Tessa Hart's world feels very small. Confined to her bedroom with agoraphobia, her one escape is the online fandom for pop sensation Eric Thorn. When he tweets to his fans, it's like he's speaking directly to her...
Eric Thorn is frightened by his obsessive fans. They take their devotion way too far. It doesn't help that his PR team keeps posting to encourage their fantasies.
When a fellow pop star is murdered at the hands of a fan, Eric knows he has to do something to shatter his online image fast--like take down one of his top Twitter followers. But Eric's plan to troll @TessaHeartsEric unexpectedly evolves into an online relationship deeper than either could have imagined. And when the two arrange to meet IRL, what should have made for the world's best episode of Catfish takes a deadly turn...
Told through tweets, direct messages, and police transcripts, this thriller for the online generation will keep you guessing right up to the shocking end.
A.V. Geiger writes contemporary young adult fiction. Her YA thrillers FOLLOW ME BACK and sequel TELL ME NO LIES are available now from Sourcebooks Fire. Her next book SCARED LITTLE RABBITS will release in December 2019. An epidemiologist by training, she has always enjoyed a professional life that combines both creativity and logic. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two kids.
When I requested this novel, I had no idea it was the first book in a series. So when I finished the book......at first I was REALLY mad. THAT ending! Then I realized it said book #1 after the title (I have no idea how I missed that). So after seeing that there is another book coming, I was feeling a whole lot better. Wow! I just wasn't expecting it to end the way it did.
Tessa Hart spends almost all of her time in her bedroom. She is suffering from Agoraphobia after a frightening experience on a school trip. Even leaving her bedroom to sit on the couch with her mother is a huge feat. This leaves Tessa with a very small world. She only interacts with three people in real life. Her mom, her therapist (one who comes to her house for their appointments) and her boyfriend, Scott. But she feels like everyone is losing patience with her. The one place Tessa likes to escape to is Twitter and the online world of famous pop star, Eric Thorn. She loves him and enjoys tweeting about him and following everything he does.
Eric Thorn on the other hand has become more and more anxious and frustrated with his online and on stage persona. His anxiety has only increased since the death of another popular rock star.... at the hands of an obsessed fan. Eric is consumed with thoughts of female fans stalking him. He feels he has no life. Every moment of the day scheduled by his manager and the record company. It doesn't seem like it's about the music any more. It's all about fans wanting to see pics of him half-naked. But his PR people not only brush off his concerns, but tell him to become even MORE involved with his fans. And even if he wanted to walk away....he can't because he's under contract for at least two or three more years.
When Tessa creates #EricThornObsessed hits number one on Twitter, she is shocked (and more than a little thrilled) about the popularity of her hashtag....... Eric's PR people are also happy. But Eric?
Eric Thorn is pissed off! And he wants to do something about it.
What will Eric do to make people take him seriously? And what exactly happened to Tess that has her so terrified? Is it possible that they may be able to help each other?
As I read I had to remind myself that this is a book written for young adults ages 14 and up. It definitely reads like a YA novel with the language and situations etc. However, I still enjoyed it and I imagine many others will too.
There are a few things I may not have understood if I didn't have a teenage daughter around to ask. A large part of the story is told using Twitter direct messages as well as police reports and statements. I thought it was a really interesting way of telling the story.
Although this is a YA book, it dealt with a lot of serious issues. I think it could be very eye-opening to many young adults and adults alike. While being entertaining, it brings up many important issues like internet safety, stalking, Agoraphobia, mental health and more. You can tell the author has done their research.
With social media being such a huge part of our everyday lives now, we have to be vigilant with what we share. I'm constantly after my daughter, making sure she's careful with what she posts, who she adds, what she says etc. More and more we can see that many adults need to be more cautious about what they are putting out there too! We all do. Social media is a part of our lives and it's only growing bigger. We will have to continue learning how to adjust and grow with it.
This was a highly captivating read. The suspense was great and the author did a great job of holding interest in the story. While some parts may seem implausible, it was an enjoyable book that I could escape into and just enjoy.
Oh but those last few chapters were REALLY intense! I was SHOCKED with how it ended.
