#scandal

by Sarah Ockler

A Facebook scandal goes viral after prom in this comedic, edgy novel from the author of Bittersweet and Twenty Boy Summer .

Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend, Ellie, gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after-party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of…and the biggest BFF deal breaker ever. But before they get the chance to ’fess up to Ellie, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising photos of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal.

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know that there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this Stand up and fight. There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love…

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult Contemporary, Mystery

432 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 2014

About the author

Sarah Ockler is the bestselling author of six young adult novels: The Summer of Chasing Mermaids, #scandal, The Book of Broken Hearts, Bittersweet, Fixing Delilah, and Twenty Boy Summer. Her books have been translated into several languages and have received numerous accolades, including ALA's Best Fiction for Young Adults, Girls' Life Top 100 Must Reads, Indie Next List, and nominations for YALSA Teens' Top Ten and NPR's Top 100 Teen Books.

Sarah is a champion cupcake eater, tea drinker, night person, and bookworm. When she's not writing or reading at home in New York City, she enjoys taking pictures, hugging trees, and road-tripping through the country with her husband, Alex.

Visit her website at sarahockler.com or find her on Twitter or Facebook.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

You guys, I had so much fun writing this book and I can't wait to share it with you! :-)

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nose Graze — Young Adult book reviews

I thought this was going to be an awesome book for me. A gamer girl, social media, hackers, scandals, a little Nancy Drew, and a romance! OHMYGOD those are all Ashley things and you might as well put a ribbon on this book and send it to me because it sounds PERFECT!

Well in reality, #scandal wasn't perfect. I'd say it really fell flat for me and I'm TOTALLY bummed out. :(

Here are all the reasons why #scandal didn't work for me:

The romance

There were two massive problems with this romance:


1. Lucy is obsessed with Cole before the story starts. This means there's no "crush" phase or "I think I might like you" phase. It just opens up and it's BAM! "I've loved him my whole life." These kinds of romances are always 10x harder for me to relate to because I, as a reader, didn't get that "crush" phase and I need it badly! I need a chance to warm up to the guy and fall for him myself, but I never get it.

2. Cole is actually barely in the book! It was bad enough that Lucy was gaga for him before the story started, but then Cole just slipped in and out whenever he felt like it. It seemed like he was absent for at least half the story. I even forgot about him for a while, then I was like, "Oh yeah, that guy exists."


Add those two points together, and you have a very sloppy romance that's super hard (or impossible) to like or connect to. I didn't like Cole. I didn't KNOW Cole. I never freaking got the chance to see Cole. But somehow I'm supposed to put up with and relate to Lucy's obsession with him... yeah that didn't happen.

Oh, also, Lucy is obsessed with him, but she also spends half the book ignoring him.

Cole tried calling and texting me a few times this weekend, but I ignored them.
Lucy

It made her seem kind of bitchy. Like, "Oh I don't have time to reply to his 5 texts over the weekend. I'll just ignore them." Who does that?

The mystery

So there are two big mysteries in #scandal : who is the Facebook sensation "Miss Demeanor"; and who stole Lucy's phone and posted the prom party pictures on her Facebook?

I thought both of them were obvious. Okay, so I didn't know either one from the get-go, but I did guess who Miss Demeanor was VERY early, and I figured out who stole Lucy's phone about halfway through (well I was confident it was either Ellie or Griffin, and it was Griffin.).

Also, this is a total technicality, but the whole thing was about "finding the hacker!" Stealing someone's phone, which is logged into Facebook, and uploading photos through there is NOT hacking. It's just stealing.

The friendship

It's entirely possible that I just SUCK at "girl code" or something, but I thought Lucy's friendship with Ellie was weird. Here's the low down:

Ellie begs Lucy to go to prom with ELLIE'S boyfriend (weeeiiird) because Ellie is sick. First of all, if I were Ellie, I'd never ask my friend to go to prom with my boyfriend in my place O_O That's just freaking weird. And if I were Cole and my girlfriend was sick, I'd be at her bedside, not partying at prom.

Then, Lucy and Cole kiss at prom.

But later we find out that Ellie and Cole had broken up BEFORE prom (this isn't a spoiler, we learn it very early on). So now we have a few weird things:

* Ellie and Cole broke up and Ellie didn't think to tell her best friend.
* Lucy and Cole kissed, but that doesn't mean that Lucy backstabbed Ellie or that Cole cheated, because Ellie and Cole were broken up.

And yet... Lucy still feels EXTREMELY guilty for having kissed Cole, and Ellie is still EXTREMELY pissed at Lucy for having done it... BUT ELLIE AND COLE WEREN'T EVEN DATING!! She sent her best friend to prom with her NOW SINGLE boyfriend and expected nothing to happen? Okay, I'm sure there's some girl code that says, "You don't kiss your best friend's ex-boyfriend after they just broke up." But given that they were in fact broken up, I really didn't think it was that big of a deal. Or maybe I'd just make a shit best friend.

The Verdict:

[shady boots]

I knew eventually book titles were gonna have hashtags on them too. :3 We live in a Twitter world, people. #getusedtoit

[Rashika (is tired) · Rating 2 out of 5]

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

#Scandal was a huge disappointment. I read The Book of Broken Hearts last year and fell in love and when I found out that Ockler had a new book coming out, I was so excited and had such high expectations but my expectations weren’t met.

We are dealing with cyberbullying which is such an important issue in today's world yet I felt so detached from the whole incident. From everything that happened in this book really. I cringed but when you’re reading about a character who is being bullied, you expect to feel a whole lot more and that didn’t happen. Sometimes I felt like the main character herself was detached from the situation because I couldn’t feel her pain or embarrassment. She talked about how she had it coming and yada yada yada but I never felt like she was truly hurt by the incident.

