I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, and after reading it, I'm not sure where to categorize it - it's a well-crafted mix of dystopian and satire. The book follows two linked storylines - one roughly present day (2015), one set in a near-future (2051), after the arrival of "The Spill", a world-changing event that...well, you'll need to read it to figure out what it actually was, as this was one element that took a while to reveal itself.

The story alternates between Marlow and Orla, and eventually, connections are made between the two characters. The main characters Orla and Floss (from the present-day storyline) are mostly unlikeable, which would usually make me set aside a book, but the author has given them fleeting moments of vulnerability that make me want to stick with them to see where the path leads. They are influencers, with every planned move and carefully curated photo made with the intention of fame. Floss offers a hard look at the lengths people will go when driven by a combination of ambition and fame.

I felt more empathy for Marlow, living her life on camera (akin to The Truman Show, only she is well aware of it, forced into the situation by her parents, and with every aspect of her life overseen by the corporation that runs their community), and forced into repping a mood-altering psych med after she acts out violently in anger - albeit, perhaps justifiably, given the situation.

Orla's path somewhat parallels Marlow's situation in that, at least initially, she is pushed into a role. However, she is a more willing participant whereas Marlow's situation is a bit less voluntary. Her life is driven by externally influenced storylines.

The character development, like them or not, is well done. The tension, the dialogue, the near-plausibility of the dystopic event all combine to form a riveting commentary on our societal addiction to our cell phones as well as social media. This is a clever and well-imagined story.

For me, the disaster that befalls society was a bit underwhelming when finally revealed, even though the far-reaching implications of it were believable. I was expecting a connection between the event and "the fog", an Alzheimer's-like disease that besets some of the older members of society in the future. The pace began to slow near the end - right about the time that my tolerance for Floss runs out.

This is a story that looks deeply into how social media (and technology as a larger whole) influences how we see and experience the world.

A look at how far some people will go to become famous. And what they will do to stay that way. It's a look at mistakes and how we handle them. It's a look at friendship and frenemies and how one sees his/herself through others and when he/she is forced to look at themselves through their own eyes as well. The character development is better than average and you find yourself thinking I guess this could happen. The fog, that people experience, in the future, is scary. Another form of dementia that appears earlier because of people burying themselves in their cell phones. Again, it feels like this could really happen. Overall this is a warning, buried in a good story, to be careful. Happiness can be found outside and all around. It doesn't have to be tied to a device or only come with constant accolades.

I went into this book while I didn't have any internet connection in my apartment, due to moving during the quarantine, and oh boy, was I in for a surprise. I absolutely LOVED this novel. The suspense, the societal critique and the riveting story told in a dual timeline - everything in this is excellent. If you're into thrillers, dystopian novels, or political satire, this is the book for you - impossible to put down !

Special thanks to Harlequin for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

This one sounds so good! I tried to read it a while back & thought I wasn't in the mood. I put it down & tried to come back to it. I just think my reading tastes have changed.

Thank you for the opportunity to be an early reader.

Followers by Megan Angelo is a dystopian science fiction fantasy that to me felt a lot more like a contemporary read with a bit of sci-fi to it. The story is told from different points of view and across two timelines from 2015 and 2055.

In 2015 Orla Cadden is a writer that has yet to write the novel she plans but instead writes celebrity gossip pieces to pay the bills. One day Orla meets Floss, a want to be A-lister who comes up with a plan for them both their big dreams. Then in 2055 Marlow lives in a small town for celebrities and lives every moment of her life on camera in front of millions when she discovers a secret from the past.

So for me Followers by Megan Angelo was one of those books where I don’t quite get the hype and feel left out of the secret to it’s success. Consider me on the outskirts with this one as everyone else seemed to love it but I spent the most part of this one fighting the urge to put it down and read something else. The story reminds me a lot of say the Kardashians or one of the Housewife types shows and those aren’t my cup of tea so I suppose what I wanted was more scifi wow then the contemporary feel it had.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Very fun read that looks at our current obsession with social media influencers and reality televisions and the future that results from turning our lives in to a commodity to be packaged and sold. Worthwhile read.

