Ten influencers are brought to an island for a chance to relax and unplug in the newest reality TV show.  They quickly realize something is wrong when one of them ends up dead.  With no way to contact the outside world, cameras watching their every move, and a faceless "Sponser" telling them to vote on who is canceled next, it seems like they might not make it out alive.

This alternates between the points of view of four of the characters in the story. This serves to give the reader more and less information on the events taking place. While we are privy to four different thoughts and feelings, we are also jumping from event to event as the plot progresses in a linear fashion with each point of view. It is unclear who is trustworthy or whose thoughts and actions match up.  The switch between the characters helps accomplish this and also slightly confuses the reader. The characters at times also had similar thoughts and feelings, I wish they had a little more depth or differences.   Most seemed privileged and entitled, and that was the extent of their chatacter development.

I got the immediate impression that it was a current version of And Then There Were None while reading this.  Slowly, one by one, someone dies, and you're not sure what's going on.  They are on a remote island and have no way to get in contact with anyone.  The ending was hard to predict because it was rather sudden.  I'm not sure if we were meant to predict who the "Sponser" is because there weren't a lot of clues pointing that way. While it was an interesting twist, I'm not sure how likely it would actually be.  I definitely recommend checking this out if you enjoy murder mysteries. It was a solid debut novel.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Oh wow!! Definitely an intense ride in the world of influencers! Excellent writing and Olivia made the characters seem real. Great suspense and drama throughout, was surprised by the ending as well!

Ten influencers have been selected to unwind for three weeks and take part in a reality television show. It’s supposed to be the opportunity of a lifetime and they’re all excited.

When the production team shows up, things go sideways and one of them meets a violent end. There is no way to reach the outside world, and the influencers start to receive threatening messages from a mysterious Sponsor. With the body count rising, and cameras tracking their every move, will they figure it out before they get cancelled for good?

I love YA Thrillers and this one was fun, but it was lacking a bit of substance for me. There were so many points of view, and so many of them meshed together. Honestly, it felt like there were only two to three points of view, but there were not. The characters just didn’t have the individuality needed for a book with so many points of view and they were all so unlikeable it was hard to find something that made me root for them. The premise of the story was entertaining. I enjoy reading about influencers and this one had a fun twist. It did remind me of some other remote island / locked room type thrillers, but not so closely that it ruined the book for me.

I think those just looking for a quick escape will enjoy this book and have a lot of fun with it.

Thank you so much to St Martins Press, Minotaur Books and Netgalley @Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

T H R I L L E R 🔪 T H U R S DAY mini review featuring “People to Follow” by Olivia Worley.

Ten teenaged influences arrive at a remote Caribbean island to star in a new reality TV show, “In Real Life”. They were offered three whole weeks to “unplug from reality” on the island and just be themselves without any filters … while surrounded by hundreds of tiny cameras of course 🎥

When someone winds up DEAD, it becomes clear that this group of influencers have been lured there for one reason: REVENGE!!! Will their ultimate cancellation result in death?? Or will they escape before it’s too late??

I am not one to normally read YA, but this was a FUN one day read! Thank you kindly to @wednesdaybooks @stmartinspress @olivia.worley @Netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on October 31, 2023!

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Olivia Worley for an ARC of People to Follow. I really enjoyed the concept of the story and following around different influencers for this twisty novel! It did get a bit confusing at times trying to remember whose POV it was and who did what, but overall it was enjoyable. The only characters that seemed the most “normal” was Kira, who you’ll get a POV from, and Corrine which you won’t. I liked how everything tied into together and the twist seeing who the Sponsor was. If you enjoyed Among Us, you’ll enjoy this book lol!

If you're a fan of locked door mysteries in the vein of And Then There Were None, this book is for you! It's a fun race against the clock to figure out who is the sponsor and ultimately responsible for the chaos that has taken hold with these ten influencers, all horrible people really - but that's what keeps it fun. As the inhabitants start to dwindle in numbers, and more secrets are revealed it becomes clear that noone is leaving this island unscathed, but will they stay alive? You gotta read it "babe"!

Unfortunately, this book is hard to get into because there are so many characters up front that keeping track of them is difficult. However, if you can push through this, you will enjoy it. It's like an MTV reality show in book form. You just can't imagine what you're gonna read next!

*Thank you Olivia Worley and St. Martin's Press for a free e-book ARC in exchange for honest review*...*SPOILER FREE.*

Expected publication date: October 31, 2023

10 young adult influencers are invited to an island to "unplug" away from civilization when a dead body drops in (ha) and it all unravels from there.

