***I was granted ARC of this via Netgalley from the publisher.***

Meme by Aaron Starmer is a story about a group of teens: Logan, Holly, Grayson, and Meeka who kill Meeka's boyfriend, Cole after he threatened their lives. After killing, him they bury a recording of their confession with the body and think that the matter is over. However, when a meme is made of a screenshot from their confession video the group races to find out who is responsible and confront the possibility that Cole may still be alive. The plot of the story wasn't bad and the mystery keeps you interested as the story unfolds. I liked Holly and Grayson's characters though I wasn't impressed by Logan's. What really sold me on the story was the way in which the author told the story and used it as a way to highlight the reason the person responsible for the situation did what they did. All around not a bad story and a good read for its target audience.

Rating: 4/5 stars. Would recommend to a friend.

The book starts the day after four friends murder a former friend who was threatening them. They record videos on cell phones where they confess what they did and bury the phones with the body. If any one of them betrays the others, the videos will be used to bring down all of them. At first it appears they got away with murder. Then a meme with a still from the video of their confession goes viral.

This book was plotted to keep amping up the tension. I lost sleep because I could not put this book down. I had to find out how it ended. I was so on edge over the predicament these characters got themselves into. However there weirdly wasn’t much that surprised me until the very end. It was just watching Holly, Logan, Grayson, and Meeka wind themselves up tighter and tighter over the events that were happening.

This book only really surprised me at the very end. But the level of tension the author was able to produce did keep me coming back. Otherwise, it didn’t really stand out compared to other books I have read in the same genre.

Overall 3/5

2.5/5

thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgallery for the arc! :)

four friends, bound together by a secret. murder. the murder they committed together. everything seems to be going according to plan. they’ve covered their tracks. they’re safe. until suddenly, they aren’t anymore. a picture, alas, a MEME, is leaked in which can easily bust each and every one of them.

sounds so good, right? i thought so too😭
here’s the thing. it was a fantastic idea. really, genius. but the execution was..... not the greatest.

first of all, if you’re going to write a book on memes, you should have some kind of idea of the station of current memes. now, it can get tricky considering they change so often, but i think we can all agree there are some memes we just can’t, and will never want to let, die. as soon as i saw the word “dank” in this book, i heaved to myself the greatest sigh i have ever heaved and knew it was all over.
this book could have had such potential. us teens love our pop culture references! if the author would have thrown a reference to a vine or something simple, like he literally could have put the words “two(four) bros chilling in a hot tub” over the meme and i would have been like yes!!! I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE!!!

it started out strong. i was hooked. i was hanging off the edge of my seat, as they say. but then..... there was a twist. kind of? i don’t know. an idea was brought up about halfway through the book and that was where it started to go downhill.

in a mystery book such as this one, i find that it’s important to have shock factor. you’re patiently waiting for that jaw-dropping finale. you’re sweating in anticipation. you’re just DYING to get to those last pages. it’s fun sometimes when you can figure out the ending before it happens. that means the author has conviently and expertly laid little hints and clues for you to pick up on. i don’t mind this. but when the ending is spelled out for you and has been since the beginning of the book... that’s just not fun.

there were times i was rushing through this. there were times i was pinning my eyeballs open to try to get through the next few pages. this book was all over the place. it certainly doesn’t get points for character development, and it definitely doesn’t get any points for diversity. every character in this book is straight and white unless i somehow missed something.

overall, good idea but cringe execution. i want my “two bros chilling in a hot tub five feet apart cuz they’re not gay” reference next time, thank you very much.

Uff... I really, REALLY wanted to like this one but unfortunately it fell very short for me. As a meme lover, I couldn't help but be drawn in to with the title and the synopsis. And for some reason I thought this was horror but turns out it's actually a thriller ... and not very thrilling at that.

The book opens up nicely with the gang burying their "friend", Cole. The timeline alternates here and there and goes through each of their POVs so you get a full rounded picture of what was going on within this crew of characters. Honestly, I LOVE to hate on characters but they need to be complex and interesting and I just didn't find any of these teens intriguing.

