I keep going back and forth on how to rate People Like Her. I really wanted to love it but the first half was so slow. At about the 60% mark, it started picking up and I found myself enjoying it more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Publishing and the authors for allowing me to read and review People Like Her.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I'll be posting my review on Goodreads and Amazon

n this debut novel we look into the world of social media influences & how they open their lives for the whole world to see. It can be very dangerous as well as helpful to people.
People Like Her  is a thrilling, witty page-turner that makes you laugh out loud. But on another, it is a sharp dissection of a very modern way of life & will make you look at 21st century life in a different way. I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Publishing for my honest review.

This book is so fun and exactly what you want from a thriller - a brilliant and creepy concept, a mysterious villain, and a fast-paced plot that keeps you guessing.

Emmy Jackson, aka Mamabare, is one of the most famous of Britain’s Instamums at over a million followers. Like most other momfluencers/mommy bloggers, Emmy has carved out a niche for herself: instead of being the picture perfect mum, she’s the mum who always has a peanut butter stain on her shirt, whose house is always is a state of disarray, and who longs for a day when she can drink her tea while it’s hot. Emmy also started a campaign to destigmatize maternal mental health - encouraging mums to talk about their #greydays - as her pet activist issue. But despite her perfectly crafted narrative of how she fell into being a mommy blogger and wanting to find a likeminded community of mums after spending her early career as a fashion reporter, this book shows the other side of it - it was a calculated career move, spurred by a no-nonsense agent who saw the money in social media early on. Emmy’s kids sleep through the night and are pretty well behaved, but that’s not relatable and that doesn’t get sponsorships. So she purposefully puts the peanut butter on her shirt and messes up her house when a reporter comes to do a feature on her. She has her posts planned weeks and months in advance, and nothing about Mamabare is as spontaneous and real as it seems.

And the flip side of having millions of adoring mum-fans is that someone in your audience is bound to be not so adoring. The story is told from Emmy and her husband Dan’s perspectives, but you’re soon introduced to a mystery narrator who has a deep set grudge against Mamabare and knows exactly how fake she is. You slowly learn the backstory of this anonymous villain, and they get closer and closer to what Emmy holds most dear.

Although Emmy and Dan have strict rules in place to protect themselves and their two young children, Coco and Bear - including never posting information that could identify where in London they live and never posting photos of their kids in any clothing or scenario that could be sexualized - the mystery villain garners valuable tidbits of information over time. After one tiny mistake in a newspaper piece about Emmy, the villain finds out exactly what she needs to know to pounce.

The business of social media influencing isn’t something that I think about often, and I appreciated that this book wasn’t just a thriller - it gave an inside look into what this crazy life is like, and the dark side of all of it. The thriller aspects of it were fascinating, and the buildup to the big reveal of why the villain hates Emmy as much as she does is totally satisfying. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, fast paced read that you can devour in a day. If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy Follow Me by Kathleen Barber. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley!

The ending is what bumped up the rating for me. I wanted to like it, but it fell short. The switch between Dan and Emmy and then to Jill’s POV was so choppy. Sometimes I had to stop or go back because I didn’t realize we were now in her POV. I did get this off of NetGalley, so perhaps it’s clearer in print. The choppiness is still there, regardless. Honestly, this would have just been better from Emmy’s and Jill’s POV. Dan’s character is never fully fleshed out and really only serves to show us how he saved the day in the end. While this book isn’t terrible, it wasn’t the greatest either which is why I’m giving it three stars.

Have you ever read a book where you hated every single person in it? That was this book for me. And I didn’t even enjoy hating them. I just did.

I can’t tell you how much I disliked this book! There were no redeeming characters whatsoever. And it wasn’t a thriller like it was advertised.

I’m so curious as to why this has been getting so much buzz, because this book is not worth the praise it’s getting.
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Thank you Net Galley and Harper Books for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
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Recommended song pairing: Your Mother Should Know by The Beatles

People Like Her follows Emmy Jackson, an Instamum with an enormous following on IG. Much to her husband's disgust, Emmy is chronicling her children's lives through her own mum-view. The first part of the conflict erupts when Emmy's husband begins seriously questioning their life choices and the childhood their children are experiencing--most of it, set-up and fake. (Birthday parties? Elaborately donated by organizations for the sole purpose of IG posts.)

