Fugly by Claire Waller

Please note, I received a copy of this e-book and exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

Please be aware that this review will contain spoilers.

One of my favorite things about this book, was that I was actively trying to predict what was going to happen next, and I was usually wrong. For the longest time, I was convinced that “Tori” would end up being Amy. Honestly, I’m still kind of surprised that it wasn’t. And then when it became extremely obvious that it wasn’t going to work out, I thought it might be Brat. I will say that I am not happy that we never found out who “Tori“ really was.

Everyone knows that cyber bullying and trolling is bad. Everyone knows that the people who do it, are usually just trying to make themselves feel better about their own lives. But what we don’t see you, is why they are feeling the way they do. In the case of Beth, she was bullied and her real life. She was very insecure about her weight and she was made fun of frequently for it. Even just the side long glances where she felt judged, hurt her every time. In her mind, she felt that it was a certain type of people that were targeting her, and she wanted revenge. While this absolutely does not make it OK, she didn’t realize the effect that she could be having on the people she was targeting. She didn’t realize that she was doing essentially the same thing that she felt others were doing to her. Until Tori happened.

I love the redemption aspect of this book. I love that Beth grew to realize that what she was doing was horrible. I do not like the fact that it took such a Trumatic event for that to happen, but I am glad it finally happened. And that is very realistic. Until you actually experience it in real life, your actions seem like you won’t have any consequences to deal with.

I think this is a great book for teens to read to try to get a better grasp on how bad trolling is. While it may just seem like fun and games, what they are doing has real consequences and is basically destroying somebody’s life.

Other great aspects of this book, in my opinion, include the relationships. I loved that there was never a big deal on what sexuality somebody was. It didn’t matter that Amy liked men and Beth liked women. I also liked the forgiveness. I loved that Amy was willing to give birth so many chances because she saw the good in her. I also loved the Beth didn’t give up on Amy despite everyone telling her to leave her alone.

This was a great standalone book that covered a very tough topic. It was very engaging and extremely well written.