Who doesn't love a book about social media and its dangers? This one is a crazy-good novel about two sisters--Evie and Hazel--who have grown up with little sis, Evie and her 4 million followers. When Evie suddenly disappears at 18, Hazel is dumbfounded as she knows her sister wouldn't abandon her "people" as their father died when they were young and their mother is their only remaining family. Alternating in time from present to past, the book details Evie's "grooming" by mom, Erin as she is taught to showcase her looks, products she loves, and outfits that people are encouraged to buy. But now missing, Evie is even more beloved by her fans and there is speculation about her whereabouts: has she been abducted, killed, or left by choice? And as Hazel sets out to uncover the mystery, Darker--a true-crime podcast--also speculates about what might have happened. It's a thrill-ride like no other and I inhaled it like a great meal!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

As a huge fan of social media/influencer-based thrillers and horror, this one really grabbed me and compelled me through from the first page. I saw absolutely NONE of the twists coming, and the way morality was played for a grey space (particularly in relation to money) was incredible. I will recommend this to everyone!

1) omg that ending!!!
2) I appreciate how complex this story was
3) I will be thinking about this book for a long, long time

Full disclosure: I was already a fan of Olivia Muenter from the Bad On Paper podcast, so I've been looking forward to this book for awhile and just knew it would be good! I wasn't disappointed. Such a Bad Influence is a compelling, funny, dark debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

This great cover should signify what an ELECTRIC THRILLER this is!

Hazel Davis has little to show for her work as an adult. Anything she does is overshadowed by her younger sister who is a mega-influencer on social media. Hazel loves her sister but hates that her mother has taken advantage of her since she was a little girl.

When Evie disappears, Hazel is forced back to her hometown and her must interact with her mother. What happened to Evie? Was it her on-again, off again boyfriend? A jealous fan? A sworn enemy?

How can she explain to the local cops that a girl growing up on social media 24/7 would not disappear freely? Muenter provides social media posts, interesting characters and plenty of theories to drive an exciting story to it's mind-blowing finish. If you ever enjoyed social media, or hate it with a passion, Such a Bad Influence is for you! #Suchabadinfluence #oliviamuenter #quirk

I figured this would be a scathing review of social media, but otherwise I had no idea what to expect. What I got was a character-driven story about Hazel. Her sister, Evie, is a mega-popular influencer managed by their mother. Suddenly, Evie disappears. Has he been abducted? Did she run away?

This may be a good fit if you enjoy:
- thought-provoking mysteries
- complicated family dynamics
- solid twists

Such a Bad Influence was entertaining and sparked a lot of thought about its themes. The pacing was on the slower side, but it didn't bug me. As Hazel navigated her feelings about Evie's disappearance, there are a lot of memories and moments of reflection about her family's journey to the present. As the book neared the end, I had no clue where it was going, but at the last page I was like UMM WUT?! Damn, Olivia Muenter! I think the ending bumped up my enjoyment of the book overall.

Rating: I really liked it! (4)

This was a fun surprise, a thriller-adjacent book about the dark side influencer culture that is well above average in terms of both writing and storytelling for books in this genre.

Olivia Muenter hosts the always excellent Bad on Paper podcast, and is an influencer herself, though this book is more about the extreme end of the profession and the pitfalls that come with it.

I’m not terribly interested in influencer culture as rule. I tend to mostly ascribe to the idea that this is a perfectly respectable job and am pretty grossed out by things like trolling and hate following. But it certainly exists, and this book reckons with the impacts of that as well as how accountable influencers (or in this case, their stage parents) are for their online fates.

The pacing of this book is excellent and it has a few chilling moments that make it a worthy thriller (the creepy doll! Eeeeek!), but the best of it is more in the ethical debate of parents monetizing their children online and what happens to those kids when they get old enough to start calling their own shots.

It’s a thoughtful portrayal of the issue but still fun enough to be a great beach read if you’re looking for something that is fun and compelling but not devoid of substance.

Ok, I'm a sucker for any story with a family vlogger storyline or arc, so this book was pretty much made for me. It took me a few chapters to get into it, and especially to really understand Hazel and her unique experience, but once I did, I was absolutely in. And then the twists! They had me shook- I had no idea they were coming.

I liked it! It was a well written mystery that had kept me committed. The entire thing is driven by what happens to this social media influencer. Her rise to fame and her demise. There’s even a podcast in this story and it did a great job telling me about her.
This book will make you stop and question everything you thought you knew about social media. Because we already know do t we? Is it safe? No! And still…, we’re so addicted to it??!
I loved disliking most of these characters and I didn’t want to put it down. The author did a great job and gave me a little bit of a Gillian Flynn vibe.
Thanks Quirk Books via NetGalley.

