Thank you for the advanced copy!
This was one of my most anticipated reads for this year and it didn’t disappoint - this is a great exploration of the darker side of fame and this was an extremely engaging a fast paced read. Olivia’s writing really gets you to feel the trauma that surfaces for Rose and how within celebrity culture, male figures are usually given a lot more protection than they deserve. This is a heavy read so definitely check trigger warnings first!

Smart and timely this is a book about a culture we survive every day. Smart, well written, stunningly devastating.

This is a very current read and deals with the whole celebrity culture topic. More and more we are hearing about how male celebrities / people in the public eye abuse their status in society and often in regards to women and consent.
Rose works in PR where she meets music sensation Milo Jax. After an event she heads home with him but wakes up not knowing what has happened and she is bleeding and in pain.
The novel is set in 2017 pre the #metoo movement and following the event we follow Rose through the stages of trying to figure out what happened, her mental state and how toxic the whole celebrity / influencer culture is .
A great read

A hard hitting read for sure. More so because it touches upon reality. Loved the underlying themes and how well written this is. Could never guess this was a debut from how well thought out and written this is.

It is a difficult read due to its theme but a must read. Some of the elements like putting celebrities on a pedestal and their image that we hold hits home. Especially the fan culture and social media. I think the use of some of these elements to weave the story is fantastic. The aftermath too is shown very well where you feel for the character.

Thank you NetGalley and 4th Estate and William Collins for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

@currentlyreading__
Book 53 of 2024

Thank you to @oliviapetter, @netgalley and the publisher @4thestatebooks for the e-copy of ‘Gold Rush’ in exchange for my thoughts.

A couple of years ago I read Petter’s work of non-fiction ‘Millennial Love’ which was certainly eye-opening but this was her debut fictional work.

We have our main character Rose who works for Firehouse, a powerful news outlet. 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.

The writing is great really showcasing issues such as celebrity culture, consent and as it is set in 2017 it is prior to the MeToo movement so we see Rose’s experience from a different and rather isolating viewpoint. From the outset ‘Gold Rush’ seems like it will be a rather frivolous rom-com with an online flirtation with the global pop icon but when Rose wakes from a night with Milo and is covered with blood, the message of consent becomes writ large. This is not a rom-com; it is ultimately a powerful exploration of rape and its aftermath. It is impactful and a really important piece of fiction.

#bookworm #iamreading #bookreview #kindle #bookreviews #bibliophile #oliviapetter #bookreview #mustread #bookobsessed #goldrush #4thestatebooks #bookrecommendations #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #contemporaryfiction

Gold Rush by Olivia Petter

Rose Martin works as a publicist in the glitzy non-stop party world of celebrities and Instagram influencers, where she has the misfortune to meet up with the incredibly famous pop star Milo Jaxx.

She flirts with him, texts him and enjoys his attentions, surprised that he should have any interest in her and one thing leads to another. She goes to his place, gets very drunk. He takes her home and the next morning she remembers very little. It’s probably not an uncommon scenario.

However, afterwards nothing quite fits in its right place and things start to fall apart in work and with her friends. She has a panic attack, is endlessly distracted and seems unable to organise her life.

Then, for no particular reason, there is a long diversion into the depravity of a vulgar, sexualised, expensive hen party which Rose has somehow been invited to. There are male strippers, sex games and endless alcohol and it's fair to say that none of the rich, indulged, drug imbibing young women who attend it emerge from the experience looking good!

There's another diversion where Rose finds herself befriending, or befriended by, another young woman who is basically trapped as an influencer with millions of followers and zero privacy. It doesn't work out for her well either.

Rose spends little time working, a long time drunk, and almost as long sobbing in toilets. She has low self-esteem, thinks she's unattractive and is a loner with few friends. Maybe it's quite easy for Milo Jaxx!

It's hard to see what the point of this novel is. It’s not quite lifting the lid on what some people might see as a glamorous area of employment and it's not quite a warning to young girls to avoid friendly rock stars. It also describes the tart-like life of young wannabe it-girls, obsessed with gossip, cocaine and casual sex - but I'm not sure if the writer dislikes them. I certainly did!

In the end, it's a confused mix. Men only feature as sex objects doing a good line in woman hating and exploitation and, in many aspects, the women seem to match them - even down to the misogyny. It's not really a pleasant read either!

Sometimes with books of such a heavy subject matter it can be hard to slog through but I read Gold Rush in two sittings and absolutely loved it!

There is something so real and relatable in Petter’s writing (mostly the main character’s ANTM binge watching) that added a complexity to the difficult topics being raised.

So much to unpack now that I’ve finished it and this novel is one I will be thinking about for weeks to come!

Excited to see what comes next for Olivia Petter!

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for an ARC of Gold Rush.

Rose is a publicist, and has to deal with celebrities. However dealing with celebrities can go bad, and what happens then.

This book horrified me in a way that makes me think twice about idolising celebrities and influencers. Is what they're showing real life, probably not. Are they that nice in real life, probably not (who could be that nice all the time). Should we put these people on pedestals, probably not.

I liked seeing how this story would play out, it had me gripped very early on.
Good book, highly recommend

Gold Rush explores issues of consent, power imbalances and privilege through the lens of a young PR exec who is raped by a famous musician.

It was easy to empathise with Rose, she seemed empathetic and friendly but didn't seem to have much self esteem. It was heart-breaking reading her struggling after the rape and I really wanted to reach through the pages and comfort her. I would have loved for the final chapter to go into a bit more detail so we could see her doing well.

