Yahoo Sports Author dropped by publisher after posting several 'mean' TikToks about Goodreads reviewer who rated debut book: 'Completely baffling'
Author Sarah Stusek has been accused of bullying a Goodreads reviewer after she left a four-star review for Stusek’s upcoming book. A Twitter thread seemed to indicate that Stusek’s book publisher had dropped her in response to the allegations. Stusek said she later apologized to the reviewer in a private conversation.
It’s a story that’s taken BookTok — a subcommunity within TikTok dedicated to books and literature, where there is a significant focus on young adult fiction — by storm. Stusek’s book, Three Rivers, is classified as young adult fiction and was slated to be released on Sept. 12.
Stusek, who is a first-time author, reportedly called Goodreads reviewer Karleigh Kebartas a “bitch” in a since-deleted TikTok for posting the first four-star review for Three Rivers, which, according to Stusek, had been getting only five-star reviews up until that point.
Kebartas, whose full name is associated with the Goodreads account and who posted a TikTok in response to the controversy, initially wrote that Three Rivers was “a really great first novel!!!” and “incredible!” but deducted one star because “the ending was kind of predictable.”
In her video, Kebartas said she did not personally watch Stusek’s TikTok because she “knew it would make me upset.”
“I would really appreciate it if the author could apologize to me for being mean for no reason,” she said in the May 30 video. “This whole thing is just so weird.”
Later, Kebartas changed her review to one star and wrote, “EDIT: the author is now attacking me on tik tok for not giving her a 5 star review(it was a 4). giving her a 1 just for her attitude! I didn’t think the book was bad but her attitude certainly is!”
In a follow-up video, posted on May 31, Stusek kept her response vague, but TikTok users speculated she was addressing Kebartas and the backlash.
“Some people do really think I’m funny because I am,” she said. “Just because you don’t get it is OK with me. I’m not going to explain it to you.”
TikToker Jessica Samayoa, who is a member of BookTok with a focus on Latinx literature, posted a recap of the events, including screenshots of since-deleted comments that showed Stusek arguing with commenters about the four-star review. In one screenshot, in response to a commenter asking if Stusek was going to apologize to Kebartas, Stusek doubled down on the idea that it was all a joke by replying, “babe I’m literally a comedian.”
“Of course BookTok was not having it,” Samayoa said, “so she went from like seven perfect reviews to like over 100 negative reviews — I believe she’s at one star right now.”
As of reporting, Three Rivers has 573 reviews and an average 1.1-star rating on Goodreads. There are no new reviews after May 31, which could mean Goodreads paused reviews.
Stusek, however, has continued to upload videos of herself. In a video from June 4, she captioned the clip, “I hit 100k on this app, made 35k two days, upgraded my publisher and now have TWO books coming out this year. It’s six seconds babe, just do it.”
In an interview with Gizmodo, Stusek said she apologized to Kebartas over Instagram DM and sent a voice memo that allegedly said, “I did not mean to be aggressive, and I’m so sorry that it was. I want to make sure that you’re ok. I was being sarcastic, and I’m sorry that I was way off base and that it didn’t land. I don’t care about the one-star reviews or the angry mob coming after me. I just want to make sure that you’re ok. I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
She also told the outlet that she bought some of Kebartas’s books from her Amazon wish list as a peace offering, reiterating to the outlet that she “completely intended it as a joke.”
In terms of the book publisher, SparkPress did not specifically name Stusek as the author it was dropping in a series of tweets posted on May 31, but a representative confirmed to In The Know by Yahoo that “we will no longer be publishing this novel.”
To Gizmodo, Stusek said, “I didn’t hear from them once until they asked for a public apology to SparkPress. They’re just worried about it making them look bad. It’s kind of like an MLM, I had no idea what I was getting into.”
“Her attacks on the reviewer, on other book reviewers who called her out and on SparkPress are completely baffling and unfounded,” SparkPress told In The Know.
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