*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.
Title: The Gossip Games
Author: Allie Sarah
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Rating: ★★★
The Gossip Games is a Young Adult romance which combines
both the fake dating trope and the best friend’s sibling trope. Dean is Gracie’s
best friend’s brother and when a rumour about them dating starts up around
their boarding school, they dare each other to go along with it to see who
would give in and reveal the truth first. This really takes a different spin on
the usual fake dating stories and sets The Gossip Games apart from other YA
novels featuring that trope.
Allie Sarah has done a fantastic job of creating some
characters which are far more complex than we often see in YA fiction, which is
no mean feat in a debut work. There were other characters which were
under-developed but I think this was down to the battle between a lack of page
space and the very large number of characters introduced throughout the story,
many of whom weren’t really relevant to the overall narrative. I understood the
need to world-build somewhat given that it is the first book in the Trinity High
Series but it ended up coming across like random characters were being thrown
into scenes simply so we’re aware of them prior to a feature in a later story
in the series. I’d rather the focus have been more on fully developing the characters
that were relevant to this story and a choice made to only introduce other
characters as and when they were relevant in later books.
We have strong bisexual and gay representation in the
supporting characters and the book explores teenage experiences of coming out in
a brilliant way. There is a storyline surrounding a character being outed by a
member of their family, which is worth noting if that content is likely to be
triggering for you as a reader. We also see a real diverse range of family types
which is an important inclusion in the story. There is some good mental health
representation through Gracie experiencing panic attacks and my heart melted
for the incredible way Dean supported her through them.
I liked Trinity High as the setting for the book – despite the
baffling lack of teachers supervising anything the students seem to do – and will
be really interested to see how the school is further explored in later books in
the series. On top of this, I also thought the Ashcroft family dynamic was a
really interesting one and it added a unique element to the story. I would have
loved further exploration of the inner-family workings and relationships as all
interactions between the Ashcroft adults and teenagers seems rushed but hopefully
this is something that can be further explored in later books in the series.
With the next book focusing on Jesse, I did wonder if we were going to see a
book focusing on each of the Ashcroft teenagers and I do think this would be a
lovely direction to take the series in.
The romance between Gracie and Dean was very sweet and a
good exploration of first love. Outside of the fake dating plot, their love
story is a good example of a slow burn romance and I was really rooting for
them. It did feel at times like their romance would have been more fitting in
14/15 year old characters rather than 17/18 year olds as it was quite juvenile
at times. I’ve spoken before in previous YA reviews about my passion for the
inclusion of sex in YA romances where fitting to the story and I do feel like it
was missing from The Gossip Games, particularly given the age of the characters
and the number of times in the story that they’re away together without adult
supervision. Potential exploration of a first sexual relationship was suggested
at the very beginning of the story as the fake dating stems from rumours that Gracie
and Dean are sleeping together and Gracie briefly mentions being a virgin in
response to this but it’s the last time that sex is really mentioned at all.
Whilst this may have been intentional to market the book at younger YA readers,
I think a book focusing on the lives of characters on the cusp of adulthood naturally
navigates itself towards the older end of the YA demographic who are at a point
in their lives where they’re starting to explore sex and relationships. It is therefore
important that these themes are also explored in the books they’re reading and
a story like The Gossip Games could have been a good platform for this so it is
a shame it was completely missed out.
The Gossip Games is a short novel and in trying to keep it
short and sweet I think we do miss out on getting an in-depth exploration of
some aspects of the story. The fake dating plot is introduced to the story
really quickly and it probably would have worked better to have at least a few
chapters worth of character development and build up first. Time could also
jump forwards suddenly in the middle of the chapter – moving the story on by
days or weeks at a time – and this on top of the frequent paragraph breaks mid-conversation
to change character perspective really effected the overall flow of the story
and made it hard to follow at times.
The writing style and plot points could be quite juveniles
at times and some aspects of the plots – such as the storyline involving Blake –
were very predictable. I did find some interactions between Dean and Gracie
frustrating as they seemed to realise their feelings for each other and then
convince themselves they were just friends repeatedly over the course of the
story. We had repeated kiss scenes which were clearly just for them and not to
further their fake dating story, yet they kept returning to the idea that they
had no feelings for each other at all. Although some of this could be put up to
teenagers experiencing love for the first time and not knowing what it all
means, it did become quite repetitive and I was begging them to just hurry up
and realise their feelings.
Overall, The Gossip Games is a good debut YA romance which I
know teen readers will love. More mature fans of the YA genre may struggle with
some aspects of the storytelling as I did, but if you’re just after a fake dating
story which is an easy read and features a cutesy romance than this is the book
for you. I teetered between rating the book 3* and 4* as I know that many of
the issues I had with the story stem from the fact that I am an adult reader of
YA fiction and I do know that teenage Chloe would have adored the book. I’m definitely
keen to see where Allie Sarah takes the series and do look forward to reading
future works by her.
The Gossip Games by Allie Sarah will be published on 18th April 2023.
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