Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park is a story of influencing goes wrong. Sunny Song has plans for her summer, but things go sideways when a PG-13 video goes viral, and her parents ship her off to a farm for a social media detox camp.

It’s YA, but there are themes that will resonate with adults. I mean, I kind of feel like I could benefit from a few weeks at camp.

Many the author, narrator, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

This was a fun & fast read! It was so lighthearted and a cute summer camp romance. I love stories about influencers and I especially loved reading about Sunny's experience as a youtuber and a high school student. I loved the setting, and the idea of a digital detox is always appealing - However, I feel like this book preached a little too much on how social media and phones is the worst thing for you and should never be used, which didn't sit right with me at times. Overall, a quick read to get you into the summertime feels.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

I loved this book so much. It had drama, love, relationships, personal growth and challenges, social media contests, and farm animals. What more could you want from a book?

Sunny is in high school, and in between classes and after school she’s been busily building a social media empire. But when she accidentally keeps filming after a live cooking video, and it unexpectedly goes viral, her school principal and her parents decide the best thing for her is to be shipped off to a digital detox camp for the summer. Sunny is devastated to have her summer plans ruined, especially when she’s in the running to win a prestigious social media contest and needs to keep creating content!

The camp does help Sunny realize what’s really important to her though, and gives her the push she needs to think about what she wants for her future. It’s definitely not smooth sailing though, and there is plenty of drama along the way.

I will say, after being hyper-connected online for the last year, of full days of zoom meetings, and more time than ever on social media, a digital detox camp sounds like heaven. In fact, one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken was when my now-husband and I stayed for a week on a lavender farm in Victoria, Australia. There was no phone, TV, or cell reception and it was the most relaxed I think I’ve ever been!

Phone and social media addiction is a very real issue these days, and this book highlighted those dangers in a really heart-warming and fun way. I loved Sunny, she was such a beautiful character. She didn’t always make the best choices, but she was kind, loyal, and thoughtful when it came down to it.

I listened to this book on audiobook and once I started I found I just couldn’t put it down and so I binged it in one sitting. The audiobook was beautifully narrated by Joy Osmanski and comes in at just over eight hours long.

I loved everything about this book. I understood the addiction Sunny had to her social media and the pressure for likes and comments and growing followers. I also understood why her parents sent her to a digital detox camp. I loved watching Sunny grow and mature, realizing her mistakes and how social media was taking a toll on her & her family. Being a small town/country girl myself I found her farming experience pretty humorous as those seemed normal to me.
I felt the narrator did a wonderful job between characters and with the emotions. This was definitely an adorable book that I will be recommending as a great summer read.

This was a cute enjoyable book and I was able to read/listen to it very quickly. If you're looking for something to dive into, this would be a good contender.

What I liked about this book:

1. I enjoyed the plot of this book and it made me yearn for some time on a farm. Do I enjoy the smell of farm life? Definitely not, but I could go for some time in the country. I think social media addition and the obsession with followers/likes is a hard habit to break, especially as a teenager. I was excited to read a book that took on this real life issue.

2. Characters are usually a huge factor in my enjoyment of a book. While I found Sonny a bit annoying (typical spoiled teenager type that was very self centered), she did mature a bit through the story. Theo was a great character and the author definitely did an amazing job of writing their love story without making it come across as cheesy. They definitely had chemistry and were cute together.

3. This book covers important issues such as racism, micro-aggressions, and finding a balance on social media. Through Sonny's experiences we also get a feel of how it is to grow up in an Asian household and the expectations she felt.

4. This book was enjoyable in both print and audio formats.

While I did enjoy this book, I'm only giving it 3⭐ because I felt the supporting characters were a bit underdeveloped and it fell flat in some areas. I've read the author's other books and I found those much more enjoyable. While this book wasn't my favorite, I still though it was a funny book that made me think.