The main character, Lucy, was okay. She seemed like a bit of a cliché at first with her gorgeous best friend and she being the ‘awkward’ friend who stood out because she was interested in something most girls are (apparently) not, zombie games. I was worried about how well that would bode for her character but in all honesty, I never really felt that part of her personality come to life. She wore the t-shirts, made the references, played the games but it didn’t feel real to me. I DID like how she actually tried to tell her best friend the truth. She believed that her best friend deserved it even after her she had been ignoring her and refusing to listen to her explanations. What I didn’t love was how towards the ending she seemed to become a pushover (imo). I felt like instead of standing up for herself, she did what she though other people would approve of and it just didn’t sit well with me. After being bullied like that, she deserved to stand up for herself!

The secondary characters were not that well developed. There were a handful and out of that handful there were a couple who had a lot of potential but it didn’t work out well.

For starters, I don’t completely understand Ellie. I don’t understand why she had to lie to her best friend about her breakup and then ask her to be her ex’s prom date. I understand her anger at what happened. You really shouldn’t be making out with your best friends ex, especially after they recently broke up but I felt like Ellie felt like they had ‘cheated’ on her when they had not. With that said, I’d say she was the most likeable character in the book. Her best friend and her were not getting along, people were being asses but even with their differences she actually stood up for Lucy in spite of everything that had happened.

Her sister again had a lot of potential but I lost all respect for her once the mystery involving her unraveled (well one of them, there are two, one is more subtle). If she actually had any sisterly feelings for her sister she would have expressed some guilt and well taking her on shopping trips and buying her stuff will NOT CUT IT FOR ME! I need some expression of genuine remorse. When they met for the first time after a year, she brushed it off and while I disliked her for it at that point, you cannot imagine how disappointed I was when I learned what had actually happened.

The (e)VIL group was also an interesting addition. I was so glad to see the rolled they played and how they affected the main character. It was really nice to see how the author changed the main character perception of them over time making her realize it isn’t fair to be judgemental.

Franklin was cute. He was also not the love interest and that’s where the problem arises.

I do not care for the actual love interest. He was barely there in the book and he becomes a self-righteous snob near the end of the book. I also didn’t approve of how he thought it was okay to be in love with his girlfriend’s best friend and still continue to date her. If you know you like someone else. BREAK THE HELL UP. You are not married and even if you were, this is the 21st century. There is no need to lead someone on!

You can imagine how much harder that made it for me to enjoy the romance. The romance was barely there and their ILYs seemingly came out of nowhere. I mean they have been friends and ‘in love’ with each other for the past couple years but what about getting to know each other? I kind of expected Cole and her to spend some time trying to work things through after what happened and while that happened, there weren’t nearly enough scenes showing that happening in the book.

The plot could have been a little tied down too. I felt like there were too many mysteries to follow. It wasn’t that they were hard to follow but they were all resolved near the same time and I just felt like the excess of mysteries took away from the main one. Who posted the pictures? It was KIND of obvious who had but at the same time I felt like there were no real clues to suggest that. The reasoning seemed a little over the top to me.

I was also a tad bit disappointed by how cyber-bullying was handled in this book. I was so excited about this book and was so excited to see how the author would actually deal with the issue, but like I mentioned earlier, I felt detached and the main characters actions kind of made it harder for me to admire that aspect of the story. Her constant self-blame started rubbing on me and not in a good way. She said she had it coming because of her actions but no one deserves to have that happen to them. No matter how wrong what you did was, you don’t deserve to have your private laundry aired out like that. You deserve the right to explain yourself.

With all that said, the book had a handful of enjoyable moments and was a quick read, so while I didn’t enjoy it a whole lot, I am sure there are people who will.

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weird one to rate so I am giving it a 3.5

It's weird for me to rate because some elements of this book I really really enjoyed specifically the topic of slutshaming and social media. However, there were other elements of this book that were slightly lacking and reeeeaaaaalllllyyy illogical. What comes to mind first is I thought the relationships between characters were either undeveloped( romantic relationship) or hyper developed (meaning they became besties WAYYYYY too fast) Overall I would recommend this book if you're a contemporary fan!

[Keertana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frankly speaking, I'd encourage readers to skip #scandal entirely. Seriously. If you haven't read Ockler before, I'd dissuade you from beginning with this novel and if, like me, you're a fan, you're simply better off re-reading one of her previous titles.

#scandal dealt with one too many issues for it to handle with aplomb. When Lucy's best friend, Ellie, is down with the flu and unable to attend prom with her dashingly handsome boyfriend, she forces Lucy to be Cole's date instead. Only, Lucy has had a crush on Cole since before he began dating her best friend and now, at such close proximity with him for an entire night, her feelings rush back, all at once. As luck would have it, however, Cole returns her feelings--a truth he can admit to, as he and Ellie broke up before prom--but before their break-up becomes public, an image of Lucy and Cole kissing goes viral instead.

Now, I don't know if it's because I spend more time on Goodreads than on Facebook, but I felt oddly distanced from this story. Lucy begins the novel already in love with Cole, which left their romance a pile of disappointment as I was unable to become emotionally involved in it. Ellie, from the first page itself, stood out as an odd type of best friend, forcing her friend to accompany her boyfriend as his prom date, and I cannot claim to truly feel the bond of friendship between these two girls. Even more than that, though, #scandal deals with cyber-bullying in a manner I find to be woefully disappointing. Lucy is attempting to clear her name from the scandal she is associated with, all while trying to find out who stole her phone and posted the picture--along with other incriminating ones--online. Thus, the entire problem of cyber-bullying is dealt alongside a heavy dose of gossip and drama, which didn't work for me. Quite simply put, I barely have anything to say about #scandal except for the fact that its characters failed to resonate with me, its plot felt flimsy and underdeveloped, and with the exception of that gorgeous blue background color, I'd prefer to entirely forget about the existence of this novel. Excuse me while I hunt for my copy of Bittersweet to remind myself of what a classic Sarah Ockler story reads like; this innovative approach just didn't do it for me.

