#famous

by Jilly Gagnon

Debut author Jilly Gagnon bursts onto the scene with a story equal parts bite and romance, perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Jennifer E. Smith, about falling for someone in front of everyone. In this modern day love story: Girl likes boy. Girl snaps photo and posts it online. Boy becomes insta-famous. And what starts out as an innocent photo turns into a whirlwind adventure that forces them both to question whether fame-and love-are worth the price...and changes both of their lives forever. Told from alternating points of view, #famous captures the sometimes-crazy thrill ride of social media and the equally messy but wonderful moments of liking someone in real life.

• ISBN10: 0062430033
• ISBN13: 9780062430038
• Publish Date: 23 March 2017 (first published 14 February 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 6 March 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Katherine Tegen Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

Very pleasantly surprised how much I liked this. Once it hit the "Oh NO! What's he going to do?" point I couldn't put it down.

Emma, mean girl with depth and explanation. I felt so bad for her given her situation and it's clear why she did went the way she did. She's an antagonist for the later half of the book, but the sympathy never went away and it's much better than most mean girl depictions. That said, I do wish it reflected more on how even "the good guy" Kyle boiled her down to her "hotness" and she's pigeonholed.

I really liked Mo. At first I wasn't sure why her and Rachel were friends given how much Rachel ragged on her and they were at odds. But Rachel finally listens and Mo gets to say her piece and it makes sense. Mo is totally the pushy supportive friend looking out for your best, even if it scares the piss out of you.

I will sheepishly admit, I really, really identified with Rachel. I was on the verge of tears in public when the whole pity date thing when down. OUCH! I am really glad the narrative got changed and things worked out for the best. But I still think she should've written that feminist piece on the death threats and hate from women she received and Mo keeping her from White Feminist territory.



I was not aware of the Alex from Target story until reading other reviews of the book.

[Rowena]

I really interested in reading this book because of the internet fame angle. The girl captures a picture of the boy and tweets it to her bestie who RT’s the picture, attaching a hashtag that goes viral and before anyone knows what’s what, the boy is internet famous and he’s going on the Ellen show and he’s getting interviewed on the news and people want to be his best friend and he enjoys it for a while before all of it starts feeling fake. The only person that hasn’t changed throughout it all is his new friend, Rachel who is the girl that tweeted the picture of him.

This was a pretty short read and it’s marked as a Young Adult book but it read a lot younger than that. At least, it did for me. There was a simpleness to the story that made it really easy to fall into this book and on one hand, that was fun and it took no time at all to read it. On the other hand, it was hard to really connect with the characters because they didn’t feel fleshed out or well, real. This story was enjoyable but it was enjoyable in the sense that I enjoyed it from afar. Like, I enjoyed listening to my friend’s recount of the shenanigans over the weekend that I wasn’t around for. I didn’t feel what Rachel was feeling for myself. Or what Kyle was feeling.

So while I enjoyed the book for the fluffy piece that it was, I didn’t love it. Still, if you’re in the mood for a fun story that reads a little on the young side, this is a good one.

Grade: 3 out of 5

[Leah]

#famous is one of those books that will you give you the best kind of toothache, because it is achingly sweet. *le sigh* I’ve been wanting to read #famous for ages, ever since it came to my attention, and it was just everything I wanted in a book. I love the whole insta-celebrity thing, and I’ve been dying for more books about that because legit anyone can become famous these days, and it couldn’t happen to two better people than Rachel and Kyle who are both so cute and adorable that I just want to smush their cheeks.

Probably the worst thing about becoming insta-famous is the whole troll thing, and that was actually the worst part for me, because seeing Rachel doubt herself, and wonder if the trolls are right made me want to find every one of them and punch them in the face until they apologised for their petty, jealous behaviour, and I liked that Gagnon included that, because it’s really important to see that girls get a pretty tough time on social media – Rachel got all of the flack, while Kyle got all of the “luv”, and that was so unfair, but very, very true to life. That’s just how it goes, and it was those little moments where Kyle tells Rachel she’s awesome that made this book for me, even if he needed a shove from best friend Ollie.

I just wanted to swallow this book whole, and eat a ton of french fries – Jilly is clearly sponsored by a fry making company, or should be, because FRIES, FRIES, FRIES. #idlikefrieswiththat #ilovefries #fries. This is genuinely one of the cutest, swooniest books I’ve ever read, the fries, the riff off Ellen (Carly, in this case!), the fries again, because they’re important, the warmth that radiates through the book is immense – except for the horrible trolls, the entire rest of the cast is like right out of casting 101. Parents who are actually there, willing to listen, and help! I know they embarrass Rachel sometimes, but they’re there, and for me that’s the most important thing. The know-it-all best friends, Monique and Ollie, who gently shoved Rachel and Kyle whenever they needed a bit of a push. Probably the only character I didn’t like was Emma, purely down to her behaviour. That was a master manipulator at work and I didn’t like it one bit.

Kyle and Rachel have the best story to tell – it’s so enticing, and to see it from both their points of view was amazing, because they really stood out as separate POVs, and to see it all coming together nearly made my heart explode with happy. I just loved Rachel so, so much. She’s the kind of positive YA character young adults need, because she doesn’t let the trolls win (yes she has self-doubt, but find me a person alive who doesn’t) but she’s mostly really positive, her body is her body, her hair is her hair, etc and I just wanted to scream with happiness for that. It’s hard to love yourself and for most of this novel, Rachel does and that’s amazing. Mind you, I think Kyle went on the bigger journey, because it’s almost like he didn’t even know who he was, except for Carter’s brother, and this helped him step out of that shadow and find out who the real Kyle Bonham was meant to be.

I freaking loved this book. #famous is one of those books you devour and adore. I will be buying myself a finished copy, to read again, to maybe take my time better because I was so excited this time around. This is a truly spectacular debut novel (hard to actually believe it’s a debut, actually – way to go Jilly!) and Jilly has her pulse on what young adults want to read about (and old adults like me). It just had it all. Fries, cupcakes, bowling, insta-fame, Ellen – eh, I mean Carly, two characters you adore, body positivity, a great supporting cast. Read it, read it, read it, read it, read it, read it.