A review by lizanneyoung
Just a Girl by Alyssa Cole

4.0

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just a Girl is a part of the Obsession collection of Amazon Original short stories. While I have KU, I’m trying to read some of these as a way to try new authors. This one follows Tiana, a college student just posting her life on TikTok. Things are going fine until she posts about an experience she had on a dating app, causing a whole group of podcasting-running “alpha males” to start harassing her.

I’m always a fan of stories told through unconventional methods. This one is through social media post captions, comments, text messages, and audio transcripts. The story is really easy to follow and happens over a realistic time frame. What Tiana experiences is both terrifying in the end, especially when the racial component is considered, and unfortunately really realistic. 

But, there is someone in her corner, even if it isn’t clear who it is. The unknown person reminds me a lot of Anonymous, especially with how they seem to move in all circles. I have put together most of the piece, and think I know the final piece, but it wasn’t until the last ~20% of the story that I realized it.

I read this in one sitting and it was a great ride. Fans of screenlife thriller movies like Missing or Searching will love this.