A review by karteabooks
Influential by Amara Sage

fast-paced

4.0

What an excellent YA debut. 

This book is every teenagers dream on social media, but in real life it’s their worst nightmare. 

Almond is an influencer, it’s maybe not her choice, but it’s how it is, and she just has to get on with it. Almond is only 17 and her mother has moulded her into being the perfect teenager, with her perfect skin, perfect life, and endless free beauty products to promote. 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. 

I really enjoyed this book for so many differing reasons. It’s topical Insta vs reality check in, made it so readable and relatable and I’m a several age spans away from YA readers. The author’s writing style was so easy to engage with too, and even though this is a YA, the main characters are 17/18, and the writing style reflects their ages well, and the author doesn’t shy away from their emerging sexual and emotional feelings. Another aspect that made this book enjoyable was the differing type of writing, from the dialogue between the characters, to the text bubbles and even the graphs detailing Almond’s followers and likes on social media, which made it all that more appealing to the YA market 

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. 

After a debut like this, I am really looking forward to what the author writes next.
 
 Thank you to Faber & Faber for the copy of the book in exchange for a review!