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Gold Rush
We give celebrities a power they don’t deserve. Power they haven’t earned. What happens when they exploit it?
Imagine you’ve just spent the night with the most famous man on the planet. Except you don’t quite remember it. That is what happens to Rose, a twenty-something woman who seemingly has everything going for her.
Working for one of the most powerful publishers in the country, Rose spends her days doing PR for glossy magazines. There are tedious spreadsheets, fashion divas, and many A-list parties. It’s at one of those parties where she meets Milo Jax, the world-famous, globally adored, British pop sensation. An unlikely flirtation turns into an even more unlikely evening and then Rose wakes up, unable to piece it all together. What happens next changes everything.
Gold Rush is a pre-MeToo story about consent, celebrity culture, and trying to figure out where you fit in a world that consistently devalues and disrespects women’s bodies.
Imagine you’ve just spent the night with the most famous man on the planet. Except you don’t quite remember it. That is what happens to Rose, a twenty-something woman who seemingly has everything going for her.
Working for one of the most powerful publishers in the country, Rose spends her days doing PR for glossy magazines. There are tedious spreadsheets, fashion divas, and many A-list parties. It’s at one of those parties where she meets Milo Jax, the world-famous, globally adored, British pop sensation. An unlikely flirtation turns into an even more unlikely evening and then Rose wakes up, unable to piece it all together. What happens next changes everything.
Gold Rush is a pre-MeToo story about consent, celebrity culture, and trying to figure out where you fit in a world that consistently devalues and disrespects women’s bodies.
385 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 18, 2024
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November 24, 2024
I’d say that if you truly want to know me, all you have to do is think of that creepy clown from IT luring children into the sewers with nothing but a couple of fucking balloons except my clown is the publishing industry and my balloons are pretty covers. I am superficial like that and yet, my superficiality doesn’t even come close to matching this novel’s shallow attempt at unravelling a topic as timely, important, and affecting as sexual abuse and the entertainment industry’s decade-long involvement in it.
Because I know there are enough fools out there who would confuse my negative rating of this novel with a negative opinion of the themes themselves, I want to clarify: I support the #metoo movement though I’m aware of its mistakes, I will always rather believe an SA survivor than accused perpetrators, and, regarding the topic of sexual abuse, you can definitely miss me with the “innocent until proven guilty” bs.
Now that is out of the way, I gotta say that I have no idea why this book has come out now, in 2024, two to three years after the #metoo movement has gloriously failed to achieve most of the things it set out to do. The whole novel felt so stale, so tired, it doesn’t contribute anything new to the picture, its writing is unadventurous, undaring, and weak, and though it tries hard, it comes across as one-dimensional and flat, conveying its ambitious message linking the blackout sex rape of a twenty-something PR specialist by the most famous man on the planet to celebrity culture, sexism, and consent in a way that is neither smart nor entertaining.
The novel feels TIRED. Yes, it’s set in 2017, just shortly before the NYT Weinstein article broke, yes, as a society we still place too much faith in celebrities and some of us, after all this time, find a pathological sort of joy in maintaining parasocial relationships with celebrities who literally couldn’t care less, but this novel came out right in the middle of the blockout 2024 movement that saw millions of everyday social media users block celebrities over their silence on Gaza and Palestine, and as such, it didn’t add anything to my already disillusioned view of the entertainment industry’s depravity. Yeah, Hollywood is a shithole and so is the entire entertainment industry, tell me something I don’t know 🙄
To help create a glitz and glamour world believable enough for our main character to rub shoulders with famous stars, A-list celebrities, gossips, and rumour treadmills, the novel is set in the real world, with enough tired references to “Leonardo DiCaprio”, “Martin Scorsese” and “Lord of the Rings” to give it that “showbiz feel”.
Setting a novel in the real-world entertainment industry without having it come across as goofy is hard enough; creating a fictitious world-famous pop star so famous, that Rose can’t go anywhere without being confronted with his face or his music, is even harder. It’s ridiculously hard. It’s difficult enough in real life to wrap your head around the fact that people with that much money and fame exist and that they are being lusted after. Even more difficult to create a character who on the page is supposed to exude the same draw and irresistible je-ne-sais-quoi as a real-life celebrity.
It’s okay, you can say Orlando Bloom, we can all do the math. 🙄 Where at times, some actors’ names are explicitly mentioned, at other times, their referencing seems to remain deliberately opaque for reasons I can’t make sense of. I cannot say what irritated me more: the clumsy name-dropping or the half-arsed attempt at lending Rose’s workplace and the novel’s entire setting a shred of credibility.
There are other “thinly veiled” references the novel doesn’t have the guts to attribute to a named person, such as:
This passage so perfectly encapsulates what annoyed me about the novel’s creation of a celebrity-centered fictional space. The famous interviewee is referred to only by his pronouns, the room gasping “in unison” when Minnie says “the name” faker than fake. Why you can’t even address 34-times convicted felon Donald Trump with his given name but instead avoid it as if you were doing the limbo and his name was the low bar you are not allowed to touch, is beyond me.
In general, the entire novel reads so cheaply not only because of the writing but because of how the third-person narration is handled. Nothing is left to the imagination, everything is either explained or over-explained, readers are spoon-fed, and not an ounce of polysemy can be found throughout the entire text.
The writing doesn’t possess even an ounce of finesse. It’s boring, tepid, and uninspired. On top of that, for being a novel so intent on firing on all feminist cylinders, it uses Rose’s best friend Luce, who the novel reminds us of on every third page, is unfairly pretty, unbelievably gorgeous and a true men’s magnet, as nothing but a foil to help characterise Rose as the ugly duckling who never gets any recognition and who, with her limp hair, short stature, and whatever else she doesn’t like about her body, spends her time constantly comparing herself to her when they’re out together.
