Disappointing

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*I was provided an ARC from Greenleaf Book Group in exchange for my honest review*

Initially, the idea behind Do You Follow? sparked my interest immediately and intrigued me. The story follows Alexa, a young woman in the midst of newfound freedom and independence after finally landing her first “big girl” job and moving out of her widowed father’s home into her very own apartment in New York City. She has her new job, her new apartment, and her first ever boyfriend, Curt as well. Very early on in the book Alexa’s twin sister Beth shows up and we learn that the two share some very intense and traumatic secrets together that have not yet been revealed. Alexa has a history of mental health issues, along with some very apparent trauma, and issues with creating boundaries when it comes to her family.
When Beth shows up, her presence threatens to tear apart every ounce of independence that Alexa has built for herself.

This story revolves heavily around the aspects of twins, mental illness, and the lengths people go to create an illusion of a perfect life on social media. There were some very big twists, but for me it wasn’t hard to figure them out very early on.

I have to say, I was not a huge fan of the way the author portrayed mental illness in this book, and to be honest, I very rarely am satisfied with mental illness portrayed in stories. I think it’s a hard topic to really nail as every person has their own unique struggle when it comes to mental health. Unfortunately, I think the author distorted the mental disorder in this story and created a false narrative that people who have this certain disorder are dangerous or scary. I think this is something that happens a lot when it comes to this certain disorder and it was very disheartening to see it happen once again.

I am saddened to say that overall, I did not enjoy this book. I did enjoy the author’s writing, and I think that if they were to publish another book with what I felt to be a better plot line, I would definitely give it a chance. It felt extremely unrealistic. At times it felt as if the author was trying too hard to be relatable when it came to the social media aspects, and there were also multiple mentions of the pandemic which completely took me out of the story.