I had mixed feelings on Follow Me Back, but I think I enjoyed it! The back and forth between the two characters was well-written and enjoyable to read. I also liked how when they finally got to meet that there were a lot of questions regarding his identity and it definitely made me question some things that happened in the book. The ending confused me a bit and I had to go back and read it a few times, but I believe there is going to be a sequel that will hopefully answer some questions I had. It was a fun read and while the ending was confusing, I'll probably end up checking out book two!

I thought that the format of this book was great for what it was and I also enjoyed the ending, although it was a bit too confusing.

Enjoyed reading this young adoloscent book. It has some really important views.

OMG....I am so shocked. I just ... omg!! This was soooooo good. I just didn't expect that ending and it completely rocked me. OMG.....this was amazing.

I have a bunch of other books that I was gonna review, but I read this book over the weekend and decided that I MUST talk about it. It takes a special kind of book to come along that makes me read it straight through without stopping-- and that's exactly what Follow Me Back was. I started it Sunday evening and finished it that night.

I could not stop reading this book. It was so addictive. I wanted to know what made Tessa scared to leave her house, and I wanted to know what would happen when she found out that she was actually conversing with her celebrity obsession-- but mostly, I wanted to read about these 2 characters and their inner thoughts and fears and passions.

This book surprised me so much because I don't usually go for the whole "normal girl" and celebrity trope. I was super surprised that there even was a flirty/romantic relationship because I was expecting this to be dark, but there was and I liked it??? I think it's because Tessa was so relatable and I cared about what she had to say. I felt like I was just as excited to talk to Tessa as Eric was. I wanted to know how her therapy was going, and I wanted to be her friend.

It was also very interesting to read about the dark side of celebrity. I don't think I'd go as far as saying I feel bad for them-- but I do know it would be tough giving up so much of your privacy and never knowing if a mentally ill or psychotic fan is going to do something violent or go too far.

The ending: WHAT??? I loved that this got to that super dark place, and I even kind of loved that this ended with a big question mark. I have no idea where this series is going to go from here, but I'm dying to find out!!

OVERALL: I think this is my favorite book of the year so far because it was so addicting and entertaining. I loved both main characters, I loved that I had NO IDEA what was going to happen and I was on the edge of my seat, and I loved the perfect mix of lightness and darkness. I 100% RECOMMEND!!

The characters in this were just annoying and the whole thing where Eric is pretending to be a some random person is just slightly creepy

You know, I kind of had low expectations for Follow Me Back. I’ve not gotten along with any other WattPad success stories, so I was a bit apprehensive going into this. But I was so wrong, because from page one I was completely addicted to this story. The easy reading, the social media aspect, so much of this was incredibly compelling.

I really enjoyed the way this depicted fame for pop singer Eric Thorn. Just a few months before this book started, another pop sensation was murdered by a ravenous fan. Following this attack, Eric is plagued by paranoia that’s turning him angry. He’s hostile to his management team, to his publicist, to his record label in general. The group that receives the most of his ire and even disgust is his fan base. He’s reached Bieber levels of fame, with millions of followers, sold out shows to the tune of 50k concert-goers, you know what I’m talking about here. And he’s disgusted by being paraded about for his body, by the fact that these girls claim to LOVE him even though they don’t know anything about him, not really. Eric is exhausted and overworked and feels trapped by his contract. This is a very different sort of fame that’s usually depicted in YA; I’ve read a good amount of celebrity stories and most of the time it’s the romanticized version of events. Lounging by the pool, working maybe a day or two here or there at glamorous locations. So even though his contempt for his young, female fan based was a bit off putting for a while, at least Eric seemed like a real person pushed to the brink.

Tessa was a lot harder to understand. She was closed off to everyone else in the book – her boyfriend, her therapist, her mother – so I never felt like I got to know her. I did relate to her struggles with anxiety, though her agoraphobia was much more intense than anything I have ever experienced. I liked the way the author portrayed this particular struggle, too, with a positive representation of therapy and mental healthcare. That said, I never once felt like I got to be a part of her life like I did with Eric. Maybe it was because she was confined to the four walls of her bedroom or maybe it was because of her closed-off nature.

