Sure it has the word “game” in the title but there is nothing lighthearted about this book. It covers some very triggering topics, especially in the day and age of social media. This is a hard book for me to review because when I requested the audiobook on NetGalley, I was anticipating a fun, twisty book that would help me decompress during my work commute. I wasn’t expecting to think and feel so much that I needed listening breaks.

What hit me hardest about this book was the utter lack of concern as groups of teens destroyed each others’ lives. I vividly remember the social pressure of my adolescent years and I cannot imagine being subjected to constant torment online by not only my peers but the entire internet.

I probably would have liked this book this book more if I didn’t utterly despise most of the characters. I guess that speaks to how well the story drew me in emotionally. The audiobook narrators did an incredible job of capturing the characters so effectively that they truly came to life. There were honestly times when I simply could not listen to their voices anymore because of their poor decisions. This was especially true with Bryn and lesser so with Cora and Georgie, who ended up growing on me.

Although I didn’t particularly love this book, I see its value in warning teens about the impact of their words online. Adults could definitely learn this lesson too as there seems to be a pandemic of adult bullies hiding behind computer screens.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney for providing me with an audiobook!

This book brings to light social media and the negative aspects it can bring for high schoolers. How one comment and be twist and turned to hurt one. How a photo can embarrass and tear one down. This book had some repetitiveness that seemed to drag out in areas, but overall a good read.

Thanks NetGalley for the advance audiobook preview for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the digital advance reader copy. I was not compensated for this review. All opinions are my own and are mainly written from the standpoint of a school librarian.

FABULOUS! I thoroughly enjoyed the alternating narrators and attempting to figure out how they relate and how they differ. Would make a great YA book club read!

The Rumor Game has been compared to Gossip Girl. I never watched that show so I wouldn't know but what I do know is that this book really showed the ramifications of short sighted thinking, gossip and posting lies and rumors on social media.

In The Rumor Game nobody won. Lives of young people were forever altered and some were ruined before they even had a chance to graduate high school because of the sick lies posted to social media by one unknown person.

This book is a cautionary tale for young people who have grown up with social media as their prime form of communication: Be careful what information you share on social media as it is a bell that the whole world hears and can't be unrung. It can ruin not only the lives of the people you post about but your own. It is a tool for communication that can be so easily abused and the consequences can be dire. Use it wisely.

This book also looked at issues of fatshaming, self esteem, racism, privilege, elitism, sexism, date rape and so much more. There were a lot of issues packed in this book that mirrored the issues facing young adults and our society at large.

No one book will solve all of these issues but The Rumor Game is a good book to read to begin to examine them. I really enjoyed listening to this book.

Thank you Disney Hyperion for giving me an advance listening copy.

Rating 3.75

This book was really enjoyable, it reminded me a lot of the show Gossip Girl which I absolutely love. You can definitely feel the drama, heartbreak and tension between all of the characters. Some characters I loved more than others and I definitely would roll my eyes during certain events. Reading this made me feel like I was back in high school. It’s so easy to become part of drama and gossip even when you think it might not hurt anyone. You truly feel like you're right beside these characters as they make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. It’s marketed as a thriller but I found it to be more of a YA contemporary. I Feel as though if you know that going in then you will not be disappointed. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. I also loved the incorporation of the chat images; it helped bring the story to life in a fun way.

The Rumor Game is a YA novel told through the perspectives of three teenage girls at an elite Washington DC high school. Throughout the story each of them is impacted in some way by the rumors, lies, and social media attention until they decide something must be done. Overall, I give this book 3 stars (which I consider to be a good, but not great book) My reasons are as follows:

Pros:
Unfortunately social media has made bullying easier than ever and this book highlights that. All three of our narrators as well as other students are intrenched in rumors and lies. It impacts all areas of their lives and it often causes them and other characters to make decisions that they might otherwise not in response to feeling attacked, shunned, or even worshipped.

I also like that in the end there were consequences (some deserved, some satisfying, some frustrating), but it wasn't like they got out of this mess unscarred. In real life there are consequences ranging from losing friends or your reputation to serious accident, death, or jail time and this did show that reality.

