📚: People to Follow by Olivia Worley
⭐️: 2/5

10 influencers. 1 isolated island.

…and 1 bookstagrammer wondering WTF did I just read?

While I typically enjoy YA thrillers, this was one that missed the mark for me. A surface-level plot, with an influencer trope, and an ending that just didn’t hit as surprising or shocking. The twists didn’t feel twisty and every single character was unlikeable. (Literally every single one.)

One plus for it being a very (very) quick read. Thank you to St Martin’s Press & Wednesday Books for the digital ARC. People to Follow is out this Tuesday 10/31.

Ommggg this book !!! 😳

This book is a mix of Clue , the real world , & then there was none . So good !!!!
I thought I guessed this book like 3 different times but no ... Theres so much going on & you almost don't even like the people but u need to know what happens & why .
&& bonus it takes place on a private island & duh it's raining. Love the island setting.

Thank u #NetGalley for another 🔥 aRc .

People to follow is a take on the Agatha Christie classic, And Then There Were None. In this very modern update, ten teen influencers are gathered together to a remote island to film a reality tv show. However, upon arrival, they find out there is a mysterious presence dictating their trip and knows their secrets. Soon, the bodies start to drop and the remaining influencers have to figure out who wants them dead and where the threat is coming from. While not a new plot by any means, Worley takes surprising notes from Christie and hits many of the same beats that are often overlooked from updates and homages to Christie’s classic locked room mystery. It is a cleverly done, especially for a Ya mystery! Great finish to the Halloween season reads!

Thanks to the publisher for the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, this was wild!

People to Follow, the debut by Olivia Worley was one that kept me guessing. Big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy to read and review. This YA Thriller hits shelves on TUESDAY!

It is a fascinating premise - a group of teen influencers head to a private island to film a reality show. The idea is that these teens will have to put down their phones and live their lives honestly and without filters, their own editing and content control.

They are in the house for less than 24 hours when one of the group is found dead. They are totally cut off from the rest of the world, and everything they were told about the project seems to not be real.

I thought I knew where this was going several times but was thrilled to be wrong. It was twisty and turny, and kept me on my toes. It is told from the perspectives of all the different influencers which added such different layers - and had me wondering how reliable our narrators were and what secrets they were keeping.

If you are a thriller fan, add this to your TBR list immediately and check it out when it drops on TUESDAY!

People to Follow made for a fun thriller to end the spooky season. There's not much you haven't seen or read before with this thriller, but it was entertaining nonetheless. It's always a plus when I don't figure out the killer or the twists in advance, and it kept me guessing until the very end.

If you're a fan of the movie version of Clue, this book TOTALLY reminded me of that - people locked together, a killer among them, multiple people with a past and a motive to kill.

I gave up on this book. I was just turned off by so many of the characters— which was likely the point, but I didn’t enjoy reading about them. Maybe I’ll come back to it another time but right now I just found them hard to stomach.

I was attracted to the premise of the book. Influencers abandoned on an island and murders pop up. Then as I read what bothered me was the different pov chapters but with shallow characters. It was hard to relate or care for any of them. The story itself is simple and predictable.

People to follow is an awesome debut novel. Kinda like an updated survivor with teenage influencers that you like to hate and a splash of Agatha Christie and then there was none. Definitely a fast paced thriller for me.i look forward to reading more from Olivia Worley.

What an exciting debut thriller People To Follow is! It is fresh, suspenseful and a well developed whodunit story around today's world of influencers and what we see on socials vs what's those people's lives when they are not posting. Those people keep displaying their perfect personality and perfect life while really they pretty much all did things we are not proud of. Some worse than other. Olivia Worley is an author to keep an eye on and I am now following her on Goodreads.
If you are looking for thrill and entertainment, pick this one up!

Thank you Wednesday Books and Net Galley for this e-ARC in exchange of my honest opinion.

Ten young influencers arrive at a remote island to star in a reality show, “In Real Life”, only for one of them to turn up dead hours later. While at first they assume it was an accident, they soon begin receiving messages from their “Sponsor”, forcing them to play along or have their darkest secrets exposed and be “cancelled”.

I’d describe this book as “The Real World” meets “And Then There Were None”, Gen Z edition. I could see younger people in their TikTok influencer era loving this book, but I think I was just too old for it. However, I was looking for an easy, fast read, and this did the trick! Overall, it was a good YA thriller with some decent twists and a fast pace.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for my gifted e-ARC!

Intense, tight, and sinister!

People to Follow is a crafty, ominous tale that sweeps you away to a secluded island where ten teen influencers have gathered to film the latest reality TV show, “In Real Life”, but in a group like this, where tensions are high, fame is coveted, deception is rife, everyone has secrets, and someone has a hidden agenda, death is definitely not out of the question.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are self-obsessed, ambitious, and secretive. And the plot is a suspenseful mix of twists, turns, secrets, deception, manipulation, obsession, greed, jealousy, malicious intentions, vengeance, and murder.

Overall, People to Follow is a cunning, edgy, promising debut by Worley that is an eerie reminder of just how corrosive social media can truly be and just how low some people are willing to go to achieve even just a little fame and fortune.

Group of people stuck on a remote island without any access to the outside world. Not really an original idea as I have read several other books with a similar setting, but this book was just a little bit different than others.

First - there were too many POVs and it was so hard to keep track who was who.
Second - none of these people were likable. Everyone was so freaking annoying.
But overall this was a good mystery; fast paced and entertaining. I would say it is more suited for young adults than mature readers so keep that in mind when you decide to pick it up.
Third - love the cover!

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

People to Follow is young adult thriller about a group of young people who travel to a private island to film a reality show and instead are murdered one by one by an unknown “sponsor”.

