People to Follow takes us on a journey of ten teen influencers about to take part in their very own reality tv show on a secluded island.
As they arrive, there is no film crew there yet, and the host needs to leave. Left to their own devices, with zero communication with the outside world, and cameras installed throughout the house and property, things become heated. The “show” takes on an all new element as one by one, they are being picked off.

Definitely a YA book, I honestly despised most of these characters. But it was interesting to follow along and see who and what got figured out, and who remained at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this ARC in return for my honest opinion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub date: 31 Oct 2023

Interesting story about doing a show on various influencers on a secluded island without their phones/technology. But something strange starts happening where the influencers are dying one by one. Is it natural causes or is someone killing them?

A YA And Then There Were None retelling featuring social media influencers. I want to start off by saying I would recommend this book to the age group it was written for. I was excited to read this book because And Then There Were None is one of my favorite books. I love nothing more then taking a group of people, stranding them and picking them off one by one while wondering who is responsible. While I enjoyed that aspect of the book, I didn't connect with the characters. I blame this on my age and read a review that indicated I was not alone in that feeling. I think had this book involved adult social media influencers I would have really enjoyed it so I am just the wrong audience for the story. My fault because I knew it was YA when I started it.

If you enjoy an “And there were none trope” this book may be right for you. In People to Follow, you are taken along for the ride to a desolate island where ten teen influencers have been invited to shoot a reality show. All vying to strengthen their following they all seem to be excited for the opportunity… Until they find out who else is as invited also and that excitement is dampened a bit. Emotions flare and suddenly bad things start happening. Beginning with murder…

Overall, this wasn’t my favorite. I felt it took a long time to get hooked. All of the characters were terrible people and I could have cared less what happened to them, but maybe that’s part of the interest?

A thriller that hits the mark on social commentary surrounding influencers. The premise is what interested me the most, and I'm glad that it lived up to it. Influencers stuck on an island? Yes, please!

Give me a group of people isolated from the outside world and I am a happy girl. Throw in the fact that the ten people are teen influencers and that's just the cherry on top.

Teenagers are kind of ridiculous, am I right? I mean, I once was a ridiculous teenager. They think they know everything, they think they're invincible, and they think that they're all excellent liars.

I'm super grateful that when I was a teenager there wasn't social media. Sure, there was email and chatrooms and one time I event sent a boy I liked (who I had never met) a picture of me. Oddly, I was 14 and we're still friends (but have never met) to this day.

I digress.

These teenagers are definitely not the same as I used to be. They're savvy. They're beautiful. And one of them is killing the others. One by one.

I'll admit that this wasn't the Great American Novel. Teens (and young adults) can be so full of themselves, and it can be hard to read about them. But I loved that each person in this book was so different from the next, and it was fun to slowly figure out who was lying about what and who the next to die would be.

The ending absolutely threw me for a loop and I absolutely felt satisfied when I was done.

If you're into the trope of a bunch of people being stranded somewhere, this might be a great ready for you.

Thank you St Marin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own!

This is the story about a bunch of social media influencers who get invited to a TV show. They are told that the TV show will show them working together. However, when one of the influencers dies everything changes. With everyone keeping secrets from the public and each other. Will they be able to figure out what is happening? Or will they all be next?

I thought this one was just okay. I kind of got lost in regards to the small details of each person. However, I did like the idea as a thriller. I just wish it was executed a bit differently. I also did not feel like there was a twist. There was an assumption that one of the main characters was the killer so it did not come as a surprise when the person was revealed. I did really like the concept and plot was well timed.

Content: Mentions of s*x and n*des, swearing-f words etc, murder, gaslighting, lies, underage drinking and partying mentioned

Read if you enjoy:
Social Media
Thrillers
Social media meet ups
Multiple POV

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for an advanced copy of this ebook.

10 influencers are invited to a private island for weeks of ‘unplugging’ - while being filmed for a reality show of course! This is a multi-POV book from 4 of our influencers.

After night 1 our influencers wake up to a dead body and a mystery sponsor sending them alarming messages. An homage to ‘And Then There Were None’ the bodies start piling up and no one knows who to trust.

I did not realize this was YA when I picked it and it’s a little young for me however I think for the right age group this would be a very entertaining read.

I think my students will enjoy this riff on And Then There Were None. There’s something so satisfying about being able to engage in a whodunnit & track the unfolding of the mystery from beginning to end. There are some elements that may not be timeless, but I still think this will be a good read—especially for some of my more reluctant readers. Islands, influencers, murder? It ticks lots of boxes!

Ten influencers. Ten secrets and one dead body. Yes please. The definition of a mystery that will suck you in. If you are a fan of reality tv and mystery. It’s your book to read. I was sold from the pitch alone and I’m glad I read it.

Will be posted on instagram then linked here soon!

People to Follow is such a fun and twisty YA thriller that I didn’t want to put down. It is super fast paced for me and I think it would be a really good reading slump buster!

I found this one super interesting because it really goes into influencer culture and how it affects not only the general public who are consuming the content, but also the influencers themselves. Obviously it was a super dramatic way of looking at it since it’s a YA thriller, but I really liked that aspect!

I did not see like… ANY of it coming and it was such a fun read. If you like Holly Jackson’s A Good Girls Guide to Murder series and Five Survive (also by Holly Jackson) then I think you’d be a fan of this!

