Role Model by Elle McNicoll

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✦ BLURB ✦

Aeriel Sharpe doesn't want to be anyone's role model. But, when her mother is elected to be the most important politician in the country (yes, that one), she is thrust into the spotlight. With the world's eyes on her, friends don't seem that friendly and she feels trapped by everyone's expectations.

They want her to be the voice of every autistic teenager, but Aeriel must find a way to speak for herself...

It's not easy being thirteen... and it's even harder when you're the most famous teenager in the country

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📣 They want her to speak for everyone. She just wants to be heard.

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PRE-READING THOUGHTS
Elle McNicoll is an auto-read author for me. Her characters are always so vividly drawn and emotionally grounded, and she has this uncanny knack for making you feel both furious and uplifted at the same time. With Role Model, the premise alone had me bracing myself: a neurodivergent teen pushed into the spotlight by political machinery? That’s either going to break your heart or fuel your fire. Or both.

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POST-READING REFLECTIONS
As I thought...
Aeriel is such a compelling narrator — smart, sensitive, and sick to death of being talked about instead of to. The way she navigates friendship shifts, media scrutiny, and family strain is deeply believable and often painful. McNicoll doesn't sugar-coat the pressure autistic teens can face - especially when the world decides to hold them up as symbols instead of listening to them as people.

It surprised me by...
how much the novel captured that specific pressure of public representation - of being a child expected to act like an adult, a role model, a brand. Aeriel's story feels grounded in realism but also politically sharp, showing how easily even well-meaning adults (ahem, her mother) can make devastating choices when they forget their child is a child first. I found myself genuinely enraged on her behalf more than once. cough:snowboardingscene:cough

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✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

Book: A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll — of course!

TV/Movie: The Miseducation of Cameron Post — not a perfect match in subject, but similarly full of controlled, contained rage and emotional complexity.

✦ MUSIC PAIRING ✦

Because sometimes, the heart of a story plays out like a song.

🎵 Featured Song: “Brutal” by Olivia Rodrigo — because being a teenage girl is hard enough without being forced into a metaphor.

🎶 Vibe Album: Blue Weekend by Wolf Alice — a rollercoaster of vulnerability and electric tension.

🎧 Artist Recommendation: Girl in Red — introspective, fierce, and honest.

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✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

🎨 Colour Palette: navy blue, blush pink, and tabloid yellow

🎬 Soundtrack: the hum of cameras, the pop of press flashes, the echo of things unsaid

🌸 Season: spring — not soft or pastel, but stormy and full of emotional pollen

😤 Mood: exhausted, overwhelmed, a little angry — but not broken

👃 Scent: lavender and hairspray and too-warm TV studio lights

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★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

Page of Swords - Tarot of the 78 Doors

This Page is smart, curious, and still learning to wield her intelligence to its full effect. This is a lesson Aeriel needs to learn during her story, and one that will serve her well as she grows up.

Role Model publishes on the 4th of September, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.