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mortaldivergence's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5 stars
"Sometimes the right hug from the right person at the exact right time makes all the wrong in the world disappear...."
I recently read 'The Summer Of Chasing Mermaids' and I absolutely loved it! So I thought I would give this one a shot. There were some good things in this book that I really liked,such as the effects of social media and cyberbullying. But for the most part this book felt kind of meh. I found some of the drama so unnecessary, and the suddenly formed 'bestfriend' level friendships kind of unrealistic.
"Sometimes the right hug from the right person at the exact right time makes all the wrong in the world disappear...."
I recently read 'The Summer Of Chasing Mermaids' and I absolutely loved it! So I thought I would give this one a shot. There were some good things in this book that I really liked,such as the effects of social media and cyberbullying. But for the most part this book felt kind of meh. I found some of the drama so unnecessary, and the suddenly formed 'bestfriend' level friendships kind of unrealistic.
iceangel32's review against another edition
3.0
I am not sure how to rate this. I feel that it was a great idea, to write about an internet scandal and what it could do to someone. I felt that the story was somewhat realistic, however I don't like how it had a positive ending. I understand it and it wasn't a nice happy Disney ending, but it ended better then most of those situations do. I guess I will give it three stars based on the fact that I wanted to read more and seen how things worked out.
Cole was a great character, he is the boy we all wish we had. He also knew that he should have taken some of the blame, that there was an unfair line drawn between the girl and the boy.
The (e)VIL group was great. I really like the aspect to a group against technology in a high school setting.
There is love, heartbreak, friendship and betrayal. Overall not a bad book.
Cole was a great character, he is the boy we all wish we had. He also knew that he should have taken some of the blame, that there was an unfair line drawn between the girl and the boy.
The (e)VIL group was great. I really like the aspect to a group against technology in a high school setting.
There is love, heartbreak, friendship and betrayal. Overall not a bad book.
breathehopebooks's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars. This book was not what I expected it to be. I thought it was going to be like a fun contemporary but it turned into like a weird, overly dramatic mystery. It took me a lot longer to read than I thought it would, probably because I wasn't that invested with the characters or their motives. There were very few things--albeit, big things--that kept me reading.
**SPOILERS AHEAD!**
Let's talk about the pros first. The way social media was handled in this book, I felt, was very realistic. While it seems ridiculous and stupid the way everything made its way on to the Internet, EVERYTHING ACTUALLY DOES MAKE ITS WAY ON TO THE INTERNET. Even the scenes with Principal Zeff on her Facebook were realistic.
There were a couple of characters I really liked too. Jayla and Frank were the most interesting characters in my opinion, and while I never really cared about what Miss Demeanor had to say I was extremely curious to find out who it was.
Basically, the main selling point is that something like this could actually happen in today's society.
Now for the cons: Personally, there were too many characters to keep track of. Like A LOT of characters. Every time a new group of people was introduced I was all like "are you really needed here?" Most of the characters didn't have much of a personality or identity besides one defining detail: 420 is a stoner, Marceau is a foreign-exchange student, the (e)VIL kids don't use the Internet. I get that Sarah Ockler was trying to create a well-rounded, small town community/ school where everyone knows each other but like what purpose do Haley and Quinn serve?
But even characters who were actually important to the story seemed weak. Cole isn't in the novel that much for a character that's technically supposed to be the cause of the story's conflict. He is so absent that I actually started shipping Lucy with Frank. The same goes for Ellie. While it makes sense that Lucy's relationships with Cole and Ellie would become estranged due to the scandal, it just seems like they were pushed to the side for the majority of the novel.
There were multiple times that I almost stopped reading, but there were 3 things I wanted to know that made me go on:
1. what happened between Jayla and Lucy over vacation?
2. who is Miss Demeanor?
3. who posted the pictures on Facebook?
I didn't expect #1 and #3 and I briefly mused that Frank was Miss Demeanor but this brings me to my other major problem with this book. Weak motives. Lucy didn't talk to her sister for a year because Hollywood turned Jayla into a different person. What did she expect? Frank created Miss Demeanor as part of a social experiment. Totally lost my interest in him. Griff stole Lucy's cameraphone because hers didn't work and she posted the pics, because Griff was sick of being the "slutty" third-wheel. These are all such petty things! When I finally read them I was like "that's it? seriously?"
