This book is a bit too young for me being a MG (I prefer YA).. It does sound good tho, will tell. My nieces about it

Definitely Daphne is about a rising vlogger just starting out at a new middle school. But however vocal and outgoing Daphne is on her vlogs, in reality, she's a shy used to being homeschooled named Annabelle. All of that changes when her mother gets a new military assignment.

To cope with all the changes, Daphne's therapist suggests that she try something new and film it. Her vlogs go viral in her middle school circuit and she finds herself struggling to keep her online identity a secret. The author perfectly articulates all the woes of starting a new school and being in a new environment.

Definitely Daphne is an incredibly sweet book for middle-grade readers. She's the type of character any child in the 21st century can relate to. The incorporation of social media in today's books is definitely making readers relate more to the characters that they are reading about.

Definitely Daphne is an impressive Book. I really liked how the author develops the Story around the Protagonist Daphne and Shows her emotions and struggles. I think it‘s a Great Story for Kids and Teens, who Need a Bit help to find their real selves.

Parts of Daphne really reminded her of me. I loved this books though I feel like I'm just a bit too old, though I've learned some important lessons from the story.

@capstonePub #partner - I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
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Released 10/01/18
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Annabelle Louis and her military family just moved again which is nothing new. But now Annabelle has to go to a real middle school versus being home-schooled. She doesn't take it well. In order to help her adjust to the change, her parents sets her up with a therapist which in turn prompts the start of a social experiment that will soon get out of control.

Annabelle’s journey of self acceptance and awareness is a beautiful and emotional one. Making friends is one of the hardest thing to do when you're shy or a social introvert. And we all want to fit in, find people we connect with, so I feel like this was written for tween me.
I love the complex and complicated relationships, the awkward and funny moments, and the embarrassing ones too.
The writing style is a combination of prose and screenplay and it adds so much to Annabelle's voice while enhancing the drama in the book to a cinematic level.

I fell in love with Tami Charles as an author when I read Like Vanessa and I'm so glad she wrote another book that reached inside my soul and hugged my younger self tight once again.

Definitely Daphne is a great book for middle grade kids. We all know we need more books with strong female characters, diversity, STEAM themes, and relateable content --Definitely Daphne totally delivers! Annabelle Louis is a shy, nerdy, formerly homeschooled army brat nervous to begin school in America. When she completely fails at her first day of school, she wants to give up. Her mom convinces her to try again, and her therapist convinces her to make a anonymous video diary as "Daphne Doesn't". An accidental hit, "Daphne" goes viral, while Annabelle struggles to find her way at school without blowing her cover. Kids will love Annabelle, and hopefully look at their classmates and wonder what awesomeness they could be hiding.

I know I am an adult reading middle grade, but it's definitely a middle grade book that is only for middle graders, in my opinion.

Obviously she is growing up in the current generation and I grew up in older generation, so I find it hard to relate to her, or to even like her. I thought she's too spoiled and whiny, and it was off-putting to read.

I love the cover and title, and really like the blurb.

This was a delight from start to finish! A contemporary friendship story with great threads about military families and tying into the popularity of YouTube and vlogging. The characters are terrific and the situations are relate-able to every kid. I highly recommend this one for any middle grade reader!

Please be aware of spoilers in this review.

Annabelle and her father usually travel where her mother’s work takes her but this time her mother’s assignment is TDY (Temporary Duty Yonder) and Annabelle and her father have to stay behind. While she’s serving in Afghanistan for six months Annabelle and her father will be living civilian life. For Annabelle that means the seventh grade, in an actual school with other kids.

All of a sudden the shy girl who used to enjoy being homeschooled while wearing her pyjamas is having fashion emergencies and hiding out in the janitor’s closet. To help Annabelle adjust to civilian life and get a support system in place before her mother’s deployment her parents arrange therapy for her.

This was an easy but predictable read. I loved that the main character’s mother is in the Air Force. I haven’t come across a book for this age group that talks about what it’s like to be a military kid before so I loved that this was explored, showing different characters’ feelings and behaviours relating to this experience. There’s a build up to when Annabelle’s mother needs to leave but *spoiler* the leaving itself doesn’t happen in this book so you don’t get to find out how Annabelle copes when it actually happens *end of spoiler*.

While I liked the concept of Annabelle talking about trying new things on her vlog I had to suspend my disbelief to get through the sections where the other kids at school are discussing Daphne in front of her, not realising that Annabelle is Daphne. What’s happening in Daphne’s world coincides perfectly with what’s happening at their school and the vlog begins soon after the new kid arrives; the new kid who just so happens to look exactly like Daphne if she was wearing a wig, costume and glasses. Annabelle’s ability to hide in plain sight rivals that of a superhero.

I would have liked to have gotten to know Annabelle’s mother better but enjoyed drooling over her father’s amazing homemade dinners, especially the pizza. I liked Annabelle’s friend John but I never really got much of a sense of Clairna or Nav’s personalities.

I wasn’t quite sure how Rachael was supposed to be maintaining her status as fashion queen if *spoiler* money was tight in her family *end of spoiler*. I also never figured out what made her so popular that her legions of fans needed to wait outside the bathroom to take selfies with her other than the fact that she’s pretty, but then again I actively avoided the popular kids at school so I doubt I’ll ever understand popularity.