I have to read book two. I'm really hoping it isn't too far off!
Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an advanced readers copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.
All Eric wants to do is release some stress and backlash on some of his fans. What he doesn't expect is a lonely fan named Tessa to understand the struggle he’s going through. The last thing Eric wanted to do was fall in love with her. Tessa’s only way of coping with her agoraphobia (fear of leaving her room) is by listening to her favourite artist, Eric Thorn. When talking to people in real life becomes too difficult, Tessa turns to social media where she can be completely anonymous and express her love for the artist, what she doesn't expect is to befriend the one person who harasses her online.
This story is absolutely adorable. I haven't read a book that was remotely similar to this one. I just thought the idea behind the story, the characters and the uniqueness was all just so well thought out and it blended together into such a beautiful story. I seriously loved this book so much, it is definitely going on my favourites shelf.
Tessa was such a relatable character. She was so kind, and intelligent. I definitely loved reading from her point of view. Initially I thought that her part of the story will be boring due to her agoraphobia, but the author did an amazing job with keeping her story interesting, even though she spent most of the book in her room. What was most important to me, was getting to know the reason why she developed her fear in the first place, and when you do find out why (unfortunately thats near the end of the book), you can totally understand why she developed the fear, and if I was in her place I probably would have done something similar (maybe not that intense, but similar).
I also loved reading in Eric’s point of view. You really do get to see the other side to being a celebrity, the ugly and fearful side that no one really thinks about. The side to Eric that you see off stage is completely different than what you see on camera. He’s not outgoing, he doesn't enjoy being half naked and acting like a player, its not who he really is, but unfortunately he has to do what his publicist says. The part of the story when he finally stars opening up to Tessa really had me rooting for the couple. It was really sweet, and it made me see Eric as such a genuine character.
My absolute favourite thing about this story was the plot twists. I assumed this was going to be the cliche type of story, how most contemporaries are, but the author did such an amazing job eliminating cliches and making the story so interesting I could not put it down. After getting about 40% into the story, I just had to finish the book in one sitting. It was that good!
I will warn you, the ending had me dying. You get this super cute ending, where everything works out perfectly (just the type of ending you thought was going to happen), then BAM! You read the last (very short) chapter and the whole story just gets flipped. Honestly a part of me wishes I didn't read this book so early, because now I’m dying to read the next book. I seriously need it, like right now.
I cannot wait to continue this series, I will highly recommend this book to all YA fans. Even if you’re not a huge fan of contemporary, like I am, still give this one a try, I’m sure you will love it.
I picked up Follow Me Back on a whim, not sure what to expect. A story where an agoraphobic fangirl has no clue the troll she started talking to on twitter is actually the object of her obsession. I always tend to enjoy books told through different formats (police transcripts, DMs, and tweets) as it speeds the plot along. So why not?
The book starts intriguingly with a police interview transcript, so we know eventually something sinister happens. We just don't know what. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of both Tessa and Eric. Tessa is an agoraphobic teenager after having gone through a traumatic event. Eric is a pop star a la Justin Bieber. He is so famous but has no control of his own career or body or really anything for that matter. He feels trapped. What doesn't help matters is the recent murder of a fellow pop star by a crazed fan. He lives in fear of his own fans, but has to hide it. Management pressures him to tweet, which he fears only feeds the crazies.
Tessa all of a sudden ends up with a viral post about her favorite pop star Eric Thorn. Her followers skyrocket. Eric is annoyed by all means. And his team? They want him to encourage it! Go on a follow spree and definitely give that Tessa girl a follow. Well, it's time for Eric to take matters into his own hands and discourage this nonsense... Time to create a second fake twitter and troll his own fans.
Now if things had continued to go that way..dark, sinister, super messed up..this would have been a much more entertaining novel. Instead, it ventures down the romance territory and honestly, it gets pretty annoying. I didn't go into this with romance remotely in mind. Now romance shows up under the genre list, so don't make the same mistake as me! The writing feels a bit on the fan-fiction side. I see now that this was originally a watt-pad story. I will say that the twist at the end was definitely interesting, but also feels 100% out of nowhere. I'm not sure if I'll pick up the sequel or not.