What I did like about this book is how social media/memes, etc. can become extremely hurtful and how teenagers actually will react to being publicly shamed with these. Unfortunately this is an all too real problem in society. However, the reasoning behind the initial murder didn't hold water and the ending was just no..... it felt like someone doing a voice over and while I don't mind ambiguous endings at times, the openness of this one failed to impress.

Meme reminded me of a 2020 version of Pretty Little Liars. We have a murdered “friend” of a group of high schoolers that may or may not be dead, a meme that implicates them ALL and a pretty decent ending to the whole ordeal.

However, the further I got into the story I had to keep reminding myself that the characters were teenagers and not psychotic adult serial killers. Only one of the kids actually felt remorse/guilt participating in the murder. The others were going on as if killing someone was normal. Talk about disturbing. It fed right into the disconnected/distracted stereotype of the younger generation. (After millennials of course)!

I needed a book like this to balance out my nonfiction reads. If you want a quick story with a decent plot then pick up Meme. On sale: September 8, 2020

Thanks @PenguinTeen #partner for sending me over an eARC to read/review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was initially attracted to the synopsis of Meme. Who wouldn’t be drawn to an idea of 4 friends murdering someone only for it to bite them in the butt where a screenshot of their confession video turns into a viral meme. Now, these teens need to figure out who’s behind the meme before their secret is out. The beginning was gripping and a little graphic on the murder, but the book slowly started to lose my interest. The chapters change perspective of each person involved in the murder, but the chapters were too short and i often found myself confused as to whose perspective i was reading at that current moment. Not only that, at first half of the book in solving who’s behind the meme, they don’t even consult with each other?? they are doing their own thing and solving it independently. when they finally come together, only 3/4 discuss and the last person is going insane. the ending really bothered me too because it seemed like it ended so abruptly and i’m not even sure what really happened. maybe that was the authors intent, but it left me feeling “meh” about the whole thing.

I did give it 2.5 stars instead of one because when the team started consulting together, i was interested to continue to read as to how they’re going to solve this and all the events leading up to the (disappointing) end

Wow, this book was such a wild ride. It was a whirlwind story that kept me guessing. No matter how far into the book I got I never felt like I had any idea what was going on, everything was complex and put together to be absolutely addicting. I read most of this in one sitting without even realizing how quickly I was getting through it. Every chapter brought more questions than it did answers, especially considering the narrators. Meme is told from three different point-of-views all of which are unreliable and make this story even more intriguing. It felt like walking through the story on uneven footing, just grasping at any clues to put the puzzle together..

As much as I did enjoy the story, there were still a few things that took away from that. It took me a long while to get into the story. I think I was 30-40% in before I started digging it. I'm glad that I didn't give up on the reading (because clearly, this was fun to read) but it took a long while to get there. At times it was also hard to remember who was narrating the chapters. The characters didn't have distinct voices and if I wasn't consciously remembering who was narrating I often would forget and be unable to figure it out without checking.

Lastly, I have mixed feelings on the ending. It was underwhelming overall. While it did still have some twist, I felt like things could've been kicked up a notch to match the way the story had been built.

So, all in all, it was an enjoyable read. I had a fun time reading this even with the time it took to get into the story and troubles with the povs. It's a quick story and would be perfect if you're looking for something spooky!

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with an E-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

”It never just is. There’s always a story behind things, but the stories get buried. Written over. Forgotten.”

Have you ever read a story with a cast of characters that are each flawed and unlikable in their own way, and they’ve also done something incredibly heinous, but you’re oddly rooting for them anyway? Yeah. Meme is that story.

