Representation: N/A?
Trigger warnings: N/A?
Score: Five points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

Where do I even begin with this? This was such an underwhelming novel I wish I could've enjoyed this more but alas I did not enjoy this novel. The story felt too fast paced and worst of all predictable since I could tell where this book was going before the book actually told me what was going on. In just less than 300 pages the main character, Verity Wolf stumbles on an old book, posts it on some social media platforms and gets instantly famous then she writes her own book which was a bestseller and was picked up by Carry Way Press and published it in a matter of days and you can tell where this book is going. The side characters were quite shallow and flat since their only characteristic is to try and get boys and that's all however there were two interesting subplots in the story. The dialogue kind of irritated me as well since it didn't feel like how real people would speak.

The first subplot was that Verity lived only with her grandfather since her parents were killed and her grandmother died which was kind of sad but not really relevant to the main story. The second subplot was that she developed an attraction with a boy named Sash, I think he describes himself as a cardboard cutout which was fitting since that was exactly what he was and his only characteristics are that he is Verity's boyfriend and he had an evil ex called Penelope who was jealous of Verity's success but she redeems herself in the end. Is this book assuming that all exes are evil, since that would be sexist because not all of them are like this and they broke up with their partners for a reason. So Penelope's great big revenge plan against Verity is to write a scathing review about her book on Goodreads Reader, there is no way one bad review can take an entire person's career down, that's so unrealistic. There were a few changes to the world building such as one mentioned above, Bella Swann changed into Karla Swann and JD Salinger changed into Sal Dollinger but nothing else changed, either you make an entire new world similar to ours but with no connection to ours or base a story off of the already existing world and based off that I think this was an editing oversight.

Verity, riding high on her success has enough money to splurge on some clothes and a trip to New York to meet Mena Rhodes which is the equivalent of Colleen Hoover in terms of authors but Mena writes more pop poetry and Colleen writes more prose though both are very famous. Then her friend realises that Mena is just using Verity and then she leaves her and Penelope executes her revenge plan by saying that Verity plagiarised off of Poemsia and everyone hated her afterwards however the author didn't even bother to create usernames rather she used pictures. Do they even fact check the articles the people are reacting to and where did the article come from and isn't BuzzFeed an unreliable source? By the way the haters just personally attacked her by swearing at her, calling her a ho, and pasting her face onto a nude picture. Speaking of, the book mentioned three types of haters, the people who think they are smart but are dumb, the bored people who want someone to pick on and the real haters.

In the end, her book became a bestseller nonetheless, her grandfather nearly died and his shop was refurbished. This author's prose writing style is quite juvenile but she is a poet also and I wonder what her poetry is like, hopefully it's not just what happens when one presses the Enter key a lot of times to arbitrarily split up sentences and calls it "poetry." If you like a typical story of a rise to fame only to crash and burn this is the book for you. ( )

CW: Cyber-bullying, sexual content

Well, although I didn't love the writing, I think it will be a good addition to the library.

At times the dialogue felt a bit cheesy, and in some places I was almost getting a 'Brady bunch' vibe. However, the story was really engaging so it offset the writing for me. I haven't read a book about a young poet developing the confidence to pursue their writing beyond a private journal, so this was a new storyline for me. It does have some sexual content and is probably more of a 'new adult' book, but most high schools will have writing groups filled with aspiring poets so I think this book definitely has a place in a high school library, but should come with some sort of content warning/advice. ( )

I had to make myself finish this. It was like all the cliché things happened and without even buildup to them and then resolved without an actual working through. One thing was this girl was horrible and then just flipped nice and all was forgiven and magically perfect. Obviously it was meant for someone younger than me so maybe that's why I didn't like it. The storyline is definitely written for a young audience but it has mature sex scenes so... ( )

VERITY WOLF dreams of being a poet—not that she’d ever admit it to anyone. Her best friend, Jess, thinks she’s definitely got what it takes, while her cat, Zorro, is characteristically indifferent. As for the cute boy she’s just met, he’s about to discover her best kept secret.

When Verity stumbles on an old, mysterious book, Poemsia, she finds herself suddenly thrust into the dizzying world of social media stardom, where poets are the new rock stars and fame is sometimes just a click away.

International bestselling author Lang Leav takes you into the shadowy world of contemporary poetry in this revealing and emotionally charged story about friendship, first love, betrayal, and the courage to follow your dreams.

Poemsia is like a love letter to everyone who has ever loved books or poetry and has ever wanted to know what it would be like to be a published author. Instead of focusing on the glitz and glamour, Poemsia explores what happens when a some-what introverted 19-year-old finds herself suddenly famous. We, the readers, get to live vicariously through Verity Wolf as her newfound fame begins to infiltrate every aspect of her life, and it is such a thrilling ride. The beauty of her story is that Verity is just a girl. She has many of the same things that any average, not famous 19-year-old would have—a best friend, a boyfriend, a frienemy, a cat—but on top of all that, Verity deals with back-to-back interviews, journalists, and jaded, two-faced industry elites. Poemsia is a fast-paced and emotional read, and while the end of this story is satisfying, it definitely leaves room for a sequel. I don’t know if Ms. Leav has this in mind, but I freely admit that I would love to read another book about Verity. ( )