Content warnings: rape, sexual harassment, sexual abuse

Once upon a time, I had an ambition to become a journalist. That was way back in high school and I realized I wasn’t cut out for it when I faked a few interview quotes to avoid talking to people. I could count on my hands how many people read the school paper, so no one noticed or cared. Still, that’s a sign someone isn’t cut out for the industry. I wasn’t going to be the next Stephen Glass or Jayson Blair thank you very MUCH.

That’s not Josie Wright, though. Off the Record is her story of confronting one of Hollywood’s most powerful predators when she uncovers what’s going on while writing a celebrity profile of rising star Marius Canet.

The name “Roy Lennox” is just a footnote to start with, a famous figure Josie asks about when she hears Marius will be working on the storied man’s next film. She knows Lennox’s movies, she knows he’s about to be the center of a documentary biopic. Until Marius’s co-star Penny tells her what Lennox did to her, Josie thinks she knows the man.

Oh, how little she knows.

Even when Josie puts her foot in her mouth during a pre-revelation interview with Penny, she goes about her job as a journalist with remarkable grace and sensitivity once she’s in pursuit of the story. Some of Lennox’s survivors refuse to talk to her altogether, some are ready to speak out, and others are willing but terrified of saying something. Some real-life journalists could learn a thing or two from Josie Wright.

But it’s not all about the dark heart of one man who raped, assaulted, and abused his way through Hollywood’s young talent. Off the Record is also about Josie falling for her subject Marius, who falls just as hard for her in return. These two babies are bi as can be and utterly adorable together. I couldn’t stop grinning when Marius took Josie to meet his parents and they saw right through both the kids. Plus Josie’s big apology at the end of the book? UGH, I LOVE IT.

Lord, I wish this book had been around when I was twelve and was being subjected to the same sexual harassment Josie faced from a classmate, facing similar sexual abuse as the women who survived Roy Lennox.When Josie tries to downplay how one classmate harassed her, another character shuts it down and says exactly the words I needed back then.

I just can’t, y’all. Camryn Garrett being this good this young? Her career as a writer is going to be a long one and a momentous one. If you can handle the subject material, you should pick up Off the Record. It’s so good it tapped into the alternate universe where I became an honest journalist and made that other me tear up at Josie’s important, hard-won story.

I expected a lot more from this one. I went in having high expectations but only coming out as thinking of it as okay. I believe the sexual harassment and assault was done well but could’ve been better

Camryn Garrett is so damn smart and witty as a writer. For a YA, I am totally gripped from page one of the things she writers. With the backdfrop of the MeToo movement, this examination of a "predatory " entertainer was just spot on. It brought me back to a time when I was a kid when youth could write for Right On or Teen Beat and follow their favorite artist.

I loved the premise of this so much but found myself struggling to go back to it. Great story - slow pace.

I really wanted to love this book but there was just SO much going on! I totally understand all the topics and issues Garrett was trying to cover and they are all very important but the plot got lost in there at some point. It does pick up somewhat again but I had to go back and reread a few chapters. It just got a little overwhelming. I loved the diversity of characters and I loved Marius! I just wish the ending wouldn’t have been rushed and abrupt.

What a fantastic book! I feel like sometimes I give YA stories less credit than they deserve. I have an unfair perception that because they are for younger readers, they are less serious or the writing is weaker. That is not the case with Off the Record. Camryn Garrett takes on tough, important topics beyond the #MeToo theme of the book: she talks about race, sexual orientation, and positive body image in a way that is respectful, thoughtful and important. Off the Record follows the story of Josie Wright, a high school student who wins a journalism award and is assigned to write a profile of a young actor for a famous magazine. Garrett raises challenges everyone to not allow silence to perpetuate repeated sexual abuse and harassment and empowers young people to see that they, too, can be a catalyst for change. I loved the characters and the raw honesty of the story.

I wanted more romance and Almost Famous and less #metoo though that is important. This book would pair well with Grown.

(TW for sexual assault, sexual harassment, and mention of sexual assault)

I received this book before publication to read prior to an interview with the author for Her Campus. I gave it 4/5 stars and would HIGHLY recommend it.

As a college graduate who studied journalism, I absolutely loved reading about Josie Wright, a high school student who's recently won a contest to write a celebrity profile on Marius Canet. While Josie is trying to navigate professionalism with her (very strong and growing) crush on Marius, she learns of an actress's secret regarding sexual assault and harm in the industry. What started as a celebrity profile for the magazine quickly turns into Josie trying to stand up for these women who have been hurt in this industry by men in power.

When I originally read this book, I was taken aback by how many issues the author tackles at once. It seemed like a lot to process all at once. However, after I spoke with Camryn for my piece, I couldn't imagine this story any other way. She told me that she, too, knew it was a lot, but wanted readers to be reminded that life is a lot. And people are going through so many things all at once.

