I love coming of age young adult novels. This was such a good read, I’ll for sure be reading more by this author.

I had high hopes for this book and was excited by the concept of it. It was a good read but did fall a little short for me.

I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis held so much promise, but the book failed to deliver as much as I hoped for from it. I enjoyed it well enough, but with a few tweaks it could have been an even more enjoyable read.

Just for Clicks is a book about twin sisters, Claire & Poppy, who have everything posted about them daily on a blog written by their mother. This story is about Claire and her unhappiness with her vlog/blog life. This book had a lot of potential and I went in with really high hopes. Claire and Poppy’s relationship was kind of strange for me. Yes, siblings fight and grate on each other’s nerves but I felt like their relationship was very one-dimensional

I really loved the cover for this book and I really liked that between each chapter is a page of text messages or emails or forum posts and I found it to be a really nice break from the story and yet integral to the story as well. I think my favorite part of this whole book was definitely Rafael–I loved Rafael as a character and love interest and he was so fun and cute and a very sweet love interest! Though I would've loved their romance a lot more if they just learned to communicate instead of assuming things.

Though had a lot of potential, this definitely kind of fell flat compared to my expectations. This book didn't provide anything new, but was something I could enjoy while reading nonetheless. Not very memorable, though, as it's hard for me to recall details about the book even now. I enjoyed the concept and the conversations about social media throughout the book, but some of the romance and drama felt a little lacking. Still a great start for a debut, and am looking forward to how McDowell grows as an author.

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

Just For Clicks is a title that feels so incredibly 'now'. The age of social media and all it entails.

This book takes us through what it is like to be in the social spotlight from infancy to teenage years and what that looks like when trying to forge your own path and identity.

Well written, fun, engaging and sweet.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a reading copy of this title. All thoughts and opinions are my own

“Just for Clicks” is a charming young adult contemporary novel about social media, sisters, and shocking secrets that entertained me.

When I started reading this book, I admit I only expected a light-hearted fluffy tale of two sisters and their lives as social media stars. While it initially starts off that way, the story is so much more. The author includes quite a few twists and turns and takes the story in a direction that I did not expect.

Claire is lovely in the role, and I could relate to what she was going through. She always feels like she is in Poppy’s shadow because the fans love Poppy more than her. Then, when she meets a guy she likes, she realizes that he is dating someone else. I liked how Claire dealt with Rafael realistically. The two of them are cute together, and I adored their moments where they talk about Halloween (and watch Halloweentown, one of my favorite movies). Similarly, Claire shares a complex relation with Poppy, and I wondered if they would remain close after what happened.

Moreover, the author also talks about how getting famous on social media could have a demotivating effect. Many people would love to post nasty comments to bring a person down, and I admired how Claire handled them, particularly the bird poop incident. The second half of the story gets serious than the first part, where Claire learns something new about herself and goes on a mission to get details. I was glued to the book in the second half and liked how the author executed the plot.

Overall, I liked “Just for Clicks” and look forward to reading more of the author’s works.

Such a fun book and very prevalent to today’s digital age! I had a blast reading this book and would definitely recommend it.

Yeah, I wasn't blown away by this.
It started off really well. Claire felt like a relatable teenage girl, but turned into an angry, whiny girl who didn't appreciate what she has and complained about everything.
The relationship between Poppy and Claire felt very one-dimensional too.
My favorite character was definitely Rafael, even though I would've loved their romance a lot more if they just learned to communicate instead of assuming things *sigh*.
I did like the cute little mails/text messages in between chapters.

At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book. It wasn't grabbing my attention in the beginning (I'm a mood reader). Then about half way through something major happened and I was hooked. The book definitely made you think about social media and how much of our lives it's consumed. All of the characters play a part in telling this story and I think everything was weaved together nicely. I really loved Claire and her outlook on a social media life. Rafael was also a great character and allowed Claire to be her true self.

Hola

Este es un libro muy bueno que necesita ser leído por mas personas ya que toma temas super importantes hoy en día.
Primero, la mama de Claire y Poppy tomo una decisión de compartir la vida de ellas desde que eran chicas, en determinado momento como adolescente puedes sentirte abrumado por no saber donde es tu lugar, por querer un poco de anonimato para poder ser quien quieres ser, ademas también aveces creemos que conocemos a la gente solo por sus redes sociales cuando en realidad no tenemos ni la menor idea de como están pasando sus vidas.

Me gusto mucho el libro y queria saber mucho mas.

Saludos.

Just for Clicks was a great book! I enjoyed it thoroughly and I think that we can expect great things from Kara McDowell with this being her debut novel. This story was interesting and different from anything else I have read in regard to how it goes behind the scenes of social media. It had its twists and turns, not predictable but definitely had a great ending with closure. Absolutely will recommend and look for Miss McDowell’s work in the future. 5/5 stars.