HOLY. FREAKIN'. CRAP. I. CANNOT. EVEN. WHAT. WAS. THAT. ENDING. EVEN. I. JUST. CANNOT. EVEN. THIS BOOK WAS SO FREAKIN' GOOD AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
OKay... I have calmed myself down a little... jUST KIDDING THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING.
Okay, seriously. I'm calm now.
I first saw this one on NetGalley and was drawn to it because of the cover. And then I read the blurb. If you've been following my reviews for a while, you probably know that I love books with romance that occur in the Hollywood/celebrity environment.
I will be posting my review on/around the release date in June and you can look out for it here.
(I received an advance copy of this book for free. Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley.)
“Eric Thorn (@EricThorn) followed you”
This was a YA contemporary romance story about a girl with agoraphobia, and a pop star, who fell in love over twitter.
I felt really sorry for Tessa in this story, her agoraphobia seemed really bad, and it was totally ruining her life. I really liked Eric though, even if he was catfishing her.
The storyline in this was about Tessa being a fangirl for Eric Thorn, and Eric setting up a fake twitter account from which to contact her, after her hashtag #EricThornObsessed got to the top of the list of trending topics. It started out as him calling her out as a leach, and ended up with him falling slowly in love with her as they conversed in direct messages over twitter. We also got a bit of mystery over the cause of Tessa’s agoraphobia, but it was the romance that really sold this book for me, as Tessa and Eric were just so adorable!
The ending to this left us with a massive cliff-hanger! I can’t quite believe the crazy turn this story took at the end and I can’t wait for the second book now, I really need to know what happened!
About: Follow Me Back is a young adult mystery written by A.V. Geiger. It will be published on 6/6/17 by Sourcebooks Fire, imprint of Sourcebooks, 368 pages. The genres are young adult, contemporary, and mystery. This is the author’s debut novel.
My Experience: I started reading Follow Me Back on 5/17/17 and finished it on 5/19/17. This book is suspenseful! Normally a book with too long of a suspense will lose my interest, but this book has other things going on that kept me turning the pages. The plot & characters are interesting to read. I haven’t read a book involving social media, music, and fangirling in awhile and this book offers a fresh and enjoyable read.
In this book, readers will follow Tessa Hart, an eighteen year old who stays all day and night in her room with the windows closed because she has severe anxiety called agoraphobia. This past summer, she attended a summer writing program in New Orleans but abruptly came back and couldn’t tell anyone what happened, even with her therapist Dr. Regan. Her only activity in her room is fangirling over Eric Thorne, a famous singer same age as her over Twitter. Her account @TessaHeartsEric has 30.1k follower is where she fangirl over the singer. Eric Thorne, on the other hand, is having issues of his own. He’s shaken up by the recent tragedy with another famous singer and an obsessed fangirl. He’s unhappy with where is career is going because the fans seems to love him with his shirt off instead. He feels suffocated by the fangirls. Eric couldn’t lash out at them with his twitter handle because it would ruin his career, so he created a fake account to vent. I love the ending. It sums up the two main character’s problem nicely.
This book starts out with investigation interviews, which reminds me of Illuminae. I enjoy reading how people met on Twitter and through this book, I finally know the meaning of DM! It’s interesting to follow Eric Thorne’s mind set about being a famous singer and how he deals with his fans. I like the concept of stalking, it’s uncomfortable to the extreme, yet, being a follower to a twitter, blogger, and instagramer is funnily enough that we are stalking someone’s interests for books. It’s also interesting to follow Tessa’s train of thoughts and learn how a fangirl truly is. I haven’t been a fan of anyone that obsessively yet. I really like Tessa in the end. She handles the situation really well. I recommend everyone to read this book if you are looking for an interesting mystery to read!
Pro: suspense, mystery, social media, fangirl, anxiety, page turner, fast paced, some humor, some romance
Con: none
I rate it 5 stars!
***Disclaimer: Many thanks to the author A.V. Geiger, publisher Sourcebooks, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. Please assured that my opinions are honest.