This book is her contribution to the #MeToo movement while providing a cute, romantic escape into someone else's reality and I loved it.

Huge thank you to Camryn and her team for allowing me to read this book and interview her.

Omg this was so good. I could NOT put it down. It was straight out of the headlines and the #metoo movement. This is probably a top 10 for me this year. Heart wrenching, moving, all about empowerment and learning that it is OK to share your voice and others when you do not agree with the way things are handled. Josie is the heroine we were looking for in today’s society.

I loved this book so much! Marius, who seems like a cross between Jordan Fisher and Timothee Chalamet, was such a sweet and charming character and I totally understood why Josie fell for him. It's sweet how the two of them bond over both being scared and excited about the way their careers are taking off. I liked the Penny plotline too and thought this book did a great job handling sensitive topics. The setting of the press junket was really fun to read about and Josie had a great voice as a MC. I found her journalistic endeavors exciting!

There is a lot happening here and the book is very of the moment (even more so now with Cosby out on that stupid technicality). I think this is a great comp for One Great Lie by Deb Caletti and a milder read for fans of Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson or Muted by Tami Charles.

Josie is a sweetheart but her anxiety was too hard for me to read. I don’t know if it’s a problem I’ve always had (and am noticing more now as more authors address anxiety in their books) or if I’m just hyper-sensitive to everything right now because hashtag pandemic life makes everything harder and awful. But that, more than anything, was too much for me.

It feels on par in terms of importance with Tiffany Jackson's Grown.

Josie is a killer journalist and she wins a contest that allows her backend access to celebrities including one that she will be writing a profile piece for for which she'll spend weeks in his company to get a full picture. And significant incidences of sexual harassment and abuse take place that Josie has to rectify with her journalist responsibilities and budding relationship with the young man she's profiling and his proximity to the incident.

As Grown was a version of the R. Kelly story, Off the Record is a version of the Harvey Weinstein story.

While it can never match my love of Full Disclosure because it excelled in so many ways and resonated with my teens, this one was a little circuitous and not as pointed in parts that needed a fine-tipped edge or exclamation point.

Well. This story was PHENOMENAL! Josie is an aspiring journalist. When she wins a writing contest for her favorite magazine, her life is thrown into a crazy tailspin. She’s traveling around the country to create a profile of a new young star. While working on this story, she uncovers another story that is life changing. I won’t spoil anything, but Josie’s honesty about her body acceptance and still struggling makes her a lovable main character, and the cast of supporting roles are equally as lovable/interesting.

Overview: Josie has been working on her journalism career since she was 15. At 17, she's won a contest to write a cover story about a budding movie star for one of the most popular magazines in the country. On the press tour, though, she befriends one of the young actresses and learns that one of Hollywood's most popular director has been harassing and assaulting women on set for years. Josie feels like she has to do something with this information, but even as an accomplished teenager, she's still scared her age will hold her back. Overall: 4.5

Characters: 4 Josie is a great main character. We get to fully live in her head as she experiences this whirlwind press tour. We learn about her self-driven writing career, her anxiety, and her back and forth feelings about her body. All of these are written so realistically to what it's like to grow up as a teen right now. Josie has a major Twitter presence and has anxieties around that as well. I think so much of this comes from the author being a member of Gen Z and closer to her main character's age than most authors writing YA. I love how Josie has built a career already around something she loves, and I related to how she struggles with not getting taken seriously by adults and also that same fear of not being taken seriously.

On the tour, we spend the most time with Marius, the dashing, young movie star, Penny, the former Disney actress fighting to be taken seriously, and Alice, Josie's older sister and chaperone. Alice and Josie are quintessential sisters. They fight plenty, but they genuinely care for each other on a super deep level. While Alice sometimes says hurtful things to Josie, they work through it well. Penny at first seems like she clashes with Penny, but they come to form a really beautiful friendship and understanding. Marius is mysterious, even though Josie speaks to him most for the profile on him. You never quite know what Marius's motives or feelings are, and there are many twists and turns in the story based on this.

Plot: 4 The two main plot lines in this book revolve around the development of the article to expose the director Roy Lennox and Josie's time interviewing Marius for the profile and eventually falling for him. I really preferred the path where Josie gets to know Penny and goes about gathering stories to expose this horrible man. It's awful and gut wrenching, but it's wonderful to watch Josie and Penny team up to reclaim the power from Lennox. I also just love the development of their friendship through the book.

I wish Marius had just stayed a friend as well. The power dynamic in the story felt really awkward to me. Josie is 17 and a young journalist, but mostly a high school student. Marius is 19, would be in college, and a rising actor who's set to sweep award season. I just didn't feel like it was super ethical for him to indulge Josie's crush on him, especially because she fell so hard for him. Also, I don't feel like Josie should've pursued the relationship because she was working on a piece about Marius. The whole situation just felt awkward and imbalanced and generally unnecessary. I feel like we don't get a lot of books just about friendship in YA, and I wish that the book had leaned into that angle more. The love story didn't really take away from the reading experience, but I was constantly questioning it.

