Olivia Muenter Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Olivia Muenter is a digital content creator and writer who is a specialist in lifestyle content, beauty, and fashion. Olivia went to the University of Florida, and in 2015, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism. She began working as a Beauty and fashion writer while she was at Bustle, where she spent at least half a decade. During her time there, she rose through the ranks to become senior beauty and fashion editor. Over her long career, her work has been featured in several prestigious publications. Places where Olivia’s work has been featured include Brides, Glamour, Upworthy, Woman’s Day, Health, Refinery29, Apartment Therapy, and Bustle. Her work can also be found in her weekly newsletter, on Instagram, and all over the web, where she shares things about her reading, writing, feelings, and intentional life. For freelancers, she runs the ZERO TO FREELANCE course, where she teaches aspiring freelancers how to make it big. When she is not working, she can be found working on her old house or watching bad TV.

Like many novelists, Olivia Muenter was always deep into her genre way before she started writing. As a person interested in larger societal themes and issues, since these scare her the most, she found that the thriller genre was the best way to write about them. During her teenage years and even in her twenties, she loved to read thriller fiction and is a number one fan of Ashley Audrain, the Canadian author of mystery thrillers. Muenter finds a lot of inspiration from her work and has reread her novel The Push at least three times since she cannot get enough of its dark themes. Olivia is also a huge fan of mystery and romance novelist Ashley Winstead, who she believes is one of the best at penning propulsive thrillers. Another novelist who has been a significant influence is Clemence Michallon, whose novel Quiet Tenant blew her away.

Olivia Muenter usually writes from a part of her ancient house she and her husband love to call the writing cottage. When they moved into the house, it had been part garden shed, part haunted tiny home, which they spent months renovating before they made it into a writing nook. Muenter usually starts her day by reading, which gets her creative juices flowing. After reading, she has breakfast and coffee before she heads into her nook. On an ideal day, she will do 2-3 hours of focused work in research, writing, planning, and revising before calling it a day. Once she is done writing, she usually engages in light exercise before she proceeds to her other day-to-day tasks. As a freelance editor and writer, she still works with publications providing perspectives on beauty and fashion from her many years of experience in the industry.

When it came to the inspiration for her debut novel, Such a Bad Influence, it all came from a time when she was obsessed with trying to control what people thought of her on the interwebs. Reflecting on that time and her need for validation, she started thinking of the many child influencers with thousands, if not millions, of followers. Questions such as how they were managing their need for validation and if they were OK, were what drove the writing of her debut work.

Olivia Muenter published Such a Bad Influence, her debut in 2024. It is a work in which she asks the question of what happens when a child social media influencer goes missing. It introduces Hazel Davis, whose career has stalled and who now hates living in the shadow of her younger sister in a city she hates. Evie, her sister, gained popularity when one of the family’s YouTube videos went viral when she was just five years old. Spotlight-averse and ten years older than Evelyn, Hazel never got into the family business and made her way, even though she is now struggling to afford her apartment. Evelyn is an eighteen-year-old influencer with a very bright future, but Hazel remains very protective of her and hates how everyone seems to want a piece of her. When she goes missing one day while live streaming, Hazel hopes that her worst dreams will not be proven right. All over the internet, theories about her disappearance propagate, inspiring podcast episodes, Reddit threats, and hashtags. Meanwhile, Hazel goes out full steam and dives into the darkest recesses of her sister’s world to find the truth. After all, no one knows her sister better than she does.