Follow Me, Like Me by Charlotte Seager
Genre: Mystery, thriller, Young Adult
Read: 19th June 2020
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 10th March 2020)
★★★★ 4 stars
An interesting yet cautionary tale, FOLLOW ME LIKE ME by Charlotte Seager is a gripping and thought-provoking tale of the effect of social media in teenagers' lives. Having said that, I feel young people should truly read this book to help them recognise the dangers of living their lives so completely online. They need to understand - really understand - that you never truly know who you are talking to online. That, and the fact that the internet is forever. It is something we never dealt with when we were their age but we, as adults, can see its dangers even if young people today don't.
The story follows two girls who go to the same school and are in the same year but are from two totally different social circles. Chloe is vivacious and popular whereas Amber is invisible and a loner. These girls live on social media but in two completely different ways.
Chloe has just broken up with her boyfriend Tom and in her devastation thinking "two can play that game" attempts to make him jealous by chatting with one of her most ardent followers, a guy named Sven. The conversations then lead to WhatsApp where the two chat more privately. Sven seems sweet and fun to start with as the two chat on the phone till 2am one morning.
Then one night she attends a party at her ex's place and makes a bit of a show of herself, in another attempt to make Tom jealous, and ends up being drunkenly escorted home by some boy whose name begins with J...she can't remember. The boy makes advances on her and Chloe fights him off, but not before groping her breasts and pressing her up against the wall to prevent escape. But escape, she does. She is so shaken by the incident, she doesn't know who to confide in. Her best friend Louise was busy with Jerome. Tom didn't want to know her. And then she remembered Sven.
But when she tells him all about the party and the incident afterwards, she is shocked by his reaction - "Well, what did you expect?" He then begins slut shaming her, commenting on every single one of her Instagram posts and sending about fifty messages to her in one morning. The constant buzzing of her phone is driving her mad and in the end she blocks him.
Then her best friend Louise starts ghosting her and after being called to the head teacher's office, she is suspended from school for sending indecent photos of Louise in her underwear to everyone. But she didn't; she wouldn't. Louise is her best friend and she would NEVER betray her like that. So who would do this to her? And why?
Meanwhile, invisible Amber has a crush on trainee personal trainer Ren. She becomes obsessed when she learns that he has been fired and she tries to find out why and what he is supposed to have done? Of course it doesn't occur to her that it is none of her business, but after she learns that he has been accused of sexually assaulting multiple women she is so sure that Ren is innocent that she endeavours to clear his name by stalking his social media accounts to find out the truth. Refreshing his Facebook and Instagram near constantly, she also adds him to Snapchat so she can SnapMap him and follow him in real life. Although her obsession comes from an innocent place, it still feels a little too creepy.
The two girls couldn't be more different and while Amber's behaviour borders on creepy, I can relate to her more than I can to Chloe. When I was their age (many moons ago), I was Amber - a loner, invisible who didn't make friends easily. I could relate to her crush on Ren as I often had crushes on unattainable boys (or even those a little older) and, although there was no social media in my day, would often find a way just to be near where ever they were just so I could watch them. Looking back now, it is pretty creepy. lol But as a lonely and invisible teen, such a thing seems to unattainable, it's what they do. It's certainly what Amber did...and had she not, things could have turned out a whole lot different for both her and Chloe.
When I requested FOLLOW ME LIKE ME I didn't know it was a YA read, as I was just drawn in by the premise. I was impressed by the subject matter and thought that it was a topic that really needed highlighting, in a world where just about everyone, particularly teenagers, live their lives through social media. I was eager to discover how it would be tackled as it is so important to have something like this that reminds young people of the dangers. This book highlights the fact that you cannot trust an online persona 100% and how easily online activity can creep into real life.
The twist may have been predictable which I saw coming almost from the start, but in the real world, it is not something we would be able to identify as quickly. Its purpose is to highlight the dangers and just how easy it is to fall into its trap.
I do agree with some other reviewers with the ending - well, Amber's ending. Without giving anything away, I felt it should have been handled a little differently, particularly in a book that could prove to be helpful to young people in the lesson of online safety. Amber's ending was just a little too neat and left the reader somewhat unsatisfied.
A fast paced easy read, FOLLOW ME LIKE ME has short snappy chapters (my favourite kind) in the alternating narratives of Chloe and Amber respectively. It is written in a way that young adults can understand yet without all the confusing text speak they so often use (thankfully). Despite it's subject matter, it was a relatively quick read that took me about 4 hours in total to complete.
An addictive read for young adults, FOLLOW ME LIKE ME is an appropriate read for teens that highlights a social awareness for their personal safety online. The internet is forever and it is full of predatory types that young people may think they are immune to...and are not. The dangers that lurk on the internet are indeed very real.
Well done Charlotte Seager for highlighting awareness on the dangers of the world wide web...and that the image people portray on social media might not be who they really are.
I would like to thank #CharlotteSeager, #NetGalley and #MacmillanKidsUK for an ARC of #FollowMeLikeMe in exchange for an honest review.
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