Title: People Like Her
Author: Ellery Lloyd
Publisher: Mantle Books
Synopsis:
Followed by Millions, Watched by One
To her adoring fans, Emmy Jackson, aka @the_mamabare, is the honest “Instamum” who always tells it like it is.
To her skeptical husband, a washed-up novelist who knows just how creative Emmy can be with the truth, she is a breadwinning powerhouse chillingly brilliant at monetizing the intimate details of their family life.
To one of Emmy’s dangerously obsessive followers, she’s the woman that has everything—but deserves none of it.
As Emmy’s marriage begins to crack under the strain of her growing success and her moral compass veers wildly off course, the more vulnerable she becomes to a very real danger circling ever closer to her family.
In this deeply addictive tale of psychological suspense, Ellery Lloyd raises important questions about technology, social media celebrity, and the way we live today. Probing the dark side of influencer culture and the perils of parenting online, People Like Her explores our desperate need to be seen and the lengths we’ll go to be liked by strangers. It asks what—and who—we sacrifice when make our private lives public, and ultimately lose control of who we let in…
My Review:
People Like Her is a gripping story about the truths (and untruths) that make up the world of influencers. It’s a topic that is very intriguing, as it’s something many of us come across every day: even if we don’t use social media platforms such as Instagram ourselves, we likely are aware of these people who make careers out of being a social media personality – or ‘influencer’.
Emmy is one of these people. Followed by millions of people on Instagram as a ‘mamabear’, she makes a living out of posting about being a new mum. Often, the images she posts – with carefully staged scenes of messy houses and her unkempt appearance because she’s ‘just so tired’ – are a complete fabrication, but she knows that’s what the British public want to see – someone else going through the same difficulties being a new mother as they are. Often, people following her don’t realise the full extent of how much is edited, and what Emmy posts can have a very significant affect on people’s lives.
The novel focuses mainly on Emmy and her writer husband Dan’s perspectives, but we also see the occasional passage from an uknown person who is watching Emmy, and has a real grudge against her. We know Emmy, and possibly her children too, are in danger but we don’t know exactly who is the real threat.
Emmy herself is very hard to like as a character, I found. I much preferred her husband Dan, but I knew when reading the book that they were both just trying to do the best for their family and make a living. But the way Emmy deals with some issues with her oldest friend, and the way she behaves after this, really highlights to the reader that she will do almost anything to further her career.
It’s an interesting book as it really got me thinking about the dark side of internet fame, and how much of what we see online is edited or, in some cases, completely invented. I really liked the ending and I felt that, although there were obviously some very dramatic moments, it somehow didn’t feel too crazy. I would definitely read more from writing duo Ellery Lloyd!
Rating: 4/5
People Like Her is out on 21st January in ebook and hardback. pre-order on Amazon or Waterstones – or at your local bookshop!
Many thanks to Mantle Books for providing a copy of this novel on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.