[Frency camminando tra le pagine · Rating 4 out of 5]

RECENSIONE COMPLETA SUL BLOG http://camminando-tra-le-pagine.blogs...



#AMORENONCORRISPOSTO” è il romanzo pubblicato da qualche settimana dalla Newton Compton di Sarah Ockler.
Ammetto con assoluta sincerità che inizialmente credevo che questo libro fosse una cavolata pazzesca, ma per qualche strano motivo ne ero attrattissima. Ogni volta che entravo in libreria mi capitava tra le mani, ogni volta che accedevo al mio account amazon era lì tra le letture consigliate, e così mi sono decisa ad acquistarlo.
Ora che l’ho letto posso dire meno male che l’ho fatto.
Meno male che non mi sono fatta influenzare da i miei pregiudizi su questa storia, perché mi sarei persa davvero un bel libro.
Leggo da diversi anni ormai, abbastanza per sapere che non bisogna mai giudicare un libro dalla copertina o dal titolo che in questo caso che non è per niente appropriato.
“#AMORENONCORRISPOSTO” fa pensare ad una storia che ruota attorno alla storia d’amore, un amore travagliato complicato e doloroso in quanto a non corrisposto, ma il titolo in questo caso non poterebbe essere più ingannevole di così. Perché questo romanzo non è una storia d’amore, mentire se dicessi che manca totalmente di romanticismo, la parte romance c’è ma è del tutto marginale e passa in secondo piano. Il tema principale di questo romanzo è il bullismo – in modo particolare il cyber-bullismo, per questo credo che il titolo originale #SCANDAL sia molto più appropriato.

“#AMORENONCORRISPOSTO” – o #SCANDAL – è la storia di Lucy Vacarro una normalissima ragazza che frequenta l’ultimo anno di liceo e che improvvisamente si trova ad essere la protagonista di uno scandalo degno di una rivista patinata.
È il giorno dopo il ballo che inizia l’incubo di Lucy.
Il ballo di fine anno; quello a cui lei non voleva partecipare, ma al quale è dovuta andare come accompagnatrice di Cole – il ragazzo di Ellie la sua migliore amica.
È li che è iniziato tutto.
Nessuno sa che Ellie non è davvero bloccata a casa con l’influenza, ma che si è lasciata con Cole – nemmeno Lucy è ha conoscenza di questo piccolo dettaglio. Per questa ragione quando Cole la bacia sotto il cielo stellato alla festa dopo ballo, per Lucy non è solo la realizzazione di un sogno, siccome è innamorata di Cole da sempre, ma è anche un incubo. Perché quel momento magico, bellissimo e tanto atteso è anche il momento in cui ha tradito la sua migliore amica.
Lucy è spaccata a metà; da un lato la gioia dal’altro il senso di colpa schiacciante. Sa di dover confessare ad Ellie quello che è accaduto, ma prima ancora che riesca a parlare con lei le foto del ballo sono tutte su internet, sulla pagina Facebook di Miss Decenza, colei che alimenta gli scandali.
La notte del ballo qualcuno ha rubato il telefono a Lucy e ha postato tramite il suo profilo foto imbarazzanti di ogni compagno di scuola, e tra le foto ce ne sono anche alcune compromettenti di lei e Cole.
Lucy e Cole che si baciano sotto le stelle.
Lucy e Cole avvinghiati sotto lenzuola in una posizione molto compromettenti che lascia supporre qualcosa che non è affatto successo.
Quelle foto nel giro di pochissimo tempo vengono viste da tutti. E così, Lucy diventa la regina dello scandalo.
Criticata.... continua sul blog http://camminando-tra-le-pagine.blogs...

[dee ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I saw this book I thought it would be a bit more interesting and an easy contemporary for me to enjoy. I picked it up finally as an attempt to get me out of my book hangover over Queen of Shadows...But within the first couple pages I was already not a fan of the writing or the characters. I couldn't connect with them at all. The writing felt all over the place and seemed like it was just trying way too hard bringing in pop culture references. It was too much for me and I can't do it. Also, everything felt so cliché. I read the last couple pages just to see who actually did post those photos and let me tell you...predictable.
I'm really disappointed I didn't like this at all.

Full review posted on my blog, The Bookish Khaleesi

[Sarah]

You know that episode of Friday Night Lights, "It's Different for Girls"? This book is as painfully real as that episode, except with the added horror of Facebook. Highly recommend if you like intelligent, insightful YA books like Siobhan Vivian's The List or The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alors vraiment foncez lire ce livre. Je n'ai pas réussi à trouver la personne qui avait fait circuler la rumeur. Ça traite de sujets importants. La plume est grave fluide et la lecture est très agréable.

[Books are TARDIS · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting and gripping contemporary book I read between my fantasy and paranormal reading binges. I read the entire book in one sitting and I found the story to be a compelling and easy read.

The way I see it: Is #scandal the leading book on the topic of bullying? Probably not. But is #scandal a light, fun and well written book that does highlight the "It's Different for Girls" (when it comes to how society blames and calls women/girls names but not men/boys) issue? Definitely Yes. How can a book about bullying be fun and light, you ask? Take a chance on the book friend and find out for yourself, I say. I suppose not everyone will warm up to this approach to writing about a serious topic. But I personally don't think this book undermined the gravity of the bullying situation. It just took a different and lighter story telling approach to the topic.


