I've been a fan of Louise O'Neill's previous books which have dealt with important issues of rape, non-consent and domestic abuse in an accessible way via commercial fiction but this book didn't work as well for me. Again, it handles big contemporary issues of non consent but here in a girl on girl way, as well as tackling social media, self-image, memory and story-telling that rewrites the past.

For all the good intentions, I found the story lacked focus: it feels underdeveloped and loses pace at times, and I'm never really a fan of split narratives which jump back and forwards in time. The two female characters at its heart seem overly schematic with driven Sam and weak Lisa, and there's a lot of 'that day' story telling to ramp up artificial tension by withholding critical information about the events at the heart of the story which the characters all discuss but which remains a blank to readers - and a deus ex machina conclusion that feels overly abrupt.

Despite some personal niggles, I'd recommend this to fans of chick lit with a more serious edge.

𝘐𝘥𝘰𝘭 is Louise O’Neill’s highly anticipated new book, due out in May 2022. OK, so first off, I really wanted to like 𝘐𝘥𝘰𝘭 and I did to a point. Samantha Millar is a very successful motivational speaker cum Guru with over 3 million Instagram followers. She encourages “her girls” to live “their truth”. Sam leads a glittering life in Manhattan, has a bestselling book called 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 & is in demand for every talk show. She is portrayed as a woman in total control.

When Lisa, an old school friend, posts an incriminating email about Sam which subsequently goes viral, her life & career goes into free fall. It becomes obvious Sam is a deeply troubled woman & is still dealing with bulimia & mental health issues from her carefully curated past. All is not as it seems.

The book is told in alternating chapters between the present day & Sam’s teenage years. A lot of the narrative is “𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥” conversations between Sam & Lisa about a seminal event in their lives. Neither woman has moved on from their school days & Sam is still obsessed by events that happened in her past, despite being a 40 yr old woman. I found this very tiresome.

One of the main themes of the book is the subjectivity of memory & how our perceptions of reality can differ. How reliable are our memories & can they be trusted in this #MeToo era? There has to be some type of hook in a book to draw the reader in or at least a character that’s halfway likeable & in whom you are invested. 𝘐𝘥𝘰𝘭 had neither in my opinion. Sam is petulant, self-obsessed & whiney. Lisa was not sufficiently fleshed out as a character for me to care about her one way or the other. It felt at times like I was listening to two particularly annoying teenagers having a protracted argument. The ending was no surprise as the tone of the book had been leaning in that direction from the get-go.

Saying all that, this is still an entertaining book which many will enjoy, especially the early chapters. However for me Sam’s obsessive & childish behaviour gradually became more irritating. I’m sure this will be a huge success for Louise O’ Neill & I wish her all the best with it. For me it’s 3⭐️

Many thanks to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for this Arc in return for my honest opinion.

This was such an interesting premise for a book. This book was completely riveting, it gripped me right from the start and kept me captivated all the way through. I couldnt put it down and I didnt want too. I loved it

Writing aside, the thing I love most about Louise O'Neill is that you can't pigeonhole her work. Each book feels fresh, innovative and defies genre labels. Her novels cover a diverse range of subjects. With "Idol", O'Neill explores the subjectivity of memory, and our carefully cultivated online personas, through the lens of friendship. It's current, timely and really makes you think about the world we are building for ourselves by centering social media in our lives. I thought it was a brilliant read and expect it will be a huge hit. I hope so, as Louise O'Neill deserves widespread recognition and readership.

I am so excited for other people to read this so I can talk about it!
I love Louise's work and this is one of my favourites yet. So dark, somehow manages to touch on so many different topics from consent, to eating disorders, to abusive relationships, to the stronghold that social media influencers have over us.

I had half guessed the "twist" coming towards the end but it didn't stop me enjoying this book! Sam is a brilliant and really fleshed out character - the social media wellness guru who is completely f**ked in the head and doesn't actually have the squeaky clean background we think she does... It's hard to say more without spoiling the plot, but Louise has masterfully woven an entertaining plot with some really thought provoking and important subject matter and I loved it! You can never trust people based on their social media and that is the crux of this story.
Can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this in 2022 but in the meantime thanks so much to Louise / publisher / Netgalley for the advanced copy!

I loved Only Ever Yours and I'm a big fan of the heroines of Almost Love and Asking for It too. Louise O'Neill is great at creating heroines that are complicated, smart, easy to fall in love with and even admire, but harder to like. Samantha Miller is an influencer with such a huge platform that this book may leave other domestic social-media thrillers in the dust. When an old friend makes an allegation against her, she goes back to her home town to try to set things right and salvage her career. Everything is suddenly at stake.

I loved the 1990s aesthetic in the flashbacks and the references to TLC, Britney Spears, Ghostface, the girls dressed as Courtney Love and Amanda de Cadenet, Drew Barrymore and Liv Tyler. For a while, it seemed uncertain what would happen in Sam's hometown once she reconnected with her accuser Lisa, and whether this book was going to be more like Sweet Home Alabama or Single White Female. Then I remembered who wrote it...

Samantha has started to believe her own hype and doesn't know what's true any more. Did her parents send her to a sadistic diet doctor and starve her, or was Dr Anat an eating disorders specialist, the best in the business? Was her father cold and abusive, or a man of his time who loved her? Was she sent to reform school, or did she beg to leave town because her life was out of control - and what did she actually do to Lisa?

Begging to be a movie or mini-series, this book is frankly eye-popping and shows O'Neill on top form, firing on all cylinders. Just don't hold out for a happy ending and remember to change your passwords.

I was absolutely blown away by Louise O'Neill's previous novels Almost Love and Asking For It, both of which I read after hearing her speak so impressively at a literary festival in 2018. Idol is similarly impressive and I found myself completely gripped by it over the course of 24 hours. It focuses on Samantha Miller, a social media influencer, who publishes an essay about her sexual awakening as a teenager with her then best friend Lisa. However, Lisa's memory of the event is very different to Sam's and by speaking out Lisa could bring Sam's life and career crashing down. I thought this was a superb study of the precarious and controversial world of social influencers. It is also an incisive look at teenage experiences, memories and our perception of the truth. I found my opinions changing throughout this novel and this is a novel that will stay with me for a while. O'Neill is an amazing and important writer who once again has written deeply and thought provokingly about a contemporary issue. Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

I love behind the scenes celebrity glamour novels. For some reason I thought of Britney Spears when I read this one.
Premise
Follow your heart and speak your truth.'

For Samantha Miller's young fans - her 'girls' - she's everything they want to be. She's an oracle, telling them how to live their lives, how to be happy, how to find and honour their 'truth'.

And her career is booming: she's just hit three million followers, her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists and she's appearing at sell-out events.

Determined to speak her truth and bare all to her adoring fans, she's written an essay about her sexual awakening as a teenager, with her female best friend, Lisa. She's never told a soul but now she's telling the world. The essay goes viral.

But then - years since they last spoke - Lisa gets in touch to say that she doesn't remember it that way at all. Her memory of that night is far darker. It's Sam's word against Lisa's - so who gets to tell the story? Whose 'truth' is really a lie?

'You put yourself on that pedestal, Samantha. You only have yourself to blame.'
I was really curious to see how this one turned out and it was a really interesting, juicy, read and it would be great for a book club!