Writing: 5 Just like with Camryn's other book, I loved the writing. It's so easy to read and extremely vivid. The plot moves quickly and balances the serious, the fun, and the behind the scenes of the movie industry in a super satisfying way. She weighs the heart of the story and the allure of the high concept well. I truly could not put this one down, and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours, as well as the author and publisher for giving me a copy of Off the Record in exchange for an honest review.

This was a whirlwind of a read. In other words, it was just my type.

The main theme Off the Record dealt with was sexual harassment & assault at work, or in this context, showbiz. The story had noticeable parallels to the horrifying Harvey Weinstein scandal, mainly that the perpetrator of sexual assault & harassment in both cases were powerful & rich white men in the entertainment industry, men who can destroy entire careers with ease, should the victims confess to anyone else.

The author’s writing complemented the story wonderfully, with a fast pace that occasionally slows down a little, just enough for you to catch your breath. While the story was a hard-hitting one, it was interspersed with Josie’s own internal struggles, specifically her burgeoning anxiety and dealing with her sister’s offhand fatphobic remarks.

Of course, the real star of this book was Josie herself. She was so considerate, kind and caring, you cannot help but love her. As someone who is both fat and has anxiety, I heavily related to the way that Josie talked about both of these aspects with regards to herself. When it comes to her figure, Josie does not actively think about it all the time, but her little struggles, like feeling slightly uncomfortable when eating with thinner people, were so relatable. There was a particular bit in the book when Josie explains why she does not always feel satisfactorily represented by plus-size models. I was literally yelling ‘yes yes YES‘ when she spoke about this, because I’ve felt this way too, and I’ve never been able to grasp the right words to explain it before. As for the depiction of Josie’s anxiety, I just wanted to say that this is probably the first time I have been able to see struggles similar to mine portrayed so well. I know that there are many books out there that deal with anxiety, but they all understandably vary from my unique experience. Josie’s though? It was the closest to my own I’ve ever read. Each chapter began with a one- or two-liner quip from Josie’s twitter account, which I think helped the readers to relate and ultimately empathize with Josie and understand where she was coming from.

The advancement of Josie’s turbulent relationship with Alice, as well as her relatively calm but exciting relationship with Marius were both done with much flair, in a way that was believable and realistic.

I love that this book had a girl x boy romance between two bisexual people, because it is still rare for us to get the same represented in books. I have often run into comments like ‘But if he’s bisexual and she’s also bisexual, then they both are in a heterosexual relationship, right?’ as well as others invalidating the identities of bisexual people if and when we are not dating someone who identifies as the same gender as us. This biphobia is exhausting, and it comes from both within the LGBTQIAP+ community, as well as outside it. The author did not make a huge show out of the fact that both Josie and Marius were bi — they were simply allowed to exist in the story, without their sexual orientations overshadowing other, more important, aspects of their respective identities.

This book is one that could not have come any sooner. What can we classify as sexual assault? Why is it that we tend to disbelieve the victims? Why do so many people suffer at the hands of rich & powerful men seemingly without protest? Sexual assault is sexual assault, and this novel managed to leave this message with a powerful mark.

Would recommend if you’re looking for a book that does a wonderful job with character development and questions the existing status quo of rich & powerful white men in the entertainment industry being able to control the narrative.

// 4 stars

I did like this, but something felt incongruent to me. I know the MC was a 17 yo who was placed into the world of older crowd and she just stood out as such a young voice to me (which she is), but I guess that was the point, to show naivete and innocence around those who may be predators. Good rep of women supporting each other and #metoo.

I enjoyed this story immensely. The idea of having a thick Black girl as our protagonist that is fighting anxiety and body issues seemed like a lot but worked really well. I loved the love/hate relationship between the sisters, and the idea that through it all, they always had each others best interest at heart. The notion of tackling sexual assault in the world of film when women's' voices are so often silenced was courageous and to acknowledge that women aren't the only victims was a revelation that needed to be addressed and was done so beautifully in this novel. So many issues were tackled in these pages, yet they didn't feel forced or overzealous. The plot flowed seamlessly as I have come to expect and love from Camryn Garrett. It was a book I couldn't put down. I loved it.

I hate this book so much , i wish the characters were developed nicely and the romance was not just good 😪, I wanted to love it so badly bit unfortunately it didn't work me !

I really enjoyed this book. The MC is a special character that I am so happy to see represented! She is a strong, amazing woman that readers are going to love! The body size, race, and sexual orientation is a great mixture that really brings a real person to the page. I loved it!

The story is all-consuming, and was written so well. I couldn't stop reading! YA readers are going to love this one!

A great addition to the YA shelves! I was able to offer this book as a “window” for a young man working on a project.