Cue up Meme. A story with a (justifiable?) murder, a digital resurrection, and a gaggle of anxious teenagers. Basically Cole is an alt right loose cannon, who has threatened to kill Meeka, his ex, and their small group of friends. The friends, Grayson, Holly, and Logan, are panicked by Cole’s abuse and threats and decide one night that they’ve gotta murder Cole for themselves and Meeka. Seems extreme, but what is a YA thriller without its extreme acts? I don’t want to spoil anything, but essentially they bury Cole’s body, along with their old phones, with recorded confessions on them. Somehow days after the murder, a snapshot from that confession, in the form of a meme, starts making its rounds in their high school. Thus ensues teenage panic and paranoia amongst their group.

Honestly. I didn’t know what was going on, who to trust, and what the heck would happen at the end until the very end. And let me just tell you, I was NOT expecting that ending. I mean. Yeah, no comment. To end this story was incredibly well written. The characters are self serving and sketchy as all get out, but I kept hoping the best for them. Which, honestly makes me wonder if I need some form of therapy, but yeah. It also kind of explores the question of what happens to the subject of the meme after the meme. Like we poke fun at these people’s expense and then one day they just fizzle out, or they no longer look like the meme. Just a curious thought this story poses.

Overall, a well written read that will keep you in suspense. The ending is quite unexpected and very poetic. I kind of want to pinch Aaron Starmer though. Just a little tiny pinch.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for allowing me early access to this title. This in no way affects my review, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I rated this book a 4 star!

I have been in the mood for a thriller, recently reading one that didn't hit the mark, I moved onto this one. WOW is all I can say. In the day and age of the internet and the fear in can instill (as nothing on the internet is private, lets be real), this book packed a PUNCH. I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of this novel. The ending fell a bit short, but that's a personal preference. I find a ton of thrillers leave us to interpretive endings and that to me is not something I enjoy - but I won't knock a star off for that. The only thing that really made me give it a 4 instead of a 5 is that I just didn't really care about the characters that much. I can understand why a group of best friends would fall apart to paranoia, friendships fall apart every single day due to trivial BS... especially a group of teenagers. But outside of this, I just didn't feel like the characters had a true foundation as individual people. It's hard to explain without reading it and giving things away.

I do think if you enjoyed One of Us is Lying you will really love this! Thanks again!

Honestly this book deserves one star but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt because I read majority of the book. Skipped around some. I was BORED! At first the book led me in. 4 friends murder a dude they don't like? Ooh tell me more 👀 I was enjoying the book up until the "meme" came out and then I got bored with the plot. I started to put it down but I am working on not dnfing books all the time. I ended up skipping around and eventually just read the ending which I should have done to begin with. What a disappointment. The ending wasn't exciting. No plot twist what's so ever. Truly a waste of a read for me unfortunately. This one didn't vibe with me like I thought it would when I read the synopsis. I was bamboozled.

From the second I started this book, I was instantly hooked. I loved the darker tone this book took on from the very beginning. The plot was paced perfectly in my opinion, and I really enjoyed where Aaron took this novel. However, the character's development was lacking throughout the entire book. All of the characters seemed to be quite 2D.

Meme started out strong with a murder of a teenage boy, Cole, right from the beginning. The story is told from the perspective of the murderers so the mystery isn’t about who killed him but starts to develop as the main characters unravel from what they’ve done. A meme surfaced that only could have started from someone who had seen their murder confession video that was buried with the body. It’s a really great concept and has you wondering who could have possibly started this meme? However the character development is lackluster so I never was able to connect with any of the characters. This led me without someone to root for which is what usually snares my attention. The ending also feel really flat when I think it could have gone many different ways. It was left up to interpretation which some may enjoy. I also feel like the title Meme was a poor marketing decision just because it’s very difficult to google and actually come up with the book, there are so many hits for memes. Altogether it was an interesting concept for a thriller and with some more character development I think it could be really great.

I'm going to be honest here, Meme is one of those books that's not going to age very well, because of what it's written about. Not to say that there's anything wrong with that, but memes tend to die out, and the way we consume them is constantly changing and going to date this book even more than it already felt.

Meme follows four teens who have murdered their classmate, Cole (an alt-right troll), after he vaguely threatened them while drunk one night. They say it was in self defense, and all four of them record a group confession on the phones they bury with Cole's body. Only a few days later a screenshot of their confession becomes the new it meme, leaving the group to panic and point fingers at each other and their classmates for the image.