The novel isn’t clever enough to turn Rose’s feelings of inadequacy into a silent but knowing nod to the perfidiousness of patriarchy, but rather into a SCREAM and WHISTLE, banging you over the head with its “ to all female readers who ever felt jealous of another woman’s beauty: you’re not alone!! It’s the beauty industry’s, but mostly men’s, fault you are comparing yourself to other women in the first place!! ” message.
Finally, I hate the one-dimensional the novel takes on the interconnectedness of sex, gender, power, abuse, and who is usually believed and who isn’t.
In the middle of it all, Rose, through her work, befriends a social media influencer about her age. The model later confesses that it’s sooooo hard being an influencer, that there are hate forums entirely dedicated to her, that her relationship with her boyfriend is subjected to intense scrutiny, yada yada. Rose and readers are presented with a string of stuff on why she (and we) should feel sorry for this poor woman’s life being so extraordinarily hard. What rubs me the wrong way is how, yes, we are supposed to feel sorry for the model because boohoo, even rich women suffer from the patriarchal order, but the way her character is presented never once takes an intersectional approach.
That there’s a world of difference in how a rich, white woman and a poor, white woman are conceived by and able to make their living in a patriarchal society is brushed aside. Not to mention the fact that race, bodily and mental health, ethnicity, or religion, as immensely important factors determining the social pecking order for women, are never once mentioned. Like yeah, she is a woman, so I can sympathise with her for being subject to misogyny like any other woman on this planet, but why the fuck I should feel sorry for a multi-millionaire is beyond me. For a novel so bent on showing the entertainment industry’s toxic side, it sure does a hell of a lot of nothing taking into account the possibilities available to über rich women in the industry compared to women working the low-level jobs.
There are more things I could mention, more stuff to list that annoyed me, but it’s nearing my bedtime, I still haven’t washed my face, and I want to start watching a new series. All in all, “Gold Rush” feels stale, it’s uninspired, it’s utterly forgettable, and its writing makes its subject matter come across as the timid voice of a dying person croaking their last hoorah.
🎬 Instead of reading this, watch that: She Said (2022)
ORIGINAL REVIEW: thank fuck I’m done with this
Because I know there are enough fools out there who would confuse my negative rating of this novel with a negative opinion of the themes themselves, I want to clarify: I support the #metoo movement though I’m aware of its mistakes, I will always rather believe an SA survivor than accused perpetrators, and, regarding the topic of sexual abuse, you can definitely miss me with the “innocent until proven guilty” bs.
Now that is out of the way, I gotta say that I have no idea why this book has come out now, in 2024, two to three years after the #metoo movement has gloriously failed to achieve most of the things it set out to do. The whole novel felt so stale, so tired, it doesn’t contribute anything new to the picture, its writing is unadventurous, undaring, and weak, and though it tries hard, it comes across as one-dimensional and flat, conveying its ambitious message linking the blackout sex rape of a twenty-something PR specialist by the most famous man on the planet to celebrity culture, sexism, and consent in a way that is neither smart nor entertaining.
The novel feels TIRED. Yes, it’s set in 2017, just shortly before the NYT Weinstein article broke, yes, as a society we still place too much faith in celebrities and some of us, after all this time, find a pathological sort of joy in maintaining parasocial relationships with celebrities who literally couldn’t care less, but this novel came out right in the middle of the blockout 2024 movement that saw millions of everyday social media users block celebrities over their silence on Gaza and Palestine, and as such, it didn’t add anything to my already disillusioned view of the entertainment industry’s depravity. Yeah, Hollywood is a shithole and so is the entire entertainment industry, tell me something I don’t know 🙄
To help create a glitz and glamour world believable enough for our main character to rub shoulders with famous stars, A-list celebrities, gossips, and rumour treadmills, the novel is set in the real world, with enough tired references to “Leonardo DiCaprio”, “Martin Scorsese” and “Lord of the Rings” to give it that “showbiz feel”.
Setting a novel in the real-world entertainment industry without having it come across as goofy is hard enough; creating a fictitious world-famous pop star so famous, that Rose can’t go anywhere without being confronted with his face or his music, is even harder. It’s ridiculously hard. It’s difficult enough in real life to wrap your head around the fact that people with that much money and fame exist and that they are being lusted after. Even more difficult to create a character who on the page is supposed to exude the same draw and irresistible je-ne-sais-quoi as a real-life celebrity.
Meanwhile, Oliver was now negotiating with a British actor Rose vaguely recognised from a Lord of the Rings film. Evidently, he hadn’t done the red carpet and had just arrived to present the award to the best newcomer in film, which was going to a teenage girl who’d been cast in a Tarantino flick.
It’s okay, you can say Orlando Bloom, we can all do the math. 🙄 Where at times, some actors’ names are explicitly mentioned, at other times, their referencing seems to remain deliberately opaque for reasons I can’t make sense of. I cannot say what irritated me more: the clumsy name-dropping or the half-arsed attempt at lending Rose’s workplace and the novel’s entire setting a shred of credibility.
There are other “thinly veiled” references the novel doesn’t have the guts to attribute to a named person, such as:
„Who’s the interview with?’ asked Annabelle.
Minnie said the name and the room gasped in unison. ‘I know. It’s brilliant they landed him on the cover in the first place. But he got drunk in the interview and said something slightly questionable about his much younger female co-star. So … we’re in discussions with lawyers.’
‘At least he didn’t say he wanted to grab her by the pussy,’ Oliver sniggered.
Rose’s body clenched at the word.
‘No,’ sighed Minnie. ‘Nothing quite as vile as the current leader of the free world, thankfully.’
This passage so perfectly encapsulates what annoyed me about the novel’s creation of a celebrity-centered fictional space. The famous interviewee is referred to only by his pronouns, the room gasping “in unison” when Minnie says “the name” faker than fake. Why you can’t even address 34-times convicted felon Donald Trump with his given name but instead avoid it as if you were doing the limbo and his name was the low bar you are not allowed to touch, is beyond me.
