This book was good! Very engaging and kept me wanting more! It was hard to put down! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I didn't really get this book. The writing was well done and the story was interesting up to a point but the ending was just lame. This was like reading a giant prologue of how we got to Eva Kate's death but instead of then going to the novel we have to wait until the next book. I found this pretty misleading. It might not bother others but it wasn't for me.

Fake Plastic Girl was strange and a little too out there for me. I thought that I would be getting more of a murder mystery rather than a day in the life type, although I was still fairly intrigued, just the book I thought I would be reading from the synopsis.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy from Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

This book is marketed as YA, so I'm definitely not the Target audience. Maybe a teenager would have liked it better. As a parent, I'm not sure I'd be thrilled about my teen reading a book that glamorizes drinking, drugs, and a "celebrity" lifestyle. The entire book describes the relationship that Justine has with a child star, Eve Kate, over a month during the summer. The descriptions allude to a lot of backstory that could be interesting which led me to keep reading, but no details are ever given. The book ends on a cliffhanger and I was left feeling like they just wanted me to sink more money into the series to get any good plot line. It's a quick read, because you keep thinking something will happen, but nothing ever does.

A former child star was dead, and Justine Childs was here to tell you she didn't do it.

There's something about getting to peek into the lives of the young, rich, and reckless. Though I disapproved of their lifestyle and life choices, I found myself unable to look away. That was pretty much kept me flipping the pages during the first part of the book, while the mystery became more compelling in the second half of the book and drove my interest.

Justine was the child of a celebrity therapists, who always seemed to be on the fringes of celebrity. Then, as luck would have it, former child star, Eva-Kate Kelly, moved in next-door, and took Justine under her wing. The whole time, I thought this was an open and shut case, but then Lisbon threw a little twist in, which had me reevaluating previous information, and she revealed some more information, and then there was another twist. Let me tell you, by the end of the book, I had totally changed my tune. I still wasn't sure what happened, but I knew it wasn't what I originally believed. Good job, Zara Lisbon!

I know there are going to be a bunch of people, who will be frustrated with the ending. It's a cliffhanger ending, BUT I am ok with where Lisbon left me, because it was a logical break point. That said, I am more than looking forward to the sequel and finding out what really happened to Eva-Kate Kelly.

Fake Plastic Girl is a quick, fun, twisted ya about Justine, a sixteen year old spending a month of summer vacation on her own and what happens when former child star turned party girl Eva Kate Kelly suddenly moves in next door.

Sounds like the setup for a sweet story about friendship?

Wrong.

When Fake Plastic Girl opens, Eva Kate Kelly is dead and what follows is a free for all embrace/smackdown of the instafamous, the young and bored and desperate for more, more, more.

I freely acknowledge that Fake Plastic Girl may not be for everyone. The reverence for the 1990s (oh, millennials!), the constant Taylor Swift references (with some awesome pointed asides--why is Taylor never driving in any of the songs she writes that feature vehicles?), and the fact that the book ends on a gleeful cliffhanger--seem to have put some readers off.

I say, Bring It!

In a world where we want 800 page ya fantasy novels to end with us writhing for the next book, I have no problem with Fake Plastic Girl winding me up and then saying "See you next year!"

It's a date, and I'll be there.

I lived through the 1990s so I find the worship of landlines and Juicy and that Sex and Candy song odd but hey, it is old now so it's new again to someone. And as for Taylor Swift, well, let's face it-- she knows how to be a celebrity and in a book about what fame is, the wanting, the having, the losing, the clinging, the hollowness, it makes sense to have her there. She's the unattainable for Justine, and really, for Eva Kate Kelly too.

But what really hooked me was the writing. It's gorgeous and visceral and completely nails the way only a teenage girl can worship someone. And it's not afraid to show what can happen when that worship gets twisted.

Everyone is unstable, a liar, and capable of anything in Fake Plastic Girl and I loved that. Absolutely recommended.

I love the concept and general idea of this book, I just think it was executed very poorly. The one plus was that it took place in Los Angeles, my hometown. All the characters were pretty insufferable. I didn't connect or even sympathize with any person. The main character Justine was scary obsessive and really just needed to chill out.

As someone who is a big fan of pop culture references in books, this took it way too far. They also seemed to be pretty outdated too, not really right for this age demographic. The whole Taylor Swift theme was way over the top. This just really felt almost like Taylor Swift fanfiction, if that even exists.

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Take care, don't read this book if you dislike Taylor Swift. Fake Plastic Girl seemed really interesting based on the synopsis, but it wasn't what I expected. There's a good story buried under Taylor Swift references, cliches and unnecessary jumble. It lost me in all of this, and I just couldn't make myself like it. I disliked the references so much it just became white noise. I didn't enjoy this book, unfortunately. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of Fake Plastic Girl from Netgalley/Henry and Holt in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts are my own.

Fake Plastic Girl was quite an interesting read. It's not like anything I have read. I read a lot of YA Contemporary, so it was nice to have something fresh in the genre.

This book is about a girl, Justine, who happens to become friends with mega pop star, Eva Kate Kelly. This book is largely about the growth of their friendship over about a month. It was interesting to see how Justine changed and evolved when she entered the world of the famous - which was a place she always wanted to be. Eva-Kate created this persona of her, which she ultimately took on and became.

So this is both what I loved and hated most about this book. A large part of the book focused on Taylor Swift. Like whole chapters. I'm still confused by that. I think the MC measured life/memories with Taylor Swift albums, but it was so much more in depth than that. At times I wasn't sure if I was reading the MC's thoughts on Taylor or the author's. That took me out of the story a bit. I am a HUGE Taylor fan, so at first with all the references, I was super excited. Then, there was this quote,
"No, no. Make no mistake, true snakes in this story wear Yeezys."
I mean, COME ON. That's a great line. I have to give it to Zara Lisbon. But after a while, all the references got to be too much, and I feel like the story was muddled. It almost turned into a book more about what she thought about Taylor, than what was happening with Justine and Eva-Kate.

The book had a very abrupt end. When I started the book, I didn't know it would be part of a series. I felt this novel was mostly just a really long setup for the true story, which will happen in book two. There will be a sequel in 2020, but I still wanted more. I gave three stars because, honestly, I will read the sequel. I want to know what happens. But the story didn't just wow me.

Dear Zara Lisbon,

You are literally the worst. This ending is the most frustrating that I've read pretty much ever.

Well done.

Sincerely,
A Reader Desperate For Answers

But seriously, this book is like the perfect guilty pleasure. It's got fame and paparazzi and secret siblings and intrigue all wrapped up in a shiny bow. And that ending... geez.