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Indi Raye is Totally Faking It: A hilarious teen diary novel about besties, crushes and cringes!
For fans of GEEK GIRL and SUPER AWKWARD comes a hilarious new teen series from CBBC presenter and Capital DJ, Lauren Layfield.
Meet Indi. She's new to Manchester with approximately zero friends. Unless you count Gary, who, unfortunately, is a gecko.
If Indi's going to find some real mates - and maybe even a boyfriend - she's going to have to FAKE IT.
How else is she going to survive her first job in a chippy, which is anything but glam vibes? And how on earth will she attract school crush Johnny Hotpants while smelling like a haddock in a hairnet?
Will Indi ever get her first kiss? Will she accept her mum's new boyfriend (yuck)? And will she EVER learn that just being yourself is the most important thing of all?
A HILARIOUS new teen diary series about trying to be cool when you just want to eat chicken nuggets and chat to your pet lizard.
Meet Indi. She's new to Manchester with approximately zero friends. Unless you count Gary, who, unfortunately, is a gecko.
If Indi's going to find some real mates - and maybe even a boyfriend - she's going to have to FAKE IT.
How else is she going to survive her first job in a chippy, which is anything but glam vibes? And how on earth will she attract school crush Johnny Hotpants while smelling like a haddock in a hairnet?
Will Indi ever get her first kiss? Will she accept her mum's new boyfriend (yuck)? And will she EVER learn that just being yourself is the most important thing of all?
A HILARIOUS new teen diary series about trying to be cool when you just want to eat chicken nuggets and chat to your pet lizard.
281 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 31, 2023
12 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 30, 2024
I really enjoyed this! It’s very similar to Lottie Brooks as they are both teen diary series, so if you enjoyed this I’d recommend Lottie Brooks (or if you enjoyed LB I’d recommend this). I think my favourite character was Reece because he stayed nice throughout the whole book and was really supportive of Indi. The female friendship in this book is SO good, and being the same age as Indi I can say that this is partly relatable (I’m not really like Indi, but I can relate to some of her problems). I would really recommend picking this up!!
July 19, 2024
I wasn't expecting much from this and it was RIDICULOUS but I loved it regardless. As a teenager I think I would have found it super cringey but as an adult it was just jokes and very sweet. Also Gary is the best gecko ever.
August 31, 2023
Main character Indi has just moved to Manchester and is about to start all over again, which means no friends, no familiar places, nothing. Sure, she has her first job in a chippy to set some routine, but who’s going to want to hang out with her—and how will she get her first kiss—when she smells like a chip shop? With a plan to make friends and possibly even a boyfriend, Indi feels like she only has one option when it comes down to it: fake it. But with faking it comes a whole lot of other problems Indi’s only just realising.
Told in diary entries that let us into Indi’s world in hour and day slivers, we see her journey into herself through bedroom dancing, making friends, talking to her pet gecko Gary (and maybe pretending he can sort-of reply) and Parental issues. Faking being someone she’s not is a tough task, and on top of her Mum’s new boyfriend in her life, comical blunders and parties, she’s got her hands full. Through it all, Indi grows into not who she thinks she should be, but who she really is. And she’s finding that maybe that’s not so scary after all when you’ve got the right people around you.
Overall, Indi Raye Is Totally Faking It was hilarious, relatable and whip-smart, and I devoured it in just a few hours, smiling, laughing, and rooting for Indi the whole way. I loved how Lauren wrote Indi as this deeply feeling, wise and headstrong girl, someone teen girls will look to and see themselves in. The whole way through I was thinking—and sure that—this story is going to be the Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging for a new generation. There must be something in the air, because this is the third five star book (in a row) I’ve read—and you need to read it, too.
Told in diary entries that let us into Indi’s world in hour and day slivers, we see her journey into herself through bedroom dancing, making friends, talking to her pet gecko Gary (and maybe pretending he can sort-of reply) and Parental issues. Faking being someone she’s not is a tough task, and on top of her Mum’s new boyfriend in her life, comical blunders and parties, she’s got her hands full. Through it all, Indi grows into not who she thinks she should be, but who she really is. And she’s finding that maybe that’s not so scary after all when you’ve got the right people around you.
Overall, Indi Raye Is Totally Faking It was hilarious, relatable and whip-smart, and I devoured it in just a few hours, smiling, laughing, and rooting for Indi the whole way. I loved how Lauren wrote Indi as this deeply feeling, wise and headstrong girl, someone teen girls will look to and see themselves in. The whole way through I was thinking—and sure that—this story is going to be the Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging for a new generation. There must be something in the air, because this is the third five star book (in a row) I’ve read—and you need to read it, too.
October 25, 2023
When her parents split up, Indi Raye moves to Manchester with her Mum into a small, damp flat in a high rise. Indi is worried that she will never make friends or find a boyfriend if they know that truth about her less-than-glamorous life, so she decides to lie about it all - fake it till you make it. But Indi's lies start to take over and it becomes increasingly difficult to tell the truth.
An entertaining, diary-style, voice-driven novel. Indi is super annoying, but I appreciated the non-London centric story. Gary the Gecko was the best character...obvs.
