✨ Just finished The Influencers by Anna-Marie McLemore, and I am completely captivated! This book is a stunning exploration of identity, fame, and the power of connection that left me in awe. 🌈💖Very easy to get hooked on page turning. From the very first page, I was drawn into the vibrant world McLemore creates. The characters are beautifully complex, each navigating their own struggles and dreams in a way that feels so relatable. I loved how their stories intertwined, revealing the impact of social media and the search for authenticity in a world obsessed with image.

What really stood out to me was the lyrical prose and the way McLemore captures the nuances of friendship and self-discovery. The themes of love and acceptance resonated deeply, making this not just a story about influencers, but about what it means to truly be seen. If you’re looking for a book that will make you think and feel, The Influencers is a must-read!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I found this book very hard to enjoy. The characters were all just terrible people and the plot was very flat.

This one sadly missed the mark for me. I love stories about influencer culture but this one was just too slow paced and repetitive for my liking.

I had SUCH high hopes for this, but sadly, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I initially hoped I would.
 
A lot of the time, I was awfully lost at what was even happening. Being in confusion was a constant. Things were dragged on for far too long that I almost didn’t want to finish this. Much of this book was not necessary; it was essentially rambling.
 
Even so, I did like the premise of this storyline a lot; it shined a much-needed light on the dangers of having children grow up as influencers on social media, and the mystery surrounding it all was fascinating!
 
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy. This is my honest review.

This was one of the more interesting books I have read. It's a story about a mom and her 5 (now grown) daughters and what she put them through growing up (and now) as a mom influencer. It's in inside look at the life of those whose put their entire lives on the internet, with the additional mystery element of who set fire to Mother May I's mansion, resulting in the death of her newlywed husband, August and the missing in action younger daughter, March. Add in the closer look at racism, family traumas, and the multiple POVs of all the daughters PLUS the people watching their lives unfold, and you got yourself a very interesting read.
I do wish that it did not drag on as much in some places, and I wish I saw these girls stand up for themselves even more than they did.
Thank you for this eARC - NetGalley, Anna Marie McLemore, and the publishers.

I am a firm believer in saying that God gives us our family because he knows we wouldn't choose them. And that is definitely the case here. This family is chaotic and toxic and ain't no one coming out of there well adjusted!! May (Mother May I) Iverson is the worst of the bunch. Oh, I suppose she had good intentions and thought she was doing right by her children, but she fully immersed herself in the Influencer lifestyle and dragged her kids right along into the thick of it, pretty much ruining anything that even approached a normal life. I am of the opinion that social media has been a major contributor to the current mess of a world we live in, and this story showcases the worst of it. Definitely a read that gives you a lot to think about.

The Influencers is an interesting book that examines the parasocial relationships viewers form with influencers while centered around a murder mystery. The characters in this book are May Iverson, a wildly successful mom and lifestyle influencer who has built an empire around her "Mother May I" brand, her 5 children who have been part of her brand and influencer lifestyle since birth, her ex and current husbands, true crime influencers, and the viewers who follow Mother May I. After May's second husband dies and a mysterious fire is set in her mansion, the viewers and police are struggling to figure out if one of the Iversons did it and why.

The book alternates between the perspectives of May, each of her children, and the viewers. The primary method of information being released is through a serious of mysterious behind the scenes recordings that are shown as a steady drip as the investigation is ongoing and serves to show the ugly truth behind the Mother May I brand and how she treats her family behind the scenes. While initially it was an intriguing choice to share information this way in a book about influencers, making the point that reality is almost certainly very different than what is shown in reels/photos/etc., this plot device was overused to the point where it became tedious. Who was releasing these behind the scenes recordings was an interesting secondary mystery, however it could have been scaled back.

To complement this plot device, there is also a true crime influencer who is breathlessly following the case and sharing all sorts of wild theories. It was interesting to think about the comparison between May Iverson exploiting her family and the true crime influencer as an outsider exploiting their family tragedy.

Another mystery surrounds a character who is revealed to be transgender which is why their identity was initially unknown. I appreciate when authors address transitioning and approach the topic in a positive and respectful manner. I think this was also included to make the point that this is a subject that can be exploited by influencers and they can use people as tokens to show how progressive they are and this was a rejection of that.

