Debut Author Take Over – Just for Clicks by Kara McDowell

Next on my journey of Debut Books I have Kara McDowell on the blog. Her book, Just for Clicks is coming out in a little under two weeks and it is fantastic! I seriously loved this one. Since the book is about twins that are brought into the social media spotlight because of a choice from there mother Kara is sharing her inspiration behind this must read book!

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I’ve been following the same woman online for the last decade.

(More than a third of my life!)

I can’t decide if this is horrifying, or not.

(It probably is.)

Although, truth be told, keeping up with this woman hasn’t been much work. Ten years ago, I faithfully read every blog post. Now, the highlights are available to me as I scroll Instagram. Through almost no effort on my part, I can tell you the cities she’s lived in, the style of wedding dress she wore, her favorite restaurants, the places she buys her clothes.

Even more bizarre, I can tell you the names of all five of her children. (Not to mention their birthdates, favorite colors, Halloween costumes, Christmas presents, and favorite family vacations.)

As a test, I just Googled the name of her eldest daughter. Without even scrolling, I see fourteen pictures of her childhood, including a newborn picture still in the hospital bassinet. (It’s adorable, by the way.)

This young girl is a child star, but not. She is famous for being born, for looking cute, for knowing how to pose for a camera. An internet starlet before any of us knew what that term meant. Unlike the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsens of the world, however, this girl does not go to work in the morning and come home at the end of the day. She’s eating ice cream at the park and playing with her siblings and riding her scooter. The work is her life, and vice versa. And thanks to careful editing, her parents are making more money off these breezy, carefree images than most of us can even comprehend.

I won’t lie: in the first half of this decade, I also had a mommy blog. (Didn’t we all?) One day, shortly after the birth of my second son, I was thinking about my blog and the pictures and stories I’d shared, and I had two distinct thoughts.

What if my blog had a huge following?

and

What if I never stopped writing about my kids?

The next day I hung up my mommy blogger hat and started writing JUST FOR CLICKS, which imagines the lives of two teenagers raised in the internet limelight. One of them loves it, the other resents it.

This story is inspired by so many things: my blog and my kids. This woman and her family, as well as dozens of others just like her. It’s inspired by the hateful, disgusting comments written not only about these women, but also about their children.

But most of all, it’s inspired by the question: What’s going to happen when all these blogger babies become teenagers?

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Just For Clicks by Kara McDowell
Published by Amberjack
Published: February 19, 2019
Buy on Amazon
Add to Goodreads

Mommy blogs are great . . . unless the blog happens to belong to your mom.

Twin sisters Claire & Poppy are accidental social media stars thanks to Mom going viral when they were babies. Now, as teens, they're expected to contribute by building their own brand. Attending a NY fashion week and receiving fan mail is a blast. Fending off internet trolls and would-be kidnappers? Not so much. Poppy embraces it. Claire hates it. Will anybody accept her as "just Claire"? And what should Claire do about Mom's old journals? The handwritten entries definitely don't sound like Mom's perfect blog persona. Worse, one of them divulges a secret that leaves Claire wondering what else in her life might be nothing but a sham . . .

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Make sure you pick up a copy of Just For Clicks, in stores February 19th!

 

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