This was an interested perspective that really resonated with me. A great read, and one I'm sure I'll be thinking about in the future - I will also most definitely be picking up more from Harriet Gibsone.

coming of age in the early days of the internet was an acid trip for most millennials and older gen-zs, but for harriet gibsone, logging on for the first time marked a disquieting seismic shift in her character that she fears she will never recover from.

through a series of hilarious, wry and impressively inquisitive anecdotes, this unflinchingly honest memoir tells the story of two crucial eras in harriet's life so far, both of which are engulfed by social media and the intense parasocial relationships it incites.

the first: her early twenties, as she juggles her young career as a music journalist with incessantly stalking pretty much everyone who enters her orbit online.

and the second: her late twenties, as she falls in love, receives a devastating diagnosis of early onset menopause, experiences a traumatic birth following years of invasive medical treatments, and learns to navigate motherhood.

despite being the former title holder of 'fittest girl in year 11' (huge slay), harriet is as insecure as the rest of us. throughout her journey into womanhood, she is increasingly drawn to comparing her appearance, behaviour and life with that of people she stalks online, be it alexa chung, her ex boyfriend's ex, her therapist's girlfriend, or mumfluencers with dreamy birth stories and notoriously unattainable daily routines.

given that morally ambiguous weird girl behaviour, '00s social media, online micro-communities and the blurred lines between url and irl are literally my favourite things to read about, i'm probably part of the exact audience gibsone set out to target with this book. i found her writing style funny and endearing, so didn't mind the few tangents that did little for plot progression. her deep dive into deliciously ella's pregnancy/birth/mum journey compared to hers is my fave part of the book. highly recommend!

thank you for the arc!

I thought this would be a light hearted, fun non-fiction read. However, this was not what I expected and left me wanting something different. I found it a little bit of a slog to get through, although, it did pick up a bit at the end for me.

I found it a tad boring and rambly. Not what I hoped for unfortunately.

I thought this was going to be more of an exploration of chronic illness, but instead, it was an autobiography of someone's slightly interesting life. The stringing together of the narrative based on being overly obsessed with social media felt a little forced. Nonetheless, there were some fun and nostalgic anecdotes and I do think Gibsone has a strong writerly voice. Just wasn't exactly sure what the "point" of this book was - not that every book has to have a "point," and I do understand this criticism is largely a "me" problem.

I'm grateful to approved to read this book. I found it to be a bit of a mixed bag - I enjoyed some of the chapters and could really connect with Harriet but other chapters just didn't make sense to me within the context of the book. I also don't feel like the synopsis really explains what this book is about - I expected there to be more about being female like her experiences with IVF and HRT but those parts felt very lacking. I just thought this was going to be more than it was. I think perhaps this just wasn't the book for me but I would be interested to read more of the author's writing in the future.

This reminds me of Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love, but the focus isn’t on friendships and love, it’s on the internet. I was looking forward to a millennial take on the subject with lots of popular culture references, but I think I’m a bit younger than the author so the references didn’t land as well as they could have (I’m 31). Parts of this were great, but it feels like it needs a really thorough edit. The section on early menopause was brilliant, but deserved more page space and expansion, and the same goes for the author’s experience of getting pregnant and the raising a newborn during the pandemic. I’d have preferred the first third to be cut (including the weird Chris Martin bit) in favour of delving more deeply into the latter parts. Not a complete miss, but it all felt a bit surface level.

This is not really what I expected. I thought it would be more non-fiction focused rather than a memoir, which meant I thougt it'd be more technical. I enjoyed the last part most, but her youth anecdotes, with lots of name dropping left me unimpressed.

Quite an enjoyable read with some very humorous moments. It tells the story of Harriet and her quest to find some sense of belonging. I did empathise with the lady and the book definitely picked up towards the end. I did find some of the earlier stuff a bit of a slog to get through as it did seem to be mainly ramblings.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Is This OK? Is a memoir that looks back on the authors life, notably by focusing in on her use of the internet, social media, and a tendency to hone in on people through that lens. Growing up at the same time as the internet takes off, we get the usual look back on MSN, MySpace, and music forums, just as we do when Twitter blasts off as she is situating herself within music journalism, with it all coming to a head with Instagram, tik tok, zoom, and the global pandemic.

I’m a bit unsure on my thoughts for this one. I did enjoy reading it, and despite being that bit younger, I found it quite relatable in a way that I think most people, in their thirties and under, will - we’re so very easily drawn in to our phones, and we so easily make assumptions on other people based on what they have posted online. However the author tends to take that to the extreme, feverishly looking over partners ex-girlfriends digital footprints, hyperfixating on a fellow commuter (while struggling with personal issues), developing para-social relationships with influencers, and hearing Alexa Chung as the disparaging voice in her head.

While the overall theme of the book is internet culture, and the authors relationship to that, it also has a pretty interesting look into the indie music scene of 2007-2010, as she was working for a free music magazine during that time period.

The latter half of the book takes a turn, with talk of chronic illness, infertility, having a new born, and dealing with a traumatic birth, just as the pandemic sinks its teeth into the world. I really felt for the author during these chapters, and I hope that she’s in a better place now.

This is an unflinching look into one woman’s internet habits, and while I don’t think it will be for everyone, I personally found it to be an interesting read.

Thank you to Netgalley, and Pan Macmillian, for the early copy to review.

