A solid 3 star mystery. Basic plot with some basic characters who don’t really have any depth. It was a fun read but not anything to write home about .

. At the beginning of the story there was quite a few characters. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to remember who was who. After a while it really wasn’t a problem anymore. Loved the idea that these influencers were “stranded” on a remote island. Then one by one someone was getting murdered. Who’s behind it? Why are they killing them? A good who done it mystery. The plot thickens at the end. Never guessed the outcome! Enjoyable read.

This book is a YA thriller, and while I’m long past YA, I still enjoy reading the genre. This book was a fairly simple, but interesting. read. A group of young adults on an island, some start dying, and they rush around figuring out who is to blame. It actually reminds me a lot of the Christopher Pike books I enjoyed when I was younger. And I mean that in the best way possible!!

There were some twists, and I wanted to finish it to learn everyone’s secret(s). I didn’t love the rationale behind the villain’s anger towards one of the characters , but otherwise, everything else was believable (to a point - I mean - it’s a YA thriller - we’re going to have fun!).

It was a quick book to read, the action starting right away. The idea of the characters being different types of influencers was fun. My main issue was that the story was told from the point of view of 4 different people. So each chapter was a different narrator. I found it to be a bit much - at times flipping back to the chapter heading to remind myself whose POV it was. I usually listen to audiobooks, and unless each character had a unique narrator, I know I would struggle with it.

I rate it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ebook copy of People to Follow which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This book takes a microscope to the lifestyle of media influncers. This group of creators has so much more to hide than you could expect. This made for a thrilling YA read that touches on very important topics. A great debut novel for Olivia Worley.

Ten young influencers. A reality show on a remote island. Stranded with no cell reception or way to communicate with the outside world. They all have something to hide. And then the dead bodies start piling up.

Olivia Worley’s debut novel is sharp, observant, and pulse-pounding. It’s a searing commentary on the dark side of social media and the ugliness that lurks beneath the shiny façade shown to followers. The setting is tense and atmospheric, with the influencers being trapped 15 miles from civilization and facing down a severe thunderstorm. As the characters’ secrets are revealed, each darker than the next, someone is picking them off one by one. Is it their mysterious Sponsor watching via the cameras all over the house, or is the killer in their midst? This story is twisty, turny, and I couldn’t put it down as the shocking revelations kept coming!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance readers edition of this title. My reviews contain no spoilers and are freely given.
A group of social media influencers (all with secrets) are invited to do a reality show called IRL. They will be cut off from the internet and spend 3 weeks on a secluded island. Once there, they soon realize that this show is deadly and being voted off and cancelled = death.
I enjoyed the book. The characters ring true, mainly a bit self absorbed and concerned with their image. It certainly demonstrates that the influencers that people admire are not exactly what they appear to be on your screens. Everyone has secrets….

This is a perfect book to read by the pool! It's a fun, easy and suspenseful story and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!

As most of you may know, I almost never read Young Adult books - because I’m far from a young adult! This one sounded good though, so I gave it a chance, and I’m glad I did; it was better than most YA novels.

There is a new reality show called “IRL” where ten influencers, including three from a collaborative group called “The Bounce House”, will be on a private island with no phones or media of any kind. They will be taped being real people, asked a series of questions, and the losers get #cancelled. Our cast of characters are:

Kira - the health/fitness influencer who was on a reality show called “Dance It Out” with another character,

McKayleigh - the Bounce House influencer with a new clothing line

Elody - the model influencer who calls everyone “babe” and who like, literally says “like” and “literally” in every sentence

Max - A documentarian influencer who is filming the show from the inside while being filmed by the outside

Logan - A now struggling influencer after recently being kicked out of The Bounce House

Cole - An influencer cancelled for rude pranks, now trying to redeem himself

Corrine - the live-streaming Twitch gamer influencer

Zane - a vegan/yoga influencer from The Bounce House

Aaron - a failed actor whose follower base is falling as fast as his hairline is receding, and…

Graham - a Bounce House member having hard time making a promised album

Then, it’s a classic locked-room mystery as one by one, they start dying. It’s clear nobody is coming to help them, despite cameras being all over the house and messages from the Sponsor still coming in. They have no way to escape the island, and most have reason to want to kill.

