Okay people I am #followmebackobsessed this book just took me on a wild ride that had me yelling at my fiance for answers! I may have scared him into calling off our wedding because of this book!

But really lets focus. The start was really slow for me. I had a hard time digging in but I am so glad I stuck through it because once it picked up, I couldn't stop. Tessa is suffering from an event that happened in her past that causes her a fear of leaving her home. She is a soft unassuming character because of this. I was really rooting for her the whole way through. I found myself wanting her to get a happy ending.

Eric Thorn is your typical pop star boy in these types of books, he hates his fame. Except he actually has a reason with the recent murder of a fellow pop star. Eric can't shake the fear that something like this could happen to him. He goes on a journey almost as meaningful as Tessa's.

The writing style was neat. I am really excited to see a finished copy of this book because my galley had some spacing issues and no page breaks, causing some things to get lost in translation from time to time. That is to be expected with uncorrected proofs just makes the need for the finished copy even stronger.

THE END OF THIS BOOK LEFT ME REELING. I am in shock and awe. I also did not there was a squeal hence my tantrum that scared my fiance. I can not even wait to find out what happens next. This book was an unexpected gem. READ IT PEOPLE. It is sure to have you clinging to end of you seat trying to guess what happens next.

Four obsessed stars!

In our fame driven culture, books such as this one are nearly inevitable, exploring the cost public exposure takes on the psyche. Its an interesting topic but the plot doesn't always sit well with me. For one, I found the love story hard to believe. More problematic was the girl's mother. Your daughter develops severe agoraphobia and your main emotional response is annoyance? Or what about her doctor, who abandons her after she's attacked? We never get a satisfying explanation for that behavior. There were a lot of questions left frustratingly unanswered. I had too many questions, too many plot points that didn't work for me.

This book barely made my radar. I saw it a couple of times and passed it up. After a couple more looks I decided to give it a try and grabbed at the ARC. I am so glad I did. This book was amazing. It had a bit of romance, mystery, thrills, and a bunch of crazy.


Tessa has a secret. Something horrible happened to her this last summer. This traumatic event has caused a crippling effect that leaves Tessa room bound in her own home. She is scared of being watched, leaving the home, and allowing anyone to come close to her. Her only solace is her obsession of singer Eric Thorn and the fandom that surrounds him.

Eric Thorn is famous but tired of where his good looks and publicist has taken his celebrity status. He feels more of an object expected to give half naked shows than a talented singer. He tries to bring his Twitter status to a halt with a fake persona... in turn, it brings him close to one of his biggest fans Tessa.

This is the story of Tessa and Eric. Their fears, their anger, their mistrust. It's the story of their friendship and relations and something terrible that brings them together... Unfortunately, there is a lot more to the story that brings one of them into terrible danger.


This book really did amaze me and surprise me. I knew it would be a thriller... what I didn't know was it held quite a bit of romance. A growing romance from strangers to friendship to more. The tender moments shared throughout the book kept me more interested in the story. There weren't many thrills to the end of the book but in between the tender moments and before the thrills began, there was much mystery that surrounded Tessa's past and the event that has Eric and Tessa in a police station being interrogated. So this book pretty much had all my favorite things.

I loved how this story was told. There were tweets and personal messages passed between Eric and Tessa, a police transcript of the interrogation, and good old storytelling. It kept me interested and invested from the very beginning of the story.

I didn't connect with Tessa at first, but she grew on me. It's hard to watch someone gone through something that immobilizes them but not know what caused such immobilization. Soon though, I forgot that something happened, or just didn't care as much as I got to know Tessa. I was able to see her try and face her fears as she made friends with Eric. I saw that she was a fighter.... even if she was afraid to step out of her own room. I could see she really wanted to get out of this fear induced life she had.

Eric didn't take long to grow on me. I felt for him. His story was real up front and even though he was going the wrong way about figuring out his own head and life.... I could undestand. I thought he was a real sweetheart and just didn't know how to stand up for himself. He was trapped in his life like Tessa was trapped in her room.

