Cindy L. Otis

Quinn Calvet planned a year of fun with her sister and best friend, but all of those plans get trashed by circumstances that take over the town.

A story taken from real life, this novel explains how social media influences people's beliefs. Quinn uses a wheelchair due to her arthritis; she's in pain a great deal of the time. Quinn and her sister Ava live in the same building as the business their parents own. They're supposed to spend this year doing all sorts of things before Ava moves off to college. Unfortunately, the resident bully seems to have turned a corner and cares about people now. He brings everyone's attention to the disappearance of two siblings. He starts a club--Defend Kids--to focus on all of the children disappearing. They're being taken and no one seems to do anything about it, so he rallies people to action. Quinn wants to help even, so she posts on her social media, The Whine. It becomes one of the primary ways information gets disseminated. Ava, worried about paying for college, becomes obsessed with grades and activities. She joins Defend Kids and spends all of her time working with them, keeping her and Quinn from doing all the activities they were supposed to do. In addition, Quinn's best friend Ximena seems to spend her time with her boyfriend. Ximena always includes Quinn, but Quinn feels like a 3rd wheel. She feels left out from everything.

Tensions increase when two students from their own high school disappear. They actually know these kids, so they can't figure out why the police aren't doing more. Quinn continues to use The Whine to send out information, getting thousands of followers, even some sponsors. This money could help her family's struggling finances. Asher offers to help, as he wants to get more experience in graphic design so that he can apply to The Rhode Island School of Design. He's one of the few people who seems to take her disability in stride and doesn't ask stupid questions. He asks what she needs instead of assuming. Quinn finds herself getting closer to Asher and she also seeks more information about the missing kids. When she discovers some of the secrets, she keeps a lot of information to herself, which results in trust issues with her friends. She tries to explain what she has learned to Ava, but Ava doesn't want to hear any of it. Quinn finds herself in a dangerous position, alone.

This novel has a good story, but the writing isn't as smooth. The character development with the plot is forced. The good part of the book is how well the author shows the influence of social media. She shows how people get entrenched in their ideas and don't know how to find truth amidst the lies.… (mer)

This book starts out in a very subtle manner, but soon morphs into a story that is scary in how it reflects today's world. Quinn has a blog called the Whine which is doing well and even has a few sponsors. She hopes to increase readership and in the process, add more paid supporters, generating funds that she hopes will make college more realistic. She's dealt with rheumatoid arthritis for years, to a point where she relies on a wheelchair much of the time because walking is incredibly painful.This reality affects her way of perceiving most aspects of her world.
When Asher, whose family owns a large winery, asks if he can help enhance the appearance of the Whine and thus get credit for coding skills, she's wary, but agrees. This, coupled with a group at school, formed to raise awareness about siblings kidnapped in a nearby town, is the beginning of a wild ride for everyone involved. What follows mirrors our constantly being barraged with fake news, angry people acting rashly, and a sense that the evil and insanity of disinformation is ever-growing.
The players in this story are interesting and all over the spectrum in terms of belief. The deeper I got into this one, the more creepy it felt in a believable way. The ending supports this extremely well. Definitely a book for libraries that care about getting teens to think critically to have in their collections.… (mer)