I didn’t find Daphne’s vlogs particularly funny but I may be too old and decrepit to understand their humour. I’m always hesitant when I come across kids using slang and referencing specific songs in books because it dates them so quickly so I have that concern for this book. Personally I think the whole ‘squad’ thing has already been overdone.

With the hype surrounding the Daphne’s first two vlogs it didn’t make sense to me that there’d be almost no interest in the third. I would’ve thought that a significant amount of the people who watched the first two would have also watched the third. How would they know it wasn’t as good if only 9 people saw it?!

While I understood that Annabelle has spent years being homeschooled she talks about watching Netflix and references watching rom-coms so I was surprised that she was as clueless about school life as she was. She didn’t know what a locker was or what ‘putting your face on’ means. I did appreciate some of the other humour relating to Annabelle’s lack of experience in the American school system though.

I was more than a little shocked that it was possible to get an emergency Sunday afternoon appointment with a therapist and that when the Annabelle’s mother rang the therapist out of the blue they got straight through. I also cringed when the therapist continually shared details of their appointments with Annabelle’s parents. In my experience therapists will outline any exclusions to the confidentiality of their appointments up front and while it was true when the therapist said that nothing shared in the appointment would leave the room, Annabelle’s parents were brought into the room to catch them up. While it didn’t seem to be a big deal for Annabelle I know that if I’d attended therapy as a kid and the therapist had then told my parents everything I told them, any trust I had developed with the therapist would have been broken. I hope that kids who read this book aren’t put off by this.

Hopefully the age group this book is marketed towards won’t have already heard variations of this story so many times they could tell you how it’s going to play out step by step but most of the story felt clichéd to me. *spoiler* You’ve basically got a new kid who’s trying to fit in. They become friends with the nice kids who they ditch when the queen bee pays them the slightest bit of attention. Eventually they realise they made a mistake, realising that their nice friends are actually true friends. Then you’ve got the super obvious secret identity cliché that only one special person and the queen bee figure out before the big reveal. If the main character finally tells everyone the mystery person is actually them and that they’ve been lying to everyone for so long they risk losing every friendship. Oh, and the big reveal can only ever happen at the school dance in front of the entire school. *end of spoiler*

Despite the clichés this was a sweet book and I did enjoy it. I think military kids in particular will find themselves in Annabelle but those whose parents move frequently for work will also relate to constantly being the new kid. I thought Annabelle’s struggles were handled sensitively and appreciated that her strengths were also highlighted.

Completely irrelevant but welcome to my brain: Because I’m weird I tend to accidentally notice patterns in books. If I was going to go all Sesame Street on you this is where I’d tell you that today’s review has been brought to you by the number 2. In the space of three sentences I found ‘Second Chance’, ‘two carts’, ‘Two Tony’s’ and ‘two hours later’. Further down that page there were ‘two screens’. I’m sure this was unintentional but once my brain sees something like this I then look for it for the rest of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book. I’d give it 3.5 stars but am rounding up.

Sorry, but this was pretty OK, until she started to get all the basic things wrong. How in the all damnation doesn't she know what the saying having sticky fingers means? Or getting your face on? Or any other thing? From what I can see she is homeschooled, not sheltered into a bunker for years. How does she not know all these basic things? Like what a locker is? Even I, who didn't have a locker in high school, would recognise one and know what it does.

And she was so negative. Instead of grabbing the chance to start a new school, a new place, she kept whining. And yes, her day was terrible, but welcome to life, first days are generally the worst.

Also I didn't understand what the big fuzz was from the people in school about her shoes? What kind of school is this? I know back in my school days it wasn't weird to have brightly coloured shoes. Maybe this is some kind of weird twilight zone?

Plus Rachael, maybe you should stick your head out of the sand. Dear lord girl, how are you acting like this and why is this apparently normal?

So, I tried, but sadly this just isn't the right book for me. :(

Definitely Daphne

by Tami Charles

Capstone

Children’s Fiction , Humor

Pub Date 01 Oct 2018

I am reviewing a copy of Definitely Daphne through Capstone and Netgalley:

Daphne is a hilarious Vlog star on the rise online but at school she is Anabelle Louis, a seventh grade super geek, perennial kid. Her parents send her to a therapist in order to help her not only deal with a new school but with her Mom’s upcoming Military assignment in Afghanistan as well! Dr Varma tells Annabelle she needs to step out of her comfort zone in order to find the confidence to make new friends something she will definitely need when her Mom leaves on her military assignment. There is one part of this Anabelle does like and that is the vlog, she calls Daphne Doesn’t!

In her vlog Annabelle appears undercover as Daphne and she gives hilarious takes on activities she finds to be a waste of time, at the same time though her classmates don’t know she exists.

Can Annabelle keep up with this double life?

Find out in Definitely Daphne!

