Cancel culture has met its match in People to Follow (PTF). A YA book, maybe a young YA, that is definitely on point with the current cyberslang used liberally throughout the story by the main characters, internet sensations all. I can see how PTF by Olivia Worley can inveigle itself right into a Netflix limited series such is the appeal of all things YouTube, IG, Twitch, tiktok, influencers, gamers, followers, brand ambassadors, and more. Bringing the newest trope to the thriller genre, PTF bands a group of teens and young adult influencers to an island under the guise of a social media break via a Big Brother-esque mansion. No cell phones allowed. Except for the sponsor is videoing everything. Each contestant has been provided a wristwatch with which they receive messages from the sponsor. Soon ten participants are nine. Being cancelled is a real career killer.
PTF will have the reader trying to guess who will be cancelled next.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and St. Martin's Press for access to an early review copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Ten teen influencers; stranded on a remote, luxury island filming a reality show.
No contact with the outside word.
One dead body.
The looming threat of being canceled.

Let me preface by saying that I am absolutely not the target audience for this novel. There was no way for me to feel connected to this cast of characters. While that’s all fine and dandy, it made a lot of their issues feel very surface-level and inconsequential. A group of selfish and entitled teens isn't exactly my cup of tea.
Being told from six different points of view was almost a hindrance to the story. There was no discernible difference in personalities or ways of speaking between them, it got confusing at times.
While it took me forever to get into it and several times of questioning if I would even bother finishing, I’m glad I did. The story really does pick up about halfway through and has a few nice twists thrown in that I didn’t see coming.
With an interesting take on the dark side of social media fame and cancel culture, I would recommend this book to those who are looking for a low-steaks, twisty read. (If you can look past all the shallow teen angst, Babe.)

Thanks to Netgalley for the free review copy.

Ten teenage influencers are invited to a remote island to film "In Real Life," a reality show where they live unplugged for three weeks. With several friends-turned-enemies invited, the influencers quickly realize that the producers are looking for maximum drama. When the production crew fails to show on the first day and one influencer dies, they realize they are trapped on the island without any way to escape. A mysterious "Sponsor" is pulling strings backstage, revealing their secrets to the entire world as more influencers end up dead.

People to Follow was an over-the-top young adult thriller that was still an addictingly good read for me. At first, I had to make a cheat sheet of all the characters but, once I sorted them all out, I was completely hooked. Worley masterfully manipulates this isolation thriller, adapting the And Then There Were None trope to a younger generation of readers. With plenty of drama and a few excellent twists, People to Follow has all the delicious beach read vibes that make it a quick fun read.

While I couldn't relate to this YA thriller as much as I hoped, I was kept on the edge of my seat as 10 influencers are stranded on a deserted island and chaos ensues.

Told from various perspectives there was a lot going on, but it made sense when considering the plot and the scenarios these kids (yes kids) are in.

I think that I am above the age demographic here because I could not read the inner or external dialogue without cringing.

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

easy to follow, interesting and unique subject. kept me guessing until the end! i did think the characters could’ve been a few years older - seemed like quite a bit for them to go through at such young ages, but i know a lot of the tik tok houses are full of teenagers as well so it didn’t detract too much from the story.

A group of influencers sent to a remote tropical island to relax and unwind, until they slowly start getting picked off one by one.

I was honestly super intrigued by the premise, and while I did enjoy People to Follow, I hated how many POVs there were and the constant switching between them was confusing to follow at times.

Olivia Worley's captivating novel, "People to Follow," takes readers on a suspenseful and chilling journey into the dark side of influencer culture. Set against the backdrop of a remote Caribbean island and the enticing premise of a reality show gone awry, this gripping thriller explores the dangerous consequences of social media fame and the high price of being "cancelled."

The story centers around ten young influencers, each with their own unique online personas and massive followings. As they embark on the reality show "In Real Life," where they are forced to disconnect from the digital world, their lives quickly spiral into chaos when one of them is found dead. What was supposed to be an opportunity for exposure and stardom turns into a nightmare as the group becomes stranded on the island, cut off from civilization.

Worley masterfully weaves together a suspenseful narrative that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. As the body count rises and tensions escalate, the remaining influencers are confronted with a chilling reality: they are trapped in a deadly game orchestrated by a mysterious Sponsor. Threatening messages and the revelation of their darkest secrets force the group to question not only each other's motives but also their own vulnerabilities.

