“Haters are part of the deal when you put yourself in the public eye.”

This is such a solid thriller. It feels creepy and realistic, which is something I love in a thriller. If something is too farfetched it can take me out of the story. But here, Camryn is dealing with the fallout of her debut novel that focuses on teenagers that come from a very tough background. She is very clear that her novel doesn’t take any inspiration from her job as a counselor, but that doesn’t stop people from review-bombing her book and harassing her.

There are so many suspects that are plausible and as a reader that keeps you intrigued. The book had a little bit of a slow start for me, but once we start seeing the damage the harassment is doing to Camryn’s life and the people around her the story really picks up speed. It also really depicts some of the difficulties of publishing a book. Authors really put themselves out there with their work, and I’m sure it’s disheartening when there are readers who don’t enjoy the book. Of course, that's part of the deal, but there is definitely a line that can get crossed when there is misinformation or assumptions made about an author or a book.

Some of the most fascinating parts for me were how the harassment impacts her personal life. It extends out from her to everyone she interacts with on a daily basis. And not only does she feel like there is no one she can trust, she sees people start to second guess if the harassment Camryn's facing is real. It delves into that physiological piece of a thriller that can often be difficult to bring to life, Here, we can feel how distraught Camryn is and her confusion feels visceral.

Overall, this was really great and I’m looking forward to reading more by Robyn Harding!

Camryn has just released a book. Initial reviews are good, but after one 1-star review begins to set off a slew of hate-reviews. Then, things begin to escalate into her personal life- embarrassing videos go viral, her email is hacked and emails are sent to ruin relationships close to her. and her car is vandalized. As Cam works to figure out who is behind everything, all aspects of her life begin to spiral, including her writing career, relationship with her boyfriend and daughter, and her day job as a school counselor.

This is my second book by this author. I LOVED The Drowning Woman, so I had high hopes for this one. My expectations fell a little short, but it was still a solid book. The characters in this one were intriguing, and everyone seemed to have a suspicious energy so it was tough to say who the culprit was. The ending was a bit insane. I also felt like Liza was a complete @$$hole for most of the book so when her secret was revealed I was simultaneously surprised and not at all shocked. Sher knew how tormented her mom was, but she still never told her mom what happened.

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

The Haters
Robyn Harding
Pub: 7/2/24
3.5-4☆

Synopsis:
Camryn Lane is living her dream. After years of struggle and rejection, her first novel has finally been published. Her editor is happy; her teenage daughter is proud; and her boyfriend and friends are all excited for her. She’s on top of the world—until she receives a disturbing message from an unknown sender.

Rattled by the accusations she finds there, Camryn swallows the sick feeling in her stomach and resolves to put the missive out of her mind. But when she checks her ratings on a popular book site, she finds a scathing one-star review. The reviewer is so articulate and convincing that soon, Camryn’s book is flooded with bad reviews. Could the reviewer be the same person who sent the ugly email? And why do they want to ruin her?

As the online harassment creeps into Camryn’s personal life, she vows to find out who’s behind it. Is it really a disgruntled reader? Or could it be someone she knows? The troll’s actions are escalating, and when the abuse turns deadly, it will take everything Camryn has to unmask the enemy so intent on destroying her—and finally learn why she's being targeted.

My thoughts:
I really liked the premise of this one and had high hopes going in. I enjoyed Harding’s writing style however it just didn’t “thrill” me like I had hoped it would. Could totally just be a me thing, so definitely check it out for yourself.

My first read by Harding, but won’t discourage me from reading more. I’ve seen a ton of hype for the Drowning Woman so that will be next for me.

Thank you Grand Central Publishing and Novel Suspects for the gifted copy.

The Haters
Robyn Harding
7.2.24

I’m a fan of Robyn Harding and have devoured almost everything she’s written. Whether it’s twisted friendships to sugar babies done wrong, or perfect families with deep dark secrets, her writing has the ability to capture my attention and keep me wildly guessing through emotionally wrought characters and intricate plotting. When I pick up a Robyn Harding book, I know I’m in for a heck of a great time – and a few late nights!

In The Haters, she turns the spotlight on the relationship between writer and social media. It’s not always a pretty place, as we’ve all seen, social media is great when it’s used to uplift and promote but when it’s used to disparage and dox, it can be a hateful place infiltrating every aspect of a person’s life.

Camryn Lane has finally published her first book; it’s her lifelong dream and it’s finally coming true. After a whirlwind of good press and a successful launch, Camryn is hopeful and happy. Then comes the email with accusations and vitriol. Soon after, she receives a one-star rating on a popular book review site but it’s very specific and soon more follow. Despite the warnings from her publicist, Camryn engages and soon, things spiral out of control, spilling over into every aspect of her personal life.

