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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Follow Me Back reads like a typical YA mystery/thriller, meaning to say that it is quite a brisk read, that there are some moments of genuine mystery and confusion but that there are also quite a few plot-holes and that its characters are somewhat generic/cardboard. So all in all, I would say that it's a decent read for a summer's afternoon and that it's easy to engage with the story. However, I don't think that I enjoyed the book quite enough to be back for the next installment.
Follow Me Back alternates between the perspectives of Tessa Hart, an eighteen year old fan of Eric Thorn, a teenage heart-throb. Tessa Hart is also an agoraphobic, who has locked herself in her house because something terrible had happened to her on her summer writing programme. The trauma that it has caused her is so painful that she can't even say what has occurred to her therapist and it has caused her to take a year off school, delaying her college plans. The only thing that seems to give Tessa some solace in her moments of anxiety is listening to the music of Eric Thorn, a boy that has grown up in the media spotlight and whose good looks and music Tessa feels attracted towards. Meanwhile, Eric Thorn feels trapped in his life. All that Eric was ever interested in was making good music and getting attention for his music. But likely, it seems to him like his fans are more interested in his good looks and his media packaging rather than the music that he's producing. Furthermore, the recent disappearance and murder of his fellow teenage heart-throb has caused him to feel even more anxious regarding his fan's obsession over him and over the way his life seems to be spiralling out of his control.
When Tessa starts a hashtag that goes viral on Twitter (#EricThornObsessed), Eric can't help but feel like Tessa embodies everything wrong with his fandom and with the kind of attention that he's getting. And when his "subtle" attempts to try to troll his fans goes wrong, he decides to troll Tessa personally with a new username and an anonymous identity. But neither Tessa nor Eric are quite what each other expected.
The cool thing about Follow Me Back is that it's told through a mix of perspectives, Twitter messages, direct messages and a series of police interview transcripts. Now the use of the police interview transcripts tells us that obviously something has gone terribly wrong regarding Tessa and Eric's relationship - otherwise, why would the police get involved at all? So it creates some mystery and suspense while we wait for the other shoe to drop.
However, your mileage regarding this book will vary depending on how much you actually like Eric and Tessa separately and as a budding couple. Personally, I thought that both Eric and Tessa seemed like kinda poorly drawn out characters. Aside from Tessa's obsession with Eric, I can't really say what else there is to round out her character. I didn't understand her relationship with Scott and what they saw in each other, nor did I really understand Tessa's relationship with her mother. And the same is kinda true of Eric: aside from his music and his branding as a teenage star, I'm not sure what else there is about Eric - what does he like to do? Why do his parents seem so totally uninvolved regarding his life? Are they only interested in him when it comes to his ability to make money? If so, why?
As for their relationship, well.... let's just say that I wasn't really feeling the sparks in this one, perhaps because they spend most of their time apart.
The book has a couple of twists final twist at the end, which worked to some extent.
Follow Me Back alternates between the perspectives of Tessa Hart, an eighteen year old fan of Eric Thorn, a teenage heart-throb. Tessa Hart is also an agoraphobic, who has locked herself in her house because something terrible had happened to her on her summer writing programme. The trauma that it has caused her is so painful that she can't even say what has occurred to her therapist and it has caused her to take a year off school, delaying her college plans. The only thing that seems to give Tessa some solace in her moments of anxiety is listening to the music of Eric Thorn, a boy that has grown up in the media spotlight and whose good looks and music Tessa feels attracted towards. Meanwhile, Eric Thorn feels trapped in his life. All that Eric was ever interested in was making good music and getting attention for his music. But likely, it seems to him like his fans are more interested in his good looks and his media packaging rather than the music that he's producing. Furthermore, the recent disappearance and murder of his fellow teenage heart-throb has caused him to feel even more anxious regarding his fan's obsession over him and over the way his life seems to be spiralling out of his control.
When Tessa starts a hashtag that goes viral on Twitter (#EricThornObsessed), Eric can't help but feel like Tessa embodies everything wrong with his fandom and with the kind of attention that he's getting. And when his "subtle" attempts to try to troll his fans goes wrong, he decides to troll Tessa personally with a new username and an anonymous identity. But neither Tessa nor Eric are quite what each other expected.
The cool thing about Follow Me Back is that it's told through a mix of perspectives, Twitter messages, direct messages and a series of police interview transcripts. Now the use of the police interview transcripts tells us that obviously something has gone terribly wrong regarding Tessa and Eric's relationship - otherwise, why would the police get involved at all? So it creates some mystery and suspense while we wait for the other shoe to drop.
