Kelly Loy Gilbert

*A Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this. This is my honest and unbiased review*

This book is so much more than a coming of age young adult book, and explores so many themes that I'm surprised they all fit into this book. I wish I read this book as a teenager or at least very early adulthood but since I am much older than the target audience it didn't make as big as an impact as it should. This does not mean that the book is bad, quite the opposite actually.

Gilbert has a magical way of making you feel everything that Beth (the main character) is feeling from the very beginning which sucks you in. Considering the contents of the book and being so invested in the emotions of Beth will make some parts very hard to read and get through for some readers. They were times however that I found Beth to be a bit irritating, not sure if that was the adult in me but certain actions or times (especially around her mother) which made me want to reach in a pull her out to explain that she should stop.

I had remind myself multiple times that Beth is just a teenager and combined with her neglectful father, picking a college, and being faced with what's going on in Jason's life, this is a very tumultuous time in her life. She is not always going to make the most logical decisions and what may seems obvious to us won't be for a teenage girl who has no reason to rely on anyone but her friends.

Overall, this is a very powerful book… (mer)

Chinese-American high school senior Honor Lo has spent her life in the public eye, on her family's TV show and on book tour. But her two oldest siblings have moved out and started their own lives, and her next older sister, Skye, is going to college, leaving only Honor and her twin Atticus at home. Then, their parents announce they are separating, despite the "family comes first" message they've always espoused. Honor's parents and sisters are obsessed with managing their reputations and online engagement, but Honor and her two brothers really do care about the family, not what others think. Honor narrates, with magazine articles, interviews, and online comments from a "snark" site throughout. Set in California, with visits to Brooklyn, Texas, and Kauai, EWTK gives readers an idea of what it's like to be famous - when that means your privacy is invaded and you can't trust anyone outside the family. Or even, it turns out, some of the people in your family.

See also: Reality Boy by A.S. King… (mer)