It is a very current book as there are so many books about social media and cancel culture at the moment like Yellowface and Idol. Unfortunately for me, this book wasn’t as compelling as other books. It might be because this is narrated by third person rather than single person. Also things happened way too quickly at the start before I got to know the characters well, so I didn’t feel any attachment or feelings about what was happening. This is a book that could have been so much better.

Ola Olajide is a well-known London-based journalist, influencer and social media #couplegoals with her fiancée Michael. Until the anonymously created ‘List’ appears online naming and shaming male abusers in the entertainment industry….and Michael is on it.

I found the story to be absolutely gripping….it seemed so realistic given how easy it is for someone’s reputation and life to be tarnished online with anonymous rumours and gossip. Equally, how easy it is for a person’s guilt to be swept aside by their army of ‘stans’ tweeting in their favour and denying their ‘fave’ could do such a thing.

I honestly couldn’t stop reading until I found out the truth - is Michael guilty or is it just trial by social media? And will their relationship survive?

And the ending was a twist I was not expecting!

Highly recommended for your Summer reading list!

What would you do if the name of your fiance appeared on a list with accusations that he's a violent abuser of women and subject to a restraining order? What if it was only a month until your wedding day?

When Ola's fiance Michael finds he's been 'outed' as an abuser of women, neither of them knows what to do. Ola's supposed to be a feminist writer and the kind of person who more or less has to stand up against abuse, so the very existence of the list is a threat not only to her relationship, but also to her job and her mental health.

Michael swears he doesn't know why he's on the list - although he has a sneaky suspicion that it's one of those 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' type things. Whilst he's a good partner and really can't wait to get married and have children, he hasn't always been a good boy. But does that justify somebody telling lies about him?

This book is very much 'of the moment'. I could completely see something like this happening and can easily believe the reactions of the characters. There are some horrible men (and women) in this book, but do some of them protest too much? And what happens when a group of angry men turn on womankind demanding answers and apologies?

Throw in the two protagonists being of West African origins - one Ghanaian, the other Nigerian (cue arguments about which type of Jollof rice to serve at the wedding feast - and you've got a very hot blend of hot topics.

Instagram, podcasts, secret lists, secret WhatsApp groups, companies who can't be seen to side with anybody involved on the List, and lots more.
It's a good tale. Possibly, a bit longer than it really needed to be (and a bit repetitious in places) but very thought-provoking.

This is a brilliant premise that deals with a lot of pertinent issues around social media at the moment - Ola is a journalist who writes for a feminist publication and is always firmly in the ‘I believe her’ camp when a story breaks about an abusive man until it is her fiancé that is the accused. The story is modern and fresh and thought provoking but for me was not compelling and I struggled through it a bit in parts…I think because the plot is focused on all the issues and points of view around the situation Ola finds herself in, it doesn’t propel you through the story and I found that I didn’t really care whether their relationship survived ‘The List’ or not. For me, this is a brilliant premise but it didn’t hold my interest enough the whole way through.

This was an interesting take on social media and how people share information without fact checking. The two main characters are due to get married when his name appears on 'The List" this causes huge challenges for them and their close friends. The novel follows their journey forwards. It is quite frightening how quickly things can get out of hand in this social media world we live in and this story reflects this!

Yeah, not my cuppa tea. Unfortunately the writing did not do it at all for me, the characters not particularly likeable and the plot feeling too forced for me and intentional.

The list is a sensational debut novel by Yomi Adegoke. The count up to the wedding is exciting. And the lead up does not disappoint. It is a compulsive page-turner.. Widely entertaining, it is a recommended and highly anticipated read. What begins as a crowdsourced collection of names, morphs into an anonymous account posting allegations on social media. The secrets, lies and the thrill of the lives of Ola Olajide, a high performing journalist and her fiancé Michael make the List a masterful hot read..

I enjoyed the premise of this book, and the contemporary issues it raised and the way they were discussed. However, I'm not really sure why, but I couldn't warm to any of the characters or really pretend much interest in their lives or what was happening to them.
Thank you to netgalley and 4th Estate for an advance copy of this book

On the whole, I enjoyed 'The List'. It was a very relevant story that dealt with a lot of important issues and topics. The unfolding events described are very thought-provoking and offer an interesting and at times horrifying insight into how the online world affects the real world and the life of REAL people.

That said, the story itself didn't quite grab me. Despite all the stuff that was happening to the characters I didn't really care for them and was unable to connect to them. Not sure exactly what the reason for this was, as I liked the writing but at times I couldn't relate to the way the characters were acting and feeling, it wasn't logical or natural to me. While the beginning was an instant hook, there was a lot of repetition shortly after which I think is why I lost interest at times.

Even though that sounds quite negative, I would still recommend this book as a relevant and important story and I am glad that I have read it.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A really thought provoking concept which has you questioning the characters throughout - putting yourself in their shoes.
The twist was satisfying although it took a long time to get there - I feel that the plot could have been more concise.
3 stars.

