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The Bright Side of Going Dark Kindle Edition
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From the bestselling author of The Overdue Life of Amy Byler comes a fresh, funny, and thoughtful story about going off the grid in order to truly live.
As one of the most popular influencers on social media, Mia Bell has lived her life online for years. With her celebrity dog and gorgeous fiancé, she is planning the ultimate virtual wedding—expensive, elaborate, and entirely paid for by sponsors. But off-camera, her world is far from picture perfect. After being jilted by her fiancé and faking her nuptials to please her sponsors, Mia finally has had enough. She heaves her phone off a cliff, ready to live—and maybe find love—offline for a change.
Mia’s sudden absence doesn’t go unnoticed, especially by techie loner Paige Miller, who hacks Mia’s account and begins impersonating the internet celebrity. Paige has her reasons. Her half sister, Jessica, idolizes Mia and desperately needs something to believe in. If taking over Mia’s online persona is Paige’s only means of connecting to her sister, so be it.
Creating a like-worthy life is more fun than Paige expected. But when she grows too bold and is caught in the act, a fiasco ensues that could forever change Mia, Paige, and the people who love them. Because somewhere amid the chaos is an invaluable lesson—one that only real life can teach.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherLake Union Publishing
- Publication dateMay 12, 2020
- File size4560 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Refreshingly, each character is a true-to-life individual with complicated emotions and unique voices. A surprisingly easy read containing a little romance, a lot of personal growth, and an honest look at weighty topics.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Witty, lively, and au courant, The Bright Side of Going Dark will make readers think twice about refreshing Instagram for the tenth time today. Tackling thornier questions of mental health and the toll of constant comparison, this will appeal to fans of Meg Wolitzer and Elin Hilderbrand, who’ll adore the intertwining lives of Mia, her followers, and those they encounter IRL.” —Booklist (starred review)
“The Bright Side of Going Dark is about so much more than the moral quandary of screen time. It’s about grief and loss and anxiety. It’s about mothers and daughters—more anxiety—and about second and third chances. The Bright Side of Going Dark is as dark as it is bright, [and] full of humanity: mobile devices, warts, and all.” —BookTrib
“Even casual users knows how absurd and unrealistic social media can be—yet keep logging on day after day. Kelly Harms takes this dichotomy to new heights in a clever and unputdownable story of two women whose so-called online lives collide IRL. I laughed, I cried, I came away from the experience with a newfound appreciation for life—which is to say The Bright Side of Going Dark is everything I’d hope for in a Kelly Harms novel, and more. I loved every page.” —Camille Pagán, bestselling author of I’m Fine and Neither Are You
“Kelly Harms has once again knocked it out of the park with this charming, funny, topical novel about an online influencer who undergoes an unexpected transformation. I honestly had to put my whole life on hold while I read it—laughing and sighing through the clever twists and turns of this plot. Who among us hasn’t wondered what it takes to be a person who posts photographs fifty times a day? You’ll fall in love with @Mia&Mike as well as the whole cast of wonderful characters. A novel that shines with surprise—and will make you want to turn off your phone and go play with your dog.” —Maddie Dawson, Washington Post bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners
About the Author
@Kelly.Harms is the #1 bestselling author of The Overdue Life of Amy Byler and other novels, and she’s celebrating (bemoaning?) two decades working in the publishing business this year. Kelly lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her excellent kid, her loving Irishman, and her fluffy dog. She enjoys hiking, sailing, beaching, and losing at euchre. She also loves talking to readers in person and virtually, and she can be found at www.kellyharms.com.
Product details
- ASIN : B07WNHLD4Q
- Publisher : Lake Union Publishing (May 12, 2020)
- Publication date : May 12, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 4560 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 341 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #47,235 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #95 in Women's Humorous Fiction
- #631 in Sisters Fiction
- #944 in Women's Friendship Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
USA Today, Amazon Charts, and Washington Post bestselling author KELLY HARMS is the author of five novels including The Overdue Life of Amy Byler, one of GoodReads’ top ten fiction books of the year and a WFWA Star Award finalist. Her works have been translated into a dozen languages throughout the world.
Before becoming a writer herself, she was a New York editor and literary agent and worked with a wide array of bestselling and award-winning authors. She now lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her clever son Griffin, charming Irishman Chris, and Scout, the best dog in dogtown.
Kelly loves meeting her readers virtually and in real life, and can be found at www.kellyharms.com for the former. Come say hi!
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more about Mike Two.
The plot has some uniqueness and the writing is good enough to keep you reading. But it's really just a romcom with a small twist.
The two main characters are well thought out, Mia and Paige and both are relatable. I truly love their character arcs. Mia with her love interest and Paige with her sister AND mental health.
Kelly does a great job of writing emotions and mental health. Its something I appreciate bc a lot of times it's too much a part of the story or too young adult. I'm middle aged and I lived the YA phase and am still a little bit emo but with an adult lens, so I don't want the YA emotions in a romcom for adults (I don't mind it as much in a YA book 😁) So I truly appreciated Kelly's writing approach to the issues she had in her books.
