Tinfoil Crowns

(ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

Fit is a rising star on Youtube. She shares her life and her hilarious antics with her online friends. She's good at it and it helps fill the void of loneliness she can't seem to shake. It's her ticked out of her small town, her dead end job, and the tiny apartment she shares with Dubs and her brother.

But she doesn't share everything with her fans. Like how her mom tried to kill her and her little brother when she was three. Postpartum psychosis, they called it, but Fit doesn't care what they call it. All she cares about is the fact that her mother is being released from prison... and coming to stay with her, Frankie, and Dubs. It's not long until her fans find out, and Fit knows what brings the views. Will a reunion with her mother get her where she needs to be? Is she willing to find out?

At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book. The premise sounded so interesting, but when I started reading, I was just *so mad* at her family! Her brother wanted his mother back, and acted like nothing devastating ever happened. She was scared, and her grandfather was just welcoming his daughter back with open arms. What about poor Fit?! Talk about traumatic!

As I read, though, I got sucked into Fit's world, and as annoying as she could be, I could see *why*. I loved the side bits where we got to see things from River's point of view... I think, had those not been included, I would have been way less into the mother-daughter relationship. Before too long, I had warmed to River, and even wanted Fit to stop being such a jerk to her, so that speaks to the author's ability to sway my stance.

I feel like there's not really much I can say without giving away things that are way too good to read about in the moment, so all I'll say is that this book really surprised me with how much I ended up invested in the characters, and their storylines.

This book is well worth reading, although I wished the ending was a little different... but only because I didn't want the book to end!

An up and coming YouTube star is wrestling with her past while trying to move forward in a way that forms a new identity for herself. Jessica Underwood - but she goes by Fitted Sheet - is the miracle child that she never wanted to be. After her mother tried to kill her and her baby brother 14 years ago, Fit has been able to distance herself from that tragic past. But when her mother is released from prison and comes to live with Fit, her brother Frankie, and their grandpa Dubs, Fit is forced to face her past. While her online fans are creating a community of support for Fit, she is still hiding her truth from the world.

I really appreciated the amount of casual diversity that this book included. Fit clearly demonstrates feelings for her female best friend, Diamond, as well mentioning past crushes on boys and her ex-boyfriend. There is also another YouTube star that has a small part in this story that uses "they/them" pronouns. Both of these points aren't glazed over - they are large parts of Fit's story - but there was never a point where I felt like the author was screaming "Look at how diverse my writing is!" This goes for diversity in sexuality, and also racial diversity. Two of Fit's closest friends are black (and it's explicitly stated that Diamond has a natural afro), and there's a Native character as well. Fit's racial identity is never stated, but her description leaves room for the imagination. I'm excited to see how future fan artists will draw her character!

That being said, it is really frustrating for me to see authors trying to insert "teen speak" into their texts. I read every "text" and "tweet" from Fit with an eye roll, unable to get past the feeling that the author was trying to make her words believable to a younger crowd. Being an active internet user, I can understand that internet trends come and go, and that writing a story about a YouTube star may require some internet-style typing. But the use of bad hashtags and senseless use of abbreviations and "lols" was too much to get past, and never once felt like it was being written by a teenager. One redeeming point was that the use of these bad internet-isms falls off as the story progresses, coinciding with Fit's internet silence.

As a whole, Tinfoil Crowns is a fairly well-written story. I had hoped for more development in Fit's character as she came to terms with her new life with her mother, as well as some more development in her mother's character as well. There wasn't a lot of growth in Fit's relationships with her friends either, especially near the end when her friendship with Diamond goes through a tense point. Fit does experience a period of growth right at the end of the story, though the author does not put the characters through a large story arc throughout.

Tinfoil Crowns is a cute read, though I don't think I'll be re-reading it anytime. Good for those looking for a quick read that isn't emotionally heavy.

Definitely a quirky novel, full of not only hilarious antics but also of serious subjects. Contemporary and well worth a read.

