I Make My Own Fun by Hannah Beer review

About The Book

Book: I Make My Own Fun 
Author: Hannah Beer
Standalone or Series: Standalone
Publisher: Atlantic
Publication Date (UK): 6th March 2025

My Review

This debut novel opens with a newspaper article about high profile actress Marina. We then continue from Marina’s own perspective, interspersed throughout with some tweets and Reddit posts from her fans. I love mixed media. I especially enjoyed the two different Reddit communities used, as they really added to the story. They enabled the celebrity side of the narrative to be exposed further including insight to the public’s discussions about Marina. Whether it’s the positive praise of her #Mariniacs, or the alternative branch of fans who are happy to discuss r/MarinaTheories – delving more into what could be bubbling behind the surface with deep dives and conspiracy takes.

As we spend more time in Marina’s head, it’s clear she’s a bit of a monster. She assumes everyone either wants to be her or be with her. She has a public facing relationship with her “boyfriend” to cement the perception of herself as a good person. In reality both are manipulating their power couple status as the ultimate cover up and having clandestine trysts with others. All under the watchful eye of their lawyers, ready to NDA up and sign off payoff cheques to protect their privacy and secrecy.

Told in three parts, the core of the story is how Marina becomes obsessed with Anna, an ordinary bartender. She is used to always getting what she wants – and we see the increasingly outlandish, darkly humourous methods she resorts to in a bid to seduce Anna.

I loved watching this story unravel. And whilst Marina is absolutely abhorrent – I did feel for her when the press try to write her off as being a veteran/old as she nears her thirtieth! Especially as her older boyfriend is said to be ageing like a fine wine. A dark, fun take on celebrity culture and obsession < 3

I would like to thank Criminally Good Books, as I attended an event for this book earlier this week [read more about that here]. I had read the other book, Cuckoo, being discussed [my Cuckoo review is here] but I Make My Own Fun was new to me! Thank you for putting this on which led to me taking a copy home.