Certain chapters were a little too long for me and didn't add much to the story. I would have liked to learn more about Luce and Rose's friendship and it seemed liked a missed opportunity for them not to discuss the rape at any point as I feel this would have been the most natural person for Rose to want to speak to.

The change in narrative in the penultimate chapter was jarring and if there has to be a change in narrative there was a much more obvious choice. It distracted from the main plot to be suddenly hearing from a voice that otherwise wasn't that relevant in the rest of the story in my opinion.

This book is a challenging read due to the subject and for that reason I would only ever recommend it with very clear trigger warnings but I did enjoy reading it and would like to read more from the author in future.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review!

4 stars!

Gold Rush holds such a raw and real story within in. It may be triggering for many reasons as it focuses on many topics such as SA, self harm, obsession within celeb culture, manipulation, abuse, toxic relationships, and others.

This was such a read that grasped me as soon as I started!

A beautifully nuanced page turner, Peter's prose sparkles from every page.

A must read for today's celebrity obsessed generation.

A perfectly poised comment on the issue of consent.

I don't know what I expected from this book, but it certainly packed a punch that really snuck up on me!
On the face of it, you find yourself immersed in a vapid and self-obsessed industry with equally suited people (apart from Rose), but it descends in to quite dark places almost before you've noticed the change in scenery.

There's some decent character development for Rose throughout, and there's some really important and intense issues which are dealt with well and in quite a realistic way.

There's very little fleshing out of the other characters which I found a little disappointing and a strange perspective change, but I still enjoyed it overall despite an abrupt end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc

I’m unsure if this book wasn’t for me or if it was just right book wrong time?! There were parts of the book I really loved and parts k didn’t.

The pacing seemed a bit off and eventually I had to dnf it because I couldn’t vibe with it the way I wanted to

I have followed Olivia's work for a while - I love her articles in The Sunday Times/Soho House Sex Column as well as her first book Millennial Love! I equally enjoyed reading Gold Rush, the cover is beautiful! In Gold Rush you follow Rose who is a publishing assistant in the struggling industry of publishing. The story highlights how cruel and heartless the world of the rich and famous. After a blurry night out with Milo (the current most famous superstar) it ends up with Rose waking up confused, bleeding and alone, questions are raised. Rose is ghosted and has little memory of what happened. It was a hard and uncomfortable read, Olivia really captures how anyone with power or a large following can abuse that position and create an uneven power dynamic. The ending left me screaming.
Thank you for my early copy!

This is one of the most accurate and relatable novels on sexual assault I have ever read and I couldn't tear myself away from it. I was a bit wary at first - I'd initially mistakenly thought it was a non-fiction quite literally about celebrity culture, and when I started reading it I thought it might be verging on fan fiction territory (clearly I didn't read the description thoroughly), but it certainly didn't disappoint. This is definitely something that I will be recommending to friends and family.

Gold Rush starts extremely strongly as we get to know Rose and she meets Milo Jax. Olivia Petter enables us to understand this young insecure girl who has ended up in the maelstrom that is Firehouse Publishing. As the inevitable evening with Milo ends and she tries to carry on with her life the book flagged for me. The narrative has so many different strands from this point on and some seem to have very little point other than to give Rose another reason to break down. Gold Rush does carry a strong message and it is an horrific read in places but for me the narrative wasn’t cohesive enough.

I finished this book so quickly and it has really stayed with me since. A heart-breaking and all too familiar story which took the reader on a spiralling, twisting account of assault and the feeling of convincing oneself that maybe it wasn't that bad. Or maybe the reality was just too painful to face. Petter's writing was carefully crafted, allowing the reader to get spun around in the whirlwind of the 'Firehouse' life and then dumped on the floor the next morning, left reeling and questioning what had actually happened. A brilliant interpretation of the MeToo movement and a nuanced portrayal of the complexities within it.

I was intrigued by story outline of Gold Rush but found the story was way nuanced than that. Rose is a complex character and has issues that a lot of people will be able to relate to in some way and this makes her very likeable. The way people react to a "celebrity" is brilliantly captured with the added feature of the knowledge of Rose's experience.
The chapters are long which made this a slower read but the ending is well done.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read Gold Rush

I liked the sound of this book but it didn't take me down the path I thought it would, it was more of a build up to the end result that I don't want to spoil for those that haven't read it. I found the chapters too long, I like short and snappy chapters that you can put a book down and then easily carry on reading when you pick it up again. It was also a slow read and I didn't get the point of the different POV towards the end as it only happened once and seemed out of place and not needed. Unfortunately not my type of book.

to be honest, i requested this from 4th estate because my "for you" page this week was inundated with love island edits. although i had never seen the show before, the way "fans" behaved seemed wild to me. very high emotions for people they don't even know in real life just because of a show that edits scenes to evoke those emotions. gold rush intrigued me because of the focus on what happens after a rape by a celebrity has occurred, how it's not one person's word against another but one person's word against an army of people. when this happens to rose, it was sad to see people around her turn a blind eye in favor of the fantasy. this is why sisterhood is so so important because for the women that experience this, they often lack the words to describe what actually happen and when they do find those words, the next step is often too late. what does it take to actually get justice then? a life?

(+3.5 due to the pacing/editing, but the writing and the issues/emotions covered were the highlight)