This was far-fetched and overly-dramatic, but that’s YA - if you like that genre, you might give this five stars. I’m going with 3.5, rounded up for being a debut that’s better than most YA books I’ve stumbled upon!

(Thank you to Wednesday Books, Olivia Worley, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on October 31, 2023.)

3.5 stars.

I liked the concept of this book: social media influencers on an island where things start to go very wrong ala "and then there were none." Maybe it's because I just read "She Started It" which was a very similar concept but I didn't find this super groundbreaking.

I read it fast, enjoyed the multiple perspectives (though found it hard to follow often, and had to flip back to see whose POV we were in).

It's a good YA thriller that really shines a light on how messed up the influencer industry can be and the pressures it puts on the people involved. I guessed about 80% of it, but still had some good surprises.

What lengths would an influencer go to in order not to be cancelled? In this thriller, ten influencers are invited to a remote island to participate in a reality show. While some are excited to participate int he show, others are questioning what drew them to the island in the first place. When the influencers are left alone with mounted cameras rolling, and someone dies, the reality show gets real. Can the influencers determine which one of them has sinister motives before they are all "canceled?"

I really enjoyed how the author wrote each chapter from a different influencers point of view. That said, it also sometimes made it difficult to remember who was narrating because all of the influencers were young and had a very similar voice. I also enjoyed how the author slowly revealed secrets about each of the influencers. All people are made up of light and dark parts, and the way the author made this relatable was great. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers and pop culture, but just be aware of the "gen z speak" throughout the book.

This is the perfect read for anyone who loves thrillers, mysteries, and love pop culture drama. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an electronic advanced readers copy of this novel.

People to Follow by Olivia Worley is a fun, fast read about 10 young influencers who travel to a private island to film a reality show about them being off-grid. Always striving to stay relevant, the experience turns frightening when one of them turns up dead. Fingers are pointed, no one can contact the mainland, and truths become uncovered. Being canceled turns into something much more literal for this group.

This is a YA thriller sort of based on And Then There Were None for the YouTube/TikTok world of today. It was fun. Each chapter was in the viewpoint of one of the influencers, which made it fun. I didn't guess the ending!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝙏𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙪𝙥 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 “𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙” 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨.

This is a YA thriller with the vibes of 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗻𝗲 following ten influencers on a reality show called In Real Life (IRL). I enjoyed the secluded island setting and I was so eager to read this when I was sent an early review copy from the publisher.

We follow four different POVs: Kira, Elody, Max, and Logan. Honestly, none of the influencers are really likable, but some of them definitely brought secrets that made the story interesting.

I thought this book was such an interesting take on how social media affects someone, in this case, it’s 10 different influencers. They each have their secrets and aren’t who they say they are in front of a camera. Fortune and fame definitely get the best of them… until they begin dying off 👀

Honestly, this story was silly and a bit OTT at times… but I still feel like it was enjoyable and a quick read. The Caribbean setting was interesting since they were trapped on the island.

It’s honestly best to go into this one not knowing much. There’s definitely so much drama and secrets being revealed. There were a few twists here and there - some I did predict early on. Also, it does get repetitive at times. I hated how often Elody used the word “babe”.

Overall, I should’ve known this was going to be silly since it’s a YA book following influencers. It does read very juvenile at times, but I think the kills were fun. I liked the idea, but the ending wasn’t my absolute favorite. After finishing the book, I only really cared for 2 characters (but I wouldn’t say I was a die-hard fan of them).

This was fun, silly, and filled with so much drama and secrets. With there being ten influencers I don’t think it was too difficult remembering who was who. Again, this book is cheesy and OTT at times, but I think it’s an enjoyable read for what it is.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the review copies in exchange for my honest review

Young adult influencers struggling to make and keep a name for themselves are invited to a remote island in the middle of nowhere for a relaxing weekend. The invites were kept hush-hush so no one knows who is supposed to be there. Once everyone starts showing up, the fireworks start.

Even though this story is about pettiness and delusions of grandeur, it somehow keeps you guessing and doubting everyone and everything. Well written and recommended.

Three stars - I have very mixed feelings about "People to Follow". Overall, I liked it, but don't think it's groundbreaking to the genre.

