RATING: ★★★★☆
TITLE: Sources Say
AUTHOR: Lori Goldstein
RELEASE DATE: September 8, 2020
SETTING: Massachusetts
PUBLISHER: Penguin Teen, Razorbill Books
GENRE(S): YA Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Thank you to Penguin Teen and Razorbill for my gifted DRC in exchange for my honest review.
TAGLINE/BLURB:
Two exes. One election. All the drama.
For fans of Becky Albertalli and Morgan Matson comes a funny, hearfelt novel about fueding exes running for class president and the scandal that makes the previously boring school election the newest trending hashtag.
At Acedia High School outside of Boston, student council has always been nothing more than a popularity contest. Nobody pays attention. Nobody cares.
But all that changes when the Frankengirls show up. During the very first week of school, someone plasters the halls with Photoshopped images of three “perfect tens”–images of scantily clad girls made from real photos of girls at school. The student body is livid. And the two presidential candidates, Angeline Quinn and Leo Torres, jump on the opportunity to propose their solutions and secure votes. After their messy break up, Leo and Angie are fighting tooth and nail to win this thing and their constituents are mesmerized as they duke it out.
As if things couldn’t be more dramatic, the school’s two newspapers get involved. The Red & Blue is run by Angie’s sister Cat and she prides herself on only reporting the facts. But her morals are tested when The Shrieking Violet–written by an anonymous source and based less on facts and more on fiction–blatantly endorses Leo. Rumors fly, secrets are leaked, and the previously mundane student election becomes anything but boring.
How did I not know what I was getting into when I started this book? This was so much fun! Sources Say from Lori Goldstein was a very current and relevant look into the inner workings of a political debate and the he said she said ridiculousness that can occur, but on a high school level. And what better time to have this kind of book front and center than right now?
Through a handful of interesting people, we get the story of the big StuCo election of Acedia High, a charter school outside of Boston. The student body has NEVER cared about Student Council before now, but when the school’s golden couple battle against each other for Student Body President, things get real!
Cat is passionately following in her grandfather’s journalist footsteps, working for the student run newspaper and trying to amp up her Northwestern application by winning the coveted Fit to Print award. Meanwhile, her sister Angeline is a rising star of her own Youtube channel focusing on self care and beauty products. Running for President is the only way their mom will allow her to join a coveted Evelyn’s Epic Everyday Boot Camp, something that would secure her stardom in the YouTube world.
Due to events occurring at a big party before the school year starts, Angeline and her longtime boyfriend Leo breakup. Now, Angeline and Leo are running against each other in the battle for Student Body President and things go absolutely crazy! While some of the craziness that ensues is a result of the two of them finding their platform and gunning it, some serious and relevant issues are brought to light.
While Cat is responsible for reporting the election for their school’s Red and Blue paper, a new online news source calling themselves The Shrieking Violet, continues to anonymously report some seriously defamatory news blasts about her sister, Angeline.
Who is in the right and who is in the wrong? Will relationships ever be able to mend after the battles of this election? This was such a great book and it totally left me guessing until the end.
feather bound books 