The characters in "People to Follow" are skillfully crafted, each with their own secrets and complexities. From Elody, the impulsive Instagram model, to Max, the YouTuber known for his exposés, and Kira, the former child star turned fitness influencer, their struggles, fears, and flaws are laid bare as they grapple with the escalating danger around them.

The remote island setting adds to the novel's atmosphere of isolation and suspense, as the characters are left to fend for themselves without any means of communication or escape. The constant surveillance from hidden cameras serves as a stark reminder of the invasive nature of social media and the ways in which their lives are constantly under scrutiny.

This book delves into the dark underbelly of fame, the impact of social media on our lives, and the lengths people will go to protect their secrets. Olivia Worley delivers a thought-provoking and intense story that will leave readers questioning the consequences of seeking validation in a digital world where the pursuit of likes and followers can have deadly consequences.

The premise is PERFECT - we needed a book like this one.

This was one of my most anticipated fall reads - and with a cover like that, how could you not pick it up?

Synopsis:
Welcome to “In Real Life,” the hot new reality show that forces social media’s reigning kings and queens to unplug for three weeks and “go live” without any filters. IRL is supposed to be the opportunity of a lifetime, watched closely by legions of loyal followers. But for these rising stars--including Elody, an Instagram model with an impulsive streak; Kira, a child star turned fitness influencer; Logan, a disgraced TikTok celeb with a secret; and Max, a YouTuber famous for exposés on his fellow creators—it’s about to turn into a nightmare.
When the production crew fails to show up and one of their own meets a violent end, these nine little influencers find themselves stranded with a dead body and no way to reach the outside world. When they start receiving messages from a mysterious Sponsor threatening to expose their darkest secrets, they realize that they’ve been lured into a deadly game…and one of them might be pulling the strings.
With the body count rising and cameras tracking their every move, the creators must figure out who is trying to get them canceled—like, literally—before their #1 follower strikes again.

Thoughts:
Overall I thought this one started out strong, but near the middle through to the end, I quickly grew bored. This book had a great premise, especially in the age of influencers. I was really intrigued by it, but unfortunately fell short of expectations. It was a fun read and definitely more of a guilty pleasure read, but ultimately predictable.

I'd like to start with the positives before I discuss the things I did not like about this book. Once I really got into the story, it kept me hooked until the end. I was reading this before bed last night and after a few times of going "just one more chapter" I accepted that there was no way I was sleeping until I got to the end.

The other thing I really enjoyed was that overall the story felt believable, which was something I was a little concerned about. It could have been very easy for this book to go completely off the rails in a bad way, but in my opinion it stayed right on the edge between "just right" and "too far". Obviously there's still some suspension of disbelief required, but that's just the nature of fiction.

A lot of people have mentioned how unlikeable most of the characters are but honestly that didn't bother me because that's pretty much just a guarantee in a book like this. If you start killing off characters early in a book you've got to find a way to get readers invested and it's way easier to convince somebody to hate a character quickly than it is to love them.

Now on to the bad, one big issue I had with the book actually had little to do with the story itself. I understand that if you are using multiple POVs, you need to let the reader know who is speaking at any given time, but this information does not need to be included in the chapter list. Because of this, one of the twists was spoiled. While it wasn't the end of the world, I wish I had been able to be surprised by that reveal.

Secondly, related to the multiple POVs, I feel like there were too many. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more if the author had stuck to one or two main POVs and occasionally included a chapter from the "killer's" POV without actually revealing their identity. Because of how many POVs there were, it was incredibly easy to determine who was going to make it out alive(and therefore who the actual suspects were).

Overall, I did enjoy this book and I will definitely be checking out more from this author whenever she releases another book.

I looooved this book, I tore through it and it was so interesting! I usually guess the killer and I didn't in this one. I don't think it's exceptional or anything but I will definitely be recommending it to friends and followers! It gave me heavy Wendy Heard vibes, especially You Can Trust Us.

A group of influencers come together on a remote tropical island. They are there to unplug and relax but “the sponsor” has other plans for them. It is a social experiment gone wrong.

Slowly the influencers one by one start getting murdered. This is the classic “who done it” book that makes you want to figure out who the real murderer is. There are lots of twists and turns that get you to second guess who really is behind all this.

I rated this book three stars because I thought it was a unique twists to a very popular plot. I have read many books about groups of people stranded on an island with no way to connect to the main land. However, I thought the influencer perspective gave a new flare to a very overdone plot. There were a lot of names that were kind of hard to keep track of who was who. I was constantly going back to see whose chapter I was reading. The perspective changes every chapter.

