Unfriended

by Rachel Vail

In middle school, nothing is more important than friendship.

When Truly is invited to sit at the Popular Table with the group she has dreamed of joining, she can hardly believe her luck. Everyone seems so nice, so kind to one another. But all is not as it seems with her new friends, and soon she's caught in a maelstrom of lies, misunderstandings, accusations and counter-accusations, all happening very publicly in the relentless, hyperconnected social media world from which there is no escape.

Six eighth-graders, four girls and two boys, struggle to understand and process their fractured glimples into one another's lives as they find new ways to disconnect, but also to connect, in Rachel Vail's richest and most searching book.

Genres: Young Adult, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Friendship, Contemporary, Fiction, Teen

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 25, 2014

About the author

Birth
I was born on July 25, 1966, in NEW YORK CITY, and grew up in New Rochelle, NY, with my mother, my father, and my younger brother Jon. (And down the street from my future husband, though of course I didn't know that until much later.)

Interests
Some details, I do know-I was very into reading and theater, so I read every book I could get my hands on (especially realistic fiction, either contemporary or historical) and took acting workshops and auditioned for every play in school, camp, or the community. I played Peter Pan, Miss Hannigan in Annie, Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, and lots of extremely memorable chorus parts-for instance, I was "girl number two" in Fiddler on the Roof-the one who said "We heard about your sister, Chava". I didn't care -I just wanted to be on stage. Waiting backstage before curtain call, after giving my all in a performance, was the best feeling I knew. In seventh grade I started taking magic lessons, and by eighth grade I was making all my own spending money by performing at kids' birthday parties as a clown named Tallulah. I liked the freedom of wearing all that grease-paint-I could be as wacky and un-cool as I wanted. I tried dance but felt so clumsy. I faked a sprained ankle to get out of the recital. I took voice lessons which made me a little light-headed (and I was afraid of the voice teacher's growling, drooling Doberman) and both saxophone and piano, neither of which I ever practiced. I did well in school but started a lot of my work at the last minute, in a crazy mad dash, so that it was never late but there were usually careless errors or areas I had to fudge. I had this idea that to work hard at something was sort of a negative, an admission that I didn't have natural talent. If I wasn't going to be Mozart and have the music (or dance, or math, or social studies term paper, or whatever) channeled through me from God, then I was just embarrassing myself by all that workmanlike effort. I didn't get over that idea until after college, by the way.

Career Ambitions
I never really planned to be a writer. I planned to be a financial wizard after learning about option-spreading at age 10, then a poet after discovering Shakespeare at 11. After overhearing "the real power is held by the lobbyists" on a class trip to Albany, I planned to become a lobbyist. Secretly, of course I always imagined myself as an actress, but that didn't seem hard or important enough, and also I worried I wasn't naturally gifted enough.

Parents
My parents were always great. I liked to make them proud, and they trusted me and supported my efforts and interests, which was sometimes weirdly tough. There was so little for me to rebel against.

As a Kid
When people ask me what I was as a kid, I always feel like my answer is at best incomplete.What are you like, as a kid? I'm still trying to figure out what I'm like as an adult.

Socially
Well, things went in waves. Sometimes I felt very "in", very aware of and tied in to the whole scene, excited by who liked whom, all the gossip, some of it less than kind. Other times I felt so alone-like there was nobody like me, nobody who liked me, nobody to talk to. And much of the time it was somewhere in between. A best friend when I was lucky, and a few people in each crowd I liked and who liked me. I resisted being classified as a brain or a jock or alternative or popular-too limiting. I would have to shut down too many parts of myself to be just one type.

Adolescence
I went through a very intense stage in middle school (Junior High). I worried about being too ordinary. I also worried about being too weird. I also worried about changing states of matter, my inability to be morally certain, ignorance (my own and world-wide), and making a fool of myself.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/rachel...

Reviews

[alexandra .ᐟ [tate's version] · Rating 5 out of 5]

˚₊‧꒰ა 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

rating :
♥♥♥♥♥

୨୧ ───────── ୨୧

now playing ˎˊ˗
⤷ jealousy jealousy — olivia rodrigo ౨ৎ
01:42 ━━━━●───── 02:54
ㅤㅤ◁ㅤ ❚❚ ㅤ▷ㅤ ↻

𐙚 ⋆｡˚

❛❛ i kinda wanna throw my phone against the room / 'cause all i see are girls too good to be true ❜❜

𐙚 ⋆｡˚

pre-read˚.🫂⋆ ˎˊ˗
⤷ reread bc i loveeee this book ˎˊ˗

𓆩♡𓆪

❛❛ i know their beauty's not my lack / but it feels like that weight is on my back / and i can't let it go ❜❜