In general, the entire novel reads so cheaply not only because of the writing but because of how the third-person narration is handled. Nothing is left to the imagination, everything is either explained or over-explained, readers are spoon-fed, and not an ounce of polysemy can be found throughout the entire text.
The party had been limping on for hours when Rose realised she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. This was entirely accidental and would often happen on event days.
Pippa had met her fiancé, Mike, at Glastonbury. Rose had only met him once. An insurance broker with a permanently ruddy face and protruding belly, he was hardly in line with the bevvy of models and actors Pippa had bedded over the years. But maybe that was a good thing. And it wasn’t like she needed to marry for money; Pippa came from a legal dynasty. Ver de Veux & Partners was a magic circle firm that had been in her family for decades. Whenever she told anyone she’d gone to school with a Ver de Veux, they were impressed.
The writing doesn’t possess even an ounce of finesse. It’s boring, tepid, and uninspired. On top of that, for being a novel so intent on firing on all feminist cylinders, it uses Rose’s best friend Luce, who the novel reminds us of on every third page, is unfairly pretty, unbelievably gorgeous and a true men’s magnet, as nothing but a foil to help characterise Rose as the ugly duckling who never gets any recognition and who, with her limp hair, short stature, and whatever else she doesn’t like about her body, spends her time constantly comparing herself to her when they’re out together.
The novel isn’t clever enough to turn Rose’s feelings of inadequacy into a silent but knowing nod to the perfidiousness of patriarchy, but rather into a SCREAM and WHISTLE, banging you over the head with its “ to all female readers who ever felt jealous of another woman’s beauty: you’re not alone!! It’s the beauty industry’s, but mostly men’s, fault you are comparing yourself to other women in the first place!! ” message.
Nonetheless, when a woman goes to a man’s home for the first time, there is always a slight sense of unease. No matter how attractive the man is, how safe he may make you feel, how polite he is to waiters, the unease is there. Spawning all kinds of anxieties and worst-case scenarios.
Finally, I hate the one-dimensional the novel takes on the interconnectedness of sex, gender, power, abuse, and who is usually believed and who isn’t.
In the middle of it all, Rose, through her work, befriends a social media influencer about her age. The model later confesses that it’s sooooo hard being an influencer, that there are hate forums entirely dedicated to her, that her relationship with her boyfriend is subjected to intense scrutiny, yada yada. Rose and readers are presented with a string of stuff on why she (and we) should feel sorry for this poor woman’s life being so extraordinarily hard. What rubs me the wrong way is how, yes, we are supposed to feel sorry for the model because boohoo, even rich women suffer from the patriarchal order, but the way her character is presented never once takes an intersectional approach.
That there’s a world of difference in how a rich, white woman and a poor, white woman are conceived by and able to make their living in a patriarchal society is brushed aside. Not to mention the fact that race, bodily and mental health, ethnicity, or religion, as immensely important factors determining the social pecking order for women, are never once mentioned. Like yeah, she is a woman, so I can sympathise with her for being subject to misogyny like any other woman on this planet, but why the fuck I should feel sorry for a multi-millionaire is beyond me. For a novel so bent on showing the entertainment industry’s toxic side, it sure does a hell of a lot of nothing taking into account the possibilities available to über rich women in the industry compared to women working the low-level jobs.
There are more things I could mention, more stuff to list that annoyed me, but it’s nearing my bedtime, I still haven’t washed my face, and I want to start watching a new series. All in all, “Gold Rush” feels stale, it’s uninspired, it’s utterly forgettable, and its writing makes its subject matter come across as the timid voice of a dying person croaking their last hoorah.
🎬 Instead of reading this, watch that: She Said (2022)
ORIGINAL REVIEW: thank fuck I’m done with this
Read
March 29, 2026Source of book: KU
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
***
There’s some pretty scathing reviews of this book. But, you know what? I thought it was okay. Although, having written that, I’m starting to see that “okay” isn’t much better than scathing. It could arguably be worse, since it sounds so apathetic.
There’s nothing per se wrong with Gold Rush. It’s deftly written, often funny, occasionally incisive and it its portrayal of life as PR assistant in a magazine industry desperately fighting for relevance has an air of truthiness to it that, while I am in no way placed to speak to its accuracy, evoked that world very effectively for me. And that’s, you know? It’s good?
But it also doesn’t quite seem enough. Because Gold Rush is a story that has been told so many times before in so many different ways. And I don’t know if that’s a fair thing to say, because all the things that it’s about--privilege and power and the abuses they sanction--are important things. We should not cease speaking about them or assume they’re fixed just because Harvey Weinstein’s in prison. It’s probably important to mention at this point that Gold Rush is explicitly set in 2017 (pre #MeToo in other words). Except it still manages to feel, on some level, familiar to the point of tired.
Anyway our heroine, Rose, is very much the heroine of this kind of novel. A skinny white girl with Daddy issues who isn’t as pretty as any of her posher friends. While working a PR event for the magazine she’s attached to, Milo Jax--one of the most famous popstars in the world--seems to be flirting with her. Later, he slides into her DMs and invites her over, not to his house exactly, but a rather squalid little flat he claims he’s using while his mansion is being renovated. Further flirtation follows, and a lot of alcohol, and sex that, given Rose’s intoxication, at the very least, occupies a grey area consent wise. Then Milo takes Rose home. She passes out. But the next day she wakes up with gaps in her memory and blood on the sheets, her life beginning to unravel soon after.
