I did not realize this was YA when I requested but gave it a shot anyway. It was fun and fast=paced but also suffers from too many characters / too many POV. The whodunit part was fun and engaging but some of the dialogue was just trying a little too hard to be zeigeisty. I'd probably love this if I were younger though.

Many have been inspired by Agatha Christie, but I haven’t always had such fun with it. This mystery kept me guessing and while I don’t always like books with unlikeable characters, these toxic influencers were fun to root against.

Ten influencers arrive on a private island to take part in a reality show--how many will leave? Will they leave? People to Follow, by Olivia Worley, is a page turner filled with points of view of many of the characters, all of whom turn out to be unreliable narrators.

This book is like a teen angst drama on FreeForm, and that's a good thing. No one is who they seem, and everyone has a secret. What a page turner! Fans of Karen McManus and Diana Urban will love this book. My one criticism is that the voices of the narrators tend to run into one another, except the narrator that calls everyone "Babe." (And I wanted to take her out by the end of the novel.)

RUN, DON'T WALK to get People to Follow, by Olivia Worley!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC! (Thoughts and opinions are all mine.)

I really enjoyed this debut novel by Olivia Worley. The description of People to Follow hooked me right away and the story had a number of twists and turns that kept the reader engaged. I admit that the first time the viewpoint changed, I was slightly confused because I clearly wasn't paying attention to who was narrating. That 100% is on me as the reader though! Once I realized that, it made the book even more fun because of the different viewpoints.

The use of teen and young adult influencers as the cast for this reality show was fun - especially because each of them was different in how they portrayed themselves online and what they were known for. The characters had a range of personalities and lots of layers that were unpeeled as the storyline progressed. The writing was clear, fun and this was an enjoyable read. I look forward to more books by Olivia Worley!

So I don't know if I'm just too old (I'm in my early 40's), but I felt very out of touch with this book. I'm assuming that this is geared towards the YA crowd, but I've read some great YA books before and this unfortunately missed the mark for me. I enjoyed the storyline told from alternating perspectives, but the idea of the group of teenagers stuck on an island and one of them may be a murderer - has been done many times before. I honestly wasn't that interested in finding out who the murderer was, although, I have to say that I didn't guess the ending at all.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC!

I’ve seen some reviews that said this plot is a bit derivative, but I haven’t read any book like this! It was a good YA mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I will say the beginning was a tad confusing being introduced to TEN characters right from the jump, along with four alternating POVs. I had to keep flipping back like “okay, who is this one again?”
I thought the concept was cool, although some of the “secrets” that were being exposed kind of left me wanting more.
I still thoroughly enjoyed this read!

An interesting read that I can see being a big hit with book clubs.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review!

This was such a good book, a YA thriller where a group of teen influencers go to a private island to be on a new reality program, IRL, where they will be unplugged from their social media for 6 weeks. What could go wrong? Well, for one thing, the crew never shows up and one of the kids ends up dead. Was it an accident or could it have been something more nefarious? When another person ends up dead, it's up to the teens themselves to figure out who the culprit is before the next mysterious death occurs. They are also getting mysterious messages from "The Sponsor" threatening to expose their deepest secrets on Instagram if they don't confess them to each other. So much drama!

This was a real page turner, and one that was hard to put down! Instead of a locked door mystery, this was a sort of locked island mystery, which ratcheted the tension up even more. The characters were interesting and relatable, and the mystery itself was well written.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much, and highly recommend it.

5/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Olivia Worley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's press for the advanced reader copy of this book. I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this book- reality tv is my favorite and I love a good thriller. I really enjoyed racing through this book to figure out what happened and who did it. All in all, this is a great YA thriller to add to anyone's tbr!

When Kira was invited to be a cast member on the new reality show IRL she thought it would be nice to spend three weeks on an island with no phone or computers just relaxing with a few games she had to play against the other members. While in the boat on the way to the island she noticed who she thought was the only other member is Karina the gamer girl, Max the YouTuber, Logan the Snarky X bounce house member and Aaron the fallen child actor. It wasn’t until they pulled up to the island and she noticed the second boat with her nemesis Mickelay and the other two members of the bounce house crew the jerk prankster Cole they have more enemies than friends on Lawrence Island and when their host Tillie leaves Kira just hope they can all get along. At dinner that night it is made clear that’s not going to happen with Micoley and her bless your heart put me down it is it long before Kira has had enough but it’s Logan who has the meltdown after all it cannot be easy when everyone is used to being the center of attention but there’s no one around to be a spectator tensions are high so when Logan thinks she’s found a dead body everyone is freaking out only to find out it was a manikin with the words “you have been canceled“ Red necross the chest and although everyone is upset by this they eventually blow it off but when a real body shows up the next day they cannot board off. As they say in Hollywood however the show must go on so win the watches they were given at the beginning his messages sent to them saying there is a liar among you tell your biggest lie and everyone tells either self serving or little white lies except for Mick-A-Lay Who claims she is an open book and has no lies after a discussion about whether they should play or not to vote for the biggest liar the Denteley given and play the game. They are also hoping help is on the way so someone can deal with the dead body they moved to the boathouse. I could go on and on just now this is one fun read it has one showdown after another they have more than one enemy all the show but everyone is hiding something but who is behind it? I could not figure out who did this and when I did OMG I was shocked and amazed and I think this is one clever book. I love teen thriller books and this was definitely a good one. Are usually wait to review right before the book comes out but I couldn’t stop thinking of this one and had to read it and I am so glad I did I absolutely enjoyed it and totally take it as a five-star read. If you love teen angst then you’ll love this book imagine everyone thinking they or the most important people in the room and no one around to agree with them Egos and emotions explode in People To Follow by Elizabeth Worley I have seen books like this before but Elizabeth Worley puts an authentic flair in her version of this trope and OMG is it so worth reading a definite five star book and one I highly highly recommend! I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I tried a few times, but I just could not get into this one. I may pick it up again in the future. I’m giving it a three because I feel that’s a very neutral rating. I’m sure it’ll be great for a younger crowd.