𓆩♡𓆪

• ꒰ overall thoughts ꒱ •
❛❛ ofccc i had to reread this again because i absolutely adoreeeee this book! i read this for the first time a few months ago, and then my mom had got it from the library yesterday and i knew i had to read it again! and i finished this in one sitting... anyways this is honestly one of the best books i've ever read. first of all, the plot. it takes place in 8th grade (late middle school) and it includes the different cliques (popular, nerds, jocks, etc.). basically the fmc, truly, gets dumped by her best friend natasha. then, she finds hazel and they become friends. a few years later, truly is asked to sit at the popular table and leaves behind her old friend, hazel. she begins to be friends with the popular kids and fits in very well. but then, natasha becomes jealous of her, and everybody turns against truly. this book teaches such a great lesson that social media causes how people treat each other. truly receives a lot of hate through social media which is very relatable. this book just had so many good scenes too! my favorite scene was when jack ran into truly during salugi and he carried her to the nurse, that was soooo cute!! next, the characters!! i loveddd both the boy and girl friend groups, they were soooo funny!! every character was unique... especially hazel (still love her <3). they were all so relatable too! i was just in middle school last year, so i could relate to their problems, especially clay failing math... so overall i absolutely LOVE this book and i would 100000000000% recommend it to youuuu! ❜❜

˚₊‧꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

❛❛ and i see everyone gettin' all the things they want / i'm happy for them, but then again, i'm not ❜❜

˚₊‧꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

• ꒰ ratings ꒱ •

plot ୨୧ ♥♥♥♥♥
characters 𐙚 ♥♥♥♥♥
romance ౨ৎ ♥♥♥♡♡
chemistry ⋆｡° ✩♥♥♥♥♡
spice ᵕ̈ ♥♡♡♡♡
pacing ☾ ♥♥♥♥♡
ending ❀ ♥♥♥♥♥

𐙚 ───────── 𐙚

❛❛ just cool vintage clothes and vacation photos / i can't stand it ❜❜

𐙚 ───────── 𐙚

• ꒰ characters ꒱ •

—▷ truly ౨ৎ
why was she so tinyyyy haha! so i didn't love her... she kind of acted like a baby sometimes, but she was a really really sweet person!!

—▷ natasha ౨ৎ
even though she apologized, i still didn't like her. she did some really mean things.

—▷ hazel ౨ৎ
she was odd but in a good way <3

—▷ clay ౨ৎ
ummm hes the most relatable character to me... he was constantly compared to his brother and he failed math... both like me (except its my sister). but he was sooo cute when he was getting nervous to tell brooke he liked her, hes so sweettt !!

—▷ brooke ౨ৎ
i want to be more like her, she was so inspiring! she was kind of like the mom of the group, and she made sure everyone was being nice to each other!! and i ship clay + brooke foreverrrr !!

—▷ jack ౨ৎ
omggg he cared about truly sooo much, it was adorable!

—▷ natasha's mom ౨ৎ
dont even get me started on her. she was so disrespectful.


˚₊‧꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

❛❛ rather be, rather be / anyone, anyone else ❜❜

˚₊‧꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

• ꒰ recommendations ꒱ •

age ୨୧ 12+ years old
interests ୨୧
cliques // popularity // middle school // drama
genre ୨୧
romance
tropes ୨୧
friend groups // neighbors to lovers
𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ 𐙚 ࿐

❛❛ my jealousy, jealousy ❜❜

୨୧ ───────── ୨୧

thank you so much for taking the time to read my review! i hope it was helpful in your reading experience. if you enjoyed this review, please consider following me to receive more valuable reviews! xoxo, alexandra ୨୧

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

SMALL SPOILER ALERT!!!
This book is really good. Seriously. I literally could not put it down until I'd finished reading it (which isn't a good thing, because I have homework...but that's how good the book was). It wasn't five stars only because five stars is a nearly impossible rating for a book to get from me (and even I don't know why).
I connected in some way with every single main character except for Natasha, who (understandably) really annoyed me. She was just so mean--but then sometimes I felt bad for her too. Mostly I can relate to Truly, and my heart really broke for her when she went through all that bullying--and by those she thought were friends, no less. Thankfully, I myself have never been the recipient of bullying, but Truly's experiences were so real to me that I was crying for much of the last quarter of the book. Granted, it doesn't take much to get me crying over a book or movie, but still. I was worried for the poor girl. Thank goodness everything turned out all right.
I could keep talking but I really have to get to my homework. Ugh.