In addition to addressing transitioning, this book also addresses to a degree multiracial families and racism/colorism. The children of May Iverson have a Latino father (who has rejected the influencer life and had divorced May years prior) and some of them clearly look Latino and some don't. The plot addresses how this impacts how they are perceived by the public and also how their mother interacts and treats other Latina women who she views as "less than" along with how their mother engages in cultural appropriation.

The other aspect of this book that I disliked is the chapters are very short, which is not always bad, except very little happens in each one and it seems more about the characters being cryptic and mysterious with each other to try to build suspense and similar to the overuse as videos being released as a plot device, it just ends up dragging and being tedious.

Overall this is not a bad adult debut at all for an author of YA and generally speaking, these are good topics to explore, I just think that the plot needed to be shaken up a bit.

Many thanks to Random House/The Dial Press and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This review is my honest opinion

Unfortunately, the most interesting character in this book, Luke, gets the least amount of page time. The characters all felt very one-dimensional while also being frustrating and hard to like. With the length of this story, that was extra disappointing. I did enjoy the formatting and the differing POVs, especially the ones from the audience. That was a unique and fun approach with pondering the theories and making observations while in other chapters we are behind the curtain with the characters themselves.

May Iverson is an influencer with 4 daughters who are a part of her empire. She is very successful and rich until her home is burned and her new husband murdered. The top suspects are the family themselves. They are Kardashian-esque in their branding and personal empires, there are increasingly more and more ways to make money and build their brands.

This book was not my favorite, I found the characters to be one dimensional and the pacing I found to be slow. I love the idea for the book and the characters having month names, especially March. The set up and first couple of chapters were intriguing but with a lack of descriptions or believable dialogue the book started to drag. It doesn’t help that the victim is someone we don’t know or care about at all. A twist at the end that fell a bit flat.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for the ARC. Opinions are my own. Book to be published April 15, 2025.

*The Influencers* is a deliciously addictive, campy rollercoaster ride through the messy world of influencer culture, family drama, and a juicy murder mystery! When May Iverson, the queen of online fame, finds herself at the center of a whirlwind involving her estranged daughters, a dead husband, and a mansion gone up in flames, all bets are off. With a cast of eccentric, complex sisters (and a mysteriously vanished youngest), this novel serves up a sharp, witty evisceration of race, gender, and the price of fame—while keeping you hooked with twists, turns, and plenty of snarky, escapist fun. It’s a smart, satirical commentary on how the influencers of today might just have their own messy reckoning tomorrow—and the perfect read if you love a story that's equal parts biting and binge-worthy!

It took me a while to understand what was going on because how the book was laid out took some getting used to. Once I got to that point (let’s call it 20% in). The story line was great, I just wish it was easier to follow.

I really hoped to love this book but found it to be a little lackluster. I really appreciated the idea behind this book, focusing on the impact of social media on kids who are often turned into their parents' content. However, I think it fell short of its potential! I was eager to enjoy it, but I struggled to get through the pages. There seemed to be an overwhelming number of characters and plotlines. At times, it felt like there was a lot of unnecessary content, and I believe it could have been trimmed down by at least 100 pages.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

I received this book from Net Galley for a review. It’s definitely more suspense than horror, but I still really enjoyed it. I read about 250 pages in the last 24 hours because I couldn’t put it down.

Mommy mega influencer, Mother May I, real name, May Iverson, comes home to find her house on fire and her new husband dead. Suspicion surrounds her and her five daughters, two of whom are influencers in their own right. The followers of May and her family speculate as to which one of them killed August, or if any of them did.

This book follows the investigation by public opinion, while also giving the reader insight into May’s and each of her daughters’ lives. May isn’t quite as perfect as she pretends to be and she wasn’t the best mother. Explosive secrets come out as the police and the public get closer to who is responsible.

I loved this book. It was a fun read while also being a cautionary tale about putting too much of your children, and yourself, online. When you share every moment with the world, what are you saving for yourself?

