ARC Review: Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

Shelly's Book Corner received a review copy from Amazon Vine and voluntarily provided an honest review. This does not affect the opinion of the book or the content of the review.

Simone Garcia-Hampton is starting over at a new school, and this time things will be different. She's making real friends, making a name for herself as student director of Rent, and making a play for Miles, the guy who makes her melt every time he walks into a room. The last thing she wants is for word to get out that she's HIV-positive, because last time . . . well, last time things got ugly.
Keeping her viral load under control is easy, but keeping her diagnosis under wraps is not so simple. As Simone and Miles start going out for real--shy kisses escalating into much more--she feels an uneasiness that goes beyond butterflies. She knows she has to tell him that she's positive, especially if sex is a possibility, but she's terrified of how he'll react! And then she finds an anonymous note in her locker: I know you have HIV. You have until Thanksgiving to stop hanging out with Miles. Or everyone else will know too.
Simone's first instinct is to protect her secret at all costs, but as she gains a deeper understanding of the prejudice and fear in her community, she begins to wonder if the only way to rise above is to face the haters head-on. . . .

Review 

So I wanted to read this book due to the topic. Simone is a teenager living with HIV. The beginning starts out with her going to the gyn doctor with her dad. Okay..no big deal but he was in the room for the ENTIRE exam. How? She is 17 why are you in the exam room with her during her first exam? My goodness. This book also mentions a lot of musicals so if you aren’t a fan of them the references will fly over your head. Some I knew but others I had to look up.

Then we have the person who was blackmailing Simone and the reasoning was a let down. I wish the author would have went a different route than they did. I also felt the blackmailer got off WAY too easy especially since they had to have broken several HIPPA laws in regards to Simone’s medical history. I’m from NYC and HIPPA violation is no joke but this book is in California so who knows.

This was my first time reading the author and it wasn’t a bad read but I felt the book was trying to do too much at times. The book was trying to cover so many stereotypes and issues that it took focus off of the most important topic of this story in my opinion. I also had some consistency issues with the book as well that left me confused. Hopefully in the finished copy they will be fixed. So in closing would I read another book by this author? Yes, I would. The talent is there and I’m excited to see what the future holds for this author.