I loved how their relationship developed and found myself really concerned for the event that transpired to lead them to the police station. I didn't know what happened if Eric proved to be crazy or Tessa.... I just had to keep reading.....

The story had so many layers and I really enjoyed getting through each and every one. It was quite a ride. What I didn't enjoy was the ending. I mean I did but I didn't. Argh... I just need the next book to really know what the hell is going on. So yes it was a cliffhanger at the end. Be forwarned!!!




Loved it. So worth the read!

I was overly excited to get my hands on this book. The synopsis drew me right in. I was expecting a thrilling story full of twists and turns. I thought for sure that this would be one of my favorites of the year...

The blurb does a wonderful job giving you an idea of what the story is about... but that is about it. I honestly had to force myself to finish this book. The delivery and development of this story were lacking.

The characters all seemed like twelve year olds. Nothing they did or said felt true to who they were supposed to be. They were all weak and unlikable.

The format of how this story is told is unique and should have worked for it. I won't lie, I was very disappointed in this story by the time I finished it. I had expected to have my draw dropped at least once, my heart to race at some point... Sadly that just never happened.

Follow me Back is one of those books that really entertain you while you're reading them, but once you finish you can recognize that there's a lot of room to improve. There were a lot of lost opportunities in characterization and the plot is an awkward mix of genres. The book works better when it's about the inner lives of two teenagers desperate for a meaningful connection and worse when it's trying to be a half-baked thriller.

The story moves between the point of views of the two main characters, Eric Thorne and Tessa Hart. He is a Justin Bieber type: super succesful and adored by millions of young girls but he's one of those annoying celebrities that can only whine about how famous they are and how no one appreciates their "real art", demeaning and looking down on the fans that make possible they can have a fancy house in Hollywood and drive an expensive sports car. Eric is gripped with paranoia because another musician of his same brand was murdered by a "crazy" female fan and is sure that it could happen to him. It is a somewhat common fantasy experienced by men in the post Fatal Attraction world, even though just by looking at statistics idols who are murdered are almost always the victim of males. Although Eric has the all the characteristics of a douchey pop star and his attitude towards his fans deeply annoys me, he's also fairly level headed for an 18 year old, hard working and charismatic enough to be a likable character in the end.

Then there's Tessa, who makes the most embarrassing fangirly posts in Twitter but rest assured, it's not that she loves Eric's abs, it's that she feels she understand him like no one else does. Tessa is more interesting that she sounds thanks to having agoraphobia, a condition that makes it pretty much impossible for her to leave her room or being around people that aren't her therapist, her boyfriend or her mother. The last two are less than helpful in her recovery, particularly her mom who despite being a nurse doesn't seem to understand at all how mental disorders work. Due to very bad characterization and not enough background, it's hard to understand why Tessa's mom is so useless or why her father isn't even mentioned. The boyfriend is conveniently pushed out of the narrative soon enough and, again, not given a real personality. The therapist is not much better.

Tessa's agoraphobia is really the best part of this book, but her condition is annoyingly dropped too quickly when it stops being useful for the plot. That was a big disappointment for me. The book also teases for a long time the reason behind it. We know that something happened to Tessa a couple of months ago, but she won't tell anyone what. But the problem of letting the reader's imagination fly for so long is that the revelation can come off as a bit underwhelming and that's what happened in this case.

Eric and Tessa develop a relationship by direct messaging each other through Twitter, which made me realize I'm definitely too old for the target this book is aiming for. The interactions are good and got me engaged in the story but in another questionable decision, the author cuts them short by interjecting transcripts of an interrogation that's happening in the future. While the transcripts are intriguing enough, because you want to know what's going on, they are used as a resource to skip time and instead of seeing the relationship build we are just told they've grown closer, which makes it a little harder to believe in their strong connection. I thought it was a cute teenage love story that could have been developed much better without the need to turn it into a cheap thriller a la Fifty Shades.

