First off thank you to NetGalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for this earc of The Rumor Game by Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra!! I love this author duos previous books so I was sooooo super excited to receive this arc for review!

The premise is following 3 different points of views of 3 high school students. They are all very rich and come from very privileged families deeply connected in the political world in DC.

BEWARE!!! This book is HEAVY! If you have any triggers, please check before you read. Just to name a few: sexual assault, bullying, eating disorders, body dismorfia etc.

Okay, so I LOVED IT! I think they tackled a bunch of issues that come these days when it comes to an online life. I felt for Georgie! I wanted her to succeed so bad but she kept making mistakes. Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s realistic, as teenagers we all made mistakes! Cora was a badass and I really enjoyed seeing her and her sister interact and defend each other. The friendship she builds with Georgie is one I think we need more of, girls sticking together! Bryn, don’t even get me started! I think it’s relatable to do something desperate when the heat is on you but it was too much! (In the most entertaining way)

My only complaint is a tiny one, this book was long! And I get it, the build was fantastic! But I don’t always need an almost 500 page book!

Overall, read it the drama and commentary is worth the ride 😍

This book was ok. The book has cyber bullying, bullying, rumors, social media, etc and what consequences there's topics being.
There are 3 main narrator's and it basically just comes out with who was starting the rumors, but in the end nothing has really changed.
The book was a quick read so that was good.

High school hierarchy. Bryn used to be the queen of the school. But after an event that left her classmates thinking she had lost it, they are now unforgiving and trying to remove her as president of the student body.

Meanwhile Bryn's neighbor, Georgie, went to fat camp over the summer and has become a stunner. She looks so different and her social status shoots through the roof. Georgie's previous experience in her Indian culture has been to be very reserved. She loves the attention she gains with everyone and wants to try everything even though it doesn't end well.

This is a fairly true to life story about social media, cyberbullying, and how rumors can ruin lives. Great book!

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Rumor Game dives into the very realistic world of cyberbullying. Especially when it comes to high school kids. Whether it's a lie, the truth, or your every day king of rumor - things explode until the damage is done. So much happened throughout this book and each twist kept me on the edge of my seat.

Even though it was realistic, I did think things were a bit predictable. I'm also not happy that the consequences for everything that happened were basically slim to none. Which, yes, can also be very realistic when it comes to people with money and power. It still annoys the shit out of me.

Other than that, this was a pretty addictive book and hard to put down. I just felt like I needed to solve it before the big reveals came my way. Which, I didn't really do but some of the clues definitely helped narrow some it down (for me). I'm really happy that I got the chance to dive into this.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows three girls that are students at Foxham Prep, an elite private school located in Washington, D.C. Every student that goes to this school is related to someone powerful, such as White House Advisors and diplomats.

The three main girls are Cora, the popular it girl with the perfect boyfriend, Georgie, a Desi girl who has just returned from a weight loss camp that she was sent to by her mother, and Bryn Colburn, Cora's old best friend who is still trying to recover from a horrible mistake she had made the previous summer.

As these three girls navigate high school, they find rumors to be running wild and changing with every student that passes it on. They have to work together to figure out who is behind it all while trying to maintain the lives that they so dearly love.

My Rating: 2.5 Stars

After reading the premise of this book, I was quite interested. I love mysteries and the dynamics of American schooling, so I knew that I would be into this book. Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC of this book.

To sum it up neatly, I was a bit disappointed with this book. The characters are quite fleshed out and each have unique storylines. This is the high point of the book for me.

The build-up of the rumours in this book is dramatic. There are mentions of (TW) eating disorders, therapy, online bullying, slut-shaming, SA, substance abuse, and more. This is a very heavy book in a lot of ways. I thought that each of the heavy topics were handled respectfully.

When the person behind the rumours is revealed, (no spoilers), it was a shock. It didn't make sense. It seemed to come out of left field and felt rushed. The end of the book was so fast-paced in comparison to the first part of the book, and it felt jilted.

When they do the big reveal of who they "caught" as the person behind the rumors, they flip back and forth between who they think it could be. When the true person is revealed, it's done in a lackluster way. The characters that were bullied are angry, but I felt like there could have been other reactions to play with.

At the end of the book, the three main girls are in different places than where they started. I felt like none of their lives got better, and they all received the short end of the stick even though they were innnoncent.

Overall, I liked the premise and the idea of the book. It's a solid idea and really had potential. The execution fell just a bit too short for my tastes.

Once again, thank you to Netgalley for an eARC of The Rumor Game in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot of themes surrounding racism, sexual assault, and fatphobia. It also talked heavily about the rumors especially in high school.

For me, a lot of things felt very forced like they wanted to bring up all these issues in one book instead of focusing on a few issue to where it feels like these issues that are brought up don’t get their full development, which really takes away from the story.

I found it hard to like a lot of the characters because most of them just weren’t like able and it was a very weird disconnect from this story.