I was nervous about the format, but ended up really liking it. Having the story take place not only through our narrators' perspectives, but also through social media platforms shows their lack of control over the rumors and how much it impacts a whole community.

There is a lot of diversity in this book and I believe kids would find someone who at least looks like them.

This book is entertaining and dramatic like a Pretty Little Liars or Riverdale ( or Tiny Pretty Things: the authors' other book)
so it should draw treens in and keep their attention, but it also deals with very serious topics like: cyber bullying, gaslighting, racism, slut shaming, and sexual assault.

Cons:
I personally think that having all the characters be the sons and daughters of politicians, diplomats, and wealthy business owners lessens the relatability for your average teen as it focuses on the experiences of the upper 20% with their gated communities, country clubs, lavish houses, servants, and unlimited resources. It makes it seem like this is more of a rich kid problem instead of something that faces all teenagers.

I think it tried to take on too much. As stated before, this book covers a lot of issues (more than I even mentioned) so it can't really go in-depth on any of them. I personally found parts of the book so traumatic I wasnt sure I wanted to keep reading, but then we just get a list of different resources in the back instead of serious discussions of these topics. I just feel like the authors could have focused on less issues and gone more in-depth on those.

Pros of the Audiobook:
I always like when audiobooks have different narrators when the book is in different perspectives. This is narrated that way. However, there are 3 characters and two narrators, so that makes it a little confusing.

Listening to the story you get the sounds of text messages, emails, and posts that bring you more fully into the digital part of the story. You also can hear the emotions of our main characters.

Cons of the audiobook:
There is a section of the book called rumor log which is repeated each time a new rumor is added. This is nice at first, but as the rumors pile up it gets repetitive. I could quote the whole list word for word from memory I heard it so many times. (If you were reading the print version, you would just skim the list or look at the last entry)

Overall, I might recommend this to my students (after discussing the content), and I do think it shines a light on the serious issues teenagers face. Definitely check all content warnings before reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for an audiobook version of this book. This is my honest review.

I loved this one! The audiobook was great. I loved the sound effects and the narrators throughout. The different narrators totally brought the story to life. The book is a little long, but the narrators had my complete attention and I found myself entertained and flying through this one. As for the story-My favorite YA books are entertaining, but also have some substance to it. This one was like Gossip Girl, but with more diversity, and it included topics such as race, weight issues, and how rumors can cause significant damage. Also for my DMV buddies, this is based in DC so it contains some local references as well. If you like YA books you need to add this to your TBR! Thank you to Disney Books for my copy!

The Rumor Game is a fun, twisty peek into an elite high school and the havoc that comes with social media.

Bryn, formerly popular but now a pariah, is desperate to get back into her former best friend, Cora's, life and be forgiven for her past mistakes. Her previously overlooked neighbor is now an attention-getter with the help of Bryn's wardrobe makeover and serves to take the negative attention off Bryn and refocus on Georgie. Someone is fueling the rivalries on social media, but the stakes start to get higher and higher. The suspense builds as the consequences become too big to ignore and someone is teetering on the edge of exposure.

The audio narration rotated between three different narrators, all of whom were delightful.

I was really excited to read this book - I’ve been on such a YA mystery/thriller kick lately that it was the perfect “next read”. Sadly, it didn’t quite hold up to my expectations.

When I think of mystery/thriller I think of intrigue, suspicion, and may be a bit of danger. This was more like high school drama with a bit of mystery…sort of. I think it’s going to hit the spot for many who love a contemporary “he said/she said” rumor mill, but it was too much for me.

It became a little ridiculous that even the parents were believing the social media rumors over having an actual conversation with their kids. That to me was the craziest part.

Lastly, I did think there were some good messages for those who need to hear we are more than what social media says about us. I hope that teens can read this and see how ridiculous it is to believe rumor over actual truth, but I think it may be too heavy handed to be viewed in such a way.

I will say I think Riley was the real hero in this book 😆 (If you know, you know!) Out of all the characters he’s the only one I truly liked 🙈

Recommended to those who like gossip, rumor, and ridiculous high school drama.

❗️Language, talk of fat shaming & cutting. (There is a full list of triggers at the beginning of the book)

My rating: 3*

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Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this audio copy. All opinions are my own.

