This contemporary fiction shines a light on influencer culture, and how it is nothing like it seems.

This book had moments that were shocking but also not surprising, if that makes sense. We know there is no way massive influencers can do everything that it looks like they’re doing, they must have a team doing all the legwork for them. But this also shows a toxic work environment that is hidden with a “positivity” and “we’re a family” narrative.

It was crazy to see how these people were overworked and under recognized for all the work they were doing. And being employees to a narcissist, it was her tearing them down to then making them feel like she can’t be without them.

Harper’s character arc was good, and it was interesting to see her fall into something like a cult and then snap out of it.

Definitely one that I would recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for this early read. Well that was so darn scary. I like this read but watching Harper fall under Charlottes' spell was somehing else all together. I think I was a bit triggered. The book was well done.

Super interesting read into the world in influences, start up culture and the workplace. Story lines are very captivating and your heart breaks for the main character as she deals with many challenges. A great summer read!

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH! Watching Harper fall under Charlottes spell had me mesmerized, but I couldn’t wait to watch the inevitable downfall (as petty as that makes me lol)

AND THE ENDING. SO, SO GOOD.

4,5/5, would recommend to anyone!

I was really interested to read a book about working for a social media influencer. Though we hear a lot about influencers in the media, it is a pretty unexplored premise in contemporary fiction. Plus it sounded fun and salacious and I was even more intrigued when I found out it is rumoured to be based on the author’s real life experiences working for mega-influencer, Rachel Hollis.

The young main character, Harper, gets hand-picked by influencer, Charlotte, to help run her social media empire. Caught up in the perks, glamour and all-consuming lifestyle of her job, Harper is quickly swept up in it all. Harper soon realizes, however, that Charlotte is not quite the person she presents to her followers.

I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at working for an influencer. In fact, because this book is based on real life experiences (presumably) I found this to be the most compelling aspect of reading this book. I did really like the premise but I did find myself yearning for a bit more drama and intrigue than what we were given.

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada and Noelle Crooks for an eArc of this book! Harper accepts an exciting new job opportunity, working for influencer Charlotte Green and moves to Nashville from NYC. She dives into her work but she soon finds that working for an influencer includes working long hours, planning social events, team activities after hours, constant and posting and sacrificing her personal life for work. This book is currently relevant and will have you thinking about social media, what it means to be an influencer, who works behind the scenes of an influencer and what’s important in life! A great read! 4 stars!

Under The Influence, Noelle Crooks

Consider me influenced!

Hustle culture, cancel culture and trying to find oneself through the murky”ness” of fitting in, not being left behind all the while trying to forge your own path.

Sounds daunting? Indeed, it is. And it’s exhausting.

Noelle Crooks has crafted an influencer story that is completely relatable. Haven’t we all seen a millionaire influencer and their “believe it to achieve it” & “we are all in this together” “glow and grow” mantras. The influencees quickly caught up in the contagion culture ‘cause they are catchy AF and they make you want to rise up but also be filled with dread should you fall behind. Fail to glow and grow.

This is a social commentary with sharp cutting teeth where I found myself hating how much I could see myself in Harper the influencee. I wanted to shake her to “wake up” to Charlotte’s now skewed message and intentions, while simultaneously shake myself for also falling prey to the allure of other’s seemingly flashy lives. All told - I really enjoyed this book and took a way a few nuggets m of social media/hustle culture wisdom, too.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for a review or my own opinion.

It was enjoyable but a bit of a slow start for me. It started to get really interesting towards the end when we saw the JuiCy side of the work environment. Spoiler: It's toxic.

I also really loved how the main character was half Filipino and how the culture was subtly woven into the story. Spoiler: I'm Filipino.

Overall I'd rate this a solid 3 out of 5 stars.

This book took me a little while to get into, but once I was into the story I was absolutely hooked. I loved the way that this book took a spin on what it could be like to work for a famous influencer and showed us the good, the bad and the ugly! The co-workers Harper gets to know (Bella, Oliver and Cynthia) were some of the best side characters to get to know.

Harper was quite an interesting narrator for the story to follow along with and I loved watching her internal conflict slowly morph and shift the longer she worked at The Greenhouse. I was completely drawn into the story and the way that the book ended left me feeling unreasonably satisfied. And the last line was the best line! I actually gave a little cheer when I read it.

Overall, I went into this book thinking it was going to be something completely different and I am pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it! This one comes out on August 8th so make sure to check it out!

🤍 Thank you so much to the publisher @simonschusterca & @netgalley for this physical advanced reader copy!

