Screenshot by Donna Cooner
It was a quick read, they said, and I guess it was. It's just another book on the TAYSHAS list that makes me question the list this year. This was only ok. This had the potential to be great, given the subject matter, but it wasn't.
Skye works at KMart in Colorado. She has two best friends, Asha and Emma. She doesn't feel she quite measures up to either one of them, but she has her eyes on the prize: an internship with a congresswoman for the summer. In fact, she has an interview coming up for the internship.
One night while celebrating Asha's birthday, Skye puts on this nightgown--one that would look great on Asha or Emma, but not so much Skye--and dances in the room. Asha records this and puts it on ChitChat, which sounds very similar to SnapChat. Skye is worried because this video could harm her chances for the internship.
Just when Skye thinks everything is A-Ok, she gets a message from someone threatening to release a screenshot of an image in the video if Skye doesn't do exactly what she's told. It starts our innocuous enough--painting her finger and toenails black. It soon escalates to wearing a prom dress to her interview and breaking up with her boyfriend. Skye doesn't know who is doing this to her, but is diligently trying to figure it out. She figures it out, which is great, but there are so many subplots that needed to be explored.
For example, Asha's mother was diagnosed with dementia in the book. The author felt the need to devote a few Asha chapters to this, but at the end, you're left hanging. Also, Skye's boyfriend? What's up with him? She spends more time with another boy for most of the book while she is still with her boyfriend.
This had great potential, but it was executed poorly.
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