Review : #scandal by Sarah Ockler
#scandal by Sarah Ockler
Pages : 416
Genre : YA, contemporary fiction
Stand alone
My Rating : 3/5
About the Book :
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…
My Thoughts :
I have read and loved Sarah Ockler before; but if anyone were to ask me, I’d almost be tempted to say, skip this one.
Okay, okay; #scandal wasn’t bad, exactly. It just wasn’t great. My previous experiences of Sarah Ockler’s writing had been so emotional and inspiring that I felt a little let down reading this one.
I guess it is safe to say that my disappointment comes in part from broken expectations. While Fixing Delilah and Twenty Boy Summer felt more like realistic, dramatic YA novels, #scandal, despite some serious themes (heartbreak, identity, bullying, slut-shaming, etc.), felt more like a comedy. There was a flaky principal who couldn’t keep a conversation with her student, the celebrity sister, the stoner student nicknamed 420, the school clubs with funny acronyms, etc. I would also say that, in parts, #scandal was to me a Gossip Girl with stronger writing and relatable characters. Not just because of the Facebook drama, but because there is also, at Lucy’s school, an anonymous gossip page called Miss Demeanor, which is featured a few times in the novel. I didn’t care for it, and found it, in fact, to be a bit of a distraction from the story.
I still liked the author’s writing. In some places, it really shines through, and it is what kept me reading. Because of her talent, it was easy to relate to Lucy. Despite her mistakes, she’s a smart and nice girl, and I quite liked her. I was rooting for her to find the guilty party and put an end to her bullying.
I also liked that her sister was so present, and that her ordeal was a chance, for her, to connect with different students. Which was another great thing about this book : the teenagers acted like teenagers. There was prom and partying and drinking and small hints of sexuality and much more. It wasn’t over the top, but it wasn’t squeaky clean either.
All in all, it was okay. I read it, I had fun in parts; but I felt like the book was a bit too long and not the best showcase for Ockler’s talents. I’ll still want to read more from her though, because I know from her previous works that she can really shake my little reading world.
Aw, that’s too bad – I had high hopes for this book.
Your experience might differ greatly from mine! I still had fun with it, it just wasn’t what I had come to expect from Sarah Ockler. But even at her “worst”, she’s miles better than many others, so I’ll still be a fan of hers! 🙂
I haven’t read anything by Ockler but I remember reading some of your posts about her other works. I will probably gravitate toward one of her other titles before grabbing this one. I have a feeling that this book would probably speak volumes to a lot of my students.
Yup, I would definitely recommend one of her earlier works first to get a good grasp of how awesome she can be – though her other books are heavier and less “fun” than this one, imo.
And I absolutely agree about it speaking a lot to your students; it relates very well to current events and has a lot to discuss, too.