Synopsis:
Miri Tan loved the book Undertow like it was a living being. So when she and her friends went to a book signing to meet the author, Fatima Ro, they concocted a plan to get close to her, even if her friends won’t admit it now. As for Jonah, well- Miri knows none of that was Fatima’s fault.
Soliel Johnston wanted to be a writer herself someday. When she and her friends started hanging out with her favourite author, Fatima Ro, she couldn’t believe their luck- especially when Jonah Nicholls started hanging out with them, too. Now, looking back, Soliel can’t believe she let Fatima manipulate her and Jonah like that. She can’t believe that she got used for a book.
Penny Panzerella was more then the materialistic party girl everyone at the Graham School thought she was. She desperately wanted Fatima Ro to see that, and she saw her chance when Fatima Ro asked the girls to be transparent with her. If only she’d known what would happen when Fatima learned Jonah’s secret. If only she’s known the line between fiction and truth was more complicated than any of them imagined…
Review:
A lot of the time the books I read I like a lot….. this was not one of them.
The idea of the book is very cool and interesting but it was not well executed. It was written in POV’s going back and forth between interviews with Penny Panzerella and Miri Tan, Soliel Johnston’s diary, excerpets from Fatima Ro’s new book based off of the main characters and their secrets and text messages between Fatima Ro and Soliel Johnston. I thought that the characters all had the same personality traits and I find that a bit boring. It was also cheesy. An example is in most of the book the writer Lydia Day Penalfor talked about authentic human connections, The Theory and ” the stuff of life”. I don’t really know what that means and found it a little weird that she kept telling us about those three things. Lydia Day Penalfor has lots of good ideas she just doesn’t know how to execute them in a fun and interesting way. One thing I did like about the book was how she explained everything in a very engaging way. There were four different POV’s and they all were placed in different stages of the book but you would still know what was going on. All in all I think that this book was definitely not one of my favourite books that I have reviewed but oh well…. not every book in the whole world is great is it?
Reccomended ages 11 and up
If you liked this book here are three books that you might like even more
1. One Of Us Is Lying: By Karen M. Mcmanus
2. Genuine Fraud By: E. Lockhart
3. Pretty Little Liars By: Sarah Shepard
The Ellington Review 