Thea's overprotective parents are driving her insane. They invade her privacy, ask too many questions, and restrict her online time so severely that Thea feels she has no life at all. When she discovers a new role-playing game online, Thea breaks the rules by staying up late to play. She's living a double life: on one hand, the obedient daughter; on the other, a girl slipping deeper into darkness. In the world of the game, Thea falls under the spell of Kit, an older boy whose smarts and savvy can't defeat his loneliness and near-suicidal despair. As Kit draws soft-hearted Thea into his drama, she creates a full plate of cover stories for her parents and then even her friends.
Soon, Thea is all alone in the dark world with Kit, who worries her more and more, but also seems to be the only person who really "gets" her. Is he frightening, the way he seems sometimes, or only terribly sad? Should Thea fear Kit, or pity him? And now, Kit wants to come out of the screen and bring Thea into his real-life world. As much as she suspects that this is wrong, Thea is powerless to resist Kit's allure, and hurtles toward the same dark fate her parents feared most. Ripped from a true-life story of Internet stalking, Who R U Really? will excite you and scare you, as Thea's life spins out of control.
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About this author:
Author Website
Praise for the book:
"Kelly's first novel is a suspenseful page-turner with multiple suspects, a little bit of romance, and a strong but not overbearing message." --Kirkus Reviews
"Suspenseful novel that's guaranteed to give readers goosebumps--particularly as events heat up toward the end. A good choice for families to read together." --School Library Journal
"Who R U Really? is a fantastically creepy book that is surprisingly realistic and totally engrossing.... Once I opened it, I couldn't close it. Who R U Really is a satisfyingly unique YA thriller that left me guessing up until almost the very last page.... This book is very realistic and I really enjoyed the writing style." --Tempest Books
"Based on actual events, the story should be required reading for all teens." --VOYA Magazine
Blog Tour Giveaway + Review
1 Print copy of Who Are You Really?
Open to US only
Excerpt:
When Tim’s eyes, bluer than an Idaho sky, met mine, my mind turned to mush. He towered
above everyone else at the bus stop, and on this cold January morning he looked cuter than ever with his bomber hat and rosy cheeks. He shoved his sidekick, Josh, jokingly, and a cloud of white air escaped Tim’s mouth.
My best friend, Janie, whacked me on the hip. “Omigosh, Thea. Here they come. Smile.”
Her words bounced in rhythm with her black ringlets. She adjusted her new fluffy snow white parka, and even though it had a hood, she would never smash her perfect curls simply to stay warm. The crisp air made the tip of her nose red, but the rest of her face remained alabaster white. We’d been best friends for years, and at fourteen, having a friend made the ninth grade bearable.
Janie hoped Josh and Tim would ask us to the Winter Solstice dance, but I just hoped to
speak to Tim without sounding like a complete idiot. Tim walked in our direction with Josh right on his heels. They stopped in front of us, and everyone else hovered to watch the show.
“Thea,” Tim said. I wanted to reply, but no words came.
Josh approached Janie, and I fidgeted with my favorite fuzzy pink scarf.
“Jan-eee,” Josh said, dragging out the last syllable of her name. He eyed her up and
down. “You look like a giant fat marshmallow.”
above everyone else at the bus stop, and on this cold January morning he looked cuter than ever with his bomber hat and rosy cheeks. He shoved his sidekick, Josh, jokingly, and a cloud of white air escaped Tim’s mouth.
My best friend, Janie, whacked me on the hip. “Omigosh, Thea. Here they come. Smile.”
Her words bounced in rhythm with her black ringlets. She adjusted her new fluffy snow white parka, and even though it had a hood, she would never smash her perfect curls simply to stay warm. The crisp air made the tip of her nose red, but the rest of her face remained alabaster white. We’d been best friends for years, and at fourteen, having a friend made the ninth grade bearable.
Janie hoped Josh and Tim would ask us to the Winter Solstice dance, but I just hoped to
speak to Tim without sounding like a complete idiot. Tim walked in our direction with Josh right on his heels. They stopped in front of us, and everyone else hovered to watch the show.
“Thea,” Tim said. I wanted to reply, but no words came.
Josh approached Janie, and I fidgeted with my favorite fuzzy pink scarf.
“Jan-eee,” Josh said, dragging out the last syllable of her name. He eyed her up and
down. “You look like a giant fat marshmallow.”