As a fan of reality tv, this novels synopsis had me sold. 10 “influencers” venture to a remote, luxury island for three weeks to live their real authentic lives for the tv cameras. It’s not long after they arrive that things start to go amiss. Someone ends up dead, life-altering secrets are revealed, and the cast of characters is against the clock (literally) to determine who the mastermind behind the scheme is.

Unfortunately, I didn’t love this like I thought I would, but I’m also not the target demographic for this YA novel. I can definitely see a younger crowd (hi, GenZ) devouring this.

I think the main reason I didn’t mesh well with this book was the characters. To start, there’s too many of them. They’re all introduced in close succession and it was hard to keep up with who was who and why this person didn’t like that one. Almost every character—with the exception of two—came off as vapid, shallow, and fame-obsessed, which makes it really hard to root for them. It also didn’t help that the novel was told from multiple POVs and none of them seemed to have a distinctive voice. I often forgot whose point-of-view I was reading from a few pages into the chapter.

The author does touch on a lot of current societal issues that we as readers should be talking about, but they only scratched the surface of the problems. Instead of trying to throw all of these topics of discussion at the reader, I think it would have been beneficial to pick one or two and really dive into the topic instead of briefly mentioning one issue then moving on to a completely different issue a few pages later.

Gripes aside, this novel did hold my attention because I really wanted to know who was pulling the strings. But the reveal ultimately fell flat for me. Too much of the plot was left up to far-fetched coincidence, and not enough common sense.

In the end, I think this novel had a lot of promise, but the execution just wasn’t there for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins press for the arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Ten influencers are invited to a private island for, they are told, a reality TV show. Once there, in true Agatha Christie fashion, they start being killed one by one in a game of confessing their lies.

First I did not realize that this book fell into the YA category so my expectations going in was a bit different then if I realized that from the start. With that said though it wasn’t a bad read, with a good amount of suspense and interesting plot that kept me reading. The characters were each flawed that made me not like any of them but not in a bad way. I think overall this was a good debut YA novel and I thank the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

For being a YA read, this was good! It definitely made me feel old :)
The mystery plot was actually well done

A quick read!

I just want to start by saying I went into this book not having any kind of preconceived notion whatsoever. This is unlike any book I’ve ever read and I am honestly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I can only describe it as a fun, thrilling read that left me wanting more by the end of each chapter. If you’re into the concept behind paradise gone wrong but SUPER modern day, this will be for you. So many secrets within these characters, so many twists and turns, so many WTF???’s. I audibly laughed multiple times throughout, and normally I don’t like too much comedy in my thrillers, but oddly enough, it worked SO well. I will definitely be reading more by this author. Solid 4.5/5 for me!

Solid YA thriller about a reality show featuring 10 influencers on a private island, completely cut off from their followers and their phones. They have history with one another and there’s drama galore - seemingly innocent until they start dying. One by one…and the sponsor of the show seems to have an axe to grind and secrets to spill. Who will survive?

I love me a good story about influencers gathering together and dying. It’s been done before, but it’s fun. I would read more from this author.

This was a tantalizing YA thriller, that was a mix of a trashy reality tv show that you just have to keep watching cause you are addicted.

10 influencers on a remote island producing content. Murder and mayhem ensue. Great twisty ending that I did not see coming.

Great debut from an author I will surely read again.

Thanks to NetGalley , author, and publishers for an arc of this book.

Book releases oct 31 #teenangstthriller

For a YA murder mystery, this one was pretty darn good. Warning, the characters are about as Gen Z as they come - so your tolerance for that needs to be pretty high. The big reveal was unexpected to me (which is rare) and fairly logical (sadly, also rare). Once the book got going, I did have a hard time putting it down! This is a decently strong YA debut for fans of Karen McManus.

This was a ton of fun! I found this story to be a little grating with the terminology used, but I also realize I'm not 100% the target audience. It was quite difficult to read the dialogue when it was trying SO hard to be relevant. It was an easy and suspenseful read once you get past the speech. I did enjoy the premise and watching it unfold.