When we get to that thriller mode, the whole sequence has enough suspense to keep you hooked, but it's also pretty cliche and comes with dropping the ball in the characterization. It wasn't very satisfying. And then comes a super weird ending that I understand is to turn this story into a series (even though the plot hardly asks for more than one book), but it comes so out of nowhere and in such a confusing way that instead of leaving me pumped for the sequel it just made me mad.

This is absolutely wild!!! Ok so I actually read this book WAYYYYYYY back when it was only on Wattpad and it wasn't even finished yet! I remember waiting patiently for each and every update and once the book was done (parts 1 and 2) the author mentioned getting it published. I remember being one of the first people to comment how happy I was because they deserved it as it was such a great book. It's wild how it's now a duology that everyone seems to be enjoying. I loved this book so much both times! It was great! I didn't really like the ending of this book though... would've liked a bit more of a finale sort of thing. Thank you for getting this published though! Thank you!

I don't really have favorite publishers, but if I did, Sourcebooks Fire would be one of them. Not because they approve me on Netgalley (though it doesn't hurt) but the content they publish never disappoints. I've had my fair share of books that I haven't enjoyed, and yet every book published by Sourcebooks that I've read has been a blast to read. Follow Me Back was no exception to this!

If I'm honest, Follow Me Back sounds a bit silly. I was explaining the plot to some of my friends, and they actually chuckled at the premise. But what seems like a cheesy romance in the synopsis is actually a great young adult thriller.

I'm not one for thrillers. It's not because I don't like them, but I just gravitate to other genres instead. Though I lack exposure to this genre, I can still say wholeheartedly that this is a great thriller. I nonstop read this book; when I wasn't reading about it I was thinking about it.


Both Tessa and Eric, the two main characters, are so well developed. They're not your stereotypical manic fangirl and blase celebrity. I loved how Geiger took her characters beyond their labels. Tessa has agoraphobia (the fear of going outside), which was triggered by an incident last summer. Eric has anxiety and fear of his fans after a death of a celebrity. They weren't the generic characters that are (unfortunately) sometimes found in books nowadays. Instead of the romance being super lovey-dovey, it was realistic. Their problems weren't the usual "we come from different worlds!" or "you'll never understand the celebrity life!" but had more depth. I loved how their friendship progressed into more, and it was at the perfect pace. The romance wasn't insta-love by any means, but it wasn't so slow going that I began to get exasperated.


Now let's talk about the thriller aspect of this book. Throughout the book, there's this underlying tone of uneasiness, and it was what really pushed me to continue reading and figure out what happened. Between chapters are police transcripts, and I liked how it added some intrigue. The police transcripts are further in the timeline, so as a reader you know something seriously wrong happens, and you're just watching everything unfurl. I appreciated these chapter breaks because they were a constant reminder of what was yet to come.

As for the ending, I though it was spectacular. Before reading this book I looked at the goodreads reviews, and almost all of them mentioned how well the ending was done. The last fifteen percent of the book had me at the edge of my seat knowing what would happen next. While I had fun with the story beforehand, I was completely invested in the end. Also, the ending wasn't what I expected and completely threw me for a loop. That doesn't happen much anymore, so it was greatly appreciated!!

At the end of the day, I am a newbie when it comes to thrillers. Maybe this means that I can't give too much of a critical review, but the reader I am today loved this book. I haven't seen a review of this lower than three stars, so if you're on the edge about reading this I'd say there's a good chance you'll enjoy this as well. The main characters were well developed, the thriller was...thrilling (I couldn't help myself), the romance wasn't cliche, and the ending left me needing the second book.

With that, I give this book

4.5 out of 5 Stars!

Tessa Hart has severe agoraphobia following an incident at a writing program she attended in early summer. She can't leave her bedroom. Her therapist holds sessions for her in her room. Tessa is obsessed with the pop star Eric Thorn. She wrote a fanfiction story about him that went viral. She even started the hashtag EricThornObsessed that was trending at number one. Meanwhile, Eric Thorn's manager and PR team are loving the attention he's getting from this hashtag. But Eric isn't as into the attention. He is still freaked out by the death of a fellow singer. Dorian Cromwell was stalked by a fangirl and then she slit his throat. Eric is worried about this happening to him too. He creates a fake account to try to give himself some negative attention, so his fans will move on to someone else. But his interactions with one fan leads to more than he ever expected.

