1.75/5 stars! The premise of this book had potential. But it does not fit its proclaimed genre at all. It read like a middle-grade story with romance thrown in. This book needs to go through major revisions and I think the author needs to decide what story they are trying to tell and do so with more structure. The characterizations of everything but two main characters were vague and it made it impossible to engage with the story.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

This book is about Dean, Gracie and how their friendship / relationship began as a prank and gossip. The Ashcrofts enjoy playing pranks on each other as this book also has a family element to it.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. It was a quick and fun read. I liked the characters Dean and Gracie and development through the book.

I did get confused At times as the book is in 3rd person, which I’m not typically a big fan of. There were quite a few characters introduced and it could be hard to keep up with who was who.

Cute, light and a fun read. This author has a lot of potential tho i would’ve appreciated a better timed entrance of some characters along with their descriptions. Other than that, it was fun to read this one♥️

This felt like a short story that had been stretched out and was very light and easy to read. But it was also most definitely aimed for the YOUNG adult. There was little depth to the story or characters and felt a little surface level.
It was a quick and easy read though so I dont think it is bad but just not necessarily for me.
Thank you for the ARC @Netgalley

Oh boy. Let's start with the premise sounded promising, read fast and it wasn't the worst book I've ever read. I think it could be decent with more editing.

The writing was juvenile, and not in a way that a YA novel should be.

There's a bunch of characters thrown in right out the gate, and their descriptions are pretty much reduced to the color of their hair. 'The brunette', 'the blonde', 'the redhead' instead of the names was used one too many times. Nicole's entrance happened without any setup, making me think she was the ultimate villain instead of an old friend.

There's multiple key moments that happen completely off page that could've been used to deepen the relationship and characterization. Instead there's exposition heavy dialogue, unnecessary descriptions of action and a whole lot of telling instead of showing. There's a kissing scene that I genuinely thought was mistakenly pasted in the wrong spot. The stakes were all over the place and Gracie was kind of a crappy friend.

I'm sad to say I was disappointed, it seemed like a cute, fun read.

I received an advance copy of this book, courtesy of SnowRidge Press and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

In The Gossip Games, Allie Sarah does a great job developing her characters as well as making them loveable and comical. The dynamic between Gracie and Dean pushes the reader to continue reading to see what happens next. Zara is the comedic relief that we all love, and is a great friend and sister. It was refreshing to read a best-friend's brother trope without the sibling being upset about the budding relationship.

I think this book would be great for fans of YA Romance. I did find that I was probably not the right audience for this particular book. I shared more info of my rating on my Bookstagram, @/booknerdysam, which is also linked here. I strongly believe Allie Sarah will only continue to grow and develop as an author. She is a great writer with great ideas!

First of all, I want to thank NetGalley and the respective publisher for sending me this ARC.
I thoroughly enjoy this read. Maybe it is a little bit long, but it was a nice journey.
This read seems like a TV teen show -in the best way possible-, but written down. I also consider that the read is directed to a younger audience, such as early teens.
As always, I very much appreciate the queer representation, and also the playlist at the end of the book as closure.

4⭐️

This book was amazing! This was a super cute well written debut novel! I absolutely devoured it! Gracie and Dean start from being rumored to be dating to dating and I loved it! It was such a cute spin on fake dating and a super unique book overall! I absolutely love when someone’s nickname is their last name and I love how Dean uses Adams. I really liked how this book had put a fun light on many pressing issues which made the book perfect for emerging young adults! Gracie and Dean slowly, but surely find a connection with each other! I am such a sucker for best friends brother trope and this book delivered! I loved how this book has LGBTQIA+ representation as well as the struggles of figuring out one’s sexuality. This book discuses many topics of the importance of communication in friendships, how friends can be your family, and how those you least expect, might be the kindest to you! This book was super good and I highly recommend it!

Favorite Quote:
“But if Gracie was the princess, would that make Dean her prince?”

This book took me by major surprise and I am so glad that I chose to read it because boy, was it good. I fell in love with this book, the story, the characters, the romance and nearly everything else that was included in it.

The Gossip Games follows Gracie who has recently had rumours about her start-up after Dean, her best friend's brother, carried her up to bed and she’s not best pleased. This starts up a competition of sorts between the two to see who can one up the other in a game of flirting and fake dating.
This book is a contemporary young adult romance following character who are in their later teenage years at a private boarding school.

