I absolutely LOVED this book. Amelia is just the best character that you are cheerleading from the beginning to the end. It is a really important book for teenagers and adults alike to read to show just how a simple and innocent mistake can escalate so much thanks to the social media world we live in. It's frightening but a great reality check. Yet again, well done Tamsin!

Bad Influence is a funny, bold and vital read for teens, teachers and parents alike. Original, engaging and full of humour it also has an insightful and important message.

I absolutely loved this exploration of bullying, social media and pressure in teen relationships - it felt like a really necessary read, and is something I would recommend to any young teenager. A warm and personal account of the reality of growing up in today's social media age, it carefully deals with extremely sensitive topics, laying them out in a super accessible yet still fun to read way.

A perfect pick for the transition period from 9-12 fiction into YA!

Amelia Bright is an intelligent and ambitious young girl who seems to have it all going for her … except that for some reason everyone in school dislikes her and she has somehow attained the nickname ‘Maggot’. After the publication of The List on social media which places Amelia at the bottom of all the girls in her year, she is determined to make people like her, no matter the cost.

This story follows Amelia in her attempt to gain popularity - sadly falling into the trap of thinking that she is the one who isn’t good enough. She tries to improve her popularity online by posting TikTok’s and she is excited to see her ‘like’ count slowly rising but it doesn’t seem to change anything. Until Evan comes along. A boy who seems to like her for who she is, the boy she shares her first kiss with and the boy she hopes will elevate her from the bottom of the list. Until she shares a private image of herself and things escalate beyond her control.

I both loved and loathed this story. I love it for the simple fact it is bringing such a poignant issue to the forefront. As a high school teacher I know how frequently young people are finding themselves in Amelia’s position. I loathed it because it made me feel desperately sad for Amelia. That she had such a low opinion of herself and seeing how it all panned out.

Both Amelia and Evan’s characters reflect how truly complex it is to be a teenager in our current social climate. The pressure from peers both in person and even more so online is astronomical and leads so many young people to make disastrous choices without understanding both the immediate and long term consequences.

I loved Amelia as a character and the dynamic with her older sister Hannah. Whilst Hannah is everything Amelia wishes to be, I thought they had a really lovely relationship. It is also refreshing to see a book with divorced parents who are able to coparent effectively with their children at the forefront of their decision making.

I would highly recommend reading the Letter from the Author at the end of the novel which is a reminder to all readers that whilst this story is fiction, it is sadly the reality for many teenagers today.

Thank you to Usborne, Tamsin Winter and NetGalley for my early review copy in exchange of a fair and honest review.

I thought Bad Influence was absolutely amazing, and have already purchased this for the school library. It has also been made a curriculum read for our Sociology class. Unfortunately, what happened to Amelia happens all too often in school. This book is eye-opening and a warning to be wary about the photos that you take and who you send them to. A tale for our time and a very necessary read.

This is such a good book about how to be confident in yourself, believe your friends and just completely ignore those who try to run you down.

I really liked that you got to experience all the trauma that Amelia goes through, one can identify with her anguish and I found myself mentally telling her to have more confidence in herself and confront the nasty ones. Heads up to parents as this type of bullying can have dire consequences and teens need strong family support to get them through it. Teachers also need to be more conscious of acknowledging bullying and making it clear that it is not tolerated, Amelia also feels that she is the only one with issues and fails to see that even the popular students like her sister also have problems, which they also hide. So perhaps everyone needs to open up a bit more and talk about these almost taboo topics.

Amelia Bright is intelligent, a fantastic debater in debate club, a musical prodigy on the cello and the most picked on girl at school. Her Dad’s a perfectionist and extremely difficult to please. He is also a baseball addict and Amelia only plays to try and please him, usually without much success. Whilst her best friend completely supports her and she has a few allies in orchestra, the majority of the school is intent on belittling her, they even call her maggot. But the worst was when they boys created a list of best and worst girls and put Amelia right at the very bottom of the list. That mortified her. When she meets Evan at baseball and they click, Amelia feels vindicated. When she sees that he’s joined her school, she is sure that him liking her will improve her popularity. Bu Evan is strangely distant at school and when in a moment of desperate hope, Amelia is drawn into doing something she quickly regrets, the consequences go viral and not only is she a maggoty loser, but a Bad Influence too.
So - does Amelia lose all hope and die of shame, or does she finally realize her worth and stand up to the bullies? You’ll have to read it to see.