I almost read this entire book in one sitting. I read until 2 AM and then continued as soon as I woke up in the morning! It was so thrilling!

The narrative of Tessa and Eric is interspersed with police transcripts about an incident that happened involving both of them. This hinted at them meeting one day and something serious happening!

The premise of all of these interactions happening on twitter is so realistic. You never know who you're talking to online. This story really shows how dangerous it can be to blindly throw yourself into an online relationship.

The ending was amazing! There were so many twists and turns, until the very last page. It's also amazing that this story was first published on Wattpad. A.V. Geiger is very talented. I can't wait to see what she comes out with in the future!

This review will be posted on my blog on June 3, 2017.

"Tessa Hart’s world feels very small. Confined to her bedroom with agoraphobia, her one escape is the online fandom for pop sensation Eric Thorn. When he tweets to his fans, it’s like his speaking directly to her…

Eric Thorn is frightened by his obsessive fans. They take their devotion way too far. It doesn’t help that his PR team keeps posting to encourage their fantasies.

When a fellow pop star is murdered at the hands of a fan, Eric knows he has to do something to shatter his online image fast—like take down one of his top Twitter followers. But Eric’s plan to troll @TessaHeartsEric unexpectedly evolves into an online relationship deeper than either could have imagined. And when the two arrange to meet IRL, what should have made for the world’s best episode of Catfish takes a deadly turn…"

OH MY! Where do I even start? I don't typically read books told back and forth in tweets and transcripts but WOW was I blown away with how hooked I got. I hated to put the book down when the kids came calling, but I picked it right back up, every chance I got!

I fell in love with the main characters immediately. I was rooting for Tessa to overcome her fears. Eric I didn't expect to like, but the author did a wonderful job in making his character likeable by showing a side of [fictional] stardom that isn't visible.

As their relationship evolves, Tessa starts to doubt who she is talking to online until they decide to meet and her world starts crumbling down. Her ever-growing fear has just become her reality and turns deadly. With an even more UNEXPECTING twist at the end, I am NOT SO patiently waiting for the next novel! Please hurry, A.V. Geiger!!

5 STARS!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

As someone who, in her teen years, was part of a fandom (pre-Twitter) I found this book to be an insightful and disturbing look into the brain of both a fan and the celebrity. With a twist at the end that will leave you wanting more, more, more.

This book is not what it seems.

Tessa is an agoraphobic young adult, who lives and breathes through her cell phone, namely Twitter and her obsession over Eric Thorne, the hottie pop rock star who she believes is misunderstood. And Eric, is that jaded celebrity who feels suffocated and decides to take his aggression and fear out on his leech of a fan; the one who started a new Twitter trend at his expense, through a troll account, in essence catfishing his super fan.

What starts as a light hearted contemporary morphs into something so much more. I read this book in two sittings; quite honestly it would've been one had I not started it so late in the evening. The balance in this book between light and dark, quirky messages and police transcripts is utterly perfect. I am almost said I read this as an ARC because it will be that much longer until I get my hands on the sequel. I'm such a Fangirl over this book. My mind is reeling.

**Received a free copy from NetGalley**

I really enjoyed this book! It was a little slow to get in to, especially because I had read the synopsis so long ago that I forgot that Tessa had agoraphobia and it took me awhile to figure out why she couldn’t leave her house. Once I got about 25% of the way through and the main characters started their online relationship, I was fully invested. Then I proceeded to stay up until midnight finishing the book! That ending was CRAZY. I honestly thought I had a messed up galley because it took such a sharp turn, but now I understand. Did not realize this was going to be a duology/series, so I was a little thrown off with the lack of explanation!!