The book begins to take a different spin when one particular follower takes a personal interest into stalking Emmy and her family. Though Emmy has been diligent to keep their location private, tiny slip-ups have given a certain stalker the information he or she needs.

The story started out fabulous--I loved the insight into the lives of influencers--especially how those lives are often fabricated before a camera. The message that influencers can be the inadvertent targets of deranged fans/followers seemed to take a swing in the last quarter of the book. I wanted to root for Emmy--but I struggled, which I assume is the point. The end did take me by surprise--I will admit that. Regardless, what started as a 4 star book ended as a 3. The end just didn't sit well with me. Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC.

Big oof. 2* because I finished it. I didn't mind the first half or so, but honestly I don't think I can recommend this to anyone because there are so many potentially triggering or offensive things in the second half. I think there was a solid idea here, but execution was poor.

#peoplelikeher #ellerylloyd y’all. This book comes out the 21st of January. Run. Don’t walk to grab this one. It’s about a married mom of two who puts her life on Instagram. But. Someone wants revenge dun dun dun. I couldn’t put it down. And. Unbeknownst to me this is a husband and wife duo who write 😱 their pseudo name. I was blown. Anyway. We have three perspectives. The wife. Who is an Instamum. We know those moms. Sigh. The husband. Whose a writer. But. His last book was released eight years ago. Their three year old daughter and their six month old son. The third narrator is the person who has a grudge against the momma. Grab hold and enjoy the ride. #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleybooks #netgalleyreads #booknerd #readersofinstagram #readingaddict

I requested this book on Netgalley because of the premise. I was hoping for a solid thriller and something to wow me, but it just never got there for me.

There was a lot of build up in this story and when something actually happened, it wasn’t shocking in any way.

Emmy is an Instamum Influencer/Blogger and is killing it with sponsors and partnerships. But she’s never really thought about the dark side of sharing all the details of her life, her kids and her marriage. And now she has a stalker, who has not only threatened her, but possibly knows where she lives because someone has broken into their home and stolen a laptop and is now posting photos of her daughter and using them as if they were their own photos and their own daughter. Emmy starts to wonder if this is all worth it, she even goes as far as stepping away from social media...but it may be too little too late.

I appreciated this storyline and the realness of over sharing on social media when you don’t know the people lurking behind the scenes. It really raises the question- what is more important, your family’s right to privacy or your follower count?

In the beginning this was headed towards a 4-5 star read for me, but the slow pace didn’t work for me. Overall it ended up being a 3 star read for me- it was good, not great. Thank you Netgalley and Harper for this advance reading copy. This book is available 1/12/21.

NetGalley ARC | One of the BOTM selections and a January 2021 new release, I recently finished People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd (a husband and wife writing team).

People Like Her is perfect if you are a blogger or Instagrammer. Emmy is an InstaMom doing the influencer thing -- and, unfortunately, her true advice isn't always...truthful.

A revenge-seeking woman stalks her out, and the book starts with Emmy clearly in distress.

There is a scene where Emmy's husband is annoyed that he has to get the doorbell *again* with Emmy's IG deliveries -- this is so my husband...

Emmy also notes that she can point out other influencers in the wild...Panama hat, anyone?
You'll detest everyone, but it's still a #blessed novel. Haha.

If you need a hilarious and relevant 2021 book release about the digital age, this is it.

See my full review on The Uncorked Librarian here: https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/january-2021-book-releases/

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with a free advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book has a phenomenal premise considering how enmeshed our lives are in social media. The life of an influencer of that size is actually fascinating. It’s really a job but not one you can take breaks or vacations from. Emmy Jackson knows that she has to keep up with content, she is under contracts even. Her husband Dan, is getting more uncomfortable with this lifestyle by the minute. But there’s nothing he can do about it, it’s how they pay bills since he’s only had one successful novel to date.
We get three points of view in this book (and I love that device by the way) Emmys, Dans, and a mystery stalker.
While this book had great bones, I found it a bit slow and anti-climactic when the reveal came. It was slow burn which I never mind, but there were some things I feel were unnecessary to the plot movement (the fake account) and some that I wish were more fleshed out (I’d love to have seen more of Polly because the blip that she was felt insufficient considering the part here story played in the plot).

