Sources Say by Lori Goldstein Pages: 300
Published by Razorbill on September 8, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, contemporary
Source: eARC from Publisher
Two exes. One election. All the drama.
For fans of Becky Albertalli and Morgan Matson comes a funny, hearfelt novel about fueding exes running for class president and the scandal that makes the previously boring school election the newest trending hashtag.
At Acedia High School outside of Boston, student council has always been nothing more than a popularity contest. Nobody pays attention. Nobody cares.
But all that changes when the Frankengirls show up. During the very first week of school, someone plasters the halls with Photoshopped images of three "perfect tens"--images of scantily clad girls made from real photos of girls at school. The student body is livid. And the two presidential candidates, Angeline Quinn and Leo Torres, jump on the opportunity to propose their solutions and secure votes. After their messy break up, Leo and Angie are fighting tooth and nail to win this thing and their constituents are mesmerized as they duke it out.
As if things couldn't be more dramatic, the school's two newspapers get involved. The Red & Blue is run by Angie's sister Cat and she prides herself on only reporting the facts. But her morals are tested when The Shrieking Violet--written by an anonymous source and based less on facts and more on fiction--blatantly endorses Leo. Rumors fly, secrets are leaked, and the previously mundane student election becomes anything but boring.
Sources Say is a young adult contemporary standalone by author Lori Goldstein. I thought this book was a lot of fun, park high school hijinks, part revenge competition between exes, and part mystery. Sources Say is about a high school power couple that recently split up. For various individual reasons, they each find themselves running for student council president. When they find out that their ex is running, it makes them each step up their games in a big big way. I really enjoyed this high school election that was also shrouded in a fun mystery.
Sources say is told in multiple points of view, including sisters Angie and Cat, Angie’s ex boyfriend Leo and a great cast of supporting characters surrounding them. I loved that there were so many characters because that meant there were multiple different storylines we were following. There is obviously the tension between Angie and Leo as they run against each other, but there was also a good focus on Cat as she ran the school’s newspaper as newly appointed editor in chief, as well as the interaction of the strained sister relationship between Cat and Angie. Lori Goldstein managed to pack a lot into this novel, and I loved all of the layers and themes woven in.
Sources Say was a bit immature at times, but I wouldn’t really expect anything else from the revenge prank election that it turned into. And it wasn’t off-putting to me. I thought all of the characters acted very age appropriate. The mystery of who created the pictures of the “frankengirls” and who was behind the online newspaper- the shrieking Violet were fun additions to the story as well. I wasn’t really expecting much of a mystery element when I first started reading the book, but it because a pretty big plotline.
if you are a fan of standalone young adult rivalry stories, I think you will really enjoy Sources Say. I found this to be a very fun and satisfying read. It even managed to surprise me with a few of the reveals!
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