However, your mileage regarding this book will vary depending on how much you actually like Eric and Tessa separately and as a budding couple. Personally, I thought that both Eric and Tessa seemed like kinda poorly drawn out characters. Aside from Tessa's obsession with Eric, I can't really say what else there is to round out her character. I didn't understand her relationship with Scott and what they saw in each other, nor did I really understand Tessa's relationship with her mother. And the same is kinda true of Eric: aside from his music and his branding as a teenage star, I'm not sure what else there is about Eric - what does he like to do? Why do his parents seem so totally uninvolved regarding his life? Are they only interested in him when it comes to his ability to make money? If so, why?
As for their relationship, well.... let's just say that I wasn't really feeling the sparks in this one, perhaps because they spend most of their time apart.
Spoiler
There's also the issue that their relationship essentially starts off on a lie, because Eric chooses to present himself as a boy named Taylor instead. Furthermore, it also starts off kind of mean-spirited because Eric is essentially creating a new persona just to mess with Tessa, to troll her and to essentially make her feel small for liking Eric Thorn so much. Now part of this may be because Eric genuinely hates the media persona that he has to put on...but part of it is just that he's being cruel by trying to mess with some girl who just seems to enjoy purchasing whatever image his company is trying to sell.The book has a couple of twists final twist at the end, which worked to some extent.
Spoiler
We finally get an explanation about what frightened Tessa so much from her summer programme and it seems like she had a stalker that kidnapped her. While I liked that we at least some explanation about what it was Tessa was hiding from, I wished that Blair faced some consequences for everything he did to her but it just seems like he kinda just disappeared or something? Furthermore, it also seemed like Tessa has hurt Eric somehow at the novel's end but I'm just not invested enough to find out why or whether she's truly done something to Eric or not.
Fave Line: “She understood first hand where his anxiety came from - the same source as her own worst fears.”
Genre: YA Mystery
Rating:
4/5 ⭐️s
OK. I did not think this book was going to be as good as it was or have the crazy twist at the end that it did. I know students will love it because it is written in prose, DMs, police reports, and tweets. The mixed media really pulls it together.
Genre: YA Mystery
Rating:
4/5 ⭐️s
OK. I did not think this book was going to be as good as it was or have the crazy twist at the end that it did. I know students will love it because it is written in prose, DMs, police reports, and tweets. The mixed media really pulls it together.
Be careful what you wish for. That is the motto of this story.
Eric Thorn is the latest teen celebrity crush. He once dreamt of his fame when he was younger, posting videos of song covers on YouTube until someone finally took notice of him. Then his career skyrocketed and he was signed with a record company and producing albums. Now he has millions of followers on Twitter who are obsessed with him, always announcing their undying love and retweeting his pictures.
Tessa is an agoraphobic. An incident happened when she was at a creative writing workshop in New Orleans over the summer that left her terrified and so she refuses to leave her room. She can’t even go much further than the doorframe without triggering a panic attack. Her only contact with the outside world is her psychologist (whom visits her) and her Twitter profile dedicated to Eric Thorn and her fan fictions of him. She wishes for a normal life and someone to connect to.
Both wishes are granted. Despite the rising fame, Eric is tired of his stardom. He is paranoid of being attacked and killed by a crazy fan, since it happened to another singer and he’s sick of all the attention of Twitterverse. His fans only care about his looks and not about his music which irritates him. Meanwhile in Texas, Tessa finds that person to connect to—a secret account that Eric makes to initially take out his frustrations—and they soon develop a friendship. All the while, Tessa thinks she is talking with a girl named Taylor when it’s really her celebrity crush.
This story hooked my attention at the beginning, but as it dragged in I lost motivation to finish it. Tessa’s boyfriend, her mom, and psychologist are poorly constructed and possess unbelievable characteristics imitating those of a teenager. Both Tessa and Eric make stupid decisions throughout the story which later come back to haunt them. They also react rashly to certain things. For instance, once Eric explains he is a guy named Taylor—shocked since he thought Tessa knew he was male—Tessa shuts down and blocks him for what reason exactly? It was a simple misunderstanding and she blew it out of proportion and effectively had a tantrum like a child who doesn’t want to hear specific things.
There was also the factor of instant attraction/love. Eric falls in love with Tessa without knowing what she looks like or meeting her in person. Tessa feels something towards Taylor (Eric), but it was an obsession. They messaged each other every single night and talked for hours, telling one other about their problems and gathering support—mostly Eric is the one consoling Tessa. She relied on him to make her happy and bring brightness to her dreary days of staying locked in her room. Of course, Eric invents a persona and plays along with it, knowing that he must tell Tessa his identity soon. This repeats until the end of the novel with him expecting Tessa is scream like a fangirl over the reveal and jump into his waiting arms.
