No Filter and Other Lies

Starred review from January 3, 2022
Maldonado (Fat Chance, Charlie Vega) once again displays her gift for portraying complex family dynamics and layered interiority in this bighearted sophomore novel about a teen photographer who finds herself weaving an increasingly tangled web of lies via a fake Instagram account. Despite possessing an excellent aesthetic sensibility and burgeoning photography skills, high school student Kat Sanchez has a “tragic” 209 followers on Instagram. But as she straightforwardly confides to readers, “no one’s checking for the life of a fat seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican girl who lives in Bakersfield” when “Instagram, the internet, and the world all seem to be made for beautiful thin white girls.” So on the heels of a bad day, Kat creates an account for Max Monroe, an L.A.-based influencer she manufactures using photos of her white coworker Becca (“the most model-looking person I know”), and decides not to delete it because of the reception—and a DM from a pretty girl with pale skin and pink hair. Maldonado’s writing has a warm and relatable feel, full of insight regarding societal expectations, accountability, and the need to belong within one’s own family and the wider world. An ultrasmart contemporary that fully understands what teens face in today’s social media–obsessed landscape. Ages 14–up. Agent: Tamar Rydzinski, Context Literary.

January 1, 2022
Kat wants to be wanted and liked for her true self, but failing that, she will settle for having a desirable alter ego. Kat Sanchez--fat, Puerto Rican and White, 17--has complicated relationships but finds an emotional outlet in photography. However, her Instagram account sees little engagement, even from people who know and supposedly care about her. Kat's place of creative escape is just another venue for feeling disconnected and rejected--until she creates a fake account using photos she took of a co-worker who has sworn off social media. Blond, beautiful Max, Kat's alter ego, quickly gets lots of likes and even connects with a fellow creator, pale, blue-eyed, "fat femme" Elena, who also calls Southern California home. Kat knows her burgeoning relationship needs to be built on an honest foundation, but the allure of getting likes and the risk of losing face make it difficult. As her online lie inevitably crumbles, Kat is forced to become more open, honest, and real in her IRL relationships. Kat's struggle for authenticity with her family and friends, not to mention her own sense of self, sparks important questions about what is valued and what is truly valuable. Maldonado's willingness to let Kat be unlikable at times and to embrace a bittersweet and complicated ending highlights the need for nuance and grace in the stories we tell about ourselves and others. As with social media, the real story here requires digging beneath the surface, and it richly rewards the effort. (Fiction. 13-18)

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 15, 2022
Grades 9-12 Kat--fat, Latinx, and 17--loves sharing her photography, but her reach on social media is limited. When she starts an account that implies she's someone else, it takes off, and her newfound fame leads her to the adorable Elena. But Kat can't keep up her lies forever; she's posing online as a friend who strictly avoids social media for her mental health, and Kat knows she's liable to irreparably damage the friendship. This dives into the harm a social-media obsession can do to life beyond the screen while examining themes of honesty, justice, and self-esteem. Readers looking for a drama featuring a bisexual character that's unrelated to coming out will appreciate this contemporary story that has a strong sense of setting. While the plot struggles with a stiffness from its moral prescriptivism, a matter-of-fact take on family context and character description lends a sense of realism and balance. Fans of Leah Johnson's books and Kevin Panetta's Bloom (2019) will fall for this novel.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2022

Gr 9 Up-Seventeen-year-old aspiring photographer Kat Sanchez is addicted to Instagram and the validation it provides. After a drunken night of partying, Kat decides to create a new Instagram profile as "Max" using the pictures she has taken of her friend Becca. Max immediately begins receiving the attention Kat desperately craves. So what if it means lying to Becca about her pictures and lying to Elena, a girl she meets online and has a crush on who doesn't realize that Kat and Max are the same person. When Elena meets and begins to like Kat in person as herself, and Max begins to ghost Elena online, the teen has to figure out a way to reveal what she has done without hurting the people she cares about. Kat's closest friends are given enough depth that readers feel connected to them as much as to her. Kat is biracial, fat, and questioning her interest in girls while maintaining a "friends with benefits" relationship with her best guy friend Hari. There is family drama as Kat lives with her grandparents while her parents and brother live a few houses down in the same neighborhood. Family problems and lies eventually catch up with Kat as she tries to salvage various relationships. Realistic consequences make this a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks catfishing is a good idea. VERDICT Coming of age isn't easy; especially when you are pretending to be someone else. A first purchase for high school realistic fiction collections.-Ashley Leffel

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.