Review: She's Faking It

By now we all should know that what we see on social media is not necessarily true to life. Of course, that doesn't really stop the comparisons and wondering why your life is not like those you see on your feed. In Kristin Rockaway's latest, She's Faking It, which was released at the end of June, she peels back the layers on what it means to be an Instagram influencer and why reality is always better than a social media life.

Here's the synopsis:

You can’t put a filter on reality.

Bree Bozeman isn’t exactly pursuing the life of her dreams. Then again, she isn’t too sure what those dreams are. After dropping out of college, she’s living a pretty chill life in the surf community of Pacific Beach, San Diego…if “chill” means delivering food as a GrubGetter, and if it means “uneventful”.

But when Bree starts a new Instagram account — @breebythesea — one of her posts gets a signal boost from none other than wildly popular self-help guru Demi DiPalma, owner of a lifestyle brand empire. Suddenly, Bree just might be a rising star in the world of Instagram influencing. Is this the direction her life has been lacking? It’s not a career choice she’d ever seriously considered, but maybe it’s a sign from the universe. After all, Demi’s the real deal… right?

Everything is lining up for Bree: life goals, career, and even a blossoming romance with the chiseled guy next door, surf star Trey Cantu. But things are about to go sideways fast, and even the perfect filter’s not gonna fix it. Instagram might be free, but when your life looks flawless on camera, what’s the cost?

I quite enjoyed Rockaway's last novel, How to Hack a Heartbreak (review here) so was totally on board with reading whatever she published next. On a Sunday in June, I sat down on the back patio with She's Faking It and a can of cider and barely moved until I had the book finished. Bree and her life completely captivated me and I had so much fun reading about all her ups and downs (so many downs!). 

When the reader first meets Bree she is having a really shitty day. Her car's broken down right in front of the house of a former (asshole) professor and without a car, she can't work as a food delivery driver. It seems like the last straw in a long list of bad luck and bad decisions. Luckily, Bree's sister has her life together and can help with the immediate needs, like getting Bree's car fixed. That's just the start though. Bree needs to overhaul her life because she's stuck and is far too young to be stuck. But, on the flipside, she is a bit too old to be wandering aimlessly with no plan because she's too scared to face her issues and do what she'd really like to do (whatever that is and I personally know how difficult it is to figure that out).  

While it was pretty painful to read about Bree's misadventures in the world of being an "influencer", I think it was done really, really well. So many people want to become Insta-famous (in both senses of the word) just so they can get free stuff. Some people do become well known for who knows what reason but a lot of those major influencers (even micro influencers) got to where they are because they have a story and a focused platform. Just getting a whole bunch of random items to post about and review is not going to make your Instagram page go viral. As Bree learns. 

Rockaway also shines a light on those people who seem to have it all together and sell their expertise to "help" those who want to grow their following. And the light doesn't always show something good. The famous influencer Bree connects with isn't doing it for the right reasons (does anyone else always think of The Bachelor(ette) when that phrase is used?). She's just profiting off people who want to get famous and isn't teaching them anything of value. It was a hard lesson for Bree, and her sister, to learn but it was a good one. And it made for some highly dramatic and humorous scenes. 

While I hate to use the cliched term, Bree's "journey" throughout the course of the book was a really good one. In part because it sure as hell wasn't easy. Also because she was adjusting every part of her life - personal, professional, familial, romantic, and friendships - it wasn't a fix one thing and the rest of her life fell into place. She had to fix everything. Or, if not fix, fine-tune. She had solid friendships and a relationship with her sister but there were some issues there too that were keeping those relationships from being the best they could be. Finally, she isn't perfect by the end of the novel. She still has some work to do but she knows she does and is in a much healthier place. It was a super realistic and lovely Happy For Now (even though I like to pretend it is a Happily Ever After because I'm a romantic sop like that).