Interesting story...very believable in today’s world of social media obsession. Fit is an up and coming social media star. She’s quickly building quite a following with young fans following her everyday life. She sees it as her way out of a small town existence and road to nowhere. But when her estranged mom is suddenly thrust back into her life, everything gets a lot more confusing. Especially since her mom tried to kill her as a young child in a moment of postpartum psychosis. Fit is the only one in her family who’s unable to find forgiveness in her heart. That determination is put to the test, however, when her future career is on the line. Good story, fun characters, a little quirky at times.

Interesting intake on how it would be to be internet famous i can’t wait to pick up a finished copy so see if some of the issues I had reading get resolved

Where do I even start when reviewing this amazing book? In a fairly short volume, this novel addresses so many hardships of being a young adult today, and introduces a wonderful cast of characters that will stay with readers after the final page is turned.

Jessica, or ‘Fit’ as she prefers to be called, is a rising star on YouTube. She’s also the girl whose mother tried to kill her while in the throes of postpartum psychosis. As Fit’s stardom begins to reach new heights, her mother is released from prison and returns to live with the family. Fit hates her mother for what she did, but she also sees the potential to use her family’s tragic past to intrigue her fans. She has to decide whether to pursue the fame she’s always longed for at the expense of her family.

I really loved reading this book. Fit is a pain in the arse but she is so likeable and endearing. River’s journey is heartbreaking and Erin Jones paints a tender picture of her reintegration with her family. Frankie is fantastic and a good counterpart to Fit - his transformation from loyal sidekick to independent young man is a really interesting part of the book. I think the depiction of Fit’s desire for fame, and the ways it led her astray, are really important and relevant for young people (and adults!) today.

Things I loved:
- Fit’s bratty kookishness juxtaposed with her doing really random unselfconscious things (like wearing tinfoil accessories)
- The brutal and heartfelt way that postpartum psychosis is depicted. We learn more alongside Fit and I feel it is dealt with in an honest and understanding way,
- The diverse cast of characters - specific labels are never really mentioned, which I think is pretty cool, but we see LGBTQIA depiction and at least one non-binary person, in addition to a range of ethnicities. It doesn’t seem like tokenism at all, but rather an accurate representation of a group of American teens.
- The incremental ways that Fit loses her way in her pursuit of fame. I won’t say too much, as this is a spoiler-free review, but it’s realistic, believable, and worrying.
- River, in general. I really enjoyed the chapters about her and her slow return to the world outside prison. I thought she was incredibly brave to keep trying with her family and a really compassionate and caring person.
- That the book didn’t wrap up nice and neatly; it left open questions (for a sequel perhaps?!) and interpretation up to the reader.

Things I didn’t love (really nitpicking here!)
- The lack of background on River and Seth’s family dynamic. I didn’t understand why Fit and Frankie’s dad would be willing to all but disappear, especially after they’d been through something so harrowing.
- Fit’s friends: I liked Pistols, but found Diamond whingey and irritating, and Riley just seemed pointless. Though I did like that he painted his house Day-Glo.

Emotional ~ Challenging ~ Thoughtful

tl;dr: Internet fame isn't always worth it.

This story centers around a girl who takes a boyfriend's insult of her as a fitted sheet and parlays it into internet fame. This book is incredibly emotional, with many triggers (mental illness, insecurity, bullying). The characters are well-done, but that makes reading their hardships ever the more challenging. I do think moments in the writing felt a little stiff, particularly the dialogue. Yet, this look at the way youth culture deals with personas and the challenges of being authentic in an inauthentic social media climate is worth reading. Also, I want to say this should be commended as a YA book that offers voices from multiple generations.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Seema Rao Write : <a href="https://www.instagram.com/seemaraowrite/">Instagram</a>| <a href="https://www.seemarao.co/bookreviews/">Blog</a>| <a href="https://twitter.com/SeemaRaoWrite">Twitter</a>|

This book broke me. I can’t wait to get everyone I know to read it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.