Book Review: This is How it Happened

Somehow I’ve become a liar. A coward. Here’s how it happened. 

When Genevieve Grace wakes up from a coma, she can’t remember the car crash that injured her and killed her boyfriend Dallas, a YouTube star who had just released his first album. Genevieve knows she was there, and that there was another driver, a man named Brad Freeman, who everyone assumes is guilty. But as she slowly pieces together the night of the accident, Genevieve is hit with a sickening sense of dread—that maybe she had something to do with what happened.
As the internet rages against Brad Freeman, condemning him in a brutal trial by social media, Genevieve escapes to her father’s house, where she can hide from reporters and spend the summer volunteering in beautiful Zion National Park. But she quickly realizes that she can’t run away from the accident, or the terrible aftermath of it all.

Incredibly thought-provoking and beautifully told, Paula Stokes’s story will compel readers to examine the consequences of making mistakes in a world where the internet is always watching…and judging.

From the moment I began to read this book, I loved it. One chapter in a character is struck by horrible tragedy and somehow I had already become attached, already found it heartbreaking.

I think everyone online, including myself, has at some point experienced online hate. Even when no one knows the real story, they don’t hesitate to voice their thoughts and place blame on someone who could end up being blameless.

It’s so important to speak out on this subject because so many things are said and this book shows you the impact that tweets, hashtags, even articles can have on a person. I think because social media often makes you feel anonymous, you see all the other people as just avatars, tweets, blogs. It feels like what you say won’t hurt them so much, but this book… it’s so important to me because it lets you see the affect of those insensitive words, insensitive actions. With social media, you can destroy a person’s mental health with just one tweet.

This book is also about how important it is to speak out when you do know the true story. It’s about not letting social media beat you down, not letting guilt hold you back.

Okay so I’m done with the part of this review where I have eloquent thoughts or whatever. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE ROMAAAANCE YO

It’s adorable and amazing and I LOVES IT BYE (very well put huh)

Also all of the character in this are like a+ duuuude. So here’s a quite list of things this book has so you can go preorder it:

(!) relatable

(!) adorable romance

(!) amazing message

(!) funny

(!) subtle mental illness rep

Okay, y’all. Tell me your social media horror stories!