⚠️TW: gaslighting, cursing, alcohol, toxic relationship, bullying, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, racism

I was very curious about this book written by a former employee of social media influencer and self-help Rachel Hollis - I was not a fan of Hollis' book (Girl, Wash Your Face) and brand of toxic positivity white feminism. Hollis got into hot water a few years ago when she plagiarized Maya Angelou, talked about how hard she works and seemingly dismissed how hard the "woman who cleans her toilets" works, and compared herself to Harriet Tubman and Oprah.

Under The Influence is fiction clearly inspired by Noelle Crooks' tenure at Hollis' company. From what I have read about what it was like to work there, it seems like this book could have been written as a memoir. I'm not sure why Crooks chose to write it as fiction. The plot is about a struggling 27 year old writer named Harper who moves from New York City to Nashville to take a job as a "Visionary Support Strategist" (whatever that means) with a self-help influencer she has never even heard of - the job sounds too good to be true and too hard to pass up. Although a bit skeptical in the beginning, Harper eventually drinks the Kook-Aid and becomes one of her boss' biggest champions. Since we know the basis for the plot, we know the bloom will fall off the rose.

I found the writing entertaining at first but the plot never really takes off and the side characters are under-developed. Aside from giving a convincing argument against believing in the authenticity of this type of influencer, I don't know what the point of the story is.

I found this a real mixed bag! I liked reading about the influencer community and the horrors of working there. I thought that that part was really well done, and at the beginning of the book the way that the influencer was more subtly shown to be awful worked well. However i found that the pacing of the book was really off and it felt like 60% of the book was set up and then all the 'dark side' plot stuff happen in the end and it feels really rushed. The character resolutions felt unearned to me. I would still recommend this if you are interested in a relatively fun story of a horrible workplace.

𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 starts out strong, like a gut punch. In this incredibly real and incredibly current read, which so accurately depicts the zeitgeist of the age of social media, influencer culture and girl speak is shoved down your throat until you are gagging on it. The whole book is one giant gag- a tongue in cheek satire about those who climb to the top by espousing mantras that don't actually mean ANYTHING.

In Crooks' masterful debut, this media sensation is Charlotte Green, a tiny woman who never sleeps and would likely make a very successful cult leader. She's already halfway there. Mother to all and none, at the same time.

Harper, our MC, is ;looking for her place in the world. As a writer nothing really seems to be a good fit for her skillset and for her need to support herself and help her family. She is rightly wary when she's suddenly handpicked by Green and thrown into the world of 'The Greenhouse', worse she seems like the only one questioning anything and it's apparent that everyone around her expects her to drink the kool-aid too. Though Harper quickly gleans that Charlotte is not all that she seems- unoriginal, shallow, manipulative, and tone deaf- where the story really gets interesting is what happens when she gets caught up in Charlotte's gravitational pull. It's easy to identify with Harper and even get caught under Charlotte's spell- but people like Charlotte can't hide who they are for very long and their fall is just as spectacular as their rise.

Similar to Cover Story with a hint of Yellowface and The Devil Wears Prada, this book feels as if it could be pulled from the headlines, as if it could be a true story. For some, it probably is. For me, this was an exciting, biting, relatable read, and I look forward to seeing what the author puts out next. A 4.5 star read for me.

Read if you like:
- Books about influencer and hustle culture
- The Devil Wears Prada vibes
- Satire

I really enjoyed this debut! It was a well paced, interesting story that was simultaneously funny, cringey, and insightful. It was a fun and fresh take on today’s hustle culture, while putting the toxic side of influencing front and centre. I laughed out loud and internally cringed at some of the influencer antics, and I liked the overall message of the story. A very entertaining read, I recommend!

Just a general note, my ebook ARC has many formatting and grammar errors.

My overall rating is 4.25/5

[arc review]
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Under the Influence releases August 8, 2023

<i>“To the outside eye, it was hashtag perfect. But, as Harper was quickly learning, appearances could be deceiving.”</I>

Well, this was certainly something…

Harper, laid off from her literary jobs and struggling to make ends meet in the ever expensive NYC, applies to an influencer-type job on a whim from the encouragement of her roommate, Poppy.

This story was too “yas girl” energy, OTT, and go-go-go.
It seems highly sus that not even 24 hours after Harper submitted an application for this job and they’ve already whisked her away to another state, and have somehow done a deep dive into her whole life? Who are they, the CIA?
If someone is forcing you to make a big life decision that quickly, it’s probably too good to be true.