A lot of telling instead of showing made up the story. Like in a movie when a montage plays with pretty music to speed up time, this book shifted months in advance after a few chapters to increase the timeline. On second its August and suddenly its December and we’re told that Tessa and Eric have been chatting every single night and are now dependent on one another.
This novel had a lot of potential, but it didn’t suit my taste.
I was provided an ARC of Follow Me Back by NetGalley in exchange for a review.
Eric Thorn is the latest teen celebrity crush. He once dreamt of his fame when he was younger, posting videos of song covers on YouTube until someone finally took notice of him. Then his career skyrocketed and he was signed with a record company and producing albums. Now he has millions of followers on Twitter who are obsessed with him, always announcing their undying love and retweeting his pictures.
Tessa is an agoraphobic. An incident happened when she was at a creative writing workshop in New Orleans over the summer that left her terrified and so she refuses to leave her room. She can’t even go much further than the doorframe without triggering a panic attack. Her only contact with the outside world is her psychologist (whom visits her) and her Twitter profile dedicated to Eric Thorn and her fan fictions of him. She wishes for a normal life and someone to connect to.
Both wishes are granted. Despite the rising fame, Eric is tired of his stardom. He is paranoid of being attacked and killed by a crazy fan, since it happened to another singer and he’s sick of all the attention of Twitterverse. His fans only care about his looks and not about his music which irritates him. Meanwhile in Texas, Tessa finds that person to connect to—a secret account that Eric makes to initially take out his frustrations—and they soon develop a friendship. All the while, Tessa thinks she is talking with a girl named Taylor when it’s really her celebrity crush.
This story hooked my attention at the beginning, but as it dragged in I lost motivation to finish it. Tessa’s boyfriend, her mom, and psychologist are poorly constructed and possess unbelievable characteristics imitating those of a teenager. Both Tessa and Eric make stupid decisions throughout the story which later come back to haunt them. They also react rashly to certain things. For instance, once Eric explains he is a guy named Taylor—shocked since he thought Tessa knew he was male—Tessa shuts down and blocks him for what reason exactly? It was a simple misunderstanding and she blew it out of proportion and effectively had a tantrum like a child who doesn’t want to hear specific things.
There was also the factor of instant attraction/love. Eric falls in love with Tessa without knowing what she looks like or meeting her in person. Tessa feels something towards Taylor (Eric), but it was an obsession. They messaged each other every single night and talked for hours, telling one other about their problems and gathering support—mostly Eric is the one consoling Tessa. She relied on him to make her happy and bring brightness to her dreary days of staying locked in her room. Of course, Eric invents a persona and plays along with it, knowing that he must tell Tessa his identity soon. This repeats until the end of the novel with him expecting Tessa is scream like a fangirl over the reveal and jump into his waiting arms.
A lot of telling instead of showing made up the story. Like in a movie when a montage plays with pretty music to speed up time, this book shifted months in advance after a few chapters to increase the timeline. On second its August and suddenly its December and we’re told that Tessa and Eric have been chatting every single night and are now dependent on one another.
This novel had a lot of potential, but it didn’t suit my taste.
I was provided an ARC of Follow Me Back by NetGalley in exchange for a review.
3.5⭐
This book made me feel nostalgic with those fangirling over wattpad's fanfiction days..
Wow, I enjoyed this more than I expected. I could feel 'wattpad' thing in this book (if you know what I mean) and it's not bad at all! I really enjoyed the mystery and suspense atmosphere in it.
And that ENDING asdfghjkl, I don't know who I should trust anymore.
But couldn't rate this higher because the plot felt weak at some parts and the romance was cheesy af lol. I was laughing all the time reading those cringey lines.
I think I should consider myself to pick the next book.
This book made me feel nostalgic with those fangirling over wattpad's fanfiction days..
Wow, I enjoyed this more than I expected. I could feel 'wattpad' thing in this book (if you know what I mean) and it's not bad at all! I really enjoyed the mystery and suspense atmosphere in it.
And that ENDING asdfghjkl, I don't know who I should trust anymore.
But couldn't rate this higher because the plot felt weak at some parts and the romance was cheesy af lol. I was laughing all the time reading those cringey lines.
I think I should consider myself to pick the next book.
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ahh!! Such a good book! The plot twist made me gasp out loud and after I finished it had me staring at the last page for AT LEAST 5 minutes. It wasn’t even just the plot twist, all throughout the book the author kept surprising me. She could have gone a totally different way and made it cliche but it wasn’t! I’m excited to read the next one.
I felt like i was reading a wattpad story - the writing style was okay at best. The plot was original though, so i’ll give it that.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked it but I live a good fan fic turned real book.