When seemingly desperate group of influencers are called to an “experiment” on an island where they must relinquish their phones, you’d expect there would be some drama. But pretty quickly they realize they are more isolated than they thought, as a storm arrives, cutting them off even from the production team. At first, they cope with drinking and party games, and then one of them ends up dead. And another. And another. You are left to wonder exactly who is hunting these kids and why.

OK, this group of influencers is exactly the vapid group of unlikable jerks that you could ever imagine. As long as you know that going in… and that at least, some of them are going to get a brutal comeuppance, it makes the book infinitely more readable. Don’t get me wrong… There was a point when they started playing spin the bottle as adults, literally right after someone died, I thought about DNFing. But, I was actually kind of curious to see how many more would end up dead and why. The ending made sense. I think that’s all I have to say about that.

Thanks to Wednesday Books for gifted access via NetGalley. All opinions above my own.

Overall the book was entertaining. At the beginning I did have a hard time keeping track of who everyone was and how they related to one another. It was also hard to keep track who was narrating each chapter so I would just go back to look. After awhile everything became clearer and it was easy to follow along. The characters can be annoying but I know some are suppose to be unlikable. It was an entertaining slasher.

If you have ever read a book about a bunch of people stuck in one place and one of them dies while the others make stupid decisions, you’ve read this book. The only difference is that every character is so over the top annoying that you kind of want a tsunami to just take them ALL out.

DNF @ 15% - okay, listen I really hate to DNF books, especially those I get as an ARC, but I couldn’t put myself through this. as a millennial, I’m really not at all interested in tik tok, “houses” on social media, reality tv stars online, “celebrities” who just dance and somehow make millions … I just think the target audience for this type of story is for gen z and below. the concept sounded great, and the writing style was excellent, I just really couldn’t get past the influencers and their obsession with each other for no reason. thank you to netgalley and st martins press for the advanced copy!

Ohh my god I was obsessed. I barely remembered the premise when I picked my copy up but I was hooked from the start. As someone who loves Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, it was so fun to try and play along to figure out how everyone related to the original work. I especially loved the way that everyone was lured to the island and then cut off from the rest of the world.

I found it a little hard to follow all the characters, especially with the changing POVs, but that is my only real critique of the book.

People To Follow follows ten young social media personalities stranded on a desert island to film a reality show. Meanwhile, there is someone who has sinister plans for revenge as they start noticing that influencers are showing up dead. The rest are afraid they are trapped on the island with a murderer.

This book reminded me of Pretty Little Liars meets Big Brother and a twist on And There Was None. I loved the concept of unplugged influencers coming to film a reality show with all of their scandals and secrets. The execution of the plot was excellent. However, the story was told from the point of view of several characters, and it took me a while to get accustomed to the many perspectives, which was sometimes overwhelming. It did not help that most of the influencers were not likable and came off as privileged and annoying. None of them had distinct personalities, and the abundance of times each character said babe was nearly enough to make me want to quit. I understand the horrible personalities play into their teen influencer persona, but it was still tough to get through.

The plot itself was great and saved the book for me. The execution of the twist, similar to And There Was None, was done perfectly, and I felt there was enough action to keep me interested. Also, this book looked at the wild effects of being an influencer on their viewers and themselves. This book is still a great debut by Olivia Worrley and an entertaining mystery If you can get pass the influencers’ horrible personalities.

Thank you to NetGallery and to St. Martin’s Press for giving me a copy of the book.

Eh - the story felt too familiar to me. Nothing new. I enjoyed the way the author writes but there were too many POV. Lost interest & didn’t finish. Maybe next time. A beautiful cover though.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

And Then There Were None meets teen influencers trapped on a remote island where they are slowly being killed off or "cancelled" if they don't reveal the truth about themselves... sounds fun! Ten teen influencers are invited to star in a reality show on a remote Caribbean island:

Elody- an instagram model who loves chaos

2. Kira- a child star turned fitness influencer, only looking for a break from social media

3. Logan- disgraced TikTok celeb and former member of the Bounce House

4. Max- YouTuber famous for exposés on his fellow creators

5. Zane- leader of Bounce House

6. Graham- upcoming musician and member of Bounce House

7.McKayleigh- girlboss and member of Bounce House

8. Corriane- Twitch streamer

9. Cole-cancelled prankster

10. Aaron- former actor

All of them are trapped on an island and many of them are hiding terrible secrets, secrets that could destroy them. When bodies start dropping and someone threatens to kill them if they don't start exposing their secrets, tensions will rise as they try and figure out who is the killer and if it is one of them.

I adore And Then There Were None, so this was such a fun read. I love the twist and turns and the overall ending was great. This is a great mystery read that keeps you interested throughout the entire book. Its perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, The Glass Onion, and locked doors mysteries!

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Revenge gone bad or a murderous plot to kill teen influencers. Ten influencers are on an island partaking in a reality show where their only connection to the outside world is Tilly who set everything up. Chapters in this book alternate among four of the influencers on the island. As expected of teen influencers, they were all quite self-entitled and self-absorbed, so it was difficult at times to determine which character was telling the story. This was an interesting premise for a thriller. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of PEOPLE TO FOLLOW by Olivia Worley. I forgot what this book was going to be about in the months between when I got a copy and when I actually read it, and so I was a little shocked by how dark and twisted it got about a third of the way in. It was an interesting modern take on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, including social media influencers. The commentary on the toxicity of influencer culture was on point and definitely important for teens to read about and examine. It also got hard to put down toward the end as the mystery and suspense of the story ramped up higher and higher. It has a creepy feel to it that sometimes had me scared reading it at night. Definitely an intense book with lots of twists and turns. I couldn't look away.