The Influencers is a topical novel about the suspicious death of influencer May Iverson’s new husband. Within the book, author Anna-Marie McLemore explores themes of racism, gender identity, and family dynamics, which at times makes it feel very heavy. She asks the important question of “what is the long term impact of influencer’s children being in the limelight?” which is an important question to ask, but makes the book feel muddled tackling so many important topics at once. It is written from the perspective of influencer Mother May I’s followers, which is a unique perspective but ultimately left me feeling disconnected from the characters and plotline as the reader. At 448 pages, it was definitely a long read and felt like it dragged on and on. The pacing felt very slow and if at least 150 pages were condensed, I feel like it would be more of a palatable read. I had a hard time distinguishing between characters with them all being named months of the year, especially twins June and July, who played an important role in the plot. This was a solid 3 stars for me, but with more refining has the potential to be more. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Random House Publishing Group/The Dial Press for this book in exchange for an honest review.

May Iverson has created a social media empire by branding herself Mother May I. Unfortunately, this means her five daughters have all been forced to live their entire lives online. When May’s husband August is murdered, suddenly the Iverson’s find themselves at the center of unwanted attention.

Told in a tone similar to Then We Came to the End (Joshua Ferris, 2006) and Sellevision (Augusten Burroughs, 2000), this is a satirical look at the dangers of living our lives for the likes. May is willing to expose her family no matter their protestations if she can garner a brand deal or be first in line for that hard-to-get bag. As an antagonist, she is easy to hate, with her children being far more sympathetic. This timely book is entertaining and infuriating and would make a great selection for a book group.

It took me a few chapters to get into the flow of the shifting POVs of the chapters of this novel, but once I was in it, it was a solid read with some fun, unexpected twists and some larger thematic work about culture that was really interesting and insightful.

The Influencers is a juicy thriller that dives into the chaotic world of social media fame and family drama. It follows “Mother May” Iverson, who built her whole empire by sharing every part of her daughters’ lives online. Now that the girls are all grown up, the cracks are starting to show—and things go from bad to worse when someone murders May’s new husband and burns down her mansion.

That said, I found the book a bit underwhelming. While the premise was exciting, the story felt over-the-top and sometimes too focused on making social commentary rather than building a believable plot. The characters came off as one-dimensional, and the suspense didn’t fully deliver. If you’re looking for a quick, campy read with some thought-provoking moments, it’s still worth a shot, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.

I received an ARC of this novel through NetGalley.

This is a murder-mystery about a social media icon (May aka Mother May I) and her 5 daughters, who are experiencing the apparent murder of May's second husband and the burning down of the family mansion. The fact that this is a murder-mystery becomes almost an afterthought as the story focuses on May's social media activity and how it affects her daughters. The author goes to great length to develop the character of each of the five daughters, all named after the month in which they were born: January, March, April, June and July. (June and July are twins, so how could they be born in different months? Birth records were fudged to show them born on either side of midnight on June 30.)

More than anything else, this book is about the hazards of being an overbearing parent. In May's mind, she made here daughters into being success stories. What she was rally doing was living her life vicariously through her daughters, a mistake many parent make.

Though the book is longer than it needs to be, it was suspenseful throughout. I experienced frustration as a reader because I wanted to be figuring out a murder-mystery. But that was not the primary point of this book. The point is that May never let her daughters choose what they wanted to be, because she was far too controlling of their lives.

This novel takes a popular movement, that of social media influencer, and wraps a murder mystery around it. Actually, a family of influencers not unlike that infamous LA clan. The family has a bunch of siblings with month names to keep things either interesting or confusing. We quickly learn that the multiple narrators have strikingly different takes on the murder, their roles in the social media pecking order, and whether they deserve all the attention or not from their digital fans. One daughter has grown to hate her "highly-curated, affiliate-linked life" and tired of being as glam as possible even if just running out for a few groceries. The family matriarch led the assent into influencer-land, making millions off of her product recommendations and fancy lifestyle. But the attraction of always being on camera and in front of an audience of admirers eventually cools and there is trouble in paradise. Solving the murder -- and hearing various whodunnit theories -- occupies most of the book's back-and-forth conflict amongst the family members, and whether the murder is an asset or a liability in each person's brand identity. I initially liked the initial setup and the personalities of the family, but like them I eventually got tired of trying to keep all the month-names straight.

The Influencers by Anna-Marie McLemore is a quirky mystery/suspense book, which reminds me a little of Allow Me Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli, being about social media influencers. The mysterious death of the husband of a mom influencer opens up a behind-the-scenes can of worms. I liked the writing style, especially the perspectives of the followers. An interesting and relatable read with intersting characters, good twists and a resolved ending.
Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House | The Dial Press for giving me the ARC in exchange for my honest review