Synopsis:
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.
(Synopsis from Goodreads.)
My Thoughts:
I don't know why, but I have been in the mood to read a lot of YA contemporaries lately. I think that with finals week going on, I just wanted some light, quick, fluffy reads. I really liked the hashtag in the title of #Scandal. I have never seen an author do that before. After I read the synopsis, I had to read this book. I thought it would sound like something I would love. I wasn't disappointed at all.
I really loved #Scandal. It took the issue of cyber bullying, which is a serious issue that happens across the world, and drew awareness for it in such a clever way. I thought that (e)vil was hilarious. They had me cracking up constantly with all of their protests and crazy theories. Even though they were in the book for comedic relief, some of the things they said about cyber bullying were true. It was an inventive way to get the point across.
The only thing I really didn't like about the book was Lucy's friends. They weren't very good friends at all. They trusted random classmate's words, and gossip that they heard, over Lucy. Also, when Lucy really needed their support, they completely abandoned her and left her on her own. If it wasn't for Cole, I'm not sure how she would have survived all of the bullying. Speaking of that, another thing that really bothered me was where were all of the teachers and adults in this book? Why didn't they do anything to stop all of the bullying that Lucy endured? She would get called a slut, or worse, right in front of the teachers and they would do nothing to discipline the classmates doing the name calling.
Other than those couple of things that really frustrated me, I enjoyed #Scandal. It was my first Sarah Ockler book, and it definitely won't be my last. I recommend this book for anyone that likes contemporary fiction that deals with social media or bullying.
I give #Scandal: 4/5.
Want to know more about the author?
Website: http://sarahockler.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahockler
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahockler
Tumblr: http://sarahockler.tumblr.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2188726.Sarah_Ockler
I received this book from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
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