Wow. Just wow. I LOVED this novel. This novel is so timely and so relevant. Sonny was internet famous at a young age when a video her mom posted of her in goggles went viral. Sonny has been chasing that same level of fame ever since that one viral video. She posts and obsesses over internet day in and day out to the point where she's sacrificing her in person relationships with her family and friends. Her school puts her on warning for all her internet use and then... a scandal happens: #browniegate. That was the last straw even if it pushed Sonny back into internet fame. Her school recommends a digital detox camp and her parents agree. So Sonny is sent off to a farm in the middle of no where with VERY limited internet access. Only one problem occurs - Sonny is finalist in an online contest and she needs to submit videos and content while at detox camp. So enlists the aide of her best friend - and a new camp friend. She obtains a contraband phone and makes a music video parody of farm life... but... will she post it.. because while she thought she would hate every minute of real life on a farm, she's actually grown to like bits and parts of it. She especially likes a certain son of the owner" Theodore (after the chipmunk, not the president).
The ending was not what I expected; I was pleasantly surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The narrator was great!

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park was famously good! Listening to this audiobook was such fun! It flew by! Park tells a relatable story that has the potential to get a whole new generation of audiobook listeners interested!

DNF

I listened to the audio version of this novel and the narrator did a good job but I just wasn’t feeling the story at all. I was finding myself becoming irritated with everything going on and wasn’t enjoying my time with this book. So, unfortunately, I decided not to finish it.

Still check this one out if you’re looking and considering it! It wasn’t the read for me but it might be perfect for you!

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park is out now! If you need a funny, quick read for summer, this is the perfect novel. I wouldn’t quite call it a light read as it does touch on some serious topics but Park navigates these issues (bullying and everyday racism) with grace and humor.

Sunny has had a social media presence since she was a young kid and has worked hard to build on her following, much to the disappointment of her parents and school administrators. She is sent to a digital detox farm camp in Iowa for a month and experiences some much needed growth and a little romance, too.

The audiobook seems to have some pacing issues although this may be more a product of the Netgalley shelf platform than the actual audiobook production.

As a bookstagrammer, I appreciate the message of this novel in regard to the pitfalls and possibilities of social media. Thank you to Let’s Talk Books for having me along on this tour.

The Story follows Sunny who is a social media blogger. She ends up having a video go viral in not a good way which makes her parents want to get her to disconnect from the internet and live in the real world. She goes to a farm in Iowa and she has to disconnect and maybe find a new path.

This was a cute read it was a really fast audiobook. The narration was really good. I didn't like how the going to Iowa came about there was no conversation just some outside forces that makes her go.

Sometimes I wonder if I should check myself into a digital detox boot camp. I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm obsessed, and I'm definitely not as bad as the kids in this book, but the amount of time I spend scrolling through Tik-Tok, Instagram, and Facebook is kind of alarming.

One thing that Sunny does have going on for her, is the fact that once she's set her mind to something, she'll figure out a way to accomplish it. Though I wanted to scream at her almost the whole time she was at detox camp, she just kept hyper focusing on the fact that she didn't have access to social media... I was glad to see her grow up and use her influencer powers to help others

Overall this was a nice, fast summer read, and I enjoyed it.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read a digital ARC

This was fine. I think it was a really great concept: an internet/social media detox camp. I just never felt Sunny's obsession with social media. It could have been because I was listening to the audiobook, but I didn't hear the desperation. Until she had the chance to win the competition, I never even felt her ache to get to back to the Internet.

There were a lot of false starts in plot lines throughout the book. What happened with her years long crush to her friend Rafa? What did they even do at the camp? How was her relationship with her parents wrapped up so quick and neat?

The one thing I liked was the romantic interest, Theo. He was a precious Iowan boy who was just trying to support and save his family's farm. Sunny didn't deserve him!

4.5*
This super cute YA was exactly what I needed.
Sunny was such a fun character and I loved the journey she went through on the social media/ electronics free month. (I also know that because I remember when my dad password protected my laptop and only let me use it after he got home from work)
But, in the end the only reason I couldn't give this a 5 star rating? I saw the romantic pairing from the second he was introduced.
But, a quick fun and fast read. Thanks so much to netgalley for the audiobook for this fun story!

