unfriended

Image from www.rachelvail.com

By Rachel Vail

Truly dumps her best friend when one of her old friends, who is now quite popular, invites her into her group. Hazel, the girl who gets dumped, hacks Truly's social media accounts. Hazel tries to stir things up, sometimes to help Truly, sometimes not so much.  Natasha, the girl who invited Truly into her group, also uses social media to spread rumours. Before long everything has gone wrong and Truly isn't sure what to do.

The book ends with Truly throwing her phone into the lake and everyone making up and being friends again.

Normally I like Rachel Vail books and I was excited to check this one out too. Unfortunately it was not my favourite, mostly because I didn't like the writing. There were a few good story lines but the story was told by many different characters so you have to pay attention to who is talking or you might be a bit confused.

I would recommend this book to Grade 6-8 as it is a story about middle school.

Better Nate Than Never

Image from www.timfederle.com

by Tim Federle

This is a story about a boy named Nate who really wants to be on Broadway. With the help of his best friend Libby he sneaks away from home to go to an audition in New York City. He makes it to the audition but not without worrying his whole family, re-uniting with his aunt, and having a few adventures in NYC.

I liked this book because Nate is the kind of character who sticks with you. I read this book a while ago and I still remember what it was about, which is a good sign since I read a lot and sometimes forget. If you like stories that really focus on the characters you will probably enjoy this book. There is a second book in the series as well called Five. Six. Seven..