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May 1, 2018

Gr 7 Up-Skye is part of a trio of best friends, including the bold and ambitious Asha and the artsy and beautiful Emma. Always the peacekeeper, Skye intervenes in an argument between Asha and Emma by agreeing to dance around, scantily clad, at Asha's slumber party. Skye is horrified when she realizes that Asha has posted a video of her antics on a social media platform. For the 15 excruciating minutes before the video can be deleted, Skye envisions all the ways this post can ruin her chances for a prestigious internship with Senator Watson. The video appears to go unnoticed until Skye receives anonymous texts threatening to go public with a screenshot if she doesn't meet the blackmailer's demands. Skye complies with the demands while becoming suspicious of everyone around her, including her boyfriend, closest friends, and coworkers. The plot moves along at a compulsively readable pace. Though heavy-handed, the lessons about phone use, and how Internet exposure and privacy affects one's sense of self-worth, are significant and important. Of equal value are the complex relationships in Skye's life. Readers will recognize her doubts about dating a popular boy or remaining friends with people despite how personalities and interests may change. VERDICT More than just a quick read, this suspenseful contemporary title will be popular with teens.-Lynn Rashid, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, MD

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2018
A teenager's experience with the perils of social media force her to make some difficult decisions.Skye Matthews, a white teen who struggles with her body image and aspires to enter politics, lives with her mom and younger sister. Her father doesn't pay child support, and Skye works at a tedious retail job. Her two best friends are Asha, a bold and daring half-Irish, half-Indian American girl from a wealthy family, and Emma, a beautiful, warmhearted blonde girl who is an avid movie buff and also financially more comfortable than Skye. At Asha's birthday celebration--with just the three friends together, as always--she receives a slinky piece of lingerie as a jokey gift from Emma. To lighten the mood when Asha wants Emma to wear it but she demurs, Skye volunteers to put it on. To Skye's horror, Asha livestreams her catwalking in the lingerie on a popular social media network. Before the video is deleted, someone saves a screenshot and uses it to blackmail her. At first, Skye tries to follow through on the demands, but when her boyfriend and younger sister are pulled in, the stakes get higher. Told in alternating viewpoints, the novel raises numerous real issues in the lives of teenagers--popularity, dating and body image, family issues, socio-economic differences and their resulting tensions, personal aspirations, trust, and maintaining one's online reputation.A timely and relevant read. (Fiction. 12-18)

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