This is a stressful and tense story; there are times when I was saying, Cam, girl, don’t do it but also, on the other hand, I felt her frustration because the accusations are specific, personal and vindictive and because of this Cam’s inner circle and professional life begins to suffer.

The plot is twisted beyond! I had no idea who was behind this and to me, everyone was a suspect and Robyn, those red-herrings! I trusted no one! But what a blindside! Loved it!

Robyn Harding has done it again, book friends! Just like the author’s previous thrillers, THE HATERS sucked me in and did not let go. I inhaled it in just a few evenings. Harding’s novels are perfect examples of popcorn thrillers. They’re absolutely addictive—you can’t stop once you start. The juicy drama, suspense, and intrigue are all just way too good.

This thriller is MADE for the book community. Book bloggers, BookTokers, bookstagrammers, and reviewers will eat this one up! Get this:

New author, Camryn receives a disturbing email about her new book, and it also receives a one-star review on a popular book site. The reviewer is so convincing that even MORE bad reviews start to flood in. The online harassment escalates and creeps into Camryn’s personal life. Things get pretty dark, twisty, and disturbing very quickly. Who is trying to sabotage her?

I must say that Camryn made me want to pull my hair out. She’s a tad unlikable and slightly irritating, yet I still felt for her. As a book reviewer myself, I couldn’t even imagine doing something so horrific to an author.

READ IF YOU ENJOY:

- Complex mother-daughter relationships
- Teenage angst and behavior
- Social media and internet trolls
- Juicy drama and entertainment
- Writer/author life
- Books about books
- Shocking moments and reveals
- Vancouver, BC setting

Robyn Harding is officially the queen of popcorn thrillers in my opinion. Her catchy and addictive writing style just can’t be beat! She truly excels at describing teenage behavior. If you loved The Party, one of her earlier novels, then please don’t miss out on this one.

Oh, and I have one piece of advice: Don’t start this one late at night. I can guarantee that you will stay up WAY past your bedtime. It’s so hard to put down! 4/5 solid stars for THE HATERS! It’s out on July 2nd!

Camryn Lane, a part-time high school councilor, has just achieved her dream of publishing a novel. She has spent years trying & getting rejected, and now all of that hard work has paid off. Her teenage daughter is proud of her, her boyfriend and all of her friends seem to be elated for her, and Camryn is on top of the world. Then she gets an email from someone called Ingrid Wandry, accusing her of mining her students' stories for her book. Then she gets a one star review on a book review site, with the user saying basically the same thing, and urging other readers to boycott her book and to give her a one-star review as well. Soon her book is flooded with one-star reviews. Then, things begin to turn a little more threatening. Phone calls, a harrassing audience member at a writer's conference she attends, stalking, doxing....and with no name to give the police, they will do nothing. It is all up to Camryn to figure out who is targeting her, and why.

This book was really good. I love all of this author's books. She does a great job with psychological thrillers. At times I felt a little frustrated with Camryn for some of the choices she made, but I understand that being targeted like that would make you feel crazy, and especially not knowing who was doing it, you would have to second guess everyone and everything. It is hard to know how you would handle something until you are put in the same situation. You could feel her fear coming off of the page - it was that palpable. I was on the edge of my seat for most of my book, and I think I suspected half of the cast of characters before it was said and done. If you are a fan of psychological thrillers, then you are going to love this one.

The stress and anxiety I felt while reading this book is so real. Perhaps because I am very involved in social media, thrillers which center around social media hate trains really make me feel paranoid. It just feels so realistic.

I truly hope anyone who reads this book and also quickly jumps onto every hateful bandwagon they see online, would take a second to THINK before doing so. This story is not farfetched, this is completely believable as a real life possible situation.

This book is a great read. I highly recommend picking it up.

THE HATERS was another amazing story by Robyn Harding. I was hooked from the start. The pacing and twist throughout the book made it hard for me to put it down. Run, don't walk to grab yourself a copy!!


Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for my gifted ARC.

My review will be shared to Instagram account (@coffee.break.book.reviews) shortly.

I would guess that The Haters by Robyn Harding is every author's worst nightmare.

"Camryn Lane has finally made it. Her novel has finally been published to great reviews. But then there's some pushback on Camryn using her students' situations in her book. Camryn knows it's untrue and tries to respond. But that only makes things worse. The online trolls escalate and Camryn is desperate to find out who is out to ruin her."

