An influencer grapples with presenting an authentic life on social media instead of living one in this novel translated from French.
From her home in Quebec, 25-year-old Ellie watches her YouTube account, Quinoa Forever, grow to nearly half a million followers. From recipes to workouts and polished photos on Instagram, Ellie finds new fame thanks to her relationship with her handsome musician boyfriend, Sam, who was a finalist on The Voice. But her life starts to unravel when she meets kind, interesting Dave and she can’t stop thinking about him. In addition, someone from a dark part of her past resurfaces, and she begins to lose her grip on maintaining picture perfection. Ellie struggles with disordered eating, including obsessing over calories, bingeing, and misusing exercise; a supporting character accuses her of promoting orthorexia. There is some discussion of body positivity, but frustratingly, Ellie never fully recognizes the seriousness of her behaviors or stops participating in the perpetuation of the culture of fat-shaming. Beaudoin-Masse expertly weaves Ellie’s emotional distress—often taking the form of a quiet, burning rage and desperation—into the storyline. The pacing is well done, and the supporting characters are interesting. However, the book finishes on a cliffhanger that may leave readers searching for missing pages. The main characters are assumed White.
A relevant read that comes close to making substantial social revelations.
(Fiction. 16-adult)