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Slags
FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ADULTS AND ANIMALS 'Compulsive and hilarious, like a brilliant gossip with your best friend. Emma Jane Unsworth is my favourite' Sara Pascoe
'Her best yet – funny, gritty, delightfully feral and, as ever, painfully truthful' DOLLY ALDERTON
‘An amazing writer’ MARGOT ROBBIE
Once a slag, always a slag? It’s the 1990s. Sarah is 15, obsessed with boy bands, sex and getting drunk on Malibu. Most of all, she’s hung up on her teacher, Mr Keaveney.
Fast forward 26 years. Sarah is 41, the last of the party girls. But the mad nights out are losing their shine. And her teenage dreams are now distant, queasy memories.
There’s only one thing for an adventure. So, Sarah sets off with her sister Juliette on a whisky-fuelled campervan trip across Scotland.
The sisters have never been alike, but they know all the dark corners of each other’s history – and it’s time to dig up some demons, kicking and screaming.
Because the things that once defined us shouldn’t define us forever, should they?
Adults was the UK’s #6 bestselling hardback, The Sunday Times chart 9th February 2020 / Margot Robbie talking about Animals, as quoted in CHANEL’s short film segment, ‘In the library with Margot Robbie’
'Her best yet – funny, gritty, delightfully feral and, as ever, painfully truthful' DOLLY ALDERTON
‘An amazing writer’ MARGOT ROBBIE
Once a slag, always a slag? It’s the 1990s. Sarah is 15, obsessed with boy bands, sex and getting drunk on Malibu. Most of all, she’s hung up on her teacher, Mr Keaveney.
Fast forward 26 years. Sarah is 41, the last of the party girls. But the mad nights out are losing their shine. And her teenage dreams are now distant, queasy memories.
There’s only one thing for an adventure. So, Sarah sets off with her sister Juliette on a whisky-fuelled campervan trip across Scotland.
The sisters have never been alike, but they know all the dark corners of each other’s history – and it’s time to dig up some demons, kicking and screaming.
Because the things that once defined us shouldn’t define us forever, should they?
Adults was the UK’s #6 bestselling hardback, The Sunday Times chart 9th February 2020 / Margot Robbie talking about Animals, as quoted in CHANEL’s short film segment, ‘In the library with Margot Robbie’
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First published May 8, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 569 reviews
May 1, 2025
There's a huge marketing campaign behind this book that grabbed my attention as I am the target audience, and I expected a real trip down memory lane. Pages full of nostalgia.
I was 15 in the 90's, I was obsessed with boy bands, sex and getting drunk on Malibu. I had a crush on one of my teachers.
I'm now in my forties, and the mad nights out have lost their shine. Teenage dreams are distant.
Everything this book claims to be is for my particular generation.
Yet I barely connected with any of this.
We follow Sarah through two timelines. One where she is 15, the other in her forties. Both versions of this character felt silly, naive, and sometimes damn right stupid.
The supporting characters aren't much better, and the plot doesn't go anywhere.
The title feels like click bait to me, I thought I was in for a real deep dive into Slag culture of the 90's but this wasn't it.
I'm just not sure what this book is meant to be or what its message is.
Two stars.
I was 15 in the 90's, I was obsessed with boy bands, sex and getting drunk on Malibu. I had a crush on one of my teachers.
I'm now in my forties, and the mad nights out have lost their shine. Teenage dreams are distant.
Everything this book claims to be is for my particular generation.
Yet I barely connected with any of this.
We follow Sarah through two timelines. One where she is 15, the other in her forties. Both versions of this character felt silly, naive, and sometimes damn right stupid.
The supporting characters aren't much better, and the plot doesn't go anywhere.
The title feels like click bait to me, I thought I was in for a real deep dive into Slag culture of the 90's but this wasn't it.
I'm just not sure what this book is meant to be or what its message is.
Two stars.
June 28, 2025
Emma Jane Unsworth’s novel poses the question what happens to women who haven’t followed society’s script? Sarah’s in her early forties, used to viewing the world through an alcohol-fuelled haze, she’s struggling with her decision not to drink so she’s burying herself in work. Her friends all seem to be married off, babied up or just tired. For them staying in is the new going out but Sarah misses their frenzied nights on the town. A road trip through the Scottish Highlands with younger sister Juliette offers a rare opportunity for Sarah to reflect on her life so far, the relationships that mattered, the ones that left stinging scars.
