I LOVED this book! I couldn’t put it down once I’d started. It’s a page turner that is excellently written, thought provoking and filled with complex characters. A brilliant debut.

4.5 stars out of 5! Thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber for this eARC! I don't know what I was expecting going into this, but I have to say it absolutely exceeded any expectations I could have had. The modern, 'real-life' YA story that is needed for this generation, and one that could really be a defining read of the genre! Almond Brown is a seventeen year old 'influencer', who's career started when she was only a child, thanks to her mother's own family vlogging 'influencer' aspirations. Her life is far from private and everything she does and posts is perfectly curated by a team, with an overbearing and selfish manager, brand deals who rarely want the truth from her, and a mother whose heart is in the right place, even if her head isn't always. This story is incredibly current with the wave of new 'influencer' celebrities over the last few years, and opens up some really important discussions about social media marking, consent of minors to being filmed, and when to stop giving the internet all of the details about your life. As a society, we are so heavily invested in social media these days, with most of our online engagement on those handful of apps that we all know and have a love/hate relationship with; this book gives us a glimpse beyond the shiny, seemingly perfect lives of those with thousands of followers and constant #ad posts. Beyond the social commentary (with a lot of important points being raised with regards to race too, the main character being biracial), it was also a super entertaining and, at times, deeply affecting read. I didn't anticipate that I would feel so emotional as to be almost brought to tears reading this book, but here we are! The pressures of being pretty enough and happy enough and skinny enough are all too real for young women in this day and age, and the author does an amazing job of showing the true, horrifying effects of that on mental and physical health. There are some really complex characters - from Almond, to Heather, a straight-talking, golden hearted plus size girl who refuses to fit into the mold, to Imogen, another influencer with a perky Barbie-like exterior who is crumbling beneath the pressure of a mother she is never good enough for, to Joss - the caring, gentle, funny love interest we all dream of finding in our own lives. I really found myself invested in the characters and wanting the best for them, and appreciating their growth so much. The writing is accessible, and I found this book easy to devour within a 24 hour period. I also liked the use of other elements - text bubbles between friends, emails here and there, the graphs showing Almond's 'following' count. It wasn't all just blocks of writing, and these elements being thrown in helped to make it feel even more relatable to a teen market, I believe. But on saying that, I do think this book opens up conversations that are useful and necessary for just about everyone! An easy, strong 4.5 stars for me. This was a breath of fresh air in the genre and, with this being what I understand is the author's debut novel, I really am excited to see more from her.

Influential is an excellent tale of how dangerous an experience navigating social media as a young person can be. We follow Almond Brown, who is a 17 year old instagram ‘influencer’, who falls victim to online trolls, death threats and public opinion. Her followers believe she has a perfect life promoting vegan beauty products and attending flashy events with her mega famous mum, but that is far from the truth. In reality, Almond is struggling with her parents divorce, depression and self harm and as the story unfolds, you really see that you never really know what goes on behind closed doors. What I really enjoyed about Influential was the writing and characters. This didn’t feel like a typical YA book, the characters at 17/18 years old really acted how you would expect. It was so refreshing to see this and also Sage doesn’t shy away from mentions of sex and romantic feelings that start to spring up at this age. The conversations around race and micro aggressions were also an important part of this story and really make you think about how it’s so necessary to educate ourselves on prejudice and how our words affect others. Overall, I really recommend picking up this YA debut and I will definitely be checking out whatever Amara Sage writes next. Thank you to Faber & Faber for the copy of the book in exchange for a review!