I really liked the concept for Meme, the use of social media so prominently in a thriller sounded amazing, even if it ultimately fell flat for me. I will say that I enjoyed how fast paced things were, the start of the book kicks things off immediately, and the momentum only builds from there. Starmer's writing kept me hooked through the entire book, but unfortunately his multiple POV format didn't work for me. It was to give everyone's perspective to keep the reader guessing, since each character's narration was unreliable, but each character's voice was so similar, I had to keep scanning the dialogue to see who's POV I was reading from because I'd forget mid-chapter. The ending was disappointing to me as well, I had expected things to have more of an explosive finish because of the anticipation I had from all of the buildup, but instead the plot just kind of rolled to a stop. 

The entire premise of the book is centered around memes, as you can guess from the title, but I felt like Starmer hasn't actively kept up with how teens interact with memes. I understand that when it was written TikTok wouldn't have been at it's peak, so the consumption of memes was naturally going to feel outdated, except it just came across as the author not paying attention to how Zoomers interact with memes. Throughout the book, all of the teens (all of whom had easy access to technology) felt like they never used the internet...like, for anything fun at all. They all knew how to easily erase their search histories and their computer drives, cookies, etc., but acted as if they didn't look at memes. It was this odd divide as if looking at memes made you a loser (Cole and his outcast friend Gus), and that the main characters didn't anymore, as if it was something they outgrew. Which, if you know any Gen Z teens, makes literally no sense, all the ones I know live, breathe and speak memes. I mean, at one point one of the main characters literally Googles "How to make a meme" which is ridiculous. I know this is a bit of a nitpicky thing, but it really felt disorienting to me, and I have the feeling it will to teens reading it as well.

Meme really had so much potential, but just couldn't live up to my expectations. If you're looking for a quick read and are in the mood for a decent mystery, or really love the concept, you'll probably enjoy this, but if you're unsure I'd skip it.

*Thank you to Penguin Teen for the advanced copy*

We start off the book with a murder and from there we alternate between Four different characters and their voices. Logan, Greyson, Holly and Meeka all have a secret they share... they killed their old friend Cole. Cole has started getting aggressive and changing and he made some comment about ending his friends, so instead they get their revenge and then record it. They toss their confessions in with Cole’s body and tell each other they’ll never talk about it again. That is until the message got out and is turned into a Meme. Who knows their secret? What’s going to happen if everyone knows why really happened?

This book starts off with a really good premise and then fell a bit flat. I was all for the group keeping this secrets and what was happening to them after, but I just couldn’t connect and the story lacked in development for me. It was horrible and had great moments but as I’ve stated it fell flat. It was all over the place and I hated that these friends who shared a secret , stopped being friends. You’d think murder would make them stick it out but they ultimately hate each other. It had some great potential for a thriller but the depth and emotions were lacking.

TW: murder mention, drug and alcohol addiction mention, murder description, implied usage of the n-word, slut-shaming, victim-blaming

Meme is a fast-paced story that is about a group of 4 friends who murder the ex-boyfriend of one of the friends in the friend group. A couple days later, a picture from the confession video to the murder surfaces on the internet as a meme and the friends scramble to uncover who posted it.

I found Meme’s pacing to be pretty spot-on, but I do feel as if the characters were a bit two-dimensional. I felt no real connection to Holly, Grayson, Logan, or Meeka. I also felt as if their friend group dynamic was very odd and it didn’t feel as if the characters had any real reason to be connected. Although, Aaron Starmer’s writing of intense and dark scenes is fantastic and I felt fully immersed in those scenes. The book is very plot-based, and going off that, I think the plot was well-developed. There are a lot of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, so I was never knowing how an event in the book was going to end up.

Overall, Meme was an enjoyable fast-paced story that is rich in intensity and suspense, but falls short at developing well-rounded characters and relations.

