From the start I was in, stopped to see the length of the audiobook, and prepare for the show, I was ready. I felt the urge to connect with Alexa. I was excited at this point. Then early on the story didn't make sense. I couldn't connect with or like the characters. Trudging onward this went from a story to a book and frankly I couldn't follow along. Mental illness is a character in this book. I wish the author would have spent a little time addressing this component. There are professionals battling ridiculously like an episode of Matlock. Finally, the epilogue. I think I liked that part, but with not understanding the battle I'm not sure.

The narrator had a nice voice; however the lack of differentiation was another problem..

2.5 stars. The book was okay. I'm rounding up for the alleged twist that I won't forget.

Thank you NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for accepting my request to read and review Do You Follow?

#NetGalley
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#DoYouFollow

Do You Follow? Is a psychological thriller. It begins with Alexa moving out into her own apartment, continuing therapy and dealing with "the incident". You also meet her twin sister,, Beth and follow their relationship. You later find out what "the incident" was and all of the things that have happened since, leading up to the twisty finale.
I enjoyed this book. It did a few things that I am.not a huge fan in dealing with mental health. I am giving it a solid three stars out of five.

I received a copy of the audiobook from NetGalley.

I liked the twists and turns. I didn't realize exactly what I was getting into, but the storyline kept moving at a good pace and I liked the back and forth of the narration. I would recommend for a quick psychological thriller with a modern gen Z backdrop.

A quick read of a thriller. However I feel like it could have done without references to the pandemic. Also there were too many “twists”. I did figure out the major one early on. Also, as someone who works in healthcare and is very into true crime, I found the actions of some of the characters not making sense. These kind of things take me out of the plot and I end up not enjoying the story as much. The narrator of the audiobook did a good job- I probably wouldn’t have finished it if I were not listening to it.

I was drawn to this book for many reasons: the cover, the description, it was a thriller, and the fact that it had a character named Beth!

Overall, it was an entertaining read with a cool concept and a decent execution, however, I do have some complaints.

The twin relationship with Alexa and Beth was intriguing, but it followed the typical good twin/bad twin trope. Still, I liked seeing them interact and seeing how their past traumas shaped them into who they were in the present.

As far as characters go, Beth was the more interesting twin, and I would have liked alot more of her in the story. Alexa was a bit too naively impulsive for my liking.

I liked that Alexa had a social media/marketing job, and it was neat to hear phrases, terms, and concepts thrown around that I could relate to professionally.

Toward the middle/end when more of the suspenseful elements came to light, the pace of the book jumped tremendously. I feel like if the author had made the book a little longer and added in just a bit more transition, the story really could have been great. The quick jumps made the story less believable and left me wanting a lot more filler info to stay invested.

There were a few twists in the story, but the one at the very end just left me scratching my head. It just seemed way too convoluted to believe, and I found myself thinking, “Really? That’s what you’re going with?”

My biggest beef, however, was the fact that the 2020 pandemic was mentioned SO frequently. I don’t know about other readers, but personally, I read fiction to escape the crap that’s happening in reality. Therefore, reminding me every few pages that there was a pandemic really annoyed me. And the kicker is that none of those asides lent any value to the story. None. So all it really did was disrupt the flow and make me roll my eyes constantly. It may not bother others as much, but it really irked me.

Hi! Do You Follow? by J.C. Bidonde is a psychological thriller that captures mental illness. It’s a relatively short read and one I really enjoyed. This was the first book I have listened to as an audiobook and the narrator did an amazing job of portraying the different characters and emotions. I definitely think I’ll be listening to more audiobooks in the future.

Book Review-

This book gets a solid 4 stars from me and I definitely recommend it! Starting the book, it was a bit too ‘normal’ I guess you can say. We kept getting hints as to a huge secret throughout the first half which let me to feel like the secret was going to be a letdown. But what I got was amazing and so unexpected. I got literal chills up my arm hearing it (at which point I realized it is probably not the best idea to listen to a thriller at 2 a.m. in the dark). The writing style was really great and I loved that you get both Alexa and Beth’s perspectives. I especially liked Alexa’s therapist- he was such a great character! It would have been an easy 5 stars had I not found the first half a bit mundane and unthriller-like? but that can be easily overlooked considering the book itself is pretty short (less than 250 pages).

All-in-all, a great read set in today’s world. I have a few questions but then again, some things are better left to speculation. It’s easy to follow and one with a great twist. It’s one I would recommend to you!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley was the free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was looking through the 'Listen Now' category on Netgalley and found this thriller available. The cover is ugly yet something drew me to it. Then I read the synopsis of the book and I was all in!

