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Title: #scandal
Publisher: Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon and Schuster
Genre: Young Adult Fiction - Contemporary
Release Date: June 17, 2014
Source: ARC, opinions are honest and my own. – review policy here.
Lucy attends prom in the place of her BFF (she's sick) with her BFF's boyfriend. At the post-prom party pent up feelings from the last four years surface and they're caught kissing. A lot of photos are taken of the party and in the morning end up on Lucy's Facebook page. Lucy's phone is missing and the pictures look worse than they are. and Can Lucy figure out who set her up (and set everything straight) before they graduate and she loses everything?
With social media, bullying and cyber bullying on the rise this story has so much to tell. I liked the format and storyline with clips of gossip from Miss Demeanor (Gossip Girl type website) and investigating who set Lucy up and stole her phone. Ironically it's the subplot of Lucy's older sister Jayla Heart that I most enjoyed and wouldn't mind seeing her story in full length.
Lucy's unlikely investigative team kept me interested even when her core friendships and love interest were in and out. By far the relationship of the book is Lucy and her older sister Jayla. You can tell this relationship has been strained for a while and is in need of some sisterly love. Jayla also serves as some comic relief and a reality check on how the real world is. I really needed more Lucy/Cole (the boy she's liked since Freshman year) and Lucy/Ellie/Griff (the BFFs) connections. Especially the flushing out of Lucy/Cole's relationship and his presence during her investigation.
The big issue I have with #scandal starts with the title and continues with all the trends and slang. In real life, hashtag "Scandal" refers to the hit ABC drama so, when you use it on Twitter people are going to associate it with the TV show not the book. It's well known for it's ability to harness the power of social media to boost ratings. For example, when I finished the book Goodreads sent the update to Twitter and soon after Reddit_TV favorited the tweet. Luckily May sweeps are over so on release day it should be fine and may get extra exposure from fans who follow the hashtag.
There are a number of slang words that make an appearance and are out of place.The one that stuck out the most for me was the word "Mollies." Mollies have gotten a lot of attention lately in pop culture and the media due to it's link to teenage deaths. It's typically an MDMA-based drug, which is targeted at teenagers, but in this novel it is slang for a Molotov Cocktail.
Last but not least, there are a number of scenes that added little value (effecting the pacing) to the overall storyline in the areas of the investigation, character development, or relationship building; which led me to speed read the last quarter.
The topic of bullying and cyber bullying has become very popular with a lot of good books coming out of the "Issues" Contemporary genre. With that said I feel like each new release faces the pressures of adding something new to the genre and, sadly, #scandal fell flat.
I've heard a lot of good things about Sarah Ockler's writing so I look forward to trying more of her books in the future.
2.5 Stars – I would recommend this to readers who have not read a lot of the genre lately, or those enjoy Gossip Girl or Veronica Mars and would like a trip down memory lane.
I really really wanted to read this book, but I've seen a lot of mediocre reviews, which is sad because I love Ockler's writing so much, but I'm afraid this one is going to fall short for me.
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