INFLUENCE
BY SARA SHEPARD & LILIA BUCKINGHAM

Lila Buckingham deserves credit where credit is due for her somewhat of an introduction to this book about Instagram Influencer's which I gather is popular with the population known as Generation Z. She must be approximately 16 or 17 years old but helped co-author this book. She started her Instagram account when she was 12 years old and started posting selfies with almost two-hundred followers and today she admits to having 1.6 million followers.

I found this book to be not to my liking at all but that is probably due to my age. I personally wish that I never requested it. I didn't realize it was geared to a much younger audience. I think the whole idea of it is extremely shallow. To have to care about how many likes one garners from something one posts or who's commented on it with a whole plethora of other ways these are measured seems like way too superficial for my taste in reading material. In fact, as I type this there seems to be a malfunction on this book's place to write a review as this site keeps malfunctioning so I am ending my review now.
To have to carefully craft every word, thought or action with the agenda of how popular the posts are seem the very reason this book was written. It may very well appeal to a much younger audience. I would never denigrate a book or in this case the two authors' because I believe the point of the book is to illuminate the pressure these Instagram Influencer's are under in order to gain free products, or whatever kind of currency they are depending on. I take full responsibility for requesting this book but had no idea how uninspired reading it would be and what a waste of time when there are so many good books out there that I feel are more worth my time that I took reading this one. The forward is sufficient to inform. A whole novel about what is already stated in the beginning by Lilia is sufficient.

Thank you to Net Galley, Sara Shepard & Lilia Buckingham and Random House Children (that explains it.)Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

PS. I just realized this was geared for the Children Division of Random House. There are adult themes such as murder so I didn't realize that this is geared towards children. It nareads more like a Young Adult or teenager version of a novel.
INFLUENCE
BY SARA SHEPARD & LILIA BUCKINGHAM

Lila Buckingham deserves credit where credit is due for her somewhat of an introduction to this book about Instagram Influencer's which I gather is popular with the population known as Generation Z. She must be approximately 16 or 17 years old but helped co-author this book. She started her Instagram account when she was 12 years old and started posting selfies with almost two-hundred followers and today she admits to having 1.6 million followers.

I found this book to be not to my liking at all but that is probably due to my age. I personally wish that I never requested it. I didn't realize it was geared to a much younger audience. I think the whole idea of it is extremely shallow. To have to worry about how many likes one garners from something one posts or who's commented on it with a whole plethora of other ways these are measured seems like way too superficial for my taste in reading material. In fact, as I type this there seems to be a malfunction on this book's place to write a review as this site keeps malfunctioning so I am ending my review now.

If you're looking for a page-turner, this is it! I flew through Influence - it's definitely a plot-driven YA novel reminiscent of Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series. I thought the characters were well-developed, and I liked how the book featured LGBTQ rights, bullying, the positive and negative effects of social media, and OCD among other things. There were a couple instances of insta-love that are a pet peeve of mine, but overall I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by the quality of the book. I didn't know who Lilia was before I started reading, but the book definitely got me thinking about the world of influencers - which is truly fascinating!

As a piece of entertainment I’ll say that I enjoyed my time with the book. As a story that should make sense to me, that I had a harder time with.

It’s my understanding that a teenage influencer type person was consulted / was a part of the writing process of the novel but that said there were still a lot of things that just felt off about the book. It felt more like a 2009 view of influencer life, something more akin to the studio system of the 40s than what life would be like. It also felt odd early in the book for the narrators, Delilah in particular, to feel the need to explain terminology surrounding social media life to an audience that most definitely would be familiar with the terms.

Scarlet’s “vlog” portions of the book were also a problem for me. Maybe its just because I’m a dinosaur and maybe there are people out there that go on Instagram live and call it a vlog, but to me as a reader the perception I have of what a vlog is and what those chapters were, are two very different things. Those were livestreams and as stranscrips made sense. If they were meant to be on YouTube though, the idea of the commenters having the @ symbol in front of their username makes no sense as that’s not how the YouTube comment section works. If that was just a function of this being an arc and that’s just to symbolize something that will look different in the final version of the book, my apologies. As a reader though it was giving me stronger Instagram vibes than anything that would be posted to YouTube.

