This is How it Happened

Reviewed by: Kara Reiman - Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: January 9, 2018

Review

Genevieve wakes up in the hospital with no memory of what has happened. She's been in a car accident that killed her boyfriend Dallas, a Youtube sensation and newly discovered pop star. Everyone believes that the driver of the other car was drunk and caused the accident, but as Genevieve starts to recover her memory, she wonders if that is true. Stokes's fourth book deals with themes of guilt and forgiveness, bullying on social media, and, of course, relationships. The best part of this book is the focus on the social media response to the death of Dallas. The comments regarding the other driver were so awful, wanting to get him fired, saying he should have died, etc. It drove people to actually burn down his place of employment and for him to try and take his own life. It was truly horrendous and sadly very true to life. This is a book worthy of purchase for most teen collections.

Overall Book Score: very good