When Gemma’s (Aisling Bea) American fiancé Nathan (Colin Hanks) dies shortly before their wedding, Gemma decides she wants to go ahead and marry him anyway. Nathan was a hopeless romantic, whereas marriage didn’t mean that much to Gemma. Wanting to prove her love and commitment to him, Gemma has to contend with a 200-year-old law…
Review: Black Dog
Written and directed by young actor George Jaques in his debut feature, Black Dog is about two teenage boys from contrasting London backgrounds who embark on a road trip together up North, all the way to Scotland. Nathan (Jamie Flatters), who has almost aged out of foster care, wants to locate his biological sister, whereas…
Review: Hell Hole
Opening in 19th century Serbia during the Napoleonic wars, a platoon of lost and starving soldiers wander around looking for food when they stumble upon a lone woman with a horse. With a cunning smile, she lets them take the horse: A Trojan horse! In present day Serbia, an American fracking crew led by John…
Review: Duchess
Scarlett Monaghan (Charlotte Kirk), a supposedly tough, working class petty criminal, is busy one night pickpocketing drunks when she catches the eye of supposedly charismatic ex-marine, Robert McNaughton (Philip Winchester). While initially cautious, Scarlett enters a whirlwind romance with Robert, complete with a montage of them falling in love, which ends in gunfire. Rob reveals…
Review: Ganymede
Ganymede opens to a calming lake, but the score is tense as a single tear drops down the face of a man, smoking alone on a pier, before he jumps in, never to return. The man’s identity becomes clear later, but in the present day, we’re introduced to two very different teenagers who become drawn…
Book Review: Cheryl: My Story by Cheryl Tweedy
I started reading this book last year but didn’t get past page 26 for some reason. I picked it up again last week after seeing Girls Aloud perform on 23rd May and I’m so glad I did. I really enjoyed reading this despite it being an emotional rollercoaster. I flew through it. Cheryl: My Story…
Book Review: Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
In the early 1990s, in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out place. She’s always felt this way and the conventional path of marriage and motherhood doesn’t appeal to her at all. Not even with handsome and doting Martin, her closest childhood friend who is in love with her. Lucy begins to make sense…
Book Review: Girlcrush by Florence Given
Feminist influencer and illustrator Florence Given’s debut fiction novel, Girlcrush, follows Eartha on a wild and weird modern-day exploration as she exits an abusive relationship with a man and commences life as an openly bisexual woman, while also becoming a viral sensation on Wonder Land, a social media app where people project their dream selves…
Book Review: Unmasked, the Ultimate Guide to ADHD, Autism and Neurodivergence
Like many people with autism and/or ADHD, TikToker Ellie Middleton thought she was broken until she was diagnosed at 24. She wasn’t a bad person, she was neurodivergent. The diagnoses felt like a lightbulb being switched on and allowed her to finally begin healing from the trauma of being undiagnosed and misunderstood for so long….
Book Review: Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself by Crystal Harris
“I was 21 years old when I found myself on the front stoop of the Playboy Mansion. I want to tell the real story of my time there — the good and the bad, the light and the dark.” In 2008, the Playboy Mansion became Crystal Harris’s sanctuary. Within months she has ascended its hierarchy…