YOLO by Lauren Myracle

YOLO by Lauren Myracle
"Through texts and messages, the mega-bestselling, beloved Internet Girls series followed the ups and downs of school for three very different, very close friends. Now it’s freshman year of college for the winsome threesome, and *everything* is different. For one, the best friends are facing their first semester apart. Way, way apart. Maddie’s in California, Zoe’s in Ohio, and Angela’s back in Georgia. And it’s not just the girls who are separated. Zoe’s worried that Doug wants to break up now that they’re at different schools, and Maddie’s boyfriend, Ian, is on the other side of the country.

In the face of change and diverging paths, Maddie’s got a plan to keep the friends close, and it involves embracing the present, making memories, and . . . roller derby! Using of-the-moment technology, Lauren Myracle brings her groundbreaking series into the brave new virtual world of texting and tweets."- summary from Amazon

I absolutely adore Myracle's books, and particularly her Internet Girls series. TTYL was the first book by her that I read, as I was really intrigued by the idea of a book told completely in IMs. I bought the hardcover knowing virtually nothing else about it, and I loved it. This is the fourth book in that series, being released 10 years after the publication of the first book (and 7 years after the previous book, L8R G8R).

For fans of the series, don't let the last sentence of the summary above fool you- this is still just told through IMs (or at least, there's no change in the format of the book). But a lot of their conversations bring up other social media, such as "I saw your tweet/Facebook status. Is everything ok?" or "Loved your Instagram pics!" (not direct quotes by the way, lol).

I really enjoyed being back with the girls (they're so hilarious!) and Myracle touches on a lot of issues that college freshmen deal with- joining frats/sororities, date rape (though this can happen to anyone at any age), being apart from friends/family for the first time, having to make new friends, and so much more. I can also say that if anyone was offended by the first three books (which were set in high school), you don't want to see what these girls get up to in their first semester of college. But personally, I love it and it's extremely realistic.

Now, there are a LOT of issues covered in this book, and unfortunately with the size of the book (only about 200 pages), some of those issues felt very rushed or glossed over. I wish the book had been longer to give the issues more room to breathe (and so I could spend more time with the girls) and perhaps then it wouldn't necessarily feel as shoehorned in as it felt at times.

Overall, I really loved reading this new book and getting back together with these three awesome friends, and I hope Myracle writes a fifth (and more!) book soon!

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.