On one hand, the story was very compelling and I was truly on the edge of my seat wondering who the killer was!! It took a while to remember which character was which - tbh they were all incredibly unlikeable (I know that's the point) but in the first five chapters or so, there was really not much to distinguish between characters, except for Kira who read as more of the main character to me. I enjoyed the multiple POV's but had some issues with that too, more on that later. Aside from that, Olivia Worley did a great job slowly peeling back the layers of each character and I truly did not know who the killer was for most of the book. I also loved the killers letter at the end and thought it was a great way to wrap up the story. I will definitely be on the lookout for her future works, she is immensely talented.

On the other hand, this also missed the mark for me in a lot of ways. First, I had to check multiple times to make sure this wasn't already published and I hadn't already read it because it was so similar to "Never Coming Home" with the same premise (also based of "And Then There Were None") with similar characters, also influencers, trapped on an island with one killer taking each of them down one by one. Thankfully, I did enjoy this book better than the former. Second, I know Elody calling people "babe" was a huge part of her character, but it was SO annoying to me. There were some moments where I thought there was no way someone would choose to say "babe" here, lol. Third, can we PLEASE stop grouping all men together in the category of toxic masculinity? Look, I'm sorry for whoever hurt you, but there are some really incredible men out there who are intelligent, loving, and kind and we don't need to tear them down just to make ourselves feel better. It's so easy to write beautiful, compelling characters without making comments like, "The bar for men is truly underground". It's just unnecessary and in poor taste. Maybe this is just very triggering to me because the last 3 or 4 books I've read have made many comments about how men are useless and that's just not cool to me. This is not equality, people, misandry is not the solution to misogyny.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but thought it could use some extra editing.

**Spoiler ahead**

I was also slightly disappointed that more than half the island inhabitants lived other than just the killer, but that's just me, lol.

People to Follow by Olivia Worley has an And Then There Were None type plot which is always one of my favorite tropes. I've read more than one book about teens abandoned on a desert island while one by one they're dispatched. Despite a couple of twists towards the end, I felt like I've already read this story before which was disappointing.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this digital ARC.

A cautionary tale about social media, what goes out on the web can come back to kill you.
Ten influencers are invited to a tropical island, ostensibly to be part of a reality show. But when the body of one of the participants is found, the secrets that these influencers have been hiding start coming out and anyone could be the killer and the next victim.
Very much in the vein of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie but updated for the Gen Z demographic.
Some of the characters were likable despite their secrets, others were really hateful. I was especially shocked at the reveal of one of the characters that I had found likable. By the end it was really hard to like anyone, although I understood where some of them were coming from.
Kept me guessing until the end.
Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Olivia Worley for the ARC. The review is voluntarily given.

Ten influencers are stuck on a deserted island under the guise of being filmed for a reality TV show about "unplugging." Meanwhile, someone has a sinister plan for revenge, and when an influencer is found dead, everyone is worried that they have become trapped on the island with a murderer.

The story is told from the point of view of Max, Kira, Elody, and Logan, even though there are six other influencers in the house, plus Tilly, a personal assistant who sets everything up. I was relieved there weren't chapters for every character; it was hard enough to keep up with all the dialogue, and it became overwhelming. I ended up swiping back to check whose chapter I was reading. At this point, my mind started to wander, and I found it challenging to focus; swiping through the pages was not a good sign. I struggled with my choice to keep reading or DNF. It seemed every character had the same personality with no real depth or background, which made the different perspectives very confusing. The characters felt to be one-dimensional. I couldn't connect with any particular character's personality because they lacked real human emotions. They were selfish, self-intitled and whiney. Then again, there were spoiled, rich teenagers.

I'm not in the age demographic for this type of story—so please take the previous sentence with a grain of salt. I think it comes down to a personal choice. I didn't realize it was a YA book. I made a mistake and should not have requested the book. I think the demographic for this book is on the earlier cusp of YA because it reads younger than most YA books. Would I pick this up again? No. Would I recommend it to young readers? Yes! I realize that influencer-based books are not my cup of tea.

I want to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own

Decent and quick read. I appreciated the social media angle as it's a trope I enjoy in my mysteries. I also enjoyed the semi nod to Agatha Christie, though this is in no way Christie. Maybe too many characters to follow. I would read this author again. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for making this available.

Cute beach read, but was definitely a lot more YA-geared than I expected. Characters were all pretty annoying, which ironically worked concept-wise.