Inhalt: „Follow me back“ von A. V. Geiger ist am 30.09.2019 bei Lyx erschienen. Es ist der erste Band der zweiteiligen Reihe. Tessa Heart ist ein riesiger Fan von Eric Thorn. Über ihren Twitteraccount @TessaHeartsEric verfolgt sie alles rund um ihn. Da sie Angst hat ihr Zimmer zu verlassen ist Twitter ihr einziger Kontakt zur Außenwelt. Was sie nicht ahnt ist, dass hinter einem Hateraccount, mit dem sie regelmäßig schreibt, Eric Thorn persönlich steckt. Eric weiß, dass er ihr endlich die Wahrheit sorgen muss. Immerhin sind mittlerweile Gefühle im Spiel. Als die beiden sich jedoch treffen wollen, passiert etwas gefährliches...
Meinung: Cover ist wunderschön. Es ist mir direkt in die Augen gesprungen. Die dunkle Seite passt perfekt zum Verlauf der Geschichte und das helle glitzernde passt perfekt in die Popstarwelt. Es harmoniert perfekt. Hinzukommen noch die gleichen Farben als Titel. Ich habe mich direkt in das Cover verliebt. Übersetzt wurde das Buch von Katrin Reichhardt. Der Schreibstil ist wirklich großartig und einzigartig. Es gelingt der Autorin eine Spannung aufzubauen, die sich mal mehr, mal weniger stark durchs Buch zieht, aber nie ganz verschwindet. Besonders durch jedes zweite Kapitel, die aus den Polizeiprotokollen bestehen bleibt es interessant. Bei und nach jedem Polizeiprotokoll hofft man, dass man im nächsten Kapitel böse überrascht und über das Ganze aufgeklärt wird. Die Geschichte startet aber ganz normal und überraschend langsam. Man bekommt genügend Zeit sowohl Tessa als auch Eric kennenzulernen. Man erfährt viel über ihre Charaktere und ihre derzeitigen Situationen. Bei Tessa löst sich das Ganze, aber erst am Ende des Buches richtig auf. Das Vorgehen und Timing der Autorin ist perfekt. Ich habe die meiste Zeit im Dunkeln getappt. Man stellt sich immer wieder neue Frage und stellt eigene Vermutungen an. Ich konnte das Buch kaum aus der Hand legen und habe es an einem Tag gelesen. Die Geschichte wird sowohl aus Tessas als auch Erics Sicht erzählt. Dazwischen kommen immer noch die Polizeiprotokolle. So konnte man sich noch besser in die Charaktere hineinversetzen. Ich habe richtig mit ihnen gelitten und mitgefiebert. Man bekommt mit, dass nicht nur Tessa Probleme hat sondern auch Eric. Zwischendurch gibt es aber auch immer wieder Stellen, bei denen ich lachen mussten. Insbesondere war dies bei den Twitternachrichten der Fall. Obwohl die beiden in komplett verschiedenen Welten leben, immerhin tour Eric durch die ganze Welt, während Tessa nur in ihrem Zimmer ist, haben sie doch auch ein paar Gemeinsamkeiten. Ich möchte nicht zu viel über die beiden verraten, aber ich kann sagen, dass ich die beiden geliebt habe! Eventuell habe ich mich auch ein bisschen in Eric verknallt ;) Nicht nur die Story und Hauptcharaktere sind toll, sondern auch die ganzen Nebencharaktere und Orte. Ich kann es kaum erwarten zu erfahren, wie es mit den beiden weitergeht. Der Cliffhanger war schon ziemlich fies!
Fazit: Ein Jahreshighlight! Es ist ein Muss für alle New Adult Fans. Es ist anders und einzigartig. Die Autorin fesselt einen an dieses Buch und lässt einen miträtseln und fiebern. Eigentlich bin ich kein Thrillerfan, aber das muss man auch gar nicht sein, um dieses Buch zu lieben. Jeder der gerne Liebesgeschichten, Thriller und/oder keine klischeehaften Geschichten mag ist hier richtig. Jeder sollte dem Buch eine Chance geben. Der zweite Teil „Tell me no lies“ ist am 27.11.2019 beim Lyx Verlag erschienen. Große Empfehlung an alle!