A few things I did not like about the book, which is why I took a star off:

-The therapist seemed like a shitty person. I don’t really see how it would have hurt the story if the therapist actually did something positive for Tessa rather than being a “textbook” therapist trope where she constantly just asks her “How does that make you feel?”. Maybe some people have this as an actual experience, but I think it’s just a stereotype at this point.

-Her mom!! She was terrible. I would have loved to get a little more backstory of WHY her mom was so fed up with what was happening and why she couldn’t be a little more understanding. Yeah, she was “working” but Tessa needed a support system and I, again, don’t see how her mom being helpful/understanding/loving would have been detrimental to the story.

Both of these characters are just perpetuating the idea that adults are bad and can’t help you when you have a mental illness and you need your love interest to come save you. They are either just going to ignore you/get mad at you/ leave you when you need them. This needs to stop. This is not always the case, and showing young readers that you CAN go to them and a have a positive experience is only going to help.

-I don’t know why this stuck out to me so much, but the author used the term “as a matter of course” three times and it popped out at me every single time. I don’t think it’s that common of a phrase, let alone two teenagers using it…

Overall, I think majority of the book was really good and engaging. I really enjoyed the multiple techniques on coping with anxiety that Tessa employed because those are all real and can help.

The blurb for this book looked extremely appealing, however I found myself incredibly disappointed. FOLLOW ME BACK was incredibly problematic, with underdeveloped characters and plot.

The novel follows Tessa Hart, who has extreme agorphobia after a traumatic experience the past summer. Confined to her room, Tessa fangirls over music-sensation Eric Thorn on Twitter, starting the trending hashtag, #ERICTHORNOBSESSED. Meanwhile, Eric Thorn just wants to be left alone for five minutes of peace and quiet. He starts talking to Tessa under an assumed name, and the two slowly fall in love. The catch? Tessa has no idea she's chatting with her idol.

The plot read more like fan fiction than anything else. The character's motivations were weak and many of them seemed drastically underwritten, even Tessa. The lack of depth in character and plot was incredibly disappointing.

The ending was also problematic for reasons that involve spoilers. The twist ending made absolutely no sense and wasn't cued even a little bit in the book. I needed some indications in the novel to make me buy the ending, but I was never given those clues.

*Spoilers* The way Tessa seems to suddenly get over her agoraphobia is not only inaccurate, but damaging. There are an abidance of narratives of girls who "get over" mental illness when the right guy comes along. I was hoping Geiger would have treated an illness that is often debilitating, with a little more research and respect. *Spoilers*

Overall, I give this book 1/5. I was hoping for so much more than I got.

I was given a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

This is a cute little fluff story about the fairytale of being mysteriously followed by your music crush and then falling in love via direct messages on Twitter. Great summer no brain cells needed kind of read! The story is told through tweets, direct messages, and police interviews. Yes, police interviews because Ms. Geiger tried to add a few twists with a traumatic event in Tessa’s past that caused her case of agoraphobia and Eric being paranoid of crazed fans. I was really enjoying watching the main characters interact through social media and open up to each other through their anonymous relationship online. But, apparently this is the first book in a series so things didn’t necessarily get resolved completely and that ruined this young adult book as a fun and quick little escape for me. As much as I really enjoyed the storyline, I am not sure I want to read another whole book (or more) to find out what ultimately happened.

A thriller disguised as a cutesy contemporary that will keep you up at night, wondering what could possibly happen next, A truly, thought-provoking novel about cyber bullying, and whether or not it's possible to be TOO much of a fangirl. Probably not.

Full review on my blog up on 6/1 at 12:00 PM EST http://heathertooreal.blogspot.com/

Dang.

Excuse me, I mean... DANG. Generally I can tell where a book is going and how things will wrap up--but this book had me and within the last few pages--dang. I had to reread the last few pages a few times because I was completely shocked by the plot twist.

