YA has been a genre I have not been reading for a while and listening to audiobooks has also fallen by the wayside. I fully appreciated being granted this audiobook ARC but at this time not something I am interested in.

This book was archived before I was able to download it onto my phone and I'm unable to leave a review.

As a former teacher who has worked in a school similar to the one portrayed here, this book hit a bit too close to home. It is a fast-paced read, but I found myself taking breaks from it as my heart rate spiked during key moments of the narrative.

Foxham Prep is a posh private school for the children of Washington D.C.'s elite. It's the type of school where rumors run wild and have the power to ruin lives. Bryn used to have the perfect boyfriend, a bring future in politics, and popularity but one mistake leads to her befriending Georgie. Georgie is newly hot after a summer makeover and moves quickly up the school's hierarchy making her instantly popular but also a target for rumors. As the rumors grow and morph, all lives will be affected.

I would give this book a solid 4 stars. The entire book is essentially about teens being terrible to each other. This is not a book that is an easy read - take the trigger warnings seriously because there are quite a number of them to be had. To reiterate, content warnings for the book include bullying/cyberbullying, sexual abuse, sexual assault, weight loss/ED issues, body image, fatphobia, and racism (both in the form of microaggressions and overt displays). While I think the mystery and thriller aspects of the book didn't pan out I do think it does a fantastic job of examining the social pressures that modern teenagers face with social media, online bullying, and the digital rumor mill.

The characters are not likable but they do feel authentic. The cast is diverse with representation from conservative immigrant families, an African-American family, queer kids, and of course a privileged white family.

I received both the audio and galley. The audiobook was fantastic with strong audio performances by Joniece Abbott Pratt, Taylor Meskimen, Deepa Samuel, and Julie Nathanson. The only parts of the audio that were difficult were the social media threads. It was helpful to be able to look at the book copy in Netgally at those times.

I wasnt able to download this audiobook by NetGalley but I was finally able to listen to this by another app.


The review: I was interested by the story and enjoyed the 3 povs within this book. However the book just didn't work for me.

The narration was quite good. However, the story was just to triggering for me at this time. I did not finish it.

I enjoyed this one and think students will too although I've certainly read similar YA mysteries in the past. It was intriguing and I have several students in mind who I know will be interested.

The Rumor Games shows the damage rumours can cause and how quickly they can get out of hand. I liked how it highlighted the role social media plays in spreading rumours and affecting people's reputations.

We follow three very different characters; Bryn, Cora, and Georgie. They're all going through their own struggles and trying to navigate high school as their stories intertwine.

Once we hit the big climax and turning point, my heart hurt and I couldn't put the book down. The Rumor Game is a fast read because I didn't want to put it down.

I enjoyed Taylor Meskimen's narration. she really brought the story and characters to life and gave a performance that keeps you wanting to listen.

A rumor can be harmless, until it gathers enough voices to become truth. The Rumor Game unravels what it's like to be at the center of one and the cost paid when trying to speak the truth. The narration is shared by 3 voices, each have a part in the rumor, each give a view into different ways a rumor can cause destruction. Clayton and Charapotra allow their characters to breath, stumble, and interact authentically with each other. The experiences and situations will make the reader recoil with familiarity because these situations are all too common in high school. While the protagonist are some what fleshed out, their supporting cast seem to be a bit hallowed out. while they could have added context and detail to the plot, they are over looked by the main characters. More elaboration on these characters would have made the book more well rounded.

Another book saved by the ending! I really liked how the different viewpoints showed the extent of what was happening while contributing to the mysteriousness/tense environment. The audiobook narration also had that impact. For me, it took a long time to build to the climax and confrontation and I almost stopped reading. But I did enjoy the pay off in the end.

Whew! This book was a real roller coaster. Every time you think you have everything figured out, you're hit with another jaw-dropping revelation. Honestly, this is reality. Lack of self-love, lack of accountability, and ego can drive people to do the unthinkable just to be liked or receive recognition. It's a must-read for teens so they can know the consequences and how their actions directly affect others in ways you don't see or know about.

