Review: Internet Famous by Danika Stone + GIVEAWAY! (CLOSED)

Hello, everyone! Today is my stop on the blog tour for INTERNET FAMOUS by Danika Stone hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club. 

I was sent an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of this blog tour.

Down below is my full review of the novel, the author links, full tour schedule, purchase links for the book should you fancy buying yourself a copy and, finally, A GIVEAWAY! Cue confetti cannons! Read on, bookworms!

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Add It On Goodreads!

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Young Adult

Score: 3 1/2 stars

Page Count: 320

Stand Alone

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Published: June 6th, 2017

High school senior and internet sensation Madison Nakama seems to have it all: a happy family, good grades, and a massive online following for her pop-culture blog. But when her mother suddenly abandons the family, Madi finds herself struggling to keep up with all of her commitments.

Fandom to the rescue! As her online fans band together to help, an online/offline flirtation sparks with Laurent, a French exchange student. Their internet romance—played out in the comments section of her MadLibs blog—attracts the attention of an internet troll who threatens the separation of Madi’s real and online personas. With her carefully constructed life unraveling, Madi must uncover the hacker’s identity before he can do any more damage, or risk losing the people she loves the most… Laurent included.

Review:

PROS:

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1. When I first stumbled upon this book, I couldn't but think it sounded like probably one of the cutest books ever. Because who doesn't love a book about the one thing that makes this world go round, the internet? This book practically had my name written all over it with the main character running a BLOG and FANGIRLING and the mention of all things interwebs such as vlogging, social media, and the fun and not-so-pretty moments of it all that make internet drama that much more interesting. So, obviously, I was able to snag a spot on the blog tour and was able to read this book only to be left with somewhat mixed feelings. Here's the review: 

2. I thought the premise of the story was pretty cute. It matches the cover perfectly if you ask me. Madi loves her blog more than a lot of things as it provides her an escape from her real life into the beautiful world of fiction in the form of pop-culture entertainment, mainly films such as 80's movies as she blogs about her thoughts on them. She has quite a huge following and with that following comes another set of drama and stress that cause Madi to have to fight yet another world-shattering battle: Internet trolls. I loved getting to see the real life and internet life of our main character as she struggles to keep both as separate as possible. Her life is anything but quiet and calm as her sister (who is autistic) needs Madi's constant watching over to make sure her sister's routine goes UNINTERRUPTED to avoid a freak out, her parents pretty much leaving Madi to "deal" with her sister on her own and also manage to keep up her school grades, getting ready to graduate, apply to colleges, figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life, etc. Basically, the cute premise is only the surface of the story but quickly dives into deeper topics which I appreciated.

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3. The book is cute overall, maybe a little cheesy or corny at some points but it killed it with all the 80's movie references and funny dialogue between characters. I was also a big of the layout of the book as it includes snippets of emails, text messages, Tumblr posts, even memes and pictures which was a great addition as the book kind of revolves around social media and pop-culture. It isn't a YA novel about the internet without a meme, am I right? Madi's blog posts were also fun to read and it made me wish that MadLibs was an actual blog as I was really entertained by Madi's choice of phrasing, internet humor and quirky commentary about whatever movie she watched and either enjoyed or wasn't a fan of. It's a book I found to be very current and familiar as I'm a blogger myself and I think that other bloggers, whether book, pop-culture or geeky bloggers alike would really enjoy this book. 

CONS:

1. Even though I was a fan for most of the book, there were times when I was either really annoyed or kind of frustrated while reading. I thought Madi was a nice character and handled stress somewhat well but at times, especially in the beginning of the book, she tended to overreact big time and fly off the handle a bit before thinking about the situation first. At times, she acted immature for her age and her freakouts got a little bit annoying as she overreacted (in my opinion) to her internet trolls giving her a hard time. 

2. Madi also seemed a bit harsh towards her sister Sarah who is autistic and therefore can't help it when she gets incredibly upset. Madi tended to get frustrated easily with Sarah (which I know is a realistic response from people who take care of kids with special needs) but I just felt like Madi blamed her sister a little without feeling guilty about it. Madi tried her best to take care of her sister as best she could since her parents were little to no help and she is young, has been watching over Sarah her entire life and I understand why she would get frustrated and upset at times. She needed help but I was a little wary about how she talked to or treated her sister. 

