This book gives an insider look into what it's like to be a famous influencer. We follow four different social media influencers: Delilah, Fiona, Jasmine, and Scarlet.

Delilah Rollins is still fairly new at being an influencer compared to the rest of our characters. She just made the move to LA from Minnesota and is still trying to find her way.

Fiona Jacobs comes off as the perfect influencer but really she is fighting her own inner thoughts that put her down and criticize her every move. She tries so hard to hide her OCD and a dark secret shes being trying to keep hidden for a long time.

To Jasmine Walter-Diaz, fame is no new thing. Jasmine's road to fame began when she was a TV star in her childhood and her teenage years as a brand endorser. Jasmine is tired of being what everyone else wants her to be and just wants to be herself for once.

Scarlet Leigh is ruthless. She has more sex appeal. She is the other girls worst nightmare.

When one of them ends up dead they all have a new part to play: suspect.

Thank you, NetGalley and Delacorte Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Influence is a dark YA thriller about the perils of internet influencing and what goes on behind the scenes. The story follows a cast of “influencers” in LA as they navigate the toxic social scene, blackmail, jealousy, and the everything that comes with pseudo-celebrity.

This book was entertaining and thrilling, and I found myself turning to it throughout the lulls in my day. That said, a few things felt a bit off to me.

As I’m not an influencer by any means myself, I cannot speak directly to the accuracies of influencing as a business in this book. However, I have been an avid social media user since my early teens and many aspects of the way teens interacted with the medium and its etiquette were missing from this story. Some parts of the story just felt cringe to me.

Unfortunately this one didn’t work for me. I didn’t particularly enjoy any of the characters but that could be because I’m just a little to old for this type of story. It wasn’t for me but I think a younger crowd would enjoy it.

*Thanks to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the complimentary copy for my honest review*

I was expecting a lot from this book since Sara Shepard is one of my favorite authors but this fell pretty flat for me. I was bored for a majority of the book and just never really got invested into the story. I think I've come to the conclusion that I don't care for books about famous people, it's not the fact that I can't relate to them (obviously) but I just honestly don't care about them. It got good towards the ending but then left me in total confusion so I feel my 2 star review is justified in that sense.

I am a huge fan of the TV series "Pretty Little Liars" and also adored Sara Shepards "Perfectionists" book series and I also like a good YA mystery thriller plus some influencer/social media drama and was therefore really excited for this book!

I found it very easy to get into the book, as the writing style of Sara Shepard is really flowy and easy going and the chapters also weren't too long, plus the author did a really great job of introducing the main characters and introducing the readers to the story. I think it was also a very interesting aspect that almost all of the characters were influencers themselves and therefore lived in their small little bubble and were a bit seperated in their mindset from the real world.

The main characters were all likeable to me but often a bit too teenie cliché, even though this was clearly a YA book, I wished the characters would have been a little more authentic and a little less childish. Often I couldn't put myself in their shoes and it was sometimes also hard for me to understand their actions and thoughts. I thought that all of the characters where too impulsive at times.

The story itself was at the beginning very slow paced and I really wished something would happen and thought it was a bit late, when something actually happened and the story therefore really started. Still, I thought that the happening was very thrilling and the mystery that had to be solved, really caught my attention and at this point I really, desperately wanted to read on. Sarah Shepard really, really kept my attention with the suspense, she put in the new story line and also with her really addicting writing style.

What I also really liked were the plot twists and that there were more, the nearer the ending came. I might need to add that I'm a real sucker for plot twists, especially when I didn't see them coming at all. The plot twists gave the book a real twist full of suspense and I was really happy about it.

The only thing that felt a little bit odd and out of place was the love story of one of the main characters. I just didn't feel the tension between the characters at all and didn't understand why they were suddenly so unbelivably in love. I just didn't get it. Plus, it didn't do much to the story.

But all in all this was a very enjoyable YA mystery book, though I would certainly recommend it to young readers (13-15 years) as I think younger readers would also be able to understand the way the main characters think more and better. Plus, they would be more up to date on all the social media trends than I am, because man, I felt old sometimes when reading this book.

