Sweet and Sour: a dark and dramatic YA thriller

by Monique Turner

 
When fame tastes sweet, how far can you go before it
turns sour? 
With AI influencer robots taking the internet by storm, Mikah
and his friends team up to make their own content. No robots, no
AI, just human beings in all their fallible glory.


Mikah’s mukbang channel where he stuffs his face with food
soars to great heights, but what will happen when his body can
no longer fly?



Funny, dramatic and with a deliciously dark ending, Sweet
and Sour is perfect for those who love a Black
Mirror twist
Take the Korean culture trend of mukbang, add followers
and fame - and get a twist you'll never see coming

Drawing on the author's experience of working with influencers,
the story explores internet culture and the pitfalls of
AI

 


PRAISE FOR ISLAND OF INFLUENCERS:



'This book was so much fun!' @aquintillionwords



'Like a modern day Hunger Games' @misswynnreads_



'Seriously, you should all read it' @thebookdragonsbooklair



 

351 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication January 15, 2026

Reviews

[Natasha Leighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nail-bitingly addictive YA Thriller with a dystopian Black Mirror twist that had completely hooked!

It follows teen Mikah and his friends (Zach, Cheki and Isobel) who set up a content house to help take down the AI industry (and the humanoid robot influencers who utilise it.) By bringing back the creativity, emotion and human connection that makes online entertainment so appealing.

Firstly I have to say, Monique Turner’s commentary on the negative effects AI has in creative spaces, and the (often toxic) parasocial nature of internet and influencer culture was timely but also unnerving. In that realistic, uncanny valley way that made the parallels to our own world feel kind of sinister.

However, it did mean the powerlessness faced by Mikah and team Digital Demon (and their need for acceptance and validation) felt even more intense and emotionally compelling. I honestly couldn’t help but be invested in how things would play out for them.

I also loved the complexity we see in our characters. Like Mikah, who’s our only POV character, struggling with self doubt and anxiety in real life (but who finds himself thriving in the anonymity of his online persona.) Zach, Mikah’s popular IRL bestie (who must grapple with feelings of envy and resentment over Mikah’s newfound popularity.) And Isobel, Mikah’s girlfriend, who struggles with the emotional and physical toll that her family (and Mikah’s) expectations causes, often at the expense of her own desires.

I should also warn, that though this is a standalone, it does takes place after the events in Turner’s debut, Island of Influencers. And contains quite a few spoilers for that book (so def read this after, if your planing to pick it up.)

I can’t really go into anymore details without spoilers myself. But I can promise the ending is diabolically twisty (and definitely worthy of the Black Mirror comparisons.) it’s also pretty perfect for kickstarting discussions around AI, parasocial relationships, burnout (and even exploitative online culture) with a young (or young at heart) audience.

Overall, a thought provoking and timely read that all Black Mirror fans need to consider checking out!

Also, thanks to InstaBookTours & Chicken House Books for the PB copy.

[Sifa Poulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.

SWEET AND SOUR is a dystopia that feels very real about genAI in content creation and the dangers of parasocial relationships.

This is a very interesting book to read in the current push for AI content and "work assistance" from big tech companies. It's interesting not because I disagreed with any of its exploration of the dangers of genAI content creation (I am personally very anti-genAI) but because it didn't feel very dystopian, but uncomfortably realistic. It's not the current state of the internet and social media, but it's only a small step away. It's quite Black Mirror-esque in that sense and the tone it takes on the the topic.

SWEET AND SOUR also explores parasocial relationships and the dangers of fan obsession. This is where a lot of the tension in the book comes from, the spiral from trying to create as a form of defiance to the fear of what fans will do. The book is challenging us to think about our relationship within fandom, how we project onto people, blur boundaries, and gain a sense of entitlement.

I really liked that this book didn't feature two teens falling in love but instead explored an existing relationship. Mikah and Isabel are dating at the start of the book and over the course of the book, their relationship comes under strain. It feels very rare these days for books, particularly for teens, to look at these sorts of relationships. Yes, falling in love and having the courage to ask someone out is a big thing, but that's not the last (or frankly, biggest) challenge a relationship will face in its lifetime. It's important to talk about everything that comes after the getting together stage.

