Screenshot by Donna Cooner | Book Review

Title: Screenshot
Author: Donna Conner
Publisher:  Point 
Published Date: May 29th, 2018
Genre: Contemporary, Social Media, YA
Page Count:304
Format: Paperback

My Rating: ★ ★ ★.5

Goodreads Summary: 
Skye's social media game is always on point. Until her best friend, Asha, films an embarrassing video of Skye at a sleepover and posts it online. But Asha quickly deletes the post, so everything's okay. Right? Then Skye gets an anonymous message. Someone has texted her a screenshot from the video. This person threatens to share the shocking photo online . . . unless Skye does whatever they say. Skye's perfect image -- and privacy -- are suddenly in jeopardy. What will Skye do to keep the screenshot under wraps? And who is trying to ruin her life?

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 My Review:

"Why does it matter what out people think?"

Thank you to Scholastic for the free physical book.

Screenshot follows four different teenager girls who are all dealing with different struggles.

We have Skye who is the main character that we see things from the most. She has a lot of drive and wants to go far in life, especially in politics which I found really fascinating considering our current political climate. 

Then we have Asha who is one of Skye's best friend and who also happens to be very overbearing and acts like a mean girl a lot of the time. What most people don't know is that she has a big family secret that is causing her to be even more mean than usual.

To finish out this friend group we have Emma who wants to work in film and loves the movie Rear Window (one of my childhood favorites as well).

Lastly, we have Harmony who works with Skye and is also dealing with her own personal life struggles that no one else around her realizes is going on. 

"Look, every time I go online, I'm slammed with hundreds of people who are prettier, smarter, richer... better than me. I can't help but think, what's wrong with me? And that screenshot it brings all that into focus."

In Screenshot everything starts happening the night of Asha's birthday party when a photo of Skye is taken that she doesn't like and could ruin her chance at an internship. Not only does this end up creating a divide between the girls, but it also brings up a lot of important questions about social media and the power it has. 

The social media site that this book is built around is one that is a bit like a cross between Instagram and Snapchat. Sounds interesting right, and while it is because you can't take something down immediately. It's also a big problem when something you don't on there gets posted, it's impossible to take off before at least some people see it. 

Overall I did really enjoy reading this book. All the girls provide a different pov (obviously), but what I mean is that they are all dealing with different things and have secrets that they've been keeping from everyone else. While we see Skye the most and we know her blackmailing secret, we also find out other things about her and her relationship with those she's closest to. Everyone's secrets were real life realistic problems that so many people are dealing with, and it was nice to see them addressed in a YA novel. 

I think this book really does touch on the power of social media and how a lot of people don't realize the impact it will have until it is too late. I can see how a lot of people didn't really like this book, because it is a little slow at first, and it was difficult to like a few of the characters. The farther into this book the more you're going to like it though, I'd say from around 90 pages onward you're going to be so into figuring out who is blackmailing and will Skye do what the person is telling her that you won't want to put this book down. 

Even though this book deals with a more serious matter with social media and blackmailing it isn't a really heavy book. It deals with it in a way that is realistic but also has good moments and moments that will make you think. I do think this is an important read for everyone new to social media.

"The internet puts a new spin on the whole appearance thing, doesn't it? It's connecting us in new ways we're just starting to figure out.""And disconnecting us.""Exactly. We just have to keep trying to be our best selves, even when it seems like everyone is watching and hoping we mess up."