[Strawberry Fields · Rating 1 out of 5]

I, as an adult, love young adult books. However, this one was horrible. I probably could've read it a day and it took me a lot longer than that. I have OCD and I can't just "not finish" a book! LOL! HATED IT!

So I expected some mean girls, some good drama, bullying o'plenty, and what I got was whitewashed. Here's the thing, the popular table, usually "mean girls", were actually very nice. There were only two mean girls and they had both been Truly's friend before she got invited to the popular table. One of the mean girls wasn't really even that mean, she just had her feelings hurt and went a little too far.

The dialogue was hideous. I love books that are told from different points of view, that was good. I had no trouble keeping up with the characters. However, it seemed a feeble, embarrassing attempt on the part of an adult to try to speak like kids do. Either the kids were speaking like grown ups would or it was just a sad attempt to speak kid-ese.

I would say around 95% of the young adult books I have read have depth and deal with topics that are above what they should be dealing with. At least in my own adult mind. Sadly, kids do deal with these things. The only thing I took away from this book that was the least bit deep and thought provoking was what Hazel's grandma said. Bullying has always been around. It's not new. The technology is. Now you can just spread it faster and reach a larger audience. The human nature to scorn has always been there.

So that was the one thing. Now that you know, save yourself some and skip this book. I really wish I could give it no stars.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unfriended is a modern day novel by Rachel Vail that teaches teenagers how social media can give you freedom, as well as cause you harm when used inappropriately.
In this novel, eigth grader Truly (Gabriella) Gonzales learns the hard say that sometimes the "Popular" choice may not be the best choice. When her ex-bff Natasha who dumped her in grade six comes to invite her to sit at the Popular Table and hang out with them, Truly is overly thrilled and excited and follows, dumping her quirky bff Hazel, (who was the one that befriended her when Natasha dumped her) without thinking of the possible misunderstandings between them. Hazel, hurt and feeling betrayed, retaliates using social media, hacking into Truly's accounts, posing and posting as her. Meanwhile, Truly starts warming up to all of them, from the "Perfect Brooke" to the "Super-Chill Clay", but is anyone really who they seem? Natasha gets kicked out of the Popular Table and blames Truly, adding on to the online hate. It soon becomes out of control and crazy, with rumors, lies, and secrets go viral, while nobody has the full truth.
Even when people start easing up on Truly and the whole situation, she begins to become more and more reclused, and cuts school, as well as throwing her cell phone into the big lake. The damage was already done. Hazel 'apologizes' in the end, but is it enough? We don't know if their friendship will ever be the same again. This book ends on the start of their History Day project, which was what Truly was invited to the Table for (to work on the History Day project)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<><><><><><><><><><><><><>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Overall, I found this book really interesting, because of the style, alternating straight point of views with a few text messages, a to-do list, and even a social media post. It was also interesting since the title on the cover was smaller than the author's name. It kind of represented how nobody wanted to be 'unfriended' by someone, on social media or in real life. It's also like a last resort when people want to 'get away from someone' online.
The ending was also okay, I guess. It was a pretty major cliffhanger, after all, and we don't know what will exactly happen next.

[TJL · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have one major, major complaint about this book.

Hazel.

That self-righteous, shit-stirring, abusive, self-absorbed little [YOU DON'T EVEN WANT TO KNOW THE NAMES I HAVE FOR THIS GIRL]

"We had the same [ballerina jewelry boxes]... So corny- the kind with a little ballerina that twirls around when you open it. So girly and cliche, we both thought. As if every little girl is supposed to dream of becoming a tiny ballerina? And collect jewels to fill the box?

Though when I was little I loved that thing. I thought it was so grown-up. But I did see Hazel's point as soon as she made it. I agreed right away that it was horribly anti-feminist and also tacky.

This is on page 3. It is astonishing how quickly this book managed to blatantly piss me off.

Oh, well, pardon me if ballerinas are "anti-feminist" now, Hazel. The next time I see a woman who's dedicated years upon years of hard work and discipline to perfect the art of ballet dancing, I'll be sure to let her know that it makes her a dis-empowered woman- since that's what I assume you mean by "anti-feminist" since that's what most self-righteous assholes mean when they say it. Bless you for being a reminder why loads of women choose to tell feminism to take a hike.

Oh, and by the way, you and Truly seem to have some difficulty grasping the function of a jewelry box: Most people don't put jewels in, they put jewelry in. Which a lot of people have. I fail to see how stupid or unrealistic that is.

Page. Three.

As the story plays out, it turns out that Hazel is a condescending, emotionally manipulative and thoroughly abusive little asshole who is every bit as nasty as she claims Natasha to be- I'd argue worse in some respects, because she really enjoys pretending that she's the eternal victim, a "real girl" who isn't like those empty-headed popular girls.

