First things first: this cover is GORGEOUS.
I definitely feel like People To Follow works best as a binge read. I started slowly at first and I was so confused by all the characters and POVs (and, tbh, the lingo since I’m old and not hip with all the social media influencer jargon). But once I got everything straightened out and had time to read read read, I really enjoyed this book.
It reminded me of I Know What You Did Last Summer - for all the millennials thinking of picking up this YA thriller.
The secrets were pretty wild and I was on the edge of my seat. And it’s an excellent cautionary tale to take everything you see on social media with a grain of salt.
It’s very youthful, but I feel like anyone remotely savvy can get into this one.
The One star removed for the POV confusion and the fact that this one might not age super well, but it will definitely be a current hit.

This was kind of all over the place and I still don’t really know what I think. It was not what I was expecting though. Not in a good way either.

Thanks so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC copy of this book!

I have scheduled promotional posts around release day for this book and I will provide a full review on my Instagram once I am able to get to this read.

Rating 5 stars on Netgalley as a placeholder for me to update later once the review is complete.

Will also complete a review on Goodreads once read.

Thanks again!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: October 31, 2023
“People to Follow” is the debut novel by author Olivia Worley. Labeled as a young adult mystery novel, mostly for its millennial social media content, it was one of those novels that I (definitely not a “young adult” in any way) was able to fly through in one day.
Ten teen influencers are invited to a remote island retreat with only one caveat- they must leave their cell phones at home. There are cameras in every room of course, belonging to the television show “In Real Life”, designed to observe the teens’ every dramatic move. But first, the production crew doesn’t show up (apparently as the result of an incoming storm), and then, the teens begin receiving messages from someone known only as their “Sponsor”, who threatens to “cancel” them if they don’t do what they’re instructed. But “canceling” has a whole different meaning when, one by one, the influencers start turning up dead. With no phones, no Internet and no access to the mainland the remaining teens are forced to accept that the murderer might be one of their own.
“People to Follow” has similar vibes to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”, with a modern twist. Four of the ten characters alternate narration; Elody, the Instagram model, Kira, the fitness influencer, Logan, the disgraced TikTok star and Max, the documentarian sent to film it all. All of the characters have just enough personality differences to be able to separate them from the other teenage influencers, although it’s a bit confusing at the beginning. Worley ensures that all her protagonists have a deep secret, making each and every one a possible suspect.
The novel flows well and the twists and turns are abundant. “Follow” is not creative or unique in its premise, but it is engaging and suspenseful, and I couldn’t stop reading! The ending was entirely unpredictable yet deliciously satisfying and conclusive. To think that this is a debut novel? Give Worley all the credit she deserves and know that I will be first in line to read her next piece of work.

Thank you so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This kept me on the edge of my seat! It was thrilling and exciting and something I really enjoyed reading. I loved the plot and the idea and I am so glad I got the opportunity to read this so I can shout about it on socials! Definitely recommend giving this one a read!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes going in to this book, but it just wasn't for me. I struggled to keep track of all the different characters because of the numerous POVs. I would have preferred having one or two POVs but I understand why it was done this way.

The mystery was really well done, i didn't see the ending coming at all which is a plus for me! Wanting to know the ending kept me reading this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers, and avid fans of reality TV!

Thank you netgalley for the arc. I loved this. I think this would make a great movie. Didnt see the twists coming.

This is a fantastic YA mystery read! I was hooked and read the entire thing in an evening. I was skeptical about a book based on influencers at first, but it wasn’t cheesy at all!

The story follows a group of influencers as they join a reality TV show on an island where they are forced to disconnect from all things tech. What starts as an opportunity for them to boost their fame, quickly shifts to a life threatening situation as secrets are exposed and a person is murdered.

Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the gifted ebook of People to Follow! All opinions in this review are my own.

A group of influencers sign up to be a part of a reality show where they unplug from their social media accounts for a few weeks. After their phones are taken, the influencers spend their first night on the island partying. When they wake up in the morning, one of them is dead. Was it an accident or intentional? Can they trust each other or should they watch their backs?

If you want a modernized version And Then There Were None, then you have to read People To Follow! In typical thriller fashion, I couldn't put this book down!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC of People to Follow in exchange for my honest thoughts!

I'll admit that when People to Follow opened up with its multiple POVs and Gen-Zers who are practically screaming "I'm hiding dark secrets," I was ready for this to become another tropey YA/NA thriller. But it ended up simultaneously repelling and enthralling me with the various despicable levels of humanity that these youths are willing to sink to. Seriously, there were several points where I had to pause my reading in order to process the unnerving shit I'd just learned about a certain character. Not that I'm complaining, because it helps to flesh them out into these deeply, deeply flawed scumbags. Granted, that's not spread throughout all the characters, a few of whom are saddled with relatively one-dimensional writing. But the rest of the intriguing ensemble makes up for them.

