Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

#Unwell is a story of what happens when teenagers spend way too much time caring about followers on social media than about making actual meaningful connections and friendships. Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book. I found the main character far too unlikeable and I know its fiction but i had to suspend my belief which I normally don't mind but with this book I just couldn't. I ended up DNFing this book but by the looks of other reviews, I am not missing much.

What would you do for a few more followers? What would you do for a million followers? Nathan, whose goals of being a social media star are limited by his single-digit follower count, is willing to do anything, and when a lucky break gets his numbers rising, he wants nothing more than to capitalize on it. An accidental live stream of himself throwing up catches the school’s attention, and it just keeps going. Soon, Nate has his own hashtag — one even the teachers are using — and Nate’s riding high, until his account is hijacked and suddenly everyone’s against him.

Nate’s account tells kids to kill themselves, and creates violent challenges that end up leading to Nate’s own brother being attacked and kidnapped. The scary thing is that the most likely suspect is Oliver, Nate’s best friend and maybe-sort-of crush/boyfriend? But Oliver isn’t talking to him and even if he did, Nate doesn’t know what he wants to say.

This is a book that requires a giant suspension of disbelief — so much so that it enters more into fantasy than fiction. Nate’s single viral video of two girls fighting takes his channel into the millions; his video of himself eating a fast food sandwich (and then throwing it up) has the entire school trying to make a new sandwich creation. When Oliver takes a stitch of Nate’s video to start a challenge of his own, the insomnia challenge, it’s so catchy that almost the entire school is suddenly absent because everyone stayed up for a single night, and the very next night has someone so sleep deprived they crash their car. Then there’s the stalking and harassment, the ‘cult’ of followers who go after Nate, the dozens of other channels dissecting Nate’s handful of videos, a much larger and more famous channel being threatened by Nate’s three videos … it all just felt so over the top.

My biggest issue isn’t the silliness or the wish fulfillment of a lonely, unpopular kid suddenly making it big, it’s the fact that this book doesn’t seem to have a point to any of this happening. Because Nate is just a kid watching events happen, never really taking part in them, never learning from them, never facing consequences, because none of it is his fault. His account was hacked, so it’s not like Nate did anything; Oliver’s the one who dined and dashed, so it’s not Nate’s fault they’re in jail. It’s never anything Nate does, and thus he has to do nothing to either keep it going or stop it. This is very much a book where the plot does all the work, so the character can lie back and just exist.

When Oliver uses Nate’s sexuality against him, going in for a kiss to distract Nate from questioning more about the stolen account, it’s so transparent … but Nate lets it go. It’s not that he’s attracted to Oliver, or even likes him. It’s just that it’s his first kiss and Nate doesn’t seem to care enough to say yes or no, just lets fate happen. When Oliver betrays him, uses him, manipulates him, Nate doesn’t even have a reaction.

Nate is awkward and introverted, with an uncaring narcissism. No one matters but Nate, no one has emotions but Nate. He’s a terrible friend, but so is Oliver. The one thing Nate has going for him, the one bright point in this book, is his unquestioning love for his family. Oliver’s mom was a model and is now a photographer; his younger brother, Sam is in track. When Nate interacts with them, it’s with fondness. When he thinks about his mother, it’s with love and support. And when Nate’s hurting and lonely, it’s his mother he turns to; when he thinks his brother is hurt, he actually does something for the first time and tries to find out who hurt Sam. Unfortunately, those moments aren’t the focus of the book. Not that I can tell what the focus is.

It’s a story with no real plot and seems to have nothing much to say. Is social media bad? Maybe? Is peer pressure bad? Maybe? Does Nate have an opinion? … no? I’m sorry, but this is a solid pass. There’s just not enough here to hold my interest and Nate’s passivity and hollowness doesn’t make up for the confusion. The writing isn’t terrible, the character’s voice is strong, and the moments between Nate and his family do shine; I’d be interested to see what else this author writes, but this book just isn’t it for me.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had everything that I was hoping for from the description. It had a suspenseful feel to it and worked with the character that I was hoping for. It uses the social media element perfectly with what I was expecting and glad the characters worked with the overall with the story being told.