The account of the sisters’ journey’s intermingled with flashbacks to Sarah’s teens. The Gulf War’s raging, Britney Spears has just released her debut single, and Sarah’s obsessed with her English teacher Mr Keaveney. He’s a welcome distraction from a troubled home life. The teenage Sarah was firmly invested in the fantasy of romance and the right man as the solution for everything and anything. Now men only offer opportunities for sex, and even that's rarely worth her time. Juliette took a different path, apparently content with predictable husband Johnnie and their two young children in a stereotypically cosy, middle-class home. But then Juliette reveals she too has doubts about her life and what comes next.
Unsworth’s story features some glorious instances of acid humour and wry observation. And it’s often convincing as an examination of the possible consequences for women of following, or refusing to follow, the rules. It can also be a touching portrait of sibling bonds, the shared cultural references, the shared yet divergent histories. The plot’s slightly meandering but that doesn’t really matter, this is more about secrets revealed, about disappointments and small pleasures. Unsworth’s later attempt to instil a sense of tension that builds to an unexpected crescendo - when the sisters confront someone from their past – felt unnecessary to me. But otherwise, this was a surprisingly entertaining, often insightful read.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Borough Press for an ARC
Rating: 3/3.5
The account of the sisters’ journey’s intermingled with flashbacks to Sarah’s teens. The Gulf War’s raging, Britney Spears has just released her debut single, and Sarah’s obsessed with her English teacher Mr Keaveney. He’s a welcome distraction from a troubled home life. The teenage Sarah was firmly invested in the fantasy of romance and the right man as the solution for everything and anything. Now men only offer opportunities for sex, and even that's rarely worth her time. Juliette took a different path, apparently content with predictable husband Johnnie and their two young children in a stereotypically cosy, middle-class home. But then Juliette reveals she too has doubts about her life and what comes next.
Unsworth’s story features some glorious instances of acid humour and wry observation. And it’s often convincing as an examination of the possible consequences for women of following, or refusing to follow, the rules. It can also be a touching portrait of sibling bonds, the shared cultural references, the shared yet divergent histories. The plot’s slightly meandering but that doesn’t really matter, this is more about secrets revealed, about disappointments and small pleasures. Unsworth’s later attempt to instil a sense of tension that builds to an unexpected crescendo - when the sisters confront someone from their past – felt unnecessary to me. But otherwise, this was a surprisingly entertaining, often insightful read.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Borough Press for an ARC
Rating: 3/3.5
August 20, 2025
Narrated by Chloe Massey
Presented by HarperCollins UK Audio
An easy enough listen, but not quite the laugh-out-loud riot I was expecting.
The setup is simple: two sisters go on a road trip around Scotland.
There's a lot about how life separates family sometimes - as everyone becomes busy with their own lives, it's hard to keep in touch with every detail of a sibling's life. There's a little hostility in their relationship - quite natural, really - but for the most part this is about their catching up and deciding what's important enough to share.
It was an okay listen, but I did find it dull in some places and as a consequence tuned out a bit. I didn't really like either sibling, but I get the feeling we weren't supposed to.
A massive subject is the difference between a life with kids, and a life without. I'm getting a little tired of the black and white comparison, to be honest - there are plenty of happy couples that choose a life without kids, yet for some reason there's a stereotype that a woman without kids is one who refuses to outgrow her 'party' years. This explored that a little, but not really satisfactorily to me.
There are some funny anecdotes here and there but for the most part it fell a little flat for me. I feel like this is a particular breed of humour that I personally find very hit or miss; it reminded me a bit of Derry Girls (which I loved) but didn't quite match it for me - perhaps because the themes are more adult.
The narrator did a great job - she differentiated between the sisters well, and there was plenty of humour in her tone that helped the jokes hit. The pacing was great, and there weren't any strange pauses.
Ultimately, I feel this one just wasn't my style. I can see others really enjoying this, and particularly readers who understand the nuances of this cultural sort of humour. I found it easy enough and I did enjoy it for the most part, but it was mostly immemorable.
With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC
Presented by HarperCollins UK Audio
An easy enough listen, but not quite the laugh-out-loud riot I was expecting.
The setup is simple: two sisters go on a road trip around Scotland.
There's a lot about how life separates family sometimes - as everyone becomes busy with their own lives, it's hard to keep in touch with every detail of a sibling's life. There's a little hostility in their relationship - quite natural, really - but for the most part this is about their catching up and deciding what's important enough to share.
It was an okay listen, but I did find it dull in some places and as a consequence tuned out a bit. I didn't really like either sibling, but I get the feeling we weren't supposed to.