DNF at 40%. This book was just not for me.



Thank you to Netgalley and Disney Audiobooks for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

DNF @ 28% unfortunately. I'm bored and have no interest in picking this up again - I'm not compelled by the rumours or characters.

Bryn, Cora, and Georgie are the trifecta of typical teenage characters in this young adult novel about the manipulation of social media and the politics of high school. Switching between the perspectives of these three gave insight into the truth of the rumors and, as one of them said, there are always multiple versions of the truth. For me, this was reminiscent of Gossip Girl and Cruel Intentions, with Mean Girls thrown in. I didn't think any of the characters were likeable, except possibly Millie, as they all had what seemed like purely selfish intentions, getting caught up in revenge and payback. (Which I suppose is also characteristic of typical teenagers.) I enjoyed the audio for this one and thought the narrators were thoughtfully chosen and represented each character well. However, I missed the visuals that are throughout the book, and it was awkward and hard to follow when the narrator read the text messages and social media posts. The Rumor Game does show the lingering effects of social media and how difficult it is to recover once rumors are out in the world but even with the ongoing list of rumors it was a lot to keep up with in addition to the sub-plots for each character.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one. The plot definitely kept me invested in wanting to know what happens next, and the characters were intriguing. The message is also very important for young people, learning how powerful and harmful our words can be whether they are true or not. But some things seemed unrealistic, or I felt like they were not explored as deeply as I wanted them to be. I also felt like the ending was not fully resolved. There was basically no punishment for the “villains” of the story, or it was left too up in the air for me to be satisfied. The narrators were great, each with a distinct voice and bringing life to each character. There were also some clever things done in the audiobook format that I appreciated.

Words Hurt

I Think that every teenager and every parent of a teenager should read or listen to this book. It is that good. With all the teens on their cell phones day and night and parents working longer and longer hours this book is so pertinent to our lives today.

The book is about a group of teenagers, with parents that are gone a lot, who have too much time on their hands. It is about a social media post by one teenager that spiral out of control and efforts to stop it just make it worse.

It is a story of social and cyber bullying, of parties with liquor too easy to obtain and teens that make poor choices in friends and in their personal lives. These choices hurt other people and hurt families. It is the ugly fact of how one rumor could damage so many people.

I would sincerely hope that somehow parents can wake up, be there for their children and take an interest in what is going on with their social media accounts. I would hope that most teenagers would be responsible enough to not post rumors but I know this will happen.

This audio book had a great narration, it was very sad and unfortunately so true of the world of social media today. I am glad I listen to the audio book and I would definitely recommend it.

Thanks to Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra for writing an engaging story, to Taylor Meskimen for a great job narrating it, to Disney Audiobooks for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me.

I've decided to not rate this one. Probably the first time I've ever not rated a book I've read? But I just can't. It's not meant for my age, for one. It's so uncomfortable, for two. I hated the layout/format, all of the texts and tweets and likes and repetitiveness, nope not for me, for three. MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNINGS: SEXUAL ASSAULT, SLUT SHAMING, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, WHITE MALE PRIVILEGE, MENTAL HEALTH, UNDERAGE DRINKING AND DRUGS, BULLYING/RUMORS, FATPHOBIA, MISOGYNY, BAD PARENTING Fuck. This book fucked me up and I was just repeating no no no no no by the time Georgie accidentally got high and that whole thing played out (around 75% through). I did not enjoy reading this and most of the above trigger warnings have never bothered me before.

There were several hasty writing choices that took away from the reality of the story. First, the cheerleader tryouts. Cheering is an athletic sport--and was described as such with tumbling and particular jumps; therefore, it is unrealistic that someone could just walk in and pick it all up on a whim (and disrespectful to the athletes who train for years to master tumbling passes and stunts). Second, I found the lack of aware adults and parents bothersome. Too much drama, not enough accuracy-- however, it may be a good mix for some readers who enjoy reading social media and texting formatting.

Such a timely and important novel for the age of social media. Words can really cut like a knife and you will discover just how powerful words are. You have so many rotating POVs and some a good chunk of the story is formatted as text messages which is so great for reluctant readers. I am an identical twin and I enjoyed that POV and felt it was spot on to the way twins constantly feel compared. This novel has some triggers and hot topics but is necessary for self reflection to see the consequences of every action that has a reaction.