The story included a lot of tweets and DMs which I really enjoyed. Something about text-based communication is so great to me; I think it’s that it gets straight to the point whereas normal dialogue is dependent on descriptors and body language. There are also excerpts from police statements and witness interrogations alluding to an Incident that happens later in the book. These sections added an ominous tone to the whole book, even when things were going particularly well for the characters. It definitely had me turning the pages, that’s for sure.

I love the way the author addressed boy band fandom. From what I’ve seen, most books “like this” are wish fulfillment fantasies about boy band members falling for a self-insert of the author. That’s fine, I guess, but definitely not my thing. I lean more toward the “that’s kinda creepy” side of things and it makes me a little uncomfortable to see people ship themselves with these celebrities like these men aren’t real people. And that’s what this book is hitting at, right there. Celebrities are people too and this culture of instant gratification and 100% transparency of a public figure puts a lot of people in danger. There’s a line between fangirl and stalker and it’s breached a lot more often than we think.

Of course, Follow Me Back wasn’t perfect. Like I said, I felt like there was a wall between Tessa and the reader. And I also felt like certain scenes were dragged out more than they had to be. They were still engaging, but how many different ways does one character need to say the same thing to another? It was frustrating when all I wanted to find out what the hell happened. The romancey bits got a bit cheesy toward the end of the book; it was kind of goofy. Finally, there was a weird focus on physical appearance, especially Tessa’s “slim” body.

I really, really enjoyed this one. I couldn’t stop thinking about it any time I was forced to put it down. The author’s writing style makes for an easy, fast-paced reading experience. The ending was crazy, though, so consider me hooked and hungrily awaiting the sequel.

Modern, and suspenseful, most of this book was interesting to read. The girl who is scared, Tess, meets the boy, Eric, who's a music star. However, there's more to it than that. Something major went down because we are reading tweets and police reports, but you have to read it to have it unravel. The ending is irritating beyond words, because you have to wait for book two. It would have given this 5 stars if it hadn't been such a train wreck of an ending. The ending made me mad I'd even read the book. I'm re-writing endings in my head now.

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

I went into this book not knowing anything, and what I got out of it was a dark disturbing example of catcalling and bad rep of mental illness. We follow Tessa, an agoraphobic who had an extremely traumatic experience and it consistently going to therapy to try to get help. She has an obsessions with Eric Thorn, a celebrity singer, who seems very unhappy with where his life is at.

This story is told in multi-media format like police transcripts, direct messages, and tweets, which made it a bit easier to consume for me at least. From page one, we know something very bad happens, and we spend the rest of the book trying to connect the puzzle pieces on what happened.

What I didn't want this to be, is what it did end up being: a YA contemporary romance, but with a sinister twist. I actually wasn't a fan of the romance at all, the power unbalance and behavior from the love interest made me feel really uncomfortable. So I didn't feel like I could get behind that part of the book, which quite frankly made up the majority of the book, therefore that was lots of yawning and skimming involved.

As others have pointed out, whilst reading this I felt like the writing was mainly fan-fiction and I learnt it was previous published on Wattpad, and generally I wish it would just go through more rounds of edits. One of my main characters, Eric was a self-absorbed narcissistic dick and because I absolutely hated his character and couldn't connect with him or his choices, it really did put me off from the story itself. Meaning if the characters are extremely unlikable and illogical, and there is no redemption or reliability, it's one thing that just ruins it for me.

Onto the mental health bad rep, well we know that the main character has had severe agoraphobia for the past year of the her life. We're aware that she hasn't left her room/house for that time, and than when it becomes convenient to the plot development, she leaves with ease and says that she's "over it." Which makes so sense because that means the author didn't do enough research into how recovery works and how many baby steps people take to get to a certain point in their journey.

