Name: Tinfoil Crowns
ISBN: 9781635830323

Erin Jones

Seventeen-year-old Fit, a rising internet star, must cope with her mother's release from prison for nearly killing her and her brother, as well as possible backlash from her fans.

Tinfoil Crowns

Alexia Cambaling

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Flux and NetGalley!

Tinfoil Crowns is a Young Adult Contemporary about Fit, a seventeen-year old Youtuber whose mom tried to kill her as a child due to post-partum depression and who now struggles with her mom coming back into her life. Soon enough, a huge opportunity which can help her make it big comes her way, faking a reconciliation with her mom may help her with the break she so desperately wants. This happens as her home life kind of gets a little more complicated as her relationship with her brother kind of see-saws and kind of deteriorates.

I think Tinfoil Crowns is a good book. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. I liked it well enough, although I have a few gripes about the main character and how the plot unfolded. However, I can still say that I enjoyed it well enough hence the 3-star rating.

One of the things I really appreciated about this book was the focus on family relationships. It didn’t dwell on any romance subplot for our main character- and in fact, there is none to speak of. Most YA Contemporaries I’ve read focus on romances- which isn’t a bad thing- but I wished there was a stronger focus on family which this one does deliver. The family relationship portrayed here is complex, although it could use a bit more nuance and subtlety in its delivery.

Fit was okay as a main character. She’s selfish, sometimes annoying, and often insensitive. Basically she behaves like a teen and in that sense, she’s pretty believable. What I find less believable and my main gripe about her character is how few consequences she face for her actions. She does plenty of irresponsible, immature, and even downright cruel things to her brother and her mother which often feels like was brushed off or wasn’t treated seriously in the narrative. She’s always easily forgiven and even those she harmed would continue to protect and coddle her even as her actions cause them hurt.

As much as I liked how this centers on family, I really wished that the family relationships in this book were explored better and we were able to see more about River and how post-partum depression affected her at the time. There was a lot of potential in this book which was why I hoped these themes had been explored better because I really felt like it could have been so much more and there was quite a few missed opportunities here. I liked how we get to see River’s relationship with her dad, Fit’s grandfather and how he’s shown to be so supportive and loving of his daughter despite all the things that happened.

A big portion of the book focuses on Fit’s life as a Youtuber and her quest to gain more followers, make it big, and help her brother get into art school. The way she does it was yes, believable for a teen girl to do, but it doesn’t excuse the callous way she basically uses people. One of the things I don’t like was how she treated her little brother. I felt like she basically treated him like an assistant and didn’t show him the respect and recognition he deserves. While she gets called out in the narrative, I still felt like her actions were too easily forgiven and forgotten. Still, I enjoyed the glimpse it offers on the life of a Youtuber and the things they might do in order to make it.

Overall, while I had my frustrations with Tinfoil Crowns, I still did like it mostly for the side characters and River. It is a good book and I really do appreciate how it focuses more on Fit’s internal struggles and her relationship with her family. I can recommend it to fans of the YA Contemporary genre.

This review is also on  The Bookworm Daydreamaer

Tinfoil Crowns

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