Chiara is a mother of twins. She made a post that went viral and boosted her on Instagram as a mom influencer. She won a retreat for mothers and she is thrilled at being able to connect with other moms and make friends.

The retreat was not what she expected. She has hard time connecting and fitting in and wonders why she even came. When they talk about instagram posts, reels, algorithms and how to brand yourself it as funny but so true. I liked the sarcasm and mom clones who were all woo girls.

She never makes it home from the retreat and now her sister is at a retreat trying to find out what happened to her.

The ending was something out of kill bill.

This was enjoyable! It did a good job, in my opinion, of striking a balance between scathing social criticism and enjoyable moments. I am eager to read more from Elizabeth Rose Quinn and would undoubtedly suggest this book to others!

From early on in the story, it is fairly predictable who the perpetrator will be. Nevertheless, the ending to this book was crazily explosive and did have some smaller twists mixed in with it. If you want an extremely dramatic conclusion to a story, just read this one. It was SO entertaining. I’m very happy I managed to read this book. Although I found some character’s behaviours to be VERY over the top at points, it was a fun read overall. However, as a warning, there is a LOT of murder in this. If that doesn’t bother you, and you like a thriller with a crazy amount of drama, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

I liked this! I think it did well balancing sharp social commentary without losing the sense of fun and leaving room for thought-provoking moments. It read like a mini-series so I hope that Amazon Studios will be able to make it one 🙏.

Energy: Caustic. Zealous. Imaginative.

🐕 Howls: There’s a bit of over-the-top villain moments at the end but it didn’t derail me, just got an eyeroll.

🐩 Tail Wags: The blend of social commentary, satire, and twisty mysteries. The examination of cult-like parenting cliques and “performing” motherhood. How we get to know and (possibly) care about the missing character before the incident. How the dual timelines allow us to uncover what’s changed at the retreat over the course of a year and guess at why. The delightfully unhinged plot (and characters). The commentary around addictive behaviours – whether it’s substances or judgy parenting.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in and around the Mendocino Hills, California, USA.
Perspectives (2): Twins who were living the party life. One changed after marrying and deciding to have kids. They unintentionally went viral after posting a clip of their kids online. The other twin is childfree by choice and cringing at their sibling, while struggling with missing the way things were.
Timeline: Current (2020s-ish). June. October.
🔥 Fuel: What happened to the missing sister? Will her twin uncover anything at the retreat or is it a lost cause? What is going on behind closed doors at the retreat?
📖 Cred: Satirical realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:
Slate-grey minivan. Tiny American flags. Tie-dye. Fireworks. Capture the flag. Corn maze. Mini-Mom Squad. Scarecrow husband. Adele.
• Motherhood pressures
• Complicated twin/sibling bonds
• Toxic Mommy Influencer culture and addictive perfectionism
• Scary incident + missing person
• Vengeance driven by grief
• Undercover amateur sleuthing and infiltrating
• Frenetic, unhinged characters
• Mean mommy cliques and popularity contests
• Detective perspective moments
• Piecing together the puzzle and following clues alongside the main character
• Psychological suspense  Quirky popcorn slasher dramedy

Content Heads-Up: Addiction (Alcoholics Anonymous; recovery and relapse cycles, cravings). Alcohol abuse. Blackmail (brief). Blood. Burn injury/attack. Cannabis use (smoking). Depression. Drug use (on and off page; prescription). Financial insecurity (in childhood). Homophobia (character comments). Loss of sibling. Mentally ill parent (depression). Murder. Physical attacks (descriptive on page). Police dismissal (prejudice; victim blaming/bias). Postpartum anxiety.

Rep: American. Filipina American. Cis. Hetero. Ambiguous skin tones. Childhood stutter. Childfree-by-choice.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley.

I kept trying but could not get into this. Chiara and Adrienne did not feel like distinct characters and I couldn’t find myself rooting for either. An evil mom retreat is a good premise but it didn’t feel as fleshed out as it could’ve. Perhaps I just wasn’t the audience for this.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so so much to both Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this gem. This book was honestly hilarious. I went sure truly not sure what to expect but the quick-witted, satirical writing style immediately drew me in. I loved the atmosphere, loved the way the entire mom retreat was described. I was honestly not sure if this was supposed to be a thriller or a comedy. However, I also appreciated Adrienne's character arc throughout the book too. The author was not afraid to make Adrienne unlikeable at times, and it is that complicated, devastating relationship with her sister that makes Adrienne a strong protagonist. While the rest of the book felt utterly absurd, Adrienne's character provided the emotional depth needed to ground the novel. The one thing I would say is that this book kind of foregoes a lot of the mystery aspects in exchange for comedy and Adrienne's soul-searching. As a novel it was great. As a thriller? I wasn't feeling thrilled. However, the entire thing was so incredibly funny and entertaining that I didn't even mind.

quite the absurd (to not say over-the-top [positive connotation] ride! current events, trends and lingo (which i usually find cringy, but it worked here) and overall sketchy characters and settings. the plot isn't revolutionary, but it is unique and very entertaining.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Follow Me tells the story of twin sisters Adrienne and Chiara. After attending a style summit held by mommy-blogger influencers, Chiara goes missing. After a year of searching for her missing sister, Adrienne attends the style summit herself to find out exactly what happened to her sister.

