Authors: Sara Shepard & Lilia Buckingham
Genre: YA Thriller
Release Date: 01.05.21
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Purchased
My Rating: 3/5 stars
SYNOPSIS: “After a video she makes goes viral, everyone knows Delilah Rollins. And now that she’s in LA, Delilah’s standing on the edge of something incredible. Everything is going to change. She has no idea how much.
Jasmine Walters-Diaz grew up in the spotlight. A child star turned media darling, the posts of her in her classic Lulu C. rainbow skirt practically break the Internet. But if the world knew who Jasmine really was, her perfect life? Canceled.
Fiona Jacobs is so funny–the kind of girl for whom a crowd parts–no wonder she’s always smiling! But on the inside? The girl’s a hot mess. And when someone comes out of the shadows with a secret from her past, it’s one that won’t just embarrass Fiona: it will ruin her.
Who wouldn’t want to be Scarlet Leigh? Just look at her Instagram. Scarlet isn’t just styled to perfection: she is perfection. Scarlet has a gorgeous, famous boyfriend named Jack and there’s a whole fanbase about their ship. To everyone watching online, their lives seem perfect . . . but are they really? The sun is hot in California . . . and someone’s going to get burned.”
If this book was one thing, it was fun. It kept my attention easily and was really fast to read. I’m always attracted to books that spill the dark side of influencers, which is why I knew I had to read this. While I did enjoy this story, I also struggled with the plot and the twists.
Things that I liked about this:
- The portrayal of social media compared to real life. I enjoyed seeing the dramatic comparison of what these influencers looked like on screen, compared to who they were off.
- The dark side of social media! I’m always here for all the dark secrets, black mail, private relationships, and shocks. This book had tons of them, which kept me fully engaged with the reading.
- Some of the characters. I thought a few of them, especially Jasmine, were really enjoyable!
- Mental health representation. While I cannot speak to how accurate this representation was, I was happy to see OCD represented in this story.
Things that I disliked about this:
- Some of the twists were just…yikes. So, while I did enjoy some of the plot twists, the combination of different dramatic reveals didn’t make sense. I’m not going to get more into it that this, as to avoid spoilers, but it just did not make sense at all.
- The explanations were underwhelming. As the story winded down and everything was getting explained, many of the explanations were painfully underwhelming.
Have you read Influence? Is it on your tbr? Let’s chat! ☕
Leave a Reply