Overall I would still recommend this book because for the most part it’s fascinating and about people you love to hate.
Thank you so much to Harper for my copy to review.

Landed somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for this one, but closer to 4. I think Lloyd does a great job tackling a subject that is becoming increasingly common to read about - the pandora's box of social media and the world of influencers. I do wish the "bad guy's" motivation had been a little more... egregious. Like the thing the main character does doesn't seem all that bad, but given the bad guy's grief and subsequent mental health issues it still makes sense. Perhaps that's also the point - even the things influencers see as insignificant can have huge repercussions. But it didn't ring totally true to me and I wanted something that packed a little more punch. The end, of course, packed a LOT of punch. Didn't expect things to go precisely there! Of course where the couple ends up makes a lot of sense... of course that's how they handle it. Influencers. Yikes.

Instagram mom influencer, Emmy, has learned to monetize her brand @mamabare. By letting millions of strangers into her so-called everyday life, she earns a seven figure income as well as freebies galore. Her husband Dan is a one-time author who has been working on her second novel for years, and the Instagram account has started to cause some discord in their marriage. The story is told by Emmy, Dan, and a mysteries third narrator, who is the one “fan” no one wants - she is plotting to somehow harm Emmy and her family.

This book had me hooked from the first page. Having followed a few instamoms myself, it was fascinating to see behind the screen. The suspense element kept me reading more and more. Husband and wife author team did an amazing job alternating the narration and providing a believable and thrilling story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

BRB, deleting my Instagram account. Holy sh*t.

As a thirty-something millennial mom of two little ones who spends way too much time on Instagram this book was unsettling and, at times, stomach-churning (but, you know, in a good way!). When I was a new, first-time mom, the advice dispensed by veteran moms online and the the pretty, inspirational feeds of Instagram were my lifeline. It wasn't until recently I learned more about how these monetized accounts are run and how there's a lot more fiction versus fact being shown. I think this book will resonate well with my "always online" generation. I was on the edge on my seat the entire time I read this and really enjoyed it!

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

People Like Her is a stalker story with a twist. Emmy is an Instamum—an influencer that uses her family as fodder for her social platform. Somewhere along the way Emmy has ruffled some feathers though because she has a stalker who is dying to make Emmy pay.

The tension in this story is real because although the stalker has her own narrative throughout the story, as the reader we aren’t sure exactly who she is, why she’s so upset at Emmy and when she’s going to show up and what she’s going to do. Looking at the life of an Instagram celebrity and the imposter syndrome that comes with that fame was fascinating too. Being a #bookstagrammer made me relate to Emmy when talking about some of the lengths you go to for a picture or taking hours to write content—not that I’m anywhere as successful as Emmy. There are also totally relatable mom moments when Emmy laments choices made and the fragility and strength that comes with motherhood. And I couldn’t help but laugh at this: “That ultimately, all mamas are not superheroes. That becoming a mum doesn’t automatically confer sainthood if you were a dick before you pushed a baby out of your bits.” (Please note I am quoting from an arc and changes may be made prior to publication.)

I think this may be my favorite ARC I've gotten from Net Galley. Perfectly paced and kept me guessing the whole way through.

Eh, this was okay. It definitely made me feel kind of queasy at times. There are some uncomfortable truths about how being someone online (influencer or not) can affect a person. On the other hand, it was nearly impossible to root for the characters (I literally only cared if Emmy and Dan made it to the end for the sake of their kids), the writing was sloppy and repetitive, and the overall climax required too much suspension of disbelief for me.

I can definitely see this being a popular thriller next year, but you probably won't be hearing very much about it from me. 2.5 stars.

This was a truly impressive debut novel with a unique and engaging premise that hooked me from page 1.

The plot is deftly written and so current. It opened my eyes to the reality of the lives of social media influencers and that in and of itself was fascinating. The author developed the characters fully which made everything more believable and kept me invested, and the story was a roller coaster in the best way!

Book Review for People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd
Full review for this title can be found at: @fyebooks on Instagram!