This book is all about a public flaying of someone who has put their heart and soul and blood and sweat into crafting a story for our entertainment. There are 1-star reviews, online threats, texting threats, and doxing. It's a descent into desperation fro Camryn. What should be a great moment for her turns slowly into a living hell. Harding keeps you inside Camryn's heartbreak and paranoia. It's uncomfortable at times, especially with some of Camryn's decision making.

This is more psychological drama than thriller. Good surprising ending from Harding.

I guess I went into this book with the expectation that it was the drowning woman all over again. It definitely is not. I read this practically in one sitting. So it’s definitely a page turner. Though the teenage daughter really grated my nervous- but I suppose that’s the job of a teenager. I won’t lie, I’m currently writing my first book, and this kind of made me sick to my stomach to think it could happen to someone in real life. So in that way- Robin did exactly what an author should do, she immersed you so deeply into the story that it felt like it was happening to you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Robyn Harding has a gift for writing remarkably bingable thrillers with twists that hide in plain sight.

I enjoyed The Haters, but it's not my favorite of hers.

I liked the book-within-the-book and wanted to read Burnt Orchid in full instead of just chapter snippets

I hated our unreliable narrator protagonist because she seemed whiny and dumb, but I loved her book and her snappy daughter.

3.75 ⭐️

Harding has been a reliable thriller author who consistently delivers bingeable reads. The Haters’ premise drew me in, and I liked the concept immediately. Certainly, the efforts to “tank” an authors’ careeer through a deluge of negative reviews is timely. While I moved through the story quickly, it was not my favorite by Harding. Some elements grew a bit too over the top, and there were other aspects that seemed out of place on a macro level. This absolutely will not stop me from continuing to be a Harding fan; however, I will be recommending her other works over this one.

Camryn has just published her first book and is full of pride. Until she receives an anonymous disturbing message and begins getting flooded with bad reviews of her book.

This was a fun and suspenseful read that I’d recommend to fans of The Plot and Yellowface. I like thriller books about books within the literary and publishing world. The main character was annoying at times to me but I understood her desire to figure out who was harassing her. There were plenty of possible suspects, which keeps the reader on their toes.

“Something feels off here. Something feels like betrayal.”

The Haters comes out 7/2.

When an author's first book is attacked with 1 star reviews, things go south...fast. I knew the internet could be a terrifying place, but I didn't know how helpless it can make someone feel. I knew people could cyber stalk and that doxing was a thing, but watching it slowly play out and just get worse and worse...I couldn't put it down. I had to know what horrible thing would happen next. And the fact that she couldn't trust anyone. That is a horribly isolating and scary feeling. I feel like everyone who has social media should read this book because it has made me view how and what I post in a completely different light. Wonderful thriller!

I'm so sad that this book was such a disappointment for me. I've read all of Robyn Harding's other works and all of them were four or five stars. This felt like an extremely watered down version of what she normally writes.

I could not stand the main character Camryn and her woe is me attitude throughout the entire book. All she did was complain and blame everyone else for her own problems that she caused. I was really hoping the ending would go a completely different way for her and I'm really sad that it did not.

I'm used to a lot of thrills and twists with this author's work but this book barely had any and the ones that were there weren't as shocking as they normally are. It was a fast read but I felt like I was slugging my way through most of this book waiting for something crazy to happen and by the ending, nothing really happened.

I definitely won't let this book stop me from reading anything else she writes in the future but I'm hoping they're a lot more thrilling and exciting than this one was.

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the review copy.

I've always enjoyed Robyn Harding's books and this one is no exception. The protagonist, Camryn Lane, is a debut author--her dream of having a book published has just come true and her friends are throwing a party for her on publication day. But her joy is diminished when an email sent to her author account calls her book 'mindless garbage' and accuses her of using the things she's learned as a high school counselor to write this story. Her book titled Burnt Orchid IS about young teens with problems but in Camryn's mind, it's all fiction and not based on any of her students or their problems. Later she is appalled to see 1-star reviews on a book review site called ReadMe which say similar nasty things.

'Haters are part of the deal when you put yourself in the public eye,' her friend Janine, a popular TV newscaster, informs her. But things quickly begin to spiral out of hand and Camryn decides to find the person who started it all--with disastrous results.

Meanwhile, things in her personal life aren't going well either--with her job, with her teenage daughter Liza, with her boyfriend Theo, or even with her long-time friends. Camryn begins to wonder whom she can trust. Her dream has been shattered and she's learned there is a dark side to this business she'd been entirely unaware of till now.

