“It’s not until the end of the following day that I realise what has happened.
And my entire world comes crashing down.”
-Sophie McKenzie, SweetFreak
Hey everyone! If you already follow me on Twitter, then you’ll know that SweetFreak by Sophie McKenzie came out yesterday. If you don’t, then come and find me here, where I spend (waste) lots of time chatting about all things bookish!
I was lucky enough to have been sent an ARC of SweetFreak by the lovely people at Simon & Schuster, check it out:
Here’s the blurb:
Carey and Amelia have been best friends forever. Then Amelia starts being trolled by SweetFreak, a mysterious and hateful online account, and Carey is accused of being behind the vicious comments.
Shut out by her other friends and shunned by Amelia, Carey is determined to find out who’s really sending the messages. But as the online threats spill over into real life, events start spiralling out of control… Can Carey expose the real SweetFreak before it’s too late?
This is part YA thriller, part mystery, in a modern setting, where cyber bullying is a very real threat. I felt so sorry for the main character Carey, in whose perspective the book is written, as she’s being framed for trolling her best friend, Amelia. And in some disturbing ways, too, when the bullying spills into their reality and tears their friendship apart. I instantly sympathised with Carey, particularly when her own mother doesn’t believe her side of the story! I feel that her frustration and angst at not being believed or listened to was brilliantly conveyed, and it ramped the tension of the book up, as I was waiting for her to to discover the truth and clear her name the entire time!
Carey feels like a young teenager to me, or perhaps, a more realistic view of what teenagers that age act like (not like in fantasy, where they’re fearlessly fighting dragons every second), and the whole book had a younger tone to it. I think it would be perfect reading for a younger teen, so if you’re reading this as an older reader, like myself, bear that in mind, as they are the true target audience after all! It was quite twisty, with a lot of new suspects introduced throughout the book as Carey continues her investigation, sometimes to surprising results.
SweetFreak deals with the cyber bullying, along with issues within friendships and family, among others, making it very relevant to today’s society and nicely updating the mystery genre.
Overall, it was fun and engaging and I tore through it very quickly, finding it an easy read. I’m giving this one 3.5/5 stars, as I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t one of my favourites. Like I said, it’s clearly aimed at the younger side of the YA audience, so bear that in mind if you’re an older reader, but I’d still recommend it for a fun, fast read!
Has anyone else read this one? What did you think? Have you read any good YA lately?
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