Loved this debut so much! So relevant and timely with the social media backdrop. Mysterious, twisty, and page turning! Not too scary, so even if you don't prefer thrillers I think you could still love this one.

I enjoyed the premise of Such a Bad Influence a lot and thought the world of influencing was created and explained well. Unfortunately, the delivery fell a little flat for me. I wasn't able to connect with characters in the way I wanted to. 3 Stars.

What a ride! I was expecting a little more of a straight up mystery/thriller and this starts out feeling a little more like a straight up literary fiction book before getting into the twisty stuff, but then it really takes you there. I thought it was great.

Timely and entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

First things first: I think it's important to state that while yes, there is the mystery of where Evie has disappeared to, this isn't strictly a mystery/thriller. It's definitely much deeper than that. I'd say it's more a case study of the effects of social media on our lives; the relationships between sisters; and the relationship between mothers and daughters. It's also a narrative on the relationship we have with ourselves. That said, I was pretty involved in this books, until the last 15 percent or so. It didn't go where I had expected it to, and at times I felt it seemed a little "off". I'd still recommend this to pur customers, but with the warning that no matter which way you approach this book, it may not turn out to be what you expect.

Such a bad influence
by Olivia Muenter
Pub Date: June 4, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. 4
For fans of Ashley Winstead, Jessica Knoll, and Jo Piazza, an electric debut thriller about what happens when one of the first child stars of the social media age grows up . . . and goes missing.
This truly delivered for me! I highly recommend it.
It's been a long time since I read a mystery with a twist that truly surprised me, but Such a Bad Influence gets better and twistier with every page.
Really made me think about the use of social media and its misuse.
5 stars

This book offers a thought-provoking perspective on the influence of social media in our lives and our obsessions with online figures. While I'm somewhat unsure how I feel about the ending, this book kept me turning the pages. After reading this book, I definitely need to reconsider the use of social media in my life!

I fell so deeply into Olivia Muenter's debut that I looked up in the middle of the night after that fantastic ending to find I'd read it all in one sitting. Her character work is exquisite, and both sisters felt so real even as we learned how little they truly knew about each other. It's a captivating book about a subject that will become more and more ubiquitous as child influencers grow up and reveal the specific horrors and seedy underbelly of growing up online, for the world to see.

Have you ever thought about what life can be like for a child influencer, growing up while strangers watch your every move? What it's like for the family? There are parts of this book where my skin was crawling because I was so uncomfortable. This is a fantastic thriller with a wild twist at the end! We will be purchasing for our library book clubs.

This concept was very interesting, but i wish the execution would have been as well.
growing up in the midst of social media, it’s really interesting to see how things change and how these ‘mommy bloggers’ have become so rampant. i was very intrigued when i read the synopsis, but i just felt like the book didn’t work for me.
it slugged through for majority of the time, and i really believe this book could have used more mixed media elements.
the writing was good, and i was interested for the majority of the book. the twist was interesting as well.
i definitely see this being a book people will really enjoy, i just didn’t love it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I think it was a really good start to what will hopefully be a robust career for Muenter. The subject matter of social media and the lack of boundaries/laws surrounding children was very interesting and an important issue to bring attention to. I liked that the book looked at multiple aspects of the dangers of over sharing on the internet, from para-social relationships gone awry, to overbearing and attention seeking parents, to management companies taking advantage of influencers.

I was surprised when I saw some of the other lower reviews, but I couldn't help but wonder if those reviews were coming from people in older generations i.e. gen x and older. I don't want to over generalize, but in my experience the generations that did not grow up with the internet and social media tend to really misunderstand the actual danger and the overall nature of living life online. Which makes me think that they were entirely missing the point of the novel. I can see how the story might not translate for someone who is not an avid social media user/ doesn't see the harm in sharing online. One might think that the social media world described is exaggerated, but as someone who uses social media, specifically Reddit and Instagram, some of the influencer descriptions are spot on for actual events that have occurred.

Overall, I found the story to be interesting. It was a bit slow towards the middle, but I really enjoyed the twist at the end. SPOILERS: It looks like some people have different interpretations of what occurs in the last scene, but I read it as somewhat open ended. Is Evie actually the author behind the anonymous newsletter and pinning it on Hazel? Or is Hazel an unreliable narrator and is actually the person behind the newsletter the whole time? I'm excited to read more books from Muenter in the future.