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Wednesday Books for my copy of this!

People to Follow
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Olivia Worley

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: A reality show on a remote Caribbean island. Ten teen influencers. One dead body.

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.

My Thoughts: For a debut novel, this was stellar. I loved the unique premise on this. Ten influencers on a remote island brought there to de-connect from socials. Kind of like a cleanse from social media while being followed live without the safety of filters. Of course when a dead body shows up and they get “messages” to spill their deepest darkest secret, it becomes a whodunit race. This is a Young Adult book, which does not bother me, I like both.

The story is narrated by four different POVs: Elody, Kira, Logan, and Max. We have a huge cast of MCs and all play an intergral role in the storyline. Elody is an instagram model that is quite popular. Kira was a child star but has recently been doing fitness videos. Logan was a TikTok celebrity until he was forced out. Max is an expose creator on YouTube. Absolutely none of the characters were likable, Kira and Max were tolerable. The personalities of most of the ten were selfish, self-centered, hateful, “mean girls” mentality, privileged, entitled, and you almost jump for joy when one gets eliminated. Unfortunately, the characters were not explored deep enough, I would liked to have seen more of a backstory and a little toning of the entitlement. There was too much Big Brother drama among the characters with not enough distinction. The author’s writing was enjoyable, suspenseful, twisty, and very intriguing.

Overall, a very solid debut by Worley. The overall premise was also intriguing. The whodunit mystery contained some red herrings and was twisty up until the end. The audiobook will give you a clearer roadmap of who is who as the narrators did an excellent job at voice variation. Even though this was YA, and I struggled with the character development a little bit, I still really enjoyed this story. I would recommend giving this novel a try, especially, if you love YA books. This story would be perfect if you love isolation trope thrillers.

Four POVs. Three Big Ideas. Two Interesting Twists. One Technically Error Free Book.

Ok, so the title may have been a bit of a stretch there.

There are absolutely four primary POVs here across our 10 "influencers" (my God I both despise the term and indeed the entire concept, despite some authors labeling *me* as one), and while it can at times be confusing when switching between them early on, as the characterizations and "voices" get set, it does in fact get a bit easier.

The Big Ideas here are all various flavors of social commentary on the idea of the "influencer", though so much as mentioning them begins to get too close to spoiler territory for my own comfort in writing this review.

The two interesting twists are deep in the book and *absolutely* spoiler territory to discuss, but I found them fairly well done and truly intriguing.

And yes, ultimately there are no technical flaws here. Yes, there were absolutely different things that different readers may have problems with - including the multiple POVs. But there was nothing wrong that begins to approach a universal, objective level, and thus the book retains its full five stars. Very much recommended.

A quick locked room mystery with some very unlikeable characters, which I thoroughly enjoy.

A group of younger social media influencers think they are filming a reality type show. But find themselves abandoned. And then people start dying.

I think I am a bit older than the target demographic, but still an enjoyable read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and SMP/Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book kept me really engaged throughout the entire book. It was full of twists and turns and I couldn’t get enough of them. I did find quite a few characters to be entirely unlikeable but it added to the story.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This was a pretty cheesy & fluffy take on Agatha Christie but I also enjoyed it. I wasn't really surprised by the ending, when the killer was revealed, but it was still a fine thriller in a unique setting. With mostly highly unlikeable characters.

People to Follow by Olivia Worley

Published: October 31, 2023
Wednesday Books
Pages: 345
Genre: YA Literature
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Olivia Worley is an author and actor born and raised in New Orleans. A graduate of Northwestern University, she now lives in NYC, where she spends her time writing thrillers, over-analyzing episodes of The Bachelor, and hoping someone will romanticize her for reading on the subway. People to Follow is her debut novel.

This felt like it was a modern take on Then There Were None by the amazing Agatha. I enjoyed the build-up and suspense.

I am kind of over the whole influencer/scandal/social media famous element in books. It just feels played out.

However, I enjoyed how this story was told. I liked how chaotic it felt, though very organized and meticulous. Olivia built a house of cards and then created the wind to knock it down.

I do enjoy a twisted plot, and this novel is delivered. I was engaged and entertained, even though I was wrong at the end (dang it!) I devoured this novel.

Looking for a popcorn thriller? Look no further. This one is a locked in mystery with influencers brought together on a private island that all have secrets. Full of characters that one lives to hate. Perfect for a quick afternoon read.
Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

The description of this book makes it sound way better than it turned out. I’m a huge fan of thrillers but did not realize this was a YA novel. I’m not the target market for this book, so take this review with that in mind. I didn’t like any of the characters which made it hard to care what was happening in the story. I constantly had to flip back to see who the chapter was about as all POVs just became a jumbled mess in my mind - none of the characters having any real dimension to them. I get that it was supposed to read as coming from an 18 (?) year old, but I ended up being annoyed with how young the narrator sounded. Overall, not a good one for me, but maybe it would be appreciated by young teens.

The plot unfolds through multiple points of view. I seem to think, however, that the better delivery for this novel would have been through a single point of view due to the novel’s theme. I got lost several times.

The characters were not distinguishable from one another. They all seemed to have the same personality regardless of their gender. Perhaps it was this lack of character development that was the root cause of me losing my way in the novel.

There were a number of plot twists which made for a suspenseful whodunit. Despite the lack of character development, it was the plot twists that kept me moving forward until the surprising finale. Four stars.