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.
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.
