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My Life as a Hashtag (Gabrielle Williams)

My Life as a Hashtag (Gabrielle Williams)
I’ve been reading so much more these last few months (as I have consciously moved away from social media - much to the improvement of my mental health and attention span!) but it’s been a while since I have picked up a YA novel. I’m not even sure what drew me to this title - I might have spotted it in the Readings catalogue? Anyhoo, long story short it’s also been ages since I have finished reading a book in a day. Like, I had to set my watch timer to 15 minute intervals so I didn’t just sit for hours reading. I could get away with that when I was younger, but now I have to complete adult-esque things in my day!

The ingredients of this book throw toegether a bunch of close teenage friends, a boy, a secret Tumblr blog, and a viral post. Nothing too extraordinary, and to be honest the story itself is a fairly unsubtle warning about being careful what you post to social media, but you know what? I didn’t care about the ordinary or the unsubtle. I found the narrator - MC - to be quite entertaining and the pace of the narrative also had a lot of inertia (hence my need to keep setting a timer in case the day got away from me!) - I actually gave a toss about what happened next and this is crucial for an entertaining read.  I won’t go into plot details as I find those kinds of reviews tedious to read (and write), but will say that the themes of friendship, the definition of bullying, and the reality of social media life are well represented.

This novel made me realise that I have kinda missed the YA genre. I’ve gone through a serious literary authors phase and a graphic novel phase - I think it’s time to be getting a little more YA in my life. I also scored a secondment at work as the Children and Youth Librarian, so there is no better time to get my YA mojo back. So to celebrate I read this book, and put together a wee #loveozya display in the youth area at my library.  I hope to see at least a few of the titles gone from the shelves before I get back to work!

I think I will stick with the #loveozya theme at this point and move on to another book I have been meaning to read - Cath Crowley’s Words in Deep Blue. Problem is I am likely about #2,423 on the holds list for it!

Does anyone have any other #LoveOzYA recommendations for me? Comment below!
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