On the whole though I felt that the book wasn’t very focused. Maybe it’s because of the multiple narrators, but the storylines didn’t really seem to converge in any kind of meaningful way to coalesce around a singular plot idea until the 60% mark according to my kindle. Until then we had the Lilah/Jack subplot that felt like it was all being told to me and never shown, the Jasmine is maybe a lesbian but her Disney-like persona can’t come out [which could still very much be a thing, but in 2019/2020 it was another one of those things that made me feel like I was reading a book not set in this current time], and Fiona’s drama that all took place before the start of this book and left me not attached to anything she was going through at all. When Scarlet did eventually die even the investigation into the death didn’t really unite the perspectives.

At that point there wasn’t really enough time in the story to navigate that + give the other three remaining perspectives any sense of real closure on their independent plot points. I also felt the idea of continuing to have this thread of maybe Scarlet isn’t dead cheapened the plot in a way that really made me feel like the story didn’t have a plot and that beat was added in solely to be able to market the book as some kind of edgy thriller and potentially come out with a sequel at some point in the future.

As a slice of life drama about the semi unrealistic messy lives of high profile teenagers, it was a good time. I enjoyed it the same way millions of people enjoy a good blockbuster film, maybe not so much for the storytelling but the aesthetics and explosions. I think any kind of scrutiny makes this book fall apart, but on a surface level I think that a lot of people will get some level of entertainment out of it.

What I Loved:
Well, this book certainly took me by surprise! I absolutely loved the themes around being yourself and being true to yourself. There was also such a strong element of friendship and being a good friend. All of these ideas were the foundation of this exciting and enticing mystery!

My Synopsis:
Delilah has been thrown into the world of social media influencers after one of her videos went viral and her follower count exploded. Her family coincidentally has moved to L.A. putting Delilah in the center of it all!

Delilah finds fast friends in Jasmine and Fiona who help her navigate this new world and event. After her new friends leave, Delilah finds a corner to sit and hide for a while, where she meets a lovely boy who makes her smile and laugh. After sharing a few fun moments with her mystery boy, they are caught in a photo and leave. Delilah soon figures out that this boy was Jack, Scarlet Leigh’s boyfriend and she’s horrified. This could ruin her social standing as Scarlet has a temper and a reputation for tearing people apart.

As the weeks go by, she finds that the photo taken of her and Jack didn’t capture her face, so she can breathe easier. As she settles into this new lifestyle, Jasmine and Fiona become close friends. Everything isn’t as wonderful as it seems though. . .

Every character is struggling with their own problems and fears of their secrets coming out. When the suspicious death of a fellow influencer turns their world upside down, the three friends must trust each other and themselves to find out what happened.

How I Felt:
I really enjoyed this book! The story was filled with twists and turns that I just didn’t see coming. The secrets that each person holds were fun to figure out, and the mystery was extremely interesting!

This book touches on the mental stress that people undergo when they are in the spotlight. The worries, demands, and pressure that they face. I liked that this was such a strong theme throughout the book. Each girl has their own secrets that they don’t want to be revealed and the lengths that they will go to hold onto them.

The characters were all so interesting. They each have their own personalities and I loved seeing the friendship form between Delilah, Jasmine, and Fiona. As you get to know each character, so much is revealed about each one. I felt that Sara Shepard did a great job of giving each person layers of personality, making them feel real. The friendships that these girls form are a huge focus throughout the story.

The importance of being you is shown throughout the book, and I think it provides an amazing message. Each character has these secrets they are keeping close, and it makes them feel fake, as though they are hiding away. The lessons that they learn and the resolution to some of these issues drive home how amazing it is to be yourself.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I flew through the pages because I could not put it down. I wanted all the answers!

Content Warnings:
Mental health struggles, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bullying, teen pregnancy, suicide discussion, underage drinking, hiding sexual preference.

To Read or Not To Read:
I would recommend Influence for readers that enjoy a peek into a famous person or influencer’s lifestyle. It will appeal to a younger audience because of the character’s ages, however, I think that a reader of any age will enjoy the book.

I was provided an advanced reader's copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

When I saw that Sara Shepard had written a new book, I requested it immediately. Influence, co-written by Shepard and Lilia Buckingham, definitely reminded me of Pretty Little Liars, but with an updated twist that is set in the world of social media influencers. This book is darker than I am comfortable recommending to my students, but I think it will find its audience among those who are fascinated by the world of online celebrity culture.