What's that one post on Tumblr/Twitter? "The worst thing about geeks that become bullies is that you'll never convince them that they're anything but victims"? YEAH, THAT'S THE ONE I'M LOOKING FOR.

Don't get me wrong: Natasha was a little beast too, and really, it was so adorable to realize how many similarities she and Hazel had: They're both emotionally abusive, manipulative little bullies who crapped on Truly at every opportunity. And while Truly did have flaws (dumping Hazel randomly wasn't cool), they completely exaggerated them and overreacted to her mistakes, and you know it was because they thought they were superior to her, and how dare she defy them, how dare she do something they didn't approve of.

Natasha and Hazel had Issues; Natasha is implied to come from a lower economic background with a mother who has problems, and Hazel's parents were dangerously close to a divorce, and suddenly began paying a lot less attention to her.

So obviously, that means it's okay for them to project onto Truly. It's okay for them to call her spoiled when they clearly have their heads so far up their own assholes they can't see anything else anymore. It's okay for Hazel to hack into Truly's social networking accounts and make everyone hate her. Sure it is.

They both needed a kick in the pants in the worst kind of way. Especially fucking Hazel at the end, who said that she had "GOOD REASONS" to hack Truly's account, like sitting with a bunch of girls that Hazel didn't like for ONE LUNCH PERIOD somehow justified impersonating Truly and making everyone hate her and bully the hell out of her. Yeah, this brat learned nothing. Nothing at all.

I hate Hazel. I hate Natasha. I don't care how bad they had it, they were horrible, and they were absolutely itching to rip Truly apart for ridiculous reasons.

I will say that there were some redeeming aspects to this book. Clay saying that Jack was ready to go over to Truly's house and set himself on fire on her front lawn as "penance" for her injury gave me a cackle or two, as did a couple of other lines.

But that's about it. Watching Truly get railroaded as a bully when she was actually not an asshole in the least, only a bit too easily-led and naive, was painful to read.

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Truly is invited to sit at The Popular Lunch Table by her ex-best friend Natasha, she leaves behind current best friend Hazel. Chaos ensues and their eighth grade class may never be the same.

Rachel Vail created a diverse cast of characters and points of view in UNFRIENDED. Bullying, rumors, hacking, friendship, popularity, kindness, crushes and the dangers of jumping to conclusions are explored by the different narrators. How the characters are on the outside isn’t always reflective of how the feel about themselves or their struggles at home.

At the center of the story, Truly a smart girl with a good heart, makes a poor decision, to abandon Hazel and follow her former friend to the popular table. Truly knows she’s done wrong, but doesn’t quite know how to apologize. Hazel goes way too far to hurt Truly. Insecurity makes Natasha so mean. Brooke, the real hero of the story, is the voice of reason. Jack and Clay, the boys provide some calmness amid the rumors and innuendo. The characters were interesting and not stereotypical.

I’d recommend UNFRIENDED to middle grade kids, even younger for advanced readers.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going into this one, I knew it would be a bit of a younger read than I am used to, but as an educator, I wanted to read this one to see if it would be a good fit for my school's library. Social media is such a huge thing these days and the kids are obsessed with it. It pains them to go a whole class period without having access to their phone. They are always connected to one another, so this book appealed to me as bullying over social media has become a huge problem in society.

I was a little nervous at the onset of the book, as I felt the writing was a bit choppy and juvenile. Thankfully, that didn't end up becoming an issue, as it seemed to even out and some of the sentences weren't cut as short.

I felt Vail did a good job of portraying the usage of social media amongst these 8th graders as well as developing a coming of age story that many teens can relate to: fitting in. At this point in many teens' lives, they are still discovering themselves- what they like, who they are, what they need and want from life. Their friend circles are constantly changing and evolving and it's just a superficial time in school.

Our main character Truly is a sweet girl who just wants to fit in. She is thrilled that her former best friend Natasha has taken an interest in her again and has invited her to sit at the Popular Table. Truly is so desperate for that acceptance, she doesn't realize that she is hurting her current best friend by leaving her behind in the dust. She tries to justify it by saying if the tables were turned she would be happy for Hazel, so Hazel should be happy for her. Hazel is deeply hurt by Truly's actions and that hurt turns to anger and vengeance. She wants to show Truly just how vapid Natasha is and ends up causing a chain reaction all based on what was posted via social media.

