This was a new genre for me - to be honest I treat social media with scepticism but this showed both sides and was very interesting. I used a couple of examples for my teenage daughter who is obsessed with instastars. So all in all a good decent read.

I will be going on exploring more books by this author as this is my first experience.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review which I have done.

I was drawn in by this story of Emmy and Dan and the world of Instamums, social media influencers. The story is driven by three voices: Emmy and Dan, in a “Gone Girl” style and a third unknown voice of someone who perceives themselves and their family to have been wronged by Emmy, resulting in tragedy. The main characters are hard headed and business orientated - driven to uphold the facade at any cost, even when the price they pay is the loss of a real friend. Contemporary and fast paced, plot developments are horrifying but the denouement somehow satisfying

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.
There is a bit of a trend towards social media thrillers and it's a trend I am all for. Something about these books draws me in and, for the moment at least, I find them generally new and interesting. Sadly People Like Her was a bit of a mixed bag.

The plot is focused around three characters: our influencer Emmy, her husband Dan and a mysterious third presence who is both stalking Emmy and hates her for some past transgression. This is a decent enough set up but somewhere, the plot just loses its momentum. It felt like it took me a long time to get through this book even though I was reading it relatively quickly. There just wasn't much happening for the thriller aspect, and I found Emmy and Dan's day-to-day problems not compelling enough to carry the story.

I will say, I did like how Emmy being an influencer was explored in this story. I felt she was both extremely mercenary and also still sympathetic to an extent, and it made for an interesting dissection of the darker side of being an influencer. She was an interesting character if not always a likeable one, and while there wasn't enough to carry the whole plot, I do think she was a good character to center a story around. It would have been nice to see how she dealt with more direct pressure if she had encountered her stalker or the idea of them earlier on.

Overall, People Like Her is a decent thriller but one that just falls a bit short for me. Ultimately the elements didn't quite come together and therefore the climax felt unearned and disjointed from the rest of the story. However, there was still a lot to like here and it does have some interesting points to make. If you like social media thrillers, it's worth giving a go.

Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

What happens for the social media 'influencer' when they are no longer in control. A dark and compelling suspense you daren't put down!

Emmy is a hugely successful social media influencer, followed by a million young mums eager for reassurance and inspiration, who delight in and seek to emulate her lifestyle. She's feted by businesses eager to position themselves with her brand, and her earnings provide a comfortable lifestyle for her novelist husband, suffering from writer's block, and their two young children.

She seems to have mastered this game. But events indicate that not everyone is a fan of Emmy. Yes, there are the trolls but she knows how to handle them. There seems to be something more sinister at play. Are their people out there seeking to destroy her livelihood or something worse?

The story is told through three narrative strands. Emmy and her husband, Dan, both give their perspectives on their life together. Then there's a third voice. At first we know little about them but gradually they something of their history and their intentions. It seems that Emmy didn't realise the consequences of her advice, her actions, her 'influence'.

It's a brilliant page-turner. On one level there's the high-flying lifestyle of luxury and status to peek inside. Then there's the edginess of social media, the reminder that we're all never quite sure who is watching us and what they know. And then there's the sense of danger - who is the threat, where are they and what are they going to do. A very enjoyable and unsettling read!

Emmy is a wife to writer husband, Dan, and mum to two adorable little ones, Coco and Bear. But, to her millions of Instagram followers, she is @mamabare. Whilst so many social media users attempt to make their lives appear more perfectly filtered and artfully lit, Emmy has cultivated a constructed chaos as her brand. She is the relatable face of motherhood who, or so she appears, deals with all the same sleepless nights, public meltdowns, and leaking maternity bras as everyone else. The fact that she now also earns a living from sharing her woes online is merely a fortune by-product of aiding others with her authenticity. Honest.

I found this to provide such an interesting insight to what is still a relatively new profession. The fakery of the influencer lifestyle was often galling to read about and I sometimes felt myself riled by Emmy's attempts at appearing to empower others when really her aim was to cash in on the charged emotions of the mamas who followed her.

Emmy made horrendous choices throughout this novel but, for me, the ultimate villain remained social media in general. Emmy is merely a cog in their machine and she is very well aware for how quickly she can be deemed a spare part and tossed into the scrapheap. Leading the 'instamum' pack does not come without a gruelling, full-time, and overwhelming workload!

This thriller also opened the other dark side of social media - the one where nameless and faceless individuals are provided with a visible and much followed target to hurl their abuse and pain at. Some of these were mere keyboard warriors but sometimes they were not. Sometimes they wanted some of the seemingly effortless success that Emmy had created. Sometimes they wanted so much more from her.