I think where Gold Rush is most effective--other than capturing the empty world of celebrity--is showing Rose in the aftermath of this assault. Like #MeToo hasn’t changed the world anywhere near as much as we’d like it to but at least it offers a context for these kind of abuses. The ones fame and money and power not only conceal but enable. Poor Rose has nothing. She has no means to understand her trauma. She barely even knows what she could confide in someone else and when she tries all she receives is hostility and jealousy for having managed to sleep with someone as desirable as Milo Jax. Some of the most heart-breaking sequences of the book are her increasingly pathetic messages to Milo Jax, as she’s forced to seek understanding about what’s happened to her from her own abuser. Oof.
Where, for me, the wheels slightly came off with all this for me was the ending. While Rose gradually and completely falling apart felt authentic and well-realised, the book kind of deliberately denies us any sort of climatic moment here. We have Rose, lost, alone, distraught, climbing onto a bridge. And then an abrupt POV swap to her colleague, Oliver, who--up until this point--as been a rather stereotypical Mean Gay. Of course it was nice for this character to get some interiority but it comes at the cost of Rose. Having been something of an antagonist to her all book, he spots in her in the distance on the bridge. And then an abrupt jump into the future with Rose on the road to some kind of recovery. And, obviously, recovery from this kind of trauma could take books and books to fully relate but there is a huge gap. And while a single chapter from Oliver The Less Mean Gay Than We Thought He Was is probably achieving something narratively, it felt, to me, like a massive emotional cop-out. I mean if I was in deep trauma and about to let myself fall off a bridge, and someone I thought absolutely despised me rolled out of the darkness to talk me down … I’m not sure that would work? It might honestly finish me off. I guess what I’m driving at here is that I didn’t believe, at this point in the book, that Oliver could deliver the moment of connection Rose desperately needed. Clearly he does because the book does not end (thank God) with Rose throwing herself off a bridge.
But … ehhh? Ehhhh? I think, as a reader, I needed to see it. And, as a minor side effect, having Rose’s recovery so drastically elided it sort of makes the abuse the realest part of the book? Perhaps that’s deliberate. If it is, it’s depressing as fuck.
Complaints and uncertainties aside, I will note that Gold Rush has some genuinely funny moments. For e.g.
I realise this is a praise comma faint see damning type review. I think, in all honesty, the fact this book was free on KU and I was on holiday might have contributed significantly to me both choosing to read it and continuing to read it. You, too, might find something here for you.
PS - I will also mildly defend this book against some of its detractors by putting forward the suggestion that this paragraph is, you know, ironic?
The “objectively” is doing a lot of work here. As is “very happy, very good song”. This too-emphatic language suggests a rather overt cluelessness on Rose’s part and, for myself, I find it more credible that Rose, who is somewhat naïve, has no notion that ‘Dancing On My Own’ is sad as hell if you get past the fact it’s a certified banger, than this paragraph reflects the personal daftness of the author.
PPS - I’m increasingly uncomfortable by the fact Harry Styles seems to be the template for every desirable famous person ever. Like, I get where it comes from--obviously we all draw inspiration from somewhere--but while “I wrote a book about how an ordinary person ended up dating someone recognisably like Harry Styles” might be one thing “I wrote a book about how an ordinary person ended up sexually assaulted by someone recognisably like Harry Styles” feels lowkey unfair on the bloke. I mean, I guess he can cry into his enormous pile of money, and he probably has way way bigger things to worry or not worry about. But given there are plenty of famous people out there who there are more than credible abuse allegations about and Harry Styles--unusually--doesn’t seem to be one of them why is he still default famous guy in this context too? Unless the world knows something about Harry Styles that I don’t. Oh God.
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
***
There’s some pretty scathing reviews of this book. But, you know what? I thought it was okay. Although, having written that, I’m starting to see that “okay” isn’t much better than scathing. It could arguably be worse, since it sounds so apathetic.
There’s nothing per se wrong with Gold Rush. It’s deftly written, often funny, occasionally incisive and it its portrayal of life as PR assistant in a magazine industry desperately fighting for relevance has an air of truthiness to it that, while I am in no way placed to speak to its accuracy, evoked that world very effectively for me. And that’s, you know? It’s good?
But it also doesn’t quite seem enough. Because Gold Rush is a story that has been told so many times before in so many different ways. And I don’t know if that’s a fair thing to say, because all the things that it’s about--privilege and power and the abuses they sanction--are important things. We should not cease speaking about them or assume they’re fixed just because Harvey Weinstein’s in prison. It’s probably important to mention at this point that Gold Rush is explicitly set in 2017 (pre #MeToo in other words). Except it still manages to feel, on some level, familiar to the point of tired.
Anyway our heroine, Rose, is very much the heroine of this kind of novel. A skinny white girl with Daddy issues who isn’t as pretty as any of her posher friends. While working a PR event for the magazine she’s attached to, Milo Jax--one of the most famous popstars in the world--seems to be flirting with her. Later, he slides into her DMs and invites her over, not to his house exactly, but a rather squalid little flat he claims he’s using while his mansion is being renovated. Further flirtation follows, and a lot of alcohol, and sex that, given Rose’s intoxication, at the very least, occupies a grey area consent wise. Then Milo takes Rose home. She passes out. But the next day she wakes up with gaps in her memory and blood on the sheets, her life beginning to unravel soon after.
I think where Gold Rush is most effective--other than capturing the empty world of celebrity--is showing Rose in the aftermath of this assault. Like #MeToo hasn’t changed the world anywhere near as much as we’d like it to but at least it offers a context for these kind of abuses. The ones fame and money and power not only conceal but enable. Poor Rose has nothing. She has no means to understand her trauma. She barely even knows what she could confide in someone else and when she tries all she receives is hostility and jealousy for having managed to sleep with someone as desirable as Milo Jax. Some of the most heart-breaking sequences of the book are her increasingly pathetic messages to Milo Jax, as she’s forced to seek understanding about what’s happened to her from her own abuser. Oof.
