I read this book a few months ago and it has given me time to really think about it. I recently read the Shari Franke memoir and it really put Hate Follow into context for me. I definitely enjoyed the book when I first read it, but I need to go back and re-read it with this new lens on the topic!

This is such an incredibly tough review to write.

I feel like there is a lot of merit to having a book like <i>Hate Follow</i> out there in the world for those kids of influencers once they start to grow up. There’s something important about having a book that highlights some of the bad and the ways in which treating your children like something you can profit off of can erode your relationship and their mental health. It’s important to have a story that portrays characters who are willing to become better in order to heal that relationship.

All of that said, this is an incredibly rosy outlook on the way relationships like this will look. I think, more often than not, life isn’t this easily tidied up. Even more so, I can’t say that the way this story ended is how it will end for the majority. And in that regard, it feels very icky to focus so entirely on the resolving of the mother/daughter relationship and not on the court case or the more damaging aspects of putting your children on display for the world like that for so long.

I don’t know if this book will help the kids growing up today who are going to be in Mia’s situation. And I didn’t appreciate the excessive kindness the author offered Whitney nor how easily she was able to adjust her “job” once she realized, somewhat magically, that she needed to change. Perhaps there’s something to be said for the idea that a mommy blogger might read this book and find it the inspiration she needed to make a change for herself, but I think there will be precious few who fall under that category.

I dunno. It’s a tough topic to write about. But I can’t help feeling like near every aspect of this book fell so short.

It doesn’t rely on tricks or easy answers—just strong writing, layered storytelling, and a quiet confidence that keeps you turning pages. The kind of book that sticks with you, not because it tries to, but because it deserves to. Nothing flashy, just good.

I was so excited for the premise of this one, but I had a hard time getting in to it. The characters weren't likeable, and their actions weren't logical.

This book was easy to read and enjoyable. I believe it did cover some of the "hot topics" surrounding social media and in a well written way. I definitely think people forget that there are people on the other side of a screen & that there's truly no reason to comment mean stuff on social media. Not a bad book to start the year of with.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC. The book has a really interesting premise. Whitney, a recent widow, has become an “influencer” to support her family. The problem is that it has taken over all of the family’s life. Her teenage daughter Mia is particularly sick of it. She doesn’t want to pose for social media posts. She doesn’t want to be used as a prop in her mom’s social media.

When she asks her mom to stop, Whitney doesn’t understand the problem. And then Mia files suit against her to make it stop. While I think there were some really thought provoking questions brought up by this novel, it just fell short for me. I do think it would be a fun book club book for the conversations that could be had.

Hate Follow by Erin Quinn-Kong had an intriguing premise and a beautiful cover that initially made it one of my most anticipated reads for 2024, but unfortunately, it fell short for me. While the story tackles relevant themes like children’s privacy in the digital age, I struggled to connect with the characters, especially Whitney, whose questionable decisions as an influencer were difficult to overlook. The plot felt like it was missing depth, and the abrupt ending left too many unanswered questions. However, I appreciated the focus on Mia’s struggles and her fight for autonomy, which added emotional weight to the story. A decent debut, but I just wanted more. Three stars. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC!

3.5 stars rounded up. This was an interesting, timely story that dealt with the downside of social media, especially where children are concerned. I liked both leads and understood their feelings and actions. The story started strong and held my attention throughout, but I thought the ending was kind of weak. I felt like the story was really building up to something and then it just sort of fizzled out. It was interesting and relatable overall though and the online drama was fun.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I liked this book way more than I expected. The premise was interesting and while the beginning was a little drawn out about 30% in pacing remained good. As someone who has a difficult relationship with their mother, seeing Whitney’s evolution and the relationship with her daughter was heartwarming.

This was a highly enjoyable and engaging read. The plot kept me invested, and I genuinely wanted to know what would happen next. Thank you to the publisher for my ARC!

good mystery about a couple and staying in a house and the other couple there. kept me on my toes . good mystery and figuring stuff out.

A new author for me. Overall, it wasn't my favorite story. The synopsis sounded very interesting but it just didnt land right with me. I had a hard time truly connecting to the characters. The ending was a little abrupt - left me a little confused. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion

While the message and the storyline was intriguing, the execution lacked a bit. I wish there was a little more exploration of the legality of the issue at hand, as that is something that definitely has merit in real life.

Hate Follow by Erin Quinn-Kong was a cute story that read like a Young Adult or a New Adult novel. The story was straightforward, without poetic prose or creative phrasing, it didn’t drag on and on or try to be something it’s not.

This book was fun, and if you are looking for a weekend read, grab it. It’s what I would call a beach read, except it's almost November, and no one is headed to the beach with a novel for the afternoon.

What I liked most was taking a very relevant and timely topic — kids being used in influencer blogs without their consent- and writing a novel about it without casting the parent in a negative light.

It’s a quick read and I can easily see this being turned into a mini-series!

Synopsis:

To her one million Instagram followers, influencer Whitney Golden’s life looks just about perfect. But her curated existence explodes when her teenage daughter Mia sues her for invasion of privacy. The monumental case throws their relationship into a tailspin and has mother and daughter grappling with what it truly means to be in the public eye.