*Thank you to Penguin and Netgalley for giving me an advanced reader copy. All opinions stated in my review are my own.*

Did I enjoy these characters? Not very much. But did I root for them despite their flaws? Yes.

When Cole threatens to kill his ex and the rest of their friend group, they decide to take matters into their own hands and kill him first. After the murder they film confessions on their phones and bury them with Cole. However, a few days later a meme is spread amongst their school and the meme is a screenshot from their confession. The story takes us on a journey to figure out where that meme came from and who knows about Cole.

This book gave me Pretty Little Liars and Outerbanks vibes. I enjoyed it but I feel like the story did drag on. I really wish Aaron would have started the book off before the murder happened to get more insight of what exactly led up to their decision. Each chapter is a different point of view which I didn’t mind. I feel like the suspense was written great and some of the twists were unexpected. The characters weren’t very likeable to me and I never felt connected to any of them. The last page though is extremely shocking!!

The book starts shortly after four friends have murdered and buried their once friend turned enemy. None of them handle this fact well, and all begin to unravel when a meme goes viral from a screengrab of their confession that they buried with their body. convinced that someone has the video, all four of them are determined to uncover the truth, and in the process begin to become wary of even each other.
This book had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. No one character is particularly likable but that only increases the overall vibes of the book. All four of the main characters are extremely realistic and despite the multiple povs through this book, I wasn't sure who I could trust and what the truth really was until the very end.
My only main complaint is how specific the pop culture references were. Throughout the book, a number of popular memes are mentioned and while at this point in time they make a lot of sense I'm not sure how long that will be true for. This might just be personal preference but things like that tend to take me out of the book and ruin the experience a bit.
All in all, I'd say if you're looking for a good thriller type book make sure to pick up a copy of meme when it comes out!

Rounded up from 4.5 stars

The second I read the blurb for this book, I knew I had to have it. A cast of antiheroes? Twisted secrets? Internet meme culture? Yes please!

For the most part, this book totally delivers on what it promised. I devoured most of it in the space of a day because I couldn't put it down! It's not a super long book, but Starmer manages to create a claustrophobic atmosphere that feels just right for the length. While there is some discussion of meme culture, it doesn't overwhelm the plot development itself, which I appreciated. Several of the twists made chills creep down my spine, and the narrators themselves felt deliciously unreliable.

Oh yes, the narrators! Let's be clear, most everyone in this book is a terrible person, but they feel authentic in their terribleness. I especially loved Logan, the golden boy philanthropist who has the innocent charm of a puppy but isn't always assertive enough to do the right thing. Oh yeah, and he kind of starts to go insane toward the end. We love to see it *chef's kiss*

I would have rated this book the full five stars, but honestly the ending threw me a bit. It felt abrupt and I wasn't entirely sure what happened? I couldn't bring myself to dock a full star, because an ambiguous ending felt somewhat right for this kind of story, but I would have liked a little more closure.

Memes have been the visual form of expressing an emotion or situation. But what happens when the meme is about a murder you helped commit? Meme is I know What You Did Last Summer with a Pretty Little Liars twist. Starmer weaves four narratives to drive the plot, giving several different perspectives on how memes can affect youths. The plot is fast-paced right from the start, dropping the reader in a murder scenario. Soon after the deed is done the pace grinds to a halt. Each character gives a slight increase in the momentum by barely giving the plot any depth. The plot was interesting but poorly executed. Logan, Meeka, Holly, and Grayson are all shallow stereotypes of the oops we murdered someone genre. There is no genuine passion in any of the characters and seem to only be held up by the stereotypic archetype they represent. Logan is the superficial go-getter that wants to help the less fortunate only because it makes him look better to the community and wears his privilege like a badge of honor. Holly is the jock that can't help being a leader and doesn't feel she has accomplished anything. While Grayson is the misunderstood bad boy who is artistic. Meeka is the adopted child who gets into a destructive relationship, although no background or evidence is presented besides Cole being an awful person. Yet, all the characters seem to be over privileges, self-absorbed children pretending they know better. There are no qualities that the reader can grasp to feel a connection and makes sympathizing with these characters difficult.