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading

This book was really difficult emotionally for me to read because I can relate to some of Daphne’s experiences. I don’t know what it is like to be in a family that isn’t military. My dad joined the United States Army before I was born and is still in the Army Reserves (22+ years).
While we never moved internationally like Daphne’s family did, my dad has been deployed 4 times (3 international, 1 stateside) and I’m living in state #9.
All 4 of his deployments were in the span of about 8 years and were each at least a year long. I know what it feels like to show up to a new place (again) and not know anyone outside of the family that can relate in the slightest. Deployments wreck everyone. You don’t feel like yourself, you aren’t acting like yourself, and you will never return to ‘normal’. Your friends won’t understand, and some will leave.

I wish I had a book like this to relate to when I was in the thick of military life. At age 22 this book made me cry because it’s the first military kid book that I’ve read.

Any middle or high schooler who gets military kid life will relate to some part of this book.

4/5 stars because I didn’t like the representation of therapy and the lack of client confidentiality between the therapist and Annabelle’s parents. Even though the laws are gray in terms of age of consent and what can be shared with parents, most therapists try to be more respectful when it comes to sharing with parents. I don’t want teenagers to be deterred from therapy because they think the therapist will share everything they say with their parents.

I like this one for middle school girls. Anabelle/Daphne is a character your average young girl can relate too. Some parts of her reminded me of my young cousin who I would really like to purchase this book for. She and her friends like to make little videos and share them. I think she would relate to the Daphne Doesn't vlogs. Incorporating social media into the story makes it relatable to teens. The author also incorporated things in popular culture that are very popular with that age group like references to songs and slang. Usually I don't like those things in a story but here it worked well. It also has an easy to read format.

I received an arc copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you've never started a new school, read this book! Cute storyline and real life situations! Never heard of vlogging until I read this actually! Thank you netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review!

verall, I really enjoyed this book. It made me relive some moments from my time in middle school but is kind of put an interesting spin on everything. The writing was light and fluffy, which made it super easy to get into the story once I finally sat down and just read it. The plot was fun and had a lot of humour in it but it also carried an important message. Annabelle was the best main character. She really made this book. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Stone Arch Books for providing me with a copy of this book.

What happens when you are a Grade 7 student whose parent is in the military and moves around frequently, who has been homeschooled forever, who suddenly finds herself having to attend school back in the United States in the middle of the school year when all the other students already know each other?
Well, after you try to skip and threaten and get signed up for counselling, you invent a YouTube persona to vblog about your experiences of course!
But then, this is a secret that comes in between you and the actual friends you are starting to make! What drama!

Definitely Daphne is a well written story with great characters that includes different cliques that would be found at any middle school. The characters are compassionate, although not always and kind, albeit with that school aged edge at times. All in all, it is a journey to find out what is real and what is fake—a journey that is almost required at that age. A nice read!

By my daughter, Age 10 ↓
I really liked this book because of its gripping cliffhangers, exciting writing style that kept you on your toes and the hilarious jokes and puns slipped in. This book is one of my favourites because one day I would love to be an internet vlogging sensation just like Annabelle/Daphne. I felt so sorry for Annabelle when she had to move away from her BFF and start at an American middle school, where she knew no-one. I think I would recommend this to anybody who wants to be a vlogger (i.e. me), people who like drama and people who like gripping secrets. The end is heartwarming and I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone who doesn't like fun!

It was a great book of a middle grade girl who moves to a new country, joins the wonderful public school system, and now needs to figure out who she is among the hundreds of other students, and at the same time, cope with an upcoming change at home, all while trying to find at friend or two, but without coming across as a total dork.

Daphne has a great sense of humor that colors her perspective on everyday life. Pretty much everyone can identify with her social issues. She's also a girl of color, and you get to see how insensitive people can be, and what it's like to live with constant bad hair days.

I highly recommend this book for anyone still in school, or who wants to look back with fond memories of their favorite school social disasters.

Charles, Tami. Definitely Daphne. Stone Arch Books, 2018.

Annabelle is tired of moving and starting over in new locations, and when her military family relocates to the United States and she has to start attending a public school instead of being homeschooled, she isn't sure how she'll fit in with other middle school students. Her therapist suggests that she start a vlog detailing her exploits, and thus Daphne Doesn't is born. Her blog goes viral and soon Annabelle is secretly popular, because she still hasn't told anyone that it's her blog. But some of her classmates are beginning to suspect things. Will Annabelle be able to keep her secret identity a secret, and does she actually want to?

This is a sweet, safe story for tweens to read. Annabelle struggles with being the new kid and with making friends, particularly when one of her frenemies turns out to be a fellow military brat whose father has been deployed for a year. I love that Annabelle has her own style and sticks with it, even if it isn't what is popular at her school. Recommended.

Recommended for: tweens
Red Flags: none
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars


Read-Alikes: Book Scavenger, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, Brave


I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purpose of review.

My daughter (9) really liked the book, she would definitely recommend it to her friends and would read more by Tami Charles.
She found the plot particularly entertaining and she liked how Annabel's friends tried to piece together the clues she left behind.
She also commented on the internal struggle between Daphne and Annabel, she found it fun and she could easily relate to it, which made the character likeable.
Overall a lovely, contemporary book, one that certainly hit the spot for the middle grade market.