We "follow" two characters, one in the present day and one in the future, both of whom become reality TV/streaming stars in some way. Their stories offer warnings about our data-driven lives, but also create genuinely emotional and relatable character arcs. I thought this book would be intriguing, but I wasn't expecting it to be so moving. The ending in particular is incredibly poignant. My only criticism would be that it's a little too long and I think some scenes could have been cut!

As an extremely online person living in an extremely online world, this book was one of the most realistic and relatable pieces of science fiction I've ever read. I couldn't put it down!

This book has a very good premise. I enjoyed it. It was very different from what I usually read. So it did take me a little bit to get into the futuristic side of it.

Arc provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Without sounding like too much of a cliche, I have to say: this book has EVERYTHING. It is dystopian, it is a chilling look at social media, it is hilarious, it is full of amazing characters and writing, and you won't be able to put it down. Alternating between 2015 and 2051, we meet three women whose lives become surprisingly enmeshed in ways you'll never guess. Orla and Floss use Instagram, reality television, and scamming to make themselves famous in 2015 to disastrous effects. Flash forward to 2051 where we meet Marlow, who is living her life on a Truman Show-like TV channel, though she knows it's happening and has a continuous follower count in her head at all times.

FOLLOWERS is truly genre defining. It is not anything like the book I expected it to be when I picked it up. It is so easy for critiques of today's culture to become eye-roll or preachy, but Angelo does an exceptional job of making it realistic and really darkly funny at times. Sometimes this book reads like horror, sometimes like sci-fi, other times like really great women's fiction. It has a little bit of something for everyone, and I can see it being a huge blockbuster when it is released in January 2020. It's an epic commentary on our times that is also hugely entertaining and twisty. I feel like we've all been waiting for this book, and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it too.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I selected this book, but I tell you I wasn’t disappointed one bit. When I thought I had thing figured out the author hits you with an unexpected curve ball (genius move). Society's addiction to technology is scary. This is a must read! Thanks to Netgalley and Graydon House for providing me with an ARC. Overall, I gave the 4/5 stars.

I love, love, loved this book so much! Followers has so many elements that I love in a story, all in one book! Social media, fame, New York, a dystopian society, and time jumps back and forth from 2015-2051. Never has a sci-fi felt so stylish and fun.

Megan Angelo did an amazing job connecting these characters together. Their individual stories were just as intriguing as the overarching story and the time jumping back and forth from 2015 to 2051 was seamless.

This was a book I could not put down, I tore through it and was sad when it was done. I would love to read more about Orla, Floss, Marlow, and all the others in New York in 2015 and in the town of Celebration in 2051. Megan Angelo give us a sequel because we want more!

Thank you to Harlequin-Graydon House and #netgalley for a review copy of Followers in exchange for my honest review.

I highly recommend Followers and will be reading again myself!

An interesting read, however the book felt a lot longer than it needed to be and I didn't feel like I could connect with any of the characters. The futuristic world that Angelo creates is an interesting look at social media, privacy, and how when it falls into 'big brother's" hands, it can lead to a society that basically doesn't know what privacy is. A very interesting concept, but the story itself lacked the character building and dynamic plot that could have made this a modern day 1984.