I could not stand Natasha. She is a mean girl through and through and only talks to Truly again because she is trying to make sure everyone knows that she broke up with Clay and not the other way around. She is constantly judging her and hates putting up with her, but puts on that nice girl façade and gives Truly the impression she wants to be friends again. The other characters were okay for me- Brooke, is the most popular of the group, but she's actually a nice person. She seems to get along with everyone and is secretly crushing on Clay, her best friend for years. Clay was also an okay character. His issues with Natasha aren't important compared to the ones he faces at home and trying to live up to his brother. It can't be easy living in his shadow and we get to see that firsthand with Clay. Jack, Clay's good friend, is sweet on Truly and I thought he was adorable. For being a jock, he has all this nervous energy with her, and it was cute. I wish their storyline had been fleshed out a bit more, but Truly has quite a bit going on with all the drama surrounding her.

I found myself quite sucked in to the drama of this story. I thought it was a pretty accurate description of the things these teens face on a daily basis and while their issues seem trivial and petty, I remember it being a difficult time in life. I wouldn't say this book is life changing, but it does do a decent job of showing kids that everything they say or post can be discovered and manipulated.

*Received a copy of this book via the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.*

[Phraewa Saengaroon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unfriended was a unique book. The book gives you a lot of emotions, such as sad, happy/joy, humor, and friendship throughout the book. This book is best read at age 11 - 14 (Middle School) because most drama and friendship happen at this time, it's natural! So I got too addicted to this book, so I finished the whole book in two days.

Also, I do want to mention that, every chapter was named after the character who are talking, so at first I got a little bit confused (55) and then I figured it out, which I think it's great when we read other character's thinking. This book really tells us how important friendship are, so I am really grateful for it.

P.S I wish Rachel Vail (author of this book) made more series about this!! :D

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how Rachel Vail does it, but she is still right on the pulse of horrifying middle school social interactions. Everybody in this book is suffering and trying to hide this suffering from everybody else (or give it to somebody else). Painful to read. A nest of Snapchat snakes. Judy Blume of today. YIKES.

She is particularly great at delineating the level of mildly shocking cursing that is de rigeur in middle school. Like, pissed. Who says pissed but a middle schooler? More specifically "Everybody is pissed at me."

Hang in there, kids!

[Mila Krepick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only bad thing about this book was I couldn’t put it down and then didn’t get any sleep for a good five hours until I had finished the book.

Also, it made me cry. Which I guess can be a good or bad thing. Its been a while since a book made me cry. The whole ordeal with Truly at the end, where Natasha kept on freaking lying, made me so sad, just reading about how helpless Truly was. But kudos to Jack for being probably the nicest character during that time. Not that I didn’t like any of the other characters. I liked all of them except Hazel and Natasha.

Actually, let me rephrase. At first I didn’t like Hazel. She weirded me out a bit and honestly didn’t seem like that great of a friend. I mean, posting things on Truly’s account instead of trying to just talk to her is just so wrong. And basically the entire reason the book unfolded the way it did for Truly and Natasha. However, she did grow on me and at least was a lot better then Natasha.

Don’t get me started on Natasha. Actually, you don’t have to because I will. Natasha was never ever likable. She made jokes on the groups expense that did not land well, she put Truly down for trying to fit in and then tried to get Truly to stay on her side, she sent a rude email putting down Truly’s family out of sheer envy, she lied tons about Truly and Clay, she made fun of people who weren’t “normal” and called them all freaks, she created an extravagant chain of lies instead of just listening to Truly, and worst of all SHE NEVER APOLOGIZED. The end of the book killed me. Truly and her just decided to start fresh and be friends. Like no…apologize Natasha! And sure her home situation was rough and her mom was not in the best mind state. She still did not have to do all she did to Truly. I LIKED her in the beginning. I thought “Oh that’s sweet, she’s trying to regain her prized friendship.” Nope. Not anymore. Somehow, Natasha couldn’t even APOLOGIZE to ANYONE. There is no excuse for that.

Brooke was just utterly awesome. I don’t have to elaborate much. I thought she’d be mean, honestly. But, nope. She’s just a little perfect sweet angel sent to make up for Natasha. Not much to be said here.

Clay was nice and stuff. He wasn’t a saint yet he was kind to Truly and Brooke and such. Can’t believe he’d EVER like Natasha. Glad he didn’t again. His math side-quest thing was a cool touch to the story but my favorite part of him was when the girls with huddled and gossiping about Truly. He just started talking to her, disregarding the names they called him.

He didn’t do quite as much as Jack though. Jack never stood out to me at the beginning but at the end he was great. He was the friend Truly needed when she was going through everything. He sat with her at recess, not forcing conversation or anything, because she looked down in the dumps. He fought for her innocence upon the Natasha situation. He comforted her the day she cut school and gave her a bracelet from the money he had practically spent all summer making. He’s just a good guy.

