3.5 round up
"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 being “cancelled” could be their lives."

What could go wrong? Well, when a storm finds its way to the island the influencers are stranded alone with nobody but themselves. They shortly discover that this reality tv show is more sinister then any of them could have imagined. Quickly things get heated, a fight breaks out on the first night, and they shortly realize that cancelled has a different definition on the island.

The influencers all know each other in some way, either from following each other online, or from complicated pasts. You get many POV's that lets you determine who you do or do not like in the cast. Everyone is highly flawed and there are a lot of deeper TW involved then what I expected. However, it did deliver everything I expected out of a stranded island YA lock room thriller-esque book.

This book is written to portray pure chaos and it you can feel the fear that the characters are suffering with. Nobody thinks they are safe and that high anxiety follows you throughout the book. The POV's allow you to dissect each character and it keeps you guessing as to what is really going on.

Overall, a great YA thriller that makes you think more about the impact that influencers have and if they are truly that good of role models. Although not the point of the book it is intriguing to think more deeply about how the fame can change a person and blur their reality.

Thank you to the publisher for the advance e copy of this book.

First of all -- the cover is AMAZING.

I was hooked before even reading the actual book because the synopsis had me hooked. Influencers and social media is such a large part of the world now and to combine that with a twisty thriller made for a fun ride.

This book gave me some Agatha Christie/Clue vibes throughout reading it because it was about a group of influencers secluded on a large island (and the house there) and one by one, half of them are killed and Olivia Worley has you guessing right up until the very end. She has you guessing not only who is doing it but why.

The book dives deeper into the social media/influencer world and raises some heavy questions along with giving us a backstage pass to the world of influencers and just how far they might go to succeed.

The only negatives I have are that four POVs were a little much in the beginning. It took me a while to remember who was telling their story as a lot of the characters were very similar. The last thing is that I felt Elody's use of the word "babe" was wildly overused.

Overall, this book was a fun read at a solid 4/5 stars.

This book reminded me so much of that real life, infamous island fiasco. I enjoyed how real everything felt, it made it a very entertaining read. It had me guessing from beginning to end!

Olivia Worley's debut had me on the edge of my seat as I wondered who was the sponsor on the island where influencers ten influencers were seemingly stuck and had to expose their absolute truths! This YA thriller is quick and easy to follow with its three separate narrators. I will be buying a copy for my classroom library and offering it to my students come the publication this October.

I think that overall this was a good read. I was lost at several chapter as I was reading because to me the characters were so similar I found myself confused as to whose point of view I was reading from. I will say though I really enjoyed the characters themselves and the different perspectives. I really liked the additional chapter at the end as it gave a lot of closer and insight into the ending of the story since the last actual chapter ended on such a cliffhanger. I think that this is definitely a book for the younger generation as I was kind of laughing at some of the younger references. Made me feel old. Overall great book!

Ten social media influencers are selected to be on a new show called IRL, where they will disconnect from their phones for three weeks and live together in a big house on a private island. Sounds pretty perfect, right? Until the first night when one of them winds up dead.

Okay, a few things I’d like to talk about…

I really wanted to like this book. The premise sounded great, but it fell flat in the execution for me.

The book was written in multiple POVs of a few of the ten we meet early on. First off, ten characters is a lot. Second, the POVs all sounded the exact same - midway through each chapter, I had to go back to check whose chapter it was. This continued until I just didn't care to check anymore. No character had a distinct voice. The only one that came close was Elody with her “likes” and her “babe” but that was grating on my nerves from early on. No one says like or babe that much - trust me - I say both.

I read a lot of YA, but something about this novel just didn't translate for me. Maybe I'm just not that into social media? (A little bit ironic, don't ya think?) I didn't even know TikTok houses were a thing. I actually had to look that up.

I think this novel will have a home with a much younger reader. It definitely missed the mark for me.

An entertaining book with a cast of rather unlikable characters. I anticipated the plot twist coming but was still engaged in the narrative until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Title: People to Follow
Author: Olivia Worley
Publisher: Saint Martin’s Press – Wednesday Books
Genre: Mystery/Thriller Teen/YA
Pub Date: October 31, 2023
My Rating: 3 Stars!
Pages: 352

In this story there are ten teen influencers who are invited to the beautiful Lawrence Island a remote island to star in a reality show.
They have a variety of what they are influencing.
Story is told from the POV of the following four:
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.
The chapter titles list their name and it is a good thing as they seem some what alike.
The story ends up with one cancelled yep someone ends up dead!

I have read several stories recently about being invited to an isolated island.
One they were all mystery writers so it wasn’t any mystery that they someone would end up dead!
Then I read influencer story in this case they were attending a conference and competing for a five million dollars so yes there was stiff competition.
Awww since I am a thriller fan, I enjoy these isolated island mysteries but will never accept an invitation to attend one of them!!!