This is one of those books that's really frustrating to read because everything could have been solved with better communication. Of course, that's the point though; since this book is a reflection of our socially public society it's supposed to show how much we rely on our smart phones and technology, how helpful it can be (as the eVIL kids learn) but mostly how detrimental it can actually be. A lot of the stuff in this book is like "duh" and even though it was really annoying to read, it was scary how many times I checked my Facebook and Tumblr while I was reading it.
I liked and understood most of the pop culture references but that also dates the novel a great deal, which I think is, unfortunately, the biggest problem with the novel. It's a novel for just right now. First world problems to the highest degree.
I feel like this novel could have been titled "I Didn't Mean For This Happen" because I would have had a better idea of what I was getting into. "#scandal" sounds so intriguing and I was SO looking forward to reading this, and while I'm glad I did finish it because it made me momentarily self-reflect on social media, I'm most likely never going to read it again.
**SPOILERS AHEAD!**
Let's talk about the pros first. The way social media was handled in this book, I felt, was very realistic. While it seems ridiculous and stupid the way everything made its way on to the Internet, EVERYTHING ACTUALLY DOES MAKE ITS WAY ON TO THE INTERNET. Even the scenes with Principal Zeff on her Facebook were realistic.
There were a couple of characters I really liked too. Jayla and Frank were the most interesting characters in my opinion, and while I never really cared about what Miss Demeanor had to say I was extremely curious to find out who it was.
Basically, the main selling point is that something like this could actually happen in today's society.
Now for the cons: Personally, there were too many characters to keep track of. Like A LOT of characters. Every time a new group of people was introduced I was all like "are you really needed here?" Most of the characters didn't have much of a personality or identity besides one defining detail: 420 is a stoner, Marceau is a foreign-exchange student, the (e)VIL kids don't use the Internet. I get that Sarah Ockler was trying to create a well-rounded, small town community/ school where everyone knows each other but like what purpose do Haley and Quinn serve?
But even characters who were actually important to the story seemed weak. Cole isn't in the novel that much for a character that's technically supposed to be the cause of the story's conflict. He is so absent that I actually started shipping Lucy with Frank. The same goes for Ellie. While it makes sense that Lucy's relationships with Cole and Ellie would become estranged due to the scandal, it just seems like they were pushed to the side for the majority of the novel.
There were multiple times that I almost stopped reading, but there were 3 things I wanted to know that made me go on:
1. what happened between Jayla and Lucy over vacation?
2. who is Miss Demeanor?
3. who posted the pictures on Facebook?
I didn't expect #1 and #3 and I briefly mused that Frank was Miss Demeanor but this brings me to my other major problem with this book. Weak motives. Lucy didn't talk to her sister for a year because Hollywood turned Jayla into a different person. What did she expect? Frank created Miss Demeanor as part of a social experiment. Totally lost my interest in him. Griff stole Lucy's cameraphone because hers didn't work and she posted the pics, because Griff was sick of being the "slutty" third-wheel. These are all such petty things! When I finally read them I was like "that's it? seriously?"
This is one of those books that's really frustrating to read because everything could have been solved with better communication. Of course, that's the point though; since this book is a reflection of our socially public society it's supposed to show how much we rely on our smart phones and technology, how helpful it can be (as the eVIL kids learn) but mostly how detrimental it can actually be. A lot of the stuff in this book is like "duh" and even though it was really annoying to read, it was scary how many times I checked my Facebook and Tumblr while I was reading it.
I liked and understood most of the pop culture references but that also dates the novel a great deal, which I think is, unfortunately, the biggest problem with the novel. It's a novel for just right now. First world problems to the highest degree.
I feel like this novel could have been titled "I Didn't Mean For This Happen" because I would have had a better idea of what I was getting into. "#scandal" sounds so intriguing and I was SO looking forward to reading this, and while I'm glad I did finish it because it made me momentarily self-reflect on social media, I'm most likely never going to read it again.
silvyinwonderland's review against another edition
4.0
Poco meno di 4 stelle, in realtà!
