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optimisticbooknerd's review
2.0
This was ok, I liked the concept but it did fall a bit flat for me with the writing and just the way the storyline unfolded.
2⭐
2⭐
aamethystash's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
it was really entertaining and fast paced ! there was twists but you could almost tell what they were though
shaz_time23's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
_oliviasmith_'s review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I read this book last year and wanted to come back and leave a review and I really liked this book. I was very surprised at how much I ended up buying this book. I think the beginning is kind of slow, but if you stick with it, it really does pick up and at some point I was telling myself one more chapter, one more chapter, ultimately, I just was done with a book. I thought it was really good the twist that came along with it just surprised me a lot. It was a really good book for a debut author I was looking to see if the other had any books because I was unaware that this was her first book. I bought it from a local bookstore and didn’t really pay much attention to the fact that it was her first book so that was my bad but I thought it was a good book.
judithdcollins's review
4.0
CHLOE CATES IS MISSING IS A KILLER DEBUT!
This mom is a total psycho! Social media-obsessed! Child/family services- take her away, please. What a highly entertaining audiobook and a wild debut by Mandy McHugh. She definitely showcases a highly dysfunctional family from mom, dad, daughter, and brother and supporting characters. Very realistic, every mom, dad, teen, and pre-teen in this world needs to read this book. A cautionary tale about the addictive social media craze world.
I hope my niece (with her five-year-old celebrity daughter) reads this one and my other niece. This book is right on and the author does not miss a beat. My niece has 5.6M followers on TikTok and I am afraid her life, daughter, and family may be headed down this slippery slope where their life is controlled by their phone, videos, hits, likes, sponsors, etc.
To be honest, I dislike all social media and think it ruins lives and is addictive. I feel sorry for celebrities. This novel even though fictional is a wake-up call. Dangerous for our younger generation as we see all too well in this book which brilliantly unravels a seemingly perfect family's ugly secrets.
Back to the book. Read it! Out now. I highly recommend the audiobook narrated by Hillary Huber (superb), Jesse Vilinsky, Eileen Stevens, and Alex Boyles by Blackstone Publishing. Not a lot of likable characters (mom horrible, dad spineless, daughter, brat, and son ok).
I loved Detective Emilina Stone and she is really the only one with a heart. Told from multiple POV with journal entries from CC (Abby). I liked the past story and how it came together with the present.
Now some parts are more like a YA book (which I will admit, I had to skip over these parts with the teen, Abby/Chloe because it had too much drama and this girl's voice was grinding on my nerves). I think the book is more suited for a younger crowd and YA and moms. Thank goodness I had two sons and raised three stepsons. I could not handle a drama-filled life of a girl!
Also, be sure and read [b:The Quiet People|58321164|The Quiet People The nerve-shredding, twisty MUST-READ bestseller|Paul Cleave|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1645891576l/58321164._SY75_.jpg|88413091] by one of my favorite authors, Paul Cleave. If you read both, you will see the secrets/lies of a celebrity blogger and successful crime writer and the lengths they go for money and to maintain their status. Full of secrets, lies, and control.
An author to watch. She will definitely be on my radar and cannot wait to see what comes next from this talented new author!
Oh, my - I have listened to so many audiobook thrillers recently, they are all running together. I am dizzy. Been up the last two nights reading/listening all night. After the thriller I am currently reading, my next book will be a nice southern historical fiction. I need something more relaxing so I am not up all night and need to take a break from these highly dysfunctional crazy wild intense books.
This mom is a total psycho! Social media-obsessed! Child/family services- take her away, please. What a highly entertaining audiobook and a wild debut by Mandy McHugh. She definitely showcases a highly dysfunctional family from mom, dad, daughter, and brother and supporting characters. Very realistic, every mom, dad, teen, and pre-teen in this world needs to read this book. A cautionary tale about the addictive social media craze world.
I hope my niece (with her five-year-old celebrity daughter) reads this one and my other niece. This book is right on and the author does not miss a beat. My niece has 5.6M followers on TikTok and I am afraid her life, daughter, and family may be headed down this slippery slope where their life is controlled by their phone, videos, hits, likes, sponsors, etc.
To be honest, I dislike all social media and think it ruins lives and is addictive. I feel sorry for celebrities. This novel even though fictional is a wake-up call. Dangerous for our younger generation as we see all too well in this book which brilliantly unravels a seemingly perfect family's ugly secrets.
Back to the book. Read it! Out now. I highly recommend the audiobook narrated by Hillary Huber (superb), Jesse Vilinsky, Eileen Stevens, and Alex Boyles by Blackstone Publishing. Not a lot of likable characters (mom horrible, dad spineless, daughter, brat, and son ok).
I loved Detective Emilina Stone and she is really the only one with a heart. Told from multiple POV with journal entries from CC (Abby). I liked the past story and how it came together with the present.
Now some parts are more like a YA book (which I will admit, I had to skip over these parts with the teen, Abby/Chloe because it had too much drama and this girl's voice was grinding on my nerves). I think the book is more suited for a younger crowd and YA and moms. Thank goodness I had two sons and raised three stepsons. I could not handle a drama-filled life of a girl!
Also, be sure and read [b:The Quiet People|58321164|The Quiet People The nerve-shredding, twisty MUST-READ bestseller|Paul Cleave|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1645891576l/58321164._SY75_.jpg|88413091] by one of my favorite authors, Paul Cleave. If you read both, you will see the secrets/lies of a celebrity blogger and successful crime writer and the lengths they go for money and to maintain their status. Full of secrets, lies, and control.