Followers is not about social media. Followers is about relationships. Followers by Meghan Angelo is about three women and their connectedness. It goes back-and-forth between the time before the spill and the time after. Floss is A girl who wants to be famous for the sake of being famous, think Kardashian famous. Orla is a blogger who just lost the one person she covers for Lady-ish, a gossip site. They have been so wrapped up in their world that they didn’t realize they live together. And they didn’t realize how they could help each other. Marlow’s timeline happens 30 years after. She grew up in a town where being an influencer was a government job. Streaming your life 24-7, and a network that told you what to eat, what to wear and when to have a baby.
One of the most intriguing things about this book is that it fools you into thinking that it is a commentary on our current Instagram obsessed society. It’s not about that as much as it’s about what that society does to us, affecting our treatment of others. There were no clear villains, just people who sometimes do bad things. That made it all the more relatable.
This book is firmly in women’s fiction but at times, it attempted suspense, intrigue and complex world-building that fell flat for me. As much as I enjoyed the relationships, the women’s voices were not diverse amongst themselves for me to tell the difference when I picked up the book at random. The thoughts they were having were different but the writing style was much the same. I think this book suffers a similar fate as Vox which is also had a great premise but the execution was poor. Usually, it doesn’t take me a week to read a 400-page book and this book I started two weeks ago and just finished.
The world-building of society after the Spill made little sense to me. The fallout was realistic but Constellation was just LA but with cameras everywhere. I didn’t know what the purpose of it and it wasn’t explained well. Some portions of the technology were extremely convenient. The primary issue with speculative fiction is that it needs to be a natural progression of human behavior that leads to the “after”. The after was interesting but felt primarily disjointed. I enjoyed Orla’s chapters far more than Marlow’s because it was almost painful to see her realize how sheltered she really was. Because Marlow was older, it felt unrealistic.
The diversity seemed like it was shoved in there, but even then they were European, which made no sense because of the places this story takes place in. New York and Atlantic City. It’s almost like this new world doesn’t have any people who don’t look like the author.
As much as I wanted to like this book, I just didn’t. It didn’t keep my attention and the faux-epilogue in the future tense was just an attempt to be different. There are quite a few books coming out in Winter 2019/2020 that deal with the same subject matter that are a little more interesting.

Can I just say how much I absolutely LOVED this book? The premise caught my attention right away and I eagerly awaited my approval through NetGalley to read this. As soon as I stared reading it was extremely hard to put down-just ask my husband how annoyed I got when I had to stop and do other things 😅 This book made me gasp, made me viscerally upset sometimes, and it made me eager to discuss the rampant themes of internet culture with someone. ⁣
It’s 2016 and we meet Orla and her roommate Floss. Both women are in their late twenties and are like most millennials-struggling financially, unhappy with their jobs, and obsessed with social media. Through a series of small incidents, Orla manages to make Floss insta famous, and thus starts both of their lives down a path that changed their lives forever.⁣
We also meet a character named Marlow in the year 2051. Marlow lives in a celebrity driven community where your every move is captured for the cameras, your life built around your followers. Marlow struggles with this aspect of her life and seeks answers, answers that some people don’t want her to know.⁣
I’m a big fan of the show “Black Mirror” and could totally see this as an episode of theirs. It also reminded me of the book “The Circle” with its regards to constant surveillance all for the sake of others. Megan Angelo did an incredible job of creating a believable story and astute commentary on our current culture of over sharing and Instagram influencers. I look forward to reading her next work. ⁣
The only thing that bothered me about this story was in the final chapter, when two characters reunite. Based on how one of the character’s acted throughout the book I was personally hoping for a bit more of a confrontation or comeuppance. But I can understand the author’s choice and realize that perhaps my choice wouldn’t have worked out for other readers. ⁣

This was the kind of book you spend every minute away from it wishing you were back in your reading chair.

Megan Angelo sets up a truly believable dystopia, preying on the Insta-influencer craze. She turns over the thirst for popularity to expose a truly dark underbelly. A truly meteoric rise to fame. A tumultuous romance. The thirst for privacy after spending your entire life in front of people. A hunt.

Orla and Marlow's connections were subtle, and when the connection was revealed, I was not entirely surprised but happy to find the story connected without some really out there twists. The story was good enough to not need some soap opera twist. Floss was WILD to me at first, but Angelo's skillful character building seemed to draw back the curtain and expose not only Floss, but I imagine a lot of truth about reality stars.

Followers covers a lot of ground, hitting on information privacy, data ethics, terrorism, immigration, the entertainment industry, maternal drive..and manages to maintain an engaging storyline. I only wish the ending was given more time- I don't wish Constellation a different fate...ok, I do but it would have been terribly predictable, and frankly I'm tired of stories were 'an average girl saves the universe'- Floss and Orla's final interactions felt unnatural, and for that ending I had to bump it down to 4 stars.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I got caught up in the reality influencer lifestyles of the characters--Floss, Orla, and Marlow. The novel is both relatable and frightening. I loved it.

