Internet Famous

by M.B. Guel

Billie Alvarez is your average punk-rock-loving high school senior who just wants to hang out with her best friend, Rex, and get her ex-girlfriend back. In a half-baked attempt to impress her by auditioning for the lead part in the school musical, Billie gets turned down because she's a girl trying out for a traditionally male part. When her online rant about the school being homophobic goes viral, she must navigate her newfound fame along with the typical drama that comes with getting through high school.

Genres: Young Adult, Lesbian, Contemporary

184 pages, Paperback

First published December 7, 2021

About the author

When M.B. isn’t writing, they work as a producer of the theatrical trailers everyone talks through when they go to the movies. They also spend their spare time skating in roller derby, pretending they're a cowboy, and playing with swords. Living in Los Angeles with their partner and herd of pets has taught them useful defensive driving skills and how to be too friendly. They has kindly requested that, if the time ever come, their lifeless corpse be dragged into LA County limits before they are officially declared dead.

Reviews

[Lex Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay. I love sapphic YA books, and have read a lot this year, but I think this was a case of me not being the right audience for this book. I normally read contemporary YA, because it lets me reminisce or pulls at my heartstrings because it can be very emotional. While many things change over the years, there are lots of young adult experiences that stay the same so even as adults we can still relate. However, in this case I felt like this book was really geared to someone much younger than I, and that it dealt with too many things I could not relate too. This book at times seemed a little too stereotypical Gen Y, like all kids care about are posting thirst traps and being TikTok famous. The story was very readable and didn’t drag, but it was not a book for me.

To the right audience this could be a very different experience so I will use this review to only mention what the biggest issues were for me. Things didn’t start off well with this being third person but only one POV. The more I read books written like this the more I dislike this set-up. And even more unfortunate is that I did not like the one main character who’s one POV we are in. “Billie in the sheets”, I felt like I was reading about a 16 year-old-boy and not an 18 year-old girl. She was super immature and was girl-crazy to a point that kept making me roll my eyes. I could not connect with her at all, and I didn’t get what her redeeming qualities were. She’s tough and cute so I guess that’s why she gets a pass most of the time for being an asshole. Well that doesn’t work on me and while I wanted to root for her character growth, it seemed too little, too late.

The biggest bright spot of the book for me was theater girl Lois. Her character was very likeable, thank goodness, but I thought the book could have used more time with her. There were too many distractions and time spent on other characters like June, Erin, and Crystal who didn’t add anything to the story for me. I did yell at the book “Lois, you deserve better!” multiple times, but at least I was able to root for her.

TLDR: This book was not for me and I mean that in the way that I think I’m not the right audience. Normally I love YA, but I think this was geared to someone younger who could connect to things that I just could not. I had big issues with the main character Billie, but thankfully Lois saved the book. Since this book wasn’t for me, I would suggest checking out other reviews because someone could have a completely different reading experience than I had.

An ARC was given to me for a review.

[pipsqueakreviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Girl-crazy.

This is a book with only one main character and I really dislike her. Billie is a complete mess and some things she does raises red flags with me. For example, she's still hung up over her ex and in her attempts to win June back, she refuses to take no for an answer. And while she says she loves June and is doing all sorts of things to get her attention, she's also spending time with all these girls at the side. One of these girls is Lois, who plays the female lead in a high school play that has Billie in the male lead and who would eventually become Billie's love interest. But the problem is, she isn't the only one in the equation even though it's clear to us that she's the right one. Billie is a chronic flirt and is girl-crazy and this is an important point to make because flirting with someone else was the cause of her break up with June in the first place, but the character development is weak, in my opinion. On top of that, it irks me how bad Billie's attitude is when it comes to actual work like showing up for rehearsals or rehearsing lines.

Lois however, is nice and sweet and Billie is attracted to her. But Billie also actively avoids any situation that could advance their relationship for a variety of reasons, hence this book becomes a slow burn. And trust me when I say it burns incredibly slowly.

The play that the characters are in is what led to Billie becoming internet-famous (read the blurb to find out why) and part of the story is about Billie trying to deal with her newfound fame. There are upsides and downsides to being famous and this story captures that part well.

I received an ARC from Bella Books through Negalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading YA books and have read three others this past week. I started off easily buying into the premise of this book. Billie Alvarez is a punked, pierced, dress in black senior, who wants her girlfriend back. Billie auditions for the lead role of Danny in Grease because it means spending time with her ex. Even though she's the best, she doesn't get the part because it is traditionally a male. When her online rant claiming homophobia attracts media attention she gets the role. But in addition, her rant goes viral and she becomes internet famous.

I was enjoying reading along till about the fifty percent part when I realized Billie isn't likable. The book does take on the vapidness of internet stardom and the fake-ness involved, but Billie is a hot mess. She doesn't want to work at the role that got her famous and blames everyone else for her mistakes. She wallows being drunk, saying she f''d up and is an asshole. Even at the ninety percent mark she is still pursuing the wrong person. The best character is Lois, the nerd theater girl, who is playing the Sandy. The story needs more of the two of them together and not Billie avoiding her.

Sadly I am not the audience for this book. As a mature reader I was waiting for character growth or comeuppance or even an adult to step in and help. There is some of that at the very, very end, but not enough to make me think that Billie really changes. Even epilogue left me wondering what Lois sees in Billie. Probably the target audience of young/new adults will enjoy this more. Kudos for the dedication. It gave me the biggest smile. Thank you to NetGalley and Bella Books for eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sounded a little more innocuous by the summary blurb but wow, basically from chapter one the main character Billie is a sexist, gaslighting, possessive, self-absorbed little jerk and aside from the last few pages where we're supposed to accept that she's suddenly seen the error of her ways and has "grown," she remains the same through the entire story. The most interesting character is her best friend Rex, who deserves so much better than Billie and for the life of me I can't figure why they're even friends with her at all. From the start, Billie decides she needs to get back together with her ex-girlfriend June, who had caught Billie emotionally cheating online and called it quits. Billie essentially stalks June, refuses to hear the word "no" and joins the school play as a way to force June to spend time with her. Yes, you read that correctly--force. This kid absolutely sucks. Along the way, she stumbles into Internet fame, continues to be a terrible person (but in this world it's apparently ok because she's also "hot") who finally only starts feeling the consequences of being terrible far too late. Billie is not the type of person you'd root for and even when she makes amends for her behavior, you get the feeling that it's temporary and in another week or two she'll be back to her toxic ways.


ARC provided by NetGalley

[Jenni · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Billie tries out and doesn't get the part of Danny in the high school's production of Grease, she gets upset and posts her rant to TikTok. Sure, the part is usually given to a male, but her audition was better and she doesn't really want to be Rizzo on stage. Why can't Danny be played by a lesbian? She wants that male lead. When her video rant goes viral, Billie finds herself "internet famous" and has to deal with the spotlight of attention that is thrust her way. I didn't like Billie at all (she's pretty much a dude bro and an asshat). And she doesn't change, no matter what happens in the book, which is frustrating.