This book tried to be a lot of things at once. While most stories include a major and minor plot, I feel as though this book tried a little too hard to push narratives that didn't necessarily help the story.

I only red the first few chapters before deciding to not continue reading. Nothing bad about the story, I just did not have enough time to finish the story.

Thank you to @smarterartist for making the ARC of '#UNWELL' by Cameron Stone available on @netgalley

Firstly, I have to address something that gets randomly dropped into the story at the end of one chapter. For context, the main character, Nate, is watching a video discussing his account on this book's version of TikTok:

'There are words above the video where someone either close-captioned or added them in editing. Just above ShotCrawler's head is 𝐴 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦?
"I'm not a movie," I tell the video as I enter the shower. "I'm not even Black."'

I tried to parse this in a way that isn't just casual anti-Black racism, but I can't. It's just a conflation of Blackness with being a menace to society, right? Right!? If I'm missing something here, please let me know.

None of the characters in #UNWELL are well-developed enough to feel like anything more than a list of dot points. Nate is gay, wants to be famous more than anything, and is not as thin as his 15-year-old brother Steven, who is so attractive that any adult who encounters him practically throws themselves at him. Oliver, his best friend, is either extremely dumb, a social media genius, or a seductive frenemy, depending on what he needs to be in the moment.

While there are some sweet moments between Nate and his mother (former model, freelance photographer, the cool mum and/lax parent, depending on your perspective), the book's two-dimensional characters interact with each other in ways that suggest the author hasn't heard real people talk in a long time, in something that might be considered plot-adjacent, but certainly doesn't make any kind of sense when you sit down and try to lay it all out. I was almost disappointed when a brief discussion of chaos magic ended up just being a throw-away reference, because magic might have gone some way to explaining the incomprehensible way that most characters acted at one point or another. Alas.

It would be unfair to say that there's no story here because, if you dig down, there is a workable core concept. However, this ultimately feels like what happens when a first draft gets published without any oversight.

Rating: 1/5

This is a book written for our time and with insight into how are teens are feeling with the new pressure of being seen. It explores the world of social media with a focus on how living for the views/likes and how it can change and impact you. I enjoyed the characters and the story line. Overall a good read and I would recommend!

I really enjoyed this book. The people saying Nate couldn't get achieve his social media status overnight, must not know how social media works. The story is very believable being that there are MANY ppl who will do ANYTHING to stay relevant online.

The storyline really drew me in because I can actually see this happening in real life.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'm certainly out of the target demographic for this book, but I enjoyed the time I spent with it!

I've never been a huge fan of social media in books/movies/tv but this had a fun aspect to it. I was expecting it to be a bit more of a thriller going from the description, but the elements that were there were fun enough. I ultimately didn't find myself too invested in the relationship in the book, and even if I had been the ending overall wasn't super fulfilling for me and felt like everything just sort of ended in limbo.

Other than that issue I still enjoyed it overall as a solid time filling book.

The blurb of this book made me want to read this but it just wasn't as good as i felt that i would have been. It was hard to get into but i really wanted to like this. I always like to read debut novels but it just wasn't for me.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

I love books that make us question social media and the negative impact it has on our lives although there were inconsistencies here so I couldn't get into it as much as I had hoped.

Thank you Netgalley and Sterling & Stone for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

"#Unwell" by Cameron Stone delves into the chaotic world of social media obsession, offering a stark commentary on the consequences of seeking online fame at any cost. The book definitely goes to the more extreme side of the obsession with social media and gaining followers, but it is interesting to see just how unhinged the plot becomes in order to provide this social commentary. Some parts of the book, like Nate wanting to do whatever it takes to become viral, reminded me a bit of the movie “Nightcrawler,” though Nate gets a little character redemption while the movie MC did not.

The story revolves around Nate, a typical high school student whose life takes an unexpected turn when a video he posts gains him millions of followers on the social media platform ChitTalk. As Nate grapples with newfound popularity, he becomes consumed by his online persona, especially when someone steals his account. Stone effectively captures the allure and pitfalls of social media, highlighting how it can distort one's sense of self and priorities.