The book features a quirky sibling relationship and has a lot of interesting side characters. Our high-school detectives were a brilliant lot, I adored them all. I especially loved Franklin, so much so that I even ship him quite a bit with Lucy. But that is probably because the Lucy and Franklin relationship was built up on the pages of the book in-front of our eyes. Whereas the Lucy and Cole flame that was always there is something we have to take the book's word for. But I digress, I was talking about the interesting cast of character. The (e)VIL group is also brilliant. I like this group, the force is strong with them (because they'd love this pun, teehee). Though, don't sign me up for (e)VIL just yet, cause I can't live without the internet. Principal Zeff is another interesting character and I adored her. In some ways, she reminded me of Tina Fey's "Ms. Norbury" character from Mean Girls. Only, Zeff is hella a lot more clueless than Ms. Norburry.

Keys are banging again, Zeff spitting out words between clenched teeth. “Maggie. I. Already. Saw. The. Video. Twice. Adorable!” She offers me a forced smile. “Chin up, Lucy. My door is always open. Got it?”

“Got it,” I say.

“Great.” Zeff’s attention is back on her profile, fingers poised on keys, ready to take down the oversharers. “Would you mind shutting the door on your way out?”


The gossip girl themed blog was super interesting and the writing style for that hit all the right notes.


In the time-honored tradition of prom-goers since humans first crawled out of the pond with the dinosaurs (and/or appeared on the earth exactly seven days after it came into existence four thousand years ago, give or take, depending on your beliefs, all of which I publicly support while whispering about you behind closed laptops), many of you undoubtedly engaged in a few rites of passage this weekend. Before we continue, please join me in a moment of silence to mourn the collective loss of innocence.

Tell me that you don't read the above in Kristen Bell's Gossip Girl voice.


The writing in general is very crisp and sharp.

“Here’s some advice, horses.” I rise from the stool. In their stalls along the wall, the animals prick their ears, swat invisible flies with their tails. “Don’t ever get on Facebook.”

Prince Freckles whinnies. Also maybe let’s not fall for our best friends’ boyfriends.

“You’re getting a little too smart.” I hand over the last of my lunch, an apple he gladly devours, and nuzzle the velvety gray patch between his eyes. “See you tomorrow, buddy.”

Maybe I'm easily won over, but that is witty and sharp A+ writing for me.


There is a lot of teen-speak in this book that I found to be legit. Granted that I was a teenager ages ago, but none of it sounded off kilter to me. The chapter names had me chuckling, loved them, example: "If You Can’t Beat ’em, Join ’em, Then Beat ’em after All the Joining, Because They Totally Won’t See That Shit Coming" and "The Pal in Principal"

The book is laden with pop culture references, and I love me that stuff.
Franklin laughs. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves an investigation, Veronica.”


I love family focused books. This book takes its time in showing and mending the dysfunctional sibling relationship between Lucy and Jayla. This is a definite plus point for me.


I do have some grievances with the story. The romance was more TELL than SHOW, so I wasn't 100% sold on it. What little I did see of Cole and Lucy's budding relationship sounded promising. Only problem is that there wasn't enough of it. The story counted a lot on their past history, so maybe we should have had more glimpses of that.


Lucy handled all the bullying with a lot more poise than I imagine most people would in her situation. But everyone has different coping mechanisms, some people find something to channel all their anxiety and energy into rather than falling apart (like I would for sure), so that's not really a criticism, just an observation.

There were a few instances when Lucy said that maybe she deserved all the bullying. I don't take that so literally. I think Lucy just said that because of her feelings of remorse over breaking the girl code. It shows that Lucy values her female friendships.

I don't think that the book is justifying, enabling or undermining the bullying message with those sentiments Lucy had.


The book also provides valid and poignant commentary over the state of social media today and asks this sociology question: Do human relationships and interactions inspire and shape technology, or does technology shape us?


All in all, this was a solid contemporary read. I'd be willing to give it a re-read, so that definitely confirms its 4-stars status.

In so many ways, this book falls in the same category for me as E. Lockhart's "The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks" , so if you like me love that book, chances are that this one is right up your alley.

[Luzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story focused more on the theme rather than the romance which in addition to the typing style gave it an authentic twist. Not every book has to be all lovey-dovey, to prove on being a romance novel. As said the romance was more realistic. I liked most of the characters ... not! Griffin and Ellie were terrible friends, Marceau was an unessecary characters and this anti-electronics organization was kind of weird. Only Franklin, Cole and Lucy were well thought-through personalities which kind of (in some ways) reminded me of myself.
I liked the book, very ... okay. It was easy to read and actually improved very toward the end. The ending was pretty concluding and answered all the questions we might have had but was also kind of obvious. A fun read for the summer! Luzie out!
4/5 stars

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One-sitting read. I think Cole is my new Literary Boyfriend.

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich habe bereits ein paar Bücher von Sarah Ockler gelesen und muss sagen, dass ich dabei mal begeistert war, aber auch schon enttäuscht wurde. Von daher war ich schon sehr gespannt auf ihren neuesten Roman "#Skandal", denn dieser klang wieder einmal sehr interessant, sodass ich das Buch unbedingt lesen wollte. Nun, meine Erwartungen wurden zwar nicht ganz erfüllt, allerdings war die Geschichte am Ende doch ganz gut gelungen.

Der Schreibstil hat mir gut gefallen. Die Autorin hat mal witzige, mal eher traurige Dialoge geschaffen, die wohl jeder Jugendliche in irgendeiner Art und Weise schon einmal erleben musste, bzw. durfte. Dazu sind die Figuren gut ausgearbeitet, denn jede war an sich nicht nur vielseitig, sondern bekam auch immer irgendwo eine Macke, über die man sich als Leser herrlich aufregen konnte. Leider muss ich jedoch auch sagen, dass mir die Figuren, allen voran Lucy, nicht immer sympathisch waren, denn obwohl die Autorin sich sehr viel Mühe gegeben hat, empfand ich manche von ihnen schon als sehr oberflächlich. Dies ist für die Art der Geschichte sicherlich so beabsichtigt, allerdings hat mir hier die Tiefe gefehlt.