I have read so many influencer character romcom books lately that this is just another of those. The only piece that makes it slightly better are the characters. They're real and lovable.
That said, if you, like me, have lost a best friend of any manner, but specifically a dog who rescued you, be forewarned. I believe Kelly has too and she knows how to write it to make it too real. You'll feel the loss and grief. I cried many tears.
If you're looking for a solid romcom, give it a twirl. Just know the character development is the only thing that makes it that much different from all the others we read.
At times I think social media is the downfall of society as a whole, and have often thought of ignoring every single one of them. Who hasn't?
This was an insightful story of two completely different women caught in the web of social media--one from the influencer side, the other from the flip-side, the "behind the scenes" most of us never see or imagine, or even think about. The title caught my attention and the story kept me going. I enjoyed seeing Mia go from an overwhelmed influencer to finding herself again in the slower version of society we sometimes forget exists.
I did not find Paige the least bit "likeable" but rarely are all the people we associate with all rainbows and puppy dogs. It just doesn't happen, so even though I found Paige unlikeable, I enjoyed seeing her journey from heartless to the best she had to offer, and both women find some sense of satisfaction by letting go of their "addictions".
Though Jessica (Paige's sister) is the third character, she carries a huge weight that yanks Paige from her secluded life in the workings inside technology. Both women find each other again, and Jessica finds the healing she desperately needs.
This book is perfect timing for the age we're going through...at times in the last few months social media has been our main means of connection, and thank God for the Internet and technology. But it can be the opposite.
This is a spot-on story of how social media influences our lives, the fast-paced world that often overwhelms us, and the false sense that we're the only ones whose lives aren't picture-perfect. It also brings up suicide (Jessica) and how social media can be both a trigger (how can I compete when everyone else's life is perfect?) and a life-saving device (the people behind the platforms monitoring key words). I also enjoyed the romance between Mia and Duey and the connection Mia feels with Duey's daughter. Though suicide is a subject we tend to want to ignore, or tread lightly around at times, the author handled the subject with care, and the ending with a gentle mix of reality and hope.
This is my second book by Ms. Harms, and I'll be reading more.
Gotta love fiction as there are rarely serious consequences for doing dumb things. And both main characters had serious flaws and did dumb things.
This book addresses several issues many of us face in our modern connected world.
The story asks how our addiction to our tech tools might be causing us to miss out on our lives, but it goes so much deeper than that. Grief is the driving theme. Dysfunctional mothers. And living in such a way as to represent the opposite of mindfulness.
There are so many great characters in this story, not the least of which is Azalea, the achingly sweet little 10-year old neighbor of Mia's mother, who is still too young to realize her widowed dad doesn't know how to dress her. She's uncomfortable in her clothes but hasn't yet been assimilated by our appearances-crazy, conformist society. Mia, the trend-setting fashion dictator, sees this and the realization hurts.
The Bright Side is women's fiction with romance. I loved it. Highly recommended.
This book is an amusing, fast and easy read, perfect for a day in the mountains or at the beach...if you can just put the phone down for a few hours! And by the way...you may not want to take it with you when you go on that mountain bike ride !
The tight writing alternates between two different points of view, Paige and Mia’s perspectives and moves swift. Both characters are unique and well-developed and will have you invested in the story. At times you will want to to throttle one or the other of them, and at times you’ll be cheering them on. One of my favorite parts of the book was Paige’s renewed relationship and her dedication to help her half-sister, Jessica, a very well written supporting character.
Do you ever think your life should be just as perfect as what you see on Instagram or Facebook? THE BRIGHT SIDE OF GOING DARK’s reveals a reality of social media, It also touches on depression, attempted suicide and recovery, but finishes with personal growth and maybe even a little romance.
Parts of this book are sweet and funny, and parts are incredibly sad. I think my expectations were shaken by the disconnect between the cover, the author's previous work, and the description...I hope I'm not being unfair by saying I wouldn't recommend it because of that. If you do read it, prepare to experience some pretty dark moments.
I was concerned at first if I’d be able to keep characters straight, but that was soon no problem. The story is told alternately by Mia, social media influencer whose fiancé just jilted her while her followers and sponsors are anticipating the big day, and also by Paige, who works as a content screener on the platform Mia uses and whose mostly estranged sister is struggling hard and follows Mia online, and things happen, and Paige ends up hacking Mia’s account and impersonating her.
The story felt a little slow for awhile in the middle, but it was necessary, I think, as each character is drawn more and more fully while things are slowly unfolding, and then the last quarter of the book, it all comes together in a really satisfying way. I was torn between 4 stars or 5 stars, but I really loved the ending and the reflection on how to use social media, so it’s 4.5 stars for me, rounded up to 5.