💓📷 Tell Your Friends 📷💓

• Lauren Wilson

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‘It should have been her…’

For Crystal, university is her chance to get out from under the thumb of her controlling parents and begin living a life off camera. When she meets Alyssa, another student with a suspiciously murky past and a habit of alienating everyone she grows close to, the two form a friendship and Crystal recruits Alyssa’s help in exposing the truth behind her family’s picture-perfect online persona.

Unbeknownst to Crystal, Alyssa is an avid watcher of At Home with the Shaws, and vows to thwart her expose at every turn. But as Crystal gets closer to unearthing the lies hidden in her past, it could bring revelations that will change her life forever – and Alyssa will go to any lengths to make sure the truth never gets out…

Tell Your Friends has a boatload of current social commentary around the dark side of family vlogging and kid influencing, while retaining the compulsive and addictive pace typical of thrillers. Seriously, I’d recommend picking this up when you have a good couple of hours free, because once you start, you’re not going to want to stop! The themes dissected hit far too close to home – the sad reality of a childhood lived in front of cameras and put on display for public consumption, and I think it’s one that a lot of us recognise from our FYPs or news articles.

I also loved how Wilson put female friendship at the forefront of the story. I thought it was really interesting how Wilson explored the parasocial relationship that Alyssa developed and detrimental it was to her own life – from her family to the furthering of her own insecurities. As for Crystal, her internal battle between exposing her family and potentially perpetuating the cycle of abuse felt like a realistic portrayal of a grown-up kidfluencer. The guilt, anger and resentment she oscillates between felt true to life.

Overall, a stunning follow-up to Wilson’s debut last year The Goldens. If you loved Yesteryear or Julie Chan is Dead and their somewhat satirical, razor-sharp commentary on influencing, I think you’d similarly love Tell Your Friends. Tell Your Friends is out today!