Ansonsten ist der Schreibstil aber wirklich gut gelungen. Die Facebook-Einträge kommen gut zur Geltung, die Geschichte liest sich locker und flott und auch sonst mag hier vieles gut zusammenpassen. Die Autorin nimmt das Thema "Mobbing" und "Gefahren im Internet" sehr genau unter die Lupe, warnt ihre Leser auch in gewisser Art und Weise, erhebt dabei aber nie mahnend den Zeigefinger, was mir besonders gut gefallen hat. Dennoch wird die Art und Weise, wie Lucy mit ihrem gehackten Account in die Ecke getrieben wird, authentisch erzählt, sodass sich hier wohl jeder in sie hineinversetzen kann - unabhängig davon, ob man sowas selbst schon einmal erleben musste oder eben nicht.

Gleichzeitig geht es hier nicht nur um Cybermobbing, sondern auch um das zerrüttete Verhältnis zwischen Lucy und ihrer älteren Schwester, die durch eine Soap Opera zum großen Star wurde. Durch ihr Star-Dasein und ihr leicht skurrile Art ist das Verhältnis zu Lucy schwer zerrüttet, sodass es lange dauert, bis die zwei ungleichen Schwestern sich wieder annähern. Außerdem ist auch noch Freundschaft ein großes Thema, denn schnell wird hier klar, wer tatsächlich zu Lucy hält und wer sich direkt abwendet, um selbst über sie herzuziehen. Weiterhin ist es schön zu sehen, dass ausgerechnet die Leute auf ihrer Seite stehen, von denen man es zunächst nicht erwartet hat, denn man erkennt hierbei auch sehr schön, dass Vorurteile schnell verfliegen, wenn man erst einmal die Augen für Neues offen aufhält.

Das Cover trifft nicht so ganz meinen persönlichen Geschmack, ist aber für die Geschichte durchaus passend, denn schließlich geht es auch dort um stellenweise heimlich aufgenommene Fotos. Die Kurzbeschreibung ist gelungen und hat mich direkt angesprochen, von daher wollte ich das Buch unbedingt lesen.

Insgesamt hat mir "#Skandal" bis auf einige Schwächen gut gefallen, sodass ich das Buch vor allem denjenigen empfehlen möchte, die sich für das Thema "Mobbing", bzw. "Cybermobbing" interessieren, denn hier wird eine authentische Geschichte erzählt, die nahezu jeden treffen könnte, der im Internet unterwegs ist.

[Nomes · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a girl whose first reading love is contemporary YA, Sarah Ockler is one of my fave authors for consistently delivering my kind of swoony and compelling reads.

Straight out I'll admit, if this blurb had not been accompanied by Ockler's name I would have passed #scandal by. I have limited interest in online scandals, social networking dramas, cyber bulling, etc even while knowing it's an important issue that should be represented in fiction for this generation. But I do have major interest in Sarah Ockler and unrequited love. So cue major excitement because if anyone can get me converted to a tabloid-y internet troll-type story, Ockler would be the one.

#scandal opened straight with action at a swirling prom night and after party where characters dance in and out of the scene laying clues and foundations for the inciting event: the forbidden kiss. It's a doozy of an opener, atmospheric and energetic -- Ockler embraces Lacy's voice (wry, authentic and slightly snarky in a nerdy way. Also, endearingly vulnerable and hopeful). It felt like Ockler had a blast writing this -- with witty asides and tabloid newsletters interspersed throughout. It's voice-y and clever and somehow spirited (despite our protagonists quiet misgivings -- there's a spark in the air).

The plot follows a truly-awful trajectory of gut-wrenching shaming and a mass trolling fall-out where a small scandal snowballs into your worst nightmare. This is interspersed with Veronica Mars style sleuthing with a budding gang of new-to-Lucy crew trying to work out who is behind the attacks. There's a painful best friend fall-out -- and, sadly, despite the truly awesome prom night kiss -- not much time to explore her relationship with Cole.

The pacing is great -- constantly upping the ante with the bullying -- nothing is easy for Lucy. Things go from bad to worse. I felt so, so bad for her. The mystery is sound and the forming of a new rag-tag type group was definitely a highlight for me. However, it was not a me book. I don't like watching teens behaving badly online and witnessing the stomach-churning, relentless despair and overwhelming horror the victims endure. It really is distressing. Also, I missed the Ockler swoon. Cole was cute, sure, and had potential to be serious book-crush contender but he was largely absent for major portions of the book. I also missed seeing their relationship develop from crush, to slow burn to anticipation and realisation due to the book opening with the love already established on both sides.

I think if this premise is your kind of thing you should check it out, for sure. I like seeing authors try out new genres and twists on their usual MO but this one just didn't resonate with me like Ockler's previous books. Still -- #scandal grabbed me and I charged through it, butterflies in my tummy and all, within 48 hours.

[Kaya Dimitrova · Rating 4 out of 5]

„#Скандал” е книга, засягаща темата за социалните мрежи и разрушителната сила, която понякога имат те, но се чете леко, заради свежия и забавен стил на авторката. Недостатъкът е, че книгата има изключително предвидим сюжет и герои. Това понякога ме изнервяше, но въпреки всичко успях да я харесам и да й се насладя. Цялото ревю тук -> http://justonebooklover.blogspot.bg/2...

