Monday, 3 August 2026

Review: I Wrote This For Attention by Lukas Gage

 

Publication Date: October 2025

Source: Borrowed from library

Blurb:      [ Goodreads ]

Lukas Gage was having one of the shittiest weeks of his life. His beloved grandmother was dying. And Lukas was sitting next to his father, a man who had been mostly absent in his son’s childhood—except when talking to Lukas about tits because he loved nothing more than tits, and listening to Howard Stern on the radio. They were across the street from a building in Century City, where months prior, Lukas had to grapple with the dissolution of his marriage. This week had it all: death, divorce, and daddy issues.

In that room, Lukas did the smartest thing anyone can do in a crisis: doom scroll to see what random people on the internet were saying about him. People were calling him an attention whore—and they were absolutely right. Lukas Gage was no stranger to going viral. He loved attention. As a toddler, he set his room on fire. As a child, he hugged and flirted with women at Hooters to his father’s delight. As a teen, he stole handles of alcohol and cherry cough syrup. He had sex at a restroom in Chili’s, and fell hopelessly in love with a girl who wore an ankle monitor. He became an actor and filmed that scene in White Lotus (if you know, you know). Lukas was scared of attention and yet he craved it more than anything in the world.

I Wrote This for Attention is a riveting, exquisite memoir full of heart that chronicles Lukas’s coming of age in the haunting underbelly of San Diego and clawing his way to stardom.

As someone who loves a celebrity autobiography or memoir, when I heard about this one I knew I wanted to read it. I haven't had the most interactions with Lukas Gage - I mean I have seen The White Lotus and heard about his marriage which Kim Kardashian officiated- but asides from that I didn't really know much about him. 

Monday, 27 July 2026

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t Read

 Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

I am so guilty of this one - buying or renting out books that I am desperate to read at the time and then for some reason leaving them to gather dust on my shelf! Hopefully this will be the push to actually read these books soon..


1) Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

This book is EVERYWHERE at the moment and I requested it immediately after reading the blurb..but I still have not read it. I will hopefully be reading it very soon.

2) Half His Age by Jeannette McCurdy

After reading I'm Glad My Mom Died, I knew I would read her next book and to find out it was a fiction title - I needed it! I added it to my most anticipated books of the year and even got it as a christmas present..have I read it yet? No. 

Wednesday, 15 July 2026

Review: Swept Away by Beth O'Leary

 

Publication Date: April 2025

Source: Borrowed from library

Blurb:       [ Goodreads ]

Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun with a stranger. She deserves one night for herself, doesn't she?
Zeke is looking for love. But for one night with a woman like Lexi, he'll break his rules . . .
Sparks fly at the pub, one passionate kiss leads to another and they end up stumbling home to the marina together.

The next morning, hungover and shaken by an amazing night together, Lexi is more than ready for Zeke to leave. There's just one small problem . . . the houseboat they stayed on has been swept out to sea.
As their supplies start to run dangerously low, and the waves pick up, Zeke and Lexi soon realise there's much more on the line than their new relationship.

How long can they really survive on a drifting houseboat in the North Sea? Will search and rescue find them? And who will they be if they both make it back to dry land?

As someone who is a big fan of Beth O'Leary's books, The Switch and The Flatshare are two books I constantly recommend and rave about, this one just didn't hit the same spot. I still flew through it in a few days and enjoyed it but it felt a little flat to me. 

Monday, 13 July 2026

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want to Read by New to Me Authors

 Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This weeks theme is "Books I Want to Read by New to Me Authors ". 

I took this theme to mean, for me, authors I have not read books by at all. So I have included both more recent titles and some real throw backs that I'm almost scared to admit I have not read - Enjoy! 

1) Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S King 


Blurb: 

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.
 
So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?

Friday, 10 July 2026

Review: The Truth About Ruby Cooper by Liz Nugent

 

Publication Date: March 2026

Publisher: Penguin Books

Blurb:   [Goodreads]

If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of it would have happened.

Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close-knit church community in Boston. But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that causes her family’s world to implode.

Across decades, the fallout leaves a wake of destruction behind Ruby in Dublin and Erin in Boston.
Not that Ruby wants to think about the past.
But it can’t stay a secret forever.

Liz Nugent has done it again and proven herself as one of my all time favourite authors. I don't know how she comes up with the most insane, gripping and unforgettable books each and every time. This was no exception. 

The book centers around two sisters Ruby and Erin. Ruby has always felt she lived life in Erin's shadow, never as pretty, clever or interesting as her. Then something life changing happens to them and their family which divides them and send their lives on a ricochet path for the rest of their days. 

Review: Apocalypse Cow by O.R Sorrell

 

Publication Date: June 2024

Publisher: Guppy Books

Blurb: [ Goodreads ]

Mel loves Sasha and dreams of a day that Sasha might reciprocate her feelings (even though she's straight) - so the fact that it's thirty degrees outside in January and hasn't rained for a year simply passes her by.

Mel is just about coping with being the only 'out' lesbian in school and all the sniping that Janis and Ella aim her way, as well as her dreary Saturday job with the stupidly posh Dorian... But when domestic animals suddenly lethally turn on the human race, and Mel finds herself stuck in a mansion with Dorian and Ella, her love-life suddenly turns on its head in the most extraordinary way.

This might be both one of my most unexpected reads and favourite books of the year! 

An apocalypse caused by human pollution and climate change causes animals to lash out, mutate and take over the city. From the first page I was absolutely hooked. If you know anything about me, I love to watch those films that are so crazy and out there - think along the lines of "Zombeavers" or "Sharknado". This was absolutely my perfect cup of tea. 

Tuesday, 30 June 2026

Review: Girl Hearts Girl by Lucy Sutcliffe

 

Publication Date: June 2016

Publisher: Scholastic

Blurb:  [ Goodreads ]

An inspiring, uplifting and sympathetic story about sexuality and self-acceptance, Lucy Sutcliffe's debut memoir is a personal and moving coming out story. In 2010, at seventeen, Lucy Sutcliffe began an online friendship with Kaelyn, a young veterinary student from Michigan. Within months, they began a long distance relationship, finally meeting in the summer of 2011. Lucy's video montage of their first week spent together in Saint Kitts, which she posted to the couple's YouTube channel, was the first in a series of films documenting their long-distance relationship. 

Funny, tender and candid, the films attracted them a vast online following. Now, for the first time, Lucy's writing about the incredible personal journey she's been on; from never quite wanting the fairy-tale of Prince Charming to realising she was gay at the age of 14, through three years of self-denial to finally coming out to friends and family, to meeting her American girlfriend Kaelyn.

As June is pride month, I spent the month reading a lot of LGBTQ+ book. This book had been on my physical TBR since it came out 10 years ago. That is way too long to have a book on my shelf, granted I probably have older ones, so I knew I wanted to read this autobiography. 

Lucy Sutcliffe was a prominent UK Youtuber at the time of publication who mostly shared her relationship with her long distance partner Kaelyn on their channel Lucy & Kaelyn. I didn't follow them at the time so going into the book I didn't know much about them, and unfortunately, I sort of felt the same finishing the book.