I really enjoyed this one.
The insight it gives into influencing made my skin crawl at moments. I love how addictive it was, I devoured it so fast.
It was such a good quick read with enough twists and turns to keep you reading.

Influence, written by Sara Shepard with contributions from famous influencer, Lilia Buckingham, was a wild ride! Like always, I did a combo of ebook and audiobook for this one. Thank you to Delacorte Press and Penguin Random House Audio for the review copies!

The Pretty Little Liars book series and TV show were always guilty pleasures, so I was super excited to be reading another from Sara Shepard! I don't think I'd read anything by her since college. The audiobook was narrated by contributor, Lilia which I didn't even realize until the end! I love that she did it, and I thought she played the different roles really well! Listening to the audiobook felt just like I was watching Pretty Little Liars again.

The story focuses around 4 teenage female influencers, and there is DRAMAAAA. One of them ends up dead, and the mystery begins! This was a quick, fun read and the teen influencer lifestyle is crazy! I had no idea about everything that's involved and how intense the competition gets! I recommend this one to anyone looking for a quick and entertaining read!

i heard great things about this book. i didn not enjoy it as much as everyone else seems to. but that's aight. every single book is not for everyone. so.

This is basically Sara Shepard's answer to writing Pretty Little Liars for Gen Z by creating a new dramatic teen murder mystery around social media influencers. If you didn't like Pretty Little Liars, you probably won't like this one, either. But I liked both.

Nice book, felt a little formulaic at times. Like the good naive girl goes to Hollywood and gets caught up in the dark sides of fame. A quick read, didn't feel like the most sophisticated writing, but the kid who is going to want to read this won't care.

I actually couldnt connect with any of the characters. They felt pretty shallow and self-centred. Loved all of Shepards other books, but this one just don’t click with me. It didn’t even felt like one of her books while reading it.
The writing was good tho, but it felt way too constructed and lacked some good characters or intelligent twists.
Guess it just wasn’t for me.

3.5/5 Stars

Delilah, a rising influencer known as Lila D. online, moves to L.A with her family. She is invited to a party by another famous influencer, Jasmine Walters Diaz, who was a famous childhood star but wants to move away from that image. While there, Jasmine introduces her to Fiona, and the three become instant friends. They pull her into their world full of drama with another influencer named Scarlett, who is dating Youtube star, Jack. When Delilah wakes up beside a dead body, and the police come to question them, the girls must work together to figure out what happened.

This book was nothing but entertaining. I wouldn't say it was particularly a good book, but I couldn't put it down. I think the book does a good job going into the darker parts of social media. but I do think that some of the social media aspects were a bit off, which was weird since one of the co-authors is an influencer. I did like the alternating perspectives between the 3 influencers, and the transcripts of Scarlett's vlogs (even though they should have been called lives.... but I digress). The characters all seemed very similar to one another, but they were all dealing with their own personal issues. It did take awhile for the story to become interesting, once the murder occurred, I was invested in trying to figure out who the killer was. The biggest complaint I have about the book was that there was a secret relationship between a 20 something year old and a high schooler, that was never to be deemed wrong... so that was a bit... yikes. The murderer wasn't who I expected, so I definitely enjoyed not being able to call the ending!

Overall, it was entertaining and I didn't call the ending, which was nice.

While wanted to read this to find out who committed the crime, it was definitely geared toward a Gossip Girl type audience. Juicy story without much substance. I probably won't read anything else by this author, but if people like that type of story, this book is for them.

I’m fascinated with the whole concept of influencers basically because I could care less what someone thinks and kind of do my own thing and buy what I want; I don’t understand how people buy things based on a random person. I thought the book was interesting, but a bit far fetched. I will definitely recommend it because I think it is a good read and shows the danger of too much online persona.

I always have high hopes from Sara Shepard. She always does a fantastic job in world-building and characterisations which hooks the reader from the start.

This book follows the same. This is a really good book. Authors Sara Shepard and Lily Buckingham have done a great job of showing insight into teen influencers. I later found out that Lily Buckingham is real teen influencer and I think that makes so much of a difference. The element of a murder just ups the ante and with the twists and turns ends up making for excellent reading.

