This is a fascinating YA book. It has the expected twists and turns but it is sharply on point with technology.

Staying vague in order to not spoil anything:

I am an educator and teach high school students. I have seen the struggles that, in 2017, they go through with social media. In their struggles I see the exact seeds this book explores. It takes the current problems being faced by many teens and then applies slightly more advanced versions of technology that we currently have... and makes for a delightfully believable dark mystery. I also appreciate that it isn't a paranoid cautionary tale trying to scare people away from social media. It instead is a "what if?" sort of scenario that is really fun to read.

What a commentary on the future where we are all plugged in and never look up from our devices. I myself am trying to cut the proverbial cord as much as possible and the last few lines of Wang's books are SPOT ON. You have a kickass heroine, Kyla, who's job it is to take down the very video that is destroying her pedestal position in her prep school. A video has been shared of her having sex with her English teacher-- except it's not her in the video. It's about what everyone else thinks and how you react that makes this a beautiful social commentary that should awaken everyone.

Multiple, multiple copies on order as it relates to tech addiction, mean girls, fashion, the web, romance, your online persona versus your real one, staying true to who you are, and fighting the good fight.

Thank to you NetGalley and Freeform for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"The thing about high school was it all felt so personal. Every slight felt specifically, solely crafted for you. And the only thing worse than your 'unique' agony was the belief that no one else had to deal with anything as bad."

There is much to like *and* think about in this fast-paced book. Whip-smart dialogue and characters a la Mean Girls, interesting technology set in the near future (and its impact on people's lives) and an introduction to concepts of feminism and teen girls' use of their sexuality.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because it was an easy YA read (the jargon is especially entertaining) but also because of the many ways it made me think about my own high school experience (small actions have big consequences) and my ideas of teen feminism/self-expression (what is the line between being proud of your body and being inappropriate and why does society label girls sluts/skanks in doing so).

Sure, there's the tired trope of hot yet emotionally advanced teen boy who professes his love for the main character on the daily (look, a unicorn!) and I found myself getting slightly ragey at the idea that this strong, successful, intelligent, beautiful girl should be feel bad about how she's taken control of her life (this character assassination almost never pigeonholes boys the same way) but those are fairly minor critiques in the midst of some pretty powerful themes. Such a clever imagining of where technology/social media is taking us (both realistic and scary) and a flawed but compelling main character made for a highly entertaining read. Oh, and of course the reader is taken along for the ride, trying to figure out just who did make the video.

A strong entry into YA - sophisticated, astute, captivating and thought-provoking.

Corrie Wang tells an amazing tale in this future-ish high school story. I thought the protagonist was interesting and realistic. I appreciated the nuances to the supporting characters. I thought that the story itself was incredibly important and one that all teenagers should read as well! I think that this was a great book!

From the opening lines where the narrator warns us that she's an unlikeable character, I was hooked on this story. It is packed with action, suspense, and serves as a cautionary tale about digital citizenship.

Kyle Cheng is part of a group of four popular senior girls attending a prep school in Brooklyn, New York. According to her, "... I did always say there were only two ways to emerge from high school. Scarred or Worshipped." Although the story begins with her in the "worshipped" category, it quickly moves to "scarred" as someone posts a video online of Kyle's hot, young English teacher and a student (Kyle's face), acting very inappropriately in the English classroom.

As Kyle works to convince those closest to her that it's not really her in the video, it tests not only her friendships and her relationship with her family but also her plans for the future as someone submits her college applications prematurely and her online profile is forever linked with the inappropriate video. Although the content is definitely for mature teen readers, there is a valuable message about friendship, not believing everything you see online, and the suggestion that the use of technology in our society can go so far as to invade our need for privacy.

Why DNF? It reminded me of Before I Fall which I did not finish either because the main characters were not nice people. The thing is that I do like ambiguous/possibly mean/possibly villainous characters. What I do not like is that the main character meanness is just an average high mean girl meanness. The way that the main character built things up she was going to be more than that. I don’t know what is going on in terms of the story and what I see doesn’t catch me at all.

Questionable: There is a lot of mention of thinness in the first few chapters, conversation about how main character would rather girls who advance forward in life because of their brains (a woman can use her brains to use sexism to advance her forward) I only read a few chapters so it may deal with these things later.

Liked: There is a relationship between two people of color, the embellishments in each chapter

Super readable and beautifully done futuristic social media that was very believable. It reads a bit like a thriller, with the bonus of amazing characters. I really loved the girls in this book. They felt so relatable and protective of one another while still having fights and imperfections. I've seen a few comparisons to Mean Girls, but I feel like it's closer to the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants as far as the friendships go.