Bro though! This book is currently my top favorite I've read this year. The twist comes at about 70% and then it gets more wild from there. But wild-good, not wild-ridiculous-and-not-believable. I am not sure how this book hasn't been talked about more, because it's honestly a quick story, very fast paced.

If you're into great thriller type books, please pick this book up this year. This is J.C. Bidonde's debut book but it feels like it's written by a seasoned pro.

it was been there, done that, saw where this was going from literally the first page. I found it over done. I wish I liked it but it was borning, and Alexa is unlikable. I saw the "twists coming"

I really enjoyed this book - full of twists and turns. This book is written so well, sometimes I find it hard to follow thrillers but this one was easy to follow and there was a significant amount of character development. I read this via audiobook and found the narration clear and not too robotic.

I definitely would read something by this author again.

Outlier alert!
I know that many of my fellow trusted reviewers loved this one, but for me, it was been there, done that, saw where this was going from literally the first page.

It is one of my most detested plot tropes and although there was one twist I didn't see coming. The ending was a little bit surprising but kind of a head scratcher.

As I said with one of my updates, there is no way this would have gone to trial, and if it did, the DA does not call the defendant to the stand. That was a totally laughable plot hole and I thought that the author could have done a bit more research to make it at least somewhat plausible.

I listened to the audiobook of this one and the narrator Marnye Young did a great job at distinguishing the various voices of the characters. Overall this was a very fast-paced listen, I was able to get through it while doing things around the house in one afternoon.

Too bad that this didn't work for me, but I know others have loved it so if it interests you give it a chance.

This was an interesting book but a bit disappointing as it was a very common trope. I did enjoy some of the twists and turns though and the ending was interesting. Worth a read, but not my favorite book of the year.

This book was just okay. During most of this book, I found there wasn't enough twists to keep me interested. I found myself getting confused for parts of the book. While I didn't guess the twists, I wasn't really looking for anything.

I received the audiobook version of this story and thoroughly enjoyed the narrator. I wasn’t a big fan of the story though. Let’s start with the good. It is well written and has a good flow. It starts to run into issues with the transparency of the characters. Unreliable characters are very difficult to write. It makes it hard to connect with the character when so much is being held back. Usually we find out other aspects of the character that help us see each of the characters in a new light. That wasn’t the case with these characters. It feels like we only get the bare minimum. Just snapshots of the twins life before, but nothing in depth. We see they have different personalities but we don’t know much more beyond that. It made it hard to understand their actions since we really don’t know them. There were also some plot holes that left me a little lost. I wish we saw more of some of the characters motivations. That would have made it easier to connect with them. The twist was very obvious from the beginning so I kept waiting for there to be more to the story or something I couldn’t see coming but it never happens. I wasn’t a fan of the ending as it just sort of felt like….meh. Overall, I’d say an okay story utilizing an idea that is frequently done, but doesn’t bring anything new or fresh to the table.

WOW. The FIRST twist I had guessed. The second, not so much. But-- the last chapter? Just -- Wow. This was a quick read. A good story.

**Thank you NetGalley and Greenleaf for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review**
This was a well-written, fast-paced, engaging book. I found the storyline to be extremely fascinating. Love Manhattan as a backdrop. Characters were relatable. Love the different POV's. I listened to it in one day.

Do You Follow by J.C. Bidonde was a a very compelling psychological thriller. It was read by Marne Young who expertly transitioned and distinguished from one character to the next. Do You Follow was a bit slow in the beginning but soon captured my attention as twist after surprising twist was introduced. It was hard to turn this audiobook off. I soon became so immersed in the plot and the development of each introduced character. A rather dark side of mental illness and social media were brought to the forefront in this debut novel. The dialogue was believable as was the character development and situations that were presented. Do You Follow included lots of surprises, twists, turns and unexpected reveals.

Alexa and Beth were twins. They lost their mother when they were quite young. Alexa had been living with her overprotective widowed father since her mother’s death. Her father had kicked Beth out of the house and Alexa had not been in contact with her twin sister for some time. Alexa had taken on the role of caring for her father but she was ready to start her life as an adult. She felt she was ready to live on her own and hold down a job. Against her father’s wishes, Alexa placed an application for a job at a marketing company. To her surprise, she was chosen for the position and was offered the job. They wanted her to start right away. Against the advise of her father and therapist, Alexa accepted the position and found a tiny apartment just for herself. She felt so good about the way her life was turning out. Her new job was exciting, challenging and better than she had expected it to be. That was partly because a particular client of her marketing agency took a strong liking to Alexa. Her life up until this point had been sheltered and uneventful. Curt liked her, though. Their attraction toward each other was mutual and instant. Alexa really liked Curt and it seemed like Curt really liked Alexa. There was just one problem. Beth, Alexa’s twin sister showed up at the door of her apartment and needed a place to stay. Beth had just been released from completing a stay at a psychiatric facility. Alexa was nervous and reluctant to introduce Curt to Beth. Beth always seemed to ruin everything good in Alexa’s life. Could Alexa trust Beth with Curt? Could the three of them get along? Would Alexa’s fears come to fruition?

