Tinfoil Crowns

(ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

Fit is a rising star on Youtube. She shares her life and her hilarious antics with her online friends. She's good at it and it helps fill the void of loneliness she can't seem to shake. It's her ticked out of her small town, her dead end job, and the tiny apartment she shares with Dubs and her brother.

But she doesn't share everything with her fans. Like how her mom tried to kill her and her little brother when she was three. Postpartum psychosis, they called it, but Fit doesn't care what they call it. All she cares about is the fact that her mother is being released from prison... and coming to stay with her, Frankie, and Dubs. It's not long until her fans find out, and Fit knows what brings the views. Will a reunion with her mother get her where she needs to be? Is she willing to find out?

At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book. The premise sounded so interesting, but when I started reading, I was just *so mad* at her family! Her brother wanted his mother back, and acted like nothing devastating ever happened. She was scared, and her grandfather was just welcoming his daughter back with open arms. What about poor Fit?! Talk about traumatic!

As I read, though, I got sucked into Fit's world, and as annoying as she could be, I could see *why*. I loved the side bits where we got to see things from River's point of view... I think, had those not been included, I would have been way less into the mother-daughter relationship. Before too long, I had warmed to River, and even wanted Fit to stop being such a jerk to her, so that speaks to the author's ability to sway my stance.

I feel like there's not really much I can say without giving away things that are way too good to read about in the moment, so all I'll say is that this book really surprised me with how much I ended up invested in the characters, and their storylines.

This book is well worth reading, although I wished the ending was a little different... but only because I didn't want the book to end!

Definitely a quirky novel, full of not only hilarious antics but also of serious subjects. Contemporary and well worth a read.

Interesting story...very believable in today’s world of social media obsession. Fit is an up and coming social media star. She’s quickly building quite a following with young fans following her everyday life. She sees it as her way out of a small town existence and road to nowhere. But when her estranged mom is suddenly thrust back into her life, everything gets a lot more confusing. Especially since her mom tried to kill her as a young child in a moment of postpartum psychosis. Fit is the only one in her family who’s unable to find forgiveness in her heart. That determination is put to the test, however, when her future career is on the line. Good story, fun characters, a little quirky at times.

Where do I even start when reviewing this amazing book? In a fairly short volume, this novel addresses so many hardships of being a young adult today, and introduces a wonderful cast of characters that will stay with readers after the final page is turned.

Jessica, or ‘Fit’ as she prefers to be called, is a rising star on YouTube. She’s also the girl whose mother tried to kill her while in the throes of postpartum psychosis. As Fit’s stardom begins to reach new heights, her mother is released from prison and returns to live with the family. Fit hates her mother for what she did, but she also sees the potential to use her family’s tragic past to intrigue her fans. She has to decide whether to pursue the fame she’s always longed for at the expense of her family.

I really loved reading this book. Fit is a pain in the arse but she is so likeable and endearing. River’s journey is heartbreaking and Erin Jones paints a tender picture of her reintegration with her family. Frankie is fantastic and a good counterpart to Fit - his transformation from loyal sidekick to independent young man is a really interesting part of the book. I think the depiction of Fit’s desire for fame, and the ways it led her astray, are really important and relevant for young people (and adults!) today.

Things I loved:
- Fit’s bratty kookishness juxtaposed with her doing really random unselfconscious things (like wearing tinfoil accessories)
- The brutal and heartfelt way that postpartum psychosis is depicted. We learn more alongside Fit and I feel it is dealt with in an honest and understanding way,
- The diverse cast of characters - specific labels are never really mentioned, which I think is pretty cool, but we see LGBTQIA depiction and at least one non-binary person, in addition to a range of ethnicities. It doesn’t seem like tokenism at all, but rather an accurate representation of a group of American teens.
- The incremental ways that Fit loses her way in her pursuit of fame. I won’t say too much, as this is a spoiler-free review, but it’s realistic, believable, and worrying.
- River, in general. I really enjoyed the chapters about her and her slow return to the world outside prison. I thought she was incredibly brave to keep trying with her family and a really compassionate and caring person.
- That the book didn’t wrap up nice and neatly; it left open questions (for a sequel perhaps?!) and interpretation up to the reader.

Things I didn’t love (really nitpicking here!)
- The lack of background on River and Seth’s family dynamic. I didn’t understand why Fit and Frankie’s dad would be willing to all but disappear, especially after they’d been through something so harrowing.
- Fit’s friends: I liked Pistols, but found Diamond whingey and irritating, and Riley just seemed pointless. Though I did like that he painted his house Day-Glo.

This book broke me. I can’t wait to get everyone I know to read it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.