I just couldn’t gel with this book sadly. I tried to read it but I really struggled to get into it.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this book I’m sorry I just couldn’t get on with it.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

I had been really intrigued to see where Ali would be after the events of Filter This and I was definitely not disappointed by this book.

I loved getting.to see a bit more of Ali and not the woman focused on keeping up appearances and not letting her white lie slip. The passages of Catfish Anonymous were really interesting to read.

Like its predecessor, it's a pretty damning look at living your life almost 100 per cent online, including the downsides in the form of obsessed fans and stalkers.

I'm won over to Sophie's writing and can't wait to see what comes next.

A fun, witty book that had me well and truly hooked from the start.
The storyline was intriguing, and it highlighted the use of social media in a truly unique way. I adored the first book in this series, so my hopes for this book were pretty high, and it certainly did not disappoint. I loved it from start to finish and I truly look forward to reading other books from this author in the future.

Reading Unfiltered makes me very glad that I'm a book blogger, and not well anything on instagram. Life on the gram is sounding utterly exhausting and bonkers, and the various grammers in this story are very close to being unhinged!!

This is fantastic sequel, that continues almost immediately after the previous book ends, and catapults us back into the zany world of Ali and Shelly, two of Ireland's top mummy instagrammers. Well apart from Ali isn't actually a mum yet, and the world is still reeling from her fake pregnancy, when she discovers it is now real!

And Shelly's private life isn't fabulous, she is also pregnant, and has picked up a stalker too, which leads to some really creepy moments and in pivotal towards the end of the book too.

This is a fast paced story that is full of cutting observations of real life and social media, and how you portray yourself to others. Told in alternating chapters of Ali and Shelly, we get to see all the nitty gritty in their lives, much of it quite hilarious, and at other times mildly worrying.

There are some tougher subjects examined carefully, but on the whole this is a light hearted book, that has made me smile a lot over the past few days while reading it. I am thoroughly invested these characters lives and would be highly curious to see another book in the series, or failing that what Sophie White will write next, as I am loving her writing.

An absolute joy to read.

Thank you to Hachette Books Ireland and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily

Follow up to Filter This, is picks up right where the previous book ends, so if you haven't read that yet and don't want to be spoiled a) don't read this book first and b) don't finish this review!

With that out of the way, Ali Jones' father has just passed away, the same day she is exposed for faking a pregnancy online on Instagram. Oh, and she is NOW pregnant for real! Naturally she is mess, trying to cope with her father's funeral and trying to get Sam, the father of her baby, to talk to her when he's angry at being hurt. She enlists the help of Amy, social media manager for Shelly Devine (aka SHELLY) to help with all the nasty comments she's getting and to set the record straight. Meanwhile, Shelly is being blackmailed by a creep anonymous troll. Things keep getting more and more sinister, making Shelly want to wind down her Instagram career. However the anon account is threatening to expose Shelly's not so perfect life if she stops posting content!

After finishing Filter This last year, I was glad to hear there would be a follow up novel. I enjoyed this one more, probably because the tension of 'oh my God, when are they going to find out about Ali's lying?!' was gone and we got to see more of the real Ali, one who isn't obsessed with Instagram and who is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She's definitely more likeable and easier to warm to in this book and I loved seeing her navigate her new life. We see Ali grow more as a character, I especially loved when she decided she was sick of grovelling to Sam and was going to just be herself. It would be easy to dismiss this as a light, fluffy book, there's plenty of funny moments (Ali's early morning escapade to the Abbey Theatre with her mother being just one!), but these are countered with darker elements, like online trolls and mental health issues, adding substance to the story (which I often done so well in Marian Keyes' books). While some of the plots were a bit predictable, there was a lot of I didn't see coming too. And I liked how the book ended as well, it didn't tie up everything completely but it was still satisfying enough to end the story. But I would hazard that there could be another book coming down the road if this one is as popular as the first one!

"Unfiltered" came at the right time for me, not being in the right frame of mind to read a really heavy book, and the only thing I could concentrate on was mindlessly scrolling through social media feeds. This novel, the sequel to last year's hit "Filter This", is an easy read that is an alternative way to switch off and have a few laughs along the way, but also succeeds in making you think about all that "harmless" downtime you spend on your phone and the sinister reality of Instagram and the influencer economy.