[Anni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Also erstmal zur Aufmachung: Das Cover ist wirklich ansprechend gestaltet und der Titel ziemlich passend. Das war auch ausschlaggebend für den Kauf des Buches, zum Glück gebraucht, hätte ich den vollen Preis gezahlt, hätte ich mich geärgert, weil es das Geld leider nicht so wirklich wert ist.
Sarah Ockler hat einen locker leichten Schreibstil, sodass ich schnell voran kommen konnte und die Titel der Kapitel waren auch immer lustig.
Trotzdem kam ich am Anfang nicht so richtig rein, weil es zu viele Ereignisse und Charaktere gab, ich konnte das alles gar nicht so richtig ordnen. Das hat sich aber später gebessert. Trotzdem bin ich bis zum Schluss mit den Charakteren einfach nicht warm geworden, das war schade. Die Idee von „Miss Behave“ fand ich eigentlich nicht schlecht, aber es hat mich sehr an „Secrecy“ aus der Silbertrilogie erinnert und da fand ich es besser umgesetzt, für mich war es auch keine wirkliche Überraschung, wer hinter der Seite steckte.
Was ich mich bei diesem Buch wirklich frage, ist: Was wollte die Autorin für eine Message an ihre Leser überbringen? Denn so, wie es geschrieben ist, werden Jugendliche als unkompetente Social-Media-Süchtige Wesen abgestempelt, die völlig vergessen haben, was wirklich wichtig ist.
Die Auflösung fand ich dann eigentlich ganz in Ordnung, deshalb:
3/5

[Nemo · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a full and edited review (With Gifs!) Go to: Blame it on the Book

This book was (obviously) full of Scandals and gossip scenes, in a very Sarah Ockler fashion, there is comedy while at the same time having a sense of dread. For anyone whose read Sarah Ockler’s writing you know to prepare with a few tissues. There’s normally death and grief and I big breakdown moment but in this one, im glad to say that it’s not an issue. There’s a lot of comedy relief and even though there is sadness it’s not hate-my-life sadness.

So when I first started reading, I was very confused. Mostly because I had read the blurb wrong, I thought our Main Character Lucy was the famous one but instead it was one of her family members. Once I cleared that up I could understand a little more. Emphasis on a little because it started out from the get go talking about Corporations against electronics, mermaids and zombies. It’s not until about chapter 5 or 6 that everything gets explained.

Now my FAVORITE thing about reviewing this is that I can use Veronica Mars Gifs because it’s almost exactly alike (minus murder of course) and they even get compared in the book, and as a huge Veronica fan I was jumping up and down.

So Lucy’s best friend Ellie, asks her to go to prom with her boyfriend, Cole. Lucy has been inlove with Cole but because of Ellie she’s buried it inside herself. Cole also like Lucy, and they both have these really strong feelings for each other that has been supressed for all of high school. And now they decide to drink and talk and that leaves to a very intense kiss.

“Apparently the rent a princess list of duties stops just short of “attend intimate all-nighter at my boyfriend’s secluded mountain cabon”


Which ends up on her facebook the next day. Now that wouldn’t be too bad if it was just her but it was pictures of every other person at the party, some in very incriminating positions. Because it came from her facebook everyone immediately blames her so now she has too prove her innocence. Expect she refuses to delete the pictures, or ask the principal for help, or talk to anyone really.
We don’t really get to see any of Ellies personality, mostly she’s mad and the little we see of her she’s keeping a secret from Lucy. As for Lucy she’s a zombie killing, butt kicking , army boot wearing tough chick. Even though she’s borderline whiny it doesn’t get annoying because you can really feel her pain.

There’s so much more than just who posted these pictures? Theres a gossip column called “Miss Demeanor” which add fuel to the fire, along with another facebook page called “Juicy Lucy” made to get even more people mad at Lucy. Thankfully Lucy doesn’t have to go through all of this by herself, she found allies between the anti social networking group (e)vil and the editor of school newspaper Franklin.


There were a lot of pop culture references. Not just Veronica mars but also star trek, star wars, social networks and the Hunger Games.
“if you rearrange the letters in ‘ corporate social network’ you can make, ‘Capital’ and ‘Snow’.”
The biggest theme of this book is to always be yourself, even if it means making hardest decision. And also that you can’t help who you love. It’s repeated quite a lot, by almost all the characters.
Overall it was a WONDERFUL book. It made me laugh, it made me sigh and I even teared up a few times. The only thing I would change was to explain a few more things and have more backstory on Ellie and Lucy.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My preference still goes out to The Summer of Chasing Mermaids, but #scandal is another amazing Sarah Ockler book. Relatable characters, great relationships, questions of friendship, truth/lies, the power and the dangers of social media, cyber bulling...and Cole. Definitely a great book boyfriend, I loved him.
Full review coming soon on Drizzle & Hurricane Books :)

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm afraid this won't age well with the way technology and pop culture constantly evolves, but for now, this is a perfect slice of life in so many ways. Full review to come

[Silvy Herondale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poco meno di 4 stelle, in realtà!
Carino e scritto bene, anche se la prima parte è un po' lenta...

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

#scandal by Sarah Ockler
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: June 17, 2014
Rating: 4 stars
Source: eARC from Edelweiss

Summary (from Goodreads):

Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.

There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love...

What I Liked:

Before I start this review, can we all just take a moment to stare at the male model's hair?! Ahh, it looks so silky and soft, I totally want to run my hands through his hair. Tell me I'm not the only one? What - I'm crazy? That's fine, I'll have him and his wonderful hair all to myself. *feels satisfied*

Anyway. What a novel. I definitely walked into this one thinking that I'd get a great romance and a hilarious story, and most likely I'd love it, because I have a good feeling about Sarah Ockler's books. Well. That's not quite what happened. There IS a great romance, a hilarious story, and I did love this book. But this book went deep into the social norms and culture of teenagers and the presence of social media. #scandal is heavy on the repercussions of social media usage - it's quite heartbreaking in this book.