I think I would have liked this more if I was a teenager. This was a pretty average YA book with an underdeveloped romance and plot.

This was a cute book. It had a good message that makes you think about how much we use social media. It’s definitely a teen book, but I still enjoyed it. I would have loved a bit more of the romance, but that wasn’t the main part of the book. Overall a good read.

Unspoilery Blurb
Sunny Song has worked for years to become a true social media influencer after she was rocketed to fame as a child with a viral video where she was known as “Goggle Girl.” Now, years later, Sunny has continued striving for social media stardom by putting all her effort and energy into getting 100K followers. When a video about making brownies accidentally goes viral for less than ideal circumstances, Sunny’s parents send her off to a digital detox camp in Iowa where she must disconnect her brand to connect with others.

Full of farm jokes, romance, and lots of introspection, this book shows Sunny Song trying to balance her chance at social media fame with real personal connections with others.

Unspoilery Review
This is a hard book for me to review because while I enjoyed aspects of it, I had difficulty connecting to the characters or the plot. I felt like all the characters were underdeveloped, and it was hard for me to see Sunny’s perspective on some things. I thought the idea of sending teenagers to a digital detox camp was interesting, but I felt like I didn’t actually get to know anyone at the camp very well because I was stuck in Sunny’s head.

Some parts that I enjoyed about the book were the scenes with the people from the elderly home. These characters were precious, and I really liked seeing Sunny work with them. Also, I liked that we got to see Sunny grow during this book as her priorities changed, and this also was reflected in her relationships with her parents and friends. Theo was sweet, and I wish we got to know him better.

Some of the challenging parts of the book for me were the writing style, the stereotypes, and Sunny’s relentless need to find WiFi. These aspects really pulled me out of the story, and some parts just felt so over the top that they were hard to read seriously. Also I thought the whole brownie mess that got her in trouble was ridiculous!

Overall, I thought this was an entertaining book. While I don’t think this story was for me, I do hope that other readers enjoy it. I recommend this book for anyone looking for an easy, fun summery read full of social media, romance, character growth, and life on a farm.

I really loved this book!

I listened to the audiobook and I thought the narrator did an amazing job! I loved the different voices that the narrator did for the different characters too!

I loved this book and Sunny was an easy character to relate too. She is a young teenage girl who is struggling between keeping tech and social media from taking over her life.
This book has many important messages and themes that should be shared with everyone.

This book was so funny and I laughed at some moments. Sunny is funny and relatable.
This book is awesome and I loved reading it.
I want to read more books by this author!

I was lucky enough to get an advanced audiobook copy thanks to NetGalley, so I can tell you it has:
- A fun and a little bit cool, a little bit awkward MC.
- Asian rep.
- A cute, nice guy.
- Brownies.

I will assume I’ve sold you with the mention of brownies.

Most of us can relate with the fact that social media is a big part of our lives now. Either through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. We all need a break every so often to just disconnect. This book is exactly that, or at least Sunny tries her best to disconnect, and when she realizes that being socially connected 24/7 is not how life should be lived, she learns a little about love, family, and friendship. Like Ferris Bueller once said: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” If you want a humor and romance book, this is a must read!

Sunny Song became the subject of a viral video years ago, and she’s been chasing that fame ever since. When things go wrong on a livestream, she is forced to go to digital detox camp or face expulsion. But she can’t possibly go without her phone for 4 full weeks, not when she’s been selected as a finalist to join a popular group of Youtubers. Is she willing to risk everything for fame?

I loved this book. Apart from having a cute romance set on a farm, it’s also a powerful message about how damaging social media can be. About how companies want your time to be spent scrolling and spending, not leading a fulfilling life. What I found most interesting was following a teenager whose parent had uploaded a viral video. Of course they are going to be social media obsessed when they are exposed that young.

Theo was an absolute sweetheart, though some of his views were pretty antiquated. And the seniors group killed me. Because I work with seniors at a rec centre, I love it when books have a quirky group of seniors. I can totally relate to Sunny during their tech support days!

Overall, this was a great read, and the narrator was fantastic. I’d definitely recommend!