Additionally, the exploration of racism, blackmail, internet drama, and the rise of deepfakes adds another layer of realism to the narrative. I particularly enjoyed the dialogue between Almond, Joss and Heather, as I felt like I was really reading three teenagers talking to each other. When their relationship starts to fall apart under all the pressure, Mel finds herself feeling alone with the impossible dilemma of the Little Bang growing inside her. It was very easy to get into, and the pacing remained quite snappy throughout so I managed to fly through it within a couple of hours. I don’t know how many times I’ll use the word ‘love’ in this review but I did love him, adored him in fact, and he deserves everything good the world has to offer.

This book will appeal to all social media savvy students whose own lives inhabit the world of TikTok, Insta, YouTube et al. This experience has been fantastic primarily for the children, the school and also for me (professionally). Another thing that this book deals with really well is the premature sexualisation of women bodies and subtle misogyny that women deal with everyday.Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit. Ross Welford introduces Time Travelling with a Tortoise, the sequel to Time Travelling with a Hamster, and a whole new time travel adventure!

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. If I didn't know that this was Amara Sage's first novel, I wouldn't have been able to tell from her writing. It's really easy to scroll past one cancellation, one "internet drama" and then move on to the next thing that "Influential" really makes one sit with the uncomfortable reality that there are people at the other end of every like, post and hate comment. Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit.

I highly recommend picking up this YA debut, regardless of your age, as so many issues are dealt with within this book, my other recommendation maybe a box of tissues nearby as some of the content was pretty emotional, and brought tears to my eyes, but then on the next page I was crying with laughter at the sheer craziness of Almond, Heather and Joss. One of the book’s strengths lies in its exploration of teen mental health through the lens of social media and influence. The dialogues between Almond, Joss, and Heather are realistic and demonstrate the genuine camaraderie of teenagers, enhancing the relatability of the characters and their experiences.

and Amara Sage does a great job of amplifying that claustrophobia for readers when Almond gets panic attacks and starts to spiral. This is Almond’s Insta life, but in reality, Almond is struggling, really struggling, from her parents’ divorce to self-harming, Almond is not in a good place and just as things can’t seem to get any worse, she then falls victim to an online troll, who not only takes her money, but her followers, public opinion and her sanity. This is a perfect book for it's intended audience, but also a reflective book for an older audience. Mel's religious parents insist she must keep the baby, whilst Sid's feminist mum pushes for a termination.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. When I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about its characters, I loved it’s ability to tackle the societal issues (racism, sexualisation, alcoholism etc. I think this book is a really solid and strong debut novel and I would recommend this book to any one who has grow up with the internet and the pressure that creates. Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall).

If only she could see that she has a real-life, too, full of friends and family who love her, and that it could save her. While fame and wealth sounds appealing this shows the reality of all that and will maybe get people to see what's behind the influencer mask. The only reason I didn’t rate Influential five stars was because I thought the ending was a bit… cringey 😬 It kind of felt like everything was resolved a bit too easily/quickly. She had issues with her self-esteem, her family, her friendships, aspects of herself that were real and not, her excoriation… and despite her flaws Heather and Joss (and Honey the dog) were by her side when it mattered most. Only, it's not the life Almond would have chosen for herself, and being on a platform all the time has made her anxious and insecure.I’m being very nit-picky here – overall this was a really good book and an extremely impressive debut novel. A bittersweet Northern Irish romance that takes a new look at teen pregnancy, the magic and mess of first relationships, and a young woman's right to choose her own future. Almond is forced into the spotlight when she was just a perfectly filtered her mum has been documenting their family through social media since before she was born.