Thursday 7 May 2020

#famous by Jilly Gagnon

Rachel has approximately twelve followers on Flit, the best social media platform around. So she doesn't feel guilty about snapping a quick photo of the hottie at the burger counter. No one's ever going to see it, after all. It's just harmless fun!

Rachel is used to being unseen. She works at it. It's much better than being a target for the jocks and mean girls at school. So she's completely unprepared when a spur of the moment Flit (Tweet) catches on in a huge way. Suddenly everyone knows her name, and the name of her target. But while he's getting praise and kudos just for being male, she has the world coming down on her for daring to be female. 

It's sadly accurate; women online are far more likely to be harassed than men are. But the story isn't all gloom and doom. There's a sweet love story here too. Kyle is sweet and kind, just a nice guy. But not a Nice Guy. That's important.

The characters each had their own tone, which is important. I could tell which of them was talking even without the chapter headers. It's very well done.

I enjoyed the story very much. It's well written and flowed well. I look forward to more by Jilly and I hope this one does well.


I could feel my cheeks getting hot. I walked over to grab my bag.

"So you get a pass, since it's my fault. In exchange, can you make the effort to attend from here on out? Or at least not make it painfully obvious to everyone else that you're ditching? I need my best student to lend me some credibility."

I smiled. It felt weird; I don't think I'd done it all day.

"Yeah, I think I can handle that."

"Good, thank you. Can't let those animals think I'm soft." He smirked. Sometime Mr Jenkins almost made me believe teachers got it.

I walked over to my my bag, still sitting underneath my desk.

"Rachel," he said as I was heading out.

"Yes?"

"I know it's hard to believe right now, but this will blow over."

"Thanks, Mr Jenkins," I said, trying to sound upbeat.

When he was making such an effort to be nice, it didn't feel fair to mention that it might blow me over with it.



In this modern day love story: Girl likes boy. Girl snaps photo and posts it online. Boy becomes insta-famous. And what starts out as an innocent photo turns into a whirlwind adventure that forces them both to question whether fame—and love—are worth the price…and changes both of their lives forever.

Told from alternating points of view, #famous captures the sometimes-crazy thrill ride of social media and the equally messy but wonderful moments of liking someone in real life.

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