Tell Your Friends is a stellar sophomore thriller that delves into child stardom in the modern age, influencer culture and parasocial relationships.
The Goldens was the type of book that pulls you into its depths and refuses to let you go. It was a brilliant thriller that utterly captivated me with its twisted tale of influence, power and glamour. With that spectacular debut, the bar was set high for any future works. Here Lauren Wilson proves again that she can take a captivating concept and turn it into an intriguing story. This hits the same giddy heights as The Goldens, proving Wilson as an author to watch within YA.
Wilson continues to explore influencer culture as in The Goldens but through a fresh and fascinating new lens here. I really enjoyed how Wilson chooses to explore the dark side of fame through this book, in particular around family influencer channels. It asks difficult questions about the involvement of children, their consent and exploitation. Wilson takes it to some extreme places but the parallels with real life are all too easy to draw. This is uncharted territory and full of ethical dilemmas. These children are growing up with every detail of their lives captured and shared to millions of people, forever memorialised and available for anyone to witness. What effect would that have on a child?
It is a question we are starting to explore within our world as these children grow up and start to speak out. Wilson offers some thought-provoking insights here through the Shaw family. They were catapulted to fame with a tragedy that rocked their foundation but built a brand that has become known around the world. Crystal is trying to break free of this with her studies abroad and wanting to find a trustworthy outlet for the story she has hidden for all these years. All of this clashes with her deep love for her family and the control they still exert over her. The scenes with her and her mother made my skin crawl at times. Wilson portrays that manipulation wonderfully and it feels deeply unsettling. The scenes of their previous video content makes you question just what was happening behind the scenes and Wilson expertly shows this through switching timelines and revealing key details as the pages fly by.
This book has one of my favourite uses of a dual POV narrative I’ve read for a little while. It is such a great portrait of both of these complicated characters as the layers peel back with each chapter. Little details add up into a much more sinister picture. The dynamic between Crystal and Alyssa is intoxicating and I loved the way it shifts and changes throughout the book. You flip between their two perspectives, which reveals more about who they are and how they navigate the world. Alyssa wants to be a journalist and blaze a trail that will make it so people never forget her. She feels mistreated and sidelined by those she loves, so the magnetic pull of Crystal’s friendship is irresistible. What happens next is a surprise but you will not be able to pull yourself away.
This is such a well-paced YA thriller where the stakes feel like they are always increasing and the tension getting thicker with each new chapter. Wilson has plenty of twists in store and you will reconsider what you thought you knew about this story. Everything builds to an explosive conclusion, but Wilson still has a few tricks up her sleeve. You are left gripped right up until the final sentence and that to me is the testament of a great thriller.
Tell Your Friends is addictive reading, as bingeable as your favourite social media star’s new content.
Tell Your Friends is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 2nd 2026.
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Synopsis
A former child star and an envious fan collide in this cat-and-mouse psychological thriller about obsession, self-invention, and the dark side of internet fame.
University was meant to be Crystal’s way out. Growing up, there was nothing in her life that couldn’t be turned into content for her mother’s popular (and profitable) family vlog channel, At Home with the Shaws―including the tragic death of her older sister when they were kids. When she arrives on campus, her mother demands she keep filming her every experience for her subscribers―but Crystal has just one story in mind, one that will blow them all away.
At Home with the Shaws is Crystal’s prison, but it is Alyssa’s escape. An aspiring journalist from a deeply troubled family, she jumps at the chance to help Crystal with an exciting project. When she realizes her new friend’s goal is to expose her family and put an end to the channel, Alyssa becomes desperate to find a way to stop the Shaws’ carefully curated image from shattering.
As the two girls discover unsettling truths about themselves and each other, and shocking new information about the Shaws comes to light, Crystal realizes what’s really at stake. If she doesn’t figure out whom she can trust, her freedom will cost her much more than just her fame.
