Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trope: forced proximity, enemies to lovers, bully, fake relationship
Angst: 😱😱😱😱
Smexy: 🔥🔥🔥
Took me a bit, but in the end, I really enjoyed it and am super looking forward to the next book in the series!
Kaia is an influencer from Michigan who gets invited to move to LA to live in "Swype House", a place for some of the country's hottest influencers live, hang out, and, for lack of a better word, influence. Kaia gets off on the wrong foot with Declan, one of the other house guests and things between them go downhill from there. Eventually, they decide on a fake relationship to repair bad press, but feelings become involved and with neither of them talking about how they really feel, dominoes are set up to fall.
Overall, I really enjoyed the storyline. It was definitely different and nothing I've seen before, but completely relevant to the TikTok culture we have going on. Kaia is great. Super sweet, tries to not be a doormat, just wowed by the fact that she's there and gets to do these cool things. Declan took a while for me. He came across as mean and pretty petulant at first, but you did get the emotional growth needed to make his character work in the end. Their hate to lovers smexual chemistry offset the slow burn nature of the story and by the time they got together it seemed like it had all been foreplay, lol. I did feel like the ending was a bit rushed. It checked the boxes we needed, but could have been a bit more. The epilogue/teaser for the next book will definitely thrill any true Kelsey Clayton fan out there. Definitely worth your time time read!
Influenced is the first book in the Influenced Series by Kelsey Clayton and can be read as a standalone. It is told in first person, from dual perspective.
⛔️ My bookshelves can sometimes contain spoilers