Lord of the Flies meets Reality TV meets Rich GenZ Influencers.

4.25 stars

This book was so fun! I really feel like this would make a great tv show! I enjoyed being immersed in the world of the influencers and didn’t figure out what was going on for a while!

10 young influencers are dropped off on a remote island for a reality show ‘IRL’ (in real life) without phones or technology under the guise of unplugging, stepping away from social media and their followers, and getting real. When a cruel game starts to expose some of their darkest secrets and one of them end ups dead, everyone begins to spiral out of control, suspecting one of their own as to be the killer.

A real ‘who done it’ with some great commentary on social media and how we let it influence and sometimes take over our lives.

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I loved this book! It was so enjoyable and left me very entertained! I would recommend this to anyone who loves a thriller murder mystery!

People To Follow by Olivia Worley (coming October 31,2023)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

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, 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.

This book has a slow start for me, but I was hooked by about halfway. In the first few chapters, there’s a lot of “teenage angst” that almost made me DNF the book. But once bodies start dropping and drama picks up, it’s totally binge-worthy. The ending has a major plot twist and you’ll never believe the whodunnit of it all.

PEOPLE TO FOLLOW is an addictive take on the "isolation trope" thriller with interesting and timely commentary on social media stars and influencer culture.

However, as an older person, the way these characters speak makes it extremely difficult to read. I understand these are all young influencers and of course they’re going to use “like” or “babe” in every other sentence…but to read their dialogue both with each other and internally was frustrating. There is no redeeming character that you want to root for: they are all annoying and to be honest, unlikable. Time and time again, the book shows how ridiculous they all are, maybe that's the authors message, not sure.

I understand this is a YA title, so I went into this fully acknowledging that. Although it started slow, the plot was good. I struggled with the amount of "babes" and "likes." I would have to stop reading between chapters because it was just too much. It was taking away from a seemingly good story because of it. The twists were good. For a YA, I would recommend this book.

I feel like we have been getting a lot of these teen-influencer/murder mystery books lately, but I am 100% here for them. People To Follow by Olivia Worley was a perfect example of when this plot is done well. Told in multiple POV’s, ten teen influencers show up to a remote island ready to film a reality show. However, as events unfold, they begin to realize they each have their own secrets, and someone is willing to kill for them to be exposed. The production crew doesn’t show up, a storm traps them on the island, and the body count is increasing.

Before I started this one, some reviews stated that they had trouble keeping the multiple POV’s straight. I was a little worried about this, but didn’t need to be. They quickly all gained their own personality, and it was easy to keep them straight. The only difficulty I had was one when POV ended on a cliffhanger, and I had to wait to return to it!

This was a fun YA mystery/thriller, and I think will be a popular pick in the library. I read it in one day, so its definitely quick and entertaining.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC
This is a great, fast, fun read. Once the body is found, the book really picks up from there. I enjoyed the multiple POVs but the young talk of the characters (lots of babes and likes) was a bit distracting. There were lots of twists and every time I thought I had it figured out, I was wrong.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! If you like the movie The Glass Onion, you will probably love this book. 10 influencers sent to an island paradise for three weeks, and it definitely ends up more terror than paradise. I didn't guess what was going to happen; I didn't guess the twists and turns. I kept waiting for the curtain to drop and reveal the wizard, but the connections, and lies just kept coming. The only part I wish was different was the end. I wanted more. Each chapter was from a different persons point of view, but the ending only comes from one point of view. If you like a mystery with some murder involved, this may be for you. Put it on your To-Read list for its October 31 release.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars rounded down. It had a pretty slow start, but once the body was found it really picked up from there. I read most of the book in one sitting! I got sucked in trying to figure out what was going on and who was doing everything. It reads to me for a younger audience, but still really enjoyable. It was a page turner that was pretty dialogue heavy, but I actually liked that aspect.

I think it is worth picking up if you’re looking for an easy to read book, that is fast paced, and you like to be kept on your toes trying to figure out who was behind everything.

None of these people were likeable, which was the point, but still, it was hard to connect to any of the characters. I didn’t particularly care what happened to them. I only wanted to see who was behind it all. Elody kind of made me laugh at times when we had her POV, but not enough to really care about her either.

I get the author was trying to portray younger people, but it was a little too over the top for me with all the “babe” and “like” phrases. I am sure people talk like that, but it was kind of annoying to read. I think if you go into knowing that they are going to act like stuck up, bratty, teenagers (even though they are all over 18) then you can get through it.

I did like that every POV seemed like an unreliable narrator because I was constantly second guessing who I thought the murderer was. It was interesting to see the stories unravel and find out what problematic thing each of them did.

The ending of the book was very chaotic and honestly I am not really a fan of how it ended. All the build up felt like it was for nothing because it ended pretty quickly and there was a lot going on all at once. It almost felt anticlimactic when we found everything out. I could have gotten more from all the characters, other than just one chapter to summarize everything up.