Lucy went with her best friend's boyfriend to the prom - her best friend said she was sick, but didn't want Cole NOT to go. Lucy has been in love with Cole for four years - little does she know that he has been in love with her the whole time as well. They kiss at prom, they fall asleep, and the next morning, pictures of them - and everyone at prom - are posted all over Lucy's Facebook page. Someone took her phone, created an album for prom pictures, and posted pictures of Lucy and Cole, and so many other teenagers messing around the night of prom.

Everyone, including the school's principal, thinks Lucy did it, that she is cyberbullying others. Things escalate quickly; Lucy is slut-shamed (she kissed her best friend's boyfriend), Lucy is harassed and attacked (she allegedly posted all of those embarrassing pictures of everyone else on Facebook), and Lucy is alone (Ellie, Cole's girlfriend, won't speak to either of them, and neither will Lucy's other friends, or anyone else at school). Lucy turns to the anti-social-media group, the valedictorian, and Cole, to find out who took and posted those pictures.

I was angry as I was reading this book. How dare everyone blame Lucy! How dare the principal ignore Lucy's protests of innocence! How dare everyone slut-shame Lucy! It's funny, because Ellie and Cole broke up before prom - that's why Ellie faked being sick, and asked Lucy to step in - she thought Ellie would be a harmless date that wouldn't try anything with Cole. I felt so bad for Lucy, and for Cole, because they definitely got the short end of the stick, out of everyone affected.

Lucy is so one-of-a-kind. She's a hardcore gamer, somewhat goth-ish, a total geek (meant in the nicest of ways). I really like her! She handles everything with controlled panic and some confidence. She's torn up about being blamed for everything and having to apologize for something she didn't do, but I like her character, and how she reined in her outbursts.

The Jayla Heart/Angelica Darling thing is confusing. Apparently, Lucy's sister is a TV star. Her real name is Janey, her star named is Jayla Heart, and her character's name (in the show) is Angelica Darling. Jayla comes home mysteriously, and takes over as Lucy is thrown into the prom scandal. It was weird, but interesting - the inclusion of a TV star/famous sister. Confusing, but interesting.

The story is pretty straightforward - find out who took those pictures and then uploaded them to Lucy's personal Facebook page, via her phone. I had a feeling who did it, and I was right, but I didn't solidify that conclusion until it was revealed, so that was cool. Ockler kept me going, trying to figure out who did it. It's like a whodunit type of story, but no one died.

I like how Ockler inlcudes the underlying theme of the danger of social media. It's important to understand that social media is pretty harmful. These days, you can access everything from your phone, and while that's cool, it's scary. All of your information, already logged in, right there for anyone to control. Clearly, that hurt Lucy (and others) in the end. One malicious act, and lives were ruined.

I also like the other underlying themes that Ockler including - the ones dealing with relationships. Lucy makes friends with people she would never talk to otherwise (the anti-vanity-technology guys, Franklin the valedictorian, etc.). She also develops a better relationship with her sister, who learns her lesson.

And there's the romance. It's not a romance that is in your face, all the time. Cole and Lucy do not have chemistry that flies off the page. Their stolen night is what caused this whole situation, but they fight to be together. Together, with the new friends, they find out who put up the pictures. This romance is less about the physical romance, and more about the mental and emotional side of the relationship. I love how Ockler created and progressed their relationship. The romance was really well-done, in this novel.

Heck, everything was really well-done in this book. I seriously enjoyed it! I spent most of the novel with simmering blood, but not at Lucy - at the unfairness of the situation. But Ockler teaches us several important lessons in this book, and that is excellent.

What I Did Not Like:

I know I just said that I really liked the romance how it is, but maybe a little more between Cole and Lucy? It makes sense, that they would back off, after being "caught", but ahh, I wanted more scenes between them! Yes, mental and emotional bonds are important. But physical bonds are important too. Heh.

I can't really think of anything else! This book was really solid. Good stuff.

Would I Recommend It:

Yes! The non-contemporary-romance-fan likes another contemporary romance novel - what is happening!? That being said, I'm not usually a fan of contemporary romance novels, but I liked this one. The messages behind this book are super important, so there's that. The romance isn't overwhelming or dominant, so there's also that. This one is a good one, I promise!

Rating:

4 stars. I'm two for two with Ockler's books! And both are contemporary novels, huh. I'll definitely be checking out her future novels!

[Rabiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted at: http://iliveforreading.blogspot.com/2...

I’ve always wanted to read one of Sarah Ockler’s books– all of them sound so enticing! Twenty Boy Summer, Fixing Delilah... and then came this amazing opportunity to be a part of the #scandal blog tour, and so of course, I was signing up faster then you could say “hashtag”. You guys... this book was amazing. I fell in love with the writing style, the characters, the storyline, EVERYTHING. I didn’t care that it was 400+ pages long. If it was any other book, I might have balked at the idea of reading such a long contemporary, but nu-uh, I enjoyed every single part of the plot because nothing was filler. If it wasn’t adding to the plot, it was developing the characters or background story. It was so rich in detail and that’s mainly the reason why I adored this book.

I loved the characters. Lucy’s character was so great, I could really relate to her, and I like that she broke the mould. At the start, she seems set up to be this generic character, the somewhat anti-social chick who enjoys online gaming, the younger and much ignored sister of someone famous. However, I like that she didn’t have a tough exterior all the time, and that she did enjoy being “girly” and doing things that many characters fit into the stereotype wouldn’t even DREAM of doing.
Cole was super cute, but I feel we didn’t see him for a lot of the novel. Which I mean was pretty great, since there were some fabulous other characters, such as Franklin and Asher, which leads to a more developed plot. I also really enjoyed Jayla’s role in the story. She definitely added a lot of the hilarious moments in the book as the plot to uncover who posted the photos gets deeper and deeper.

