This was a fun book to read but it was nothing special in my opinion. I liked the plot but the ending made so confused. What annoyed me most was Fit, I understand why she acted that way about River, but this felt really extra. Especially since she eventually got away with everything. I hoped to see some character development and I think there was some but not nearly enough.

A story focused on family and internet fame, Tinfoil Crowns is told from the dual perspective of Fit and her mother, River. Fit has a sizeable following on her YouTube channel and has dreams of getting out of her small town. She lives with her younger brother and her grandfather, both of whom she is used to bossing around with her tantrums. When her mother comes to live with them after her sentence has been over, Fit takes her presence and her family's acceptance of her mother to be a sort of betrayal. Initially she is openly hostile to River, but when Fit's new opportunity to be an even bigger YouTube star coincides with her mother's presence in her life, she jumps to utilize the emotional value of such a situation. Along the way, though, she starts to get used to her mother, and begins to understand her past.

Fit is the bigger personality in this story, as it is more from her perspective, and for the first third of the book, her personality is basically 'be a brat'. She harbors a lot of resentment towards her mother (understandable) and lashes out in any way she can (particularly with her grandfather, which is shitty), and being contrary is second nature to her. River, meanwhile, is starting to adjust back to regular life, and has a new job, and she is proud of how her children have grown up, particularly Fit, but she still feels regret and guilt over it. She is hopeful of making amends with her daughter, and that is what Fit seizes on to manipulate her. Fit gets lost in the fame of it, in the possibilities that this new opportunity might bring her, and she doesn't see that bringing the incident back into the light might be hurtful. There is a simultaneous tugging you feel between these characters, each with their own burdens and issues, and that, I feel was well done in the book. That and Fit's well-fleshed out interactions with some characters were the highlight of the book.

However, the ending was a bit rushed and abrupt for my tastes. That, combined with a slow start, had me disengaged from the book plenty of times. There weren't proper resolutions for some things, if we consider this to be a standalone. Overall, it is a good emotional read, but plot-wise it felt lacking.

Fit lives with her grandfather and her little brother, Frankie, and has a pretty successful YouTube channel. But she hides something from her fans, she never talks about the fact that her mother tried to kill her and her brother when Frankie was not even a year old. But now, after 14 years in prison, her mother is coming home and will live with the three of them. Fit is very angry and it doesn't help that her fans somehow found out. But what if pretending to reconcile with her mom was the key to true stardom?

I thought I was gonna love this. I always think I'm gonna love a book with a main queer character. But I hated Fit. She was a brat. There's no other words, she was incredibly selfish and threw tantrums all the time (she even says that she does...). I could not connect with her. I really hated her from start to finish. No one ever reprimanded her, she talked to everyone like she was better than them and she was so rude and disrespectful, especially to her grandfather. She made me so angry, so many times. She repeatedly screwed over her brother and never actually apologized for treating him like crap. She was also often immature and manipulative and selfish too.
Anyway, maybe other readers will connect with her but I couldn't and it kept me from caring about any of it... There were some chapter from her mom's point of view though and I kinda liked those...

In this generation driven by the online world, we often find ourselves doing tasks to please people we've never met, never known. We all feel the pressure to appear perfect on screen. Tinfoil Crowns is a young adult contemporary novel that tries to deal with this theme.

First, the characters are so well written! I loved how deep they were, and how their emotions were portrayed. Fit was an angsty teenager with a popular YouTube channel, driven by passion and anger, and a will to forget her past. She is confused, too blinded by beautiful lies. She wants fame, popularity and power and she understands the truth later at the end. I loved the sibling relationship in the book. Her brother was extremely adorable, and so caring. Through his character, the author also does a commendable job in showing a young boy growing up in an illegal environment, and learning from it. Learning from his mistakes.

River, Fit's mother, was another favorite character. She was so vulnerable, as Fit was, and yet so kind. Helpful. Forgiving. The book deals postpartum psychosis and tries to show it's impact.