Let me start by saying this is more YA style than I usually read. That being said, I think Olivia Worley did write it in a very good, mature way that isn't startlingly YA. It's a forced proximity/deserted island/And Then There Were None/multiple POV style, so if you like those then this would be up your alley. She wound the tale very wall. I found the first bit a little dry and slower, but once it got going it got me into it. The only POV I mildly struggled with was Elody's because she talks like an 18-year-old Valley Girl, which makes sense, given who she is. The POVs weren't confusing otherwise and were easy to follow. At first I couldn't remember who all was there (which happens with 10 characters) and who had what backstory, but it was easy to keep straight once you get going. Once I hit about 30% in, that's when it really picked up and was in true whodunnit style. I did eventually forget they were teens until it would be brought up what age they are, so I liked that it came across more mature (since I am, after all, a 31 year old curmudgeon). I liked waiting to see what each character's story was and I didn't guess the ending - so that's a plus in my book! I'd recommend this book to others.

If you have ever watched the tv show Pretty Little Liars, then this book is the book for you, it definitely gave me those types of vibes between the texts and clues…. Definitely a good read was kind of iffy at first but overall I really stay involved trying to figure it all out!

10 influencers are put on a remote island in order to film a reality tv series where they have be unplugged for three weeks. Each has a secret they are keeping, and will be revealed unless they want to be canceled, which has a completely different meaning than you think.
Although I don't think this book was targeted for me, it kept me entertained and I finished it rather quickly. A great debut by the author.
Thank you to St-Martin's Press, Olivia Worley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This young adult novel is about teenage influencers, which a lot of teens could relate to as they want to be an influencer. The use of a secluded island and a reality tv show will make teens wants to pick this book up to read.

People who loved the movie Glass Onion will really enjoy the new YA novel People to Follow by Olivia Worley.
People to Follow has ten famous influencers fly to a remote island to be on a reality show. Some are in the “Bounce House”, some are streamers, and some are workout influencers. They are all there to unplug while also hoping this reality show will help their career. But when one person winds up dead, they start turning against each other.
This book was cute, and I could really connect with the social media influencer theme. I could picture the real-life social media influencers these characters were based on. I just had a tough time keeping track of each character and what their influencer profession was. It was often hard for me to follow the story line with these characters, and since this is YA, I am afraid it will be the same for teens. It took me a little long to get through, but the ending did have a good twist that made the book more entertaining. 3 out of 5 stars for me!

I think I would have eaten this book up when I was in the YA demographic. I didn't realize this was a YA book before requesting — I am usually much more selective with the YA I read — and therefore struggled a bit with the book. As an adult, the character's lacked the depth I want and expect from a thriller, and the writing was more simplistic than I prefer. For my personal taste, this is probably a two star book, but considering YA reader, it would be closer to a four. So, I averaged it to 3. While I didn't care for this, I would buy it for a middle schooler who was interested in testing out thrillers as a genre — it would be a great entry point for those readers!

When ten influencers arrive at a remote island, they expect to film a reality show about unplugging from their social media-centric lives. They don't expect their darkest secrets to be revealed and to learn that on this island, being "canceled" leads to your death. This was a fun locked room mystery, filled with twists and turns and plenty of red herrings. I liked that it was told from four different perspectives and that none of them were reliable narrators. It also handled a lot of important issues surrounding modern influencers and the role of social media. But the way the characters spoke, full of slang and "babe" in every other sentence, made it hard to read. Also, the characters were all terrible people and insufferable, which made sense in context but made it difficult to care if they survived. I was more interested in the reveal of who was behind the murders to see who it was than to know that the remaining characters would survive. But overall, I enjoyed this fast-paced mystery, and it's a great debut novel by Olivia Worley!

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. I think this will be well loved by the YA crowd. It had a great plot but I did have trouble with the storyline at times. I think it just wasn't meant for me. I would recommend for YA and teens.

Really fun read, especially for folks who are perpetually online and live for reality TV. Occasionally the multiple perspectives were a little hard for me to follow and I had trouble remembering which characters were famous for what reason. But that could have been a me problem. I could definitely see this being a fun teen slasher movie or series.

THIS BOOK! I stayed up wayyyyy to late finishing it in one sitting. A dark and twisty YA thriller and an effectively scathing indictment of influencer culture. I LOVED IT!.

An engaging story, although a bit uneven and with some character-voice struggles (if you're going to write a story from multiple points of view, those points of view should probably not sound exactly the same!). I'm not the target audience for YA, but I think younger YA readers will love this book.

I love a good YA thriller but I just was NOT the target audience for this one. DNF. I know social issues are important but I feel like a lot of people read to escape our current world, and filling a thriller with constant social justice dialogue felt unnecessary and forced. Took me out of the story completely.

Olivia Worley will definitely become fan favorite for teens and young adults. People to Follow was a slow burn right from the starts but as the dead body pops in to the story line, Then you read on in to plot of the story. You might just figure out who did it.
Thanks again for the opportunity to read this ARC.