Each influencer was given a watch which they would receive messages from their sponsor on, but the transcripts from the watches would occasionally pop up and I feel like they didn’t add much to the story.

If you like books about being stranded in a remote place with a killer this book is for you!

Read if you liked:
◾️One by One written by Ruth Ware
◾️Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger
◾️She Started It by Sara Gilbert

This is a very competently executed YA take on my all time favorite trope - the isolated closed circle thriller popularized by And Then There Were None. If you like that plot, this will deliver. For me, there was something missing in terms of character and connection. It just didn't have as much suspense for me because I didn't care that much about the people in danger. That will vary greatly from reader to reader, though, so I would certainly recommend this to anyone who likes this kind of thriller

This book was pure escapism. A fun little mystery with characters that you won't like but will keep you turning the page. The author does a great job of having clearly defined characters and keeping the story engaging. Thanks for the advance review copy.

This is one of those books you will love or hate... or not know where you stand the way I was. I think the story is big with influencer and their relevance in this time, but these characters...I couldn't stand most of them and was almost cheering when they were killed off. The writing was well but choppy. All it was more even if the road for me.

I liked the premise of this book: Ten teen influencers come to a remote island to star in a reality show and it turns deadly. It sounds exciting, but unfortunately it was poorly executed.

Firstly, it was impossible to keep track of who was who with ten characters. And although the story was told from the point of view of only four, I had to keep flipping back to keep track of that too. Most importantly, there wasn't one likeable character to boot. They were all vapid, insidious, spoiled teenagers and the best part of the book was finding out in what manner they were killed. I honestly didn't even care who the killer was which is usually the best part of a murder mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publication date is October 31, 2023.

This novel was so capitaviting - I was invested in all of the characters and could not put the book down! Surprised that this is Worley's debut and excited to read her future work.

It's an easy read and the mystery had me guessing until near the end. It had many ingredients for a good book, but some of them went bad and got a little of the fun it had the potential to deliver.

2.5 rounded up.

It starts with a bunch of influencers invited to a new reality show on a private island. But soon, it's revealed the plan of whoever is sponsoring this show goes much beyond just putting them together with the people they hate the most. This is a bit of a thriller, of the kind that everyone has a bad thing to hide, and one of those things is that they may be a killer, or maybe someone else they can't see is. That also gets the story closer to horror, especially because someone is definitely a psycho, whether they're among them or hiding somewhere. But truths are coming up and those voted by the group end up dead.

The story is told by four different characters in different stages of their lives as content creators. My first problem with the book was exactly this. I had no way to differentiate who was narrating. Their voices, even though they were characters with different personalities, were all the same. So while the author managed to get me to know each of the participants of the show, I was always going back on the pages to remind me again who was narrating the chapter.

Of course the story has also been done in multiple ways. A lot of it reminded me of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, though we don't know if we're really dealing with a closed-room mystery or if someone did manage to hide themselves somewhere. But at a point I was about to look for the poem to check.

And here we reach the other issue. I'm not sure the planning was thorough. Of course you can't just make it up as you go in a story like this, but I started losing trust in it being able to amaze me way too soon because the happenings felt more that they were there to give you a little scare than to move the plot. Which made it predictable. The moment the story was about to drag, someone would die. And you even knew who that someone was. Of course we get some sort of explanation in the end of why this happened, but I read it read more like the writer recognizing it than the character.

Since I'm mentioning the ending... no spoilers, don't worry. But I'm not a fan of getting a long letter at the end of mystery books explaining what the story should have already. I'm grateful they didn't let those points become loose ends, but just because now I know what happened. Because the feeling is the same.

It's still a good story. It's not super predictable even if the trope has been overused. You'll probably enjoy it despite all the flaws.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

This was such a fun quick read! I read it in about a day a couple of months ago (sorry for the late review!) and just loved it!

Ten influencers set out to compete in a reality show. “In Real Life” is set on a remote island where there have to unplug for three weeks. THREE weeks without their phones, what’s an influencer to do?! Complicating their situation is the fact that one of them ends up up dead.

I think this was a fantastic debut! The tension amongst the characters was definitely palpable as they tried to navigate life without their phones. But as a Young Adult book, I definitely am not the target audience lol. I think those who enjoy Young Adult novels, especially Young Adult thrillers, would love this one!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday Books for the ARC! “People to Follow” releases October 31, 2023!