Truly was probably my favorite character. Pretty basic, I know, but what can you say? She did ditch Hazel in a second but it’s not like she had any cruel intentions for her old friend. And joining the “popular” group wasn’t even a bad idea. Everyone in that group was nice except Natasha. I could just sympathize with her so much she felt like a distant friend from another dimension or something.

Anywaysss,

Read the book.
Please.
You’ll enjoy it.
Just…
Don’t read it at night or when you have work to do.
Because you WILL stay up and read it.
And your body needs sleep.

[Julie Pickett · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's never easy to read about the lengths kids will go to be accepted. This book is a Mean Girls story, but it is well done. There are about 8 middle-schoolers represented here - however, the main voices are 3 girls and 2 boys, who, through alternating chapters that read like text messages or Facebook postings (some of the time), reveal their personal lives, problems at home, and their insecurities about their personal identity. The reader knows what is really going on, but the individual characters often do not -- this is what keeps you reading. Because you get to know each character's story, there is some sympathy even for the "bad" kids. Rachel Vail understands contemporary teenage life as well as anyone. She doesn't sugar-coat. There are lessons to be learned here and some guilty pleasures spying into these youngsters lives.

[Rashika (is tired)]

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

I love middle grade but I think we can safely say that middle grade novels focusing on middle school drama are not really my thing (although, never say never.) I went into this book kind of expecting a Mean Girls story but that wasn’t exactly what I got. The book is about a girl who dumps her friend for the popular crowd and the popular crowd doesn’t turn out to be bad. Her best friend however…

I could get behind this, I could, but Truly’s (who is the main characters) ex best friend is part of that popular crowd, her ex best friend who dumped her two years ago. Do you see where I am getting with this? It’s a cycle that never endssss (okay, I don’t *really* know that.)

My problem on top of everything else was that the writing didn’t do it for me. The book was definitely geared more towards middle schoolers and I didn't click with the voices of all the characters. I also felt like the writing was too ‘tell-y’ as opposed to ‘show-y.’ We were constantly being TOLD things rather than shown and I was like… nope.

But does that mean this book was bad? I personally think of it as a case of me not being the right audience for it. I think that for middle schoolers, this is a great book. It is realistic in its portrayal of the complications of growing up. It deals with cyberbullying, it deals with ALL the things that middle schoolers these days will be able to relate to. I am no longer in middle school though (it’s been a LONG time) so I guess this book and I just weren’t meant to be.

Note that I received a finished copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Rachel Vail's writing, so even though this friendship/unfriendship story didn't seem that new to me, I was compelled to read it cover to cover in one sitting. This is the classic story of a bully and her posse of friends, and how she manipulates them to repeatedly stir up trouble while maintaining her appearance of innocence. I love that the story moved along quickly, told from not only each girl's point of view but even from the boys that lurk on the fringe of their clique. The use of social media might date the story eventually, but now it is very current and relevant. Ms. Vail does a great job of showing us how quickly Facebook, Instagram and Snapshot fan the flames until there's a raging inferno. Will you just be good to each other already?!

[Addison V · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfriended was a OK book because it was a little bit different from the other books I have read. I don't recommend this book it wasn't the best. The story line was a little confusing. Each chapter talked about different people. I don't recommend this book :)

[Annika]

This book was pretty good.

[Neva♡]

This book was weird and awkward, honestly I hate everybody:| but i still finished it in like one day so maybe I did like it. Oh and the dead bird story is from here, the names not Ashley but Hazel. Sorry i didn't have the energy to write a full review

[♫✯Em loves Hollenstein✯♫❤the summertime and butterflies all belong to your creation❤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually loved this book. I expected it to be good but not amazing. And I was wrong. I loved the characters- even the messed up ones, because they all were messed up. But they were all real and TRUe. (XD)

It was a very funny book, and a bit sad at bits. It really teaches you about friendships, cliques and online bullying.
I loved Jack btw ;) he is so sweet.



For the spoiler part to remind myself:

hazel gets mad when Truly ditched her, so she starts a plan to get revenge, hacking her online accounts and bullying her. As well as her, Natasha only invited Truly to the popular table to use her. And then in the end she and Hazel are friends again, as well as with the other girls (well, except Natasha, but they try to not Hate each other anymore. Truly also sort of kind of ends up with Jack, who is so sweet and is always there for truly. Natasha tries to recruit another girl who was ditched by the popular table, after she is ditched for sending a mean email to Truly, and Hazel hacking into her email and forwarding it to Brooke. I loved the story about Sweet Pea, Hazels bird who was actually a series of birds she didn't know about. I liked Jacks chapters best, and Clays the least because he was a bit of a recurring character to me. Also, the girls at the popular table ditch Truly after Natasha because she spreads rumours about Truly.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mmmmm, YA popcorn. With delicious drama on top and some slightly more substantial crunchy stuff added in, I guess, although the aftertaste of And That's How We Learned Our Lesson About Online Bullying! is kind of wrecking it for me a little.