The book is important. Really. It tends to cover the virtual aspect of our lives, how we are so keen on letting the world see how perfect our lives our. How people feed lies on the internet just for the sake of popularity. How this same popularity affects our close relationships, friendships and family. How we tend to get under the layers of deep lies. How being under the spotlight can be so much pressure, and how a tiny slip can send us spiraling down and down.

The book deals with all of these stuff in such a beautiful and mature way. Although I wasn't really happy with how it ended and wanted some more spice, more drama, it was all well. An intriguing, fresh new read!

Thanks to netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book. All opinions expressed are fully mine.

The story about a Youtube Star. The story of betrayal, hope, and forgiveness.

Considering the current rise of social media influence and YouTube channels, almost every single person in this world has some sort of social account. Many watch YouTube channels every day, and some have tried filming their own videos. It’s only natural that the authors would pick up on this trend and incorporate it into their stories. After all, when we read Contemporary, we want to see the world familiar to ours.

In «Tinfoil Crowns» we follow Jessica and her early rise of YouTube popularity. But there is so much more to this story than that. This is a story of loss, betrayal, forgiveness, and hope; and most importantly family relationships.

WHAT I LIKED:
1 - The mystery behind early events in Jessica’s and Frankie’s life that led to the imprisonment of their mother. Don’t worry this is not a spoiler! This is not a thriller and the fact that River, Jessica’s mother, was in prison is told on the very first pages. What I loved about it was how differently characters reacted to these events. This is where the subjects of betrayal, anger, and forgiveness were thoroughly explored, showing different sides of human nature.

2 - The relationship between Jessica and River. But from River’s point of view. I guess I just didn’t like brash, rude and hasty Jessica. River, in the beginning, seemed a little like a pushover, but what else would you expect from someone who was separated from her children during dire circumstances. However, I liked watching her subtle tries to smooth things over, her guilt but also some hints of hope that someday it could all be alright again.

3 - The pacing of the first 20-30 pages was a little slow for my taste, but once the main elements were introduced, the story started to flow easier, making it a very quick and enjoyable read.

«Tinfoil Crowns» is a perfect transitional book between YA Contemporary and Adult Fiction. It has just the right amount of YA lightness in it, but the chapters written from Jessica’s mother point of view provide this initial step into Adult Fiction, and to be completely honest, those were the chapters and part of the story I enjoyed the most.

As usual with books such as this, I need to state upfront that the amount of swearing usually tempers my enjoyment of reading a book and Fit cannot really communicate without it. This is the story of Fit who is an up and coming youtube star who documents every aspect of her life. There is troubled history with her mother and that is a large focus of the story. 

The mother-daughter relation, her ties with her brother, grandfather, best friend are all interesting and could have been explored in greater depth than they were. We are talking of a young girl, still in high school becoming dependent on her online persona and the emotional bond that one has with each like and comment (most who read this would easily sympathize if not empathize). This is a heavily nuanced situation, as are the relationships I mentioned earlier. The ending seemed abrupt given how much we invest in hoping that Fit figures out the errors of her ways. Despite the lack of complete satisfaction on my part, I think it is a good book. It is worth reading for the subject matter and for the fast-paced narration.

I ENJOYED…
☂️

- This book is told from two point of views, which surprised me at first because I didn’t expect it. We get Fit and also River’s point of view on the story, therefore seeing this through the daughter and mother lens, something that was really interesting to read.
- I really liked Frankie and Fit’s relationship and the overall complicated dynamics between them as the story moved on, the conflicts and yet the deep need for Fit to protect her little brother and do her best for him to have his dream future, too. I’m all for siblings relationships in books!
- The family relationships were very good to read about overall and I love a book that focuses on family relationships. It’s a very, very complicated relationship between Fit and her mother River and I loved seeing it grow as the story went on.
- If there’s a topic I love in books, it’s celebrity and especially internet celebrity. This book tackled YouTube celebrities and “making it” and, as the story went on, we followed Fit and the lenghts she would go to, to gain that celebrity status and I loved following that so much, this was most likely my favorite part of the entire book. I also loved seeing how complicated it was for Fit to juggle it all, content and video producing while handling the rest of her complicated life.