I requested this book because of Sara Shepard, having loved her Pretty Little Liars series of books. Then I saw the description and it further screamed READ ME. I love mysteries as much as the next person, but a mystery revolving around teen influencers (or any influencers for that matter)? Count. Me. In. I love the mystery behind internet personas, where everything you see is really questionable if you sit and think about it. If you want some drama and some TEA, read this book.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'll go ahead and admit, this was my first read from Sara Shepard. I've never watched PLL either. When I decided to read this book, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

This book was an incredible ride. I wasn't sure who to root for and who to be suspicious of for the vast majority of the book. There were also times when I completely changed my opinion, then a couple pages later, did a 180 and changed my opinion again.

The book revolves around teenage "influencers." I know nothing about real world influencers. (Unless Jojo Siwa counts? Even then though, all I know about her is that she dances in rainbows and kids love her. I think the character Jasmine may be loosely based on her?) The good news is you don't need to know anything about influencers or Tik Tok or Instagram or whatever in order to enjoy this book. (There's a letter at the beginning from Lilia Buckingham, the 16-year-old influencer who helped write the book explaining that the book is an accurate portrayal of the drama and pressure of social media, to which I give this side tangent: If that is anything close to true, the world of influencers is going to lead us to a real world scenario of this book, and the parents of these literal children need to start strongly considering the dangers that Instagram and Tik Tok are for their children. The rest of this review will be based on the idea that this book is 100% fiction and not at all a possible terrifying reality.)

I would place this book into a genre I like to call "reality tv fiction." It reminds me of those really bad but really good reality tv shows that you feel kind of gross for watching but can't look away from because you have to know where this is going to end. If you're into unnecessary drama, fights, and hook-ups, this is the book for you.

**POTENTIAL SPOILER BELOW**

I give it four out of five stars instead of five out of five stars because I felt like the ending was kind of lackluster. One of my pet peeves for thrillers is when the murderer is someone who has been offscreen the entire time. I really wanted the murderer to be someone the reader had invested in and was rooting for, so things wrapped up too nicely for me. I get wanting a happy ending, but I was really rooting for a risky ending with this one.

Once I found out Shepard had a new book out I knew I had to read it! I absolutely loved her PLL series. This was perfect timing for this book and felt very real world. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Drama! It was awesome!

I enjoyed Pretty Little lIars and reputation. I will be adding this one to my Sara Shepherd collection.

I’ll recommend to anyone who enjoys YA and lots with drama.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book. This is one of those books that I don't want to admit I've read but am secretly telling people to read. I mean that as a compliment. This was a quick, easy-to-digest summer read. I'd say it reminded me of a mixture of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl. The idea of writing a fictional story focused on influencers was a great choice for Sara Shepard. She is continuing to appeal to that late high school/early college audience (though I'm 31 and enjoyed it! Ha.) I wouldn't be surprised if there was a sequel, as the ending left me wanting more.

Enter a world of teenagers who are extremely visible on social media. This book focuses on a core of about six characters and how their lives overlap. When something serious happens to one of them, a few band together to find out what happened.

Opinion

Hear me out. I’m not sure if I loved or hated this book. Sara Shepard wrote this book with the help of Lilia Buckingham. Lilia experienced the world first hand and was able to give insight.

The world portrayed is scary, from a parents perspective. These children are put under so much pressure, from themselves and their advertisers. They need to keep their image consistent so that their fans will continue to follow them, even if they’ve changed from when they were younger. If this is truly what these children go through, I so want to keep my children away from the Internet.

The actual story was good, once you got through the first patch. With there being so many main characters, it took a bit to really figure out what was going on and to be honest, there were times that I got what happened with one character confused with another character.
Once the big problem happened, the story rolled quickly. It was quite interesting how each character felt they had some part in it and also their views on what really happened. The guilty party was definitely a surprise.

Overall, this is a great book but out of my realm of experience. I think that is what left me a bit confused at times.

Hello Again!


This is about to be a huge gush fest of a post because I absolutely adored and 100% loved this book. I know the book wrapped up in a great way and I am still over here like sequel? Could we get a sequel? I honestly did not know this book existed until I saw it on Netgalley made a request and then crossed my fingers that I would get approved but I love Sara Shepard books. I read all of the Pretty Little Liars books (watched most of the show, own all the seasons on DVD so I can finish watching it soon), read the Good Girls books, read the other series that was also a show and watched that one as well. I am just a huge fan of her books. I do not know what it is about them but something draws me in and I can not stop reading. I love every juicy, twisted, drama-filled second and the moment that it is done, I crave more. So honestly, when I got Netgalley approval for an E-ARC of this book, it moved way up my priority read list and I do not regret it at all!


