ARC Review | Scared Little Rabbits

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Scared Little Rabbits

Author: A.V. Geiger

Format: eBooks (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: December 3, 2019

Categories: Technology, Augmented Reality, Romance, Young Adult, Suspense

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

We stand in a tight cluster, high above the lake. One-by-one, we made our way up the narrow trail from the edge of campus. Now, we wait shoulder to shoulder behind the police tape. Nineteen summer students.
 
All but one.

When Nora gets accepted into her dream summer program at the prestigious Winthrop Academy, she jumps at the chance to put her coding skills to use. But then a fellow student goes missing—and the tech trail for the crime leads back to Nora. With no one else to trust, Nora must race to uncover the truth and clear her name…or she might be the next to disappear.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

Nora is a sixteen year old, coder who is accepted to a three weeks long summer program at Winthrop Academy. She’s a bit awkward in social situations and has trouble making friends. Nora has downloaded an app called InstaLove which is supposed to hook her up with someone special. Right away she runs into a fellow InstaLove player, Maddox, at Winthrop that she categorizes him as an InstaCrush in the game. But all is not what it seems at Winthrop and she doesn’t know who she can trust. Is Maddox really into her? Or is he still with his ex-girlfriend Eleanor who basically rules the school (but I mean, her parents own it)? Is Nora just a Scared Little Rabbit?

• The story starts off with a mysterious incident which gives it a slightly dark vibe. We get a dual perspective from Nora and Maddox but also journal entries from Eleanor (Maddox’s ex). I was mistrustful of Maddox, and everyone else that Nora encountered at Winthrop Academy. I definitely enjoyed the suspense. The reveal in the end included lots of action, so that was my favorite part of the book.
• The coding and technology information in this book is pretty legit. I think it’s fascinating that the story revolved around a dating app that uses augmented reality. As a mild gamer (like SO mild, my son and hubby are the gamers), and one who tried Pokemon Go (not my thing), having a dating app like that kind of scares me but can I see that being a reality for my kids, in their future? Oh for sure! My son’s VR games make me dizzy, so I don’t think I’d be someone who would want to wear a visor all the time to check out some potential hookup haha. But I can see the appeal for future generations I suppose. It’s obvious the author knows her coding and tech knowledge. 👏🏼
• I liked seeing these characters, a lot of them girls 🙌🏼, so adept and confident at their coding skills. These girls at this summer program are smart, techy, innovative, okay most of them were mean girls or just weren’t nice to Nora (which sucked) but I do like that these girls were good at what they do. Maddox also was good looking AND smart, so that was good.

• I guess it was obvious in the first chapters that this was going to be an insta-love story when it introduced Nora playing a game called InstaLove! 😂 So…if you aren’t into books with insta-love, this book is clearly one to stay clear of. It’s a three week summer program but Nora falls fast and hard for Maddox so fast. I felt bad for her at times, because clearly his situation was “complicated” with his ex-girlfriend who was Queen Bee on campus. That being said, I thought okay…it’s a crush, she’s sixteen, but…she was in LOVE and telling her parents that she needed to BE with Maddox and he was coming to visit her by the end of the story. 😳
• Speaking of the ending…I thought it was abrupt. We barely get to know anyone’s parents in this book, but all of a sudden there is Nora and her mom having a scene at the end! It felt awkward.
• Nora’s nickname given by the girls in the summer program got of my nerves. I understand it’s a “mean girls” type of story, but seriously, having them call her Lowercase, including Maddox, like really? That’s the guy who falling hard for? No. 🙄

Overall, I thought the story was fairly enjoyable especially when it came to the suspense and mystery aspect but it fell short for me in the romance department since I didn’t feel like Nora and Maddox’s connection was that deep. If you like a suspense story about technology and don’t mind some insta-love, then you might enjoy this one.