Everyone Wants to Know by Kelly Loy Gilbert

 

Honor Lo is a reality TV star who grew up with her every move being filmed for a show called Lo and Behold featuring her and her four siblings. Her parents are influencers who care mainly about their public image as the perfect family--but this book begins with a bombshell. Honor's father is moving out and their perfect marriage is facing an image crisis. Honor has a lot going on. She is betrayed by her best friends and her mother moves the family to a new town. Honor is desperately trying to keep her siblings together and orchestrate a family reunion that will reunite her parents. Nothing is working until the family gets devastating news about her college-aged sister, which may (or may not) bring the Lo family together again. With all the family drama, Honor has a love interest back home who may just force her out of her highly regulated life and into a relationship of her own making. This book got great reviews, but I had mixed feelings. Things I liked: The world of social media influencers was inherently interesting--the parents' narcissism and the publicists swarming was kind of fascinating. Also the sibling relationships and Honor trying to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders were entirely realistic. Things I didn't like--I found the plot surrounding her sister's tragedy to be entirely unbelievable. It just couldn't have happened. The parents were one-dimensional. I didn't feel a connection to Honor's new boyfriend (and I think I was supposed to be rooting for them). Finally, some briefly mentioned sexual encounters seemed way out of character for Honor and made the book less appropriate for middle school readers for no real reason. All this being said, it is still a compelling book about the world of media influencers and I do recommend it to YA readers who like family drama and relationships. 

How to Disappear by Sharon Huss Roat

Vicky Decker, a high school sophomore, has a lot of social anxiety and one good friend, Jenna. Unfortunatley, Jenna has moved away and Vicky is spending all of her time alone, afraid to even say hello to classmates or speak in class. In the safety of her own bedroom, she creates an Instagram personality named Vicurious, and Photoshops herself into all kinds of settings. Without really trying, Vicky becomes an internet heroine to people who feel alone and ignored. At the same time, she opens up to a few people at school, including a boy who sites next to her in a class and the yearbook staff members who see her talent with photo editing. Vicky's story is compelling and real, and compulsively readable. It deals with some of the usual YA lit issues, but Vicky is a character to root for and relate to and the Instagram fame makes the story really stand out. Definitely recommended for readers looking for a book with romance, friendship, and mental health issues.