My only real issue was the main character's excessive use of the word "slut." There were some definite story elements that challenged the way she threw slut and skank around at other girls over and over and over, but I would have liked a more specific deconstruction of just why her repeatedly falling back on "slut" to describe any girl she deemed more sexual than herself was problematic. I think this is also a fairly solid read alike for Endangered.

This book is all caps AMAZING. I couldn't put it down - it pulls you right in and never lets go until the very end. I loved it's distinctly futuristic take - things seem familiar yet changed - and yet, of course, high school never changes. Well, except now cyber bullying and cyber terrorism is taken to the next level. This will be a great book for YA or adult book clubs to chew over and discuss; there's so many channels to dig into with this novel and I think it covers a topic we all might secretly fear could happen to us in the future if we're not more careful. This book was amazing; I can't recommend it enough!

I received an advanced copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

The Takedown is a futuristic version of Gossip Girl. Kyle Cheng is in the "in crowd" with a hot almost boyfriend, great family and a star at her fancy prep school. Until, of course, a video of her having sex with a popular teacher emerges online. The book focuses on Kyle's attempts to figure out how the video came to be and who is responsible, all the while dealing with her friend's and social circle's reaction to this.

It was interesting and fascinating to decipher The Takedown's world, which takes place in the not so distant future. It's certainly a commentary on technology's place in our world, how our identity is shaped by technology, and how reliant we are on technology. I enjoyed trying to figure out, along with Kyle, who was responsible for the video, which is maybe while I read this book so quickly. I appreciated that Kyle, while being slightly unlikable, was able to see into her mistakes and grow up a bit during the book. Would definitely recommend for fans of guilty pleasure shows like Gossip Girl, as this isn't entirely fluffy at all.

Thank you to NetGalley, Disney Book Group, and Freeform for the ARC, The Takedown by Corrie Wang. I also read this for the March twitter chat on debut authors with #yearofya & it has been highly touted by blogger Kelly Jensen in “Faces of Color on 2017 YA Books”. Wow, what a gripping read! Kyla Cheng is a high school senior ho rules her school, best friends with Sharma, Audra, & Fawn, and friend with benefits (lots of doubt and kissing) to long-time crush, Mac Rodriguez. Kyla’s voice was straightforward as she flatly and to the point, tells of the video that destroys her life. With all kinds of technology (in a near future time) someone releases to her school and administration a video of Kyla and her English teacher having sex. Kyla denies is the person in the video (she has never had sex!!!), over and over again, all the while her friends do not believe her. As the mystery mounts and Kyla chases down clues, her hater sends out her incomplete college applications, Kyla is kicked out of the school clubs, suspended from attending classes, she continues to realize she has somehow disappointed her mother. As the plot thickens, Kyla will accept how invasive technology has become and it is through a concerted effort including Mac, Sharma, & tech geek, Rory, that Kyla tracks the twisted trail towards her hater. That said, I did not really like Kyla for many reasons; she was a mean girl, she refused to look inward at her actions, words, and thoughts; she was self-absorbed and constantly judging Mac and her mother. What I did like about Kyla was her spunk, her loyalty, and her unfolding honesty with her mom. I could not put this book down, teens will love the technology, the suspense, plus the high school and family drama. This book had great characters, plot, and is a totally enjoyable tense psychological whodunit!

Loved this Book! I was a quarter of the way through the story when I looked up the author Corrie Wang, hoping she had more books I can read. To my surprise, this was her first. Well done, very well written.
This story is about a manipulated sex video of a student and a teacher in a high tech world. The main character Kyla, who was supposedly in the video, makes it her mission to take down the video which is quickly ruining her life as she is part of many clubs and organizations who are kicking her out due to this scandal.
Wang does a great job of explaining all the new technology and doesn't leave the reader confused. Great new author.....waiting for her next novel.

A great mystery that kept me guessing until the end!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read Takedown, by Corrie Wang. Being a teenager is not always easy, but just when these teens thought being seniors couldn't be any tougher, they got the shock of their lives. A brilliant student about lost her whole future and a teacher did lose his because of cyber bullies who altered their lives with one computer posting. The only thing the hackers didn't count on was that these teens were smarter than them. Everyone should read this book.