All in all the story read like it was written by adults who don’t really know what teens are like, but have a general understanding

Thank you NetGalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide and Hyperion for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All views and opinions in this review are my own and not affiliated with any brand.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I was lucky enough to grow up without the influence of social media. It's amazing how much cyber bullying affects teens and kids these days. Its an important issue to address and I appreciate the authors bringing attention to these issue. I also appreciated that it was mentioned sending or distributing naked pictures of a minor is child porn. Not a lot of people think of this beforehand.

Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaiporta do an excellent job of weaving together three narratives seamlessly. They are both excellent writers. The story was easy to follow and the narrative engaging. I think where the book starts to lose me is how preventable all the issues in the book actually are. It should never have gotten as out of hand as it did. I also was taken aback by parents trying to cover up the issues. I just don't resonate with rich kids who do whatever they want and know they can get away with it. I did, however, really appreciate the amount of diverse characters that the authors included.

Overall it was a well written book and if you like extreme high school drama, this book is for you!

This is an all too real story of how rumors start, get out of control, and ruin people's lives. Everyone has a camera and your most embarrassing moments can be captured and posted for the world to watch again and again. Three girls get caught up in rumors, both about them and starting them and soon things spiral out of control and people are getting hurt. Who can they really trust and what is fact or fiction?

The book is a mixed format, going from the three main characters' points of view to social media comments to articles in the news. I liked that it jumped around because it kept the story exciting and showed what was actually happening versus what people's perceptions were. There are some terrible things that happen and it was sad when the girls didn't have good support from their families. A couple of the characters are truly horrible people and I just wanted to see them taken down and get the punishment they deserved.

I thought this played out fairly realistically, with a few exaggerations here and there. This is a great look at how rumors and lies can affect people severely, even those on the periphery. Be prepared for this book to get your blood boiling and rethink everything you see on social media!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thank you to Disney Publishing Worldwide and NetGalley for the copy

Fans of 'Ace of Spades' and other gossip-filled YA Contemporary reads will enjoy this drama-filled tale about rumors. Readers follow 3 narrators on this wild ride through the effect rumors can have on people's lives.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This book has a great message about how rumors can spiral out of control and can badly harm people. The book also had quite a bit of representation. The book was filled with drama, which, while expected with the topic of this book, was almost too much at times. The book showed very little outside of grand parties and the various rumors. which made it a bit repetitive at times. The pacing of the book worked well there wasn't a lot of filler chapters, pretty much everything had a meaning. Also, all of the main characters were plain unlikable, and they were also the only ones who had any sort of character. It made it a bit hard to relate to them while I was reading. I did really enjoy the addition of the various social media posts and text messages that were scattered throughout.

If you liked Tiny Pretty Things, a collaboration between Dhonielle and Sona, plan to pick up The Rumor Game! This pair knows how to craft narratives with teenage women acting their very worst towards each other. Honestly, every time these two work together, it brings back all of the ways in which my female friendships were both loving and horribly toxic at different times in high school. Overlay that with the persistent bullying that happens on social media throughout this book, and I feel like it’s a social thriller/horror and not just your average YA contemporary.

TRG switches between three POVs: Bryn, Georgie, and Cora. Bryn is dealing with a fall from popularity after a series of bad things happens during the summer, Georgie is becoming viral after a summer spent at fat camp transforms her body, and Cora is the reigning leader of the school, with the most to lose and in the middle of the other two girls. There are some boys scattered around, but you can guess many of the awful ways they are involved. This book will keep you on your toes, constantly hoping that the rumors will stop and the social media comments will die down. I can definitely see this made into a Netflix show at some point. Thanks to NetGalley for an early review copy, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of The Rumor Game in exchange for an honest review!

The Rumor Game follows three teenage girls through their senior year as they deal with rumors, lies, bullying and social media. I thought this book flowed very well and I found myself not being able to put it down once I started. I liked the alternating perceptive of the three girls, each having a clear and distinct voice, who each had their own problems to deal with. I also liked the snippets of text messages and online posts at the end of some of the chapters.

This book shows just how much of a role social media apps/sites play in the lives of teens nowadays, and makes me truly thankful that I grew up when Facebook was just starting out and online bullying didn't really exist.

Overall, I think the author did a great job creating a book that is relevant in today's society and can be used to start a discussion about online bullying and social media.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review.
I love a good YA contemporary. And the premise of this book was interesting to me given the fact that I have a kid currently in high school. I also remember personally the rumors that would start at my school and how they often spun out of control. This book addresses those types of rumors.
The authors really delve into the rumors, how they come to be, how they are perpetuated, how they can get squashed, and the huge roll social media currently takes in all of the above. I often worry about what my kids will see on social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snap Chat. It's scary how things can get skewed. This book definitely shows how easy it is for that to happen.
I loved the different points of view. How we got to see the characters experiencing the rumors and the consequences of those rumors first hand. How they make or break who you are or might be in circles in high school.
I'm happy with the areas this book covered: cheating from significant others (both adult and teen), sexual assault, child pornography. It's important for our kids to understand such consequences. Unfortunately, social media often perpetuates so much.
Overall this was an enjoyable read. I know it was an early proof. It's unfortunate that this early copy had some formatting errors which made it hard to read certain points.
I would definitely recommend it to teens so they can understand the consequences of their actions.