Thank you Disney Audiobooks and NetGalley for this advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was wild, next level and drama filled.

When a rumor spirals out of hand three girls must try to repair their reputations, even if it means hurting others in the process. I won't elaborate further as it would give away too much of the story, but beware the content warnings, they are plentiful.

This book is told from three perspectives and has three narrators (one of which is Joneice Abbott-Pratt, and she's amazing!). The book easily transitions between the different girls by including social media interludes. I was really impressed with the audiobook's handling of these as these kind of transitions can be hard to relay in audio form, however, this audiobook used notification pings and text send noises to distinguish the messages.

This book was compulsively listenable. Once you start you won't want to stop. It will also make a really good TV show at some point.

**!!Content warnings: cyberbullying, body shaming, slut shaming, fat phobia, offensive language, toxic relationships, bullying, sexual assault, rape (off page), sexual harassment, toxic environment, racism, alcohol abuse, use of roofies, white privilege and mental illness, I might also be forgetting some, but these are the ones that stand out.

3.5 stars rounded down as it was just a tad too long.

Three high school seniors get tangled up in social media rumors and rumormongering and discover that it’s not a monster you can control in this well-told cautionary of-the-moment YA novel.

Bryn, Cora, and Georgie are all seniors at a fancy private school in Washington DC, full of sons and daughters of the rich, famous, high-powered, and entitled. The three young women’s narration is interspersed with a rumor log, social media posts, and local media reports.

In the summer, Bryn (who is white) ran a red light, hit the car with her ex-boyfriend and other students in it, and then fled the scene. Strings were pulled and she’s now back at school, but is a social pariah and her student presidency is being challenged - all she wants to do is get her old life back and continue on her path to become the first female president of the United States (obviously having heard of neither Kamila Harris nor Chappaquiddick).

Georgie (who is Indian) was sent to fat camp over the summer by her mother and shed a lot of weight, along with her social caution. Befriended by Bryn, Georgie wants to be seen, be in with the popular crowd, and kiss a boy or two.

Cora (who is Black) is feeling the loss of her twin who graduated early and is at Harvard, and is feeling the weight of parental expectations, but she has her long term boyfriend Baez to lean on.

But then the new Georgie is seen flirting with Baez at a party, and the rumor mill goes into overdrive.

Over the next month, these three young women all become victims of vicious rumors, but equally, they all try to manipulate the story to suit their own plans. In the process, lives are damaged, reputations ruined, and the truth is left far behind.

I found it telling, and troubling, that at no point did any of the students even think about talking to an adult - family or school - about the issues they were facing, and, equally, that the adults in their lives were pretty much oblivious to what was going on.

Clearly the authors made a choice to set it among the offspring of the political and financial elite. I felt this made it somewhat less relatable to most teens (after all, who can have a costume party with a camera monitoring every room to expose the wrongdoers). It also meant there were few consequences for the wrongdoers - there was a definite feeling that it would all be swept under the carpet and the kids would bounce back without too many issues.

The novel worked surprisingly well as an audiobook. The three narrators were well differentiated but I found the nervy voice of the person reading Georgie’s section to be rather irritating and she sounded least like a teenager of the three. It was a little clunky to have the social media photos described, but the reading of the comments was full of excellent eye-rolling, too cool for school vibes. I did find the endless repetition of the rumor log to be annoying (and I was never clear whose log it was).

This is clearly a very timely well-told novel, showing how much damage can be wittingly and unwittingly caused by social media and I’m sure will fly off the shelves in my school.

Thanks to Disney Audiobooks and Netgalley for the audiobook review copy.

I really did not love this title. It wasn’t the audio itself, but more the content. I felt like nothing big happened till about 75-80% of the way through. Even that “big” event seemed forced and sort of extraneous. I felt the book could have gone just as well, if not better, without the sexual assault element. The ending felt really rushed after the sexual assault. There was a lot more room for healing there. I’m glad the authors included resources at the end, but ultimately this title fell flat for me. It read kind of like less intense Gossip Girl fanfic.