Where, for me, the wheels slightly came off with all this for me was the ending. While Rose gradually and completely falling apart felt authentic and well-realised, the book kind of deliberately denies us any sort of climatic moment here. We have Rose, lost, alone, distraught, climbing onto a bridge. And then an abrupt POV swap to her colleague, Oliver, who--up until this point--as been a rather stereotypical Mean Gay. Of course it was nice for this character to get some interiority but it comes at the cost of Rose. Having been something of an antagonist to her all book, he spots in her in the distance on the bridge. And then an abrupt jump into the future with Rose on the road to some kind of recovery. And, obviously, recovery from this kind of trauma could take books and books to fully relate but there is a huge gap. And while a single chapter from Oliver The Less Mean Gay Than We Thought He Was is probably achieving something narratively, it felt, to me, like a massive emotional cop-out. I mean if I was in deep trauma and about to let myself fall off a bridge, and someone I thought absolutely despised me rolled out of the darkness to talk me down … I’m not sure that would work? It might honestly finish me off. I guess what I’m driving at here is that I didn’t believe, at this point in the book, that Oliver could deliver the moment of connection Rose desperately needed. Clearly he does because the book does not end (thank God) with Rose throwing herself off a bridge.
But … ehhh? Ehhhh? I think, as a reader, I needed to see it. And, as a minor side effect, having Rose’s recovery so drastically elided it sort of makes the abuse the realest part of the book? Perhaps that’s deliberate. If it is, it’s depressing as fuck.
Complaints and uncertainties aside, I will note that Gold Rush has some genuinely funny moments. For e.g.
Hives & Dives was Rose’s favourite magazine to work on, mostly because it ran cover lines like: ‘Is it Wrong to Feel Turned On by a Gargoyle?’ and ‘How Not to Get Lost in Your Own Garden Maze’. Her favourite, though, was: ‘How to Maintain a Royal Bush’, which prompted a complaint from the Buckingham Palace press office.
I realise this is a praise comma faint see damning type review. I think, in all honesty, the fact this book was free on KU and I was on holiday might have contributed significantly to me both choosing to read it and continuing to read it. You, too, might find something here for you.
PS - I will also mildly defend this book against some of its detractors by putting forward the suggestion that this paragraph is, you know, ironic?
Rose turned the volume up on her iPhone, the sounds of Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own’ now reverberating through every neuron in her brain. This was objectively a very happy, very good song. Nothing bad could happen to Rose as long as she was listening to this song
The “objectively” is doing a lot of work here. As is “very happy, very good song”. This too-emphatic language suggests a rather overt cluelessness on Rose’s part and, for myself, I find it more credible that Rose, who is somewhat naïve, has no notion that ‘Dancing On My Own’ is sad as hell if you get past the fact it’s a certified banger, than this paragraph reflects the personal daftness of the author.
PPS - I’m increasingly uncomfortable by the fact Harry Styles seems to be the template for every desirable famous person ever. Like, I get where it comes from--obviously we all draw inspiration from somewhere--but while “I wrote a book about how an ordinary person ended up dating someone recognisably like Harry Styles” might be one thing “I wrote a book about how an ordinary person ended up sexually assaulted by someone recognisably like Harry Styles” feels lowkey unfair on the bloke. I mean, I guess he can cry into his enormous pile of money, and he probably has way way bigger things to worry or not worry about. But given there are plenty of famous people out there who there are more than credible abuse allegations about and Harry Styles--unusually--doesn’t seem to be one of them why is he still default famous guy in this context too? Unless the world knows something about Harry Styles that I don’t. Oh God.
September 14, 2024
This “novel” is so appalling that the text is beyond commenting on. If you’ve ever wanted to read a book with no soul, then look no further. Nothing happens, each irrelevant, vapid scene bleeds into the next and every bit of description is bizarre yet wrong: ‘He looked like he was about to watch a film and masturbate.’ WHAT?
The author is clearly ignorant, but the absolute worst comment was describing Robyn’s Dancing On My Own as, ‘Objectively a very happy, very good song.’ After that, all my suspicions about Petter were confirmed. She has obviously never listened to the words (or ever made a meaningful observation), because it is, ‘objectively’, a very sad song. In fact, one of the most iconic Sad Girl Anthems in existence.
You shouldn’t write a book if you don’t have your ear to the world. This is everything that’s wrong with modern publishing. Editors commission some half-bit, influencer-journalist, slap a well-designed cover over the junk and hope for the best. Books like this are like fatbergs in the channels of the market.
I’m glad this has tanked. May it happen to more novels like it!
The author is clearly ignorant, but the absolute worst comment was describing Robyn’s Dancing On My Own as, ‘Objectively a very happy, very good song.’ After that, all my suspicions about Petter were confirmed. She has obviously never listened to the words (or ever made a meaningful observation), because it is, ‘objectively’, a very sad song. In fact, one of the most iconic Sad Girl Anthems in existence.
You shouldn’t write a book if you don’t have your ear to the world. This is everything that’s wrong with modern publishing. Editors commission some half-bit, influencer-journalist, slap a well-designed cover over the junk and hope for the best. Books like this are like fatbergs in the channels of the market.
I’m glad this has tanked. May it happen to more novels like it!
January 22, 2026
3.5 ★ Strong Coco Mellors vibes, not just from the cover but also the writing.
This was a good example of how literary fiction can still be based on and projected by strong character development. The book had lots of interetsing commentary on fame, authority and perception.
This was a good example of how literary fiction can still be based on and projected by strong character development. The book had lots of interetsing commentary on fame, authority and perception.
July 15, 2024
I feel the book has the potential to be hit but I also think it needs a lot of tweaking here or there.
I found the chapters way too long. There were parts that, I found, were unnecessary, or needed more added to it to be more relevant. For example the Hen party, what happened next?? The whole Dad situation, what happened next??