I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️

- Fit is not a very likeable character and, if at times I have nothing wrong with these kind of characters and they can even make a book really good to read, there… I sometimes didn’t understand her and she sometimes frustrated me a lot, unfortunately.
- I feel like some elements in the story could have been explored a little bit further, like Fit’s crush on Diamond, her best friend.
- I needed a little more conclusion at the end of the book: I felt like things wrapped-up quickly and we didn’t get all of the answers I wanted to have. I get the beauty of finishing a book like that, but it frustrated me a little bit, because I wanted to knoooooooooow.

OVERALL
☂️

Despite my reservations about some parts of the book, Tinfoil Crowns was still an entertaining read overall and I loved the focus on family relationships a whole lot. If this sounds like your kind of read, if you enjoy complicated family relationships, books tackling what you’d do for online celebrity, I’d still recommend giving this book a try.

Due to the first few chapters ( which is all I could read) containing profanities, drug use and sexual references I cannot recommend this book as it does not fit with the ethos of the private school where I am employed.

I'm really split with how I feel about this book. I found the concept quite interesting, but I didn't think it was executed well. It was enjoyable at times, the writing style was good, and I thought the subject of YouTube popularity was handled well.
But the book's other story lines didn't click with me. At times, when there were no consequences for some of the decisions the characters made, the story got frustrating. And I found the ending unsatisfying, it left me with many questions, and there were some set ups that just didn't pay off in the end.
This book wasn't exactly for me. But I really liked the writing, and I liked some aspects of it, so I'm giving it three stars.

Tinfoil Crowns by Erin Jones is a very emotional young adult novel. Fit is seventeen-years-old, and wants to be an internet star. Fit's mother, River, tried to kill her when she was younger, and is now being released and coming home. This book was not for me, I prefer light and fun books, but the author did a good job making me feel for Fit. I recommend this book if you enjoy books about mental health issues and the internet.

I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.

Do to very personal circumstances I am unable to review this properly in time. Deep apologies.

What I can say from what I did end up reading before unfortunate circumstances nearly killed me: this is an authentic, moving story about mental illness with a strong voice. It's difficult at times, but in a realistic way- the mother's story especially was emotive and complex. There's real layers at work here and a very small-big storyline.

This was...an interesting idea. But it kind of left you hanging in a lot of places, and the story just didn't seem to come together in a good, cohesive way? I don't know. I did really like the immersion into the YouTube world, because that's not something I'm very familiar with, and it was neat to see how those people interacted with one another and how the world operated.

But it was lacking in other departments. Like, I liked how Fit had a crush on Diamond, and how she was struggling with her sexuality...but then nothing really came of it? Diamond just pretended the kiss never happened and Fit never really acme out or acknowledged her sexuality in any real way? I liked the thing with Comet, and then it all fell apart, so that was disappointing also.

And then, I was so sure Frankie and Pistols were a thing, but that turned out to be nothing.

River was an interesting character, and I like that we got to get inside her head and see things from her point of view. And I do like the reconciliation at the end, but I just felt like Fit manipulating her the whole book was awful. I get it, I totally understand where she was coming from, obviously. But I don't know.

This is a story with some heavy emotional stuff told in a way that makes you root for the characters while at the same time wanting to scream at them.
While this story is classified as YA; I think it appeals across all audiences and a number parents could benefit from reading about Fit’s addiction to social media.
I loved the storyline about Fit, how she found herself living her life out loud on social media. It’s such a reflection of youth today and how at time their self validation comes from the “fans” or number of likes. I went back and forth on my frustration with Fit not being accountable for her actions. To some extent I can understand it. If I were Dubs, I think it would be hard to be super tough on kids that lives through such a tragedy however who’s teaching them accountability.
I would have liked to read more abou the back story between River and Seth. That left s lot of unawsered questions. Candidly a sequel focusing on River would be a wonderful follow up. I also would have liked the story to explore more on Fit’s attraction to Diamond. She kept referring to Comet as “they” and at times I couldn’t decide if Comet was a person or a group.
Overall this story is timely and addresses lots of current issues facing youth and adults alike.