If you haven't read "Filter This", you should read it (because it is gas!) before beginning "Unfiltered". The second book does catch you up with the first, but I think you would lose so much by not knowing all the characters already. Like the first book, "Unfiltered" has two narrators, Ali and Shelly. Previously, Ali was a production assistant on an Irish soap with a career that was going nowhere, with a seriously ill father who didn't recognise her, developing an unhealthy habit with her phone and alcohol. She was trying to make it as an influencer, making green smoothies and throwing them out immediately after posting a picture, and constantly hinting that she had "exciting news" to make people think she was successful, but lacked any real attention until a comic misunderstanding that led everyone to believe she was pregnant. Siezeing the opportunity to get in with the mommy blogger set, she didn't stop to think about who this would hurt. Meanwhile, Shelly is the most famous influencer in Ireland, with an attractive husband and adorable toddler along with makeup and clothing lines make her the "Queen Bitch of Beige" which is a description that really made me laugh, given her and real life influencers love for beige tones (and dusty pink!). However, behind the perfect account is a crumbling marriage and a dangerous stalker. This book deals with the fallout of Ali's lies and attempt to rebuild her life and her career, and with Shelly's continuing problems at home and online.

My favourite characters in the series are Ali's mother, Mini and her one time Tinder romance, Sam, who comes back into her life when he believes she is pregnant. Mini is a difficult mother and often seems more interested in her career than her daughter, but who is struggling in her way with her husband's illness. Sam is well meaning, goofy and painfully naaive, and serves as a great antithesis to Shelly's apparently perfect husband Dan. I think I enjoyed both of them so much as they have absolutely no interest in social media and only see Ali as she is, not as her alter ego.

What I enjoy about this series is that it isn't just a takedown of influencer culture and an attack on social media users. It is more complicated in that it doesn't judge the characters for making money through social media, and it really shows how these apps can be an escape or a distraction from everyday life. The books show very clearly that what is being presented isn't a healthy level of interest, that what you see on an influencer's page should be taken with a pinch of salt, and that it is an industry built on appearances that is a way to make you feel bad in order to spend more, and one that offers no privacy or security. It never feels like a lecture but instead offers a mirror in which we can see ourselves as complicit in a harmful industry.

I initially didn't see how this book could have a sequel but I'm so glad I read it and enjoyed a weekend of escapism and laughs at the unrealistic but entertaining plot and witty one liners. This sequel offers a more balanced approach to how we can use social media to our advantage but stop it from controlling our lives and sees the development of characters I had grown attached to. Ideal summer reading.

I really enjoyed the previous book 'Filter This' so couldn't wait to get my hands on this! I think Sophie White is one of the brightest writers in Irish literature at the moment. This book is a great followup book and I couldn't put it down till I finished it. I think it's a great critique of the Instagram-culture that we are living through at the moment.

Really enjoyed this story and really made me think about my social media use and perhaps not taking everything i see online so seriously or as the full truth.

This book really made me see that perhaps we aren't getting the full truth from out favourite influencers and their perfect lives are not so perfect

Thoroughly enjoyable story, highly recommend.

If you loved Sophie’s Filter This last year, you’ll love the sequel. We left Ali Jones learning that she was pregnant (she’d previously pretended she was to boost Instagram followers) and despite feeling she was on the outs, her popularity is more than ever. Life hasn’t been so kind to Ali: she’s dealing with the loss of her father, her mother’s erratic whims and a babydaddy who’d rather forget she existed. Can she change her image? And who can help her? Meanwhile, supermummy blogger Shelly is preparing to be a mum of two, while her husband sleeps in the garden. She’s being targeted by someone who knows all her secrets… and isn’t afraid to tell everyone. Throw in a WYND festival, the brainchild of fellow blogger Hazel, and there’s a recipe for much #sponcon, many #ads and the chance to really be yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed this and loved the style of writing. It’s clear Sophie’s got a great eye when it comes to being knowledgeable of the bloggerscene.

While the ending to this is undeniably unrealistic, this is a fantastic follow-up to Filter This. Fun and guaranteed to make you think about your own social media usage.

Sophie White has a hilarious way about her and this is perfect 'distract me' reading.

Unfortunately I didn’t finish this book.
I will not be providing a negative review as I feel that is unfair on the author.