Followers by Megan Angelo is a fascinating exploration of technology - both what is and what could be. In the present (2055), the government runs the internet. Way back in 2015, the internet was very similar to now because, well, it is now! The present focuses on Marlow trying to find out the truth about her life. This happens after a bombshell secret is revealed, so she must trek back through the past to get answers. In 2015, the story focuses on Orla and Floss. Floss is a social media darling. Orla dreams of being a famous writer, but to get there, she writes articles to cover celebrities. Floss and Orla form an unlikely friendship, but there are also a lot of dynamics and layers to their friendship. The story goes between the past and present focusing on the social media that was and the social media that is. Throughout, it starts to build a connection between the characters in each time, and you start to wonder how this might all come together. This was the realest of real commentaries on social media. While you could say this is dystopian, you could also say this is legit where we are right now, and the future it paints isn't so far from where we could go. This one captivated me as the author did a fantastic job at using technology as well as characters to tell her story. My only critique is that I wanted to know more! I was so drawn into the world she built that I craved more detail. I had all the questions. Really that critique speaks to the realness of the story that was told! Also, this is an wonderful commentary on the role social media has come to play in our lives, and it's a good piece to turn a mirror on how its used and the dystopia that could very, very well be our reality. Thanks to NetGalley for the early look at this January 2020 release!

I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. I think it was just a genre mismatch and others would enjoy it. I just wasn’t a fan of the pacing and the writing was average to me.

Followers is a coming of age story for two (sort of 3) women, one in the future, and one in the present. Eventually, the storyline meets in the middle and surprisingly connects the women. Completely unpredictable. It was a fun read, albeit laborious to pick up at times.

Not my usual genre, but glad I chose it. I love the cover art and received Followers for free from NetGalley.

This story follows two friends, Floss and Orla, in two alternating timelines. The first timeline starts on 2015, in which Orla helps Floss become Instagram famous. The second timeline takes place 35 years later in an exclusive village where the residents are recorded and streamed for entertainment. Sort of a futuristic Truman show but with government involvement.

I was intrigued by the premise, the novel has elements of scifi and explores social media, privacy rights, connectivity, and female friendships. Although it started strong for me, it felt a bit long in some sections. Still, I liked it and think the story feels relevant and relatable to issues we face today.
Overall, I recommend it to readers of contemporary and speculative fiction.

ARC provided by Publisher via Netgalley

Followers by Megan Angelo was amazing! The story was fresh and captivating. The characters were vivid and the story was fresh and exciting! It was a great read and I would definitely recommend this book from this amazing author!

Present. Orla moved her life from a small-town to big city New York, determined on being a successful author. What she ends up doing instead, is working for a click-happy, celebrity-news-seeking digital blog company. Truly uninspired and having given in to the master of procrastination, Orla spends her days chasing new celeb stories to keep her followers viewing and liking hers posts.

Until she connects with her fame-attention-paparazzi-seeking roommate, Floss. The unlikely pair: Orla’s dispassionate, almost sombre personality is in stark contrast to Floss’ self-absorbed, wild audaciousness, come up with an idea that will propel Floss into the centre of the controlled, digital limelight.

What the two strategically scheme up together, completely changes their lives, devalues their morals, and sets in motion events and decisions that will forever change them.

Future. Marlow is the timeless, medicated-to-emotionally-detached-perfection, face for a drug company. Her life is lived for the digital world’s viewing pleasure. Every thought Marlow has, comes from a voice in her earpiece. Everything is decided for her, even her husband. The network has decided it’s time for her to have a baby from her harvested eggs and gradually wean her off the medication. As Marlow’s true self starts to slowly return, she learns to listen to her own returning conscience.

When she finds out a monumental truth about her life, Marlow abandons all she’s ever known, risking the cruel viewers comments and losing her followers. Hiding from the network, she journeys to the off-limits area of Atlantis, to seek out the only person who can tell her what really happened.

Set in two timelines, one current and the other in the future, Megan Angelo effortlessly goes between the dual stories, threading together the events to where the storylines converge, and the characters collide.

