Fake review

Fake

Author: Beck Nicholas

Publisher: Harlequin Teen Australia

 

Is Kath about to make the biggest mistake of her life?

Seventeen-year-old Kath McKenny has a date to the end-of-term party with her since-forever crush. He publicly messaged her to confirm, but there’s been a recent status update: he’s taking the new girl- giggly, pretty, well-developed Lana Elliot- instead.

After being thoroughly humiliated in front of half the school, best friend Chay talks Kath into revenge: a scheme to create the perfect- and very fake- online guy for Lana. Once she falls for him, they’ll show her what it’s like to get brutally dumped.

Everything is going to plan until Kath starts spending more-than-just-friends time with the other new kid in town- Lana’s dreamy older brother, Sebastian. Kath finds herself getting in deep- in love and drowning in guilt, she tries to put an end to her prank, but its taken on an unstoppable momentum of its own, with very real consequences.

As her plotting begins to unravel, so do the people Kath thought she knew:

Her mother has a secret online life.

Her father has a whole new family.

Her best friend is barely recognisable.

Her boyfriend has a disturbing hidden past.

And her enemy is more familiar than she knew.

My Review

Thoughts on the book: What an amazing debut novel Beck Nicholas has written. She has woven in some great issues such as bullying, depression, teen parenting, online awareness and other teen issues but has done so in a way where people aren’t really going to realise that they are hidden messages.  I think that Fake is a great modern day story that many teens will be able to relate to what with the constant checking of online profiles, phones not being able to be used at school, the whole popularity pyramid and young love.

A lot of the plot lines were fairly easy to guess what was going on. I figured out what Sebastian’s secret was and thought (and guessed right) what was going on with her best friend Chay but only guessed a bit of what happened with her father and didn’t guess at all what was going on with her mother. But all these different plotlines made for a fantastic story and for a debut novel you couldn’t expect better writing.

I loved the easy going nature of Kath and Sebastian’s relationship and the way they take everything so slow. This is a fantastic change to the normal YA reads that I have been reading where they all rush into everything as soon as they meet and say ‘I love you after nearly the first date’ and are having sex right then and there.

Favourite character: Of course my favourite character is Kath. She changes so much throughout the book from the naïve girl who thinks that her world is perfect and no one can pop her little bubble to the strong girl who finally takes charge of her life and lives for the here and now. Kath has had a lot go on in her life and you tend to feel for her, but some of the situations she gets herself into usually come out with some hilarious results and that’s why I love her as a character so much. Also she is just your typical teen that everyone can relate too.

Favourite quote/moment: It would have to be the ending sentence of the book:

‘I don’t know how everything will turn out. But this is my love story and I’m going to live every second of it.’

Rating: 5/5 so new and fresh