Not all of it is horrible, because one thing that it does have going for itself is the addictive quality. For the first one to two hundred pages, it was one of those unputdownable books. Until of course we hit the roadblock of the romance getting too much into the way and the book having bad rep and getting messy. I am not a fan of the ending, at first I didn't really know what to think of it, but I can now definitively say that I'm not a fan of it.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this book. I hate not finishing a book, but I couldn't connect with the characters and I didn't know where this story was leading. It wasn't a mystery worth pursuing. I was at over 60% when I felt it wasn't leading to a mystery or a thriller or even a psychological break episode. I do wish the author well and much future success.

I’m not a huge reader of mystery or thrillers. So imagine my surprise when I saw this book taking the bookish community by storm. It seemed the reviews were generally mixed. Some hated the way mental illness was represented, others praised how unique and interesting it was. This review is completely my own opinion. It does not stem from the author or the ideas of other reviewers. If you take offense to this review please know that was not my intent nor does my review reflect on anyone with mental illness. It is my own opinion solely about the book and it’s plot and characters. Which are fiction. That being said, let’s dive right in!

I’m going to be breaking this book down in parts. The first is the physical and generally what potential buyers will see. The cover is gorgeous and mysterious. Seriously, just look at that thing. It’s what drew me in the first time I saw it on Netgalley. The second thing that caught my eye was the blurb on how the author was a Wattpad user. I love Wattpad.

The story format was really unique. At least to me. I realize a lot of authors are trying to break the mold and use interesting formats and I for one am excited! I like having that extra piece to the story. Especially user participation story’s like Cathy’s Key: If Found 650-266-8202. This story isn‘t user participation, but it almost felt like I was part of the story, helping uncover what really went on.

The story itself was this twisting, thrilling ride of distorted perception. We get bits and pieces of each side but is it everything? Do we really know whats going on in each others heads? There was times when the suspense and dread dragged me along (I don’t like suspenseful stuff, it gives my anxiety a field day) but at the same time I wanted to know what happened. Overall it was a thrilling roller-coaster ride. I thought the way some things were represented were really well done, while others were in the realm of “I’m not sure.” I’m not an expert or suffer from what Tessa has, so I can’t judge how it was represented. I do feel like the author did a lot of research. Whether that was represented throughout the whole book is another matter.

Would I buy this book? Maybe. Possibly if a flash ale went on in ebook format. Not something I would want to take up space on my shelf though.

Would I recommend it? Those that like suspense and don’t mind reading about certain topics, yes. All others proceed with caution.

Would I re-read it? I want to read the next book to see what happens so I might need a re-fresher when that happens. We will see.

The book follows Tessa, an 18 year old with extreme agoraphobia. She does not leave her house and really can’t even leave her bedroom. While she is confined to these four walls, she does participate in a Twitter community for fans of a pop star she is obsessed with. And when she writes a fanfiction story about him and posts it online, she skyrockets to the top of his fandom. The story also follows Eric Thorn, the pop star Tessa is infatuated with. Eric can’t comprehend why all of these girls he has never met are so obsessed. And he is still more than a little shaken from the murder of a fellow popstar by one of his super fans. When he creates a fake account and starts a conversation with Tessa, he is surprised to find out that he actually likes talking to her. And after months of messaging, he is determined to find a way to meet her and help her with her agoraphobia.
Okay, I didn’t hate this book. It had a lot of features that I really like. For example, the police reports throughout the book that give hints without revealing what has actually transpired. It is a good reminder to be careful online, because you never know who you are talking to, but I did worry that it might give some kiddos the hope that maybe they could connect with their favorite celebrities. When I first wrote this review, I went on a long rant about how the ending was holding me back from giving a purely positive review. For me, the actual ending was such a 180 from the rest of the book and left so many questions unanswered, it just didn’t seem as it fit well. And I am truly not a “wrap up all the loose ends in a beautiful bow” reader, but this one just did not settle with me. What I found out a little while later was that there is at least one more book coming in this series. With that said I am willing to bump up my review. Have you read it? Let me know how you felt! Thanks to @netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Impressive and Disturbing.... I do not have a vast understanding of Twitter. I do not use it nor do I see the point in it. I feel like I need to disclose that before commenting on the book. That does not take away anything from the subject matter. The main point of this novel, You don't always know who you are talking to on the internet. There is both light and dark in this novel... mental illness, romance, heartache, fame, paranoia, true crime, and more. The main focus was predictable but the END, I didn't see that coming. The ending was a complete blindside and makes the entire novel worth reading.

