“New Skin” by Sarah Wang: Addicted To Not Being Yourself (BOOK REVIEW)
New Skin by Sarah Wang has been following me from the start of the year. Every other BookToker whose recommendations I trust seems to have picked it up, their reviews praising it for its exploration of beauty, identity and cosmetic surgery. Naturally, I couldn't resist. Beauty standards have fascinated me for years […]
“Everything To The Sea” by Alicia Upano: A Love All-Consuming (BOOK REVIEW)
I have always been fascinated by disaster stories. Maybe that's why dystopian and speculative fiction have become some of my favourite genres. There is something strange about watching the world stand on the edge of collapse, about seeing hope and love emerge only when everything else has already fallen apart. I think we're most aware of being alive the moment this might get taken away from us […]
“Monsters” by Claire Dederer: Resisting The Attractive Villain (BOOK REVIEW)
I am not an avid reader of non-fiction, but I have always been fascinated by badness. Cults, serial killers, cannibalism, public disgrace. Not because I admire cruelty, but because I am interested in how society responds to it. Who gets forgiven? Who gets ostracised? Which acts are excused in the name of genius, talent, beauty, or influence? And why? […]
“Laura Clark Is Away From Her Desk” by Helen Russell: Sorry, Be Back Never! (BOOK REVIEW)
I have always been fascinated by the idea of disappearing for a while. Not forever. Just long enough to interrupt the daily rhythm of others and see what happens once I am no longer available to everybody around me. Would people panic? Would they search for me? Or would life continue uninterrupted? […]
“Sail Away Land” by Ben Pester: An Invitation To Get Lost (BOOK REVIEW)
As a reader, I often find myself drifting away while reading. I sit down with a book, turn two pages, and come to realise that although my eyes are moving across the words, my mind has wandered somewhere else – I replay memories from my own life, imagine conversations, think about things that have nothing to do with the story in front of me […]
“Natural Disaster” by Lisa Owens: Motherhood At Its Realest (BOOK REVIEW)
Confession time: I work at a nursery in London. Every week children grow up in real time around me while I also observe the adults that pick them up. Some parents run in late from work, exhausted. Some mothers hold two children at once, push a stroller and talk on the phone at the same time […]
“Kitten” by Stacey Yu: The Purrfection of Living Uncertainly (BOOK REVIEW)
I have been following Stacey Yu online since before she announced her upcoming novel, Kitten, that was given to me in advance by NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton (Sceptre). So reading Kitten was sort of personal to me. This is the first time I have watched a bookish creator I followed shift from reviewing novels to writing one of their own and sharing pieces of the publishing journey […]
“Molka” by Monika Kim: Peeping Tom Finds Femme Fatale (BOOK REVIEW)
I’ve been having an eye on Monika Kim for a while, even though Molka is the first of her books I read. It had been sitting on my TBR since last October because the plot sounded too good to miss out: fast-paced Seoul, spy cameras, sexual assault, women taking justice into their own hands. Yes. Immediate yes […]
“Upward Bound” by Woody Brown: On Challenging Life And Feeling Alive (BOOK REVIEW)
Upward Bound by Woody Brown was one of those titles that immediately caught my eye. This year I told myself I wanted to read more debut authors and pick up stories centred on experiences I haven’t explored much before. This novel ticked both boxes, and I am so glad it found its way to me. Funny, moving, and unexpectedly sharp […]
“Workhorse” by Caroline Palmer: Long Live The Nobody (BOOK REVIEW)
I went into Workhorse fully convinced this was going to be my book. New York, fashion, an ambitious woman clawing her way up in a world built on connections? Let me have a seat. Caroline Palmer had all the ingredients to create a sharp but cautionary tale with a pinch of drama, gloss, and uncomfortable truths. I expected it to read like stepping into The Devil Wears Prada, but from Emily’s diary. […]
“Piñen” by Daniela Catrileo: The Poetics of Generational Pain (BOOK REVIEW)
To be entirely honest, I picked this book because of its curious title. Piñen refers to the dust and grime that sticks to the body. Based on its meaning, I imagined I was in for a tale of sun-soaked nostalgia, teenage boredom, long days outside, melancholy…the sort of atmosphere that could soundtrack a Guitarricadelafuente song. I got something far richer. […]
“Bad Habit” by Alana S. Portero: In Between Self-Acceptance And Self-Erasure (BOOK REVIEW)
I finally got around to reading Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero, which is funny because I bought my copy nearly a year ago for two resons: 1) Dua Lipa has read it, and 2) the cover. They say never judge a book by its cover. I say always pick one because of it. I ended up reading Bad Habit earlier this April while I was in Madrid […]
“Transcription” by Ben Lerner: The Burden To Memorise (BOOK REVIEW)
I picked up Transcription because of the clever way it was presented to me. A minimalistic cover, and a QR code on the very first page leading to a transcript from Ben Lerner himself, reflecting on the novel, its themes, and why he wrote it. It felt intentional […]
“As If” by Isabel Waidner: I Want Your Life (BOOK REVIEW)
The first thing that pulled me into the world of As If was the cover: a forlorn-looking cafeteria that evokes familiarity, loneliness and the idea of being worn down. It’s a building you’ve passed a hundred times on the street without noticing or stepping a foot inside […]
“Everything I Know About Love” by Dolly Alderton: Love Letter To Your Twenties (BOOK REVIEW)
If I got a pound for every time I laughed out loud while reading Dolly Alderton on the tube, I wouldn’t be a millionaire, but I’d be a rich man nonetheless. This book is that funny, that sharp, and that alive. What pulled me in wasn’t just Alderton’s voice (which I find instantly addictive), but her ability to recount […]
“Waking Romeo” by Kathryn Barker: Losing The Love of Your Life (BOOK REVIEW)
I am nothing but an open book. Give me a stunning cover and a bold concept, and I will simply fold. Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker caught my eye immediately – a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, wrapped in sci-fi, time travel, and post-apocalyptic chaos? Say less. Reading it felt like a return to a former version of myself[…]
“Main Characters” by Bobby Palmer: Fall In Love With Falling In Love (BOOK REVIEW)
In 2026, I cried because of a man. That man is called Bobby Palmer. I rarely pick up a book because of its blurb, but Main Charactersby Bobby Palmer was the exception: “This is a love story, told by everyone but the main characters. Clara and Seb are about to fall in love. They don’t know it yet. But everybody else does.” .[…]
“Dandelion Is Dead” by Rosie Storey: It Is Never Too Late To Be Alive (BOOK REVIEW)
I am a sucker for a beautiful book cover, and when it looks like a literal piece of art, there is simply no universe in which I am not requesting it. Enter Dandelion Is Dead by Rosie Storey – immediate yes, immediate intrigue, immediate “this is going to hurt me, isn’t it?” […]
“Bright Young Women” by Jessica Knoll: Charms Can’t Kill, Can They? (BOOK REVIEW)
Every year after Halloween I slip into a very specific mood: thrillers, crime stories, and anything that lets me sit with fear and unresolved rage. 2025 was no different. It was time I picked up Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll – a book that’s been haunting my TBR for nearly two years. […]
“Butter” by Asako Yuzuki: To Conform is To Self-Murder (BOOK REVIEW)
I finally worked my way through "Butter" by Asako Yuzuki: a book I was honestly a little scared to pick up. The reviews I read were all collectively agreeing that this is a slow, boring read where the second half of the novel could have been scrapped altogether. […]