3. The romance was cute and cheesy as you'd expect from a quick and fluffy read such as this one but the love interest, Laurent, was just a little too overdone. Describing him as a "super-hot anime character come to life" was an instant turn-off for me. Add on the fact that Madi also described him as super-hot and perfect every other page was a little annoying. He was built up seemingly to have no flaws whatsoever and played more of a Superman role in the book than a love-interest, constantly having to "save" Madi from her freak outs. I think it the dramatics had been toned down a notch or two, I would have enjoyed their relationship a bit more than I did. 

Overall, this book was a cute and quick read and I did enjoy it. Would I reread it? Maybe. But not anytime soon. I would still recommend this book to people who maybe like a little more drama to their cute and fluffy contemporary novels and of course, all the pop-culture references to make your little geeky heart happy.

You Can Purchase The Book Here:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

iBooks

Kobo

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About The Author

Danika Stone is an author, artist, and educator who discovered a passion for writing fiction while in the throes of her Master's thesis. A self-declared bibliophile, Danika now writes novels for both teens (All the Feels and Internet Famous) adults (Edge of Wild and Intaglio). When not writing, Danika can be found hiking in the Rockies, planning grand adventures, and spending far too much time online. She lives with her husband, three sons, and a houseful of imaginary characters in a windy corner of Alberta, Canada. 

Author Links:

Website

Goodreads

Twitter

Pinterest

Facebook

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Follow The Tour!

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ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY:
•1 paperback copy of INTERNET FAMOUS by Danika Stone
•U.S., Canada, UK ONLY
•Giveaway Runs Through 6/21

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Secret Identities by Various Authors (GN)

Secret Identities: The Asian-American Superhero Anthology by Various Authors

Rating: PG

Genre: Graphic Novel, Pop Culture, Anthologies

Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Page Count: 194

Stand Alone

Publisher: The New Press

Published: May 3, 2009

 

Appealing to both comics fans and Asian Americans seeking to claim their place in American culture, Secret Identities makes brilliant use of the conventions of the superhero comic book to expose the real face of the Asian American experience.

This groundbreaking graphic anthology brings together leading Asian American creators in the comics industry including Gene Yang (National Book Award finalist for American Born Chinese), Bernard Chang (Wonder Woman), Greg Pak (The Hulk), and Christine Norrie (Black Canary Wedding Special) to craft original graphical short stories set in a compelling shadow history of our country: from the building of the railroads to the Japanese American internment, the Vietnam airlift, the murder of Vincent Chin, and the incarceration of Dr. Wen Ho Lee.
Entertaining and enlightening, Secret Identities offers whiz-bang action, searing satire, and thoughtful commentary from a community too often overlooked by the cultural mainstream, while showcasing a vivid cross-section of the talents whose imagination and creativity is driving the contemporary comics renaissance.

Review:
PROS:
1. I was really excited to read this graphic novel, not only because I was in the mood for one but I was really interested in the Asian-American theme of this one. I love diversity and I thought this one delivered beautiful on that. I thought it was a really fun and laugh-out-loud type of graphic novel so let's get into the review!

2. The first thing I really loved about this graphic novel was obviously the art styles. Each short story had it's own art and I thought it was really cool to see that. I definitely had my favorites, however, but it was really cool to see how each story was illustrated differently and how each style matched the storyline and it's characters.


3. I also really loved how many genres were in this graphic novel. I think it definitely had something for everyone. It had stories from the war years, the silver age, modern day and even futuristic stories. I have to say that I really loved the modern day ones the best because I found them the funniest for an unknown reason. I really enjoyed these different time eras that each story was placed in and I think you'll find at least one story that will stick out to you.


4. I thought this graphic novel was so funny at times and even a little depressing at others. Some stories were heartwarming and beautiful whereas others were action packed and full of fighting and even had some girl-power in a few! I found myself laughing out loud at some of the characters and stories and I just overall really loved everything about this book. It's one that I highly recommend if you want a superhero story that focuses on multiple. I would love to see a few of these become full-length graphic novels, such as "Meet Joe" by Koji Steven Sakai.  It was a really fun read and I'll more than likely be picking it up again in the future!


I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! If you have any other book requests you would like me to review, just leave a comment or send me an email! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

P.S: Is anyone on a Marvel/Superhero kick at the moment? I had to watch ten hours of Marvel movies in a 24-hour time period and I'm pretty sure I'm going insane.

P.S.S: The Avenger: Age Of Ultron was AWESOME!!!! Okay, bye.