A massive subject is the difference between a life with kids, and a life without. I'm getting a little tired of the black and white comparison, to be honest - there are plenty of happy couples that choose a life without kids, yet for some reason there's a stereotype that a woman without kids is one who refuses to outgrow her 'party' years. This explored that a little, but not really satisfactorily to me.
There are some funny anecdotes here and there but for the most part it fell a little flat for me. I feel like this is a particular breed of humour that I personally find very hit or miss; it reminded me a bit of Derry Girls (which I loved) but didn't quite match it for me - perhaps because the themes are more adult.
The narrator did a great job - she differentiated between the sisters well, and there was plenty of humour in her tone that helped the jokes hit. The pacing was great, and there weren't any strange pauses.
Ultimately, I feel this one just wasn't my style. I can see others really enjoying this, and particularly readers who understand the nuances of this cultural sort of humour. I found it easy enough and I did enjoy it for the most part, but it was mostly immemorable.
With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC
June 5, 2025
2.5 but rounded up to a generous 3
Not well written but readable. Story felt like it was going to get interesting and then it just didn’t and felt a bit rushed and lazy?
Couldn’t really get a true grasp on either of the main characters, felt like the story was going to examine alcoholism or sisterhood or friendship or relationships a bit better and it just kind of went nowhere.
Not well written but readable. Story felt like it was going to get interesting and then it just didn’t and felt a bit rushed and lazy?
Couldn’t really get a true grasp on either of the main characters, felt like the story was going to examine alcoholism or sisterhood or friendship or relationships a bit better and it just kind of went nowhere.
June 29, 2025
Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth was a brilliant read, really genuinely funny, very slaggy, and also, unexpectedly, a little bit tear jerky. I had seen this book getting around online with positive reviews, but I recently started listening to a podcast called Sara and Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club, and they had the author on. The resulting episode was incredibly entertaining, so funny, and by the end of it, I knew I needed to read this book as soon as possible.
‘Teenage girls had wills of iron and hearts of glass.’
Unsworth has an incredible ability to depict the 90s teenage girl in all her egotistical, brutal glory, the thin veneer of this bolshiness concealing the absolute fragility beneath. There was a lot of nostalgia for me within this read. I finished high school in 1994, and while this novel was set in the UK, there were enough similarities, just change the band names and swap the places they were hanging out, and I was pretty much right back there. And for all their toughness and brassy boldness, which was also familiar, it was what lay beneath the surface that rung my heart out. That period within a young woman’s life where you are no longer a child, not yet an adult, but objectified and vilified, completely out of your depth so often and marked by things that you should not have been exposed to.
‘The 90s were beautiful though. The freedom. We memorised phone numbers. We memorised directions. No one knew what we looked like. No one knew our reasons. No one could reach us. We were gods – and we didn’t know it.’
For all its laughs on offer, at its heart, this is a story about how we drag so much crap from when we’re young into the future with us and the detrimental effect this can have on our life choices. For Sarah, who is assaulted on a school bus and cannot speak about it in any way other than to diminish her experience and joke about it, the weight of that shapes her and leads her down a path of risk-taking behaviour and a reluctance to commit. Instead of owning that this happened to her, and that it was wrong, and that she did nothing to deserve it, she pushes it down and weaves her way around it for decades, her personal life remaining transactional and chaotic, while excelling in her professional life. She frequently jokes that her longest and most lasting relationship has been with alcohol. I really felt so much empathy for Sarah, particularly at the very end of the book, where the author has a short chapter which is made up of Sarah’s medical records from age 14 to 20. It broke me a bit, reading that.
‘Sometimes, something so bad happens that your life stops and starts again; turns around. The past becomes the present and the present becomes the past.’
Slags is also about sisterhood, that beautiful bond that some of us are lucky enough to have. As a way of celebrating her sister’s fortieth birthday, Sarah hires a campervan and plans a road trip into Scotland, just for the two of them. Juliette, however, is going through a crisis of identity within herself and her marriage, something Sarah is not prepared for. Another thing she is not prepared for is finding out that Juliette is having an affair. As the trip unfolds, the sisters push and pull against each other, caught in two worlds, the way they were when they were young, and the way they are right now. This was also recognisable to me, two women, who come from the same household, who are essentially shaped by the same environment, but turn out so vastly different. A sibling is of course a witness to your own early homelife, as you were to theirs, and yet, the memories can still differ. And even after it all comes out in the wash, differences aside, there is at the end that unbreakable bond, the first, and possibly most significant bond you ever formed with another person. Unsworth captures this with utter perfection.
