Cover Story - Rachel Lacey

56%

19.11.25

You know what I said about Lacey's Stars Collide? That. Except this had some minor manufactured angst that got boring fast.

One Perfect Couple - Ruth Ware

56%

29.07.25

I think this book works best if you read it ironically - as a satire with more than one unreliable narrator. Whether that was the author's intention is another matter, but it's dark and fun and gritty and silly and generally so full of contradictions that you just have to go with it.

People Pleaser - Catriona Stewart

47%

29.06.25

Pretty run-of-the-mill 'perils of fame' story, with uninteresting characters and the murderer obvious from their first appearance. 

Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters

67%

06.03.25

Sarah Waters hasn't published a novel for more than 10 years so I was pleased to remember there was one I hadn't read. In her anniversary afterword, she's pretty critical of this, her debut novel,  but I think she's too harsh on herself. From the start, the reader is clearly in the hands of a confident and sophisticated storyteller, a late-20th-century Dickens. Yes, it was a bit messy, and the main character is self-serving to the end - and it wasn't quite as good as The Little Stranger, for example - but it's certainly a good read.

The Comeback - Ella Berman

 57%

18.08.24

Well written and challenging but not ultimately satisfying. It was probably meant to be a realistic portrayal of trauma, but the meandering, unfocused narrative made it hard to understand - or sympathise with - the protagonist's behaviour. Why didn't she even have a therapist when surely that's mandatory in Hollywood? 

Carrie Soto is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

66%

11.03.23

This suffered from the usual TJR problem of under-editing (endless exposition; a predictable romance; another page, another eye roll, another unnecessarily detailed description of what someone is wearing). As usual, it didn't have anything particularly profound to say... but yet, it was a hugely engaging read, despite the tedious tennis. I like the way names pop in and out of the ever-increasing TJR alternate celebrity universe. And the truculent and tenacious Carrie proves you don't need to identify with a character to root for them. Game, set and match!

The View was Exhausting - Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta

 

49%

05.02.22

I don't mind an occasional dive into the lives of the 0.1% and this was a fairly intelligent take on the old celebrity story. It was just a shame it lacked a plot and relatable characters.