First off, can we talk about that cover?? It's SO cute!! I love the hand lettering, the doodles, all of it.

I went into this book not knowing much about it, other than it was about a blogger/influencer life. After reading it, though, I don't think the back blurb really covers what this book is about.

The book covers Claire, who is a twin who has grown up in the spotlight, thanks to her mother's lifestyle and fashion blog. Her twin loves it . . . herself, not so much. Just for Clicks explores what happens when Claire tries to extricate herself from the carefully crafted online web that has existed around her since the day she was born. Overall, the storyline progressed well, and it was a good story . . . it just personally wasn't for me.

A lot of the story seemed to be added in for either the sake of saying it, or just for amusement? There were a lot of plot points that didn't seem to contribute to the story, which is fine, but when it's over 60% of the book, it just doesn't really add to the experience of reading the story, you know? To illustrate, the biggest plot point (Claire finding her mother's journal, which leads to Everything Else happening), happened roughly 140 pages into a 330 page book.

In addition, nearly all of the characters except for Claire and her love interest seemed very one dimensional and flat, even the famous blogger mom and her twin sister. The family portrayal in this book was pretty fun, and I enjoyed that, but Poppy and her mom, Ashley, were just bland and uninteresting for it to have the full effect.

Claire, the main character, wasn't particularly likeable either? Although the book was told from her point of view, and her mindset was explored the most, she still made some really odd decisions for being the main character, and a lot of things about the way she was thinking didn't make sense. She wasn't my favorite.

The blogging/influencer lifestyle was . . . also just not portrayed correctly? It was made to seem both much easier and also much harder than it actually is. One time Ashley said "you know the business side of this is much harder than what most people actually see" as if it were some sort of big secret but . . . it's not?? Everyone knows that? But also for a blog/brand as big as the book made it out to be, why didn't they have managers? Why were they fielding their own email? Why were they discussing their own sponsorships? People who are that big have managers who do that for them, and that part was just straight up misguided information.

Lastly, the story just straight up didn't make sense. Things were often insinuated that would have been foreshadowing, except they weren't actually told well enough that it was apparent, and just lead to confusion later on. Like aforementioned, the story progressed really slowly, building backstory, then all came to a head in the very last 50 or so pages of the book. I think the story would have been a lot more powerful if the last part had been extended out more and the irrelevant details cut. (Ironic for a book whose final purpose was "we all have our stories to tell").

The romance was designed to be a "slow-burn" romance . . . except it really wasn't? There was instant chemistry, then Claire straight up told her love interest that she had a boyfriend mulTIPLE times, then got mad at him and said he wasn't communicating when he wouldn't pursue a relationship with her beCAUSE SHE TOLD HIM SHE HAD A BOYFRIEND?? and that whole thing with an old flame was SO WEIRD as well.

To not close off this review/rant with all negativity, some things that I liked from this book: the love interest! He was so sweet and pure and tbh my favorite part of this book. The little text/email/journal entries in between chapters! Those were so fun! Girls in STEM!!! I wish we could have seen more of that! The book itself was a fun read, and I read it all in an afternoon, so that was fun. :)

So overall? This book had a lot of potential, but didn't execute it the way I would have liked. There were some fun parts that I really enjoyed, and the love interest was super cute!

My Rating-
3/10

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion; I was not required to write a positive review.

Claire has always grown up in the spotlight. Her mother runs a popular mommy blog which ended up catapulting Claire and her twin sister's, Poppy, own social media career. But, as they are encouraged more and more to build their own brand, Claire is desperate to create a life of her own. She wants to step away from all the social media, but she doesn't know how to do that without hurting her sister and her mom.

<i>Just for Clicks</i> is very modern as it really shows the other side of bloggers and vloggers and how that can affect them. Claire struggles with the fame and people coming up to her thinking that they know her. I loved how each one of the Dixon family members is shown how they handled it and the differences there.

Claire has the loudest voice throughout the book. It's not just because it's first-person so the reader can really get to know her, but because the other characters seem to be forgotten about a little bit. They fade into the background to give Claire her voice when she really doesn't feel like she has one. Looking at it like that, I think it is nice to let Claire have her voice, but really I would have liked to see more from the other characters especially from her twin sister Poppy. All I ever got from her was that she enjoyed the fame and craved more of it. She soaked up the attention she got by being a social media star and I know there is more to her than that and would have loved to see it more.

The love interest, Rafael, was adorable. I really loved that he just didn't really use technology? In a world that revolves around it it was nice to see someone who it didn't bother to not have it. I really enjoyed him and Claire together. Their slow-burn relationship that really focused on their friendship more than anything was perfect for me.

There were parts of the story that I enjoyed, but there were some parts that left me wondering why that was a thing. The plot twist is one such thing that left me wondering why that was there. It was there and then felt a little brushed off. It was addressed in some ways, but not in ways I expected which did left me feeling like it was glossed over and there to progress this one aspect instead of progress everything as a whole.

