Title: “TMI”
Author” Patty Blount
Where I got the book: I got this from a blog review site – Around the World ARC in exchange for an honest review
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publish Date: August 6th, 2013
The Summary- Thanks to GoodReads:
Best friends don’t lie.
Best friends don’t ditch you for a guy.
Best friends don’t post your deepest, darkest secrets online.
Bailey’s falling head-over-high-heels for Ryder West, a mysterious gamer she met online. A guy she’s never met in person. Her best friend, Meg, doesn’t trust smooth-talking Ryder. He’s just a picture-less profile.
When Bailey starts blowing Meg off to spend more virtual quality time with her new crush, Meg decides it’s time to prove Ryder’s a phony.
But one stupid little secret posted online turns into a friendship-destroying feud to answer the question:
What I thought of the story:
To be frankly honest, when I started this story I was not sure that I would finish the book, or even like it. It had an interesting concept so I chose it, but still wasn’t sure. What I can say for 100% truth is that I was pretty much “into” the book from the second chapter. I really enjoyed the storyline, how it was told from multiple points of views, and the characters. I am much past high school years myself, and sometimes I wonder if that makes it harder for me to relate to YA books now, but I thought this insight into the social media world was eye opening. When I was in high school we may have had AOL Instant Message – but there was no FB or Twitter – so with emotions running high and just the cattiness that young people can display, i cannot imagine how hard it would be. I thought this was a great way to represent that without taking it too far. The storyline kept me drawn in, frustrated at points, but drawn in, and I felt like it was fresh and something I had not heard before – so overall I did enjoy it — now on to the characters—
The Characters:
I really loved the way the author portrayed the characters. None of them had absolute tragic depressing lives, but they had color and character and most importantly for me they were believeable. Even though there were guys in the story, I also liked that it focused on friendships and the girls. Starting with Bailey – from moment one I wanted to like her, her bubly and positive personality. You could tell she had the usual girl hang ups about appearance/etc, but overall she did seem happy. Seeing her real thoughts through her eyes were very eye opening. Meg was complete opposite, she was smart and talented but hated herself for things that were never her fault. I think in the end both Baily and Meg made large discoveries about themselves and their pasts which will affect their future.
Now on to the Ryder character – from moment one, I had a fishy feeling about this but it wasn’t so obvious it was ridiculious.. So i think it did add all the right “motive” and character to the story. My favorite guy was Meg’s guy – I mean –SWOON! Where was this guy when I was in highschool?? he sets the bar high for any YA who reads this and is looking for someone like that at all. Overall I did love the characters, their dynamics and the relationships.
Overall – To Read or Not To Read:
Overally, I enjoyed the book very much. It was real and covered real topics. None of the characters were perfect to a point they representated a fake person. The story had realisitc drama and kept you wanting to know more. Funny enough, this is a story I wasn’t sure I wanted to read and i finished it in 2 days – and that says something about me…
While I cannot say this is one of the best books I’ve ever read, I can say it is eye opening about the realities of what is going on in the lives of young adults today and how the “romance” game of boy meets girl really has changed – there is so much less face to face and so much more texting, FB, Tweeting, etc.. It’s an entirely different world and I enjoyed seeing how this was great and how it could tear someone down – words can be powerful, no matter where they come from.
I do reccommend this as a read – maybe not a soul touching read, but everything cannot be like that – I reccommend for a great think read with some great romance.
Happy Reading!
Kelley
Book Girl From South Carolina 