Issues leveling up certain locations and having them join the network (Potential Spoilers)

I'm not sure if the game is buggy, but I haven't been able to level up a few of these people, not sure if progression is story related, but I'm in episode 8(I think) and try as I might, delivering things to both the 'Novelist's Son' and the 'First Prepper' seems to be fruitless in so far as progressing them to their level required to get them to join the network. Is anyone else having this issue? The likes seem to be counted, but the 5 star graph doesn't seem to reflect the added likes :(

I found that going and resting in the private rooms between handing in deliveries for those particular characters (and one other in the region I won’t name, but you will know when you find them) and they would send me an email that I’d then read and then the next deliveries would move it forward a little bit more. So just repeat that process a few times and it will move forward. Also, I believe the amount of likes received from any deliveries/lost cargo you send their way will be applied retroactively to the star levels when you get them past those thresholds, so don’t feel like you can’t drop off a bit more than you need between rests.

Hope that helps :)