Batshit crazy, and alarmingly relatable, 'Is This OK?' is an unflinchingly honest coming-of-age story. Harriet Gibsone had me snorting with laughter from the opening pages. The nostalgia is strong with this one. As the book progresses, Harriet's anecdotes become increasingly unhinged, resulting in an uncomfortable reading experience in places. Mainly because I've done some stupid stuff I'm not proud of too. Highly recommend it if you need a laugh and want to feel a little less weird.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would firstly like to say that I really enjoyed the writing style of this author. I did double check at one point that it was non fiction because I thought that it read like a fictional story. I was really happy about that as it got me through the parts of the book that I didn’t enjoy. The book is one woman’s story about her life and mainly her use of the internet and how it changed throughout the years. She seemed to have an addiction to social media. I liked that Harriet was not a celebrity, she was/is just a former music journalist. I really expected more from this book but I am not sure what that was.

I really struggled with this book, I loved the description but didn’t enjoy the book. I am a similar age to the author so knew a lot of the bands and people she talked about, I genuinely felt bad for Alexa Chung at one stage and wanted to warn her to get some security.

I’m not sure writing a book is a great idea for someone who is so obsessed with things online and feel like she may now turn her obsession to reading reviews of the book. I really wanted to like it but found it all a little bit depressing, sorry.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced reading copy.

Honestly, I don’t feel comfortable rating or judging this book as it’s a memoir, so the rating is just so I can post this review. What I will say is there are some funny moments, some heartbreaking moments and some moments that you can learn from. It’s definitely not a book you will regret reading.

This book wasn’t quite what I expected. I thought it was going to be a darkly humorous look at certain aspects of teenage life and early adulthood. While it did have some of that side to it, the main undercurrent of obsession and internet addiction was far more unsettling.

I found it interesting to read because of the author’s age and the clear impact that the internet and social media had on her life and relationships. She writes honestly, exposing her painful thoughts and experiences. It was eye-opening for me as someone of a slightly older generation.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This memoir picked up pace and pulled me in fairly rapidly. It is an achingly honest exploration of growing up during the dawn of social media and tells how the internet shaped Harriet Gibsone’s everyday life, the choices she made from adolescence in both her relationships and career. It explores how it also led to her engagement in behaviour that is far from healthy but remarkably relatable in this age of celebrity and Google.
She writes her story in such an open way and with such a comic, albeit self-deprecating voice, that I found this book next to impossible to put down, I guess it was that window into someone else’s life that she herself finds so addictive. But it is not just her writing style and her voice that is so compelling, it is the brave honesty and the raw edge-ness that is piled into this book that makes it fascinating.
The second half of the book deals with the impact of early menopause and the quest then to become a mother and the realities of that, juxtaposed against the picture painted by influencers on similar journeys. There is so much realism jammed in here, some of which makes you wince and some of which makes you sigh in relieved recognition. There are also some truly unexpected moments, so much so that at no point did I get bored or want to skip – this is so unusual for me – and I was never quite sure what was coming next.
This is one of the best memoirs I have read in a long time, partly for the pace at which it rattles along, partly for the surprises that jump in along the way but largely for the honesty and the courage. Fabulous.

An absolutely brilliant read with a very humane take of adolescence and not being perfect. I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir and felt closely connected to Harriet, especially with her ups and downs and found her retelling of her pregnancy and early menopause deeply insightful.

Honestly, I'm really struggling to work out whether I enjoyed this book or not. Is This Ok? is an autobiographical look at the life of Harriet Gisbone, a music journalist. The book follows her over a number of years and looks at how her use of the internet changes over time.

Being a similar age to Harriet, I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of the references to things such as My Space but otherwise I found this quite tough going. It's a slightly unusual premise for an autobiography as Harriet isn't a celebrity, nor has she lived through a major event which is why most people would read this kind of book.

Honestly, I nearly gave up at the beginning as, whilst the writing was good, the 'story' was pretty non-existent and I found myself wondering why on earth I was reading about someone's fairly uneventful life. I did enjoy it more towards the end and found myself really empathising with Harriet as she grew her family.

Even after writing this, I still can't really work out whether I enjoyed it or not!

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

I cannot believe how much this book resonated with me, it was like I was holding a mirror to my early twenties, coming of age in London, when the Internet barely existed and suddenly it was everywhere (like Alexa Chung!).

A roller coaster of a novel - in a short book of just over 300 pages we get everything, from "laughter, libido, imagination, daydreams, ambition" to "the big emotions, the migraines, sweating, spikes of anger, weight gain, lethargy, aching joints, heart palpitations, stuttering, night terrors, insomnia..." A full spectre!

I loved the first half of the book - it was all about music for me, but the second half, the sore naked truth of being a woman - that's what moved me.

And yes, this is a memoir. Engaging, devastating, funny and hopeful. I didn't think I would love it. But I do.

P.S. The cover does not do this book justice! I would not have looked at the cover/book twice if I did not search for the book specifically. Please change!

This is a book of two halves, the first half tells the story of a young woman trying to make her way on the music journalism business and how she constantly feels like she isn't good enough. The second half, she settles down but the road is difficult and her neurotic tendencies peak. It's a brutally honest journey we are taken on, and I admire the author's honesty. It could be a bit more coherent as a story, like a lot of memoirs, it jumps about a bit and there were a few chapters that seemed to be a bit pointless. But the payoff was good and overall, I enjoyed the book.

Is This Ok is a relatable, funny autobiography whose anecdotes had me laughing in recognition. Through her memories, the author delves into relationships, early menopause, the pitfalls of being chronically online, and pursuing a career as a journalist.