Can’t Wait Wednesday: Influential

Can’t Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss books we’re excited about.

Genre: YA, Contemporary | Release Date: January 5th 2023 | Publisher: Faber and Faber Ltd

Almond Brown has no friends in real life . . . but 3.5 million followers online. A heart-felt, whip-smart deep dive into what it would really be like to be internet famous at 17: a cautionary tale for our time from a writer who has grown up with social media.

Almond is forced into the spotlight when she was just a perfectly filtered bump: her mum has been documenting their family through social media since before she was born. And her family enjoy all the rewards that come from that level of influence. Only, it’s not the life Almond would have chosen for herself, and being on a platform all the time has made her anxious and insecure. When the darkest side of the internet begins to haunt her, Almond feels like she’s going to lose everything . . . If only she could see that she has a real-life, too, full of friends and family who love her, and that it could save her.

I think this book is perfectly poised for our time. Maybe not all children become social media stars from the get go, but there’s a rising amount of parents that post everything about their children online. We’re talking family Instagrams and Youtubes; Facebook pages for toddlers. Almond’s story is the great What If when the family gets out of control with posting their child’s life–and reaping the benefits that can come from that. The dark side of social media… I’m ready for this!