Do You Follow by J.C. Bidonde was a pleasant surprise. It was suspenseful, compelling and believable. The unique qualities of being a twin were explored as well as the complications of mental illness. It was full of unexpected twists and turns. I thought the ending was clever and really tied up all the loose ends. The audiobook was well done and made this book really come to life. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Greenleaf Book Group for allowing me to listen to this audiobook of Do You Follow through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Alexa is finally living on her own, excited to start her first job in marketing. She even begins to date Curt, an up and coming YouTuber. She feels like her life is finally going in the direction it should, until her twin sister, Beth shows up. Recently released from a psychiatric hospital, Alexa reluctantly allows her to stay with her. Under the agreement that know one is to know, especially their dad and Alexa's therapist. Alexa desperately wants to live a normal life but Beth doesn't make it easy. The girls vow to never let anyone know the incident from their youth, Beth begins to doubt Curt's motives for being with Alexa. Alexa chooses to ignore Beth's concerns, but things start to get even more complicated. At what lengths will Beth go to to protect her twin sister?

Told in multiple narratives, I really enjoyed this book. There is a number of wow moments and I did figure out the big twist early on but it didn't take away from the story for me at all.

I did have an ecopy that I had read and requested the audiobook to listen to as well. I enjoyed the audiobook very much. The narrator was easy to listen to and no issues understanding her at all.

hmm i can’t say i particularly liked this book. the main character, alexa, gets a job in NYC at a marketing agency. after years of being estranged with her twin sister, beth, she shows up at alexa’s doorstep and re enters her life. all the while, alexa finally falls in love with her food vlogger client, curt. but ofc there is something suspicious about alexa's new boyfriend and unstable twin sister.

the most important part of a psychological thriller is the plot twist and the ending. the main plot twist was very predictable to me… i think it was quite cliche and i predicted it early on. the other plot points that accompanied the plot twist (sorry to be vague but i don’t want to include spoilers) were honestly just absurd to me. the ending felt like there were many events added to liven up the story but they just left me rolling my eyes. it seems to me that the ‘evil twin’ trope is pretty hard to get right, and unfortunately, this book didn’t satisfy my thriller itch.

what i found unique in this book were the references to the covid-19 pandemic. i think this is the first book i’ve read that was sent in the current post-pandemic era. BUT i do think the pandemic was over referenced and overall, didn’t really add anything to the story. the multiple POVs were a great addition to further the plot, but i noticed some unexplained plot holes/points mentioned towards the beginning of the book.

**also NOTE: in the audiobook the mention that the company ‘FLLW’ is pronounced ‘follow’, but they keep pronouncing it as an ‘F-L-L-W’ throughout the book. this really bugged me.

Thank you, Netgalley for the advanced copy of Do You Follow in audiobook!

Alexa has finally been able to spread her wings and starts her dream job! She even finds her first boyfriend. But, when her twin Beth shows up, it becomes clear she can't leave the past behind her.

This book was very fast paced and twisty! I really enjoyed it!

Ever read a book where you think you have it all figured out? You pat yourself on the back thinking how clever you are - It was so obvious what was going on to only get to the end and realized you got 99% of it wrong? Yep, that was me while listening to this book!

Put this down in the clever, clever, clever camp!

Alexa has secured a marketing job and an apartment in NYC. Her therapist is concerned but Alexa is an adult, Sure she was sheltered growing up, but she is ready to make her way! Then her sister Beth shows up after a stay in a psychiatric hospital. Alexa knows what it is like to have mental health issues and she happily takes her sister in, while dating a Curt, a YouTube cooking influencer. Beth doesn't care for him, but Alexa has a right to be happy. Tensions begin to rise and.......

I thought I had this figured out and I did have one minor detail figured out, but I missed all the big twists and reveals. I initially gave this a 3.5 but I have been thinking about how clever it was especially the ending and moved it to a solid 4 stars.

I enjoyed the audio just as much as I enjoyed trying to figure this book out. This was such a captivating psychological thriller. It made my drives much more enjoyable.

Thank you to Greenleaf Book Group and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.