Just For Clicks Review

Title: Just For Clicks

Author: Kara McDowell

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Trigger Warnings: attempted kidnapping, cyberbullying, mentions of stalkers

My Rating: 5 Stars

Release Date: February 19, 2019

Synopsis

Mommy blogs are great . . . unless the blog happens to belong to your mom.

Twin sisters Claire & Poppy are accidental social media stars thanks to Mom going viral when they were babies. Now, as teens, they're expected to contribute by building their own brand. Attending a NY fashion week and receiving fan mail is a blast. Fending off internet trolls and would-be kidnappers? Not so much. Poppy embraces it. Claire hates it. Will anybody accept her as "just Claire"? And what should Claire do about Mom's old journals? The handwritten entries definitely don't sound like Mom's perfect blog persona. Worse, one of them divulges a secret that leaves Claire wondering what else in her life might be nothing but a sham . . .

Review

Thanks to Netgalley and Amberjack Publishing for providing an free advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kara McDowell's Just For Clicks features two fraternal twins who have their entire lives on the Internet, through their mother's blog, their own vlog, and many various social media accounts. The sister relationship was really powerful and important within this book. Sibling relationships are important and this book features own where the sisters complement each other. They argue and fight, but they still love each other. The sibling relationship was really well written and relatable.

The voice written as Claire was amazing also. Her issues reflect issues in modern day with the blogging and social media everywhere. The book was written as I could imagine a seventeen year viewing these issues within her own life, especially with some of the problems that came up that I really did not foresee coming up. There were some plot twists that I did not see coming, but it still made sense in context of this story. They made sense and there were subtle hints leading to what ended up occurring, so looking back I see the logic but I honestly did not expect some of what happened to occur.

None of the characters were perfect, but none of them were completely imperfect either. The motives all were explained well enough that they made sense, even of other characters besides Claire. The use of multimedia, including texts, blogposts, and emails was really cool and added understanding and depth, particularly as Claire tries to learn more about her family and how her mother viewed events that occurred in the past. These did not distract from the rest of the story and made sense, as Claire reads them to add what is actually occurring in the story.The romance was healthy and beautiful, as it did not move too fast but the characters actually began to get to know each other first. Rafael and Claire both develop a real and mature relationship with each other, giving and taking and providing a logical standpoint. Even when Rafael disapproves of something that Claire is doing, he still tries to support her and try to make sure that everything will work out for the best. They were really adorable and realistic and I was invested that they were going to end up dating.

My one criticism with this story was the portrayal of Poppy and some of Poppy's friends. The ending seemed slightly rushed and a few things were left wide open that probably should have been closed instead. The major problems are resolved, but a few are left wide open and mentioned in a sentence or two at the end before being left behind. There was so much buildup and characterization that I wish that the ending was slowed down a bit.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to people that have a basic understanding of various social medias and their impact in the real world. It was a solid debut novel, with characters that are realistic and a plot that is logical but still has twists and turns. The relationships that Claire builds with others, including Poppy, Rafael, her mother, and other people that she already knows and begins to connect with. I loved this book and definitely would recommend reading it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the first book that I read from Netgalley, and holy crap I absolutely loved it. I read this nearly two months ago and still has to be my favorite Netgalley read. It even made my Top 2018 Reads because I enjoyed it so much. More modern trends are very evident and you definitely should read it.

Make sure to check it out on its Tuesday, February 19 release!

What have been some of your favorite 2019 releases so far?

Thanks for reading!
Alyssa