I have loved Rachel Vail a lot ever since her dearly departed Friendship Ring series in the late 90s (did Zoe and Tommy ever figure it out and get together?? WELL? DID THEY????) and this one feels a lot like a condensed update of those books with modern friendship technology added in. It is still good, and probably apt, idk, even if I had to stop and hold my head sometimes at the ridiculousness of Truly not figuring out much much sooner that her accounts had been hacked. And I love the complexity of all the characters, even if I had trouble keeping their family lives straight sometimes.

(I did have to stop and fully arch an eyebrow at Truly's line "Maybe someday I'll be the one who's famous, not her. I'll write a book about friendship politics where the popular kids aren't libeled as bullies and the weird annoying kids aren't hailed as saints." Okay. Yay for you, I guess, Ms. Vail?)

Also, Jack and his bracelet were the best. D'awwww.

[Book Concierge · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5***

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Gabriele “Truly” Gonzalez is a smart eighth-grader who is liked by most everyone. But when she’s invited to join THE Popular kids’ table, she unthinkingly leaves her best friend behind. And the drama begins.

I found this in the YA section but it’s more middle-school than young adult, in my opinion. Vail gives each of the central kids a voice, changing narrators from chapter to chapter. Some are told as a series of text messages. All are told in first person, and I occasionally lost track of which kid was narrating: Natasha? Brooke? Jack? Clay?

Being a middle-school drama there’s the expected “mean girl” behavior and cyber bullying. But I was surprised by how one of the Moms gets involved in this cyber bullying.

I did really like Truly, her mom, and her friend Jack. (I’d love to read a novel centered on him.) But I thought it took far too long to get to a positive message. Just not my cup of tea at all, though I could see why tweens might like it.

[Shelby Kardon · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book would be perfect for middle school girls who thrive on drama, I found myself eager to get through this one. It does have some valuable lessons to learn about gossip and bullying that I think many adolescents could benefit from, but as an adult I found myself doing a lot of eye rolling. Especially when a parent of one of the major characters got involved in the bullying. It was a little much for me. However, adults are not the author's intended audience, and for those gossipy tween and teen females I think this book would be a hit.

[★ sᴛᴀʀ ★ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴍʏ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀᴡᴏʀʟᴅ · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG. I loved this book, I'm not giving it five stars though, cause it's not the most fantastic book, but I do recommend reading it. The book itself was amazing, I enjoyed it very much. In the last few ending chapters, I swear every character talked like they were giving a life lesson (though Hazel always sounds like that.)
｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+
｡*ﾟCharacters personal review｡*ﾟ
｡*ﾟTruly: ☆☆☆ In the first half I disliked Truly cause I felt she wasn't interesting. I felt forced to like her. But then we got near the end when things got more interesting and I felt how overstimulated she was getting thanks to all this drama on social media. Why? Let's face it haven't we all gone through drama online and just wished it all vanished? Well, that's what Truly felt. Hell, she even threw her phone in a pond if that's not enough proof for you.

｡*ﾟHazel: ☆☆☆☆ Hazel was the key character, she started the drama, she ended the drama. She gave everyone such and AMAZING life story. Brooke calls her a deep person, and I agree. Sure, she did some petty things, which is why she's only stars, but she did it to show everyone how crappy we are to each other. If she didn't exist we wouldn't have a wonderful book to slap us in the face and say "Can we all stop being unnecessary mean to each other?".

｡*ﾟNatasha: ☆ Natasha was SUCH a b*^ch to everyone. She is so full of herself and barely forgave Truly that I swear she went through zero character development. The fact she made that post and acted like random people are saying she sucked...who would fall for such a simple trick? It's called "making everyone pity you" or whatever. UGH. She was horrible, I'm glad nothing insanely good happened to her.

｡*ﾟClay: ☆ Clay was just, there. Maybe his drama could be interesting to you but it wasn't to me. I feel like he deserves his own book to vent on, cause it had nothing to do with the drama between the girls. He was literally created to make boy drama and that's all. But because the author had to make him a bit more of a character they gave him a simple jealousy issue. (Not literally but if felt like it.)