"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."
Review:
Who R U Really is terrifying. Seriously. I never realized how frightening internet stalking could be, and this book really opened my eyes. In fact, I'm glancing over my shoulder every few minutes as I type this because I feel like someone is watching me.
Fist of all, I LOVED the relationship between Thea and her family. I loved how her mother was so important in her life, and I loved how they weren't non-existent (which is sadly, a flaw that many YA books have). Thea's relationship with her mother was instrumental in this book, and Kelly was really able to paint a realistic relationship between the two. Another relationship nicely written and developed was Thea's relationship with her best friend. It wasn't as complexly written as her relationship with her mother, but it was well-written nonetheless.
Thea is a very naive main character. This is probably a result of her overprotective parents, but she was so naive that it was painful to read. But honestly speaking, teenagers can do really dumb things that they'll look back on and think "Why the heck did I do that?". So Thea is a very realistic character. She falls into Kit's trap so easily that I wonder if she even had any doubts about the internet's security in the first place. Usually, most teens are actually pretty private about their personal lives online, and have a sense of danger. However, the novel really hit home. Internet stalking can happen to anyone.
There were only a few things that I didn't like about Who R U Really?. Thea's overprotective parents were a little over the top; so it seemed kind of unrealistic. Thea also fell in "love" way too quickly. When I was reading the book, it felt like she and Kit had only exchanged two sentences and Thea started going like "I love you :)" and stuff. And Thea was almost obsessed with Kit as well. A lot of the chapters was about them, but I wanted more interactions between Thea and her real-life friends. However, I think that having the story focus on Thea and Kit emphasized how dangerously obsessive this can be, so I'm okay with it. The stalker was pretty predictable- I guessed who he was from the first time I met him. Kelly dropped way too many hints to his identity- I feel like in real life, it would be much more unexpected; since anyone can be anyone they want to be on the internet.
Anyway, Who R U Really was written chillingly realistically, and I would really recommend this for teenagers. This book is all about how realistically it's written- which is why it's able to drive the message home so well.
I think I'll go sign up for some self-defense classes now.
As a side note: It said on Margo Kelly's author description that her own daughter had gone through internet stalking. I applaud Kelly. It's amazing and wonderful that their family made it through.
*Thank you to the author for providing a review copy*
Fist of all, I LOVED the relationship between Thea and her family. I loved how her mother was so important in her life, and I loved how they weren't non-existent (which is sadly, a flaw that many YA books have). Thea's relationship with her mother was instrumental in this book, and Kelly was really able to paint a realistic relationship between the two. Another relationship nicely written and developed was Thea's relationship with her best friend. It wasn't as complexly written as her relationship with her mother, but it was well-written nonetheless.
Thea is a very naive main character. This is probably a result of her overprotective parents, but she was so naive that it was painful to read. But honestly speaking, teenagers can do really dumb things that they'll look back on and think "Why the heck did I do that?". So Thea is a very realistic character. She falls into Kit's trap so easily that I wonder if she even had any doubts about the internet's security in the first place. Usually, most teens are actually pretty private about their personal lives online, and have a sense of danger. However, the novel really hit home. Internet stalking can happen to anyone.
There were only a few things that I didn't like about Who R U Really?. Thea's overprotective parents were a little over the top; so it seemed kind of unrealistic. Thea also fell in "love" way too quickly. When I was reading the book, it felt like she and Kit had only exchanged two sentences and Thea started going like "I love you :)" and stuff. And Thea was almost obsessed with Kit as well. A lot of the chapters was about them, but I wanted more interactions between Thea and her real-life friends. However, I think that having the story focus on Thea and Kit emphasized how dangerously obsessive this can be, so I'm okay with it. The stalker was pretty predictable- I guessed who he was from the first time I met him. Kelly dropped way too many hints to his identity- I feel like in real life, it would be much more unexpected; since anyone can be anyone they want to be on the internet.
Anyway, Who R U Really was written chillingly realistically, and I would really recommend this for teenagers. This book is all about how realistically it's written- which is why it's able to drive the message home so well.
I think I'll go sign up for some self-defense classes now.
As a side note: It said on Margo Kelly's author description that her own daughter had gone through internet stalking. I applaud Kelly. It's amazing and wonderful that their family made it through.
*Thank you to the author for providing a review copy*
