The Rumor Game by Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra

Title: The Rumor Game

Authors: Dhonielle Clayton & Sona Charaipotra

Publisher: Disney Publishing Worldwide

Expected publication date: March 1, 2022

*Review copy received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

 Introduction

Bryn, Georgie and Cora are three high school seniors about to find out just how quick rumors spread and spiral out of control, especially in the age of social media.

Bryn made a mistake last summer, and she wants her old life back. It's hard to find her footing again.

Georgie lost weight, and she wants to try on a new personality like she's been trying on new clothes.

Cora thought she had a great relationship, and a great boyfriend, but as rumors fly, is she sure?

Through the good and bad, someone is spreading rumors online about all three of the girls, but who exactly is behind it? Can they figure it out and stop it before all of the girls settle into infamy?

Writing and Characters

I liked all three of the girls and I loved that the authors chose to switch POVs between all three of the girls to make sure that we got a clear view of the interweaving storylines and the rumors surrounding them.

Plot/Pacing

This book moved at a great pace, and there were lots of distinct plot points hit across the way. Also, the authors were great at choosing when to switch POVs so that one side of the story never ran dry.

Social Media/Mixed Media Aspect

I adore when books include other media as storytelling devices. With this book being so social media-centric, the use of screenshots. comments, posts, and emails was extremely effective and made me feel even more immersed in the story than I already would have been.

Themes

There are mature themes in this book, including that of sexual assault, so if that is triggering for you, this novel may not be for you.

Mystery-ish aspect

The discovery of who was feeding the rumor mill new ideas was well done. I didn't figure out who is was absurdly early  and everything was tied up and answered by the last page, so I was satisfied.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this book! I think if you are a fan of books such as One Of Us Is Lying or Revenge of the Sluts by Natalie Walton, I think you would definitely be a fan of this one. Look out for it's release on March 1, 2022 and add it to your  Goodreads TBR here!

Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets by Chelsea Ichaso

Title: Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets

Original title: The Dark Way Down

Author: Chelsea Ichaso

Expected publication date: April 5, 2022

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Pages: 204

Goodreads synopsis

Piper's fall was no accident. Did someone want her dead? It's up to her sister to discover the truth in this shocking new thriller with an unreliable narrator, from the acclaimed author of Little Creeping Things.

Piper Sullivan was in a strange hiking accident last month and has been in a coma ever since. Her older sister, Savannah, can't pretend to be optimistic about it; things look bad. Piper will likely never wake up, and Savannah will never get any answers about what exactly happened.

But then Savannah finds a note in Piper's locker, inviting Piper to a meeting of their school's wilderness club...at the very place and on the very day that she fell. Which means there was a chance that Piper wasn't alone. Someone might've seen something. Worse, someone might've done something. But who would want to hurt the perfect Piper Sullivan...and why?

To discover the truth, Savannah joins the club on their weekend-long camping trip on the same mountain where her sister fell. But she better be careful; everyone in the club is a suspect, and everyone seems to be keeping secrets about that tragic day.

And Savannah? She's been keeping secrets, too...

Quick thoughts

I had a hard time getting all the way through this book. I was looking forward to a twisty thriller like the synopsis seems to have promised but overall the plot and pacing fell flat for me. 

However, most of my lack of enthusiasm comes from not being overly interested in any of the characters, especially Piper and Savannah. Piper was painted as the typical smart and all around perfect little student, which we've all read probably an uncountable amount of times, and she seemed to lack an actual personality beyond that, even in the flashback style chapters. As for Savannah, most of the time she came off as obnoxious to me, and it's hard to believe that she would even be able to convince anybody to want to be her friend, much less help her figure out what happened to Piper on the night of her incident. I understand that she's supposed to be an unreliable narrator, which I usually love to read, but overall I don't think her voice or general tone was a great fit for the story. 

Overall this was not the right book for me, but if you're looking for a quick thriller it might be a good fit for you.