One aspect of the book that was confusing to me was the social media part, and considering that is a huge part of the plot, this made me almost stop reading in the first half of the book. I just couldn’t understand how Nate somehow gained over a million followers in just one day by posting a fight video and a livestream of himself puking; it just doesn’t make sense in today’s realm of social media. And then with just how obsessed literally everyone at his school became with his videos and how some people genuinely thought he had been replaced by a clone when his account was hacked. It was just too unbelievable and unrealistic, though it did make the book entertaining.

Nate's character was also unsympathetic; he never really grew as a character. His obsession with social media and lack of genuine connections with others make it difficult for me to like him or at least become invested in his character. Also, Nate just wasn’t very smart in the book. None of the characters were very smart or likable, except Nate’s mom. I really enjoyed his mom’s character and her actions. The way she cared for Nate while also being the “cool mom” was interesting.

I did like some parts of the book with the atmospheric tension, with several moments of high stakes and unexpected twists that I definitely wasn’t expecting towards the end of the book. Again, the plot becomes a bit unhinged in the second half and it isn’t very realistic, which does keep you guessing on what is going to happen next.

Overall, "#Unwell" does a good job in showing the extremes of the dark side of social media culture, showing the allure of online fame and its consequences. I think some younger YA readers might enjoy the extreme aspects of the book and may learn from it.

I’m obviously well out of the target demographic for this book, however the synopsis sounded really interesting. It was difficult for me to get through with all the Gen Z or Gen Alpha slang that is liberally spouted throughout. The amount of times I had to stop reading to google what was being said made me feel way older than my actual Gen X age.
I think maybe if you’re younger & know what’s the slang means it might be okay but even somI think it’s a little too much.

There was something about the writing style that felt a little disjointed to me but I’m guessing it’s to emulate Nate’s thought process. Regardless of how irritating I found that to be, I really just didn’t like anything about Nate. Even if a friend or significant other does something crappy to you it’s not okay to beat them up. And to be so proud of the fact that you hit your boyfriend because they did something you disagreed with is some sociopath behavior. Unfortunately that intense dislike of Nate just got worse as the book progressed.

Maybe if you’re young and are of a similar mindset where trending on social media is the center of your life and/or your life goal you might like this, but I really disliked it. There’s been other books with a similar theme that I’ve liked so it’s not that I’m too old to get it, it’s just a weirdly phrased and paced story with an extremely unlikeable main character and a lot of ridiculous moments. Not a fan.

I received a digital copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#Unwell is a story of what happens when teenagers spend way too much time caring about followers on social media than about making actual meaningful connections and friendships. It’s a story told from the perspective of Nate, an average guy in high school who’s only connections are with his best friend Oliver, his younger brother Steve and his mother who happens to be a model. Until one fateful day, two of the popular girls at his school get into a physical fight and he posts the fight online, which instantly gains him millions of followers.

What I enjoyed about reading #Unwell was the accuracy when it comes to how some people act when it comes to social media. Nate is a character who acts like a typical teenager whenever he’s unable to glance at his phone for more than five minutes. He’s also a representation of what happens whenever someone lets their five minutes of social media fame get to their head. He literally becomes glued to his phone once he becomes popular, caring more about how many people watch the videos he posts instead of spending time with his one friend and his younger brother and mother.

Speaking of his brother and mother, they were the only characters in this story that I enjoyed getting to know whenever Nate took the time out of his day to talk or spend time with them. I especially enjoyed his relationship with his mom because she had a lot of wisdom to offer him that he should’ve taken to heart. I liked his relationship with his younger brother Steve because while he was annoying, I could see how much he cared about Nate. I also love that he wasn’t quite as obsessed with social media as Nate was throughout this book. I liked his relationship with Oliver at one point, but that quickly ended for me when he gets Nate into trouble but also because he’s responsible for a lot of the trouble Nate ends up finding himself in once his account gets stolen from him.

Another aspect of #Unwell I enjoyed was the overall atmosphere of the story. I felt like there was quite a lot of tension in this book and there were several moments in the story where things really picked up that made me interested in finding out what was going to happen next. While the overall story telling in this book isn’t the best (which I’ll get more into momentarily), I found when things were really tense for Nate, they were REALLY tense. To the point where I kept waiting for something else terrible to happen.

