I Didn't Ask For This - Jennie Wood - ★★.½

AUTHOR: Jennie Wood

GENRE: YA Graphic Novel

PUBLICATION DATE: April 28, 2026

RATING: 2.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A YA graphic novel dealing with an important topic – the online exploitation of children by influencer parents. The intent is fabulous but the execution needs finetuning. Uni-dimensional characters. Too cluttered with subplots, too aggressive about certain themes, too deliberate about inclusive representation. Decent illustrations. This has all the negatives of typical YA writing, but I guess I can’t hold this against the book as it is meant to be YA. I still appreciate the purpose behind the storyline but I wish it had stuck to the central theme instead of spreading itself thin. Might work better for YA readers.

Plot Preview:

Daisy is tired of her mom sharing every single detail of her life on her mom blog, even when Daisy refuses. So when she gets invited to an online group called “Not Your Baby Anymore”, she hesitates only a little before joining. This group comprises some teenagers from across the USA whose parents are social media influencers sharing their personal life online and having a substantial following. As each of these teenagers struggles to take back some control over their own lives, a new idea begins to form.

Whenever I see a blurb with the word “influencer” in it, I reject the book outright. But this blurb created the contrary effect, simply because of the core topic. There are so many parents these days who document their children’s lives through social media. I always wonder how these children will feel about their utter lack of privacy when they are older and might want to have more agency over their lives. So this topic felt very interesting. But I didn’t realise that this book would be so YA in tone! 😬 Most of my friends know how YA books and I aren’t a match made in heaven, so take this review with a pinch of salt.

Bookish Yays:

🤳🏻 The intent of trying to give a voice to children who are online without their consent. Excellent concept for a book. I didn’t know this is called “sharenting” – a clever portmanteau.

🤳🏻 The way the teens affected by their influencer parents’ decisions come together to help each other. I’d rather see such teamwork in YA novels than youngsters fighting their battles alone.

🤳🏻 Shane’s family. The only positive family rep in the entire book.

🤳🏻 The backmatter containing a writeup on the importance of voting and how youngsters can register their names on the voting list. Not too relevant to the plot but important information nonetheless.

Bookish Okays:

📱 The content is fairly informative about several aspects related to laws and consent, but instead of sharing these details organically, the book often indulges in fact-dumping, with the character spouting random trivia in their dialogues just to educate readers. Not a very convincing writing style.

📱 Too many characters, i.e. too many kids and parent influencers to keep track of. The variety of people and situations helps add multiple dimensions to the main argument, but also reduces the depth of each individual’s arc.

📱 A certain scene in the book was worrisome and I was afraid it would teach kids the wrong lesson. Thankfully it took the right turn at the last minute, but a part of me still thinks it is a risky inclusion.

📱 The art didn’t impress me that much. It was good in some scenes but the sketching of some characters didn’t appeal much to me. The expressions also felt off at times. But art is subjective, so perhaps this style might work for other readers.

Bookish Nays:

📵 Did you note the word “voting” above in the Yays and wondered what it had to do with the core topic? Well, there’s no great link between how the book started and how it ended. I expected the children’s problems to be resolved through open discussion with their parents or perhaps even through some legal or official intervention. I certainly didn’t expect the storyline to go the political way and talk about introducing a bill to offer such children more rights. Is this a good idea? Maybe. But is this political direction indicated in the blurb? No. Do I like the plot exploring only political solutions instead of tackling the problem at the familial level also? Not at all! Both are important angles and both should have been addressed equally.

📵 The social commentary is too heavyhanded. Right from the start, this book hammers us on the head with its agendas. A subtle approach would have felt more realistic. But this just feels over the top.

📵 Further to the above, there’s so much of token rep! It’s not that I don’t appreciate content related to gender/sexual identity, but it should feel like a natural inclusion. Shoving in almost every colour from the rainbow and beyond just makes it seem unrealistic. Further, the Indian rep just annoyed me. What was the point of that character except to be the token Indian with his “Namaste” greeting at the start of the Zoom meetings? And please, an Indian-origin youngster in the USA in 2026 having the name ‘Narada’? Impossible! It’s not a common name even in India. Just because it’s from Indian mythology doesn’t mean it is a common/usable first name.

📵 While the child-of-influencer topic is the main issue, there are several other subplots in the teens’ lives, such as homeschooling constraints, budding relationships, musical aspirations, psychological trauma over witnessing something horrifying, and a lot more. This is even beyond the above-mentioned LGBTQIA+ related topics. Not all of these needed to be included. The approach makes the book feel cluttered.

📵 The unidimensional adult characters – a perennial problem in poorly-written YA books. All the adultsfall in two distinct categories: heinous and selfish or kind-hearted and charitable; no in-betweens. The depiction of parents needed to be much better. Not all influencer parents are wicked IRL. Some genuinely believe they are doing right by their child. At least one of the included parents could have been shown as sympathetic to their child’s struggles, or willing to listen to their complaints.

Overall, I expected far better from this graphic novel. There was a lot of potential in this concept to be a thought-provoking book, but by sticking to such an aggressive YA tone, it will not win over many adult readers, which is sad because this topics needs to be acknowledged by both teens and adults.

Basically, it didn’t work for me as I thought it would. But the second half is somewhat better and the topic is quite important. So you might still like to give it a go just for the intent and the information. Might click more with YA readers.

2.5 stars, rounding up wherever applicable for the intent and for the fact that it aimed at a younger readership.

My thanks to Mad Cave Studios and Maverick for providing the DRC of “I Didn't Ask For This” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.