Rumors can come from anywhere about anyone. In high school, they can be devastating. The young elite at D.C.'s Foxham prep give us vibes of those at NYC's Constance Billard from Gossip Girl but with more savage social media. That said, don't mistake this for a book filled with glamour and jet-setting. Its 3 narrators aren't exactly likable, and it's tone leans into darker 13 Reasons Why territory. That's why it works.

In the age of social media, everyone has an opinion. You are told who and what you are. People think they know you. They don't care that they don't. When things get ugly, even your closest friends begin to doubt you. You begin to doubt yourself. They like you. They love you. They hate you. They follow you. They unfollow you. How much do they know? You can be whoever you want. You can make them think whatever you want. You can turn this around. You need to turn this around. You care. You don't care. You're in the eye of the storm with so much noise around you that it's almost quiet. You're spiraling...

Balancing just enough rich kids behaving badly with the ugliness of real life high school drama, this book is a must read for teenagers and parents of teenagers. You get drama, a mystery, and high school romance but you will also find bullying, cyber bullying, drug use, sexual abuse, assault, racism, and body image topics.

Has this subject matter been written about before? Of course, it has. However, this is fast paced, addictive, relevant, and has some multi-media conversations thrown in between chapters that makes it an even more engaging read. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

While I love how diverse this book was, and agree with the overall message I think much of it fell flat for me. Social media is very impactful, that is true, and we should be honest with our words, however it feels highly unrealistic. The stereotypical portrayal of high school-aged kids, including the big parties and how all people at school were invested in the drama is something I find to be overdone.

I think that the message is important, but that it could have been done in a much better way.

WOW! This book was amazing. As someone who has recently graduated high school, it is also extremely relatable (which is, albeit, concerning). The book follows three girls; Cora, Bryn, and Georgie as rumors spread about all of them at their elite private school. It has great LBGT and racial representation and was written in a way that had me hooked from the start. I have nothing negative to say about this book. Everyone, please give it a shot!

Yes, Yes, Yes!! It has been a while since I have read a good YA novel, and The Rumor game did not disappoint. Clayton and Charaipotra created characters that were multifaceted and came alive on the pages. I thought I knew who the mysterious social media poster was, and I was right, but I still kept reading to see what would happen. I can not wait to buy this book for my classroom!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Bryn's social life crashed and burned about the time she ran a red light and hit the car containing her ex-boyfriend, his girlfriend, and the school's star lacrosse player. Labeled as crazy by her peers, she sets out to win back her spot as queen bee of the school. Her plan centers around making her next-door neighbor, Georgie, one of the popular girls, and easing back in with her best friend, Cora. What could possibly go wrong?

While I enjoyed this book and thought the writing was great, I absolutely disliked all of the main characters. While that's not a dealbreaker for me per se, it's hard to cheer someone on who just has no redeeming qualities. I don't know if I was supposed to feel sorry for these people, but I didn't, with the exception of Georgie. She was the only character that I felt was trying to grow any at all. The way she was treated in this book...whew. It's just hard to read a book when the characters are unlikeable, and that was the biggest burden of this book.

Fans of "Tiny Pretty Things" and its "Shiny Broken Pieces" sequel are sure to enjoy Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra's next YA thriller, this time set in an elite DC prep school amid a plethora of scandals and rumors that have the power to destroy lives. Told in multiple perspectives (much like TPT and SBP), readers see the inner POVs of Georgie, Bryn and Cora through text, iPhone messages, emails and a post-note timeline of the events, which makes the story modern and realistic as you can see firsthand how these rumors started to spread in the first place.

I was hooked on this from the start, like, it's so good and compelling, chock full of twists I didn't see coming at all. I legitimately couldn't put this read down by the end, there was just so much action that I needed to know what was going to happen next.

Content Warnings: Fatphobia, Sexual Assault, Drug Misuse, Bullying, Cyber Bullying

While I am not a fun of POV, I admit that it worked well with this storyline.

There is a lot of stuff going on in this novel - mainly surrounding Bryn and Georgie and Cora.

It is crazy how teens are subjected to all kinds of "internet" issues/threats. Imagine having a bad day and a bad moment - it can be filmed and upload FOREVER.

I particular gravitated to the "fat camp" - presumably losing a bunch of weight will give you a perfect life....but these YA are thrown into situations that would have been difficult for adults to deal with, so the author was brave in setting her characters against such difficult issues.

Engrossing and I loved it.