As much as I enjoyed Rafael and Claire together, there was a lot of miscommunication between the two which got pretty annoying after a while. I know that Claire was trying to figure out a lot and how to find her voice and express what she wanted, but that didn't make it any easy to read when it was clear how they felt.

The ending felt rushed too. Everything was wrapped up with this neat bow and far too quickly. I would have been okay with the neat little bow if it wasn't like everyone just changed their mind right at once. It didn't feel realistic for the sides of the characters that readers were shown.

Overall, <i>Just for Clicks</i> was an enjoyable read, but I don't think it lived up to the potential it could have had.

My apologies for not reviewing this book. I was unable to download it before the archive date. I would in the future really like to read it

Not my favorite read, not terrible but just not great either. I think there was so much potential for this book but it just couldn't live up. Social media...whew.

Poppy and Claire are twins who mom was rocketed to social media fame by blogging about raising twins. The blog caught fire then viola, the girls grow up in the spotlight. While Poppy enjoys the spotlight, Claire abhors it.

The twins' relationship was just a mess. It read so forced, it was making me crazy. I know kids fight and argue but these two felt so off. The writing was just not fantastic either. All these things made this a 2 star read for me. It was just ok.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for allowing me to read and review.

My full review is posted on my blog here: http://bit.ly/2IOhzAh

Here are 5 things that I think you should know about this book:

1. Claire is a very relatable teen

I really enjoyed Claire as a character because she felt so relatable. Well, the internet fame isn't super relatable, but her real feelings are. She's a seventeen year old girl who just wants to graduate and go off to college and live her best life. But for now, she's stuck in a world of posing and making content and helping her mom with sponsored social media posts. Claire felt really genuine and I was really rooting for her throughout this story.

2. It really makes you think

Mommy blogging is a growing blog niche, or at least it was a couple of years ago. Women love to read aspirational blogs about perfect families who all love each other and do fun activities and wear matching clothes. It's a thing! And this book really made me think about all of the negative repercussions that these children with blogger moms must face after years of being exposed on the internet.

It makes me wonder about how these children in real life deal with internet fame. I guess only time will tell!

3. There is a twist

Obviously I'm not going to tell you what the twist is because spoilers are wrong! Especially in a book review. But there is a twist to the story that surprised me and really gripped me, making me want to read the rest of the book quickly so I could find out what happened next.

4. Opposites Attract?

Claire's new friend/love interest is a boy named Rafael and I liked the chemistry between him and Claire right off the bat. Rafael is kind of her opposite because he grew up with a single Dad and they've spent a lot of time traveling because his Dad works with Doctors without Borders. Rafael doesn't even have a cell phone at first because he's been in so many different countries, and while that baffles Claire, she also really likes it. I just felt like they were really cute together and had a great friendship.

5. #millenialproblems

Because of how internet and social media heavy this book is, it felt very millenial. Haha Like, if you discussed the problems in this book with your grandparents they would be like, what? What's a blog? And I like that the book is so relevant to how life really is today with our phone obsessions and need to constantly be online.

It does make me wonder how long the book will be readable because the electronic world is going to change even more in the next couple of years, but for now, it really makes a mark.

That's all for today!

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I really enjoyed it. This is Kara McDowell's first book and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

If I’m being honest, Just for Clicks baffled the cheese out of me. It has a fairly interesting mix of good and bad qualities that made it difficult to decide whether I was enjoying the story or not.

Just for Clicks makes for a decent romantic contemporary with a cute friends-to-lovers trope. And it does have a unique premise that should pique quite a lot of interest: a vlogging mother and her two social media famous twin daughters. But outside of that, I don't think it has much to offer.

I’d like to think that I understand what this novel is trying to do, and I don’t want to unfairly dismiss the merit behind its key message. However, there is definitely something in its execution that led to a disconnect between me and the story, which I was never able to overcome — and I think that something is the fact that Just for Clicks reeks of unchecked privilege and white girls constantly framing themselves as “oppressed”. In fact, a lot of the time, Claire and Poppy came across as shallow and bratty.

While I applaud how this book delves into the terrifying dangers of Internet fame and social media (which is absolutely an issue that concerns everyone), the characters fail to sufficiently reflect on their many, many privileges. And. It. Was. Just. Difficult. To. Empathize. With. Them.

Plus, the family dynamics and sibling relationship made me feel all sorts of uncomfortable. I am not at all saying that families should be perfectly loving and supportive, but the interactions within Poppy's family really struck me as ingenuine (and occasionally manipulative). I also had a very difficult time with Poppy and Claire as sisters because they just lacked, well, everything. Excluding the romance between Rafael and Poppy, all the character relationships in this book were awkward, stilted, and ultimately, inorganic.

this was so good and so much fun. I loved reading about the sister's relationship! The story was cute and a quick read.