The middle of the book was what really made me enjoy it, but the beginning and the end made me not like it as much, which is why I am giving it 3 stars.

People to Follow by Olivia Worley is another page turner for me. I couldn’t wait to see how this one ended. It was a bit slow for me until about 100 pages in but after that I flew through it. 4 out of 5 for me.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. When several individuals who gave star power are forced to live together without their phones, anything can happen. I liked this book but it lagged in a few places.

This was a fun read. There were a lot of characters though and it was a bit more young adult than I thought it would be.

When I read the synopsis of this I was super intrigued - a bunch of influencers are sent to an island to film a reality TV show off the grid - then start dropping dead one by one. The problem wasn't the idea, it was the execution. This book had about seven different POVs, and with each character indistinguishable, it was difficult to follow along. I'm disappointed - this book seriously had so much potential. I don't recommend this.

This takes me back to my first reading of And Then There Were None and how absolutely terrified I was in the 10th grade! I waffled between a four and five for this, since I was properly freaked out and stayed up too late to finish it for fear of not being able to sleep, but at times it read a bit young (which is fine, it's YA) and it felt like in five years it would be too dated based on some slang and references. Ultimately great though, I'd love to read an adult novel from Worley (assuming it's 100% daylight out).

Thank you netgalley for this ARC

i am so glad i got this arc this book was what i would describe as the perfect genre and what i need in a book.. a murder mystery filming a reality show stranded on an island with 10 influencers. I loved this book so much. So many amazing characters my favorite was hands down Elody. This book gave me one if us is lying vibes with 10 influencers. This book also had so many twists and turns and i could not tell who the killer was until the end because at times you felt you knew but then you didnt. SO MUCH happened in this book this is such a perfect murder mystery if you love those and YA you will love this one yall. So many people had secrets and so many betrayals. The setting of this book was also perfect the island the storm the drama this book had it all. I also loved that each influencer was so different from eachother and it was just your typical tiktokers etc. READ THIS ONE! Who will make it out alive? Whos the killer? Who betrayed who? What is making everyone do this? Find out!

10 influencers are sent to a private island to film a new reality show called "IRL", where they'll live without phones or contact with the outside world for three weeks. What could go wrong? Turns out, quite a bit!

When the influencers arrive, it becomes clear that not only do many of them have drama with each other, they all have secrets they're trying to keep. Once they realize that their production crew isn't coming, the influencers realize there's a sinister motive. And then people start dying...

I cannot say how much I LOVED this book. I read it in 24 hours, and it had me hooked the entire time. I did not see the twists coming (I read a lot of thrillers so this is saying something) and the characters were a lot more complex than I expected.

One thing that Worley did well was write how influencers and people on social media talk without being a parody of itself. I could tell Worley is Very Online from how a lot of the dialogue was written (and did I catch some Taylor Swift references?). She has very valid critiques of the whole world of influencing and social media, but it's apparent she also enjoys it.

I can tell this is a book I will NOT SHUT UP ABOUT.

I was originally drawn to this book because of the beautiful cover and the premise of the plot. I love reality TV so the idea of a murder mystery with influencers that took place while filming a reality TV show sounded very up my alley, as well as a fun twist on the thriller plot.

Regardless if this was written for a YA audience or not, I felt like the characters leaned a little too into each of their stereotypes. Maybe this was in order to help the reader to separate each character as it was difficult to tell them apart at first but it made all the characters feel very one dimensional. Every single character was also extremely unlikeable, which I think was kind of the point seeing as the culprit really just wanted to "expose" the entire idea of social media and influencers, but there were no redeemable qualities which made it difficult to continue reading.

I kept wishing for just a little bit more from the plot, it felt very surface level and basic at times, relying a little too hard on the suspense and thriller aspect and not diving deep enough into each of the "crimes" committed by each character and the overall idea of doing anything for fame and followers.

There were also some plots that made no sense and were unbelievable, especially at the end with the big reveal. Overall I enjoyed the murder mystery part of it because I always like to figure out who the secret killer is, but for such a promising plot I feel like this book unfortunately dropped the ball.

It was good. I really enjoyed this. It started out as a bit of a ‘teen’ book with all the influencers. But it quickly turned into a good mystery. It kept me guessing for the whole book. I do feel like the book would be better enjoyed by people who are on social media, following influencers, on tik tok etc,
Either way, great book. Good mystery. I liked the characters and watching their stories unfold.

Thank you to Alexis Neuville, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. I really enjoyed it.

I liked this one so much than I picked it up and didn’t stop reading until I finished it. This is a great, fast, fun read.

It’s one of those suspend belief books, but that’s not always a bad thing. If you don’t look at the characters too closely, you’ll be fine.

The idea of influencers on an island sounded great and the story was really interesting. The POV switching between 4 people only tripped me up a few times. The ending wrapped everything up well, which is one of the things that I look for. I still wanted to know what would happen to all of them in a few years. I hope I get to find out. A sequel would be fun.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.