Wow! I just finished reading this last night, so my brain is still grappling with all the twists and turns and processing the events of this story. And when I say twists and turns, I really mean it. This one was jaw-droppingly twisty and continually surprising, two qualities I love and admire in a book.
One of my favorite things about FOLLOW ME BACK is A.V. Geiger's ability to create and sustain suspense and heighten the stakes in a complex, nuanced way. The story is told from two perspectives-- Tessa, an agoraphobic teen girl in recovery from a traumatic event (no spoilers!), and Eric, a pop star who feels trapped in the image his record label cultivated for him-- not to mention, haunted by the recent murder of another musician by an unhinged fangirl. Creating a second Twitter account gives him the ability to forget his fame and connect on a human level, but he isn't expecting to develop actual feelings for one of his devoted fans.
I don't want to say too much about how the story unspools, but let's just say I may never look at Twitter the same way again. And I'll also say that FOLLOW ME BACK has one of the most shocking endings I've ever read in a book. This whole book totally played with my mind, and I loved every minute of it. A.V. Geiger is a debut author to watch, and I cannot wait to read more of her writing!
This isn't a complex story but there is enough suspense and mystery to make it enjoyable for its target audience. The author did a good job of building a sense of underlying menace as the story progressed. I liked both the main characters and thought their voices were quite believable. I don't know if this is a good portrayal of agoraphobia but I think Eric's anxiety in public was done well. After that cliffhanger ending, I will definitely read the second book and think this will be popular in the high school library I work in.
This book honestly was good considering I picked it up at my local Dollar Store for a dollar. But I must admit I'm very confused and a little lost by the ending. I'm sure after I sit on it for a while and think more about it I'll understand it more though. Over all I would say this book was good and it did keep me interested enough to keep going but I don't ever see me wanting to read it again. I was a good one time read. I will say though that it might be a good book to teach teens about internet safety and talking to strangers on social media.
Usually, I write a little summary with my opinion, but for this one I can't. This has to be one of my new favorites and I can't lie, I was OVERLY SHOCKED by the ending. At the beginning of the story, I felt like it was boring and a bit recommend, but that ending? SUPER SURPRISE. I hope there is another book that explains the ending or the real truth repetitive those events. I behind this to EVERYONE and it is a big lesson to all the naive people who think meeting people over repetitive is a good thing.
YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO ON THE OTHER SIDE OF A KEYBOARD!!
Why you should read it: HOLY CRAP! Such an awesome plot!
The ending?
Mind = Blown
I literally cannot right now. What a crazy twist!
OK OK. I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this story toward the beginning because I kept wanting to know what happened to Tessa that made her agoraphobic but as the story progressed, it became less about Tessa’s problem and more about Eric “Taylor” and Tessa sharing their experiences and being able to understand the other person, offering a safe place to express themselves and sharing thoughts and feelings they’ve never shared with anyone else. Their connection developed so beautifully. I literally fell in love right alongside both of them.
Throughout the entire novel, I was holding on by the seat of my pants. The police transcripts were super intense. I didn’t know what the hell was happening and what an AWESOME suspense it was. Major props to A.V. Geiger for getting the suspense factor Just. Right.
The back and forth DM’s and tweets between Eric and Tessa were the perfect amount to build their relationship and show their character growth. I never got bored by their tweets and DM’s. I wanted to inhale every post they sent to each other!
The thing that made me fall in absolute love with this story is that Tessa and Eric never wrote each other’s feelings off as being silly or stupid. They didn’t disregard the other person’s ideas or thoughts. Instead, they helped each other by talking and working through their problems, giving the other a solid support system, someone with whom they could fully rely on.
This is one of the most interesting and heartwarming YA books I’ve read in quite awhile and I can’t wait for the next book to be released!
Rating: 5+ Stars!
ARC received courtesy of NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and A.V. Geiger in exchange for an honest review
Follow Me Back was a bit of disappointment, sadly, even for a hokey suspense story.
In all honesty, the whole thing just reads like the bad kind of fanfiction. It's full of the worst amateurish writing mistake: the characters constantly telling us how they feel rather than us actually seeing it. While this is certainly an addictive book, I felt unengaged in the story due to mediocre writing. This might have been also been due to the overly fast POV changes. Whatever it was, I immediately realized this was not going to be a compelling story.
