Title: Annaleigh
Author: Rebecca Rocket
Genre: Comedy and Romance
Audience: New Adult
Released: 5/13/2025
Price: Read for Free.
Vibes: The Duff, Daisy Jones and The Six, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, and The Great Gatsby.
Synopsis:
Annaleigh is an approximately 24k word novella about a Millennial Great Gatsby, of sorts, named Annaleigh. It’s told in a Rashomon/choose-your-own-adventure style with 3 main characters sharing their perspectives on life at age twenty in the fall of 2004. The primary narrator, Erin Brewster, is in her sophomore year of college, pining after her high school crush, when her roommate, Joan Hartley (a secondary narrator), invites her to the renowned party of the eponymous Annaleigh Roberts (the other secondary narrator).
Each narrator shares a different perspective on the same period of time in their own particular voice. The story can be read linear (shuffling through characters) or, upon reaching the 3rd chapter, the reader can choose to continue with Erin or opt to switch to Annaleigh or Joan. I’ve chosen this particular format as it underpins the rise of social media that begins in the fall of 2004 when (then) TheFacebook.com enters the scene.
In 2004, these women are already shaping how their story will be perceived — resulting in a tapestry of unreliable narrators — thus the Rashomon quality. Annaleigh, in particular, has already taken grasp of how she wants the world to view her — much like the tragic Jay Gatsby.
Livejournal is still king among college students (think back to Jessie Eisenberg portraying Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network) and this new website is about to revolutionize connections among people — and also open everyone to a whole new world of passive communication, digital ghosting, doxing, and all the other perils of the social media era.