‘Sarah had often said to Juliette: “We had different mothers.” They’d had different versions of the same woman, it was true. Sarah got her first: harried, territorial, phobia-laden. Juliette got her through the buffer of Sarah. But Juliette couldn’t see that, and that was all right. It had been Sarah’s job to protect Juliette from seeing that.’
So funny and so insightful, I found Slags to be a real deep dive into womanhood, who we are, who we want to be, and who we are yet to become. I love novels like this too, with such authentic characters, messy women who haven’t got their shit together. It’s entirely real and so refreshing and relatable. I feel like these sorts of stories enable women to feel okay about where they’re at, without the need for justification or explanations.
‘Why is something defunct in our inward and outward gaze, as women? Why is there such a chasm between what we judge in others and what we appreciate in ourselves? We need someone to bridge that gap. To help us see how we already are what we want to be.’
4.5 stars
‘Teenage girls had wills of iron and hearts of glass.’
Unsworth has an incredible ability to depict the 90s teenage girl in all her egotistical, brutal glory, the thin veneer of this bolshiness concealing the absolute fragility beneath. There was a lot of nostalgia for me within this read. I finished high school in 1994, and while this novel was set in the UK, there were enough similarities, just change the band names and swap the places they were hanging out, and I was pretty much right back there. And for all their toughness and brassy boldness, which was also familiar, it was what lay beneath the surface that rung my heart out. That period within a young woman’s life where you are no longer a child, not yet an adult, but objectified and vilified, completely out of your depth so often and marked by things that you should not have been exposed to.
‘The 90s were beautiful though. The freedom. We memorised phone numbers. We memorised directions. No one knew what we looked like. No one knew our reasons. No one could reach us. We were gods – and we didn’t know it.’
For all its laughs on offer, at its heart, this is a story about how we drag so much crap from when we’re young into the future with us and the detrimental effect this can have on our life choices. For Sarah, who is assaulted on a school bus and cannot speak about it in any way other than to diminish her experience and joke about it, the weight of that shapes her and leads her down a path of risk-taking behaviour and a reluctance to commit. Instead of owning that this happened to her, and that it was wrong, and that she did nothing to deserve it, she pushes it down and weaves her way around it for decades, her personal life remaining transactional and chaotic, while excelling in her professional life. She frequently jokes that her longest and most lasting relationship has been with alcohol. I really felt so much empathy for Sarah, particularly at the very end of the book, where the author has a short chapter which is made up of Sarah’s medical records from age 14 to 20. It broke me a bit, reading that.
‘Sometimes, something so bad happens that your life stops and starts again; turns around. The past becomes the present and the present becomes the past.’
Slags is also about sisterhood, that beautiful bond that some of us are lucky enough to have. As a way of celebrating her sister’s fortieth birthday, Sarah hires a campervan and plans a road trip into Scotland, just for the two of them. Juliette, however, is going through a crisis of identity within herself and her marriage, something Sarah is not prepared for. Another thing she is not prepared for is finding out that Juliette is having an affair. As the trip unfolds, the sisters push and pull against each other, caught in two worlds, the way they were when they were young, and the way they are right now. This was also recognisable to me, two women, who come from the same household, who are essentially shaped by the same environment, but turn out so vastly different. A sibling is of course a witness to your own early homelife, as you were to theirs, and yet, the memories can still differ. And even after it all comes out in the wash, differences aside, there is at the end that unbreakable bond, the first, and possibly most significant bond you ever formed with another person. Unsworth captures this with utter perfection.
‘Sarah had often said to Juliette: “We had different mothers.” They’d had different versions of the same woman, it was true. Sarah got her first: harried, territorial, phobia-laden. Juliette got her through the buffer of Sarah. But Juliette couldn’t see that, and that was all right. It had been Sarah’s job to protect Juliette from seeing that.’
So funny and so insightful, I found Slags to be a real deep dive into womanhood, who we are, who we want to be, and who we are yet to become. I love novels like this too, with such authentic characters, messy women who haven’t got their shit together. It’s entirely real and so refreshing and relatable. I feel like these sorts of stories enable women to feel okay about where they’re at, without the need for justification or explanations.
‘Why is something defunct in our inward and outward gaze, as women? Why is there such a chasm between what we judge in others and what we appreciate in ourselves? We need someone to bridge that gap. To help us see how we already are what we want to be.’
4.5 stars
September 10, 2025
I thought this would be a funny book about sex and sisterhood but it was actually also a very unexpected exploration of grief and trauma and living with the loss that comes after sexual assault. One of those books where you’re laughing one second and then the next it feels like you’ve been punched in the gut.
