A review by grimalkintoes
No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado

challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

Crystal Maldonado’s No Filter and Other Lies is a poignant YA title. It complicates our understanding of vulnerability, authenticity, and honesty in the age of social media. The story follows Kat, a high school senior, who wants nothing more than to have her creativity and artistic vision valued and appreciated by her online community. When she fails to receive this uptake, things take a turn for the worse when Kat decides to create an online persona named “Max” using photographs of her coworker, Becca. It is through this complication that Kat learns what it means to be seen, and what it takes to heal a broken self-identity. 

“You should know, right now, that I’m a liar. They’re usually little lies. Tiny lies. Baby lies. Not so much lies as lie adjacent. But they’re still lies.”

Read if you enjoy: YA fiction, teen angst and self-exploration, well-developed characters, and a warm, relatable tone. 

Though Maldonado gives us plenty of reason to empathize with Kat’s circumstance(s), I was pleased when she still had to learn from consequence and reflect on the harm she unintentionally inflected. Happy endings are fiction, and Maldonado reminds us of this. My wish for Kat and everyone who picks up this book is that we learn to sit in our discomfort and take the time to reflect on our experiences, building strong(er) foundations of self-appreciation.