A group of ten influencers who are internet famous are lured to a tropical island under the guise that they will be filming a reality show. But when they quickly lose contact with the mainland, mysterious messages start appearing and the bodies begin to pile up they realize that they’ve been brought there for a different purpose…punishment. The survivors will have to figure out who would want revenge against them and why.

This was an entertaining beach read type teen thriller. Despite the various first person POV’s I didn’t really feel strongly about any of the characters or think they jumped off the page. The reveal of who is behind the murders and why was kind of a convoluted let down that fell a little flat. But overall this was fast paced read that kept my interest.

3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

People to Follow is a locked room mystery involving ten content creators (influencers) who get invited to a remote island to star in a reality show. What starts as an exciting getaway soon devolves into a deadly game of cat and mouse. It becomes a game that could end each of their careers for good.

The plot unfolds through multiple points of view. I seem to think, however, that the better delivery for this novel would have been through a single point of view due to the novel’s theme. I got lost several times and it became a little frustrating to constantly refer to the table of contents to determine whose point of view I was reading.

The characters were not distinguishable from one another. They all seemed to have the same personality regardless of their gender. Perhaps it was this lack of character development that was the root cause of me losing my way in the novel.

There were a number of plot twists which made for a suspenseful whodunit. Despite the lack of character development, it was the plot twists that kept me moving forward until the surprising finale. Four stars.

I received a DRC from St. Martin’s Press & Wednesday Books through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

Ten teen influencers agree to a reality show and end up stranded on a private island. But when rivalries turn deadly, how many will make it off the island alive?

This story was just pure entertainment. I’ve been enjoying stories with influencers lately because it is so now, and there is so much there to work with. Influencers are creating an illusion, but everyone believes that everything on their feed is real - that difference in expectations creates situations fraught with potential, as is seen in this story.

There are some plot holes, but really, I was okay with that because the payoff was worth it. This story is entirely fast-paced and full of shocks, twists, and loads of tension that kept me on the edge of my seat. I also loved the reality show angle on top of a cast of influencers - it makes it much more fun.

The characters, particularly the main ones, are really complex as they fight with the ramifications of being an influencer. I loved how deep the development goes and how authentic their struggles are while also being over-the-top for entertainment purposes. The narration is in the first person but alternates between five influencers. Sometimes, that could get confusing, but overall, I enjoyed this fun YA thriller.

This book was a lot of fun! Obviously, it had its grittier moments, since it's a murder mystery situation, but it was still very entertaining. The characters , some of whom are absolutely The Worst™, and some of whom are probably just misunderstood, are from various social media genres. Most of them have some deeper issues, but they all have that sudden internet fame in common. We get to hear from most of the group in chapters of their points of view, which is fun. I was afraid it would be overwhelming, but for the most part it was done really well. I think it worked too, because the POVs all offered something different: seriousness, acerbic wit, denial, etc. So it changed things up, kept it fresh.

Anyway, I won't say too much because hello, mystery. But this book was incredibly entertaining, and I quite enjoyed it. I may have wanted a wee bit more from the end, but overall the story kept me guessing and turning the pages, and I consider that a win!

Bottom Line: Very fun take on the "influencer" culture, and entertaining to boot!

What a wild ride in the best way! This book had multiple POVs, multiple twists, multiple suspects, and multiple murders, and I did not want to put it down! I finished it at a coffee stop with my friend and every last 5% or so had to keep updating her 😂. The pacing was great, the characters were morally questionable, and they just kept revealing secret after secret.

It gives me feelings of Pretty Little Liars with Knives Out Glass Onion mixed with TikTok, and of course is full of teens behaving badly. I love being completely surprised with the ending and the surprises in a book, and this absolutely delivered on that. An incredible debut and a must for your fall tbr!!

I was very excited to get into this book! The cover sold me at the beginning with how pretty it is and I bet you wouldn't expect this to be a mystery book at first glance. Ten influencers show up to a remote island and someone ends up dead within the first night there... now was it an accident or was someone behind it??

I enjoyed the story, but I struggled to keep up with the 10 characters. There were 4 POVs throughout the story and it was a bit much to keep switching between whos background I was learning about. I highly recommend making a list to keep track of who is who and small details to go along. The drama really made the book and I tried to guess who might of been behind it, but didn't see it coming. There was one part that didn't quite make sense, that didn't quite add up and make sense.
The ending was tied up quickly and didn't answer all my questions, but didn't leave one to wonder what happen. The beginning felt like information overload, but once all the characters are introduced, you'll start flying by in the book. Overall, a good mystery read and I liked it but not my favorite due to the amount of characters you have to know.

What a wild and crazy locked room, I mean locked island, story. A group of social media influencers signed up for a reality series on a secluded island called IRL. They won’t have their cell phones or access to social media. But these top influencers aren’t really at the top of their game. Each person has done something or is loosing followers and they all fear the lose of the limelight so they decided to do this show. Little do they know - they were each chosen for a specific reason and they might be #cancelled.
Following 4 different POVs we learn about why each of these influencers can be cancelled and what their deepest darkest secrets are. Fast paced and with a surprising twist I did not see coming. Only issue I really had was that it was definitely written for a younger audience that understands or cares about all the social media references and slang. But the big twist made it all worth it.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵. 𝘕𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦? 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳."

I LOVE me a good murder mystery, especially when it's a group of people and I genuinely don't know how it's going to end. This book absolutely kept me coming back for more and wanting to know who did what! And what their secrets were.

I can honestly say I did NOT see that ending coming. LOL

And the people you're supposed to hate? You absolutely do 😅

Plus you get a "behind the scenes" look at the life of an "Influencer" and learn that not everyone is who they appear to me on your phone screen!

Thank you to @stmartinspress, @wednesdaybooks and @netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review!
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