I did enjoy this book as it was different to my usual reads.
I found Ola and Michael slightly annoying as she just didn't believe him from the off and I don't think he was helping himself.
A lot of the abbreviations I didn't understand so felt they should have been explained better and some things I felt were just a parallel to what has gone on in the real world. For example #thinkfirst was really just #bekind and #mctoo (didn't understand that one) was #metoo so sometimes not that original.
Mostly enjoyable so a generous 4⭐️ from me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and 4th Estate for a digital ARC in exchange for a review.

This was an easy-to-read book which dealt with pretty complex subject matter. The writing was very well done, and the ending was as satisfying as it could be in a story like this. It challenged me on what I would do if I found myself in Ola's situation; we'd all like to think we'd know what the morally correct thing to do would be, but Ola's response is very realistic and understandable. I'm a bit split on whether or not that very last reveal was necessary, but it does recontextualise a lot of what came before it in an interesting way.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

THE LIST

Thank you #NetGalley and the publishers for my e-arc copy of #TheList in exchange for my honest review.

The premise of The List sounded intriguing, but unfortunately I found he story slow and filled with unnecessary content. The amount of times an ‘iPhone’ was mentioned, instead of just a mobile phone made me wonder if the book was getting sponsored by ‘Apple’.

Where I was looking forward to an exciting and engrossing mystery I found a long laborious read; it took me close to three weeks to read this book.

Don’t get me wrong there were some good points in this novel, such as the way it dealt with how people use social media and how it spoke of sexual violence. However it’s safe to say, with limited desire to continue reading each time I put it down.

I was unable to relate to anything in this story.
This one really wasn’t for me, so unfortunately only one star from me 🫣

★★★★☆

Oooooh does this really make you question everything. I don't want to say too much because I feel like the beauty of this book is placing the reader in the shoes of Ola and seeing which way you fall.

The discussions around the ease at which information (or misinformation) is spread on the internet, cancel culture, how quickly these things are believed measured against how the internet can provide space and anonymity to people that are otherwise silenced is SO powerful and yet so divisive. Also really liked how, yes, this did revolve around the will-they-won't-they of Ola and Michael getting married, but it wasn't a straightforward, all loose ends are tied up with a bow kind of story.
The ending lets it down a bit for me...just feels slightly rushed, but it doesn't negate any of the important topics raised throughout.

Thank you to 4th Estate and Net Galley for providing me with an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

cw// sexual assault, sexual abuse, mentions of rape, suicide, harassment, online bullying and social harassment

Thank to Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of The List by Yomi Adegoke in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book at all. I didn't enjoy it to the extent that I stopped reading it after about 20%. I did not click with the protagonists - self-centred entitled middle-class young professionals.

The overall ordeal sounded interesting enough, but the stakes were too low for me to care. You were not going to marry? Sorry, but I don't care that much to spend my time finding out what happens. The whole online-offline connectedness was only marginally interesting (and not original enough).

The style also made me dizzy. Every once in a while the narrative would take some tangents I found utterly distracting and out-of-place. I get it that they are a pretext to make a point on our modern society etc etc, but I did not find them very compelling.

Sorry, I probably am not the target audience for this type of book. The description made it sounds way more interesting than it turned out to be.

Interesting and topical premise covering the impact of social media and the harm it can cause. We see the effect it has upon several well developed characters with a surprising twist at the end. A great summer read that provokes very interesting debates, e.g. he said versus she said and anonymous harmful statements.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

I enjoyed reading the opening third of this novel but found the middle section rather loose in its style. I admire the author for taking on these issues and presenting characters facing the fallout of this social media crisis.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I really liked the premise of this book but struggled with the relationship between the two main characters. Definitely worth a read though.

It felt like months to chew through this book. Months.
It is like this. It is a book with some very, very, very important points about some very, very, very important issues. It's about the importance of social media and how easy it is to destroy someone, but it's also about harrassment, abuse, rape.
It's the way the book is written. It's the characters. Those things make the book boring. I have never felt for the characters, I have never engaged with them and the plot. It felt like a chewing gum, dragging on and on and on, the writing was messy, filled with tons of descriptions how the million of people mentioned in the story looked like and what they were wearing. The "will they/won't they" have the wedding wasn't interesting.
Also, the end. What a neat way to end the book, no? I didn't like it at all and didn't feel satisfied with it. Of course, the book rises queations about justice and fairness and blind accusation and true, but the execution is, unfortunately, poor. There were too many plot holes and inconsistencies and the background characters, especially Michael's friends, were disgusting.
Not my cup of tea.

I couldn't get into this book at all, it just seemed not feasible and I found it annoying, sadly DNFed it. Also the layout in kindle was not great either and needs a lot of work.