I loved the crazy plot and its such a great realistic view into the world of teens. I could not stop reading.

This is a super fun read and I definitely will recommend this book.

I love absolutely everything Sara Shepard has written, and Influence is no exception. Stories about being young and famous, the perils of technology, and the dangers of social media influencers and the personas they wear really hit home with me as an educator of teenagers. A fast-paced story and tons of unexpected twists.

3/5🌟: if you're looking for some PLL nostalgia, you'll definitely be enjoying this one. there are unexpected twists, female friendships and threatening messages. the purpose of this book is clearly to demonstrate that being a celeb isn't as easy and great as one might think. there's sapphic characters, criticism of diet culture and a mc who has diabetes. the writing style is easy to understand and probably quite relatable for teens. nonetheless, i felt a bit weirded out by some aspects, for example one girl's sexuality kind of was a plot twist which i think should maybe have been avoided. the voices of the girls weren't really that distinctive and all the romances were a little flat, there wasn't really enough time and development to build chemistry between the characters.

i received a digital copy by prhinternational and netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

I ENJOYED…
☂️
- Influence was certainly one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. It seemed to hold everything I could fall for in stories: a glimpse into the world of influencers, a thrilling mystery and a whole lot of drama. I’m happy to say that I mostly had a great time reading this book!
- I knew Sara Shepard from her previous work on Pretty Little Liars and was eager to see how she grew as a writer here, too. I was happy to find her signature writing, always filled with suspense and making you want to read more and more. Influence was fast-paced and the kind of addicting story you want to read all at once.
- The world of influencers was probably my favorite part of this story. Getting a glimpse of their lives, their fans, the pressure they encounter with maintaining their own image and pretending, sometimes, to be someone they’re not in real life. All of this was so interesting to follow and, with the three main characters, took different shapes and point of views I enjoyed reading about. Moreover, Lilia Buckingham, the co-author, is actually a real teen influencer, so… it was fun to know that!
- I felt like each of the three main characters brought something interesting to the story and I had a lot of fun reading from each point of view. Delilah’s instagram is blowing up and, as she moves to Los Angeles, discovers what the world of big influencers really is like for the first time. Jasmine is used to being recognized, but dreams of shattering this child-star image everyone maintains of her over time. Fiona’s the casual influencer, struggling with her own mental health and trying to keep a past secret at bay.
- Influence is fast-paced and, with the mystery at its heart, I found myself turning the pages quickly, wanting to know what would happen next. The twists and turns surprised me!

I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️
- I felt like the characters, unfortunately, lacked a little bit of depth and dimension. I wanted to get to know them better and deeper, aside from their influencer life.
- The relationships also felt a tiny bit rushed to me, from the romance to the friendships. I feel like they were all so instantly taken with each other, I wished for more moments of development and growth to really feel the chemistry between all of these characters.

OVERALL
☂️
Despite my little drawbacks, I found Influence highly entertaining and was hooked from page one. The mystery, the drama and the peek into the influencer’s life were all real winners to me… so if this synopsis sounds like your cup of tea, go for it! You should really enjoy it.

This was a crazy ride of a book. I did enjoy it, but at times it felt long and a little bit boring. There seems to be a lot of setting up, which I guess it is necessary since this book is all about influencers. I think you need to be able to see the hierarchy of the influencers before you delve deep into the murder mystery of it all.

I do have to say that I really hated Fiona as a character, there are a few side characters that are quite annoying too, like Chase but for the most part the characters are interesting and I really enjoyed their perspectives.

Lastly, I felt like the big reveal made absolutely no sense. I thought I knew who it was and that person made so much sense, yet the actual killer came from way out of left field. The scene of the big reveal really sealed the bizarreness of the whole thing. Although, this is the same thing that happened in Pretty Little Liars so I am not sure why I am so surprised that the killer didn't make much sense.

I had high hopes for his book and this may be why I was a bit disappointed. I have been a lover of YA for a long time and the description of this book excites me. I struggled to connect with any of the characters but I was intrigued to figure out what was going on and what the end would be. I enjoyed “seeing” how the people were viewed online and then to see them interact in their actual lives. It’s a good lesson for us all