My main issue with the book was Eric's character. He's just... a spoiled dick. At one point, Eric muses:
Well, assuming anyone actually listened to his music anymore... and had the mental capacity to understand a simple metaphor.
This kind of quote seems incredibly condescending. I'd understand if this happened once, but quotes like this pop up almost every page of Eric's monologue. Some quotes even seem a tad misognystic, implying that Eric's "female fans" are crazy. At some point, I lost all interest in Eric's character.
I didn't really love the portrayal of fandom this book has to offer. Every fangirl here seemed to be portrayed as shallow, which is odd in a novel with a fangirl as its star. In fact, it seems to be implied that boyband fans don't even like their heroes' music. Granted, I've never been a fangirl of a boy band, but I have close friends who are, and I do vaguely follow some celebrities on twitter. I don't think fangirls are portrayed very accurately here. If you're a pop star and you tweeted a link to your single and then a picture of your abs, I guarantee you would not get TEN TIMES the amount of retweets on the abs. People follow pop stars for their music! Yes, there's hotness involved, but popular boybands and singers have at least some talent. I'm not a 1d follower in particular, but admit it, you jammed to What Makes You Beautiful at least once. Ed Sheeran is extremely talented; I actually love his music a ton. Even Justin Bieber doesn't have a bad voice. There's just no way to become popular without some measure of talent, and the fans you have do buy and listen to your music. After all, girl groups have mostly-girl followings without a disproportionate amount of gay/bi girls.
I also wished for a faster beginning; at 25% in, only one key plot point had occurred. For a suspense novel like this, you need to feel thrown in to the story. The interviews didn't really add suspense; in fact, they were underutilized.
I also had trouble feeling the connection between Tessa and Eric. Their DMs lacked in chemistry towards the beginning due to the one-month time jump between their first contact and our next snapshot of them. This time jump seemed almost lazy, ignoring the need for buildup. More interactions towards the beginning of the book would've helped get me invested faster.
I have to admit, I'm pretty disappointed. Definitely not recommended.
Follow Me Back is a novel that was originally published onto Wattpad and read by millions of readers. I had this one on mt bookish radar for some time, so was really excited when I grabbed a free kindle copy to read. The main character Tessa has anxiety and agoraphobia and won't leave her house after a life-changing event from the previous year in New Orleans. The only form of comfort is listening to music by the singer Eric Thorn and running a Twitter fan account. It isn't until she writes a piece and starts a hashtag that things start to change. Eric notices her, but is aware of the fans that could turn violent and harass other fans. They start a connection, which is told through a mixture of prose, tweets on Twitter and transcripts. It was an interesting concept, with a good use of social media. However, the pacing did move a little slow for me and the ending felt abrupt. I didn't feel super scared throughout until the last few chapters. Overall, an OK read. I haven't decided if I will continue onto the sequel.
I'm sorry, but WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ENDING??? My gut feeling told me to stop reading the moment all the pieces came together and just ignore the last few pages. I read enough thrillers in my lifetime to know nothing good comes out of police transcripts at the end of a story; they're there only to completely mess you up. Why didn't I listened to it?? If I did, I wouldn't have turned into this paranoid creature, craving the next book. But now I guess I'm diving into the sequel immediately—no sleep for me tonight!
PS I know Tessa didn't do it. I just do. But let me repeat my opening line: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ENDING then??? ----------------------------------------- Ran across this one at a dollar store, and God knows I cannot turn my back to a cheap book with an intriguing cover!