It takes a very well written book to make a reader feel that way. "Follow Me Back" documents a story of a fan and the idol that she follows. Given from each character's perspective in both their thoughts, tweets and police statements. Throughout the book we are given details in real time and in the future while each are giving statements on an event that for the reader hasn't happened yet.

The plot goes like this: girl with agoraphobia and idol crush creates a popular fan fiction and gains the notice of the idol crush--but not in a good way. The idol crush really is just a boy who has been rattled by the recent murder by fan of another star. In an attempt to vent his fear and anger he creates a fake Twitter handle and harasses the girl... and then makes amends...and slowly the two begin to fall for one another. But that isn't where the book ends.

Things turn darker when their first meeting is hijacked.

Who can you trust?

HOLY. CRAP. The two words I uttered over and over again as I sat and stared at a finished book. This book was a page turner and had me constantly on the edge of my seat. It had a little bit of everything - action, intrigue, romance, humor, TERRIFYING MOMENTS! I finished this in a matter of a few days, which is a huge feat when I am in the middle of dealing with so much work stuff. So what was it that worked for me?

Characters I could relate to. I do not have agoraphobia as Tessa does, and I am not a famous celebrity like Eric. I am, however, a human being...one that deals with my own forms of anxiety and insecurities. Both Tessa and Eric have some anxiety, insecurities, and a lot of self-doubt. Though our reasons are different for these feelings I found that a lot of their story really hit home in some areas for me. I think we can all relate to holing up in social media sometimes, because we can be someone that we aren't. I understood why both Tessa and Eric took solace in it, found relief in talking to each other on there. This is a situation that so many of us understand. On top of that they were both pretty funny and I really enjoyed their online banter. They were strong characters who were doing their best to move past their fears. This is a strength that really grew throughout the book as various situations came up. I loved that you could see them grow up and become more than they were before.
A reminder of internet safety. I think this book really had me thinking about my interactions on the internet and how genuine they are. Also had me thinking about how much I reveal about myself. There are so many people on the internet...so many. And each person is a different type of person, which is both good and bad. Though I think I have mostly run into the good I can honestly never be sure. There is so much unknown. There are so many good things. I have met a lot of awesome people online and have fallen into a lot of positive and welcoming communities here, but I also never know when I might fall into something bad. Be safe on the internet everyone. Be smart. Be safe.
Page turning thriller. This book really did have a bit of everything. It tackled some tough issues, like various phobias and mental illnesses. It showed characters opening themselves up to something that seemed scary and coming out with friends on the other side. This book had a romance that started to blossom and had you aching in your chest. There were plot twists and turns that I had either forgotten about or just didn't pay attention to. This book got super creepy and I found myself unable to put it down. There were so many questions that I just needed answers for. I honestly could not get enough of this book.
This book had me hooked from the beginning, and as the story continued to build I found myself more and more involved in it's plot. I would think I would predict one thing and then it would turn out to be wrong and I would get comfortable. I learned the hard way that getting comfortable is so wrong...so very wrong. I was reminded that ANYTHING can happen, even if you only have a few pages left in the book. BECAUSE OH MY GOSH THAT ENDING YOU GUYS!

This book comes out on June 6th, 2017. Make sure you get your hands on this thriller right away.

Review featured on Midwestern Book Nerd on May 31, 2017. https://midwesternbooknerd.wordpress.com/

Eric only wanted to let some stress go and maybe troll some of his followers on Twitter. Even never even thought that maybe one of his fans would understand him. He never thought he'd end up falling for her.

I enjoyed this novel a lot. It had so many twists and turns and some I did not see coming! One even blew my mind. This novel kept my mind working hard to try and process all the twists. It was a fun time. I've never read a novel that actually had me on the edge of my seat. At times, I wasn't sure what was going to happen but I knew I just had to keep reading.

I love how this story was told. It's honestly the main reason I choose it from NetGalley. I also love that it uses Twitter, because right now (I'm sure it will change) Twitter is my favorite social media. So these things pulled me into the story. It moves pretty fast and it a quick read. I enjoyed the format greatly.