Interspersed with what is happening to Camryn are chapters from her book, Burnt Orchid. Camryn as a person is not always likable but you can't help but feel sorry for her. Part of the problem is she really has no one she can rely on so she charges ahead on her own and makes some serious mistakes. Likewise her daughter is mixed up in things she keeps secret and Camryn's friends are not always shown at their best, their most loyal. This all makes for very tense, page-turning reading. A good bet to take along on your summer vacation!

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new thriller. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

4.5 STARS - Robyn Harding is back with another twisty and propulsive thriller that takes readers on a wild ride through the darker side of social media when first-time published author Camryn Lane finds herself the target of harassment online.

The story is easy for readers to sink into, and Harding hits the ground running giving readers a few possible culprits of who is behind the harassment. She also adds an extra layer of tension and emotional baggage when complicated personal relationships come into play and Camryn's professional and personal lives spin dangerously out of control.

Readers will get a peek into the mind of an author as Harding explores the vulnerability authors can feel as they send their books out 'into the wild' for people to enjoy ... and to critique. I also enjoy a 'book within a book' and the snippets from Camryn's novel, Burnt Orchid, which were interspersed through the main story, were a compelling addition.

Chilling in its plausibility for anyone with social media, The Haters is a cautionary tale that explores its dark side with a building sense of tension and dread that may have you rethinking every post, comment and picture you've ever posted on social media.

Add this book to your 2024 summer reading list in anticipation of its July 2, 2024 publication date!


Disclaimer: Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the digital advanced copy which was given in exchange for my honest review.

another stunning mystery by robyn harding!!! after the psychological thriller of THE DROWNING WOMAN, I was very excited to see what she would write next - and this one hit really close to home!!

while I’m firmly in the reviews are for readers camp, I’m also in the don’t tag the author in bad reviews camp - so this plot surrounding an author who gets one-star review bombed and doxxed over false accusations was heart wrenching!! it takes a lot for an author to put their heart and soul out there 🥹

this plot opened up a lot of discussions and a look in the author’s side of a bad review gone wrong 😳 and just when I thought I had it figured out, there was another curveball that threw me in the opposite direction! eventually, I was able to guess the culprit, but it was a satisfying payoff!

I would have liked to see the book within a book narrative pay off a little bit more - instead of just including chapters from camyrn’s book to show her writing material. after the false accusations that she was writing from personal experience, I was curious to see where her source material came from and how her characters’ stories ended…

thank you to netgalley and grand central for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: australian malbec (iykyk)

It's awesome to pick up a book and read a few chapters and feel entirely hooked by it. That was my reaction with The Haters. It's written straight-forwardly. No fluff. The chapters pulled me through quickly. I read it in 2 days. I seem to have read a lot of books about writers and while I was getting tired of that, this book did it differently. I liked that it had actual substance - it really makes you think. We live in a very cruel world where online abuse by strangers is a real thing. Where people can destroy the careers of others just by making accusations - they don't always even have to be true. I thought the main character felt very realistic - she wasn't always likable but she was human. Her actions were believable, considering what she was going through. And even if she was self-absorbed (justifiably so) in the beginning, she righted her ship. I must admit I failed to connect with the Burnt Orchid chapters and I skimmed them. I wasn't sure why they were there and I worried they'd have no relevance and just have been filler - but they did have a reason for being there in the end. All in all this book was a fast, highly entertaining, very well-plotted read!

Camryn Lane’s dream of becoming a published author has just come true, but before she can really get a chance to enjoy it, she’s stung when a troll leaves a scathing one-star review on a Goodreads-esque website. Things snowball in a hurry, and Camryn’s dream quickly turns into a nightmare of review bombing and harassment, both online and in real life. Who could be doing this to her? There’s no shortage of suspects, and Camryn will go to great lengths to uncover the truth.

The Haters is fast-paced and compulsively readable with a timely premise. Anyone in the bookish community knows this could actually happen to an author. Although this one grabbed me right away, in the end it was just okay for me. Camryn wasn’t a particularly compelling main character; she was frustratingly naïve and made a lot of dumb decisions. The pacing was a little uneven, starting out strong but getting bogged down in the middle by a repetitive storyline and too many minor characters, although this did allow for many possible culprits and lots of red herrings.

While this book didn’t quite hit the spot for me, a lot of other readers are enjoying this psychological suspense novel. If you are a fan of Robyn Harding’s other books (which I am!) or enjoyed The Last Word by Taylor Adams, this one might be for you!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing me an advance copy of this book.