｡*ﾟBrooke: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Brooke is so real, she doesn't even consider her role as "popular" at times, she just wants people to be chill and stop this drama. I love how she has her expectations when it comes to what is right and wrong. She so had Truly siblings back when she heard they were getting mocked at by Natasha. She even won Hazel's trust. Brooke was honestly such a vibe, and was just the glue to stick things together, being the one person you know will do something about it.
｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+
I know this is not all of the characters but these were the ones I felt were important. Byeeee

[Mikayla Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked that many stars because the book could be better.
My friend Cassidy should read this because she has done some very mean things online and would be able to understand what shes doing and how she is hurting the people she is hurting and she would understand how they feel.
The books ending could be better but there could be a series of them but at the end of the book the author didn't put if Truly is staying with Brooke and Natasha or how they did on they play or they all were friends including Hazel and plus it didn't say anything else after Jack gave Truly the bracelet and he told her he liked her it just ended his chapter. Same thing with Brooke and Clay after he told he he liked her and she told him she liked him and he asked her it didn't really say anything else. The book is pretty much a cliffhanger but its still a good book:).

[Chocoland714 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I remember 8th grade, and this was not like it. I mean, parts of it were, and those parts made me cringe. The parts that I didn’t relate to just made it bad. Like the fact that every single person in this book is toxic. I know a lot of people in middle school can be toxic but I didn’t think that EVERY SINGLE person in the book was toxic. Of course there were ones like Natasha that were more toxic and ones who were less. However, there’s a range of toxicness and every single character fell into that range with the exception of 2. And 1 of those 2 had 1 or 2 toxic traits…

So ya, 2.5 stars.

[Mel Raschke · Rating 5 out of 5]

What 6 middle schoolers do when they suddenly find themselves popular.

[Islam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book, no slowing down in this book!

[Daisy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this last summer... not much to say about it. It's fine, quick read. 2.8/5

[Marylei · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about Truly and Hazel. They are best friends. Truly got invited to the popular table. She had to abandon her best friend Hazel. I like this book because its about friendships and i would recommend this to other people.

[Ashlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

An annoying rendition of modern day "mean girls."

[Viviana Perez]

Using two words to describe this book I say "Drama queen". Written by Rachel Vail, “Unfriended" is about betrayal and confusion through all the popular eighth grade students at middle school. Truly was just a normal unnoticed girl when BAM, she was invited to the popular table! This is a shock to her so unknowingly she walks off while leaving her best friend Hazel behind. That was how all the drama had begun. From then you can read all the thoughts and outputs of all the characters perspectives. Flipping chapter by chapter the points of view switch and slide to the next person, showing their emotions and opinions on what is going on. To understand more about the characters Clay, Natasha, Brooke, Hazel, Truly, and Jack, the author includes details of their private life and family life. Proving why they act the way they do and how different their lifestyle is at home. Learning more and more about the kid’s true characters you also read about their secret revenge for each other. But this still doesn't effect the end because, even though some people don’t want to be friends any more, this book shows that it's always possible become friends again. For this book of emotion, I believe recommendations go to 10 through 12 year olds who like to read about drama between friends and who like to read about the anger and sadness of being abandoned. Don't hesitate to pick up this book and start reading, because I had a lot of interesting -at the edge of my seat- moments doing so, and anyone else who’s read it would definitely agree.

[Sara Jung · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s great to be friended. But to be unfriended? Not so much.”

“Is anything better than a Friendship and Betrayal?”

“Just keep walking, butterfly.
Don’t think. Don’t feel. Don’t decide anything. Just walk.”


The book “Unfriended”, is a story about teenagars being on social media, becoming friends and unfriending your old friend. The main character Truly is asked to join the popular table. What will she do?

One of the reasons why I liked this book was because of the author’s style of writing a book. The author wrote the book, not just in one character’s perspective but in 6 perspectives. And I really liked the way, the author wrote in 6 different perspectives because I can know how each person feels and their thoughts.

In middle school, nothing is important than a friendship. People unfriend their old friend and become friends with a new group of friends. When Truly is asked to join the Popular table, she is overjoyed and decides to join them. She is pretty sure her best friend Hazel won’t mind her. Anyways, her new friends are really pretty, nice, smart and sweet. But she is not sure if anybody of her friends are telling the truth. Sweet Natasha who unfriended her and joined the popular table, Perfect Brooke, tough-guy Jack and super-chill Clay. Is anyone truly being themselves? Does anybody have the full truth?

I think I connect with Truly. I connect with Truly because I once dumped a friend to be friends with another friend, thinking that she won’t mind. Also, her personality is alike with me. She is cautious and humorous.

I would recommend this book to all the middle school teens who like to read realistic fiction, teenagars who’s having trouble with friends and teenagars who like to read a book in different perspectives. But I would also recommend this book to middle school teenagars who use a lot of social media.