Carino e scritto bene, anche se la prima parte è un po' lenta...
Carino e scritto bene, anche se la prima parte è un po' lenta...
m_brooks's review against another edition
3.0
An e-ARC was provided by the publisher for review
When I first read the synopsis, I imagined it to be very Gossip Girl with homebody Lucy, scandal, social media secret gossip columnist and a bit of forbidden love, while dealing appropriately with issues of cyber and high school bullying. Sadly #Scandal seemed to fall a little short on execution.
I didn’t really like any of the characters, except for maybe Cole and Franklin who seem to feel like real characters and deal with the scandal appropriately, while maintaining comedic relief to the situation. I thought Lucy was a little too whiny and had the whole “my world is ending need to seek revenge” persona going, but never overcame that weakness to really deal with the issues of scandal she faced. Ellie’s and Lucy’s friendship seemed entirely weird to me too, asking your best friend to take your boyfriend to prom, not telling her, you guys had relationship issues, I even believe Lucy mentions how little they tell each other—they are best friends in high school right.
#scandal had great promise in bullying theme, but it was never fully explored or dealt with. Both Lucy and her sister, along with the story’s characters seemed to just skim the topic of bullying and how to deal with it appropriately and concerned themselves more with seeking revenge (wrong way to work it out!). It seemed the driving force of the story for the characters was to reach graduation and solve the mystery of who posted the facebook photos - whether the scandal was really dealt with and friendships were mended or not.
In the end, it neither had the scandalous tones of Gossip Girl, nor the uplifting morales for young adults growing up in a more cyber world and dealing with bullying, which was the original intention I had reading the book, for a tween book club I host. #scandal ending up not being a book for me this time.
When I first read the synopsis, I imagined it to be very Gossip Girl with homebody Lucy, scandal, social media secret gossip columnist and a bit of forbidden love, while dealing appropriately with issues of cyber and high school bullying. Sadly #Scandal seemed to fall a little short on execution.
I didn’t really like any of the characters, except for maybe Cole and Franklin who seem to feel like real characters and deal with the scandal appropriately, while maintaining comedic relief to the situation. I thought Lucy was a little too whiny and had the whole “my world is ending need to seek revenge” persona going, but never overcame that weakness to really deal with the issues of scandal she faced. Ellie’s and Lucy’s friendship seemed entirely weird to me too, asking your best friend to take your boyfriend to prom, not telling her, you guys had relationship issues, I even believe Lucy mentions how little they tell each other—they are best friends in high school right.
#scandal had great promise in bullying theme, but it was never fully explored or dealt with. Both Lucy and her sister, along with the story’s characters seemed to just skim the topic of bullying and how to deal with it appropriately and concerned themselves more with seeking revenge (wrong way to work it out!). It seemed the driving force of the story for the characters was to reach graduation and solve the mystery of who posted the facebook photos - whether the scandal was really dealt with and friendships were mended or not.
In the end, it neither had the scandalous tones of Gossip Girl, nor the uplifting morales for young adults growing up in a more cyber world and dealing with bullying, which was the original intention I had reading the book, for a tween book club I host. #scandal ending up not being a book for me this time.
dizzybell06's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed this book and would give it a 3.8. This was a very quick and easy read, but I wish Cole was in it more and that the book showed how he stood by Lucy more and played more with his role in a band. Although I really liked the book I would have liked it to go more into the cyber bullying and how it truly is a problem today - I feel like Ockler only touched the tip of the iceberg with this one and she had such a great platform with this book to really show readers how words can effect people in more ways than hurting their feelings.
girlinthepages's review against another edition
3.0
#scandal was not initially on my TBR list. I was at the library picking up a hold when #scandal caught my eye on the newer-releases shelf, and having never read anything by Sarah Ockler I decided to give it a shot. Despite many readers warning me that #scandal is not Ocklers’ best novel, I rather enjoyed Ockler’s tackling of cyber bullying in this novel.
