About Books #98: #No Filter

From time to time, you come across a book that you don’t necessarily expect to like a lot. And then it just hits all the spots just as you want it to. Well, that was the case with #No Filter.

I was offered an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are strictly my own.

The story

Popular lifestyle blogger, Libby Cartwright, is being boggled by business when help shows up in the shape of gorgeous but shy, Charlie Richmond. Libby’s determined to keep it at ‘just good friends’ – she’s dated someone from ‘Corporate Land’ before and it didn’t end well. As she and Charlie begin spending more time together, Libby is starting to waver  – until she discovers something which makes her question if she’s ready for love.

Still reeling, she suffers another blow as her blog is attacked in a national newspaper, for promoting unachievable perfection. Libby knows it’s not true – but the only way to prove that is to strip off the armour she’s been wearing for years.

Is she brave enough to show the world she’s far from perfect? And will Charlie be by her side if she does…

The opinion

It’s not an easy thing, writing a book that features an eternally optimistic main character and not have them turn into a Mary Sue. But somehow, that’s exactly what #No Filter manages to be. Now, don’t get me wrong. There were absolutely moments where I wanted to slap Libby something silly because it was so clear Charlie liked her and she didn’t see it. But, you know, I guess that’s just part of the game when reading a book such as this, right?

Fun fact, by the way, I actually cursed when this book was done. Because I was so not ready for it to actually be done. And while it was fairly (okay, very) clear from the very beginning how this story would end, there were so many twists and amazing turns that I just wanted to hear more on a final resolution for all of them.

Combine all of the above with some, quite frankly, beautiful descriptions of Brighton and some very important themes being discussed, and this book basically just kept on pleasantly surprising me.

The rating: 4.5/5

Look, honestly, part of it might just be that I plain old did not expect to like this book as much as I did. But that doesn’t take away that this was a read that gave me that same anticipation that I felt while reading The Bride Test. You know the deal – that slow burn do they like each other best friends with extra feelings thing? #NoFilter did all of it brilliantly. Just go read it! (Goodreads)

-Saar