Charlotte and her whole “The Greenhouse” brand felt so superficial. It tried to come across as self-help and inspirational, but just didn’t quite work.
The work environment she created was definitely screaming toxic and unhealthy.

The diversity within felt very forced, and there were a few weird and questionable racial remarks about Harper being half Filipino that everyone seemed to just let slide, not to mention the multiple instances of cultural appropriation on Charlotte’s part, and dressing up as a Geisha for Halloween…

<i>“After Charlotte launched her Clean Green Cleanse, Harper had been put in charge of hiring a diverse group of fitness instructors in a matter of days. “Just make sure we have one of everything. I want everyone to look different.””</I>

After the constant build up we had of the article and there being these “weeds” within the company, the resolution wrapped up way too quickly off page, and didn’t allow for a well-rounded character arc.

I can see how there would be a small niche of people that would love this, but I don’t think I’m one of them. The work load alone spiked my anxiety so high (but who am I kidding, I overcommit and overwork myself too).

I think Under the Influence would make for a great comedic and chaotic movie.

I'm decidedly undecided about Under the Influence by Noelle Crooks. While the initial premise of working for an enigmatic influencer seemed like something I'd be interested in, the book didn't deliver on depicting the job's 'dark' side as the synopsis claimed.

The writing itself was good, but there was no story and no consequence or stakes to the plot. As I read this on my Kindle and saw that only 20% of the book was left, I had to take a second for it to sink in: there was less than a quarter of the book left, and nothing had happened. That's what it felt like, at least. Aside from her offensive Halloween costume, racist comments, and plagiarism, I kept expecting Charlotte to do something dark or for some violent secret from her past to resurface - but there was nothing. The whole plot was a very surface-level depiction of the world of influencers and I felt like it could have been fleshed out much more. Harper's character also wasn't fleshed out and her character arc made no sense. She just magically grew a spine and stood up to Charlotte after worshiping her for half a year? It didn't make any sense, and I could say the same about the book in general.

I didn't hate the book enough to DNF it, but at the same time, after reading the final page, I felt like I'd wasted my time.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of Under the Influence to review. All thoughts are my own and are not influenced by any third party.

A rather fascinating debut novel about Harper Cruz, a young woman who relocates from New York to Nashville to join the staff of a successful influencer. Harper has many ups and downs during her fast-paced tenure, including a touch of romance. Although the conclusion is satisfactory, the reader does wonder how several things eventually play out. Perhaps a sequel is planned. XOXOXOs to the author, Noelle Crooks, for creating this interesting story:)

Under the Influence follows Harper, a young woman who's a bit lost in life, as she spontaneously accepts a job to work for Charlotte, an intense (read: unhinged) cult social media influencer. Obviously, Harper doesn't know too much about the cult side of things till she's in too deep and is drinking the koolaid herself.

This book was a super easy and pretty entertaining read. It is a shallow one, so don't expect a literary take on the deceitfulness of relatable and motivational social media influencers. Charlotte was a great character and I wish we got more of her - she was just super believable as a cult influencer (which isn't surprising giving Crooks' background working for the Hollis Company...).

Crooks also did a great job of sweeping you up into the whirlwind of the Greenhouse along with Harper in the first part of the book. The book kept that fast pace throughout which meant some parts felt a bit rushed or just went unanswered (like, Harper and the money she earned, more about the other staff, really making you believe how/why Harper overlooked the red flags she saw) but the strong start hooked me in to waiting to see how it would all blow up. I just kinda wish we got more of the bizarre influencer life and then got to revel in more of the fallout!

ARC via NetGalley

This was a fantastic read, quick, razor sharp and I loved the characters and pace of the book. 4 stars

I was hooked from the very beginning and couldn’t put this book down. I really enjoyed this book and think that it is 5/5 stars! I thoroughly enjoyed this story but to be totally honest I didn’t love the main character. Overall I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Noelle Crooks for an opportunity to read and advanced copy of this book.

Under the Influence," by Noelle Crooks is a story about Harper Cruz, a 26-year-old trying to make it in the New York City publishing world when she is offered a job in Nashville to work for Charlotte Green, a multi-millionaire self-help Social Influencer, As Harper becomes more involved in Charlotte's business and life, the more she overlooks questionable and unethical decisions to the point that Harper becomes almost unrecognizable to the people who love her..

While this book was an easy read, I did find that it dragged on to the point that the theme felt overdone - young woman who loses herself as she becomes more enamored and manipulated by celebrity,

Nevertheless, thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the Arc.