Meme is a YA psychological thriller which opens with four teenagers just straight up murdering one of their friends for what seems like some rather vague reasons but amounts to them saying “he threatened them” (with some very vague threats about he’s going to “take them down” or something because he’s angry and upset about his girlfriend—one of the four—recently breaking up with him). So, yeah, they just actually kill the guy and bury him in the one girl’s backyard. This isn’t a spoiler, it’s the opening scene of the book.

Problem is, in true Pretty Little Liars fashion, technology gets involved. After the murder, they record a confession and bury it with the body, because in their minds this somehow keeps them honest and true—if one of them ever digs him up, their confession will be there with him? The phones will still work and not be damaged at all, no matter how long its been? I don’t know, it’s the logic of a bunch of kids who think problems are solved by killing people I guess, so. There’s that.

Anyway, shortly after murdering and burying their once-friend, a meme surfaces. A meme that happens to be a screen grab from their confession recording that they buried with Cole. And it becomes a viral sensation. And they’re completely freaking out. And then they begin getting messages and communications from their should-be/would-be dead friend. So obviously they are completely freaking out, and mental terror ensues.
This…is once again one of those things that on paper sounds exactly like the type of thing I would like but in execution was just…eh. I mean it was okay. I’m not saying it was bad, I just didn’t have a lot of fun reading this one. A lot of it didn’t make any sense (I mean it was like half the time these teenagers were trying to figure out the Internet, I just…?), obviously none of the characters are likable, and the characters are even difficult to distinguish from one another. Like they each have little things about them that are supposed to make them different, but they’re more surface-level things, and at their core, they’re all just kind of these same basic upper middle class non-descript kids who legit MURDERED A GUY for pissing them off. The POVs change with each chapter, but the voices were barely distinguishable from one another in my opinion. I was interested in some of the corners of the Internet where Cole used to lurk and the characters trying to unravel some aspects of the mystery, but overall it wasn’t that captivating, and as many other reviewers have said, the ending was just really anticlimactic and disappointing.

The other thing that bothered me about this book
were just some of the random little comments on certain subjects that were shoehorned in for no apparent reason and passed off as being part of the “character building” but were assigned to multiple characters. For example, one of the smaller side characters lives in a townhome, and we have TWO separate characters talk shit on him for it and make little comments like “I mean that’s okay I guess, but I wouldn’t really consider it a HOME” or act horrified that he has to “share walls with other people”. ???? This is what I mean when I say you can’t even distinguish them from each other. These two characters who are supposed to be two totally different people with different personalities both talk shit on this one person in the exact same way. What’s with the weird opinion on town homes? And why did we need to shoehorn it into a YA novel? Perhaps I’m reading too much into this and it’s just two upper middle class teenage characters who look down on others in the exact same way, but it was weird and really off-putting. (I’d hate to be a young person living in an apartment or townhome and read this and just have multiple characters make me feel awful for having to share a wall with someone, as if that makes me a lesser human somehow.)

I don’t know, maybe I’m nitpicking…maybe no one else even noticed this. Maybe it was a trait the author meant to assign to one character and then decided to change it and it got missed in editing. Either way, it was just another thing that detracted from a fairly interesting concept for me.

All in all, I didn’t hate it, I didn’t love it. I’ve read worse things, but I couldn’t see myself being eager to read anything else by this author. As teen thrillers go, there are better options out there. (Check out There’s Someone Inside Your House, also from Penguin Teen and written by Stephanie Perkins, or even The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, in which the MC also employs Internet research and modern tech to solve mysteries, but in a much less clunky and much more effective manner.)

I know people love star ratings, so I’d say I’d give this one like a 2.5/5 or a 3. It wasn’t for me, but if you decide to give it a look, it comes out next Tuesday, September 8th. Good for fans of tech-y psychological thrillers, or if you’re looking for a light read that will have you guessing for the first 2/3rds.