I was aware this was a young adult book, however as I received a review copy I decided to read it. I'm very glad I did. For older people, you need to be users of social media to appreciate it, which I am. It also explained a bit more about how twitter works to me. I do get the psyche of "the fandom", having seen this in younger people I know. The style of writing was easy to follow and told a story I wanted to follow to is outcome. All I'll add to that is I am a bit lost at the ending. I felt it wasn't even a twist, it just wasn't explained or expected, and I'm not sure I actually know what happened.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of Follow Me Back.

It feels a bit unfair reviewing this now as a cranky old lady rather than a seventeen year old fangirl. If indeed I was a seventeen year old fangirl, this would have been what dreams were made of and I would be totally OMG-ing with all my fangirl friends. But alas, I am instead a cranky old lady with a decreasing amount of patience for the media, and the idolization of celebs that have done little or nothing to deserve their fame. And as a mother, social media creeps me out. Not for me, but for my kids, because who knows who's out there trying to reach my naive little ones.

Aaaaanywho, having gotten my cranky old lady rant out of the way, I can see the appeal to this one, I really can. Two struggling, misunderstood, beautiful teens find each other through social media and fall in love simply by sharing their lives through anonymous conversation. No sexting, no selfies. It's sweet, and it doesn't hurt that one of them is a world famous pop star who is lonely and completely over the incessant fans. Throw in some foul play by said incessant fans, mucking up this crystal clear romance, and you have a squeal worthy YA jam on your hands.

Diversity: 2 – It’s a Start!

Racial-Ethnic: 0
QUILTBAG: 0
Disability: 3 (Tessa has severe agoraphobia and it’s written pretty well)
Intersectionality: 0

I’m all about social media-based books and non-romance boy band books. Kill the Boy Band was a favorite of mine last year despite its fatphobia, but recent release #famous and Ali Novak’s The Heartbreakers failed me. As the first free read I’ve had in months, I chose Follow Me Back. It’s always time for a thriller and the social media aspect was just the icing on the cake! Though it isn’t told entirely through tweets, DMs, and police reports as the jacket copy implies, Follow Me Back was a solid read. Then the ending happened and it went bad.

Tweets and DMs are peppered throughout the book and police reports appear as interlude-esque chapters every now and then, but the majority of the novel is a classic third-person narrative told from Eric’s and Tessa’s points of view. Tessa uses Eric Thorn’s music and involvement in his fandom to copy with her severe agoraphobia and a mysterious incident at a summer writer’s program in New Orleans; Eric despises his fandom for caring more about his looks than his music and is deeply paranoid one of his fans might kill him after one obsessed fan killed her idol, fellow pop star Dorian Cromwell.

Though Eric originally creates his sockpuppet account @EricThornSucks to sink his career, trash his fans, and hurt fandom BNFs like Tessa (the viral #EricThornObsessed hashtag she created to advertise her Wattpad story was the straw to break his back), they end up talking. Tessa think she’s talking to a girl named Taylor–and even when the gender is corrected and she realizes she’s actually talking to a boy, she has no clue her idol is on the other end.

Tessa comes off as your everyday fan, albeit one with a bit more online status. Her struggles with her agoraphobia are written well and it’s easy to both care about and sympathize with her. Once she and Eric start talking regularly, Eric is the one who comes off as obsessed! The guy plans a massive Twitter contest solely as a pretense to meet Tessa after talking to her as Taylor for months on end. Eric’s frustration with what fame has turned his life into are understandable as well.

How else can I put it into words? Tessa, Eric, and their interactions are the strength of Follow Me Back. Trying to come up with anything else would just be bloated babble!

