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typedtruths 's review for:

#famous by Jilly Gagnon
3.0

• A sweet story with a unique premise but it lacked heart
• The writing style was a tad too simplistic
• I liked Rachel, the protagonist, and that Gagnon gave her authentic teen voice
• The plus-sized rep. was also fantastic; it is always heart-warming to see body positivity in ya
• I was less of a Kyle fan
• His voice was incredibly bland and I... well, I honestly just disliked him on every level.
• He thought he was funny and a ‘nice guy’ but said and did things that were more dickheaded than he realised; even the moments that were meant to be him acting sweet - like in the limo - felt… ordinarily polite.
• Rachel's best friend was another sore spot. She was selfish and never seemed to actually support Rachel unless it served her own interests.
• The standout character was - by far - Oliver. He looked out for Kyle and Rachel. He was the only one that realised that Kyle was being a douche and tried to steer him on the right path. He was a literal teddy bear.
• Kyle and Rachel's relationship felt very forced. I know that they were technically pushed together by practically everyone but it made their relationship less organic.
• Building an unlikely friendship throughout the bizarre experience would have worked so much better imo
• What let the story down, most of all, however, was the girl hate
• I know that bullying was a key theme in this book but there is a difference between that situation - which should have been explored - and needless, pointless, substanceless girl hate.
• Blind hatred, slut-shaming and stereotypical cheerleader mean girls with paper plate personalities are not okay; not without substance or nuance
• The fact that Rachel is shown to be different - and therefore better - than the other girls because she ate fries/was arty/not a cheerleader/whatever else they said was obviously frustrating. We do not need this sort of thing in 2017
• I did also have problems with many of the sweeping, generalised statements Kyle made about how girls act or what girls do or do not like.

Overall? #famous was mostly a cute contemporary romance with a decent cast. I liked the protagonist, Rachel, and Oliver but Kyle rubbed me the wrong way. The portrayal of the secondary female characters was also irritating. With that being said, I’ll definitely be giving Gagnon a second chance to surprise me.

Review copy provided by the publisher for an honest review.

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