4,5 Sterne Ich mochte den Aufbau des Buches, den Schreibstil und vor allem die Geschichte. Endlich mal wieder was neues und nicht 0815-New Adult! Spannend noch dazu 👀
3,5 - I AM RATING THE WATTPAD VERSION I trust the book version will be copy-edited ;) read it on wattpad, nice story, but at times didn't seem quite plausible, it was funny, had a romance, had suspense and a bit of mystery, no sex scenes. the wattpad version took me 8hours to finish it the book version says will have some new extra scenes and a second book following to end the story, to be honest I think she should end the story in one book, anyway it's only a personal opinion so, all in all, it is a good first try for mrs Geiger ! as she states in her wattpad it is a dream of hers coming true! well done Viv
I received an ARC of this book and the day it arrived in the mail, I devoured it. Like from 9:15PM until 1:30AM devoured it. It's kind of like an episode of Catfish... but way better and with way more anticipation. But before I get too excited, let me point out a few details in case you are a reviewer who is unsure about reading this book.
1. READ IT.
At first glance it looks like a cute heart-warming story about an ordinary girl falling in love with a super star over the internet. Well, bzzzt. Wrong. It's way more than that. It's a complex thriller that will leave you guessing about everything and everyone. Every time I thought I had it figured out, I was wrong. Speculation will get you nowhere.
I had so much fun reading through the police transcripts (and if you thought those might be hard to read, it's not like that. Imagine how dialogue is written in a play. That's how it works. No weird fancy terms, really,) through DMs, and regular prose. It's very 21st century and different. The writing style is smooth and addicting, not clogged with descriptions every five seconds, and not barren with no details. Reading it really feels like someone is telling you a story, as if they're standing in front of you.
Now if you're over the certain age of the demo, maybe all the social media might be too much for you. You'll have to know what they're talking about to catch the references. But it makes sense since it's a YA book. But if you love YA, even if you're 70 you'll love this book. As long as the end doesn't give you a heart attack...
This image shows my exact reaction after finishing the book.
THIS BOOK!!! I read most of it in one day, even though I had a full day of uni and now I‘m absolutely flabbergasted! I have to admit, it was extremely dramatic (some might even say it was too much), but I felt entertained the entire time. I can‘t talk about the ending tho, BECAUSE I CAN‘T HANDLE IT OKK!! Can‘t wait to hold book 2 in my hand!
There a few things that seemed over-the-top/weird and some things bothered me (Tessa's doctor for one, I wanted to smack and shake her a few times... it seemed she was written that way on purpose, or with not alot of research?... Some of Eric's attitude irritated me too) but all in all, I really enjoyed this.. it kept me interested the whole time and I was thinking about it when I was away from the book... I'd say that's a win :).
A certain someone was definitely not what I expected... let's just say I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.
That ending, what the hell??? Gah! Somehow I missed that this wasn't a standalone (my bad haha)... gotta give Miss Geiger points for the cliffhanger though. I wanna know what the hell happens next.
I was reminded of "Kill the Boyband" while I was reading this, not in terms of plot or anything... just the same vibe, the dark side of fandom some... ya know?
You do have to suspend disbelief methinks for some elements of the story to work but I do recommend giving this a try :) (This took my mind off stress at work and not feeling good)
This book was a great surprise, I wasn't expecting to like it that much. A very young-adult story, with modern and up-to-date contours and that left me completely hooked, when I started reading the book I had many difficulties in stopping, I wanted to know more and more, I picked up the book several times during the day. I loved Tessa but even more Eric/Taylor, I think this story is very current, it talks about the world of fame, social networks, catfishing, stalking and anxiety. And now I'll be eager to read the second volume, because the end of this book was very mysterious.
Ok... so this was one of those totally addictive reads which I LOVED! But what happened at the very end? What the f@&$ happened??? Seriously, can someone tell me?
Teen celebrity Eric Thorn is constantly on edge after another celebrity was murdered by a crazed fan. He's worried the same thing will happen to him, and he feels forced by his producers, manager, and record label into being a teen heartthrob who constantly takes his shirt off. All he wants is to live a normal life.
After a terrifying experience a few months earlier, Tessa Hart has developed severe agoraphobia and won't leave her house. She spends the majority of her time in her room, obsessing over Eric Thorn. After she writes a fan fiction story about Eric that goes viral, Tessa is now "internet famous" with Eric's fan base.
When Eric decides to create a fake twitter account under the name of Taylor to troll his fans in hopes that they'll realize he isn't that great and leave him alone, he ends up messaging Tessa and what starts as a harassing message to her ends in a friendship...until feelings start to develop. When Tessa and "Taylor" agree to finally meet, Eric can't wait to reveal to Tessa who he really is. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned, and what should have been an exciting meeting ends up being more dangerous than either of them could have predicted...