I think Youtube and the idea of social media and influencers are interesting and timely topics that will appeal to teen readers, and the fraught relationship between Fit and her mother was an interesting hook. Having adult narration in a YA book is also different enough to catch my attention. This, however, might have backfired, as I found myself sympathizing with River far more than with Fit. Fit's anger toward River, her discomfort and standoffishness at having her in the house, and even her rudeness were absolutely justifiable and understandable. But I found her irritating and unsympathetic even in other aspects of the story, and wondered more than once what exactly would make her an interesting vlogger - her style seemed somewhat low-budget, silly, and gimmicky, which don't as easily find a niche in today's Youtube landscape. I also found the ending too abrupt and without full growth or clarity. I would have appreciated more of a discussion about the balance between building your entire life around vlogging/social media and eschewing it entirely, and a better wrapup of the relationships between Fit and River, Fit and Diamond, and poor sidelined Pistols.

This isn't the type of book that I typically read, so I was surprised by how invested I became in Fit's story,whiich covers her journey through internet stardom following her mother's return from jail after she tried to kill her and her brother due to postpartum psychosis. An amazing book that I would recommend.

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

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

Fit wants to be an internet star. What started out as something silly that her and her brother, Frankie, started doing out of boredom, their videos are silly, juvenile, and fun, turns into her having followers, an continuous scroll of comments on new videos, and a fan following. She also has a mother who tried to kill her when she was young. Now Mom is out of prison, and Fit is trying to balance the emotions that she brings with the impending success that she is having on YouTube, which includes a real contract with real money to get out of the cramped apartment that her, her brother, her grandfather, and now her prison released mother live in. This is a great deal to ask for a seventeen year old to emotionally understand.

"Tinfoil Crowns" is enjoyable. Fit is sometimes funny, sometimes a pill, and all teenage girl. She makes some bad decisions, but an interesting thing is that she does not always get in trouble for them. And this is something I found off-putting about this novel. Sometimes we expect accountability for the bad behavior of our main characters, so when it does not happen, it kind of bothers me. For an example, she gets mad at her boss and makes a video calling her a name. There is no repercussions for this, no acknowledgement that the boss even saw the video, and no moment when this boss even comes up to where she has to face the fallout of this video. There are several moments like this, like Fit is just running through life with a breeze because of all of the things that she does, there are not many repercussions for the things that she does.

Even still, the writing is nice and light, the progression of the novel keeps the reader interested, and at the end, there are some heartfelt moments that make "Tinfoil Crowns" a good story and a good novel.

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.

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.

Description
What up, FREAKS? this is Fitted Sheet, back by popular demand. have I gone viral? #awesome

Seventeen-year-old internet video star Fit is on a mission to become famous at all costs. She shares her life with her fans through countless videos (always sporting some elaborate tinfoil accessory), and they love her for it. If she goes viral, maybe she can get out of her small casino town and the cramped apartment she shares with her brother and grandpa. But there's one thing Fit's fans don't know about her: when Fit was three years old, her mother, suffering from postpartum psychosis, tried to kill her.

Now Fit's mother, River, has been released from prison. Fit is outraged that River is moving in with the family, and it's not long before Fit's video followers realize something's up and uncover her tragic past. But Fit soon learns that the only thing her audience loves more than tragedy is a heartwarming tale of a family reunion. Is faking a relationship with River the key to all Fit's dreams coming true?

I enjoyed this Young Adult book. Fit was just too much at times. I thought someone needed to shake her hard or hug her hard. The book was very full of four letters words.. extreme. I would not recommend it for a Young adult.