#allthebookreviews: Easy Prey by Catherine Lo @catherineElo @acbya @jessicamapreviews
Easy Prey
by Catherine Lo
Thanks so much to Amulet Books for these amazing copies.
See Jessica and I's 5 star reviews below.
Publisher: Amulet Books
Publish Date: October 16, 2018
Hardcover
352 Pages
Standalone
Genres: YA, Mystery, Fiction
Only three students had access to a teacher’s racy photos before they went viral. There’s Mouse, a brainy overachiever so desperate to escape his father and go to MIT that he would do almost anything, legal or not. Then there’s Drew, the star athlete who can get any girl’s number—and private photos—with his charm but has a history of passing those photos around. And finally there’s Jenna, a good girl turned rebel after her own shocking photos made the rounds at school last year, who is still waiting for justice. All three deny leaking the photos, but someone has to take the fall. This edgy whodunit tackles hot-button issues of sexting and gossip and will have readers tearing through the pages to reach the final reveal.
My Review:
We all remember high school. Everyone is put into some kind of category. In this novel, we have the jock, the nerd and the wholesome girl gone goth. Each of them have their own issues and when put together on a school project, they start learning there's more to each of them than meets the eye.
Here's what I love about a smartly done YA novel. Lo takes hot button topics such as sexting, privacy, the blame game and even parental liability into a high school scene where teenagers think there's nothing else in the world but the one that they live in. If I had known that high school really wouldn't have made a difference in my world afterwards, I may have looked at it differently. But hey, it's all part of our learning process, right? The author smartly brings these topics into play and grasps the fine line in how differently gender roles and expectations fall into the blaming process.
I was intrigued from the beginning of the book straight until the end. I wasn't quite expecting that ending, which was a surprise that brought a large smile to my face! We all have our secrets... and secrets have a tendency to come out, whether you like it or not. Be careful what you do and who you do it to and for goodness sakes, LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.
I do think there may be some controversy about the ending as I even questioned certain parts of WHY IF THIS OR THAT? However, rather than reading way too much into it, I'm just going to revel in the ingenious of it all. Well done Lo, well done!
★★★★★
Jessica's Review:
Leaked photos are a big issue in recent years. People’s personal photos taken and shared with the world which creates big controversies. However, when it takes place in a high school and the owner of the photos is a teacher, that causes alarm. When only three students have access to these photos before they go viral, they have to figure out which one of them did it.
We have three very different characters that could be to blame. The quiet overachiever, the star athlete, and the rebellious girl. All with their own secrets and potential motives. I think Lo did a fantastic job giving all of these characters their own voice and they were all well-developed. She also sets the scene so well – back in those hallways of high school!
The readers get to dive into the topics surrounding privacy and sexting – which are very real hot button issues people are facing today. Invasion of privacy and then culpability are the more controversial parts of the story. I will say that I was not expecting that ending! I really liked the direction that it went.
Despite this being a more YA novel, it didn’t read like one to me. There’s enough mystery to it and realism that it doesn’t feel like a YA novel – I feel like the real reason it fits into that genre is because the main characters are high school age. I think Lo approached these topics very well and created an incredibly realistic story for us. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for more from Lo in the future!
5/5 stars!
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