I needed just two sittings to read this book: one long car ride home from a camping trip and one very long vet appointment to make sure my cancer-stricken cat Kai is responding to treatment (don’t worry reader, he’s doing well at press time and still being the dim, 22-lb flubba everyone quickly falls in love with). The story’s tension comes almost entirely from the police reports instead of the narrative, but it works because of Tessa and Eric’s dynamic. If you care about them, you’ll be just fine. If not, you might not have as fun of a time as I did.

One thing that isn’t believable is Tessa’s isolation. Her unsupportive mother and boyfriend are entirely realistic, but Tessa had no friends in high school or all her friends abandoned her due to her agoraphobia? I sometimes went months without being able to speak to my best friends when I was in college six hours from home, but we remained and still remain best friends with a friendship conducted largely via texts and phone calls. We’re too busy to hang out IRL more than once a month. That Tessa has no friends willing or able to accommodate her agoraphobia seems more like a convenient way to push her toward Eric. With so much isolation, she’d be starving for human interaction.

But overall, the book was good and I raced through it. THEN THE LAST CHAPTER HAPPENED. After enjoying the sweet emotional payout of Tessa escaping her New Orleans stalker and finding out “Taylor” is Eric, the last chapter introduces a plot twist that subverts an entire novel’s worth of characterization. If the right hints are planted throughout the narrative, a last-minute twist can work, but this one doesn’t do that work. It reads more like the author wanting to pull one over on readers than one of our narrators successfully deceiving us about themselves for over 350 pages.

To be fair, one believable explanation for what happened occurred to me as soon as I’d finished the book. Still, it’s the kind of twist that makes me feel like I wasted my time and mental energy if this is what I get for my troubles.

Would I recommend Follow Me Back for the pop star fan who wants a thriller to read? Yeah, definitely. But if I find out the last chapter of my ARC stays on as the ending of the finished, officially published book, I’m also likely to tell them not to read that last chapter. Even the best thriller can be felled by an underwhelming ending and that’s what happens to Follow Me Back.

Before this book showed up unexpected on my doorstep, I had never heard of it. After reading the synopsis I decided to give it a read. And boy did I ever!! It was one of those stories that hooks you right in and doesn’t let go.

Tessa is suffering from agoraphobia and hasn’t left her house in quite a while. She’s spends most of her time fangirling over a singer, Eric Thorn. She even goes so far as to start a hashtag #EricThornObsessed, which goes viral instantly.

Eric is struggling with being a rockstar after a fellow star is murdered by an obsessed fan. He’s so worried that the same can happen to him. And it doesn’t help that his publicity team urges the fans to go nuts whenever possible. When Eric sees the new #EricThornObsessed tag going viral, he decides to create a secret account and troll the creator of the hashtag, @TessaLovesEric. What he doesn’t expect is to develop feelings for Tessa over Twitter messages.

I love how this story incorporates twitter chats and text messages as well. That’s always a plus for me. It just adds a little something. This story also includes police transcripts, as both Tessa and Eric are being questioned regarding a crime. We don’t know that much about the crime yet, but as the story progresses we learn more and more.

The majority of this story for me was the romance. Watching Tessa’s and Eric’s relationship evolve online was really cute. We do get an explanation of sorts regarding the cause of Tessa’s agoraphobia as well, but the main focus for me was definitely the romance. And I also must warn you… major cliffhanger ending here!! I did not know that this was going to be a series, so when I got to the last page I was floored. Now I need book 2 asap!!

This book surprised me in a really great way. I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about it. It really was quite entertaining and I’m hoping more people give it the attention it deserves.

Tessa Hart spends almost all of her time in her bedroom. She is suffering from Agoraphobia after a frightening experience on a school trip. Even leaving her bedroom to sit on the couch with her mother is a huge feat. This leaves Tessa with a very small world. She only interacts with three people in real life. Her mom, her therapist (one who comes to her house for their appointments) and her boyfriend, Scott. But she feels like everyone is losing patience with her. The one place Tessa likes to escape to is Twitter and the online world of famous pop star, Eric Thorn. She loves him and enjoys tweeting about him and following everything he does.