The premise of this story really intrigued me and I was hooked from the start! The quirkiness of the influencer moms at the summit balanced the shock and gore of the thriller aspects of the story. The idea of women protecting their social media brands is so relevant in this day and age; I was fully horrified and cringing and the lengths that these women went to protect their image.

On a personal note, this story really hit hard as a twin. There was something about how Adrienne struggled with Chiara transitioning to being a wife and mother that really resonated with me.

After her twin sister, Chiara, goes missing at a mom-fluencer weekend, Adrienne Shaw will find her no matter what it takes. They may have been on the outs, but no one comes for her sister and gets away with it.

It’s been a year, the authorities have no answers, and her brother-in-law is useless in the matter. It’s time for Adrienne to take the case into her own hands. Following in Chiara’s last footsteps, Adrienne goes undercover, infiltrating the same influencer retreat as the last thing she wants to an Instamommy.

The remote ranch in Northern California is certainly welcoming—in a cult-adjacent kind of way. A charismatic leader, communal crafts, fixed smiles—and a lot of dead eyes.

Going on gut instinct and chasing a wild theory—that Chiara came here and never left—Adrienne is determined to uncover the truth before the too-perfect-to-believe women figure out who Adrienne really a threat to be eliminated.

Loved it. Will recommend to others

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review. Follow Me was a fun read, I love a dark comedy so it was easy for me to fall in love with this book. I look forward to reading more by this author.

thank you to netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book.

i decided not to finish this book. there was a vague undercurrent of misogyny running throughout this book that became a bit too much to bear. offering criticisms on instagram mom culture and how it promotes capitalism and feelings of inadequacy and insecurity for other parents is one thing, but then turning that around and demonising pretty much every single female character in this book to the point of evil cartoon villain levels was just misogynistic and hateful.

I was intrigued by this premise but the plot fell flat. The characters were difficult to bond with or relate to, so I didn't really care what happened to them.

Thank you NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Elizabeth Rose Quinn for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! Sadly, this one didn’t really work for me… I loved the premise, but at about 50% in I started to get bored. The writing style didn’t really click with me and it wasn’t enough to keep me interested. However, I do think other people will like it more! Even when I wasn’t super into it I still wanted to know the ending. The author created a really good mystery and a unique concept.

Adrienne’s sister goes missing at a "Mom-fluencer" retreat, and Adrienne decides to investigate on her own when the police don’t have answers. The book was a bit confusing at first, but once the plot kicked in, it was an entertaining, dramatic thriller with a lot of twists and over-the-top characters.

Follow Me was an interesting style of novel. A bit thriller and a lot of mommy chaos. I appreciated the author’s attempt at humor while writing a thriller, but I do think sometimes it was a bit too much. Also while an interesting concept, the execution fell a bit flat for me and some extra editing would do the novel a services. Some parts were really interesting and some were cute, and some were funny! So all in all, I’ll say it was an interesting concept and a quick read, just in need of a little TLC! Thank you to the publisher, to NetGalley, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

After her sister is missing for a year, Adrienne infiltrates a social media mom summit to get to the bottom of everything.

Fun read, I'm not a mom but still very much enjoyed this book. It points out all the cringeworthy social media mom types and if you can't laugh at them, you're probably one of them. We definitely live in a society with everyone being obsessed about how their image comes across or their brand.

The beginning of the story felt like it dragged a little and the ending felt like it went too quick. Overall solid storyline, good mystery and nice follow through.

Thank you ##NetGalley for this ARC of #FollowMe by Elizabeth Rose Quinn. Hitting shelves near you May 6, 2025!

Follow Me starts out promising, between the mystery of missing Chiara and the satire of the mommy influencer industry. Entertaining and insightful, until the third act where the plot came apart for me as it became less grounded in reality. The novel is more heavy on the satire part than the thriller/mystery, which I was not expecting so that may have influenced my reaction to the finale.

If someone had told me that I would enjoy a mommy influencer mystery I wouldn’t have believed you but here we are. I went in not expecting much but found that I couldn’t put this book down until I found out what happened.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I'm going to be completely honest. This book had me in a chokehold the moment it, in the midst of skewering everything about the deeply obnoxious toxic positivity-infested cult of mom-fluencers, referenced the clothing brand Dôen. This is a brand beloved by this particular cult of carefully curated, identically prairie dressed mostly white women who are all one algorithmic tweak away from going full antivax tradwife nutcase if they're not already there. I also happened to work at the brand for five years, and it was the worst job I ever had, largely due to being owned, run, and staffed by women who would be right at home with the fake, vacuous, money-grubbing, social media-addicted, past-their-prime mommy bloggers who make up the set of villains in this novel. Elizabeth Rose Quinn, you nailed it. Thank you. That felt great.

My schadenfreude-laden cackling enjoyment then tipped over into genuine affection with the unexpected and absolutely bugfuck insane ending. Now THAT'S the way to do it, baby. Literally go nuts lol. This has been optioned for a movie and I'll look forward to checking that out as well.

This book won't be for everyone, and I have some criticisms. And also I don't care. Five stars, cut it, print it.

My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC!

2 stars!!!

I thought the premise of this was fantastic! And the start of the book and how things started to kick in after a while I really did enjoy but sadly I just couldn't get into the story more. I felt like some parts would drag out or sometimes memories/flashbacks were great to build up that emotional connection but sometimes it took my out of the story. Regardless of this as this was clearly not for me but I can see it being for many others