This wasn't what I was expecting it to be. I was expecting it to be more of a fast-paced thriller. It was really boring and I hated all of the characters. I'm starting to think books about a group of obnoxious people in their twenties aren't for me.

4.5

This was a wacky wild ride that I was loving being along for. This managed to be both satirical and genuinely engaging, with an atmosphere that immediately sucked you in. I love books that center around old homes, and the Decker house is a character in itself that really creates the gothic atmosphere of the novel. Combining tik tok hype houses and gothic suspense was not something I imagined could work, but it actually worked so well. This was so completely unique, I’ve never read anything quite like it before. Thrilling, atmospheric, and engaging, if you’re into speculative fiction, gothic suspense, the horror of social media, or rabbits (Owen Wilson reigns supreme), this is the one for you

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved Leigh Stein's latest novel. If you don't know what a hype house is... you will after you read this book! Dayna is ready for a change of scenery after her boyfriend dumps her, and accepts a job from a man she hasn't spoken to in two decades. Her job? to transform what was once a fancy mansion but now is decrepit into a successful hype house. But when Becca, a tarot reader, goes missing, Dayna must build a social media campaign around said disappearance. This book is smart and fun and will keep you turning the pages!

I like Leigh Stein's writing (really enjoyed the satire of Self Care!) but I think with this novel, Stein was trying to get on the gothic wagon because it's been popular the last few years—and it doesn't work. Just because you set your book in a decaying house doesn't make it a gothic novel.

A book that examine the need for attention in the world of social media in the form of a gothic novel. Completely unique, engaging, and makes its readers reconsider the impact that influencer culture has on the world today.

Review will be posted to Goodreads. Run Date: August 10th.

As a chronically online teen in 2021 who followed gossip tea channels about influencers, moments reading this had me relating to some of the frightening parts of my generation's wild obsession with chasing after fame or praise from the digital realm, even when it destroys the real version of ourselves.

This novel has the same riveting pull of searching to detangle all the answers to what drama is trending across platforms. I appreciated the depth and background of some of the main characters, as well as how they interacted with each other. I enjoyed the pop culture references and the gothic elements. The themes of the perils of the obsessive performance of curating your life for an audience felt dynamic and real.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, but I would say the rest of the novel's plot kept me intrigued. Special thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Ballantine for an eARC copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: So far it looks like this book is getting pretty mixed reviews, which I would expect based on the content. I'm going to fall into the camp of really enjoying this book. If you do read it, or already have and didn't, make sure you read the author's note at the end. I feel like the author has some really important things to say.

What I appreciated about this novel is the humor, satire, and the cultural and societal commentary. I think for you to enjoy this, your worldview has to be somewhat similar to the authors which you won't know until you try the book. I felt like it was written really well, used satire to it's advantage and really had a lot to say. My day job is a therapist primarily working with college age students at a large university. I felt like this book really honed in on a lot of the distress I see related to social media and connection. Leigh Stein also pulls in current social media controversies which I appreciated. I think a lot of us are so blind to or have just accepted the problems of social media we overlook a lot of the issues we all know exist. What this book does the best though, is show how we are all involved in this (not that we should stop) but how we are each impacted and involved in revolving door of social media.

If you like satire, social commentary and if you're a fan of Bunny by Mona Awad you may enjoy this. If you are not ready to feel called out, maybe hold off on it.

At first I was’t sure I would really like this book, but the more I read the more I started to enjoy it. This was definitely boy what I was expecting. I don’t read the blurbs when I start a book eo i can be surprised by what I have been reading. This one definitely surprised me in such a good way!

i want to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this advanced reader copy and this is my honest opinion of the book.

I was really looking forward to picking up Leigh Stein’s upcoming book. The concept sounded really creative, and I enjoy a modern take on gothic horror. The beginning was promising, and I thoroughly enjoyed the humor. Ultimately, I think the author was trying to tell too many stories with this novel, and none of them came together in a satisfying way. The horror element is lacking buildup or any real feeling of suspense or mystery. Similarly, a lot of the characters fail to develop despite their rather unique backstories. I really enjoyed chapters from Dayna ‘s perspective, but her actions and motives failed to stay tight. This book really needed some reworking.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine | Ballantine Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is a book that you don't judge a book by it's cover, I loved this book and read it in one day. I loved the storyline and the characters. I thought the characters had great growth. I would definitely recommend this book.

