Internet Famous [Book Review & Giveaway!]

Hello everyone!

Title: Internet Famous

Author: Danika Stone

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Published Date: 6^th June 2017

Rating: 3 Stars

*Thanks to The Fantastic Flying Book Club for the review copy*

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Synopsis: High school senior and internet sensation Madison Nakama seems to have it all: a happy family, good grades, and a massive online following for her pop-culture blog. But when her mother suddenly abandons the family, Madi finds herself struggling to keep up with all of her commitments.

Fandom to the rescue! As her online fans band together to help, an online/offline flirtation sparks with Laurent, a French exchange student. Their internet romance—played out in the comments section of her MadLibs blog—attracts the attention of an internet troll who threatens the separation of Madi’s real and online personas. With her carefully constructed life unraveling, Madi must uncover the hacker’s identity before he can do any more damage, or risk losing the people she loves the most… Laurent included.

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Review: Once again, I’m left with very mixed feelings on this book that I have read. On one hand, I enjoyed it. I loved the idea of this being about a blogger, the online world, and a nice romance with it too. It did mention family issues, and mental health illnesses as well. And while I did enjoy all the themes and the way I flew through this book, I still felt like it was missing some depth that I was searching for.

I have to say, I wanted to read this book because I was so happy about finally having a positive light portrayed on the online world. Madi is a blogger – just like a lot of us book bloggers – except she rewatches movies and blogs about her opinion of them. Her blog is also pretty famous, which is something a lot (but not every blogger) dreams about. I loved when we got to see her blog comments come through, and her posts. Madi was so connected to the online world, and I just loved that positive light being given about the online community.

Of course, being a member of the online community means you will come across trolls and mean people who have nothing better to do with their time than just… be a nuisance. This novel stems into that, and the topic of cyberbullying. Even though the novel does a very good job of dealing with that plot line and theme, I still felt like more could have happened. We do get to see how it affects Madi and how it ruins what her blog is for her – but I still expected the ending to be a little more… dramatic?

I also really liked how we got to have the romance stemming from something that started online. I know a lot of people find this to be a bit controversial and a bit of a wary topic to discuss. But we have to face the reality of it: more and more couples and friendships begin online and that is perfectly alright. You need to be aware of the possible outcomes though, especially the bad ones, and take as many consequences against them as possible. I also really liked Laurent as a love interest, and his French accent and ways kind of made me think of Annaand the French Kiss. But, y’know, lacking a lot of the things that some people can’t stand in that novel.

Danika Stone’s writing style was easy to jump right into. She rights in the easygoing voice which represents a teenager perfectly, and there was no doubt that I felt Madi’s personality flooding me as I read through the book. In fact, I think I sat down and read for about four hours until I was done. It was simply such a breeze to read!

However, there were some aspects of the book I wanted a bit more on. There is a bit of a mention about this being a dysfunctional family. Sarah, Madi’s younger sister, has a mental illness and we see that she needs to stick to rigid schedules and have stability to be able to cope. With their mother leaving to study and research in Oxford, it turns things upside down for Sarah. Madi also has to help out a lot with her younger sister and helping her keep to that schedule. I could relate to her on that side of things because I usually help my younger sister, who has a physical disability a lot around the house. I really identified with Madi’s love she had for her sister, but then frustration as sometimes she didn’t want to help, and she wanted to think about herself for a moment and what she needed. It’s not being selfish… it’s more so frustration. It doesn’t mean she loves Sarah any less.

And while the novel did deal with that and discuss it a bit, I felt myself wanting it to be more fleshed out. I felt like the dynamics between the two sisters should’ve been more central to the novel, especially as it became relevant for the conclusion of the novel. I liked that the mental illness wasn’t the center of the whole book. Although included, it doesn’t always have to be. This isn’t Sarah’s story. On the other hand, I think it needed just a bit more focus than it received.

Also, it may be because I’m in the throes of reading new adult novel after new adult novel back to back (it’s Santino Hassell’s fault), I found the story to be a little bit juvenile at times? At least when it came to some issues with the romance. Side note: That could be because of my reading preference at the moment, and not an actual reflection on the novel itself. In that case, I would recommend you head over to Goodreads to check out more reviews and here what others have to say.

It was great to read this first novel by Danika Stone, and I would be curious to read more of her books in the future and see how I like them.

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Gif Summary:

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Giveaway: Enter to win a paperback copy of Internet Famous! Open to US, Canada and UK only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Links: Goodreads and Amazon!

Olivia’s Question: What do you think of the online world?

Olivia-Savannah x