The main characters in The Gossip Games are Gracie and Dean, as well as Zara, Dean’s twin sister and Gracie’s best friend, Jesse and Theo, who are Zara and Dean’s cousins, though there are a couple of other characters who feature regularly. I liked nearly all the cast of characters and if I didn’t originally like a character quite often I hrew to like them throughout the book as their character developed more, my favourite characters were probably Gracie and Dean mainly because of their enjoyment of YA fantasy which is something I connect to. I found it very easy to relate to Gracie as a character because I have similar interests to her as well as going about things in a similar way, I too love books and fictional charcarters and have a strong desire to work well and succeed at school, as well as valuing all my friendships no matter who with. I could relate to many of the other characters as well but none so much as Gracie.

As I previously mentioned I really liked the fact that both Gracie and Dean read and had a strong love of YA fantasy a genre I enjoy as well. Something else I liked was the realtoionships in this book, they all had a level of reality to them and felt true to all the characters, this included the friendship that the Ashcroft cousins shared (Dean, Zara, Jesse and Theo), Zara and Gracie’s friendship and Dean and Gracie’s friendship and relationship as well as the way that developed over the course of the book.
There wasn’t actually anything that I truly disliked in this book but I understand that it’s not a book everyone will love as much as me, it is just a really perfect book for me.

This book made me feel seen and understood as well as resonating in me as being me and just a really perfect book for me, I don’t know how to describe it. I was also very happy to see all the mentions of YA fantasy books I love or am really excited to read I definitely havea list I want to ask Gracie and Dean if they’ve read and if they have what their thoughts are.

I would definitely recommend this book, especially to YA contemporary teenage bookworms like myself and I am so glad that I got the chance too read it early and share my love, hopefully inspiring others to pick it up upon release or pre-order. Five star rating all the way.

Thank you Netgalley and SnowRidge Press for the e-arc in exchange for a fair review

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's been a few days since I read this book, and I still don't really know how I feel about it. It read and felt like a fanfic, which to me isn't a bad thing (I do really enjoy fanfics). It was the kind of book I could have written on Wattpad a couple of years ago and never would've finished.

I enjoy this storyline a lot - the fake dating trope will always be my favourite. The story itself was pretty predictable, but that didn't take away from the fact that this book was exactly what I needed at the time.

I feel like I would've enjoyed this story a lot more if I was thirteen.

3/5
The Gossip Games is a perfect YA romance novel about Gracie Adams and Dean Ashcroft's rumored romance. Dean is Gracie's best friend's brother, and when news of their "relationship" hits, Dean decides to go along with it. However, you can't simply let the Ashcrofts win. The Gossip Games follows the lives of Gracie and Dean while they navigate their lives through high school at Trinity. This is a short, simple, and sweet romance with fake dating, enemies to lovers, and best friend's brother tropes included. 
This book also highlights the other Ashcroft family members, and they can seemingly do no wrong. Their pranks always go unnoticed, especially since their ancestors founded Trinity. I enjoyed this book a lot. It reminded me of my middle and high school days. This is exactly what I wanted to happen to me in real life. This is a perfect YA novel, and for a debut, I think this is great. However, I think the timeline gets a little confusing. The book cuts from month to month, sometimes mid-chapter, and it left me confused on more than one occasion.
I loved Dean's character, especially when I remember he's just a teenager. Young people don't always have their feelings figured out, but that's okay. And I especially like the way Dean and Gracie's relationship felt so organic. It was like they were meant to be together. On another note, I do think the conflicts in this story happened with no real aftermath or fall out. I think more could've been developed with Blake's storyline. Overall, I enjoyed this quick read about a sort of realistic, sort of hyper-romanced version of a high school experience. The kids have way too much freedom for being kids. Thank you to NetGalley and SnowRidge Press for this ARC. To Allie Sarah, I'm excited for the next book in this series.

Such a unique book, I loved the plot and oh my god the characters were so unforgettable!! I definitely will be recommending it!!

The book was off to a really great start however once I realized it was written in third person I wasn’t able to finish it. At 13% finished I won’t be finishing the book. I really like the plot and everything leading up I just struggle to stay on top of books written in third person. The characters all get lost in my head and I have trouble remembering who is who.

The premise of this book caught my eye and I was excited to read it. However, this book needs to go through another round of editing, the writing is reading very young and I think more time with the characters would be beneficial to the story.

The lack of character descriptions didn't make this an easy-read and I honestly just felt like I had no idea who half the characters were. The author never really set the scene for the book and I could not connect to the story. The dialogue was cringey, unrealistic and at times completely unnecessary to the story or scene. The author used a weird writing structure throughout her book that was confusing, and I felt there was a lot of telling rather than showing.

Overall, what I thought was going to be an easy and enjoyable read was far from it. This book could be improved exponentially with another round of editing. I gave two stars because the idea and premise is good, but was just poorly executed.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.