I must say, I got a good kick out of how strongly this thriller is evocative of Bodies Bodies Bodies, one of my favorite movies of 2022. There's so much paranoia pervading the environment as these teenagers and early-20s types desperately try to figure out who's picking them off one by one in the island resort they're staying at. Moments did come up that made me wonder if they were just a tad implausible, but the twists and all kept me gripped for the most part, especially once the plot entered its climax. The book does go in a bit of a different direction thematically, though. It pinpoints its scathing commentary not only at influencer culture and the foundation of vanity that it's built on, but also cancel culture, or rather how much of an illusion it really is and the ease with which privileged people are able to commit awful actions and then sail past them into the future with little or no consequence. The epilogue particularly hits home the sharp messaging.

Overall, I'm officially rating People to Follow 4 out of 5 stars. I'm glad I was able to pick this up, and I'm eager to see what else Olivia Worley will pen in the future.

People to Follow is a must read YA thriller about the dangers of social media and influencer culture.

Ten influencers are cast on a reality tv show called In Real Life (IRL) and are sent to a remote island without a way to contact the outside world for three weeks. This group full of Tiktok, Youtube and Twitch creators all seem to have history with one another and not a good one. When a night of drinking leads to a castmate being found dead in the morning and the production crew never showing up, suspicions grow, why are they really on this island? The mysterious sponsor forces the group to play a game, revealing dark secrets while bodies start to pile up. Seems this sponsors got a grudge and no one is safe. Let the whodunit games begin.

Olivia Worley did a fantastic job detailing each character and capturing their personalities. It was relatable and easy to connect with. The different povs flowed naturally and I enjoyed each one.
Despite being a thriller with tons of murder, it was fun and entertaining, I even laughed out loud a couple times.

I did not see the twist coming, I had no clue who the sponsor could be.

What I really loved about this book is how believable the lies of each influencer were, how they have already happened in today's world and could still be happening. It really shows the dark side of social media, people are not always truthful and do horrible things for fame.

This book gives Glass Onion vibes and I loved every bit of it. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Olivia Worley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’m loving that young adult novels are trending and growing into the new generation. The influencer culture is such a perfect theme for today’s teen readers. And the commentary that novels like this offer on the dark side of social media is such an important topic for us all to be discussing. This author captured the voice of the characters so well and it was very believable. This one is full of drama. Anyone who has seen Big Brother will know exactly what reading this book is like. I must confess that show was a guilty pleasure of mine so I definitely enjoyed that aspect of the story. It might not be a story that is completely relevant or relatable to me personally but I can appreciate how it will appeal to its target audience. There are a lot of POVs in this book and it was a little difficult to keep them straight in my head at first. It’s a great locked-room feel of a thriller. It’s an easy read, something you can mindlessly get caught up in for a few hours. I think that formatting choices were also a great way to make the narrative more immersive. I love books that are composed of emails, documents, or other various forms of writing. It makes the story feel more compelling and engaging. Overall, I think this is a great debut and I’d be interested to see what this author writes next!

This book had a lot of twist and turns. TIt was filled with drama & thriller which made it hard to put down. This book will keep you guessing which made it such a great read. Can't wait to read more from this author.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Vacation read. This was kind of meh. Pretty predictable, and as others have pointed out the characters are both insufferable and hard to tell apart. I couldn’t keep the narrators straight. But it was a fun beach read that didn’t require me to think too hard.

This one has shades of Lord of the Fly Fest and Never Coming Home – a bunch of internet-famous influencers, sent to/stranded on a remote island. In this case, it’s under the guise of filming a television show all about unplugging from social media. The cast are supposed to be there for at least 3 weeks, and since they surrendered their phones on arrival, they have no way to contact the outside world when things almost immediately go pear-shaped.

We have all the typical influencer archetypes - the fitness chick, the prankster, the gamer, the “bless your heart” Christian gal, the Instagram model, and of course the dude who exposes his fellow creators as frauds. A group of influencers were once part of a collective called The Bounce House, which is a not so thinly veiled version of…was it called the Hype House? Some TikTok thing. Anyway, there’s immediate drama between all of the Bounce crew and one of their own (Logan, I think?) who recently left. And of course fitness chick Kira and “bless your heart” Kaitlyn(? The spelling is escaping me) have their own backstory from being on a Dance Moms-esque show together. It’s a mess, basically. On the first night, the production assistant leaves, claiming a big storm is on the way and the rest of the crew will arrive the next day. Except they don’t. And then one of them finds a body.

Eventually, everyone starts getting messages on their smart watches from an unidentified “Sponsor” who tells them each they must reveal their worst secrets or face being “canceled”. And after the first body appears it’s clear what “canceled” means. There’s panic, a pretty high body count, and fairly typical teenaged shenanigans.