Megan Angelo has, on-point, narrated a frightening forecast of what our society could be in the too near future. Just as eerily, we can believe how easily the prospect is of an all-tech, totally digital, dystopian society. Certainly not a world I’d like to live in but, read Followers and decide for yourself.

Very cleverly written with exceptional plot-twists and a few, rather emotional moments.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin – Graydon House Books (U.S. & Canada) for the read of Megan Angelo’s, Followers.

The opinions expressed in my reviews are my own.

Orla Cadden wants to be a writer, but not just the gossip column writer she is today, she wants to be known in the literary world. A publishing deal seems impossible until her wanna-be famous roommate shares a plan that could catapult them both into success. Floss is willing to throw ethics out the window for her A-List dreams and Orla finds herself along for the ride, her social media smarts catapulting them both into stardom. The fame, though, is not what it seems and Orla soon discovers the dark side to popularity.
Several years in the future the world has changed after a devestating event called The Spill. Young Marlow is an internet sensation, selected by the government to live in a California village where the cameras are always following you. With twelve-million followers and the perfect life, Marlow should be satisfied, but long buried secrets make her question the on screen persona hand-picked and spoon fed to her. Marlow has never lived outside the private village, but in her desperate hunt for answers she flees security for the unknown.
Orla, Floss, and Marlow once lived for followers, but while popularity is a powerful drug, there is a dangerous side to obsession.

"It's not good to be a followers."

Followers is one of those books that stays with you, because it is almost too believable. The settings are places we know and the future state of America feels like something that could easily occur. It's a profound story that's layered and complex, with just a hint of science fiction to take this story into the scary future Megan Angelo created. Main narrators, Orla and Marlow, are complicated women, each feels held captive by their own lives, but their thoughts are colorful and intelligent. They envision something different for themselves and as the book progresses we see just how far each is willing to go to change their lives. Megan Angelo takes the role of social media influencer and fame to the next level with this twisted, realistic tale that I could not put down.

"She had grown up seeing paper as synonymous with secrets."

Culturally significant, Followers is a read that I truly think everyone needs to read. We are so attached to our phones, to the ease of access to information, and to the celebrities that give us regular glimpses into their lives. We know what will get the most likes, we can name the latest famous baby, but do we even know our own best friend's birthday without the help of social media? It is a poignant reminder of just how much the world has changed, and in such a short period of time, since the creation of the Internet, computers, and cell phones. The Spill, a significant incident in this book, was not quite what I expected it to be, but as a reader I could easily take the events and imagine something quite similar and significant happening today. I loved the brain fog that regular phone and computer users experienced in their later lives, their forgetful nature something that made me think quite a bit about how much I rely on searching the web for answers. The ending, though quite simple, was a nice wrap up for such a fast paced, suspenseful read.

"There were so many ways what happened next might not have happened."

Followers by Megan Angelo is already in the running for one of my favorite 2020 releases. Megan Angelo showcases her incredible writing talent in this well-plotted novel that held my attention from start to finish. Followers, the word itself used in several clever ways throughout the novel, is a story that has left a lasting impact on me, ironically since I did indeed read it on a tablet.

I kept hearing about this and seeing this book.
The intro intrigued me.

2051 - cursive writing is "in another tongue- with its own strange alphabet-
lilting loops, curving tails, linked letters forming something both foreign and familiar.
I found this hilarious, considering cursive is no longer being taught in some schools.

This is a social media world today and this follows that thought.
I am not a top social media, maybe you have to be to follow this book,
as I had difficulty following this book. The author was very wordy and I got lost several times.

If you are a social media follower, you would enjoy this book.

I usually read thrillers and historical fiction, so this book was outside of my normal reading purview, but I was so glad I read it! Reviewers are comparing this to an episode of Black Mirror, and I have to agree. It's a not-so-implausible look at a future in which social media and reality t.v. dominate lives and one woman's attempt to break free from it. I liked how to the author jumped between present and future time periods and tied them together. I think readers who don't think they like science fiction or dystopian fiction would enjoy this novel because of the strong characters and distinctive setting.