Speaking of, holy moly, I totally did not see several things coming. I love how the book had a Gossip Girl-vibe to it and that there wasn’t just one big twist, but several things were revealed along the way. The conspiracy group (e)VIL (who are not really, well, evil) was such a fabulous addition as well because everything adds up in the end, and it’s a well-constructed storyline that everyone has a role in.
Ockler’s novel really explores the many problems we have with social media today. Privacy, cyberbullying, and the misinterpretation of events. This happens all the time, and during high school, it can be hurtful and could end up ruining many people’s lives. Thankfully, I’ve had no such experience in the past four years of high school, but it’s definitely happened to people that I know and I could only imagine the repercussions of the damage done.

#scandal was everything you could possibly want in a contemporary novel. Filled with humor, drama, and an adorable romance, Sarah Ockler’s latest had my jaw dropping several times, and sent my into multiple fits of giggles. This was a fantastic portrayal of the digital age we live in, and truly captures the ups and downs of being a teenager. Do not pass this one up!

[Catastrophe Queen · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happens when you live your life in your starlet sister's shadow? When you've secretly been in love with your best friend's boyfriend for four years? And when the aforementioned secret love kisses you on prom night?

I'll tell you what happens --- you get drama. Petty, insignificant high school drama. Lucy Vacarro is branded as a slut and boyfriend snatcher when Cole, her bff's boyfriend, kisses her at the prom after party even though Cole was technically single by then. Okay, sure two minutes after Lucy kissed Cole she puckers up for the foreign exchange student Marceau but that does not mean that she is a slut. She was just confused and guilty about what she had done. Besides, technically, a slut is someone who has sex with lots of people that she becomes a walking ad for sexually transmitted disease.

I didn't like the shallow, cruel reactions of the student body when pictures of the incident surfaced. I guess in other cultures it's typical to slut-shame girls and condemn them without hearing their side of the story but it does not happen often where I come from. So yeah, I have my biases but it just didn't seem right that Lucy was being bullied and yet no school official seemed eager to defend her.

Then the fact that Lucy was too timid to speak up for herself irked me to no end. Sure, she tried to find out who took the pictures and posted them with the use of her phone as well as who made the nasty Facebook fan page for her but for me that wasn't enough. She was supposed to be a kickass zombie apocalypse buff who didn't care about what other people thought. I guess the "scandal" completely changed her personality.

So why 3 stars? Some of the dialogue made me laugh. I loved Jayla/Janey. She was a good sister even though she had a completely weird way of showing it. I liked Marceau. He seemed sweet. I liked Franklin. He was a British smarty-pants. And lastly, I loved Ellie. Despite the betrayal of her ex and bff, she forgave them and even stood up for Lucy.

Overall, worth a read but not a place in my favorite shelf.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

In today's world everyone has an online account. We are constantly retweeting, favorite, posting, and tagging. On the night of prom it's still the same. Pictures are posted, selfies are taken, and memories are uploaded. Lucy Vacarro's best friend, Ellie is sick so Lucy goes to prom with Ellie's boyfriend. He's name is Cole Foster and it just happens to be that Lucy has had a major crush on this guy for four years. They have a good time, dance, and go to a party afterwards. They kiss and the next morning Lucy's phone is missing, and pictures have been posted from her Facebook account. Pictures of her and Cole together and of other classmates doing #scandal things. So... who did it?


Hmm... This was a good book. I liked it, but there was nothing special about it. I found it lacking in some areas. For example there were boring parts and things that didn't make sense. The love portion was tiny and confusing. I liked the characters and the way the author wrote about the dangers of online. I am not freaking out about it like I usually would... The ending was horrible in my opinion. I was unimpressed Sarah Ockler...

[Diana von Dinchen´s Welt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erster Satz:
"Es heißt, ein Bild sagt mehr als tausend Worte."

Meine Meinung zum Buch:
#Skandal war mein erstes Buch von Sarah Ockler. Erwartet habe ich eine oberflächliche Story mit typischen Highschool Problemen und null Tiefgang. Bekommen habe ich aber eine packende, spannende und einfühlsame Story.

Der Schreibstil der Autorin hat mir gut gefallen. auch wenn dieser sehr einfach gehalten wurde. Die Intrigen, die Liebesgeschichte und der Klatsch und Tratsch haben mich einfach magisch angezogen, sodass ich unglaublich viel Spaß beim Lesen und miträtseln hatte.

Lucy und Cole, die beiden Hauptprotagonisten, mochte ich sehr gerne. Vor allem Lucy fand ich sehr authentisch. Beide haben ihre Ecken und Kanten und wirken dadurch viel greifbarer. Die Liebesgeschichte hätte für meinen Geschmack noch mehr ausgebaut werden können, fand ich aber im Großen und Ganzen sehr passend.

Das eigentliche Thema - Cyber-Mobbing und wie man damit umgeht - wurde sehr gut in die Story eingearbeitet, zudem regt das Thema unglaublich zum Nachdenken an.

Fazit:
Für mich hat dieses Buch alles, was ein gutes Buch haben sollte.

Das Buch erhält von mir 5 von 5 Federn!

[Kayli · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first started this book, the whole Lucy scandal thing made me really stressed for her and I had to put it down for a bit because I was stressing for her predicament too much. But other than that, I really didn't care for the characters and some parts were very cliché. The dialogue was unnecessary at most parts as well. I feel that this book would make a good MOVIE that would be shown on abc family or something. But this just wasn't for me.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished #scandal in one sitting down. It was a great for the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed it but the last 25% ruined it for me. I was so annoyed, maybe if that didnt happened I would've rated this book 4 stars.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Review coming soon!

[Buecherleidenschaft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leider nicht so gut wie gedacht ...