I found this book incredibly hard to read. Not because it doesn't flow, because it absolutely does and you are rooting for the main character from the very beginning but because despite being very very old (47) the experience of the bullying was so similar to the kind that I experienced at secondary school that it triggered all sorts of memories that I thought I'd manage to bury! As a Mum to teenagers now I daily thank my lucky stars that I wasn't at school in the age of social media as I have absolutely no doubt that the kind of extended digital bullying that Amelia experiences would have been my undoing. At least in the early 90s I could retreat home to my bedroom where my obsession for Tennyson, dragons, frogs, the oboe and Guides were a welcome and private escape and the bullying didn't follow me there. I think this book is incredibly important. I especially recognised the internalisation of the bullying- the way that Amelia just thinks that she really is nothing and almost deserves the treatment that she gets so that she doesn't raise it with those around her or see it for what it is as that's exactly what I did too. I really hope that young people will feel empowered by this book and that it will give them insight and awareness into how this kind of bullying really affects people, how to spot it and how to call it out.

If you're considering reading this book for whatever reason, be that the gorgeous front cover; the catchy title; the engaging synopsis, I urge you strongly to do it! Put aside whatever book you've got on the go right now and pick up 'Bad Influence'; you won't regret it.

The main character of the novel, Amelia Bright, is a loveable teen protagonist who just wants to fit in at school. It's not that she covets popularity or wants to be adored (though she'd be quite happy with either of those things). Instead, she wants bullies to leave her alone and to have more than two friends, especially since one of them is the school librarian. Prompted by this, as well as all sorts of regular teen angst like family troubles and sibling rivalry (which coincides with sibling friendship), Amelia jumps at a perceived opportunity to become popular: namely, sending a risqué photo to her sort-of boyfriend, who is also the new boy in school.

As you can imagine, this spirals into disaster and poor Amelia finds life even more difficult. Even her extra-curriculars suffer from what's happening. But, with help from feminism, friendship, and her inspirational namesake Amelia Earhart, our protagonist makes a fabulous recovery from her social fall.

I loved every page of this novel, and can't wait to reread it. I think it belongs in every school library and contains strong messages without once appearing preachy or victim-blamey. The author portrays Amelia so wonderfully and I really loved that the reader wasn't led to condemn or blame her, even though she's shown to be a flawed character. The narrative voice was brilliant, as were all of the secondary characters and plotlines, and I was very intrigued to see what happened next. Tamsin Winter, you have a new super fan!

By no means am I the target demographic for this book (i.e. not a teen) and yet I still really enjoyed this book. It covered a range of topics in an accessible manner.

As poignantly heartfelt as it is uplifting, Tamsin Winter’s newest novel skillfully delves into the all too real and heartbreaking realities of peer pressure and social media on teens.

It follows thirteen year old Amelia Bright, a book loving music prodigy who, in a effort to become popular (and amid a ton of peer pressure) shares a photograph she shouldn’t with a boy she trusts. A photo that leads to disastrous consequences when it goes viral, thus causing model student Amelia to be branded a “Bad Influence”. But she’s not ready to let this is one mistake define her and will stop at nothing to share her side of the story.

This was such an emotional story that does explore some pretty relevant issues that, though uncomfortable, definitely need to be discussed more.

As someone who hit my teen years during the start of social media (with MySpace, Facebook and Twitter) where viral video trends such as happy slapping saw teens humiliated in even more devastating ways online than ever before. So I understand how bad peer pressure can get. I can’t imagine how much worse it must be now, with soo much more of our lives revolving around social media and being online.

Which is probably why Amelia, our optimistic, cinnamon roll of a protagonist inspired such a strong emotional response. I can definitely see a lot of younger teen readers identifying with Amelia and the challenges she has had to endure.

Like her previous book Girl In Real Life, I really enjoyed the nuanced and realistic portrayal of Amelia’s parents and the dynamics they face in co-parenting children whilst divorced. It was also great to see a compassionate and caring portrayal of Selina (Amelia’s dad’s girlfriend) that didn’t once branch into the (overused and stereotypical) evil stepmother trope.

This is only the second book of Tamsin Winter’s that I’ve read but her ability to delve into contemporary teen experiences, getting to the heart of relevant issues— in both a convincing and easily accessible manner is why she’s quickly become one of my favourites in the YA/ Children’s fiction genre. If you love Coming of age stories with a powerful message, then you definitely need to read this !

Also, a huge thank you to Netgalley and Usborne for the e-arc.

