': Scandal blog tour {Review & Giveaway}

Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.
When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.
Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.
There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love…

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Lucy is a slightly anti-social and unusual breed of teenage girl. Very into online gaming she is most comfortable killing zombies and staying out of the spotlight. She can be fierce when she needs to be, but she doesn't mind being a girl either. When her best friend asks Lucy to be her boyfriend Cole's prom date, Lucy does not want to do it. Mostly because she has had a crush on Cole for as long as she can remember. But, she can't say no to her friend, so she accompanies Cole to Prom. It pretty much goes down hill from there.

The next day Lucy's phone is missing, but somehow pictures taken from her phone at the after party are showing up online and on her facebook page. Pictures of her and Cole kissing, along with other random pictures from the party. Lucy tries to convince everyone that she did not take or post the pics, but no one believes her. I think the thing that Lucy needs to focus on right now is her friendship which is obviously in trouble, where is her phone, who not only took the pics but posted them, and last but definitely not least... Cole kissed her back!

#scandal is a look inside the life of a group of high school kids and how social media, misinterpretation and cyber bullying effect their lives on a daily basis. This novel was written on the softer side of such events, as I've seen and read much worse happening. But it is no less powerful in it's message. Actions have consequences, a picture is worth a thousand words, do unto others as you would have them do unto you and so on. This book had some comic relief, lots of drama and some cute romance as Lucy and Cole navigate high school in the wake of their on line scandal and, dare I say, possible romance.

Fans of Gossip Girl, Friday Night Lights and 90210 will love this book! Definitely age appropriate as a YA Romance, shows some of the teenage struggles our young ones face and a whole lot of angst. Ockler did a really good job of turning usually 'generic' characters into more well rounded and just enough different to make them believable and realistic. I'm giving this one 4/5 because the story lost it's stamina a little part way through, but thankfully found it's footing again. And the cyber bullying aspect was never completely explored or explained. But overall I loved the way Ockler wrote her characters and the base story line and delivered an engaging and realistic view inside the life of one teenage girl that has a lot to learn, but I'm pretty sure she will get it right in the end!

Sarah Ockler is the bestselling author of several books for teens: The Book of Broken Hearts, Bittersweet, Twenty Boy Summer, Fixing Delilah, and the upcoming #scandal. Her books have received numerous accolades, including ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, Girls’ Life Top 100 Must Reads, Indie Next List, Amazon Top Movers and Shakers, and nominations for YALSA Teens’ Top Ten and NPR’s Top 100 Teen Books.

She’s a champion cupcake eater, coffee drinker, tarot enthusiast, night person, and bookworm. When she’s not writing or reading at home in Colorado, Sarah enjoys hugging trees and road-tripping through the country with her husband, Alex. In addition to her website at sarahockler.com, fans can find her on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.

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