Holly is an Instagrammer who has become famous for her healthy lifestyle that she claims cleared her of cancer.
Her attacker is keen to destroy her, he has lost dearly because of her posts. He wants the whole world to know the truth about Holly. But what is the truth? Is he quite right in the head? Is he imagining all these terrible things because he’s hurting so bad?
Well if I told you, I’d be spoiling the entire plot of this addictive read, so I’ll stop and just let you know that it’s BLIMMING GOOD.
Heydenrych utilises two unreliable characters to be the stars of her story, making it a guessing game throughout of who to trust and who is lying.
Holly’s heartbreaking past is dredged up allowing the reader to see the bumpy and lonely journey she had been on to get to this point, and honestly my heart went out to her. The attacker’s story is also built up simultaneously alongside Holly’s. Heydenrych has this incredible way of presenting these two characters to the reader, in a way that you see both their honourable aspects and their darkest aspects. It was like being the jury in a courtroom with Heydenrych presenting both the prosecutor and the defendant arguments at the same time, bouncing from one side to the other… really making the reader be involved in the story and question the numerous twisted events throughout the plot.
Now, you all know I’m not the biggest fan of Instagram so when I first started this, I was concerned the link to the app would take over the plot (which I’ve seen happen in quite a few books), but not in this one. Heydenrych only utilities the app to help her argument on the dangers and trickery that can happen on social media… this plot would have worked with any social media platform, and indeed it hit home to me the power of the words we use online.
With the chapters being reasonably short and the POV changing between Holly and her attacker, I was hooked on turning these pages all afternoon and finished it in one sitting.
Gripping, relevant and capable of changing your mind multiple times, this story instantly draws you in.
Shame on You is out now in paperback and eBook versions from twenty7.
Until next time, stay safe, Chloé x
Reviews by Chloé 