I loved the jumping timelines and how well it was written from 15 year old Sarah’s point of view—the teenage obsession that’s so intense it feels like the only thing that matters in the world. That complete all-consuming delusion that I completely forgot about that comes with having a teenage infatuation.
I feel like the middle of the novel could’ve been condensed, it did take a bit of effort to get through, but the ending came together so nicely that it ended up being well worth it. Makes me wish I had a sister.
I loved the jumping timelines and how well it was written from 15 year old Sarah’s point of view—the teenage obsession that’s so intense it feels like the only thing that matters in the world. That complete all-consuming delusion that I completely forgot about that comes with having a teenage infatuation.
I feel like the middle of the novel could’ve been condensed, it did take a bit of effort to get through, but the ending came together so nicely that it ended up being well worth it. Makes me wish I had a sister.
June 2, 2025
Emma Jane Unsworth's novel tells a story of two very different British sisters, who decide to get away and take a road trip. Travelling in an old camper van, Sarah and Juliette celebrate their lives, while digging up dirt from their past. There's jealousy and bad vibes as they recount their teen years but ultimately, they realize blood is thicker than water. Gorgeous and heart-warming tale.
June 23, 2025
the start was promising but story subverted itself so much i felt a bit motion sick and felt very disconnected from characters. not really sure what this book was wanting to be but didn’t really work for me.
September 23, 2025
Better than it had any business being. The prose was surprising, the images fresh. The cocktail of humour and heaviness was delicious. Sisterhood, man.
June 2, 2025
Made me snort with laughter and curl my toes with the cringey 90s nostalgia. Entertaining and just what I needed right now.
May 8, 2025
Firstly, just try and read the title of this book without the Danny Dyer voice in your head… nope, couldn’t? Me neither.
In what seems to be her signature style, Emma Jane Unsworth has wrapped up another deep and thoughtful book within layers of humorous wrapping paper and with a snappy titled bow to top it off.
Slags follows Sarah, who is 41 and at that stage of life where partying isn’t as fun as it used to be, and the hangovers hit different. She and her younger sister Juliette head off on a campervan trip across Scotland for Juliette’s birthday. Lovely… bonding, some scenery, maybe a few deep and meaningfuls. But it turns into an emotionally messy road trip through their childhood trauma, bad decisions growing up as a teenage girl in the noughties, and their deeply complicated sisterly love.
We jump between present-day Scotland and 1990s teenage chaos, Sarah at 15, drinking too much, obsessing over her English teacher (the cringe-factor is real in these scenes) and figuring out who she is in a world that keeps trying to define her as one thing or another.
I absolutely adored this book… not just because I recognised so many of the complicated sisterly moments, but as a personal aside for me… the locations the pair visit on their road trip are regular haunts for me which was a real nostalgic touch! My mum now lives on the North-West coast of Scotland and we spent a lot of our childhood summers in the places name-checked in this book so I could fully put myself there. I don’t know that my little sister could cope with taking a road trip with me up there nowadays though. My bossiness has only increased with age! 😂
The writing is fun, it’s punchy and full of humour and jumps from the past to the present in a way that makes you feel a bit tipsy, but it works. It’s really felt like those shared vulnerable 1am kitchen chats (be it with siblings or mates) talking about everything you were too scared to say out loud at the time.
I flew through this one, it was nostalgic, humorous but with moments of real vulnerability too. I really liked Unsworth’s writing style and the content of this one ticked a bunch of boxes for me too.
In what seems to be her signature style, Emma Jane Unsworth has wrapped up another deep and thoughtful book within layers of humorous wrapping paper and with a snappy titled bow to top it off.
Slags follows Sarah, who is 41 and at that stage of life where partying isn’t as fun as it used to be, and the hangovers hit different. She and her younger sister Juliette head off on a campervan trip across Scotland for Juliette’s birthday. Lovely… bonding, some scenery, maybe a few deep and meaningfuls. But it turns into an emotionally messy road trip through their childhood trauma, bad decisions growing up as a teenage girl in the noughties, and their deeply complicated sisterly love.
We jump between present-day Scotland and 1990s teenage chaos, Sarah at 15, drinking too much, obsessing over her English teacher (the cringe-factor is real in these scenes) and figuring out who she is in a world that keeps trying to define her as one thing or another.
