Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Publishing for access to an arc

John Tucker Must Die, anyone? If you’re a fan of that movie, pick this book up. This young adult story finds three women with nothing in common, except they find they are all dating the same influencer. But unlike John Tucker, this one actually does die. 

Meet Tommy- mega influencer and serious jerk. To the point he was such an uncharming jerk, I couldn’t believe any girl, let alone 3, would fall for it. Each moment I learned more about Tommy, was another moment I couldn’t believe a girl would forgive him for. The insecurity high school stereotype girl feels a bit overplayed and out of date, especially in 3 format. The way the female characters were written was eye rolling and insufferable, the way they kept going back for more as awful as Tommy was. You wanted to root for them but mostly, you wanted them to root for themselves. You have to make it about halfway through the book before it starts to feel less stereotypical. I think the story would have been told better in dual timelines.

The story was a good look at influencer life and the critique and pressures of “cancel culture”, particularly that of the non existence of it; and its effects on high school ages. Also, the author spent a lot of time, maybe too much, successfully building up everyone is a suspect. I would have loved to see the teenage girls as more than insecure, vying for a boy and ready to turn on each other.