She's Faking It is a great read for summer, especially this summer when we're all spending even more time online and on social media (who knew that could be a thing that could happen). Kristin Rockaway has written another real and really enjoyable contemporary novel with characters you'll love and a story you'll have a great time reading.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Graydon House/Harlequin, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: How to Hack a Heartbreak

You know when you're in the mood for a certain kind of book and kind of have to hope the next one you pick up will perfectly suit your mood? That was how I was feeling the Friday before How to Hack a Heartbreak was released (which is today!). I had finished my book club pick the day before, A Discovery of Witches which is amazing if you've never read it (it was a re-read for me), and it was a long read for me because of life and the fact that it's 500+ pages of excellent, detailed fantasy. Cue me needing something fun and set in this world. Enter Kristin Rockaway's new novel. Friends, I was so into this book that I had it read in under four hours on Friday night. I had the house to myself and just dove in and barely looked up until it was done. It was so, so good!

Here's the synopsis:

Swipe right for love. Swipe left for disaster.
By day, Mel Strickland is an underemployed helpdesk tech at a startup incubator, Hatch, where she helps entitled brogrammers—"Hatchlings"—who can't even fix their own laptops, but are apparently the next wave of startup geniuses. And by night, she goes on bad dates with misbehaving dudes she's matched with on the ubiquitous dating app, Fluttr.
But after one dick pic too many, Mel has had it. Using her brilliant coding skills, she designs an app of her own, one that allows users to log harrassers and abusers in online dating space. It's called JerkAlert, and it goes viral overnight.
Mel is suddenly in way over her head. Worse still, her almost-boyfriend, the dreamy Alex Hernandez—the only non-douchey guy at Hatch—has no idea she's the brains behind the app. Soon, Mel is faced with a terrible choice: one that could destroy her career, love life, and friendships, or change her life forever.

I'll get the little negatives out of the way first. While I was 1000% invested in Mel and really liked her - I'm not sure I fully got her. No. That's not quite right. I felt like there was more to her than I was getting and I needed more. I needed more about her parents' divorce - blaming her feelings for not trusting Alex on her dad cheating but only mentioning it 2-3 times in the book and never seeing/hearing from her mom felt super weak and convenient. Of course, maybe that's because I'm a child of divorce and my dad also cheated so I always feel like it needs to be a super terrible and messy situation for a character to blame their parents for their own relationship problems. I wouldn't call myself well-adjusted - who would - but based on what I knew of Mel, I didn't feel like it was a strong enough reason for her to be acting the way she was.

One of the things I absolutely loved about this book was Mel's job. I know next to nothing about coding but I do know that it's not a great work environment for women and I LOVED that Rockaway did not shy away from that. I thought this book was super feminist and I. Am. Here. For. It. It touched on all sorts of things that women deal with on a day to day basis that men just don't get. She made sure that Alex wasn't perfect but he was willing to listen to Mel and her friends and worked to understand how things could look from a woman's perspective (things like ghosting and dick pics, for example). She had men who were clueless and abusive and clearly never going to change their ways. She had women who went to the extreme as well and attacked undeserving men online. It was all so realistic and perfectly woven into the overall story.

I also really liked that Mel had an amazing group of girlfriends. The four of them were super tight (though I'm not sure we ever learned how they all know each other?) and each of their personalities brought something extra special to their friendship. Time for another mini negative: I'm not sure I liked Whit, who seemed to be Mel's closest friend of the group. Her bossiness assertiveness wasn't the issue. Strong women are awesome and we all need a friend who can be strong AF when we need it. But she was pretty pushy and Mel just let her walk all over her. I may also have been a bit testy with her personality since she worked in PR just like I do and she seemed to be a stereotypical publicist that you see in rom coms that just isn't quite realistic. BUT the women were there for each other no matter what, no questions asked. They had their fights and their interactions were so honest and realistic. Made me miss my best girlfriends, that's for sure.

How to Hack a Heartbreak fits perfectly into this new wave of rom coms and contemporary fiction we're seeing - and I'm LOVING it. Kristin Rockaway has taken her experience as a woman in the IT sector and written a novel that is going to be relatable to all women, no matter their background or age. It's fun, it's smart, it's real and it will be one you won't be able to stop once you start. Trust me on that one.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*