The different POV needs to be removed, in my opinion and that part of the story written in Roses POV.
The whole Clara story feels unfinished and the ending felt rushed.
The book needs more time and work put into it and then I think it could be an excellent book.
Obviously these are just my opinions and as I have never written I book I feel bad writing my criticisms into this review but I would definitely suggest reading it because I DID find it a real page turner. The main concept of the book is good and I would like to see this be a hit. The character Rose will stay with me for a while. I want to know more feel her ending needs to be happier.
I found the chapters way too long. There were parts that, I found, were unnecessary, or needed more added to it to be more relevant. For example the Hen party, what happened next?? The whole Dad situation, what happened next??
The different POV needs to be removed, in my opinion and that part of the story written in Roses POV.
The whole Clara story feels unfinished and the ending felt rushed.
The book needs more time and work put into it and then I think it could be an excellent book.
Obviously these are just my opinions and as I have never written I book I feel bad writing my criticisms into this review but I would definitely suggest reading it because I DID find it a real page turner. The main concept of the book is good and I would like to see this be a hit. The character Rose will stay with me for a while. I want to know more feel her ending needs to be happier.
July 3, 2024
what an absolutely gorgeous yet haunting and moving story exploring celebrity culture and consent. when i first started this book, i wasn’t sure where it was going nor what i thought of it but that quickly changed. by the second chapter i was hooked and found it harder and harder to put the book down. in fact, the second half of the book i read in one sitting. the characters jump off the page and are so vivid, and the story is paced excellently. this book made me so angry, yet so heartbroken at the same time. so many important issues are explored with detail and delicacy, and this book really is such a powerful read. i won’t stop thinking about this one for a while.
August 18, 2024
came for the taylor swift-esque title, stayed for the phenomenal story.
August 9, 2024
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
💬 “It was a body that didn't belong to her any more. Perhaps it was the alcohol. Rose was looking down at herself from above. Her face and body were obscured, a series of geometrical shapes knocked together in the colour of milky flesh... Rose felt something sharp and the scene before her went black. Then she heard herself screaming.”
💭 Rose works in PR at a magazine company, forever having to take on the rather unglamorous jobs that working with celebrities demand. After meeting Milo Jax, a world famous pop star, what starts as a crush turned whirlwind secret romance, ends with Rose waking up, bleeding, with no recollection of the night before. Rose’s life begins to spin out of control, and she is left trying to come to terms with that night whilst she balances work and friendships too.
I absolutely flew through this one - finishing the whole book in under 24 hours. I think that’s a true testament to how addictive, but also grotesquely moreish, GOLD RUSH is. I found myself uncomfortable at several points, but also just couldn’t stop reading, desperate to find out how it all unfolded.
Petter offers an extremely powerful exploration of celebrity culture, consent and imbalanced power dynamics. Her writing forces the reader to consider the uncomfortable questions, making GOLD RUSH a truly compelling read. Pick this one up if you like a drama-filled, engaging plot, which also gives an impactful, and at times uncomfortable, deep dive into real-world issues.
💬 “It was a body that didn't belong to her any more. Perhaps it was the alcohol. Rose was looking down at herself from above. Her face and body were obscured, a series of geometrical shapes knocked together in the colour of milky flesh... Rose felt something sharp and the scene before her went black. Then she heard herself screaming.”
💭 Rose works in PR at a magazine company, forever having to take on the rather unglamorous jobs that working with celebrities demand. After meeting Milo Jax, a world famous pop star, what starts as a crush turned whirlwind secret romance, ends with Rose waking up, bleeding, with no recollection of the night before. Rose’s life begins to spin out of control, and she is left trying to come to terms with that night whilst she balances work and friendships too.
I absolutely flew through this one - finishing the whole book in under 24 hours. I think that’s a true testament to how addictive, but also grotesquely moreish, GOLD RUSH is. I found myself uncomfortable at several points, but also just couldn’t stop reading, desperate to find out how it all unfolded.
Petter offers an extremely powerful exploration of celebrity culture, consent and imbalanced power dynamics. Her writing forces the reader to consider the uncomfortable questions, making GOLD RUSH a truly compelling read. Pick this one up if you like a drama-filled, engaging plot, which also gives an impactful, and at times uncomfortable, deep dive into real-world issues.
December 12, 2024
Boy was I fighting the urge to DNF this
June 13, 2024
4.5. Review to follow!
August 28, 2024
This had the potential to be so good, and it just fell so flat. All of the pieces were there! I’m so frustrated :(
July 18, 2024
4.5 stars
Gold Rush is an incredible debut novel that offers a powerful exploration of celebrity culture and consent. Set in the pre-MeToo movement era, Olivia Petter spins a keen narrative that scrutinizes the rise of influencers, the power we give celebrities, and the dark side of both these cultures alongside the overwhelming presence of online media.
We follow Rose, who works as a publishing assistant at a dying traditional media magazine. This role offers her a realistic look at how "unglamorous" life in the spotlight can be, but it doesn't stop her from wanting to be part of this "exclusive" group. After a work event leads to a troubling encounter with superstar Milo Jax, Rose wakes up the next morning with fragmented memories and a haunting sense of something gone terribly wrong. As she grapples with the aftermath of her final interaction with a man adored by the world, Rose's professional and personal lives become increasingly complicated.
Rose is an unfortunately relatable character for women everywhere, something that Petter captures poignantly. The novel explores celebrity culture and the impact of our interactions with it through themes of obsession, control, manipulation, entitlement, and the harsh realities of living in the limelight. The fast-paced narrative is at times messy, truly indicative of Rose's mental state, resulting in a harrowing story with no neat resolution.
The more I think about this book, the more I love it. I absolutely recommend you pick this up as it's being published today!
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC.