Influencer Whitney Golden has it all: beautiful, photogenic children; a handsome new boyfriend; a gorgeous house; and designer clothes and beauty products that arrive on her doorstep every day. After spending years building her brand as a widowed mother of four (including twins!) to over a million followers, the thirty-seven-year-old is at the peak of her career.

But it all comes to a screeching halt when Mia, her teenaged daughter, announces she’s tired of the social media life. She wants nothing more to do with her mother’s online brand — and demands that not just she, but her siblings and their deceased father be removed from Whitney’s Instagram, blog, and just about everywhere else on the internet.

When Whitney doesn’t agree, Mia does the unthinkable: She sues her mother. What started as a family spat turns into a monumental case about child privacy, individual agency, and modern parenting that shatters Mia and Whitney’s relationship and wreaks havoc on both their lives. As the case ignites a media firestorm and unrelenting online bashing from a Greek chorus of internet snarkers, Whitney has to decide whether she’s willing to risk everything she’s built to win back her daughter.

Give me a book about the behind-the-scenes chaos of social media or the unforeseen consequences of the influencer industry, and I am sure to love it. So when I read the summary about a daughter no longer being on board with her mom sharing the family’s most private moments online, I pounced. Written in contemporary/commercial style, this novel is the perfect “toe dip” for starting discussions around what will likely be a massive child influencer backlash.

I would like to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on October 8, 2024.

Whitney Golden is an influencer, a mom of 4 who shares her life online, blogging and sharing photos on Instagram and writing about the struggles of being a single mother. She had started writing when her husband died suddenly, and she was able to find others who were interested in her story. She grew her audience, and became a full-time influencer, able to afford a big new house and an assistant as well as her manager.

Her daughter Mia did not enjoy it as much. She didn’t pay all that much attention to what her mother posted until she was supposed to be part of a family photo shoot and didn’t want to. Kids at school started teasing her about the things her mother was posting online about her, so Mia finally looked up her mother online. She was stunned to see how many followers her mother had. And then she saw the picture. Her mother had posted photos of her father’s funeral, including one that showed Mia’s raw sorrow. Mia was furious, and she asked her mother to take down the pictures from the funeral immediately.

Whitney understood Mia being upset about it, but she didn’t think it was that big of a deal. All the other influencers share pictures of their family. And Whitney was just writing about her own experience. But the rift with Mia is stressing her out, so she’s looking forward to her monthly spa afternoon. It’s as she’s leaving the spa that she gets served.

Mia’s best friend’s father knows an attorney who he thought might be able to help Mia, so he introduced her. Mia told him that she wanted to sue her mother for emancipation. The attorney explains that she’s too young, and the court would expect her to be living on her own with her own money. But he does think that she has a case, and agrees to work on her behalf to sue Whitney to take down all her social media and to pay her back pay for all the times Mia had helped her with a sponsored photo shoot or post.

Whitney is completely blindsided by the lawsuit and isn’t sure what to do. She decides to fight the lawsuit, so she hires an attorney of her own. But the lawsuit and ensuing attention for it makes both Whitney and Mia vulnerable in unexpected ways. Whitney starts losing sponsors, and Mia finds herself under the kind of public scrutiny she’d been trying to avoid by getting her mother’s online presence taken down. And as the trial date gets closer, the more pressure they both feel to do what they they think is right.

But will that ultimately bring the family back together, or will the lawsuit rip them apart forever?

Hate Follow is a smart twist on the story of an influencer, asking important questions about privacy and how much is too much to share online. Told in alternating viewpoints between Whitney, Mia, and a group of internet trolls, this story explores the stories we tell online and how it can effect others, in positive and painful ways.

I was sucked into Hate Follow from the beginning, and I raced through it to see how just how the story wrapped up. I really liked Mia and wanted her to be okay through all this, and while I had less of a connection with Whitney, I couldn’t help but empathize with her situation and be impressed at how hard she worked to keep her family together. This is a really beautiful book that brings up things we need to be thinking about, as we post our lives online. Anyone interested in the effects of influencer culture should check it out.

Egalleys for Hate Follow were provided by William Morrow through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This was a fantastic, oh-so-relevant debut about a teen girl who sues her influencer mother when she refuses to stop posting and sharing pictures about her on social media. What follows is a contentious lawsuit where feelings are hurt, betrayals happen and the mother-daughter pair learn what's really important in life. Great on audio narrated by Carolyn Jania, the author does an excellent job exploring both sides of the debate over the privacy rights of minors and whether their parents should be allowed to post about their offspring without consent. Highly recommended for fans of stories about social media influencers and family drama. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review! I'm excited to read what this author writes next!

A single mom making her income as an influencer is trying to hold her life together after her resentful daughter sues her for unpaid labor and lack of privacy. She must decide if she is willing to give up everything she is built in order to keep her daughter in her life. This book gave a great point of view and made interesting and powerful points about childhood privacy and mom influencers. I hope that a lot of people read it and begin to understand what it's like for those growing up on the internet without providing permission.

I am so into the idea of books that take on topics like the impacts of the children of family bloggers! I could not put down this book! I absolutely devoured it! I wanted the ending ot be more dramatic, but I also thing the ending was the right move.

I highly recommend this to anyone fascinated by mom-fluencers! Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks for granting me access to the ARC!