Other reviewers have mentioned, and I agree, that it’s really hard to tell the characters apart. And it also seemed kind of arbitrary who got narration duties - Kira (fitness gal), Max (Youtube expose guy), Elody (the model), and Logan (former Bounce House resident). Ten characters would definitely be too much to keep track of, but four narrators who all sound almost identical was also not great. Kira and Logan were especially difficult to tell apart, given that they both have beef with some of the same people.

In all, it’s fine. There are twists that are pretty predictable if you’ve read many mysteries. And it’s not entirely fluff - there are some heavy topics around consent and sexual assault.

So I was NOT the target audience here at all. 😂🤷‍♀️

The premise is my jam all the way as I love locked in style ne by one murder premises. This was just toooo young for me?

Not sure but I really couldn’t relate to ANY of these characters here. They all sounded the same and I had to go back (on my Kindle) to each chapter heading to remember who was speaking.

Fun premise with serious potential and I would try this author again. If you like Tik Tok and are still in high school or college this could be for you. It is fun at times but I was just not into it.

I do appreciate an early copy here as always. Thanks!
2.5 ⭐️⭐️✨

This young adult thriller creates a fun whodunit as a group of social influencers are lured into participating in a reality TV show on a remote island. These influencers are pulled away from their platforms, leaving some of them to question their own worth. After one of the participants die, the others are left to wonder who in their group is a murder. The author is able to create believable shallow and vain, yet complicated characters. Each character has a trauma that has changed their lives. The story is told through alternating perspectives; however, the author does not develop a few characters to the same degrees as others. The undeveloped characters are flat, and unfortunately detract from the ending.

Solid YA thriller. This was about a reality show with 10 influencers on a private island. I thought this was a good book for the YA genre. Only thing I didn’t love is because there were so many people in this story, it could get confusing at times. The different perspectives threw me off at times as well. Overall, great story for YA.

I wish I knew this was a YA mystery before I read this. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just isn’t one for me!

The premise and plot were good - teen influencers go to a remote private island only for one of them to end up dead.

It was a decent story with some twists, I just felt a little old reading it. I’m sure the target audience will love this!

Thank you to NetGallery and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC!

A group of failing influencers all get invited to be part of a new reality show that details the dark side of social media stardom. They all know of each other’s platforms but nothing of the secrets everyone seems to have. Expecting them to be spilled once they all arrive, everyone is shocked to discover that the production crew hasn’t arrived and worst yet - they’ll all be left alone for the night. What starts off as an awkward turn of events quickly turns into a full-on nightmare once the first body appears. Soon it becomes clear none of them were recruited to boost their careers, but to end them. End their whole existence it seems like. But instead of teaming up to find the killer, the group turns on each other. Quickly, everyone begins pointing fingers and is quick to join the killer’s game of exposing everyone else’s lies. The need to protect themselves and their brands overrules all else - even if doing so comes at the cost of ending someone else’s life.


This book was incredible! The absolutely perfect sort of techno-horror movie - like Unfriended meets Cabin In the Woods with a little Jigsaw/Ghostface vibes for some extra razzle dazzle! I loved the set-up and the premise was absolutely killer. The #cancelled concept was such a smart play on every influencer’s worst fear. A fresh, cutthroat look at how grueling the influencer life can be, namely by its portrayal of the increasing need for influencers to maintain relevancy. Worley is an absolute mastermind, and this book a total powerhouse from start to finish. Not only do I recommend but I’m adding it to my kindle collection of “books I MUST read again!”

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Olivia Worley!!!

This book was... interesting. While I think that the storyline and the idea of the book was a good idea, I think that this book would become very dated very quickly. Even reading it now, a lot of the "trends" and reasons for being famous would become almost irrelevant if someone were to read this book in say 20 years.

My biggest issue with this book was the fact that, based on the way its written, you can tell this book is definitely for a younger audience, potentially teens in high school. Even though I do use TikTok and am post-college age, I even found myself missing certain references that I'm guessing were to do with some trend. Now, the reason this is my biggest issue is because there are a lot of things said in this book that I absolutely would not want to read as a teenager who's already insecure about my body. For example, there's one part of the book where one of the character basically repeatedly says how her stretch marks are one of the things she hates most about herself and I just think that's not the message you want to send out.

Triggering topics aside, I think that the end of the book just kind of showed that some of the character didn't really learn from their experience and didn't particularly grow as people and I has assumed, with a book about social media, the underlying message would be something about growing up and moving on; to me it felt like the characters didn't really change in any way.

Having said all of this, I do think that the idea of the book was good. I think that the storyline had potential, I just couldn't get behind young social media stars being killed and hating their bodies and being so destructive, both physically and mentally. Also, the only way I remembered how to distinguish between characters was that one of them always used the word "babe" but other than that, I did find it difficult to keep up with who was whom and who was dictating which chapter.