Now onto the aspects of this book I didn’t enjoy. I’d like to start by saying that while I enjoy the commentary this book makes regarding social media, I felt like I had to hold my disbelief regarding Nate’s popularity on ChitTalk, the social media app where he gained his millions of followers. First because of it being due to the fight at his school but also because of what happens when he posts his second video of that ridiculous sandwich that results in him throwing up. I have a hard time believing that his classmates saw that video and then decided to make their own chicken sandwiches with the chicken being the bread on the sandwich. While I understand that it was supposed to show how easily people are influenced by people on social media, I found the whole thing ridiculous and hard to suspend my disbelief. I also found a lot of the other videos Nate posts in this book very stupid and had a hard time understanding how they gained as much traction as they do.

I also had a difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that his peers at his high school didn’t know that account belonged to him until it had been stolen from him. And even more so that once that happens, how his followers act to the news that his account has been stolen. That whole chain of events I felt like while was an interesting concept, it was executed poorly. There’s very little explanation given as to why people think Nate was abducted and a clone was taking over his ChitTalk channel and even less of an explanation as to why those following his account were taking very unnecessarily dramatic matters regarding his “clone.” Won’t go into any more details than this because I’m still wrapping my head around how stupid that was and didn’t make any sense. And even more frustrating is that there isn’t any real explanation for any of it.

Another thing with #Unwell I strongly disliked was Nate and Oliver’s characters. As individual characters, neither Nate nor Oliver were interesting people. If anything, I felt like they were both really boring people who had no personality in this book other than both their obsessions with ChitTalk. I feel like it was just by chance that Nate gained popularity on ChitTalk and not due to having a likeable personality. And then the one thing about them I thought was interesting was destroyed mercilessly. Like I said earlier, I originally was intrigued about their relationship. But once the kiss and restaurant scenes happen and you discover Oliver’s involvement in Nate’s account being stolen, what interest I had in their relationship quickly vanished. I was disappointed by this because I found their relationship with each other interesting and wanted to see how it would continue to develop. But doesn’t sound like it would’ve worked out anyway because of Nate’s uncertainty regarding his interest in Oliver, which when I look back on it makes sense because of the way Nate acts around Oliver throughout this book. Very frustrating and made me dislike both these characters even more.

Overall, #Unwell is an interesting read with commentary regarding what happens when someone lets social media fame get to them. But with the number of times I had to suspend my disbelief over an unlikeable character like Nate becoming popular on social media and how his followers react to his account being stolen, I have a hard time calling this book an enjoyable read for me.

I really wanted to like this book. It has a great blurb and concept. Unfortunately, the delivery was not great. Teenagers are very impressionable and will hop on trends all the time, but the extreme that they jumped straight into? Kind of unrealistic. I think that this book could have been great if more character development and plot development were put in.

Where do I start?

This book was great, to say the least, but did it live up to the expectations it sets for itself in the blurb? No.

I expected an online mystery thriller akin to the Searching and Missing (online-based movies).

This was more of uhh..a teen drama with a hint of mystery thrown in.

I'll start with what I liked:

1. The adequate capturing of today's online world and the craze that it holds. The tide pod challenge, the duck-lips from bottle-sucking, and the ice bucket challenge are some examples of how stupid some people can be and how exacerbated it's become because of so much exposure. Nate's account became an online sensation overnight and the lengths people and stalkers will go to for fame was very nicely shown.

2. The hilarious date. I've never actually read many queen books where gay guys go on a date and this one was quite funny. I can feel Nate's exasperation with Oliver and his antics. I loved the cute romance between them.

3. The Mom. She's so cool.

4. Interesting cover. It's really apt/fits the story well.

What I didn't like:

1. Too many unnecessary descriptions. The story picked up only after 50% (the second half). The first half was so boring I almost DNF-ed it tbh. As in, we don't need 3 pages of Nate describing how his mom put makeup on his brother's face when they were young. There are so many details that add nothing to the story and could've been cut out. The pacing should've been a bit quicker to make it a tad more enjoyable.

