Bad Influence

I was having a stressful week and wanted something easy and light, so I reached for this, which I had been sent as an ARC. I love anything about influencer culture, and this offered a different perspective. 16-year-old Charlotte is living a double life. By day, she is the dutiful Korean daughter who gets straight A’s and babysits her 4-year-old sister Jojo. Meanwhile, she’s secretly an influencer, hoping to earn money to help out her struggling family. While at an influencer event, she experiences horrible racism. When she posts about it, she finds herself going viral. Suddenly, she has a new bestie and “cool” influencer friends, the attention of a Hollywood heartthrob, and sponsorships galore. But at what cost? Charlotte soon learns the high price of fame. Is the money she’s able to earn to help her family worth isolating herself from everyone she loves? This is true YA. It is very earnest and cute. I keep hearing that kids these days all want to be influencers, and if I were a parent, I’d have my kids read this. My favorite part was learning more about Charlotte’s Korean heritage–the food references made me hungry!