I was sometimes sickened, sometimes angered, but always engrossed in the events unfolding here. Lloyd has crafted a cleverly constructed thriller and the multitude of evils, in varying degrees, that featured also ensured this to be also a thought-provoking read.

This is a slow-burning, intelligent thriller that feels current and topics. The characters felt believable and I was gripped from the get-go. An unexpectedly dark and thought-provoking thriller that reflects the strange times we are living in, I'd highly recommend this book.

This story pulled me in from the first page. The characterisation was sooo good and I was fascinated by their lives which were in some ways transparent and in others very private. Emmy’s a social media influencer who’s built up a huge following among young parents as Mamabear, a very relatable mum who inspires other young parents. Her social media life is a business that’s grown out of her journalism background as opportunities in print journalism dried up rather than a depiction of their real lives but as readers we have access to another viewpoint so are constantly aware that someone out there has a grudge against Emmy and is out to destroy her.

I loved the way the author shows how Emmy in particular is caught between her two lives – the fictional one she presents to her followers and her real one in which she’s a much more organised, together person but has problems she couldn’t share online without compromising her image. As we meet her mother and glimpse experiences from her childhood we start to see where this chameleon-like behaviour comes from.

I especially liked author Dan’s narrative. He admires his wife’s ability to play the social media game which provides them with a generous income, but he becomes increasingly concerned about the consequences of living in the social media spotlight, and the effect this could have on their children. He finds the other influencers shallow and potentially threatening and is baffled by his wife’s ability to ignore this and shrug off comments by trolls. And he also knows that one unpopular post could bring everything crashing down.

The tension soars as it becomes clear that one of Emmy’s haters has got access to the family’s real life as well as the one she posts about, and is also playing with the truth, making the couple fear for their little girl’s safety.

This was such a clever book and a perfect contemporary read showing the lure and pitfalls of life as an influencer. I devoured it! Although the change in direction for one of the characters at the end required a bit of suspension of disbelief, I really enjoyed the way the story was teased out and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys psychological suspense. You won’t regret it!

Emmy Jackson is Instagram sensation Mamabare, famous for always telling the unvarnished truth about modern parenthood. But Emmy isn't as honest as she'd like her fans to believe. But someone out there knows the truth and plans to make her pay.

Emmy is an Instagram influencer while her husband Dan is a writer who is suffering from writers block. Emmy makes lots of money through her blog, she also gets lots of free stuff. The first half of the book is building the story. The second half is where it starts getting thrilling. The story is told in alternating chapters by Emmy, Dan and a mysterious person. The mysterious persson is not a fan of Emmy. This is a story that shows how stalking someone on social media can destry a persons life. The pace is slow and i did not like any of the main characters. This is a relevent sign of our time though. This is a decently written debut novel.

i would like to thank #NetGalley, #PanMacMillan and the author #ElleryLlyod for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. What started out as a story about influencers and the issues their lifestyle can cause at home suddenly turned much, much darker.

A psychological suspense thriller written from the perspectives of Emmy, an instamum; Dan , married to Emmy and father to their two children; and one other stalker is figure. I found the book a little slow to start but by the end I desperately wanted to know what happened.

This was really good contemporary thriller set around the world of Instagram influencers and one particular #instamum. It all felt very plausible and made me think twice about some of those big name accounts that I follow on social media.
At the beginning of the book I liked Emmy and her husband Dan and enjoyed following them as they lived their lives through Instagram filters. I was quite fascinated how it all worked for them behind the scenes, how fake it all was but also how much work Emmy was putting into it.
As the plot moved on and I learnt more about Emmy and her family I started to dislike her. I still liked Dan and the children though, they felt more normal.
Without giving any of the plot away it all ramps up and things start taking a turn for the worse for this #instamum and her family. I was convinced I knew who ‘the follower’ was but it was more involved than I realised and there were some good twists in there too.
I definitely recommend this one if you enjoy contemporary thrillers, especially ones set around social media.

People Like Her follows Emmy, an influencer, and her family. It portrays the ups & downs of social media, highlights the sheen put on those little squares & delves in to what is really going on behind them. On top of that you then have a thriller narrative going at the same time, drip fed to the reader between sections from Emmy & her husband Dan.

I liked this book, despite not really liking any of the characters, but I think that's the point. Emmy's false persona isn't much more likeable than her real one & Dan could do with growing a backbone.

