This book is interesting and frightening at the same time. To think that the technological road we are heading down currently could lead to the events that happen in this book is a little terrifying. This story takes you through a family and friends journey through some trying times with an ending that should make anyone happy.

What hath technology wrought? This look at social media's power in today's society and its possible effect on our future gave me pause. It would be a great book for teen book clubs as the story, leaping back and forth from present to future, has the meat for some provocative discussions. A definite purchase for high schools.

I could not put down this book. It was so interesting and the writing was great. I will definitely be recommending this to customers at my work!

This engrossing debut novel felt uncomfortably timely. The celebrity and online culture aspects were both cringe-inducing and hard to look away from, maybe because it mirrors where we are as a society so closely. It was a joy to read and, days later, I'm still thinking about it.

Followers by Megan Angelo is about our current world, obsessed with influence and social media clout and having followers. It's also about our future, one where this obsession turns life-altering and deadly. It follows so-called friends Orla and Floss, both trying to achieve fame of varying levels, and Marlow, living in an idyllic future that is actually hellish.

I felt like this book was a perfect example of a premise I wish had been followed through with more skill, or maybe even by a different writer. The premise is truly engaging and the main reason I requested this book at all. But Angelo vacillates too much between over-the-top camp and literary fiction. Characters have throw away lines of dialogue that make no sense other than to give the reader a little chuckle. And the ending attempts a version of the Six Feet Under series finale that is so unearned, I had whiplash from the last 20 or so pages.

There were parts of the book that I found novel and interesting, particularly the Honey character. There were moments when I truly felt for some of the characters. But I ultimately felt like I wished Angelo had taken the ideas and metaphors she develops in the book to a more insane logical conclusion or weaved in a more literary style throughout the book.

I'm not too sure what kind of reader this book is intended for. It's a touch too long to be a fun junk food read and it's too ridiculous at times to be a serious literary read. I guess this book is for anyone who is interested in speculative fiction related to social media and celebrity culture.

Floss has come to New York to make it big. Hoping to be the next big social media star, she is willing to do whatever it takes. Her roommate Orla is hoping to write a novel, but for now is working as a writer for one of the innumerable online magazines who report on social media's biggest and brightest. When they team up to turn Floss into the next big thing, they set off a chain of events that will alter their lives, and their relationship, forever.

In the future, Marlowe lives in a carefully designed community where everyone's lives are a kind of reality show, played out for millions of followers. Nothing is real, and nothing is private. Carefully dosed with a powerful anti-depressant, Marlowe is compliant and kind of bored. When the network decides it's time for Marlowe to have a baby with her husband, they take her off the medication, and all hell breaks loose.

This is a really clever book about the all-too probable future. The characters are well-drawn, and the plot in each time line moves along quickly with lots of surprises along the way, until the two timelines merge. Highly recommended.

Tags: psychological thriller, dystopian, satire

It is hard to pin this book down with a review. Based on the pink and cursive cover and a brief skim of the synopsis, I was expecting a lighthearted satire on Kardashian culture. What I got was a thrilling, occasionally satirical, critique of what we value as a society. (Or, more specifically, what we think OTHERS THINK we should value in society.)

The main characters are awful people, but the brief glimpses of vulnerability and honesty that the reader sees allows us to forgive them, just a bit. Even an unrepentant narcissist does something brave and selfless eventually. The timeline bounces back and forth before and after "the Spill," a psychological terrorist attack using mined online data, and American society is wildly changed as a result. But one thing is still the same -- family is complicated.

Highly recommended.

It would be so much more convenient for me if I could pigeon hole this novel as just another "dangers of social media" story, but I cannot. It is, of course, inherently that, but it is many other things as well. So here I am, inconveniently, at two on the morning reading the final pages with my fist between my teeth because nothing about this story could wait until morning.