For anyone who wants to read about the consequences of becoming too reliant on the promises of the internet keeping secrets, this could be interesting an interesting book choice for you. I found the morals of this novel to be timely but to place this book in a modern day timeline it fell short of what I thought this could be.

I was intrigued by the synopsis when I first requested this on NetGalley and unfortunately, when I first started reading it, I wasn't sucked in like I thought I would be. Both Orla and Marlow were annoying characters and I wasn't a fan of either of their narrative arcs. This book seemed to try and combine the celebrity centered books that I was a fan of as a teen with the hard hitting books that focus on the downfall of technology. This book very quickly grew boring as it dragged on and the main reason I pushed through was because I wanted to know why there was such a huge before and after to the plot lines. The cataclysmic event that took place ended up feeling lackluster at best. Sure it was a scary scenario to think about but I had a hard time believing that things would turn out as badly as they did. I can't speak for everyones reaction to this part but I personally found it bordering on unrealistic for a modern day reaction from millennials, as the book mostly centered around.

As for the morals of the novel, I thought they were pretty solid. I do think that too many people have this over reliance on the internet to solve all their problems. To read about this futuristic "influencer" dystopian society was probably my favorite part of the book. I would have loved to see more of how that society worked and how the outside world worked. We very briefly saw some of that but in the end there wasn't much past the briefest description. By the end of the book I felt pretty "meh", it wasn't horrible by any means but it also dragged on and never fully grabbed my attention.

Wildly uneven and too long, this one has a lot of promise and flails on the actual delivery. The alternating chapters between past/future got confusing, the characters were hard to keep straight, and anyone who has been a person in the world for a minute could have seen the twist coming.

Interested to look at the Internet culture and the extents to which people can go to become famous? Followers might be a good book to read then! It was this connection to social media that drew me to this book and overall, I was not disappointed. Being famous comes with its baggage. Followers does a good job of showing the influence that a celebrity has on her followers and how important it is to use words carefully. In the 2051 timeline, it dives into how these very followers can be used to hunt the celebrity down when they run away.

In my mind, Followers tried to do too much. Set in 2015 and 2051, the story focuses on the relationship between three women, Floss, Orla and Marlow. There were so many mysteries and hints at other mysteries to solve in this book that it was hard to keep up.

Followers is a slow-paced engaging read offering perspectives on before and after a massive privacy violation. It will ask you to question your social media presence and ponder a future where the Internet isn’t accessed through a hand held device anymore but a chip that is embedded in you, answering your thoughts when you need it, except it talks in ‘I’. Don’t worry though, that isn’t the focus here. So many good ideas and only so much follow through.

Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.

This was a gorgeous novel. One of the most timely, absorbing books I've read about the power of social media.
DO NOT miss this one.

I liked Followers but I wasn't wowed by it. I think it had an amazing premise but the writing wasn't quite as good as it could have been. Having said that, I did finish it, and think Megan Angelo has a lot of promise.

How many followers do you have? Do you want your followers to know everything you do? Do you do things differently because you have thousands of followers?
Angelo's Followers follows three women, Orla who writes clickbait and her roommate Floss in 2015 and Marlow in 2055. Social Media plays an important role in their lives.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel -- the way it switched among the viewpoints and how the three women are connected.
Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege of reading Followers.

Followers is a wild ride told in several timelines and points of view that readers won't be able to put down. In a world similar to our own, it becomes quickly obvious that something happened to change the future where followers are more important than anything. I loved seeing the characters storylines slowly intercept each other.

