No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado

No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado

As a fan of the MTV show Catfish, this young adult novel of catfishing caught my attention based on the title alone. My Instagram is (thankfully) all books and writing, so I don't have to worry about filtering myself to draw in an audience. I do understand the desire to get attention for your work and talent, though, so Kat's story of being a photographer drew me in. I was a photographer long before Instagram existed so I didn't have to worry about getting likes, but that didn't make Kat's story any less relatable.

One of my favorite things about this book was how normalized everything was and how realistic that made it feel. Kat is plus-sized and so is her female love interest. Despite being unsure if she's bi early in the book, her sexuality is normalized and no one freaks out about it. I also love that her closest friends were guys and they were portrayed as humans, skipping out on stereotypes. Her trendy blond friend that she uses as her profile photo also isn't a stereotype. The unique family situation was also refreshing to read; I haven't seen one like this in a book before.

My total favorite thing about this book was that there were so many ways the story could have unraveled, and the way it happened was one I hadn't thought of! I won't share spoilers, but think about how using an anti-social media coworker's photos as your fake profile could blow up in your face! I kept thinking X would happen, or maybe Y, or Z? And then it was 3! Okay, that's just random and silly, but you get the idea.

I think the build-up to the catfishing (which her friends eventually call Katfishing) was a bit slow, though I understand the need to set the scene and make it feel imperative and natural that Kat chose to do this to her friend and coworker. But there were several places where the book lagged a bit and I wish those were cut out to keep the anxiety pumping as the reader worried about Kat's future.