Review By Gabrielle
A fascinating look into the lives of influencers, You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto turns content creation into a matter of life or death.
Favourite Quote:
“The outpouring of love is a balm to my soul. It sparks real joy, at least momentarily. A high I’m always chasing.”
Goodreads Synopsis:
Influencer Meredith Lee didn’t teach Aspen Palmer how to blossom on social media just to be ditched as soon as Aspen became big. So can anyone really blame Mer for doing a little stalking? Nothing serious, more like Stalking Lite.
Then Mer gets lucky; she finds one of Aspen’s kids’ iPads and swipes it. Now she has access to the family calendar and Aspen’s social media accounts. Would anyone else be able to resist tweaking things a little here and there, showing up in Aspen’s place for meetings with potential sponsors? Mer’s only taking back what she deserves—what should have been hers.
Meanwhile, Aspen doesn’t understand why her perfectly filtered life is falling apart. Sponsors are dropping her, fellow influencers are ghosting her, and even her own husband seems to find her repulsive. If she doesn’t find out who’s behind everything, she might just lose it all. But what everyone seems to forget is that Aspen didn’t become one of TikTok’s biggest momfluencers by being naive.
When Meredith suddenly goes missing, Aspen’s world is upended and mysterious threats begin to arrive—but she won’t let anything get in the way of her perfect life again.
If they think it’s possible to ignore their connection, they’re dead wrong.
Oh boy, this is a twisty one folks. I’m not even a big social media person, but you don’t have to be to enjoy this book. It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Jesse’s books so even though the premise of this one isn’t really my jam, I read it anyway. I’m glad I did. She’s that good.
This is more of a character-driven psychological thriller. We get chapters from both Aspen and Mer’s perspectives, which really helps us understand both characters. Trust me, they are characters you will love to hate, but then Jesse also helps readers feel sympathy for both of them. The plot is hard to discuss without giving away spoilers, so I’ll focus on the themes here. My heart was hurting for both of these women, who, although ruthless, also just wanted their friend back. There is a commentary here about female friendships and how essential they are in our lives. I am blessed with several close girlfriends, and it made me reflect on what my life would be like without them. It would not be good, I can tell you that much.
And, of course, we get an insider look at the glittering world of influencers, in this case, momfluencers. Like I said, I’m not big on social media myself, but I still found this fascinating. In particular, the grind of it: how much pressure there is to continually come up with new and unique content. How you have to be authentic and relatable, but also something to aspire to. I was tired just reading what their days were like. How competitive it is. How trolls can derail you in a hurry. How hard it is to grow, go viral, and keep sponsors happy. How influencers are a new kind of celebrity, ones we feel we know because they’ve shared their lives online, unlike, say, a movie star. The momfluencer angle was particularly interesting to me. You have moms who love their children enormously yet have essentially monetized their kids. There is an interesting tension to that, and Jesse explores it well. If you are into social media more than I am, you will likely love this book even more.
An addictive read; you won’t be able to put down You Will Never Be Me.
Thank you, Berkeley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