#scandal addresses a phenomena that’s all too common today- compromising party pics get uploaded online the morning after. That’s the catalyst for this novel, with Lucy’s cell phone getting stolen and her ending up taking the blame for someone uploading post-prom pics from her stolen phone. Lucy faces the fallout from her own friends, her classmates, her school administration, and other students’ parents, and the book takes on kind of a silly “whodunnit” vibe where she teams up with the stereotypical high school tropes (nerdy newspaper editor, anti-establishment club kids, etc) to clear her name. Meanwhile, there’s an online personality “Miss Demeanor” who adds fuel to the fire on her “scandal” page (gossip girl, anyone?).
I couldn’t figure out whether this book was supposed to be a satire or not. The characters sometimes speak in “texting” type lingo and Lucy has a lot of sarcastic asides. Couple this with the stereotyped classmates, a costume-party prom, a famous actress who happens to be an alumnus from their high school, the ridiculous slut shaming (someone creates a fan page in revenge called “Juicy Lucy”) and a school principle who can’t even manage her own social media, and the novel had was so ridiculous in some points it was absurd what was happening or being said. Yet once I decided to view this novel in a satirical light, I found myself enjoying the story much more. As a social commentary, this book brings up a lot of issues, such as teens paralleling the paparazzi influenced celebrity life and over-documenting their lives to the point of mutually assured social destruction. It also portrayed how the cycle of cyber-bullying is never ending, as Lucy the “bully” (or rather, as she’s framed) quickly becomes victimized through revenge Facebook pages, nasty altered images of her, and harassing threats and comments constantly left on her profiles. The alternative group (e)VIL, the anti-technology group of misfits at Lucy’s high school who reject all technology and jump on every conspiracy theory, may be painted as absurd but the other characters begin to see their point- technology allows the nastiest, most vengeful side of people to come out.
One thing that really frustrated me throughout the novel was Lucy’s constant neglect to stand up for herself. Since one of the pictures that got uploaded was of her kissing her best friend’s boyfriend (the situation isn’t even as bad as it seems, as you’ll find out later in the novel) she feels guilty and as if she “deserves” all of the consequences, harassment, and bullying. While she definitely made an error in judgement kissing Cole (who receives less than a quarter of the harassment as she does), it’s not an excuse for her to take the bullying and slut shaming lying down, and she neglects 90% of the opportunities to stand up for herself or to clear her name, and it’s constantly her friends defending her. So while I liked that the book addressed cyber bullying, it dropped the ball by having a protagonist who allowed herself to be railroaded by unfair harassment.
Overall: Despite the fact that this book had too many issues to juggle (cyber bullying, slut shaming, a romance, family issues, and a brief side plot of sexual harassment) I found myself to enjoy Ockler’s satirical approach (if that in fact was what she meant to do) and found myself continuing the book because I wanted to find out who made the reputation-ruining move for so many people by simply pushing an “upload” button. I think there’s probably better books out there that tackle cyber bullying and harassment but Ockler’s book is an OK addition to the YA shelves, suffering mainly due to a lack of confidence from her protagonist.
This review was originally posted at Girl in the Pages
kpeet's review against another edition
2.0
Not quite as deep or mysterious as I would have liked. Fuzzy resolution as well.
rdyourbookcase's review against another edition
3.0
This tried to be like Veronica Mars, but it was more like Gossip Girl with a bit more substance. It pushed the Veronica Mars angle a bit too hard, also. I wasn’t a big fan of the main character, and I couldn’t figure out what the focus of the book was - social media behavior, bullying, a mystery, or gossip. The romance definitely wasn’t the focus of the book like so many of Sarah Ockler’s others. It was probably appropriate that it wasn’t due to everything else that was going on, but I wanted romance! Overall, there was a lot going on, and it was a long book. I felt like the first part of the story could have been summed up a lot quicker.
I still liked the book - it was just a 3 star when I was expecting a 5 star.
I still liked the book - it was just a 3 star when I was expecting a 5 star.
kristid's review against another edition
4.0
very different than the usual sarah ockler read.... but it was awesome.
review to come.
review to come.