Amelia is ridiculed at school, very talented at cello and super-academic; she endures relentless teasing. Meeting a new boy on her baseball team, she finally feels like she belongs and someone desires to be with her. Her crush is not the sweetheart that she thinks he is and before long she finds herself at his back and call. Amelia is all too believable in character, a lonely girl who just wants to fit in and be liked. She is fed up of the bullying and name-calling that she has endured for years and wants a fresh start. She's manipulated into a situation where she makes a mistake, not realising the consequences of her actions, which could cost her all she holds dear.

I love it when YA books take on more complex topics and in Bad Influence, Tamsin Winter does this with such great sensitivity - this is one for all Libraries everywhere!

Amelia isn't as cool as her older sister but is desperate to be. She studies hard and is an exceptional cello player but the others in her year are mean to her, placing her last in a list of all of the girls in school and calling her "maggot girl". But when Evan joins her baseball team, she thinks things will change, especially when he kisses her. She is convinced his arrival at school will mean that she will be thought of differently but when she agrees to do something against her better judgement, her life is changed dramatically and her best friend's parents ban her from seeing Amelia. Can she turn things round?
I am a big fan of Tamsin's books and love the fact that they are very relatable to readers. Bad Influence is no exception to that, being set in secondary school and following Amelia who just wants to be seen as one of the cool girls. She is plagued by her " maggot girl" name and is desperate to get rid of it. At first, she thinks using TikTok and her cello will help but when Evan comes along, she develops the biggest crush and can't believe her luck when he kisses her.

I grew up in a time before social media, when chatting to friends meant pulling the telephone as far as the cord would allow you to so you could sit at the bottom of the stairs, and leaving a message meant asking whoever picked up the phone to write a note and leave it on the telephone table (yes, I am that old!). Today's children have a whole mine-field of social media to navigate and are bombarded with likes, comments, and FOMO 24 hours a day - it must be utterly exhausting and places a huge amount of pressure on teenagers. Bad Influence explores this brilliantly; looking at both the positive and negative effects of sites like TikTok and Snapchat. It's a book that can show readers just exactly what one bad decision can do to somebody and the ripple effects that a snap judgement can make for both parties. It shows us how important the lessons on online safety are in school, especially the idea that this can happen to anybody and how easy it is to be influenced by others

The book also explores the complexities of first relationships in all their nervous glory: Does he like me? Did I kiss him properly? Will he message me? The first person narrative really means that readers will appreciate everything Amelia is going through.

Family is another big theme within the book. Amelia's parents are divorced and her father is now dating a much younger woman, but it is the relationship that Amelia has her with her father that I found the most fascinating: he is demanding, especially when coaching her baseball team, and seems to be blind to his daughter's real feelings. There were several occasions when I wanted to reach into the book and give her dad a really good talking to!

Publishing on the 8th June, Bad Influence is a brilliantly written, relatable book about how easy it is to make a wrong decision on social media. Family, friendships and first kisses combine to make this a must-read book for everybody aged 11+

Tamsin Winter 's superpower is to create narratives that affect teenagers of all ages but to pitch it perfectly at the lower end, a age range that can be tricky to cater for: too old for middle grade, too young for YA. School librarians are always desperate for realistic fiction that fills that gap, and Tamsin Winter is one of those writers that always gets it just right . "Bad Influence" is no exception; it tells the story of Amelia, who is bright and talented, but wants nothing more than to be popular ("Isn't being a somebody at school important too?" she tells her best friend), which she is not. In fact it is quite the opposite, heartbreakingly so. This results in her doing something unwise with spiralling consequences but eventually Amelia however decides to take back control her own narrative.

None of what happens in the book is rare in schools; the pressure to send pictures, the sharing of those pictures without consent does happen more commonly than most would think. So it's important to talk about it, and talk about it while children are fairly young, before they get affected by it. This book does it perfectly, without ever steering into the didactic, and remaining funny and uplifting throughout . This will be vey popular in schools with KS3.
Absolutely fabulous cover too!

So I finally get to be the one in our team to read the new Tamsin Winter (she is always heavily fought over between librarians at CLS!) and I was not disappointed. I felt like I was holding the hand of Amelia Bright whilst I learnt about everything that leads her to do the things she does and was able to empathise so completely with her feelings a decisions. I can see why the author is such a voice for teens and I will be shouting about it everywhere. Perfect for publication on Empathy Day!

Oh man, what a book. So sad and uncomfortable the whole way through - poor Amelia is such a cute and interesting character, and the mistakes she made were so understandable given her circumstances. It was such a shame how things turned out, but I really enjoyed her taking the control at the end, and realising her true self is the most important thing. I've read a few of Tamsin's books and I always enjoy them

BE AWARE: this book contains the non consensual sharing of a photo of a thirteen year old girl wearing a see through bra. There is also some kissing and over the clothes touching.