An author to watch. She will definitely be on my radar and cannot wait to see what comes next from this talented new author!
Oh, my - I have listened to so many audiobook thrillers recently, they are all running together. I am dizzy. Been up the last two nights reading/listening all night. After the thriller I am currently reading, my next book will be a nice southern historical fiction. I need something more relaxing so I am not up all night and need to take a break from these highly dysfunctional crazy wild intense books.
curls's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this thriller, but I would have liked maybe one more chapter. Still, it was a good read.
amandas_good_books's review
5.0
Cིྀhིྀlིྀoིྀeིྀ Cིྀaིྀtིྀeིྀsིྀ Iིྀsིྀ Mིྀiིྀsིྀsིྀiིྀnིྀgིྀ
by Mandy Mchugh
Debut Book Release Date 01/18/2022
Jennifer and Jason are married and have a son named JJ. She’s a SAHM, dwindling, trying to just keep it together. Along comes her daughter Abby Scarborough AKA CC Spectacular, AKA Chloe Cates, AKA the blog “cc and me “, which all started when this poor girl was 4, and life hasn’t been the same since. This once semi-normal mom has now become a controlling, money-loving, monster momager.
Until one Saturday morning, at 7:21 am, Abby / Chloe is gone. The window is open, no trace of her left behind. (I’ll call her Chloe for the rest of my review
by Mandy Mchugh
Debut Book Release Date 01/18/2022
Jennifer and Jason are married and have a son named JJ. She’s a SAHM, dwindling, trying to just keep it together. Along comes her daughter Abby Scarborough AKA CC Spectacular, AKA Chloe Cates, AKA the blog “cc and me “, which all started when this poor girl was 4, and life hasn’t been the same since. This once semi-normal mom has now become a controlling, money-loving, monster momager.
Until one Saturday morning, at 7:21 am, Abby / Chloe is gone. The window is open, no trace of her left behind. (I’ll call her Chloe for the rest of my review
snowreo's review against another edition
3.0
I requested this ARC on Netgalley after finding the description really interesting. The premise of influencer culture in a contemporary novel as well as how that fits into the mystery/thriller genre ws extremely promising t0 me.
The book follows the disappearance of 13-year-old Chloe Cates, a child internet star carefully groomed into her status by her controlling mother Jennifer. In an effort to bring back her perfect life she worked so hard to cultivate for herself and her daughter, she takes to social media for help bringing her home. After a country-wide buzz ensues, investigative detective Emilina enlists her services. However, Emilina is much more intertwined in the case and the Cates family than she initially realized, and it'll take everything she's got to be objective and find Chloe before it's too late.
In general I liked the book. That is to say, there was nothing in particular that made it unreadable. I did enjoy that the characters were unlikeable because I found that it fell in line with the whole idea of internet personas or on-camera personalities and how cutthroat the industry is. However, that's the only specific thing that I can say that I liked. Unfortunately, there were things that fell flat for me. I didn't like how long it took for me to actually care about the story and for the action to pick up. I almost DNFed it but seeing all the 5 star ratings convinced me to keep going. I didn't enjoy how many side plots and the number of characters being introduced at once because it was a lot to keep up with. There was also a lot of pacing issues for me, where it never felt consistent and was either too fast or too slow.
That being said, if you like stories about the perils of social media or stories with a complex web of events and interpersonal connections, this could be for you.
The book follows the disappearance of 13-year-old Chloe Cates, a child internet star carefully groomed into her status by her controlling mother Jennifer. In an effort to bring back her perfect life she worked so hard to cultivate for herself and her daughter, she takes to social media for help bringing her home. After a country-wide buzz ensues, investigative detective Emilina enlists her services. However, Emilina is much more intertwined in the case and the Cates family than she initially realized, and it'll take everything she's got to be objective and find Chloe before it's too late.
In general I liked the book. That is to say, there was nothing in particular that made it unreadable. I did enjoy that the characters were unlikeable because I found that it fell in line with the whole idea of internet personas or on-camera personalities and how cutthroat the industry is. However, that's the only specific thing that I can say that I liked. Unfortunately, there were things that fell flat for me. I didn't like how long it took for me to actually care about the story and for the action to pick up. I almost DNFed it but seeing all the 5 star ratings convinced me to keep going. I didn't enjoy how many side plots and the number of characters being introduced at once because it was a lot to keep up with. There was also a lot of pacing issues for me, where it never felt consistent and was either too fast or too slow.
That being said, if you like stories about the perils of social media or stories with a complex web of events and interpersonal connections, this could be for you.
stephdiane's review against another edition
5.0
I was unable to put this book down from the moment I started it! Read it all in one day. It was gripping and exciting and while you hated almost ever character (you are supposed to. They are written excellently) you cannot wait to see what happens next when each and events one of them. I loved how every chapter was a narration from different character POVs. Read this book. It’s amazing!!
stephisbooked's review
5.0
When I finished this book I literally said “well, shit” out loud. After reading the description I knew I would probably enjoy this because I am fascinated by Instagram influencer culture but I was hooked from the first chapter. I always wonder what will happen to some of these blogger children as they get older and don’t want their entire life (the good and the awful in some cases) posted online and this made predictions about how it could go. So many books have unlikeable characters but this one takes the cake - McHugh does a fabulous job writing horrible people without turning off the reader. It’s told from various perspectives as many books are but does it well and it adds to the story. I’m going to need Mandy McHugh to write some more influencer books (really any books though!)