I am so behind on my 2024 reading challenge and I honestly don't think I'm going to catch up... which is fine. It'll be the first time in 5 years that I don't hit it and I need to accept that...that's not going to stop me from reviewing all the books I do read!
One book that I did recently finish was Olivia Muenter's debut novel "Such a Bad Influence" and it was incredible. I've followed Olivia's writing career since she was at Bustle, and I've always loved her authentic, raw view of reality. She is never afraid to put it all out there and I appreciate it so much. She's also an incredible writer, so I knew her novel was going to be a knock out.
The minute Olivia announced her book, I preordered it and just from the summary, knew I was going to love it. I love thrillers just like Olivia so the fact that she wrote an influencer domestic thriller (which is probably more of a mystery) was just a bonus.
As we get deeper into the influencer economy and people become more familiar with it, we're going to see even more fictional content taking place in these worlds which I'm very excited for because it feels like unchartered territory.
Publisher's Summary
Evie is eighteen now, with a multimillion-dollar career and unlimited opportunities, but Hazel is still protective of her little sister and skeptical of the way everyone seems to want a piece of her: Evie’s followers, her YouTuber boyfriend and influencer frenemies, and their opportunistic mother. So when Evie disappears one day—during an unsettling live stream that cuts out midsentence—Hazel is horrified to have her worst instincts proven right.
As theories about Evie’s disappearance tear through the internet, inspiring hashtags, Reddit threads, podcast episodes, and scorn, Hazel throws herself into the darkest parts of her sister’s world to untangle the threads of truth. After all, Hazel knows Evie better than anyone else . . . doesn’t she?
My Thoughts
I was hooked from the first page of Such a Bad Influence for so many reasons; I desperately wanted to know what happened to Evie, I wanted to see what the secrets Hazel and their family were keeping, and I loved the mixed media format.
Including podcast transcripts, reddit threads, and article clippings was genius because it added so much context, depth and understanding of the world that Olivia was trying to immerse us in.
At the core of this book is a story about child influencers and how growing up online can warp their entire reality. Evie was never given a choice; her mother just filmed her and put everything out there for the entire world to see...and now it was biting her in the ass.
Hazel on the flip side, was completely isolated from that world because she refused it from a very young age. She knew who she was and she was going to stand firm in it. At times though, it felt a little self-righteous, like Hazel was so much better than this world that offered her family financial security.
Their mother, Erin, seemed like a complete monster from the start of the book so I knew there would be more to be revealed about her.
Hazel is our protagonist, with the exception of the mixed media, the prologue and epilogue, so we're seeing everything through her point of view, which offers an interesting feeling. Hazel views everything negatively and with hidden agendas and you could feel her hesitation as she's trying to figure out what is really going on with her sister.
Every character has a secret and when shit hits the fan, it's jaw dropping. You almost can't believe what is being unraveled because it feels so far fetched yet so perfect.
Such a Bad Influence wasn't scary, it wasn't gory, it wasn't even necessarily creepy -- it was just off putting in a way that you felt this could happen in real life, to an influencer you follow. It was more suspense than anything because you truly didn't know what was going to happen. Was Evie dead? Did she run away? Did a stalker have her captured somewhere?
It was a slow burn where you're trying to understand all the characters and their personalities but once things pick up, they move fast.
The ending was my favorite part -- it was one of the best twists (in my opinion) that I've read in a while. I wasn't expecting it in the slightest bit, and it left my body cold.
If you read this book, I highly recommend listening to the Bad on Paper Book Club podcast on it; Olivia is the host, along with fellow writer Becca Freeman and they break down all the plot points (and some misunderstandings about the ending), and it was just so fun to listen to!
Such a Bad Influence is definitely going to be a top book of 2024 for me; it was thrilling, enticing, interesting and thought provoking in so many ways and I cannot recommend it enough.
xoxo
B
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