Eric Thorn on the other hand has become more and more anxious and frustrated with his online and on stage persona. His anxiety has only increased since the death of another popular rock star.... at the hands of an obsessed fan. Eric is consumed with thoughts of female fans stalking him. He feels he has no life. Every moment of the day scheduled by his manager and the record company. It doesn't seem like it's about the music any more. It's all about fans wanting to see pics of him half-naked. But his PR people not only brush off his concerns, but tell him to become even MORE involved with his fans. And even if he wanted to walk away....he can't because he's under contract for at least two or three more years.

When Tessa creates #EricThornObsessed hits number one on Twitter, she is shocked (and more than a little thrilled) about the popularity of her hashtag....... Eric's PR people are also happy. But Eric?

Eric Thorn is pissed off! And he wants to do something about it.

What will Eric do to make people take him seriously? And what exactly happened to Tess that has her so terrified? Is it possible that they may be able to help each other?

As I read I had to remind myself that this is a book written for young adults ages 14 and up. It definitely reads like a YA novel with the language and situations etc. However, I still enjoyed it and I imagine many others will too.

There are a few things I may not have understood if I didn't have a teenage daughter around to ask. A large part of the story is told using Twitter direct messages as well as police reports and statements. I thought it was a really interesting way of telling the story.

Although this is a YA book, it dealt with a lot of serious issues. I think it could be very eye-opening to many young adults and adults alike. While being entertaining, it brings up many important issues like internet safety, stalking, Agoraphobia, mental health and more. You can tell the author has done their research.

This was a highly captivating read. The suspense was great and the author did a great job of holding interest in the story. While some parts may seem implausible, it was an enjoyable book that I could escape into and just enjoy.

Oh but those last few chapters were REALLY intense! I was SHOCKED with how it ended.

I have to read book two. I'm really hoping it isn't too far off!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an advanced readers copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.

Tessa has spent the last few months locked in her room, agoraphobia ruling her life after an incident she refuses to speak of, her only interactions with her therapist, mother and distant boyfriend. When her therapist encourages her to use social media to reach out to others, Tessa publishes some fan-fiction on Twitter about a popular pop star, Eric Thorn. Tessa is shocked to find she now has thousands of followers and is an important part of this world. On the other end is Eric, a jaded, paranoid popstar who regrets his fame and wants nothing more than to be loved for his music and himself, not the shirtless pictures his fans desire. When he creates an anonymous account to try and lash out at his fans, he in return is given compassion in the last place he expects. Can two lost people find each other through the world of social media? And can they both survive?

Oh my geez, this book was not at all what I expected it to be (and I mean that in the best way possible). Let's just start with how eye catching and creepy the cover is because that certainly played a role in luring me in to begin with. Based on the synopsis I thought this would be a super dark obsession mystery told completely through police reports and such, but instead this was a completely engaging, slowly developed romance with hints of mystery and paranoia and a huge surprise twist. I had no idea this was the first in a series until after I finished the book and came to the crazy ending. This review will be kind of short because I don’t want to give anything away, but what I can for certain say is firstly, I flew through the pages, surprised to find myself at the end without meaning to because I could not put it down, and secondly I will be reading more from this series and author because this was some good messed up story (which I do just so happen to like). The ending! Oh how I was shocked by the ending! Can I have the next book now because I don't even know how to go on...

Half the time I was reading I was waiting for the other shoe to drop (as they say) my expectations most certainly increasing my tension level. I got to the point where I was super paranoid for Eric (and myself- Twitter has a whole new feel to it now!), expecting something to happen at every moment, and then relaxing my guard just to have some creepy thing thrown out in the story. The author created the best kind of tension, making me feel the paranoia and all the other built up fear that Eric stored away. The story was nothing like I expected, but I most certainly could never have expected this. I guess the best way to classify this book would be teen mystery, but this was so complicated and in depth with developed characters that it could probably be a romance too, I guess. If you want something that can grab you and not let go until you are throw off the ledge, pick this book up and don’t make plans but to read because you won’t want to put it down. Oh and the title could not have been more perfect.

I received this title in return for my honest review.
Come visit my blog at http://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/ for more book stuff