FFBC: Review - #scandal by Sarah Ockler

Another #FFBC event has came to a close!

A very special thank you to Sarah Ockler for allowing us to host her

new book #scandal!

#scandalby Sarah Ockler

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: June 17th 2014
Rate: 4.0

Synopsis:

Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.

There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love...

Why do I read YA? Lately there is a lot of controversy over adults reading YA. As an almost 30 year old adult, I read YA for many reasons. One of the reasons I read YA can be found in this book. It has been a couple of months since I read a book that made me think. And this book did exactly that. During my own high school days social media was in his initiation stages with dial up modems and AOL trial hours, screen names and instant messaging. Scandals did occur and went around the school with good old fashioned word of mouth advertisement. Fast forward twelve years and social media has expanded and became a completely new, sometimes fun and sometimes scary dynamic. And this story did a great job at opening our eyes and making us understand the danger and harm that can be caused by social media.

There were several aspects of this book that stood out to me, beyond the over all main scandal described in the synopsis. First off let me say that the author does a wonderful job and capturing the essence of what teenagers are like today. There have been several books in which authors have tried to write like how a teenager would talk, but fail miserably. However to me Sarah Ockler succeeded where others failed. There are also a ton of pop culture references which were fun to read about and made the story feel even more authentic.

Another aspect of the story that I really enjoyed was the relationship between Cole and Lucy. I know a lot of people felt the relationship aspect of the story was lacking. But I thought that it complemented the story beautifully. To me the romance was not the main point of the story. Yes, it was how our story got started and is a side plot through out the book, but the romance was just the catalyst to the main plot. But throughout it all Cole is there to help Lucy move on from the scandal. This shows his strength of character and him accepting his part in what happened.

But my favorite part of this story, partially because it was one that hit close to home and one in which I could relate to was the relationship between Lucy and her older sister. Yes, I have an older sister and no she is not an actress. But just like Lucy and her sister's relationship, ours did not blossom and become what it is today until we were both older. But just like Lucy's older sister, mine has always been there for me through thick and then some. But unfortunately she not much of a cook, so no mini bunt cakes for me ;)

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Sarah Ockler is the bestselling author of novels for teens, including The Book of Broken Hearts, Bittersweet, Fixing Delilah, and the critically acclaimed Twenty Boy Summer, a YALSA Teens' Top Ten nominee and IndieNext List pick. Her latest, #scandal, hits the shelves in June 2014.

Sarah is a champion cupcake eater, coffee drinker, night person, and bookworm. When she's not writing or reading at home in Colorado, she enjoys taking pictures, hugging trees, and road-tripping through the country with her husband, Alex.

Win a prize pack with 4 Signed hardbacks of Sarah Ockler's books: Twenty Boy Summer, Fixing Delilah, Bittersweet, and The Book of Broken Hearts (US Only)