Influenced

Gr 9 Up–After her twin brother moves across the country to live with their dad, Lainey finds sophomore year challenging. Most of her friends seem to have been more her brother’s than hers, and she’s drifting away from her friends Mia and Shula. But she does have Bliss, who is always there for Lainey, even if they don’t live near each other. Bliss, a wheelchair user, is also having a hard year, so when her struggles get to be too much and Lainey can’t get in touch with her, Lainey goes to make sure everything is alright. When the girls come face-to-face for the first time, everything is not what it seems—Bliss and Lainey’s friendship included. Broken down into four parts of Now, Before, Now, and After, this book brilliantly portrays mental health and the negative side of being an influencer. The story alternates between Lainey’s and Bliss’s points of view. Readers might find it slow to start, but after the plot twist at the end of the first section, it takes off. Bliss’s negative experience of being an influencer is balanced by portraying how her opinion changes, and the authors show how social media doesn’t have to be all negative with Mia’s beauty content. Lainey’s mental health challenges are handled delicately, and the story wonderfully portrays how consuming social media can lead to adverse effects. Lainey and Bliss are both white; there is diversity among minor characters.