Gold Rush is an incredible debut novel that offers a powerful exploration of celebrity culture and consent. Set in the pre-MeToo movement era, Olivia Petter spins a keen narrative that scrutinizes the rise of influencers, the power we give celebrities, and the dark side of both these cultures alongside the overwhelming presence of online media.
We follow Rose, who works as a publishing assistant at a dying traditional media magazine. This role offers her a realistic look at how "unglamorous" life in the spotlight can be, but it doesn't stop her from wanting to be part of this "exclusive" group. After a work event leads to a troubling encounter with superstar Milo Jax, Rose wakes up the next morning with fragmented memories and a haunting sense of something gone terribly wrong. As she grapples with the aftermath of her final interaction with a man adored by the world, Rose's professional and personal lives become increasingly complicated.
Rose is an unfortunately relatable character for women everywhere, something that Petter captures poignantly. The novel explores celebrity culture and the impact of our interactions with it through themes of obsession, control, manipulation, entitlement, and the harsh realities of living in the limelight. The fast-paced narrative is at times messy, truly indicative of Rose's mental state, resulting in a harrowing story with no neat resolution.
The more I think about this book, the more I love it. I absolutely recommend you pick this up as it's being published today!
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC.
July 26, 2024
Thank you so much to 4th Estate for the gifted proof!
September 6, 2024
Set in 2017, Rose works at an uber fashionable publishing company and as part of her job she mixes with the famous and infamous, including heart-throb pop star, the terribly named Milo Jax.
She spends a drunken night with him, waking up to find him gone and her bed and legs covered in blood. She can’t remember what happened.
He ghosts her and for most of the book, she obsesses over trying to contact him, ostensibly to find out what happened that night. But, her response to that night is part angry, part panic attacks and, confusingly, part obsessively checking his social media posts and online mentions of him.
This book made me feel very uncomfortable. Not necessarily because of the contentious issues it brings up but because I felt that these important issues were completely swamped by how horribly vile the social media-fuelled celebrity scene and everyone involved, even at peripheral levels, were.
I’m guessing that ‘Gold Rush’ was a purposeful indictment of the vacuity of ‘celebrity’. So as a reader, I was supposed to feel a revulsion.
I’m not on any social media, nor do I look at it (apart from the occasional scrolling in Twitter) - so the world portrayed in Gold Rush was completely alien to me. However, even if not actively engaged with or on social media, you’d need to be a hermit not to have any understanding of what it’s like.
So, after reading this, I wasn’t quite sure what I should have taken away from it.
One take away was that I won’t be seeking out similar books in the future. Just not for me at all.
She spends a drunken night with him, waking up to find him gone and her bed and legs covered in blood. She can’t remember what happened.
He ghosts her and for most of the book, she obsesses over trying to contact him, ostensibly to find out what happened that night. But, her response to that night is part angry, part panic attacks and, confusingly, part obsessively checking his social media posts and online mentions of him.
This book made me feel very uncomfortable. Not necessarily because of the contentious issues it brings up but because I felt that these important issues were completely swamped by how horribly vile the social media-fuelled celebrity scene and everyone involved, even at peripheral levels, were.
I’m guessing that ‘Gold Rush’ was a purposeful indictment of the vacuity of ‘celebrity’. So as a reader, I was supposed to feel a revulsion.
I’m not on any social media, nor do I look at it (apart from the occasional scrolling in Twitter) - so the world portrayed in Gold Rush was completely alien to me. However, even if not actively engaged with or on social media, you’d need to be a hermit not to have any understanding of what it’s like.
So, after reading this, I wasn’t quite sure what I should have taken away from it.
One take away was that I won’t be seeking out similar books in the future. Just not for me at all.
October 9, 2024
Honestly it feels incredibly hard to rate this book.
At parts it was magnificent, the writing was prolific and the words were carrying deeper meaning and grave understanding of the sheer horrible reality of consent abuse and sexual assault.
At other parts the book felt unintentionally on the nose, rushed and just soulless.
It’s sad because the premise was also so intriguing and the main character was a joy to explore and suffer with, it all felt so .. humane.
And yet, I can’t help but feel let down. The rushed ending especially does not help this book.
This was at parts truly painful to read simply because it was too true, so definitely proceed with caution
At parts it was magnificent, the writing was prolific and the words were carrying deeper meaning and grave understanding of the sheer horrible reality of consent abuse and sexual assault.
At other parts the book felt unintentionally on the nose, rushed and just soulless.
It’s sad because the premise was also so intriguing and the main character was a joy to explore and suffer with, it all felt so .. humane.
And yet, I can’t help but feel let down. The rushed ending especially does not help this book.
This was at parts truly painful to read simply because it was too true, so definitely proceed with caution
November 28, 2024
1.0/5
sorry but pass. the book had so much potential, however it was too unnecessarily long, focus was off, a lot of words but the key plot was absent.
sorry but pass. the book had so much potential, however it was too unnecessarily long, focus was off, a lot of words but the key plot was absent.
September 23, 2024
it feels like every book i've read recently has done one of two things:
1. started really strong, given me a false promise of a five star review, only to become BAD in the last quarter, or
2. had a really boring start, made me dread the thought of reading another 300 pages, but then pleasantly surprised me as it went on.
this book did the second. i'm not sure which is better.
1. started really strong, given me a false promise of a five star review, only to become BAD in the last quarter, or
2. had a really boring start, made me dread the thought of reading another 300 pages, but then pleasantly surprised me as it went on.
this book did the second. i'm not sure which is better.
September 12, 2024
not everything needs to be penis-shaped. we get it.
March 1, 2025
3.5 quick and easy read… did not say anything groundbreaking that hasn’t been said before
November 1, 2024
Twenty-something Rose, who works as a PR person and deals with the tantrums and demands of celebrities, finds her life upended when a chance encounter with a leading pop-star (Milo Jax) leads to a harrowing incident where she experiences assault and in the aftermath, tries to piece together the events of that night. In the process, the story raises many points about consent, celebrity worship, and a culture where women's autonomy is constantly undermined.