I absolutely adored this book… not just because I recognised so many of the complicated sisterly moments, but as a personal aside for me… the locations the pair visit on their road trip are regular haunts for me which was a real nostalgic touch! My mum now lives on the North-West coast of Scotland and we spent a lot of our childhood summers in the places name-checked in this book so I could fully put myself there. I don’t know that my little sister could cope with taking a road trip with me up there nowadays though. My bossiness has only increased with age! 😂
The writing is fun, it’s punchy and full of humour and jumps from the past to the present in a way that makes you feel a bit tipsy, but it works. It’s really felt like those shared vulnerable 1am kitchen chats (be it with siblings or mates) talking about everything you were too scared to say out loud at the time.
I flew through this one, it was nostalgic, humorous but with moments of real vulnerability too. I really liked Unsworth’s writing style and the content of this one ticked a bunch of boxes for me too.
March 28, 2025
Very much enjoyed- wild that i got to read it before publishing! I think if you have a sister you will lovee this but its great even without, super funny lots of 90s kid references, loved the tone of the different age chapters it was so effective for setting the timeline, would recommend!
March 21, 2025
I always love Emma Jane Unsworth’s novels and this one didn’t disappoint. I was obsessed with the sister dynamics in this one.
Thanks so much to Borough for my copy, out 8th May!
Thanks so much to Borough for my copy, out 8th May!
July 25, 2025
Dnf’d at 100 pages… the below quote sums up this reading experience …
“Seriously, though, was it the menopause? The peri-menopause? The peri-peri-menopause? She did like Nando’s…”
“Seriously, though, was it the menopause? The peri-menopause? The peri-peri-menopause? She did like Nando’s…”
July 29, 2025
Hmmm, I really wanted to love this but I found it quite boring.
August 27, 2025
Honestly they should sack whoever did the proof reading on this. There were so many errors and missing grammar which didn’t seem intentional, and also randomly the font would change for no reason. Just made for a shoddier read.
As for the story…okay! Started off strong and with some actual laughing out loud moments. Interesting themes about sisters and connection, and I was enjoying understanding Sarah and Juliette more. In the end though, it very much felt like we were strung along for the majority of the book just for it to be something completely different and, dare I say, boring and a cop out unless the full background of it was given more time. I like unlikeable characters as much as the next person but both sisters seem like knobs, and not in a good way! It didn’t feel like enough was given for us to understand the intentions of Sarah too, so in the end I just shrugged.
A shame as I was looking forward to this!
As for the story…okay! Started off strong and with some actual laughing out loud moments. Interesting themes about sisters and connection, and I was enjoying understanding Sarah and Juliette more. In the end though, it very much felt like we were strung along for the majority of the book just for it to be something completely different and, dare I say, boring and a cop out unless the full background of it was given more time. I like unlikeable characters as much as the next person but both sisters seem like knobs, and not in a good way! It didn’t feel like enough was given for us to understand the intentions of Sarah too, so in the end I just shrugged.
A shame as I was looking forward to this!
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June 19, 2025
Slags follows sisters Sarah and Juliette across two timelines: the early '90s, where a teenaged Sarah and her best friend Nessa navigate adolescence, friendship, and heartbreak; and the present day, where the now-adult Sarah and Juliette take a road trip through Scotland.
While I suspect this story aimed to explore themes of trauma and healing, the execution was... flat. I found myself far more engaged in the '90s storyline; Sarah and Nessa’s loyalty and provocativeness gave the narrative some life. But just as things would start to get interesting, the story would abruptly shift back to the present-day timeline—a timeline that was extremely dull and unengaging.
The adult storyline lacked depth, and not a single character showed meaningful growth. I kept waiting for the two timelines to converge in a satisfying way, but that moment never came. With tighter writing or stronger character development, this could have been compelling. Instead, it came across as underdeveloped, and at times even lazy.
And then there’s the title: provocative, sure, but it’s only mentioned once in the entire book. It's giving clickbait?
Ultimately, this one didn’t land for me. I doubt I’ll remember much about it in a couple of months. Sorry.
While I suspect this story aimed to explore themes of trauma and healing, the execution was... flat. I found myself far more engaged in the '90s storyline; Sarah and Nessa’s loyalty and provocativeness gave the narrative some life. But just as things would start to get interesting, the story would abruptly shift back to the present-day timeline—a timeline that was extremely dull and unengaging.
The adult storyline lacked depth, and not a single character showed meaningful growth. I kept waiting for the two timelines to converge in a satisfying way, but that moment never came. With tighter writing or stronger character development, this could have been compelling. Instead, it came across as underdeveloped, and at times even lazy.
And then there’s the title: provocative, sure, but it’s only mentioned once in the entire book. It's giving clickbait?
Ultimately, this one didn’t land for me. I doubt I’ll remember much about it in a couple of months. Sorry.