I was a bit annoyed by the jumbled timeline, on more than one occasion it went from lunchtime to bedtime in the space of running a bath and a two hour car journey (repeatedly mentioned in order to drive the plot) suddenly took one character nearly 6. But if you ignore these little bits the story is really entertaining.

Wonderful and interesting take on the world of.internet influencers

The job brought money and fame, but for.her children, who didn't ask for any of it, it brought boredom from photoshoots and possible danger

When things start to turn against her, her agent surgestions some time away, with her baby to think over things .. that's when things start to really turn bad

Highly recommended read

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for ARC

This is a book of our times as it concentrates on the Internet, social media and the big business of Instagram and Influencers. Although I have an Instagram account I rarely use it, rarely look at posts and don't really understand how it all works! What I am not oblivious to though is the impact photos and a few words can have on people whom you have never met or spoken to but 'like' everything you do and hang on your every word. People Like Her follows (pardon the pun!) Emmy who has a massive following and fan base as an Instamama with Mamabare. In fact, so successful is she that the branding, adverts, sponsors and all her merchandise for #greydays and # yaydays pays the mortgage, the bills, the childcare, everything. It is essential thst this income continues for the family, Emmy, her husband Dan, 4 year old Coco and 5 week old baby Bear because Dan, who wrote a really great book nearly a decade ago hasn't had anything else published since.
At 50 years of age, it is hard for me to understand how so many people make their phone and everything that happens on it, their entire life. The self obsession of Emmy at times was excruciating, the artfully managed mess, the constant videos and posed photos, the utter lies that are behind the fabrication of a mother who is just like everyone else, not always getting it right, but making a fortune out of controlling her image and that of her family.
The novel was in danger at one point of losing me, but in the end there were sufficient plot developments to actually increase my fascination in the topic of identity, what is real, what is fake and the dangers of living life through social media.
The other aspect that helped was what I ended up calling the 'italics narrator'. We don't know who s/he is, but their take on Emmy and their own life in connection with Mamabare is compelling, especially all the little hints that snowball until a point at which the emotional landscape of this unknown person's existence is shocking and tragic.
Dan seems the more real of the two parents and becomes worried that his family's private life is no longer that at all, a view that only escalates as more worrying events come to pass.
Emmy's decisions in pursuit of Insta fame and high profile, more permanent jobs are morally questionable and left me gawping. Her insensitivity, thoughtlessness and selfishness were astoundingly cruel at times, especially when it comes to best friend Polly. And yet a part of me could also understand the trap she had ensnared herself in and the pressure of keeping up (virtual) appearances.
In the end I was sitting on the edge of my seat and was enthralled by the twists which did shock me right up until the very last sentence. This book also made me question my own limited use of social media and how even that can open a doorway so wide for anyone to walk through and proceed to dismantle your sense of security.
We really do not know anyone at all, either virtually, but also sometimes those real people standing in front of us. This gives the book a sinister edge and makes you rethink your own comments so easily made at the click of a button and the inclusion of an emoji (or several!)
A book I can definitely recommend to others and one that I did enjoy reading.
Thank you to the author Ellery Lloyd, the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this psychological thriller in advance of publication.

People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd is a modern day thriller focussed on the world of social media . It tells the story of Mummy blogger and influencer Emmy, a woman who will manipulate every aspect of her family and their lives to gain followers and influence. While her writer husband Dan is enjoying the fruits of this lifestyle, from sponsorship cash to paid for vacations, he is starting to question the wisdom of what they are doing by allowing the world at large such unfettered access to their family. When stolen images of their daughter Coco begin to show up online, including private images they have never shared with the public it may be the final nail in the coffin of their faltering relationship. The question on both Emmy and Dan's mind is who had access to the photos and who is now putting them out into the public eye? As it turns out , internet celebrity can have a darker side, and we are introduced to an unnamed character who definitely has it in for Emmy, and is determined to track her down and make her suffer. Her motivations are revealed as the book unfolds to a decidedly dark climax.
I enjoyed how current this book feels with its finger pointing at social media "influencers" and its willingness to skewer some of their worst habits, and it would certainly make a reader think twice about just how much of their personal business belongs on a public forum. The characters did feel a little cliched at times, but I did not mind it so much, the book is still an entertaining read. I also found the ending a little rushed , and I can imagine some readers will find it disturbing.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Bang on today’s money! If ever a book could epitomise all that is wrong with the world of social media, People like her does. Live by the knife and almost die by the knife stuff for sure.

A young family going places thanks to Emmy’s incredible rating and subsequent deals as a social media influencer. Dan concedes their lifestyle is solely down to Emmy’s drive and talent as his writing hasn’t pulled in anything for years now. Dan is however, increasingly concerned at how Emmy uses their daughter Coco and weeks old baby boy Bear as props in her ‘mamabare’ brand.

