Reviews

No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado

tirincon's review

Go to review page

emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

meashleyfr's review

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

amyjoy's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

A really excellent YA! It's a little tough to read because this teenager is making very (age appropriate) Bad Life Choices, and as an adult reader, you can see exactly how it's going to all blow up in her face, and it was very tense and stressful waiting for the consequences to come calling. 

I loved that Kat had a great crew of friends and her wonderful, super supportive grandparents to help her.
I really liked this things with Elena weren't magically fixed at the end, but it still felt really optimistic, like Kat had learned her lesson and would move forward more confidently. As much as I love a good romance, I appreciated that this had a realistic ending and showed that sometimes you're going to hurt people and they won't be able to continue to be your friend or want to date you, but it's also not the end of the world

estruch's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

captwinghead's review

Go to review page

2.0

I appreciate that this book discusses the different treatment plus size teenage girls experience, even among their friends, however I just didn't have enough positive feelings about this book to rate it any higher.

This is one of those YA books with a protagonist that I've seen others find likable where I just could not. Other examples include Dear Evan Hanson (takes place in HS, but I'm not sure if it's considered YA?) and She Drives Me Crazy. Kat steals someone else's face to gain attention and more followers on Instagram. Sure, part of the reason is because she feels her image as a half white, half Puerto Rican, plus size girl with darker skin is the reason her profile hasn't really taken off. However, that doesn't excuse what she did to Becca.

I am a bit confused about the messaging regarding image v. follower count considering Kat considers Marcus her greatest opp throughout the book and he's Black. Maybe Kat's perception of what does well on Instagram is centered on size? It's confusing because Elena's profile was also successful.

Anyway, Kat's friends all kind of treat her terribly. We're meant to think that Hari was her best friend, but the second he doesn't get the relationship he wants from her, he treats her kind of rudely for a while. I mention this because when we get to the part of the novel where everyone discovers Kat was behaving badly, I feel like her friends and family were a little too nice. Don't get me wrong, Kat's mom sucks entirely, but she was the only one not gifting her presents and mammals and genuinely saying the fact that she's facing consequences for her terrible actions "sucks". Really?

It's hard to find Kat's actions sympathetic. I also don't love that we don't get the real aftermath of what happened to Becca and Elena, especially since this had to have messed with them psychologically. Elena was lied to and mistreated by two people, one fictional, and one she thought was her savior from the fictional person. Vanessa was right to want to protect her.
SpoilerThe fact that there's a weird, half a page chapter of Kat writing Elena a letter to try to use her favorite movie against her just made it even worse. I'm confused about the author's angle here.


I'd thought maybe the lesson was in how important it was to be yourself. I thought her seeing her mother completely lie about her family situation on social media would have her realize how pathetic that is to do. I thought seeing how successful Elena was despite being plus size would lead Kat to realize she could be successful as herself if she found her niche. (Also, Elena being her biggest supporter made the ending hurt so much more).
SpoilerAt the very least, I thought everything blowing up in her face wouldn't have her family and friends coddling her and not even trying to dig into why she thought she had to do something like this.

But that's not really what happened and the consequence part is softened by the fact that she got a cute dog out of the whole thing.
So... suffice to say, this wasn't for me. I don't think it's an age thing where I just "didn't get it". I think it's a "wow, that's a really awful thing you did" thing and even teenage me would've never done that to anyone, let alone a coworker who showed me kindness.

ksuazo94's review

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

evilplants's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

craftygoat's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

dkahn17's review

Go to review page

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

robynjhip's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0