Thank you to Harlequin and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

In a world filled with social media obsessed millenials and Gen Zers it's no secret many want in, in the life of an an influencer. The lengths people will go to gain insta success. Backstabbing, lying, cheating, even hurting people. The premise of this story had me hooked and even scared at time at the reality we are living. Unfortunately for me the execution felt a bit flat. There were times where the novel just got too wordy and became almost a slow burn. For some slow burns are a good thing, but for me I need the details sooner than later. It wasn't a flaw in the writing, it was written good, but not a style I prefer.

Megan does bring up a lot of what we value in stars today and what it means to be famous. Now, it's easier to become famous for some raunchy scandal than actual talent. Megan left us showing a message of how much technology and social media has changed what we look up to in stars. This book is important now more than ever because of it's relevant themes of what we find worthy of influence. .

Over all I give this a 3. 3.5 for the original storyline and 3.0 for execution. It's just not my preferred style of writing but I think other with most def enjoy.

Followers - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Told through duel narrators 35 years apart this novel dissects how technology and social media plays a large part in how we view our world. Orla is an inspiring writer who meets a wannabe socialite. Together they scheme their way to “stardom” using social media and lies. Marlow, 35 years in the future, is living a life sponsored by an anti depressant, playing the role of a tormented soul who struggled through her life. Her life is dictated by THE NETWORK. Marlow finds out that life is not what she has always thought it was and sets out on a mission to find the truth. So what is more important? Likes on social media or real human interaction?

I loved the concept of this book! The author provides a eerie futuristic social media world and highlights some dark thoughts on how dependent we are on social media on likes and followers. I also liked how the story is shown in two timelines, like a before and after, on how the prior tries to control her followers and how the latter is controlled by the Government because of her followers. Having said that, I really didn't care much for the main characters Orla and Floss, and felt the pacing was a bit off here and there. But overall, this was an interesting book to read about the over the top implications of social media in the future.

This book was not what I thought it would be. I had a very hard time sticking with it. I would probably just recommend this to young adult readers.

While I wasn't grabbed initially, after four or five chapters I was hooked. What an eerie story. Definitely recommend for anyone looking for dystopian future storylines.

One of the best books I’ve read this year! This will be our April buddy Red and I am so excited to read it again and discuss. Fantastic characters, a compelling storyline, and so much to think about. Cannot wait to see what is next from this author!

*I was given an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own*

Well. This was. A. Ride. I haven't read a book that I just couldn't put down and didn't want to end in a while, but Angelo NAILED it. I am very picky about the Dystopian types of literature that I read because it really just isn't my genre, but this was in the same vein as "Bumped" and "Pretties/Uglies" in that technology has taken over and made life "better", rather than the end of the world dystopia like "Hunger Games' (though I did enjoy those-- just using it as a comparison point).

"Followers" switches between the POV of Orla, a writer in 2016, and Marlowe, a reality celebrity from the 2050s. Orla and her friend Floss do some questionable things to make Floss "famous" and she is stuck facing the consequences of those actions. Meanwhile Marlowe lives in a town where everything she does is broadcast to the rest of the world, and they follow her every move. She (like everyone else in the town) was implanted with a computer that does all of the googling through her brain, instead of using a screen. Marlowe eventually has to decide if the life she lives is one she wants to continue to live. There is a connection between the two women that the reader learns about later on in the book.

I read this in a matter of a few hours. I couldn't put it down because I just had to find out what else was going to happen. Reading how easy it was for this one random woman to become "internet famous" struck a cord with me, because we as a society give so much credence to these random things, and that sort of fame can become all encompassing. I was thoroughly interested in how oversharing on the internet can lead to a downfall of sorts. We use technology for almost everything we do, and even though we think no one is watching, "Followers" brings up the point that just because you don't think anyone is recording whatever you're searching for, or texting, Google is always there :) What would we do as a society if an event such as "The Spill" happened? It's terrifying because it could EASILY happen. And honestly, could I be okay with having my every move scripted and followed? We see that as odd now, but frankly I could see how it could happen. Ahhhh. So many thoughts.

If you were considering reading this one, DO IT! It was publsihed in January of 2020 so it's available at your local library or most bookstores.