I love Tamsin Winter. Girl (in real life) was one of my favourite books of 2021, and I've been looking forward to this one. Tamsin seems to have a line straight into the minds of teenage girls, and she knows how to present it in a way that's clear and easy to follow without being patronising.

Much like Tamsin, I am always grateful that I grew up (::cough::just::cough::) before social media was a thing. Puberty is tricky enough without having all your failings immortalised for everyone to look at forever, as happens here to Amelia. As often happens, from our position outside the story, it's easy to see what's happening - with her father, with the bullying and with Evan - but Tamsin makes it easy to sympathise with Amelia, too, and to understand why she takes the actions she does. (No spoilers, but I very nearly cheered at a certain scene near the end!) There are a few scenes that are difficult to read, just because of the subject matter, but it's such a good read I got past that.

If we're lucky, this book will spark a few conversations and maybe make a few people rethink their actions and behaviours. It absolutely should be in every classroom, read and discussed in book clubs, and ideally part of the school curriculum - it's that important and that well written. Just a fabulous read all around, I really enjoyed it, and I tore through it in a day!

I will read anything Tamsin produces; Girl has a special place in my heart, but this is very nearly unseating it.

(And, in an amusing coincidence, the Irish Gardai have just started a new campaign to make sure people are aware that threatening to spread intimate images is a crime, just as this book is publishing! Hopefully between the two we get some conversations going around this very touchy and misunderstood topic.)
Absolutely brilliant. I love it.

Thirteen-year-old Amelia Bright is incredibly intelligent and determined – she’s a star baseball player, an eloquent debater and a gifted cellist. But there’s one thing Amelia is not good at - popularity. It all started in Year 7 when a boy mocked her for her pale skin and called her ‘Maggot’ and the name stuck. When new boy, Evan, joins her baseball team he doesn’t know about her social status and it seems that he likes her. If Amelia can just prevent him from finding out about the ‘maggot’ thing, perhaps he will ask her to be his girlfriend and then all the popular kids will miraculously forget all the horrible things they used to say about her.

But Amelia discovered something worse than being called a ‘Maggot’ when she makes a mistake and her picture gets shared online with the whole school.

Tamsin Winter is brilliant at exploring the social pressures facing young teenagers and the issue of sexting and sharing nudes is increasingly affecting teens of all ages. This book is also an insightful look into the way that parents and teachers often don’t know how to react to this issue and can get it wrong. Sharing what has happened to her with adults is obviously the first and very important step, but Amelia also has to advocate for herself and come to terms with what has happened.

‘Bad Influence’ is a humorous and empowering read about the realities of being a teenager in today’s world of social media - essential reading for young teens. Definitely one I’ll be recommending in the school library!

I like Tamsin Winter’s books. Jemima Small is a particular favourite. This is another great book from her. At times it was hard to read, but that’s because it rings so true. School is hard and the ‘popular kids’ never seem to have much about them, apart from the ability to look down on others. Amelia is clever, hardworking and talented-all the wrong things at school. When she comes at the bottom of a list rating the girls it knocks her confidence and she desperately wants to win the approval of her peers. A good-looking new boy takes an interest in her and it seems as though she may be able to gain that approval. But things go horribly wrong. It was uncomfortable to read at times, particularly as an adult, because you know where the story is heading. Tamsin really seems to be able to get under her characters skins and I could really feel the teenage me responding to them. A timely reminder of the dangers of social media and sharing things you don’t want others to see.

Bad Influence is the novel that you wish and hope all secondary school children read.
Amelia Bright is navigating being a teenager, she just doesn't fit in and unfortunately has the nickname - maggot attached to her.
Amelia's parents are separated and her American dad has put together a baseball team which Amelia plays for - its during baseball that she meets a new kid - Evan. Evan takes a shine to Amelia and they become fast friends - even sharing their first kiss.
Evan and Amelia are in constant contact until Evan turns up at Amelia's school one day as a new pupil and he sees how the other teens treat her. Rather than sticking up for Amelia - he lets the name. He also makes things drastically worse for Amelia when he asks her to share an intimate picture of herself.
It's this picture that unravels Amelia - she is hounded by the kids in her school, her best friend can no longer be seen with her and she spirals.
A very raw, honest portrayal of an issue that none seems to want to discuss - sensitively handled and very well done.