Like, Comment, Subscribe
By (Author) Kat Ost
Wombat Books
Rhiza Edge
6th August 2025
Australia
Young Adult
Fiction
Childrens / Teenage personal and social topics: Mental health
Childrens / Teenage general interest: Social media
Paperback
128
Width 129mm, Height 198mm
Fifteen-year-old Becca questions the influencer life that supports her family when an unexpected friendship in an online writing community challenges her to step into the 'real' life she craves.
Becca has been online influencer since she helped make promotional baking videos for her moms patisserie as a toddler. Now at fifteen, cutting online comments remind Becca she is no longer the cute flour-covered kid her followers first subscribed to. Her business-driven manager fuels Beccas self-doubt by pressuring her to rebrand to a health and weight-conscious influencer. Becca vents her frustration in her poetry journal, questioning if the online life is worth sacrificing real friendships.
A teacher encourages Becca to sign up to the online writing community Poets Portal and there she meets @notmylife, another poster feeling trapped by family expectations. Becca and @notmylife confide in each other without giving away their identities and Becca feels like she has finally met someone who really understands her. When the two win a writing contest with their verse story 'Your dream not mine,' they receive entry to a writing workshop.
Becca and @notmylife agree to meet in person before the workshop. But Beccas manager has booked her for a TV show on the same day as the workshop. Becca is torn as her influencer work supports her whole family. Now, she has to decide between the online life thats never been her dream and the real-world connection she so desperately craves.
With teens increasingly aspiring to become online influencers, Like, Comment, Subscribe aims to show the less glamorous side of the influencing lifestyle, particularly when the decision to be thrust in front of the camera is not made by themselves.
Kat Ost is the author of YA rom-coms Cant Beat the Chemistry and Remind Me Why Im Here, as well as an experienced high school Teacher Librarian dedicated to inspiring the next generation of readers and writers.