To be honest, there is so much packed in the book, that I was surprised to realize that the entire book takes place in two short, intense weeks. Corrie Wang takes the reader on a steady pace thriller of whodunit with a dash of what is and isn’t real in the online world. As much as the reader wants to help Kyla solve the problem, at the same time, she really isn’t likable. But she is vulnerable. Can you survive in the future without technology? Can you survive in the future with technology?

This book is a clever on the end of your seat read. There's not one but 2 different mysteries in this book which makes it all the more exciting to read. I enjoyed this and all the characters in it as the girls in the story were all so different from one another the contrast made their friend group exciting rather than the dull cliches most YA novels have. Even the budding romance tittered on the edge of enjoyable and annoying at the same time. The tech in the novel could have been explained more. I found myself often perplexed by the different tech terms that weren't explained fully. Overall, this was an exciting good read that I would definitely recommend to my friends.

Thanks to Freeform and Netgalley for the review copy of this book.

The book starts out with the narrator warning the reader that you will not like her. Although it was sometimes hard to like the whole "mean girl" group, what I enjoyed about this novel was the way it gave a glimpse into the actual feelings of the popular crowd, the parents, the "others", the geeks, etc. Although no one would condone the actions of just about any of the characters in the novel, you could empathize with each one at times.

The issues of social media and the control it has, even today, not in the distant, imagined future, over our lives, our interactions, out livelihoods were explored, but I'm not sure that any conclusions were reached. We saw the evil, the devastating effects it had on some of the characters, but we also saw the connectedness and the positive effects.

Guess the jury is still out. I would recommend this to high school and up, but not younger than 14 due to fact that the sex with the teacher video is at the heart of the story.

In a world that is already becoming more and more tech heavy each day it's not hard to make the mental leap into the era that Wang has scripted her story, The Takedown, in. It's the world as we know it now, yet not. Technology has evolved so much that even sitting together in a coffee house and trying to have a quiet conversation seems out of place. People still talk, but their tech has become very much a part of who they are. Not physically, but in all areas of their lives. iPhone like devices called Docs are carried by practically everyone everywhere. From them people can, gasp, call each other, but more so they use them to text and connect online. Sounds not that different from the world we know right? Well, it isn't, but it is. You'll have to read to see what I mean, but let's just say that privacy means something completely new in this future world where nearly EVERYTHING is out there online for someone else to see, tag, or access.

Kyla is smart, driven, hot, and popular to boot. So when she wakes up one morning to find herself the victim of a nasty cyber bullying attack she must rally to discover who is responsible and why. With her entire future dreams hanging in the balance, Kyla has to dig deep to see just what exactly she's made of. Who can she trust? In a world where technology can be her best friend or her worst enemy Kyla is finding out it can be both. She has plans, big plans, and with the right amount of spin she might just be able to save herself; however, in the here and now her world is falling apart.

This is a book that will really make you consider just how important it is to you to share EVERY tiny detail about your life online. How much is too much? The Takedown will also thoroughly entertain, and readers that are anything like me will have a hard time putting it down. It's exciting! Plus I loved how Wang chose to construct each of her character's invididual stories; it made them all incredibly relatable which made the story that much easier to believe. Who's responsible for Kyla's takedown? Will she recover? You'll have to get a copy yourself to find out, but be prepared to keep guessing til the end.

Thanks so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me this ARC. It was such a good book, and I look forward to checking out anything that Ms Wang may release in the future.

"The moments in my life that have mattered the most aren't the ones that everyone "sees", but the ones that they don't." A lesson that seems so simple, yet in a technologically driven world, is often the hardest one to learn.
Senior year and a life destroyed in the drop of a video. The Takedown is a modern cyber and RL Bullying Story- WWYD if someone posted a video of you, that wasn't really you, but everyone believed it, saw it, and it destroyed your life as you know it?? Not cool, yet totally possible.
Fraught with scary tech; Big Brother to the max, identity stealing, never recover from mistakes or your past type of tech stuff... which is probably all in the works or up and running now, are pondered throughout The Takedown.
As snarky as she can be, I admired Kyla's gumption and wit, she has an inspiring 'voice'. Love President Malin (where are you, we certainly need you now!?) and the various characters that aided and abetted Kyla's senior year debacle. Excellent book, it kept me riveted down to the last word.

This was a fascinating look at a not-impossible future world where everyone is online all the time. I thought the MC was realistic, and although she was thoughtless at times, she was also intelligent and worked hard to clear her name. I liked that the ending was realistic (and still sweet). Some of the supporting characters were a little annoying, but I think that was also realistic, and I liked that the author made sure to offer up enough background on all of them that they seemed complex. All in all, an entertaining and thoughtful read.