June 21, 2025
i didn't have any expectations coming into this because i read 'adults' about four years ago and completely forgot unsworths writing style but this was so binge worthy!
this is an incredible coming of age story covering sisterhood, trauma and exploitation and yet it's incredibly funny and easy to consume
i also loved the back and forth chapters between them as teenagers and them now, it was so effective in drip feeding us little clues as to how they've ended up where they have as adults
definitely recommend!
this is an incredible coming of age story covering sisterhood, trauma and exploitation and yet it's incredibly funny and easy to consume
i also loved the back and forth chapters between them as teenagers and them now, it was so effective in drip feeding us little clues as to how they've ended up where they have as adults
definitely recommend!
May 12, 2025
I rarely feel I truly long for a book, but whenever I paused the reading of Slags, I missed being immersed in it. It’s gorgeous, unpretentious, charming and funny.
May 16, 2025
I was absolutely ecstatic to be accepted to review Slags, I absolutely loved Animals and I knew Emma Jane Unsworth would have written something I could relate to, and I was right.
Slags sees two sisters Sarah and Juliette setting off to Scotland on a little campervan break to celebrate Juliette’s 40th birthday. Over a split timeline we are transported back to the 90’s, back to being 15 back to boys and bands and booze and for Sarah books, Shakespeare specifically and the young English teacher who writes messages on her essays.
Throughout the road trip the woman bicker and bond in the way that only sisters really do, they’ve always been different, haven’t they? They reluctantly rehash old memories and in the end some new truths come out.
The nostalgia of the 90’s setting was so strong. So many memories so much to relate to. I loved it, I loved the plain speaking sisters. The authenticity of the writing. The highs the lows and the realisations. I loved being catapulted from one emotion to another.
I’m even enjoying the little ear worm that stayed with me from the very first pages.
Another winner!
Chloe Massey narrates beautifully again 🎧
Huge thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title, which is available now.
Slags sees two sisters Sarah and Juliette setting off to Scotland on a little campervan break to celebrate Juliette’s 40th birthday. Over a split timeline we are transported back to the 90’s, back to being 15 back to boys and bands and booze and for Sarah books, Shakespeare specifically and the young English teacher who writes messages on her essays.
Throughout the road trip the woman bicker and bond in the way that only sisters really do, they’ve always been different, haven’t they? They reluctantly rehash old memories and in the end some new truths come out.
The nostalgia of the 90’s setting was so strong. So many memories so much to relate to. I loved it, I loved the plain speaking sisters. The authenticity of the writing. The highs the lows and the realisations. I loved being catapulted from one emotion to another.
I’m even enjoying the little ear worm that stayed with me from the very first pages.
Another winner!
Chloe Massey narrates beautifully again 🎧
Huge thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title, which is available now.
November 24, 2025
(3.5) This was better than Adults. I loved the sisters' banter and the randomness of their campervan road trip through Scotland for Juliette's 40th birthday. I didn't care for the (title and cover and) alternating storyline about Sarah's teenage promiscuity, though. She convinced herself that her crush on her teacher Mr Keaveney was requited, and joined her best friend in being obsessed with the members of a boy band. Had this been younger sister Juliette's jealous depiction of her sister's exploits, or a third-person account similar to the contemporary thread, or even just a very few short flashbacks, it would have been okay, but Sarah's 15-year-old voice was pretty insufferable and I had to skim through a lot of her sections. I think what Unsworth is trying to do is explore how adult misbehaviour (Sarah's ongoing promiscuity and substance abuse; Juliette's infidelity) is rooted in the trauma of earlier years, but then she kind of undermines that message by exposing how what both sisters went through isn't 'that bad', or at least not as bad as they imagined or as it appears. So, I'm being very generous with the extra half-star, but it's to reflect how very funny the novel is at its best, and the fact that Unsworth has improved.
December 30, 2025
The audiobook was well read and engaging and I enjoyed following the story but I wouldn’t say the marketing for this book is accurate as it’s not a “laugh out loud” “hilarious” read really and covers a few more heavy topics. But the characters were strong and the sisters’ relationship was raw and lovely.
October 6, 2025
4.5, up the slags x
November 18, 2025
Slags is about sisters. It is about the past and its impact on our present. It is about the struggles and complexities of middle life. It is about serious issues but framed comically. The 90s references from the word “Slag” itself to the bands to the lifestyle. So much nostalgia! I absolutely loved it.