This book is a surreal compilation of Gothic horror, social satire, and influencer culture, set amid a crumbling Los Angeles mansion turned hype house. Before reading this, I had no idea what a type house was, so found that part interesting. We start out when Dayna is hired by an ex to revive a hype house for a popular influencer. It's a great distraction from the fact that her boyfriend just dumped her via a Reddit post, so she dives in wholeheartedly.

She soon meets Olivia, Olivia, a 19‑year‑old aspiring actress, who joins the house searching for Becca an influencer who's vanished and amassed a cult following before disappearing.

The two join forces and launch a viral campaign around the disappearance, but house owner, Craig forbids following the mystery too far. Inside the mansion’s labyrinthine rooms, both literal and digital, they uncover more than they bargained for.

This is a satirical exploration of the digital age that explores influencer culture, fame obsession, and content creation, revealing the emotional toll beneath the curated perfection you see on Instagram today.

The descriptions of the mansion itself, are surreal and realistic, with its decaying grandeur and digital pulse, the author does a good job making it feel almost alive, and it's a key character that shapes paranoia and ambition.

So great atmosphere and setting, but not much character development, so I really wasn't vested in the outcome of the main character, her friends, and associated influencers. The ending also seemed rush and didn't tie up all the loose ends so left you wondering. But perhaps the author is planning a sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This was a lovely bit of American Gothic for the contemporary age. I thought it was an overall enjoyable read despite the flaws that I perceived. I thought the premise was really interesting and found myself immediately hooked from the start. There was so much about this that was cool and creepy like the imagery of the classic Hollywood mansion as the backdrop for a bunch of barely formed TikTokkers, the rabbit that's just a little too human, and how unsettling everything is. I also though that Stein does a fantastic job of cranking the unsettling factor up but unfortunately, it all amounted to nothing. When the climax came, I literally went "..Oh...that's it?" The ending and the build up just didn't match up and ultimately, was not satisfying.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read but I was really let down by the last 30%.

This book offers a very frightening look into the world of viral content creators--the desperation for attention and validation; the constant envy of other creators, and need to compete; and how they wake up every day panicking about how to rack up clicks and likes, measuring their own worth and even their will to live based on that number. Leigh Stein's narrative is a no-holds-barred, painfully honest tale that makes it glaringly obvious she put a ton of research into this book. As the main character, I related to Dayna's imposter syndrome, and how she felt that, even in her 30s, she was already woefully behind the curve. And the added mystery of what happened to Becca, who disappeared from the hype house before she arrived there, is a delicious undercurrent of suspense on top of the reader's fascination over this mismatched group of lost kids, looking to Dayna for guidance in a world in which there's no way to know which direction to go. A compelling read!

gothic mystery that worked really well. the way the setting was done was quite masterful, the tension was great, and the characters were interesting. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Quite enjoyable and clever with its needling of TikTok/hype house/influencer culture. Reminded me of Perfume and Pain by Anna Dorn which is to say it seems very LA, as in haunted by its past. I feel like that’s more of an LA thing than a New York thing.

If You're Seeing This, It's Meant for You by Leigh Stein is a modern Gothic mystery and a satirical dive into the lives of young social media influencers. The settings of this novel are a deteriorating Los Angeles mansion turned hype house, and "the platform"—the unnamed (but clearly TikTok-inspired) app where the house’s inhabitants construct their virtual lives.

I was drawn to the juxtaposition of old Hollywood mystery and the always-on industry of digital content creators. I loved the setting of the aging architectural gem in the Hollywood Hills and the vibrant imagery of vintage glamour. The opening chapters pulled me in with Dayna’s story—who, at 39, suddenly finds herself at a crossroads in her life. Her desperate solution is to turn to a person from her past: Craig, the owner of the house, whom she met briefly when she was a young, aspiring photographer.

We then meet a cast of 20-somethings who live in the mansion, creating content for their niche audiences. The mystery comes into play when one of those influencers, Becca, goes missing, and Dayna sees an opportunity to turn her disappearance into a viral storyline.

The novel has an intriguing slow build, alternating between Dayna’s POV and that of Olivia, a young newcomer to the house. We learn the history of the mansion and some of the characters’ backstories, and I was excited to see how it would all converge in the climax.

Unfortunately, the rising tension fizzled out into a rushed resolution. I felt we never saw the full potential of the characters; the ending came too fast and left me wanting more explanation. Some of the storylines and characters could have been left out entirely, as they never had a satisfying payoff. And as for the ending—no spoilers, but it ended in a way I saw coming and was hoping to avoid.