I know I am not the target audience for this story but as a high guidance counselor/ I love to read and recommend books to my students. Additionally I do enjoy a good YA/Teen story..
I am sure teens will enjoy and even love this story; as these characters talk the way most teens talk!

Want to thank NetGalley and Saint Martin’s Press- Wednesday Books for granting me this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for October 31, 2023

Influencers….isolated island…a game…dead bodies…This is my kind of book!
This book hooked me from the beginning. Told from multiple points of view, the author gives small pieces of each character slowly through the book building the story line in the best way.
I usually can figure out these little murder mysteries but this one had me guessing until the end and WOW I did not see it coming.
This was definitely more of a whodunit book and not so much horror. The suspense was there but not super scary so this book gets the read alone at night stamp of approval from me!
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

People to Follow was a fun guilty pleasure read. It had all the elements to keep me entertained; egocentric influencers filming a reality show gone wrong, mysterious murders, gossip and secrets. At first I found it hard to keep track of such a large cast of characters but the author did a good job of developing the characters as the book went on. There were 4 POVs which I think was too many and I did need to remind myself whose perspective I was reading many times. I was never bored but I did find some elements extremely unrealistic. Overall I liked this one and think it will be a hit with the teen/YA audience; especially those enthralled by tiktok/YouTube/ influencer culture. 3.5 stars from me

What a strong debut novel!! Olivia Worley twists a tale that was so believable. I thought the multiple person narrative really helped progress the story and kept things really interesting especially with the unreliability of each narrator. I thought the start of the book was a little slow and I would have liked there to be more character development. The influencer aspect was very interesting but I needed more details about each of the characters. It all felt very vague and kind of cookie cutter. Elody's narration was really hard to read to be quite honest. That felt a little over the top and campy. The reveals at the end felt a little bit rushed and a little less dramatic because there was so much to reveal. Overall, I thought this was a strong and well written debut novel!

A thriller exposing the truths of influencers and what it takes to get them where they are. Ten influencers are invited to an exclusive island with one expectation- they must give up their phones for 3 weeks. Once they all arrive, it seems that everyone has a secret to hide. Once someone mysteriously dies, it seems the killer is someone amidst them.

Overall this was okay. I enjoyed the lush tropical setting, but did not enjoy the teenage semi-famous characters so much. A lot of drama, but not enough suspense for my liking.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Out 10/31/23!

Thanks to Netgalley & St. Martin's for the E-ARC! I wasn't the hugest fan of this book. The plot was so intriging, but the execution fell flat for me. I didn't like the characters and the whole theme was boring.

This book made me feel old but I am relatively old in comparison to the Young Adult market. I don't know a whole lot about the behind the scenes of influencers or thirst traps and felt a little out of my element at times. I did enjoy the premise of the book as well as the whodunit plot line. Some of the characters were easy to hate and others more likeable. While the book wasn't really my cup of tea, I can definitely see the appeal to the YA audience and we will definitely be buying this book for our library.

Definitely a silly premise, but I still couldn't wait to see what happened. I was invested in their stories from the moment I started reading and was so curious to see where they all ended up (and who ended up alive!)

This book is a the perfect read for a teenager hoping to one day be an influencer as it is fully of reminders of the price of fame.

Holy cow!

What a corker this was! It had a few of my absolute favorite elements including a closed room mystery and social media "gone wrong".

I was SO invested in the identity of the sponsor and learning who was going to live and who wasn't that I basically read this in one go...resenting anyone who interrupted me for any reason!!

One of my faves this year!

This book was very intriguing to me, so I was so happy when I revived an ARC copy. I enjoyed the characters in this book and it was very atmospheric. I saw the twist ending coming, but it didn’t ruin the reading experience. I had a lot of fun with this book.

It was a decent read! I wasn’t surprised with the ending but I felt (as the parent of 3 teens) that the dialogue and communication styles were very realistic!

I read Agatha Christie in high school, and loved the connection to "And Then There Were None" in this YA influencer novel. I thought it was fast-paced and fun, with a twist that I predicted parts of. I felt that some of the characters came out a bit flat, and were hard to keep track of, especially when it was told from various viewpoints. However, it will definitely satisfy my teens who are looking for a good murder mystery, and I had fun reading it!

From just the description alone, I knew I was going to love this book, and I was completely hooked all the way through. One thing I absolutely loved was the use of multi pov, I think it helped make every character seem suspicious and made you doubt who you have been trusting. When I found out the truth in the story, I quite literally gasped! This was absolutely one of my favorite reads so far this year!