SPOILERS AHEAD


Delilah also known online as the famous Lila D. just moved with her family to L.A. and even though Lila is still in high school she plans to use this move to her advantage and continue to move up in the world of influencing. First thing, attending a party she got invited to by Jasmine Walters Diaz! Another famous teen influencer (she has a larger following than Lila, has lived in L.A., longer, and even has brand deals and T.V. and movie contracts), Lila gets her parent's permission to attend the party and from there she also meets Fiona. Fiona is also an influencer (on the same level as Jasmine) and Jasmine's best friend. The girls hang out a little at the party and exchange numbers, from there Jasmine and Fiona leave early due to prior commitments, leaving Lila at her first L.A. influencer party alone. Feeling uncomfortable Lila heads into a nearby diner to wait out the time until her mom comes back to pick her up. Here she meets a boy, but this boy is not just any boy. He happens to be another famous influencer and part of a mega-famous online ship with millions of fans. Of course, someone spots the pair sitting together and takes a photo from there everything blows up and Lila becomes the mystery girl.


I had to stop myself because I wanted to tell you all so much more about the book but I did want to ruin the best parts! I could not stop reading this book. I got to the end, there was a solid conclusion and still went online hoping to find something about another book. I love the characters, the drama, the whole set up of peaking into influencer's lives, everything was just so amazing and it came together to make this book something I loved. I have already pre-ordered my own copy to add to my Sara Shepard shelf and I can not wait. I was hooked on the mystery until the very end (I definitely did not see that coming by the way). One last thing I wanted to share about the story, I loved all the main characters (Jasmine, Fiona, and Lila) but I was also soo interested in all of Scarlet and Jack's story pieces. I know at the very end Sara teased something and I know it will most likely not result in a second book but I would be totally ready if it did! I am giving this book five stars on Goodreads (if I could I would give it like 100)! Definitely pick this one up when it comes out!





***Thank you to the publisher for the E-ARC

Influence is an in-depth story that pulls back the curtain on the lives of four influencers in Los Angeles. The book is co-written by Sara Shepard, of the Pretty Little Liars series, and Lilia Buckingham, a real-life influencer. Lilia’s insider information on the influencer lifestyle really helps “spill the tea” throughout the book. The writing and storyline is reminiscent of Gossip Girl meets Pretty Little Liars, but it honestly wasn’t quite as compelling as either of the aforementioned series. I was hoping for more mystery/thriller and less influencer background, so I think if I were more interested in the influencer side of things I would have enjoyed the book more. I can see this being a big hit with teens when it is released this summer!

A quick read. Fun look into the lives of young influencers. Multiple narrators, which was initially a little hard to keep track of. Explored mental health, sexuality, and the general pressure to be perfect.

This book shines a light on the dark side of being an influencer.
The story starts off from the perspective of a dead girl. Who is it? I had to keep reading to find out!
The story follows the lives of 4 internet influencers.
Delilah is a newbie and is starting to feel overwhelmed with the pressure of it all.
Jasmine Walters-Diaz is a child star turned successful influencer. She can't seem to shake off her childhood role of Lulu C and be herself lest she loses her fans. The pressure of hiding her true self is starting to wear her down.
Fiona Jacobs is successful, talented and beautiful. However, she suffers from crippling OCD, anxiety and body image issues. Plus, she has a dark secret in her past that someone has just discovered.
Scarlet Leigh is the quintessential mean girl we all love to hate. She has the seemingly perfect life, but how much of that is real and how much of it is curated for her followers?

Being in the spotlight, especially at a young age, is difficult. As spectators, we don't realize just how difficult it is to keep up the persona of perfection, how much one has to hide who they truly are for the sake of fame, and how much pressure they are under. I found this to be a thought provoking novel while also create an intriguing mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was actually quite interesting and very intense. Delilah was a great figure in social media theme, as well as Fiona and Jasmine. I really enjoyed this book

If Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars was thrown in a blender together with IG and the year 2019, this cute little book would emerge. It was an easy, fast read that took my mind off being stuck inside my house, and I enjoyed the look inside the glitzy, sometimes suffocating world of influencers. I did think the mystery was a little unnecessary in terms of what it added to the story being told (influencers have it harder than it appears) and either I totally missed the clues or the culprit came literally out of nowhere...but overall it was a fun read, and I could see it popping up on The CW in a few years.