A fast paced thrill ride where a group of social media influencers are all stuck in a house, each with secrets. Someone pulling the strings has dirt on all of them and when people start dying, the group begins to learn none of them can be trusted.

This was a fun read, full of surprises. Each of these people have something to hide, something that could cancel them. Each gets exposed to the group, creating an air of mistrust and disgust.

I like books discussing the toxic environment around influencers, like the personas that don’t personify the real person, the steps they take to “make it” and the grooming that can occur when young people get involved in this whole world.

Thank you to the author Olivia Worley, and publishers Wednesday Books, for an advance copy of PEOPLE TO FOLLOW. Thank you also to NetGalley for the widget. All views are mine.

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. The details are really doing it for me and possibly even glue this story together.

2. Elody is a very interesting piece of character work! (But that linguistic quirk ("Babe!") of hers becomes annoying bordering on rage-inducing.)

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. I don't really believe the story parameters; even the producer in the book says how unbelievable and unprofessional it is that producers would leave all these people alone on this island. And yet, the story proceeds with those parameters.

2. There are so many different perspectives, and with the exception of Elody's "Babe"s, there are no linguistic or tonal differences between them. It's so hard to know who I'm reading from chapter to chapter, since I can't identify the characters by name.

3. Granted, I'm only 60% of the way through this book, and maybe this would change by the end, but this book is a real mess. That's because nothing really happens on the page except endless conversations about murder.

Rating: 📱📱/ 5 smartphones
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: July 27 23, August 28 23
Format: Digital arc, Kindle, SMPI
Read this book if you like:
💄 social media Influencers
😈 mean girls
🍻😱 irresponsible partying as danger looms
⚰️ body count

People to Follow is an incredible debut thriller from Olivia Worley, sure to have readers' heads spinning -- particularly those in the world close to the main characters. I absolutely loved this very twisty turn-y book and cannot wait to follow Worley for her reprisal.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy of this book.

I read to 20% of this book and decided to put it down. Perhaps I am outgrowing the YA genre (although I do still love some YA), but I found this cast of characters despicable. If these characters are what Gen Z is actually like, God help us all. I couldn’t find a single likable characteristic about any of them. Being in their heads was painful and I felt like my IQ was dropping as I read. It felt like horribly executed satire.

This is not to insult the author in any way, it’s just the type of characters portrayed in the story. Big no for me.

I am not posting my review to Goodreads since I did not finish the book.

This book was an interesting thriller and not what I expected. A group of influencers is brought to a private island. Strange things start happening, and characters start showing up dead. The book shifted perspectives between different selfish influencers. I enjoyed this take on cancel culture and influencers. Was very current to the times we live in today.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGallery for this ARC! This story follows 10 online influencers that give up their social media devices for a few weeks to come together on a private island 15 miles from shore to be part of a reality show. All influencers seem to have a past with each other and no one’s really too happy. No one in this book comes off very likable so when they start being killed off your kinda glad they are. Fast paced who done it keeps you guessing but story seems a little loose in the details at times; also the word “babe’”is grossly overused. It also make you think about all the supposed “influencers” we see everyday online and what some will do to boost their view ship.

I spend most of my time reading, not watching TV. When I DO watch TV though, it is always reality TV. People to Follow captures what I love about reality TV on the screen onto the page. This was just plain fun to read on vacation. I was entertained. Does it have high literary value? No. But I didn't care. I was swept up in the story and had fun reading it!

A well done YA thriller that skewers influence culture and has overtones of the classic Agatha Christie novels. It's well written and at times both cringeworthy and funny. It's also hard to root for these people. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, A good read.

What could possibly go wrong when you put ten young social media influencers alone, unsupervised, on a remote private island under the promise of a reality show, in the middle of a storm? In the vein of ‘“Then There Were None’ or more recently ‘She Started It’, People to Follow is a locked room (locked island?) murder mystery about 10 influencers with lots of secrets and grudges are forced together on a luxury private island under the promise of starring in a new reality show, but when one turns up dead and a storm moves in, isolating them on the island without being able to reach the outside world, a mysterious “Sponsor” comes into play, sending ominous messages and past secrets start coming to life and threats of being #cancelled drives the ones remaining to the brink of paranoia, they quickly realize that they’re being played, and it becomes a race against the clock to uncover the threat and get themselves off the island before they become the next dead body. The shifting points-of-view and multiple red herrings keep me on the edge of my seat turning pages until the very end when all is revealed. It’s a YA thriller so expect a fast-paced, tight plot without a lot of effort spent on character development.

This is a really easy reading YA thriller. Ten young influencers on a private island with no phones for a real life reality TV show... what could go wrong? Well, it turns out, a lot. This is told in multiple first person POVs which did get a bit confusing because they weren't unique enough characters to identify whose head you were in each chapter, so I had to double check frequently. Other than that though, it kept me guessing, and I really enjoyed it. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!