September 30, 2025
Ooofff a wild ride of complicated sister relationships mixed with a lot of capital T Trauma and a very unhinged protagonist
September 29, 2025
Banging. My sister bought me this and I love her for it
August 20, 2025
Plot/compellingness 3/5
Themes 4/5
Characters 5/5
Emotional resonance 4/5
Writing style 5/5
Themes 4/5
Characters 5/5
Emotional resonance 4/5
Writing style 5/5
April 7, 2025
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
💬 “There was an act of affection to neutralise every act of betrayal and vice versa. The eternal book balancing of siblingdom.”
💭 SLAGS by Emma Jane Unsworth was an absolute blast of a read.
Fifteen-year-old Sarah is hopelessly in love with her English teacher, Mr Keaveney. Her best mate Nessa? Obsessed with a member of the infamous boy band 4Princes. And Sarah’s little sister Juliette? Well, according to Sarah, she’s just annoying.
Fast forward a few decades, and Sarah and Juliette are on a road trip for Juliette’s 40th birthday. Cue whiskey-fuelled nights, nostalgic bickering, and some surprisingly tender reflections on where they've been and where they're going.
What a FUN read. The 90s and early noughties references! The quick wit! The humour! The sibling rivalry! I loved every minute.
But SLAGS wasn’t all just laughs and retro throwbacks, it’s got real emotion too.
The dual timeline gives us a full picture of Sarah, past and present, and it’s done so cleverly. One minute I was laughing out loud, the next I really really felt for her.
SLAGS provides a raw, honest look at how messy growing up (and, honestly, staying grown-up) can be.
Funny, heartfelt, and painfully relatable, I’d absolutely recommend picking this one up.
💬 “There was an act of affection to neutralise every act of betrayal and vice versa. The eternal book balancing of siblingdom.”
💭 SLAGS by Emma Jane Unsworth was an absolute blast of a read.
Fifteen-year-old Sarah is hopelessly in love with her English teacher, Mr Keaveney. Her best mate Nessa? Obsessed with a member of the infamous boy band 4Princes. And Sarah’s little sister Juliette? Well, according to Sarah, she’s just annoying.
Fast forward a few decades, and Sarah and Juliette are on a road trip for Juliette’s 40th birthday. Cue whiskey-fuelled nights, nostalgic bickering, and some surprisingly tender reflections on where they've been and where they're going.
What a FUN read. The 90s and early noughties references! The quick wit! The humour! The sibling rivalry! I loved every minute.
But SLAGS wasn’t all just laughs and retro throwbacks, it’s got real emotion too.
The dual timeline gives us a full picture of Sarah, past and present, and it’s done so cleverly. One minute I was laughing out loud, the next I really really felt for her.
SLAGS provides a raw, honest look at how messy growing up (and, honestly, staying grown-up) can be.
Funny, heartfelt, and painfully relatable, I’d absolutely recommend picking this one up.
August 14, 2025
this was so much fun!! very accurate representation of sisterhood and what it’s like to be inside the brain of a teenage girl. The protagonist reminded me so much of the girl in Boy Parts by Eliza Clark in the way that she was mental and so funny!!
May 27, 2025
2.5⭐️ A sad case of judging a book by its cover (and name) and then being let down by the contents.
On paper, Slags is everything I love - literary fiction, the struggles and experiences of being a young woman in the 90s, complex relationships, grappling with young love and coming of age, but sadly it seems somewhat underdeveloped and lacking in cohesion.
I would also argue that it all feels a bit messy - granted, I think this is partially intentional, it suits the narrative and the lifestyle of Sarah, but I also think there are elements of the story that just don’t land very well. For example, I love the sister trope and feel as though that could have been explored far more and to greater effect. I feel similarly about the experiences of sexual assault, as these seemed to crop up unexpectedly and then disappear again after limited exploration which felt jarring and difficult to process.
Ultimately, all the ingredients are there, but the end product just isn’t quite what the recipe promised.
On paper, Slags is everything I love - literary fiction, the struggles and experiences of being a young woman in the 90s, complex relationships, grappling with young love and coming of age, but sadly it seems somewhat underdeveloped and lacking in cohesion.
I would also argue that it all feels a bit messy - granted, I think this is partially intentional, it suits the narrative and the lifestyle of Sarah, but I also think there are elements of the story that just don’t land very well. For example, I love the sister trope and feel as though that could have been explored far more and to greater effect. I feel similarly about the experiences of sexual assault, as these seemed to crop up unexpectedly and then disappear again after limited exploration which felt jarring and difficult to process.
Ultimately, all the ingredients are there, but the end product just isn’t quite what the recipe promised.
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