The book is set in 2017, following the momentum that the #MeToo movement had picked up, and fictionalizes what I am certain was a real incident. At one point, the narrator launches angrily into a critique of the bizarreness of idolizing celebrities which I found quite astute -
"We propel these people, talented people, sometimes, into stardom, right? We treat them like superior beings. Like they transcend humanity purely because they can, I don't know, sing to a tune or pretend to be someone they're not. But by doing that, we give them a power they don't deserve. Power they haven't always earned." Written like that, it is absurd how much human machinery we have dedicated towards documenting what famous folks wear, eat, who they shag, how they live etc.
As provocative as this was, it was very much a novel of two halves: one that was sharp, engaging, and critical; and another which was sluggish, digressive, and dull. The quality of writing ebbed-and-flowed and my interest level followed the waves. The narrator herself lacked a strong inner dialogue and went from situation to situation without deeply reflecting on it. That got in the way of my engagement with the story.
I received a copy of this from HarperCollins in exchange for my honest opinion.
The book is set in 2017, following the momentum that the #MeToo movement had picked up, and fictionalizes what I am certain was a real incident. At one point, the narrator launches angrily into a critique of the bizarreness of idolizing celebrities which I found quite astute -
"We propel these people, talented people, sometimes, into stardom, right? We treat them like superior beings. Like they transcend humanity purely because they can, I don't know, sing to a tune or pretend to be someone they're not. But by doing that, we give them a power they don't deserve. Power they haven't always earned." Written like that, it is absurd how much human machinery we have dedicated towards documenting what famous folks wear, eat, who they shag, how they live etc.
As provocative as this was, it was very much a novel of two halves: one that was sharp, engaging, and critical; and another which was sluggish, digressive, and dull. The quality of writing ebbed-and-flowed and my interest level followed the waves. The narrator herself lacked a strong inner dialogue and went from situation to situation without deeply reflecting on it. That got in the way of my engagement with the story.
I received a copy of this from HarperCollins in exchange for my honest opinion.
March 8, 2025
Really good but honestly put me in a pretty bad headspace.
August 5, 2025
2.5 ⭐️
October 28, 2025
this book started with good potential but fell a bit flat in the middle for me. almost dnf but it picked up towards the very end
November 5, 2025
Really bad. Is it trying to be a teenage rom com or a book about mental health and sexual assault ? Ended up somewhere in the middle and a bad mix of the two.
So many random side stories that didn’t make sense to be included ?
Wouldn’t recommend
So many random side stories that didn’t make sense to be included ?
Wouldn’t recommend
April 8, 2025
gold rush explores consent, control and celebrity culture — all very sensitive and important topics. i hate criticizing it for that very reason, but i struggled with the flat characters, cringey dialogue, and overly millennial tone. while the message matters deeply, the writing just didn’t hit for me. two stars :/
March 3, 2025
2.0 Stars.
Audiobook.
Well, how do I put this without sounding like a misogynistic idiot who totally missed the point of this novel, but I cannot not tell you that Rose is the most annoying character I've read about in a good long while. And I don't think she was meant to be.
Yes, a terrible thing happened to her, but her character did not reform because of it; she was already entitled (no, your best friend does not owe you to demand less rent from you just because her family is rich and yours is not), self-centred (I do not think it was mentally or physically possible for you to be less involved in a hen-party, and I'm sorry, but that makes you a shitty friend, and also, this is just one instance of that shitty-friend-ness) and so very whiny (were you actually deeply traumatised because a popstar raped you or were you just pissed that said popstar did not confess his love to you after, because that was what you were hung up on for most of the novel).
Maybe, or rather, most likely, I'm focusing on all the wrong aspects of the story and it certainly makes me sound quite callous, but yikes, I do not think Rose is the character one should create to shine a light on such an important topic as the #metoo movement, because she is sure to alienate many.
Were the novel itself better written/executed, I might still have found some compassion and understanding within me, but as it is, I just could not.
Audiobook.
Well, how do I put this without sounding like a misogynistic idiot who totally missed the point of this novel, but I cannot not tell you that Rose is the most annoying character I've read about in a good long while. And I don't think she was meant to be.
Yes, a terrible thing happened to her, but her character did not reform because of it; she was already entitled (no, your best friend does not owe you to demand less rent from you just because her family is rich and yours is not), self-centred (I do not think it was mentally or physically possible for you to be less involved in a hen-party, and I'm sorry, but that makes you a shitty friend, and also, this is just one instance of that shitty-friend-ness) and so very whiny (were you actually deeply traumatised because a popstar raped you or were you just pissed that said popstar did not confess his love to you after, because that was what you were hung up on for most of the novel).
Maybe, or rather, most likely, I'm focusing on all the wrong aspects of the story and it certainly makes me sound quite callous, but yikes, I do not think Rose is the character one should create to shine a light on such an important topic as the #metoo movement, because she is sure to alienate many.
Were the novel itself better written/executed, I might still have found some compassion and understanding within me, but as it is, I just could not.
August 26, 2024
Need to stop buying books I see anyone with a colour-coded bookshelf on TikTok recommend.
Do yourself a favour and just skip the entirely pointless and insanely irritating hen party chapter.
I hate books that claim to be feminist and tackle feminist topics but make their background female characters incredibly annoying middle-class white women.
Boring, uninspiring and woefully written.
Do yourself a favour and just skip the entirely pointless and insanely irritating hen party chapter.
I hate books that claim to be feminist and tackle feminist topics but make their background female characters incredibly annoying middle-class white women.
Boring, uninspiring and woefully written.
September 5, 2024
Dull and poorly written.
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