For starting so strong and pulling me in with its fascinating premise and beautiful imagery, I was left disappointed. Overall, this one was just OK for me.

A mansion with ever increasingly dangerous decrepitude draws attention and influence for those seeking to elevate their own profiles, yet what resides and is revealed within the walls proves to be far stranger than internet fame in Leigh Stein’s If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant For You.
Taking on an unusual opportunity from Craig Deckler, a man she had an online relationship with twenty years ago, to rebound from a disastrous breakup spawned from a Reddit post, Dayna moves into the Deckler house, a Hollywood mansion that’s seen better days. Tasked with managing the young influencers taking up residence and generating content within the house, Dayna begins to craft a campaign around Becca, a tarot card reader who had fostered much intrigue with her enigmatic and sudden disappearance. Another recent addition to the house is a young influencer, Olivia, who also happens to be a fan of Becca, who’s keen to seek out details that will uncover the truth behind Becca’s disappearance, despite Craig’s adamant declarations that Becca is fine and forbidding everyone from looking into the matter further. While Dayna enlists the influencers into the campaign that seeks out Becca, secrets are discovered, and revealing them will wind up changing everything within the lives of those involved with the house.
The story is an intriguing concept that explores and comments upon the commodification of the internet, notably upon the personas cultivated versus lives that are actually lived and how we seek to consume content but are just as much consumed by it, either actively or passively. A divide of age and the variability of engagement with the internet and topics depicted primarily through Dayna and Olivia as the generational difference of the internet’s progression demonstrated that while the person’s life-stage, experiences, and concerns may grow over time, and technology advances, the heart of wanting to be seen and acknowledged remains the same. The characters aren’t deeply developed, which makes it difficult to connect with them, and, though stories don’t have to be tied up nicely at their conclusion, in combination with the peripheral threads of their narratives that are left in a state of rushed, relative disarray at the end, too much was left unaddressed and opened too many new possibilities with little reason to have done so, ultimately resulting in a “so what” factor as a genuine question rather than the encapsulation of the sentiment of it from intrigue that had been building up as part of the allure and enticing nature of star power of the influencer branding and the Decker house history.
Overall, I’d give it a 3 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If You're Seeing This, It's Meant for You by Leigh Stein was a thought-provoking and deeply personal read. I appreciated how Stein tackles identity and connection with such honesty and nuance. The story felt raw and real, and it challenged me to think about how we communicate and understand each other.

such a unique and original concept for a novel. i never would’ve considered such a modern phenomenon like a social media hype house to blend with the classic gothic tale, but here we are.

i feel incredibly neutral about this book. it was fine. i read it, i didn’t dislike reading it, but i won’t sing its praises. the dialogue felt unrealistic quite regularly which pulled me out of the book. the mystery was also, unfortunately, quick lackluster. i wanted something bigger i suppose.

the characters (namely olivia, dayna, and becca) felt like ideas of a person rather than a fully fleshed out character. like, here’s olivia, she’s an orphan, that’s about it. the whole book sort of felt like a bunch of random ideas jumbled together without any real cohesion.

however, i did read this quite easily and did find myself intrigued by certain elements. i love a good gothic setting.

tl;dr: gothic house, influencers lacking personalities, and a mystery reveal that was as exciting as a slowly deflating balloon

**ARC REVIEW**

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an early copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.0 Stars)

This was my first introduction to Leigh Stein’s work, and If You Are Seeing This, It Is Meant for You is an intriguing mix of gothic mystery, social satire, and literary fiction. The story follows Danya, a 29-year-old washed-up journalist whose boyfriend dumps her via Reddit (a hilariously chaotic way to open a novel). After hitting rock bottom, she accepts an offer from Craig Deckler a much older man she met as a teenager during her photography days to help manage his decaying LA mansion that now functions as a hype house for influencers.

Among the influencers living there, one is missing: Becca, an enigmatic tarot reader who built a cult-like online following before vanishing. Alongside Danya’s POV, we meet Olivia, an orphan drawn to both Becca and the Deckler house, who auditions to move in and becomes entangled in the mansion’s eerie secrets.

The novel blends internet-age humor, TikTok references, and a critique of influencer culture, creating an atmosphere that’s both modern and unsettling. While the premise is fantastic and the commentary sharp, the execution falters. The narrative feels disjointed at times, and the reveal of what happened to Becca is rushed and lacks the emotional punch it was building toward.