Review: The Rumor Game, Dhonielle Clayton & Sona Charaipotra

The Rumor Game was one of my most anticipated reads of the entire year, and a book I’d hoped to read before 2022 ended. I don’t know why, but I had a feeling I’d adore this one and… damn. I wasn’t wrong. I just want to give a little shout out to Malka @ Paper Procrastinators for gifting me this, thanks to a giveaway I won. Don’t forget to check out her amazing blog!

The Rumor Game by Dhonielle Clayton, Sona Charaipotra
Published by Disney on March 1, 2022
Genres: mystery, thriller, young adult
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Buy on Amazon, Book Depository, Bookshop, Blackwell's
Goodreads

All it takes is one spark to start a blaze.
At Foxham Prep, a posh private school for the children of DC’s elite, a single rumor has the power to ruin a life.
Nobody knows that better than Bryn. She used to have it all—the perfect boyfriend, a bright future in politics, and even popularity, thanks to her best friend, cheer captain Cora. Then one mistake sparked a scandal that burned it all to the ground.
Now it’s the start of a new school year and the spotlight has shifted: It’s geeky Georgie, newly hot after a summer makeover, whose name is on everyone’s lips. When a rumor ignites, Georgie rockets up the school’s social hierarchy, pitting her and Cora against each other. It grants her Foxham stardom . . . but it also makes her a target.
As the rumors grow and morph, blazing like wildfire through the school’s social media, all three girls’ lives begin to unravel. But one person close to the drama has the power to stop the gossip in its tracks. The question is—do they even want to?
From Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra, authors of the Tiny Pretty Things duology (now a Netflix series), comes the edge-of-your-seat social thriller everyone will be talking about.

☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:

racism, sexism, slut-shaming, sexual assault, dieting, drugging, body-shaming, fatphobia, alcohol consumption, bullying, cyber-bullying, victim-blaming, revenge pornography, mentions of self-harm, disorder eating.

There are no spoilers in this review.

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I ENJOYED…

☂️

• The Rumor Game is a deep dive into cyberbullying, social media and its consequences, how rumors grow online, twist and turn words, situations and half-seconds into stories that forever impact people. I found it both terrifying and fascinating to read, knowing how realistically it depicted how these new media work and how they, really, destroy lives.
• The way the story is told is one of my favorite kinds of storytelling. It’s split between 3 POV and also has mixed media included: social media posts, newspapers articles… I found it to be such a great way to explore the way rumors work, each time, through different lenses. Also, I was hooked.
• We follow 3 main characters in this story: Cora, Bryn and Georgie. All of them have different backgrounds, different pasts and all of their lives are impacted in this story. I found each of their stories entertaining to follow and the way they intertwined with each other, as well.
  • I really liked Cora. She’d such a determined, badass, a little unlikeable and kind of a Mean Girl character. Yet, I really loved her and ended up rooting for her. I loved how we got to know her, under the surface, her struggles with her parents, with comparing herself to her sister a little too much and so on. She was so much more than just a mean girl and I loved that.
  • Georgie was my favorite of the lot. She’s struggling with finding herself again after losing a lot of weight and faced with new, different behaviour from her classmates. She’s not perfect at all, does stupid things and makes lots of mistakes, but I really loved her journey, overall.
  • Bryn was probably one of the most unlikeable characters in this book and yet. Honestly, I’m all here for these determined, won’t let anything get in the way of what I want kind of person in stories. Former queen bee, she lost her reputation after an accident and wants so, so badly to get back to the place she used to be, before.

• While this is book is marketed as a thriller a little bit, I think it feels more like a contemporary, with a little hint of thriller. We focus a lot on each of the girls and their growth, with the rumor mill turning around them and impacting their lives. It’s exactly the kind of story I enjoy, so I wasn’t bother, but I think it’s important to note for those of you expecting a real thriller.
• The Rumor Game deals with a lot of important issues, (see my trigger warnings at the top of this review!) and I personally enjoyed the way they were dealt with. We especially see that with Georgie’s journey with her body, which is messy and really, really tough to read at times, but so important, too.

OVERALL

☂️

The Rumor Game was a compelling, exciting, terrifying read, at times, that I’d really recommed reading. While it’s more of a contemporary than a thriller read, I just loved the way it explored the use of social media and its consequences and these kind of unlikeable characters were fantastic to follow. I loved it!

FINAL RATING : 4,5 stars!

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Did you read The Rumor Game, or do you want to? What’s the last book you read that made you feel a little unsettled? Let me know in comments!

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