Told partly through a series of tweets and police interviews, Follow Me Back is a young adult thriller that will leave you questioning everything by the end.
I have to say, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would when I first started reading it. In the first third or so of the book, I found Eric incredibly whiny and ungrateful, and it made the chapters in his point of view super hard to read. His thought process seemed to weird to me...creating a fake twitter profile to talk badly about himself? I can't imagine any celebrity doing that in real life, but who knows. While I understand he was concerned for his safety after what happened to a different celebrity, it seemed like he took his reactions to the extreme, and that made him unlikeable...at first.
After I got over the initial disbelief of the fake twitter account thing and kept reading, I grew to like Eric as his relationship with Tessa deepened and we got to see a better side of him. He was able to open up to Tessa in a way he doesn't open up to anyone else, and she brought out the best in him, so instead of constantly whining or complaining about his life, we found him smiling when talking to Tessa, and I liked that.
For the most part, I liked Tessa, but found some of her reactions a little extreme too. The entire time she was talking to "Taylor" she assumed she was talking to a girl, without ever asking or clarifying, and when she found out Taylor was actually a man, she freaked out because she felt misled. Nothing in their message exchanges made an effort to hide or trick her into thinking Taylor was a girl, so her reaction bothered me. Eventually she got over it, but I felt like that was an overreaction on her part.
The book really picked up at the end, and some of the pieces finally came together about what happened in Tessa's past, and the last page left me totally shocked. The book did leave off on a cliffhanger, and the sequel isn't slated to come out until sometime in 2018, and I can't wait! If the sequel had already been out, I would have started reading it immediately. I have so many unanswered questions, and I imagine they'll get answered in book two.
Overall, if you like YA and you like light thrillers, this may be a good choice for you. It's fast paced, and definitely reads like a YA book. This was a 4 star read for me. Thank you to Netgalley, A.V. Geiger, and Sourcebooks Fire for an advanced copy of the book. It was my pleasure to provide an honest review. Follow Me Back comes out June 6, 2017, so be sure to mark your calendars!
This is the sixth book in my #atozchallenge! I'm challenging myself to read a book from my shelves that starts with each letter of the alphabet.
Tessa Hart spends most (okay all) of her days in her bedroom. After an incident that causes her intense anxiety and agoraphobia, her one outlet and escape is the online world of pop star Eric Thorn. She can lose herself in his music, as well as the digital chatter of Twitter. For Eric, though, online is a scary place, where he fears his fans' obsessive behavior. He's even more scared in real life, especially after one of his fellow stars is murdered by a crazed fan. But online media is key to his success, according to his PR team. So Eric decides to ruin his image via a trolling Twitter account--of his own making. But his plan derails quickly and he finds himself involved in his deepest and most meaningful relationship to date, albeit a virtual one. But when he and his Twitter friend agree to meet, everything goes wrong.
This is one of those books that you know will probably be incredibly silly and cheesy, and it was definitely both of those things. But I still read it in one day, because, well, sometimes you just need silly and cheesy in your life. I was all for something related to Twitter that didn't involve politics and the world ending.
Honestly, Follow Me Back was quite addictive and easy-to-read, even if I wanted to shake Tessa and Eric sometimes for their bad decisions. Some early honesty would have avoided a lot of angst. It's told via the point-of-view of both characters, along with excerpts from police interrogations. Through the police pieces, we know something bad has happened--then we back up to the events that lead up to it. The book delves into the pressures of stardom, along with anxiety, assault, and mental illness. It's a little all over the place, at times--perhaps trying to throw us off course, but I appreciated that it did try to cover Tessa's issues respectfully. There's Eric and Tessa's relationship, as well as a bit of a mystery element.
Overall, this was just an escapist novel for me, and it did its job fairly well. My only problem was that it ended with a cliffhanger ending, so while I did move this book off my shelf, I am going to have to track down book #2 to see how it all ends. Darn it! Still, 3 stars for a fun and crazy ride.