02 February 2026

Thank you to Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate in this blog tour. This looked like a fun read, and I found myself totally consumed by this book. The author explores obsession with celebrities and the use of social media to stalk them with dark humour while including elements of loss and grief.

This is one of those novels that creeps up on you quietly and then refuses to let go. What starts as a seemingly harmless crush quickly spirals into something far darker, and that slow, unsettling descent is where Tanya Sweeney really shines.

Esther is an uncomfortable protagonist to sit with — not because she’s badly written, but because she feels frighteningly real. Her obsession with Ted doesn’t explode overnight; it grows through social media scrolling, fan forums, and small justifications that feel all too familiar in a hyper-connected world. I found myself constantly torn between pity and alarm. Sweeney does a great job of showing how loneliness, dissatisfaction, and fantasy can blur into delusion without ever excusing Esther’s choices.

The writing is sharp and often unsettlingly intimate. Being inside Esther’s head is claustrophobic in the best possible way — every thought, every rationalisation, tightens the tension. The story doesn’t rely on shock value; instead, it leans into psychological unease, which makes Esther’s actions feel disturbingly plausible.

That said, this is not a fast-paced thriller, and readers expecting constant twists may find the pacing more introspective than explosive. For me, though, that slower burn worked in the book’s favour, allowing the obsession to unfold naturally and uncomfortably.

Esther Is Now Following You is a smart, disturbing exploration of obsession, identity, and the dangerous intimacy of online fandom. It’s the kind of book that makes you uneasy long after you’ve finished — and honestly, those are often the most memorable ones.