We get the chalk and cheese narratives from both Emmy and Dan throughout the story with cliched mothers mentioned and a loyal friend of Emmy has the groundwork laid earlier in the story for a later bitter betrayal. A further edge from an unknown writer builds in intensity until the big reveal at the end.

Interestingly the part I felt most plausible was the stolen cache of Coco images that got posted continually and manipulated under a different name. The terror that fed both Dan and Emmy felt real and rang a powerless truth.

The climax left me wanting with weak threads and somewhat muddled conclusion. Overall, I found the book engaging and felt it carried very relevant and honest messages on the many dangers we can all so easily expose ourselves to.

Many thanks to Ellery Lloyd and to NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity of enjoying People Like Her.

Oh my word this is terrific! So well written, such a roller-coaster read, I was hooked after the first couple of pages.
As the story unfolds it's really gripping,. That's not to say the heroine is very likeable, because she isn't, which just goes to show how skilful this book is. Highly recommended. #pageturner
Thank you #Netgalley and #PanMcmillan for the chance to read this.

Emmy has a huge following as she comments on being a Mom and all that entails. But what happens when someone thinks one of your comments leads to a family being devastated. Will revenge be sought and will life in this fantasy world continue? Read and find out.

The book follows an instagram influencer who posts primarily about her family and her life as a mother, but we also get to read from two additional points of view. Her husband who seems to hate instagram but couldn’t support the family without it and a unknown third point of view who follows our main character on instagram.

I enjoyed the combination of the three points of view. I think one of the areas where the book excels is how these points of view intermingle and throw you off the scent of the plot. the writing also surprisingly managed to keep me equally engaged with both parents. They are both difficult characters to like. There were times where I sympathised with each of them and I felt like the parents were written more as real people rather than over the top villian/victim caricature.

I liked the depiction of influencers, especially when the book looked at the running of their accounts as brands. I had never really thought about the way being an influencer would affect your friendship groups, familial relationships and the way you stop enjoying events the way you would if you weren’t using it for social media.

The other points of view were enjoyable to read from. The third, unknown, point of view kept the plot propelling forward. I thought I’d figured out who the character was a few times throughout the book but when the reveal came, I was completely surprised.

I was on the edge the whole way through the book. It kept my glued to the page, updating my other half about plot progressions as I went through them and ranked highly for me in terms of enjoyment. There was a non-linear timeline, sub plots that threw me off the scent of any major twists and overall was an enjoyable experience to read.

My only disappointment was how the ending played out. Reading as an ebook meant I had no idea how many pages there were until the end so I felt like I’d reached the final plot event and was so hooked. It was so shocking and well laid through the reveals the third point of view gave us. Unfortunately instead of leaving the book on a brutal cliffhanger with an open ending, the author chose to come back and tie up loose ends. This did mean that the ending was less shocking and brutal, but I felt it ultimately ruined the effect. If the author was looking to avoid the admittedly harsh ending choices I think it would have better served the book to avoid going in that direction entirely.

People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd
I find it interesting to read novels which are written by a couple such as Nicci French (Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) and Ellery Lloyd is the pseudonym for the husband and wife writing team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. I found myself wondering whether the husband had written the words of Dan and the wife Emmy; or whether each voice was the result of a shared process.
From the opening of the story you are aware that a terrible event has befallen this Instagram family but it is only gradually revealed through the alternating perspectives of Emmy and Dan. A new voice then enters the story that of someone who holds a grudge against this Instagram “Mama”.
For a large part of the book I felt sorry for Dan who seemed to be being swept along by the success of his wife as an Instagram influencer and who seemed to have lost his way in life. I found the character of Emmy was not in any way likeable and although I found the book compulsive I was revolted by the way in which she was marketing and manipulating her family. Her treatment of her so-called friend was awful and unforgiveable.
I found the twists in the story interesting and it kept me engaged but there were some elements towards the end of the novel which I found unbelievable. It was an easy to read psychological thriller but not one which had that much depth of characterisation. I am sure it will prove to be very successful with those more influenced by Instagram than myself.

Wow this is a fabulous read!

I could not put this book down, it’s well written, with a great story line that is current. The characters were believable and so was the situation - this would make a great holiday read where you lie on a lounger and do nothing else. I have read it in lockdown and enjoyed every minute of the book and wish it hadn’t finished!
I loved the unexpected twist at the end and would thoroughly recommend this book - the best one I have read in ages.