No Filter by Orlagh Collins

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

Sometimes it just takes A LONG TIME to get into a book. That's why I always try to make it at least 50-75% through before giving up, rather than risking really missing out on something good. No Filter by Orlagh Collins is the prime example for sticking it out and really finding a gem (and one of the characters is named Emerald...so literally, a gem!).

No Filter follows two teenagers, Liam and Emerald. After finding her mother after an attempted suicide, Emerald is shuttled off to Ireland for the summer while her parents in England try to handle everything going on. She is devastated that she won't be spending the summer with her Instagram-perfect friends, but rather in Ireland with her grandmother. But then she meets Liam, a boy with big dreams but a family wrong to right, even if it will cost him the future he wants. As Emerald's home life becomes even more strained and Liam can't seem to find a way to make his dreams a reality, they cling to one another, until they discover the truth about the tumultuous connected past of their families. It's then that they have to determine what really matters, old feuds or new romances?

This book really bugged me at first and I almost DNF'ed it. Between the difficult to understand accents and purely disgusting point of view towards social media, it took a lot to make me power through this book, but I'm glad I did. While the first half was a challenge, the second half was fantastic. I actually got used to the accents, and ended up being really happy that they were written authentically as it really gave more insight into who Liam and Emerald are. As characters they unfolded before themselves and each other, pushing buttons they didn't know they had and teaching one another the true value of things they might have missed before. I thought the irony of a character named Emerald spending the summer in Ireland was super cute, and the island scenes with the wallabies were a nice addition of a little real life magic in an otherwise bland environment.

I am still displeased with the way that Collins wrote Emerald's relationship with social media. Being invested in social media isn't a bad thing, and it's how many of us make a living today, but it was written distastefully, as if the author thinks that any form of new technology is a thorn in the side of civilization. Overall No Filter is a cute contemporary read that emphasizes forgiveness, second chances, and the importance of the truth-even when at first you or others around you are blind to it.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

A huge thanks to Bloomsbury for an early digital copy of this book. No Filter by Orlagh Collins releases in hardcover on March 6, so be sure to pick up a copy!