. I didn't get too into the whole intertwining of Facebook and hash-tags and all that. I didn't believe that belonged in a book. Low and behold, Sarah Ockler infused it with her contemporary writing like a champ.
One of best ways to know that a character is developed well, is whether or not you got attached to them. Lucy, from the beginning, really connected with me. I began to understand her problem and want to help figure out who ruined the last few weeks of her high school experience.
That was also a large reason I enjoyed the book: the mystery. It was straight out of an episode of Veronica Mars. I liked how, with the drama and the investigation to find out who socially murdered Lucy, that Lucy found who her true friends were, and that she had more friends and allies than she originally thought.
The romance side of this book was a tad bit underdeveloped in my opinion, but because it wasn't to major of a point in the plot itself, I overlooked.
I also wished that the setting was used a bit more, and at least more developed. That's the only reason the book wasn't a perfect five.
On the other hand though, the characters were amazing and memorable. The plot line was thick and captivating. The writing was accurate and quirky.
I also thought that the theme of cyber bullying was an excellent thing to include. This book really showed how human relationships and interaction are being directly affected by social networking it bad ways (although it can be for good also [not to be an (e)VIL])
This was my first ever Sarah Ockler book, and by the looks of it, I will be getting into more of her stuff soon if it is as good as this one.
Future News:
#scandal will be on shelves next week!
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