2. There was a bit too much of Nate rambling. Sometimes I felt like I was reading the diary of a 7-year-old and not in the head of a 17-year-old.

3. Inconsistencies. How did some people know who the NateEscapes is and others don't? Nate has been making videos for so long that his face would've been there on his account. Even the puking video showed him eating and puking. But one video of him close up and people don't recognize him? If someone has 1 million followers overnight, someone is bound to scroll down a few videos and see his face and identify who the guy telling everyone not to sleep is. It's extremely unrealistic. And a huge glaring plothole.

4. Development of character personalities. I feel like a lot of characters including the protagonist could've had more personality. They all felt so dry. What was the point of Steve even? The only ones I remotely liked were Mom and Angela.

5. The "Gen Z" slang. There's too much of it. It felt like that Steve Buscemi meme of "How do you do fellow kids". I'm a Gen Z and we do not talk like that at all. It felt like a 40-year-old trying to impersonate a 15-year-old. It felt like my dad trying to be all cool and relatable with his new online slang that he picked up from his equally old friends. Makes me and my brother roll our eyes. It felt a bit cringe. So I would've cut down some of that stuff.

Other than that, it was a fun, if a bit slow one-time read. It's something that I might pick up at an airport because of the description and the cover, then leave on my bookshelf as a collection. Nice read. But there's still a lot of room for improvement.

*TWs: mentions and threats of suicide/goading teenagers to commit suicide*

*This review contains slight SPOILERS for a plot point in the first third of the book*

#Unwell tells the story of a teenager struggling to become relevant on social media, only for his account to suddenly blow up with followers. Faced with becoming an overnight influencer, he decides to be different and encourages his followers to partake in ‘unwellness’, an antonymic spoof of the popular wellness trends online. When someone with more insidious motives hacks his account, he has to deal with the consequences of influence.

Firstly, I like how the story starts in the action and then backtracks for the majority of the book until it catches back up. It isn’t a new tactic in storytelling, but I think it was used well here. It created a very serious sense of Things Will Get Worse for the reader to hang onto as they’re put through the novel as a whole. My personal issues with the book arise soon after.

I didn’t find the narrator, Nathan, to be a person I wanted to root for. As the protagonist, he seemed rude and apathetic, only caring about things on a surface level because he had to. I’m sure this wasn’t the intention, but he fell very flat to me for the whole of the book. His lack of chemistry with his best friend made me question why they’re even friends in the first place. At one point he seemed more angry at his best friend for essentially duetting his video than he did about a very serious situation.

Which brings me to my other main problem. (Slight SPOILERS for the first third of the novel in this paragraph beyond this point.) Nathan’s best friend basically starts a new trend where people stay awake as long as possible, piggybacking off of a video Nathan made about irregular sleeping schedules, which ends up killing quite a few people. This is only because, by some stroke of luck, Nathan has gotten over a million followers overnight by posting a fight video and accidentally live-streaming himself vomit. I’m not sure how we’re meant to believe that type of influence is possible so quickly. I’ve been quite popular on social media before, and I’ve received thousands of followers from one video, but not to this extent. I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief.

Nathan’s struggle for online fame is perpetuated by having a model as a mother. A real one, not a local one. I think this detail was actually excellent, because it gives backstory to Nathan’s desire for success (following in his mother’s footsteps) and provides part of the commentary I think the book was going for. Unfortunately the commentary as a whole never really hit its mark with me, but others may find it easier to pick up on. Nathan’s mother even delivers my favorite line in the book.

No spoilers for the ending, but I’ll say the last act, maybe the last quarter or fifth of the book, had me shocked. It was truly making me gasp every few pages. I never knew what to expect next. It got intense!

I’m not an expert on art or anything related, but I think the cover art was made with AI. I believe in supporting real artists, and it just makes me wonder if anything else in the book was made using AI.

Fast-paced, tense and riveting. This book is a stark commentary on social media culture. The writing is fast and fluid. And the tension build up during the last quarter of the book was insane—remarkably executed. Even the weird disassociation of trauma was so well presented.

A fantastic author debut. I look forward to seeing more from Cameron Stone.