The narration was great but the story was not. This was a realistic portrayal of teens and the toxic nature of social media but there were too many horrible characters and it went on for far too long.

A look into the potentially disastrous and devastating affects of rumors in this high tech age of social media, told through the lens of three high school girls.

At first the story felt like it was going to be more of a fluffy look into how rumors spread. You can tell there is an unknown person who just throws these comments out in social media threads that take off like wildfire. Someone is stoking the fire and we see the results through the narratives of three different high school girls. Each girl is at a different status at their elite high school and struggling with their own personal issues.

As you read, there are a few twists, plots of revenge are born, but the last part does take a darker turn to the story with events at a high school party and our young women are dealing with some pretty heavy topics at the end.

This book didn't work well for me. I think that the characters and plot setup were just too young for me. Nothing against the writing or anything - it was well written.

Rumors have power. Their power can give someone the world, or rip their lives apart, and a fancy high school in DC is about to get a lesson no one should have to learn.

The Rumor mill starts off with Bryn. She used to be the biggest power player in the school, until the car not-so-accident took away her popularity and life as she envisioned it. But she will do anything to get that life back.

Her best friend Cora is not only the cheer captain, her longtime boyfriend almost died in that car crash. Plus, with a super genius twin sister, life is not as easy as it should be. She doesn’t know what she wants but she knows what she doesn’t want, if only she could admit it.

Georgie is the formerly fat next door neighbor to Bryn. She is Punjabi, an immigrant, and newly noticeable on the hotness scale after losing 40 pounds at fat camp.

In this book the reader watches rumors change people, events, and the school. What is real, and in a world of social media, does it really matter what is real? All that matters is how things appear. If it appears that Georgie kissed Bryn’s ex-boyfriend, then she did. If it appears that Georgie had sexy fun time with Cora’s boyfriend, then she did. But rumors are like a game of telephone. They start off one way and take on a life of their own until they cause the fall of everyone.

This was an interesting read. The audiobook is very well done, in each of the three main girls are voiced by different narrators. The rumor list gets very repetitive when listening in audiobook form, but at the same time, that list is everything. This book is definitely social thriller, but as an adult looking back on the rumors from my time in high school, I could also classify this as horror. The things that happen, that no one tries to stop are the stuff that horror stories are made of. There may not be blood and gore, but the emotional horror can be forever lasting.

Overall I really liked this book but I didn’t love it. It was very real. It feels very much like over privileged teen agers let loose in a society where they see themselves as self-sufficient adults, but are really scared little kids looking for help and acceptance. As a bigger person, the constant harping on Georgie’s weight gets annoying, as does the constant praise of her weight loss. However, many of her emotions towards this are very real and very understandable. Cora is so unsure of herself. And while in a character this annoys me, it is very true to teen age life. Heck is Cora was surer of herself, maybe this would be a different book. And Bryn, well the less said the better. I think teens will see themselves, kids they know, and the school they go to, in these pages.

The Rumor Game by Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaiporta was an interesting read about an elite group of prep school students, and the damage that rumors can cause. Bryn, Cora and Georgie are the 3 main female characters in this book. Bryn was popular until she became the focus of some rumors. Then, new girl Georgie comes in and becomes the focus of the school-wide rumors. This book certainly brought me back to high school, making me thankful that there was not social media when I was in High School.

First and foremost, the book is looooong. I think I would have been able to follow along better if I had a digital copy to read, or even to read along with. The story is told from several alternating perspectives, and while the audio version provides different voices for each perspective, it was still difficult to follow along all of the time. Like I said, I think that was simply due to the format I was reading it in.

One thing I found the authors to do really well, was be culturally relevant and appropriate. However, one thing that drove me nuts was the use of the term: guidance counselor. That is an incredibly outdated and inaccurate term, and I hope that they edit it to school counselor.

