I hate giving negative reviews but Hate Follow just wasn’t for me. I love the premise of the book, especially in a social media/internet world, but to me this book fell flat. The characters were likable but the dialogue between the teen characters seemed forced, there were a lot of repetitive details and sentiments in each chapter and the ending was a little lackluster.

Overall a decent book but I found myself skimming some pages because I was bored of reading practically the same sentences rewritten in each chapter.

Thank you to GoodReads and the publisher for the ARC.

This book tells a story I think we will see a lot of in the future-children of influencers fighting for their privacy. As someone who does not like influencer culture when it involves kids, this was right up my alley.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing this book, with my honest review below.

Hate Follow is a book I’d recommend for parents and especially influencers (or wannabe influencers, especially those with children). Following momfluencer Whitney and her family, we see teenaged daughter Mia rebel against her very packaged and curated for the gram and blog life. I thought all perspectives were fairly represented, leaving me as the reader suitably conflicted. I also found the plot believable until the end (influencers pull in a lot of money, is all I’ll say).

This may not be for everyone’s interests depending on whether you are intrigued by the premise, but in an internet world where we all share far too much, a very real issue has become how much we share of our children outside of their control, and this was a great piece on that.

Hate Follow is a propulsive, thought-provoking novel that will spark a much-needed conversation about children's privacy and the Internet. 

From the outside, momfluencer Whitney Golden seems to live a charmed existence — four darling children, big beautiful house, new boyfriend whose identity everyone is dying to learn. But underneath the glossy filter, she's struggling to pay for her mom's retirement home, her sister's college tuition, and her brother's gambling debts. And then her teenage daughter, Mia, decides she's had enough of her life being plastered all over Instagram. Whitney can't just STOP being an influencer—her family's whole livelihood depends on it—but when Mia sues her for privacy violation, Whitney's life spirals out of control.

I tore through the pages of this book, eager to find out what would happen next to these incredibly relatable characters. The genius of this novel lies in how Quinn-Kong makes you sympathize with both Whitney and Mia, even though their goals are directly at odds with each other. Most importantly, Hate Follow begins a conversation that's long overdue—what *are* children's rights when it comes to privacy and the Internet? Is that cute photo of your toddler on the potty or your grade schooler with underwear on his head as innocent as you think it is? What happens when these over-documented children start applying for jobs and college, or simply decide they deserve a say in how their story gets told? There's so much to discuss here; perfect for book clubs and reading groups!

Be prepared to buy some extra copies of this powerful debut. Fast-paced and compelling, Hate Follow is one of those books you’ll read and then immediately want to discuss with everyone you know. The mother-daughter relationship at the heart of the book is both deeply emotional and relatable, with two female characters you’ll root for even amidst their missteps and struggles to do what’s right. Erin Quinn-Kong does a superb job weaving a riveting plot with a complex modern-day parenting topic of which we’ve only begun to understand the implications. You won’t be able to put this book down—or stop talking about it once you’re done. I loved it! Quinn-Kong is a writer to watch!