[AD/Gifted - I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
Underbelly by Anna Whitehouse -
Blurb:
"Lo and Dylan are living parallel lives, worlds apart.
Lo is the ultimate middle-class mother, all perfectly polished Instagram posts and armchair activism.
Dylan is just about surviving on a zero-hours telemarketing job from her flat, trying to keep food on the table.
But when they meet at the school gates, they are catapulted into each other's homes and lives - with devastating consequences..."
Review:
I was in a bit of a reading slump before I started Underbelly and this is just what I needed to pull me out of it.
Underbelly is told from the points of view of two women; Lois and Dylan. Lois is a middle class mother to four-year-old Scout and is married to Johno. She boasts an Instagram following of tens of thousands of people and makes a living from ads on social media.
Dylan is a single mother to four-year-old son Noah and in stark contrast to Lois, doesn't share her life online in the same way. She has escaped a violent relationship and is keeping under the radar. She does however, write an anonymous blog about her past.
These two ladies are thrown together after their children start school together and their lives change completely.
I started my "blogging life" as a parent blogger but moved into book blogging when I decided I didn't want to share my children online as much anymore. I still follow a lot of parent bloggers and online influencers so I am well aware of what goes on when it comes to trolls and negative comments.
Lois (and eventually Dylan) fall victim to these online keyboard warriors with devastating consequences, from both comments on their personal posts but also threads about them on a specific message board solely for gossiping about influencers (no prizes for guessing what that is based on!)
Honestly, I could not put this book down and my emotions were all over the place! It does describe the reality of living your life online, how people think that they know every single thing about your life and think that because you put yourself out there, they can say what they like.
I must also add trigger warnings for domestic abuse, baby loss and self harm.
A massive thank you to Orion for having me on the blog tour. You can find information on the other bloggers taking part in the infographic below.
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