(Philosophical question...did teen girls ever stuff their bra with toilet paper before YA authors suggested the idea? And did YA authors just get the idea from the YA authors they used to read as teenagers? Is this all Judy Blume's fault?)
An entertaining, diary-style, voice-driven novel. Indi is super annoying, but I appreciated the non-London centric story. Gary the Gecko was the best character...obvs.
(Philosophical question...did teen girls ever stuff their bra with toilet paper before YA authors suggested the idea? And did YA authors just get the idea from the YA authors they used to read as teenagers? Is this all Judy Blume's fault?)
August 30, 2023
I have really enjoyed reading this book at the end of the summer holiday. Its fun and relatable and super easy to get caught up in and spend ages reading it. I would really like to be friends with Indi and you cant help but love her in this story. The theme of being true to yourself and loving yourself are super relevant for me and my friends and I would absolutely recommend this book to them. I'd like to know more about Indi as she grows up.
January 14, 2024
Lauren Layfield’s debut funny coming-of-age novel for readers aged 11+ has some amusing moments (notably Indi’s imagined conversations with Gary the lizard) but I found Indi to be both a very unsympathetic character and also written in such a way that I didn’t believe in her lack of emotional depth or self-awareness. Indi does grow in the final quarter of the book when she is called out on bad behaviour, but for me it was too little, too late.
November 8, 2023
its a no from me ...
September 21, 2024
This book is amazing, when I ended it I was so upset, spoiler alert ‼️: Indi raye is a physical liar
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 20, 2025
lowkey forgot how many times i have reread this
October 9, 2023
3⭐️
Indi Raye, nearly fourteen, has just moved into a tiny flat in Manchester with her mum after her parents split up. New in town and faced with the daunting task of starting school, trying to fit in and making friends, Indi resorts to telling a few little lies to make herself sound more interesting.
The book cover may make you believe these lies lead to Indi completely reinventing herself but that is somewhat misleading. She does throw in some lies here and there to hide her actual situation in life and it does cause problems with her friends but I feel like the description on the cover gives the wrong impression.
The diary entry style narrative, the characters and the story reminded me of some of the books I used to read in my teens, so it held a certain nostalgic element. Indi's thoughts and emotions, her need to fit in at whatever cost and her naivety at hoping her parents will get back together are conveyed really well. Though the characters were all annoying except for Reece, they were portrayed authentically.
It's nothing special and feels like it just follows a much recycled template that you've probably encountered in many other books and movies. A quick light read, entertaining enough; something I'd categorise as lower YA maybe.
Indi Raye, nearly fourteen, has just moved into a tiny flat in Manchester with her mum after her parents split up. New in town and faced with the daunting task of starting school, trying to fit in and making friends, Indi resorts to telling a few little lies to make herself sound more interesting.
The book cover may make you believe these lies lead to Indi completely reinventing herself but that is somewhat misleading. She does throw in some lies here and there to hide her actual situation in life and it does cause problems with her friends but I feel like the description on the cover gives the wrong impression.
The diary entry style narrative, the characters and the story reminded me of some of the books I used to read in my teens, so it held a certain nostalgic element. Indi's thoughts and emotions, her need to fit in at whatever cost and her naivety at hoping her parents will get back together are conveyed really well. Though the characters were all annoying except for Reece, they were portrayed authentically.
It's nothing special and feels like it just follows a much recycled template that you've probably encountered in many other books and movies. A quick light read, entertaining enough; something I'd categorise as lower YA maybe.
January 9, 2024
*I read the paperback version of this book but that edition hasn’t been uploaded yet.*
I was in a bookshop when I saw the cover of the book and I was immediately interested.
Then I read the blurb and knew that I needed to add it to my collection.
Firstly I need to say how much I love Indi’s character.
She’s very relatable. She’s just a girl trying to navigate a journey of self discovery on top of the recent changes in her life after her parents split up.
A journey that so many young people go through but in my opinion still isn’t discussed realistically enough even in 2024!
The way Lauren writes about the subject is so refreshing.
When things go wrong/get hard in indi’s life it’s not sugarcoated and you then read as indi tries to sort things out.
She makes mistakes, does silly things to try and fit in etc.
Just like most teenagers in her situation do.
This story is funny, raw and interesting.
If what I’ve described sounds interesting to you I would definitely recommend checking this one out.
Thanks for a really nice book Lauren.
I look forward to knowing what Indi gets up to next when the time comes.
I was in a bookshop when I saw the cover of the book and I was immediately interested.
Then I read the blurb and knew that I needed to add it to my collection.
Firstly I need to say how much I love Indi’s character.
She’s very relatable. She’s just a girl trying to navigate a journey of self discovery on top of the recent changes in her life after her parents split up.
A journey that so many young people go through but in my opinion still isn’t discussed realistically enough even in 2024!
The way Lauren writes about the subject is so refreshing.
When things go wrong/get hard in indi’s life it’s not sugarcoated and you then read as indi tries to sort things out.
She makes mistakes, does silly things to try and fit in etc.
Just like most teenagers in her situation do.
This story is funny, raw and interesting.
If what I’ve described sounds interesting to you I would definitely recommend checking this one out.
Thanks for a really nice book Lauren.
I look forward to knowing what Indi gets up to next when the time comes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews