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)

Gold Rush is a novel that is so so accurate right now, ever since the Me Too Movement started. It shows us the aftermath of an encouter between a PR and a very famous man, who takes advantage of her, but does not seem to suffer any consequences

Heartbreaking and infuriating, but well written

A page-turning debut that explores celebrity culture and the pitfalls of power. I was obsessed with the first 60% or so, to the point that I’d wake up in the night thinking ‘I’ll read a bit more since I’m awake’.

Unfortunately after that point, it did start to lose its way a little. While she is tackling a very tricky subject, Petter’s approach to the darker elements of the plot is very superficial, we spend the second half of the book dancing around the issue with no clear goal. There’s an overly descriptive hen party that doesn’t feel connected to the story in any meaningful way and the best friend just disappears for no reason.

I found the ending anti-climactic and the change in perspective odd. It’s as if the author didn’t quite know how to proceed so she just switched to another character who frankly, hadn’t made much of an impression.

All in all, a good read, but not as good as the likes of Prima Facie or Jaded.

Very intriguing book on consent and prejudices, in which the main character (Rose) experiences one night together with a famous musician which will haunt her afterwards. This was all very thoughtfully and (hauntingly) realistically written with a relatable main character.

I especially enjoyed the first half of the book, after which it started to lose my attention a bit, however, luckily, it picked up right towards the end and I really liked the ending of the book.

Definitely a book I'd recommend, and I'm surprised by the maturity of the writing given that this is Olivia Petter's debut novel.

Imagine spending the night with the most famous man on the planet and not quite remembering it. This is the shocking reality for Rose, a twenty-something woman who seemingly has it all. Gold Rush is a pre-MeToo story that delves into themes of consent, celebrity culture, and the struggle to find one's place in a world that often devalues and disrespects women's bodies. It’s a story about navigating life when the world seems to insist on undermining your worth.

Olivia Petter has crafted a narrative that is both beautiful and haunting, with characters so real that I felt like I was a part of their lives, sharing in their joys and struggles. Rose is a heartbreakingly relatable character for women everywhere, navigating a world that feels familiar in its challenges. Her journey highlights the universal struggle of finding one's voice in a world that often attempts to silence it.

The social commentary in this book is spot on, diving deep into celebrity culture and the darker side of fame. It’s a brave piece of writing that tackles issues that many readers will, unfortunately, find all too familiar. While the story was fast-paced and sometimes chaotic, it mirrored the whirlwind life Rose was leading, capturing the complexity of her experiences.

Olivia Petter's writing style is a breath of fresh air, with a contemporary touch that feels both engaging and deeply insightful, she has created a multifaceted portrayal of modern womanhood that is as unsettling as it is compelling. Despite the longer chapters, I was completely absorbed by Rose's story and the world Olivia Petter has created.

Gold Rush is a novel that will resonate with many, sparking conversations about consent, identity, and the pervasive influence of celebrity culture. It’s a brave and thought-provoking debut that challenges readers to reflect on the realities of our world.

Thank you to Netgalley and 4th Estate for the e-arc!

Flew through this, a page turner that though flagged in the blurb almost took me by surprise in how much it took a turn. Left me feeling uneasy but for all the right reasons. A bit more surface level than I usually go for but can see this being a social media favourite.

Set in the pre-Me Too era, Gold Rush follows press assistant Rose who spends the night with huge mega star Milo Jax but wakes up the next morning and can’t remember anything.

This was a timely, zeitgeisty look at consent and celebrity culture and it had the potential to be brilliant but at times I felt like it was trying too hard to be too many things which led to the main storyline get lost at points.

It was also resolved quite quickly at the end and I understand why the writer took that approach for the ending but I felt it could have benefitted from and been more impactful if it had ended a different way.

Despite the critique it genuinely was really well written and i’ll definitely be interested in what the writer does next.

An interesting story about how a woman contends with being raped and assaulted by a celebrity, power imbalance and exploitation of people.

I've had my eye on Gold Rush ever since I read the blurb (and saw the cover!) revealed on social media, so I was very excited to read this!

The darker side to fame is something I seem to always be drawn to in books, and this was no different. I thought it was dark and edgy, with alot of complicated emotions to unpack.

Whilst this was uncomfortable to read at times, the many difficult topics throughout are ones which are important to discuss. The author did a great job of detailing how much Rose slowly changed after her  sexual assault, and the aftermath this had on not only her mental health but physical health too.
I was disappointed and angry how she was treated by certain people and I found myself feeling quite emotional that no one seemed to see how much Rose was suffering. I'm sure that was the whole point though, so Olivia did me good on the emotional front for sure!

The reason this wasn't a 5 star read for me? The ending. I was expecting the ending to have a bigger impact on me tbh. Throughout I'd found myself thinking this was a really bold, powerful book but the final chapters just fell alittle flat for me.

That being said, I will be recommending this to all my book friends because I really did enjoy it and I think they all will too.

I really enjoyed this MeToo novel. We follow Rose who works as a PA at a magazine and ends up getting involved with mega pop star Milo Jax. What follows is a whirlwind of emotions while Rose navigates feelings of shame, disappointment of confusion.

Petter mostly managed to keep me invested in the story through subtle 'show don't tell's' until the end which somewhat dropped the ball for me in it's convenience. That being said, I'm not a fan of neatly wrapped up endings both in films and books.
Still, especially considering this is a debut novel, I would definitely recommend this!

Rose works as a publicity assistant for a big fashion magazine, excelling and complicit in the exploitation of celebrities and influencers for money. Her encounter with the biggest star of all, Milo Jax, doesn't end well and Rose acts as any teenager would although she is trapped inside a grown woman's body.. The book is an insightful glimpse at a corrupt world, there are multiple episodes of excess that offer commentary on the rights and wrongs of people with money and influence exploiting those who don't have it. The ending came a bit abruptly, overall left me wondering about the intended message.

A subtle thriller on the cult of celebrity

Without giving away any spoilers, this is a fever dream of celeb culture, on the tension between new media and print, on the power of fame on both the famous and the public, and the secrets we tell ourselves and the world around us. Rising star publicist Rose encounters the world's most famous pop star Milo Jax at an afterparty and ends up connecting with him, mentally and physically. But Rose wakes up the next day with no memory of what happened at the very end of the night, with only some very upsetting evidence.

The novel depicts Rose's work and personal lives in gritty detail: the world of pre-pandemic magazines and the shift to digital, glossy parties and even glossier influencers; and her London life, sub-letting from her best friend, navigating dating apps and posh house parties, her relationship with her mum. There's also a thin undercurrent of her art school ambitions to be a portraitist, but not enough is made of this, particularly when the cover is a dramatically painted portrait.

I really enjoyed this, a more cerebral thriller than most, that starts off like.a new adult, Hello! romcom and then rapidly steers off the rails as Rose starts to realise that something is very, very wrong.

Well worth the time: four well-deserved stars.