Influence is a page turner full of scheming and secrets. Delilah is new to LA and intends on moving up in the world of influencers. She quickly befriends Fiona and Jasmine, two popular social media stars that are hiding big parts of themselves. It doesn't take long before Delilah has her own secrets to hide.

I'm a fan of Pretty Little Liars and was interested in checking out Sara Shepard's upcoming release. I went into Influencer knowing that I'm not in the targeted age range. That being said, it was difficult to put this book down! There are a lot of fun subplots to follow and unpredictable twists. It's fun getting a peek into both the perks and drawbacks of being an influencer.

All of the characters could use more personality and development. I found myself picturing them as blank faces and would have to go back to previous chapters because I kept mixing up which details applied to each character. There were a few parts that were so far fetched that it was hard to stay engaged - particularly scenes with Delilah's mom.

I would recommend this book to any YA fans looking for a dramatic, suspenseful, and fun read.

This isn't my normal genre but I picked it up because I loved Pretty Little Liars and it did not disappoint! It centers in a group of LA based social influencers, with chapters alternating between the 4 girls and in some cases, their vlog entries. I read the book in one sitting because it was really interesting and fast paced- I felt like I got a glimpse into a lifestyle that I know very little about, but was able to fully immerse myself for a few hours. I loved that it was co-written by someone who really understands that lifestyle- it added a air of authenticity.

I have very few complaints about the story- I didn't fully understand why Delilah was accepted into this new world so quickly upon moving to LA, and worried about the intentions of all of those around her. This added a tension throughout the story, even when seemly innocuous things were happening.

There were a few twists and turns before finding out what really happened , and each of them surprised me, but were believable. I rarely read a book where I don't figure out who the villain is, and this one got me more than once!

Overall, this was a super fun read and I'd recommend it even to those who normally don't pick up young adult books, or books about the growing genre of social influencers. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pretty Little Liars for the Millennial generation? Just what this social media, vlogging obsessed society ordered!

As soon as I saw that Sara Shepard had a new book up on Netgalley, I hit the request button in the blink of an eye. I have been a fan of Sara’s since the first book in her PLL series hit shelves, and have been religiously reading her books throughout the years since. I was further intrigued by this latest book when I glimpsed the synopsis and read that it centered around the glitzy world of social media stars and influencers and the like. Especially when I saw that an actual influencer, Lilia Buckingham, co-authored it and added some of her own influence to the pages of this novel (haha see what I did there? no pun intended. Okay, maybe just a little.)

Influencers and vloggers have gained in such vast popularity over the past few years, and while I must admit I don’t know much about many of them and don’t really watch many of them, I have watched a few videos here and there on youtube, if only out of curiosity (here’s to looking at you Teala and Sierra!) and must admit there is something alluring and fascinating about the lives they lead. It all looks so glamorous and carefree and easy.

‘Influence’ while fictional, shows us both the glamorous and ugly sides of the competitively glittery, glitzy world of internet stars and influencers.

In typical Sara Shepard fashion, this book is a juicy, scandalous tale filled with dark secrets, drama, jealousy, betrayal, shocking revelations, and even murder. Each of the characters that this book centers around is a famous influencer with something to hide, and as you continue to read, you are left to wonder who has the most to hide and what lengths they are willing to go to in order to keep their secrets from coming out on social media and thus be revealed to their fans and the world.

While this book was enjoyable and fun to read, I have to admit that it wasn’t quite my favorite Sara Shepard book out of them all so far. Even with that being said, I feel that this is the perfect read for the upcoming younger generation of Sara Shepard fans, as it is both a fun, but also cautionary tale of the darkly glamorous world of social media and what dangers may just lurk behind the scenes. More and more of the younger generation are putting themselves and their lives out there on their social media pages for anyone and everyone to see, throwing caution to the wind in the name of fame, and not paying attention to the dark underbelly of this glamorous world, not paying attention to the dangers that may come with sharing their lives on the internet and all of the strangers (and even people they may know, because hey, on the internet you just never know) who may be viewing their content.

All in all, danger and seriousness aside, this was a fun, addicting PLL type of read and despite a bit of a lackluster ending, I could see it having a follow up book, and if Sara Shepard does so decide to write one at some point, I will definitely be picking up a copy!

Not my favorite, but still a fun, quick, alluring read. Definitely recommend!