You can’t put a filter on reality.
Bree Bozeman isn’t exactly pursuing the life of her dreams. Then again, she isn’t too sure what those dreams are. After dropping out of college, she’s living a pretty chill life in the surf community of Pacific Beach, San Diego…if “chill” means delivering food as a GrubGetter, and if it means “uneventful”.
But when Bree starts a new Instagram account — @breebythesea — one of her posts gets a signal boost from none other than wildly popular self-help guru Demi DiPalma, owner of a lifestyle brand empire. Suddenly, Bree just might be a rising star in the world of Instagram influencing. Is this the direction her life has been lacking? It’s not a career choice she’d ever seriously considered, but maybe it’s a sign from the universe. After all, Demi’s the real deal… right?
Everything is lining up for Bree: life goals, career, and even a blossoming romance with the chiseled guy next door, surf star Trey Cantu. But things are about to go sideways fast, and even the perfect filter’s not gonna fix it. Instagram might be free, but when your life looks flawless on camera, what’s the cost? (taken from goodreads.com)
*Before jumping in to my review, I want to thank Goodreads and Harlequin for sending me an ARC of this title. I won this copy in a goodreads giveaway. All thought are my own and are not impacted due to the fact that I received an ARC.*
Bree has no clue what she wants to with her life. She knows for a fact that she doesn’t want to be a GrubGetter forever, but besides for that she has no clue what else she wants to do. When she starts to manifest the life she wants, things start to change. But what happens when people find out that she’s been faking it the whole time?
I really enjoyed this book! I found the main character, Bree, to be someone I could relate to. She’s twenty five and isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life, she changed her college major multiple times. When I was in undergrad, I changed my major at least three times but unlike Bree I now have my dream job working as a teacher.
The writing in this novel was so much fun and made it so easy to get sucked into.
The setting of the story which is in California, makes this a perfect summer read. And the characters are well developed, I especially loved Bree’s older sister Natasha. Natasha has had to change a lot of the things she’s wanted in life for Bree, and enjoys taking care of her younger sister. She’s not scared to give her the kick in the pants that she needs.
Their relationship grows throughout the novel, showing that sometimes we need to rely on our family even if we don’t want to.
And then we have Trey. Trey is Bree’s neighbor, an extremely attractive pro-surfer who lives in her dream house. Trey is true to himself and a good person, he wants to do go in this world and truly enjoys being one with nature.
I like how the book shows just how easy It is to pretend to be someone you are not and how your can so carefully curate your feed to show how you want to look to the world.
I highly recommend this if you’re looking for a fun, feel good, easy read!