I caught on early to the true nature of our protagonist, though I don't know if that's down to the writing, or me having spent a few years behind the curtain in YouTube event green rooms.

An interesting book club choice it would definitely initiate discussions on the culture wars and our relationship with the influencer while also highlighting the complexity of those fraught teenage years. Samantha is shallow, selfish and spiteful and her friend, Lucy, doesn't have any personality to speak of.When one such event is documented and published, sex with her oldest childhood friend, that friend Lisa claims it wasn’t as Sam claims but was in fact non consensual. This novel is a true examination of what it means to be a celebrity, and how we put them upon a pedestal.

On 3 January 2022, the day this story begins, Samantha Miller is a Gwyneth-esque lifestyle author and influencer, who has almost 3m followers and the world at her feet. Overall, it was a good read and I found the unravelling of the main Character Sam to be both uncomfortable, yet page-turning. Samantha’s newest book, Chaste, quickly rises to the top of the bestseller list and she follows it up with an essay that goes viral. Samantha remembers it as a positive experience, but the other woman, Lisa, remembers it very differently.Subsequent books have definitely not hit the same heights but at least kept me engaged to some extent. It cleverly shows the harsh reality, the rise and fall, as well as the ugly truth behind those perfectly posed squares! Overall, Idol was a pleasant and gripping read though, even though I was probably expecting more from it than it could deliver. Idol because it’s based around just that however, it’s also based around a friendship from the past all remembered differently. I was surprised on the slant it took and when we first met Libby, I can’t say anymore without spoiling things.

And her career is booming: she’s just hit three million followers, her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists and she’s appearing at sell-out events. I was hooked straight away and at a certain time at night had to give myself a talking to to put the book down otherwise there was a good chance I would have read it until it was finished, sleep be damned. Unfortunately it was really repetitive at times, and the dialogue randomly went from one direction to the opposite direction at times. A Mum of 3 children under 11, she has a slight handbag addiction, a love of floral dresses and fun jewellery.The concept is solid, the portrayal of Samantha Miller is well-depicted but I just didn’t connect with any individual. Maybe this could have been used to talk about the sexual violence happening in same sex relationships that isn't ever really addressed (not that it's addressed a lot in straight relationships, but you get what I mean), but once again O'Neill decided not to do anything of merit. While reading this I kept thinking about a quote I've seen now and then-- "Life is the story we tell ourselves" --a phrase which has always struck me as lovely and poetic.

The essay goes viral but when her best friend Lisa contacts her to say that she remembers things about that night very differently, who is telling the truth?You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. She has her audience (young, mostly white and female) in the palm of her hand, this is the power of the cult idol with over 3 million social media followers. Samantha Miller is the definition of a 'toxic' person and each of her actions documented in this story are completely self-serving with no regard to anyone else's feelings. Essentially this is a story about the subjectivity of memory and the curation and manipulation of the past to spin a suitable narrative. What’s more, she has earned it – from her troubled teenage years, Sam has risen like a phoenix since launching her Gwyneth Paltrow-esque wellness brand Shakti.