Story for the Week
Eight point six million plus in one day. Anyone?
I’m talking about when Jennifer Aniston crashed Instagram in October 2019 and garnered more than 8.6 million followers in one day after she posted a selfie with the cast of Friends. Eight…point…six…million…plus. The photo itself logged more than 10 million likes, and as of today, Aniston has 34 million followers even with only 30-some posts.
I’m not on social media very often compared to some. I post new blogs on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. I use LinkedIn for work. I use Messenger and WhatsApp on occasion to talk with friends. But I’m on social media increasingly less these days.
Despite the number of platforms I am on, I can’t fathom the number that some social media influencers are on, and I can’t imagine having the number of followers some of them have. I’m not talking about celebrities like Aniston. I’m talking about the random teenager or 20-something who decides one day that they want to be internet famous, and suddenly that machine (and the lack of privacy that goes with it) takes on a life of its own.
I’ve read more and more books lately that have a running theme around online influence, so I’m sharing two reviews here, one a more recent publication from March 2020 and one a bit older from March 2019 but a nice read that’s worth revisiting.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 Stars for Unfollow Me by Charlotte Duckworth
288 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: March 10, 2020
I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books.
Publisher’s Description
You can’t stop watching her.
Violet Young is a hugely popular journalist-turned-mummy-influencer, with three children, a successful husband and a million subscribers on YouTube who tune in daily to watch her everyday life unfold.
Until the day she’s no longer there.
But one day she disappears from the online world – her entire social media presence deleted overnight, with no explanation. Has she simply decided that baring her life to all online is no longer a good idea, or has something more sinister happened to Violet?
But do you really know who Violet is?
Her fans are obsessed with finding out the truth, but their search quickly reveals a web of lies, betrayal, and shocking consequences….
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Unfollow Me by Charlotte Duckworth is a great thriller that preys heavily on the current obsession with social media, internet influencers and their trolls, and YouTube celebrity.
Violet is a “mommy vlogger” with a huge following for her YouTube channel born out of her own battle with postpartum depression. Her videos document her life as well as those of her husband Henry and their three daughters.
I enjoyed the pace of this book, told primarily from the perspectives of Lily and Yvonne, two of Violet’s most diehard (obsessed) fans. There are a handful of chapters thrown in from Henry’s POV as well as a couple from Violet herself. It was a little confusing in some parts, and none of the characters are likable, but in this situation, that works.
Not wanting to give anything away (there is a lot to uncover here), I knocked it down a star because I expected Violet’s disappearance from social media to have a more sinister reason behind it, and I think the other character storylines wrapped up a little too neatly. All in all, though, a great read worth picking up.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐
3 Stars for Good Man, Dalton by Karen McQuestion
268 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: March 12, 2019
I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing.
Publisher’s Description
Greta Hansen has arrived in Manhattan to intern with the Vanderhaven Corporation, a company owned by distant and very wealthy relatives. But she soon realizes she’s actually been hired to keep watch on their capricious daughter, social media celebrity Cece. No last name required. Why bother? The entire Twitterverse already watches every fabulous move she makes. Including an unfortunate shoplifting mishap when Cece decides to go off script. It’s then that a handsome—and homeless—stranger comes to the rescue.
Dalton Bishop has a secret. A man of privilege, he’s been living on the streets as a social experiment. Now, in gracious payback for his chivalry, Cece invites him to an elegant fundraiser called the Forgotten Man Ball. It’s Greta he’s taken with, however—and to Greta’s surprise, she’s taken right back. But Dalton has one more secret up his tattered sleeve. For right now, though, he’s just happy embracing the woman of his dreams. It’s only the beginning of a romantic and revealing adventure that will take them to a place where money, class, and fame matter far less than true love.
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Karen McQuestion’s Good Man, Dalton is a feel-good clean read with two storylines that come together with a romantic spin. It’s a quick read, and I would classify it more as young adult fiction than women’s fiction. There are too many pieces of the story that I found unbelievable that I think a teen reader would let go. I found myself thinking this very early on in the book, not knowing until after I finished that this author is also known for writing books for kids and teens. I just don’t think this sounds like women’s fiction, explained in the spoilers below.
***SPOILERS*** SPOILERS***SPOILERS***
Take Dalton’s social experiment, for example. His plan is to live on the streets of Manhattan for two weeks with less than $30 to start with and a tattered backpack. He has a harmonica he plays posing as a panhandler, but he only knows two songs. Oh, and he has an emergency alert button in case something happens. Yet we see Dalton spend $8 on a sandwich, and every morning he goes to McDonald’s for a breakfast sandwich.
He consistently thinks about the fact that he’s spending money “he doesn’t have,” but it really feels inauthentic. Dalton does have a home, he does come from a wealthy family. Granted, at the end of the book, the purpose of his experiment is played out in a business plan for a charitable foundation to help homeless vets, but he didn’t really experience their daily life. He slept outside for a few nights….literally like three nights. He washed up in a public bathroom. I understand that we had to see him go through something to get to the end, and we do see that he is a good man, but I didn’t buy his “suffering” one bit.
In regard to Cece and Greta’s situation, I found it hard to believe that Cece’s parents hired actors to be her friends who basically ran her life as a socialite and couldn’t get out of their contracts until Cece found a new best friend. And Cece didn’t know? She’s a 23-year-old woman, she’s not mentally handicapped in any way. And the shoplifting incident where Dalton comes to the rescue portrays her as not knowing that she can’t just walk into any store and put a purchase on her account? Really? I know that the super-wealthy are sometimes not in touch with the common man, but they still know you have to pay for things. Again, I just didn’t buy it.
As I said, I think this would be great in the Young Adult category, but as Women’s Fiction, it’s a “maybe” for me.
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