I received an advance audio version of this book from the publisher through Netgalley.

So prior to starting this story, I read a non-spoilery review that had sparkling things to say about the audiobook version. As a result I decided to listen to this story instead of reading traditionally. Usually I will listen to nonfiction or fantasy so this was my first contemporary/YA kind of novel on audiobook. I was pleasantly surprised by that format.

The story involves three POVs (yessss we love multiple POVs) and I guess you could possibly add a fourth narrator in a sense. We have Bryn, Cora, and Georgie, and between chapters there are text message exchanges, social media posts and comments, and email exchanges, which are what comprise the fourth “narrator” sort of. My favorite voice narrator was Cora’s, I didn’t mind Bryn, but I did not love the narrator for Georgie. Georgie is meant to be this ugly duckling turned hottie and super awkward, so I understood why the narration was how it was, I just didn’t enjoy listening to those parts specifically.

As a whole, they all meshed very well. It’s senior year and the class is reeling from the drama of Bryn causing a car accident injuring her ex-boyfriend, his new girlfriend, and Cora’s boyfriend. Lots of “she’s a crazy bitch” commentary is happening in the opening. Bryn has a whole to-do list of how she is going to get her life back, typical queen bee dethroned working her way back up behavior. Then we have Georgie, who was sent to *cringe* weight-loss camp *cringe again* over the summer and lost a bunch of weight and is now considered hot *third cringe*. Rumors start to fly about Georgie after she is seen in an uncompromising but harmless position at a party, and the story snowballs from there. On top of it all is Cora, the queen bee and Bryn’s now ex-best friend, dealing with relationship issues and trying to maintain her composure.

There were a lot of typical high-school moments of course, but the story overall had a really potent and powerful message. The little rumors continue to pile on until things are out of control, people are spiraling, lives are ruined and in jeopardy. I appreciated this story primarily because my time in high-school and growing up was pretty much pre-social media (unless you count MySpace). We still texted using T9 and used dial-up computers. These kids in The Rumor Game are all immersed deeply in social media, as most of us are, and the harm that it causes is prominent. I can’t imagine growing up and dealing with hormonal teen angst while being pretty much shoved in the public eye and having a phone nearby to capture any and everything.

The representation and diversity in this novel were fantastic. Bryn was white, Cora was Black, and Georgie was from India. We also had a Nigerian ambassador’s son, and various other cultures and ethnicities represented. The cultural differences between some characters were brought up and honestly, the execution of it all felt so seamless and real, I found myself immersed in the characters and stories so much more. Despite Georgie’s experience having to attend weight-loss camp *cringe*, the topic is not brought up lightly. Georgie was made to feel insecure about her weight by her controlling mother, and used food as a way to cope with her anxiety, depression, and stress. That’s a real issue and I appreciated the care with which it was addressed, as a plus sized woman myself. I did not take issue with the narrative of the high school boys acting like she was bang-worthy post-weight-loss because that’s the sad, honest truth of society and the way most men think. That was represented in a realistic way no matter how shitty it is.

Overall, I loved The Rumor Game and always love Dhonielle’s work, so I look forward to exploring more of Dhonielle and Sona’s combined backlist. Dhonielle is a master at world-building, so I highly recommend her Belles series to any and everyone, no matter what age or walk of life. She’s THAT good.

Read the ebook Version. The Rumor Game was a fast read! It was engaging and I feel like this is a topic that a lot if teens will eat up. Its extremely reletative to something many kids go through right now. I did struggle with the believability of some aspects of the story along with the relationships and the why behind some of the actions. I felt like maybe addressing mental health a in a more in depth way could have added that little extra that this book needs. It was still an ejoyable read nonetheless.

I thought because this was a full cast audio I would enjoy it. But I just couldn't get into it. The audio production was good though. The subject matter was what didn't work for me.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Loved reading this! really great YA that i would reread for sure, want too own and will recommend.