As someone who find certain foods difficult for sensory reasons, I found the mukbang descriptions really gruesome at times. There were certainly points were I thought the book was trying (and succeeding!) at making me gag. I just don't know why people would want to do this to themselves (let alone watch it!) and I did think that Zach's take on mukbang was more understandable (and less damaging to the body!)

[torchlight reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet and Sour, Monique Turner’s sophomore novel, takes on the hot topic of AI versus the real human experience. Mikah and his friend Zach have both seen their parents lose livelihoods to AI and influencer robots are taking the internet by storm. They decide to fight back, hoping to prove that there is a following for human created content that shows people in all their fallible glory. Together with their friend Cheki and Mikah’s girlfriend Isobel, they move into a content house for the summer and create a channel under the name Digital Demons. Their videos quickly take off, and in the guise of Echo and Zulu, the teens soon make a name for themselves with mukbangs and dangerous stunts. But how far are they willing to go and how much can their bodies endure? How will they deal with their newfound fame?

The teenagers in this YA thriller promised their audience ‘You will be entertained’, and this was certainly true of this book for me. I felt that it was very much a novel of and for our time, addressing the controversy surrounding the use of AI and the often-dangerous parasocial dynamics that can develop online. While the reality of this novel felt very dark, a lot of Turner’s world was shockingly recognisable, a dark preview of where our society could be headed.

Turner’s cast of characters felt three dimensional – we get to witness their struggles, internal conflicts and insecurities, celebrate their successes, and agonise with them as they play themselves into a corner. Reading Sweet and Sour felt like watching a dream slowly turn into a nightmare you can’t wake up from. The plot twist right at the end is cruel and highly effective and what I imagine earned the novel the Black Mirror comp.

An excellent read, if you can stomach the at times pretty graphic and almost off-putting descriptions of Mikah’s mukbangs, and a book which provides food for thought and a very current commentary on the use of generative AI and parasocial relationships.

[Beth Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love Black Mirror, you'll love Sweet and Sour.

I hesitate to label this as a sci-fi dystopia, it's just far, far too close to life. In the book big tech corporations have succeeded in forcing AI into every part of life. Artists, Writers, Creatives of all kinds are being left unemployed by companies cutting costs with AI. Social Media is dominated by AI content and AI content creators - literal robots invulnerable and unstoppable churning out unceasing content, dominating the algorithm and pushing out any kind of human content.

Devastated by his Dad losing his job to AI, his best friend's mum's game development business going under after AI plagiarism destroyed her profit margin, Mikah is determined to take back the stage for humans and real art.

He bands together with four friends to bring humanity back to content creation but as relationships fracture under the pressure and Mikah puts more and more stress on his physical health can he ever hope to beat the robots?

This story is dark and explores a lot of important topics such as identity and toxic masculinity and societal expectations as well as exploring the exploitative worlds of big tech and social media and parasocial behaviours.

This is not a happy story and it feels terrifyingly prescient and makes the reader question exactly how much we will give up of ourselves before we realise it's too late.

[Amie Derricott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dystopian YA novel that just hits far too close to home. It follows a group of teenagers that are determined to return the focus of online and content creation to real people after AI has taken over every platform, to produce content whilst ousting real humans from their jobs. There is a huge focus particularly in the bookish community at the moment surrounding the use of AI for covers and productions of novels, it doesn’t feel all that dystopian. There is a real in-depth look in this into how fan obsession affects not only the creators themselves but the people around them. This adds some quite interesting tension to the book - that determination to be a creator as a form of defiance in the face of AI, to being in fear of what the fans will say and do next. This challenges you as a reader to really think about your own behaviour towards creators and how we interact with them online.
There was also a quite refreshing change with the teenage relationship within this book. So Mikah & Isabel are already together, we see how their relationship is tested through the stunts, challenges and the fan interactions and it’s not a full focus of the plot, more of a subplot that adds something a little extra as your reading.

I did find it interesting that four teens were allowed to go and stay in a holiday cottage alone, for such a long period of time and that their parents were funding their videos to start with - this did come across a little odd. The descriptions of Mikah creating his mukbang’s might be a bit much for some readers as they are very in depth.
I did enjoy reading Sweet & Sour and do want to go back and read Island of Influencers – Monique’s first book and is in fact set before this one. It has been referred to a number of times within this one so it’s definitely one to pick up if you haven’t already.