This is an excellent novel for kids, and my girls and I enjoyed reading this together. As always, Kirby takes you in with her humorous story telling and charm and you are drawn into the adventures and misadventures of the hapless Lottie Brooks. A must read for KS2.

Brilliant hilarious and very accurate. Begrudgingly my teenage daughter agreed that it was true to life (but not for her, Obvs!)

A laugh out loud story that will appeal to a wide audience of young readers. This book covers everything from friendships to growing up, first bras and new schools, all in a great accessible way that will have readers desperately turning the pages. A terrific start to a series and great to have an alternative to the popular US tween books.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for a review.

I’ll hold my hands up and admit outright I am not the intended audience for this book but as a massive fan of Georgia Nicholson when I was in High School I couldn’t resist giving this book a try. Granted Lottie is a little younger than Georgia but I found this book a trip down memory Lane.

The story embodies the big change from moving from Primary to Secondary education and some of the stressors girls can feel during that transition.

For an older reader like me, I found this book nostalgic and funny. I loved Lottie’s journey and how she dealt with her experiences. I particularly enjoyed that she could see when she was wrong or made a mistake. Also, hamsters are amazing!

If I’d read this when I was the age of the intended reader. I know I’d have really enjoyed this series.

If you have children around 11-13 years old this book is perfect and acts as a perfect transition to the Georgia Nicholson series when they become mid-teens

This book was a fun read.
A perfect example of how it feels starting and going through your first year of high school.
I think this is going to be a brilliant series featuring Lottie, her family and friends.

Thanks Netgalley and Puffin for this arc in return for my honest review.

What a perfect read for young girls!
It reminded me of my childhood and the books I loved reading at the time.
A lot of American books aimed at younger girls aren’t relatable and too superficial. But everyone can relate to Lottie!
She is funny, quirky and has awesome drawings!
I also liked the way it focused on the idea of loss and grieving for changed friendships. Young children go through this a lot and it can be extremely tough on them. This book shows it’s ok to feel emotional and angry about it. It just makes you stronger.

Lottie Brooks is 11 ¾ and her life is already officially over - not only is she about to start high school without any friends or glamorous swooshy hair, she's just discovered she's too flat-chested to wear a bra!

As the mother of a girl aged 11 and 3/4 who has just started secondary school I was keen for us both to read this and I'm so glad we did! Absolutely brilliant story. Funny but also moving, realistic and touching in places. All girls in Year 6 should read this before they go off to secondary school and remember the books underlying message that actually it's just fine to be yourself. We both loved it and look forward to more adverntures with Lottie?!

The book appealed to me as it reminded me of the confessions of Georgia Nicholson books. I really enjoyed the pictures and the fact it was set out in a diary entry way.
It really reminded me of all the changes to have to go through as a female at age 11/12. It puts it into an interesting and easy to read format.
Loved this book, made me laugh a lot.

What a fun read this was! Lottie is a great funny character and the scrapes she gets into are very amusing. This was a great read

Fabulous and funny, this fictional-tween diary is not to be missed for fans of Louise Rennison or (to go back a bit further) Judy Blume.

Embarrassing moments abound, as Lottie tackles the challenges of boobs and bullying, BO and boys, friendships and farts, periods and pubes, and all without her bestie and just her hamsters for advice and sympathy. On the way, she makes plenty of mistakes, learns some useful lessons, and amasses a series of nicknames that is as impressive as it is hilarious.

Any reader familiar with Katie Kirby’s Hurrah For Gin blog will already know how snarkily witty she is, and her style translates perfectly into a very believable 113/4 year old girl!

There are some great positive messages for kids tucked within the wildly entertaining antics of Lottie and her friends, and I enjoyed it as much as an adult as I’m sure I would have in childhood. Minishine is still a little too young for some of the topics here, as she is quite a young, innocent 8, but I will be keeping this for her enjoyment in a couple of years.

In the meantime, I am thrilled that is looks to be the first in a whole series of Lottie Brooks books and can’t wait to get hold of the next one… er, for Minishine, in the future, you know! 😉




'THE PLAN: I am going to reinvent myself over the summer and become a new Lottie! More confident and that sort of thing, so that I can start high school and become instanty popular and worshipped by all my adoring fans!

Or I’d also settle for just flying under the radar but having someone to eat lunch with, so that I don’t have to stuff my sandwiches into my mouth as quickly as possible then hide in the toilets for the rest of break.

Will anyone actually be able to look past my potato-ness, my skinny legs and my complete lack of social skills? We’ll see.'

– Katie Kirby, The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

A fun, lighthearted read for pre-teens following the trials and tribulations of Lottie Brooks. Thanks to netgalley for the advance read copy

Such a funny book. My niece and I both read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone needs a good laugh and this book certainly provides that.

Hilarious read. I’ve not read anything this funny since Angus thongs and full frontal snogging.
So nice to read something light hearted and normal young girl dramas.
Perfect for a summer garden or beach read.

Read by myself (31 years young) and by my daughter (11 and 10/12s according to her).
We both absolutely loved Lottie and her tales of growing up, so much so that my daughter bought a copy on release for her friends birthday.
Really hope Katie Kirby writes another instalment of Lotties life.

I’m definitely not in the target audience for this one, but oh my word it is brilliant. It had me laughing out loud, and I even went onto Instagram and found the account for the hamsters after I finished the book! A great story for fans of Dork Diaries and Wimpy Kid, this one is even better and an important read about being yourself.

As a fan of Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series when I was this age, I was really happy to find a book that lives up to that one and brings it forward into more modern life. I can’t wait for the next one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Puffin for the electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My 11 year old daughter absolutely loved this 100% and has recommended it to all of her friends. She finished this over a few nights but would have carried on after bedtime if I would have let her. She can't wait for the next book.

This is a really lovely read for the primary school audience. Whilst I mainly work with secondary students, I still think this has a lot of promise for that demographic as well.

It's an absolute joy to read and I whizzed through it, such wonderful comedic elements that made me laugh out loud at some points!

Most importantly, however, is how this book frames the transition period from primary to secondary. I definitely think that this is a key read for students making that transition or about to make that transition. The issues addressed in this book are pertinent to not only primary school students, but also those in the first couple of years of secondary. Body image, self-acceptance and navigating life at a tricky point!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. I have given The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks by Katie Kirby five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely adored Lottie Brooks and would love to read more of her life, especially the trials and tribulations she will experience at secondary school. Lottie Brooks is such a lovable character, she’s witty, hilarious and completely relatable. Lottie grows so much as a person by the end of this book and we absolutely love to see a person grow into a more mature, wise being. Jess and Molly seem like the kind of friends I would’ve loved to have been friends with in secondary school, they actually reminded me of quite a few friends I did have at that time in my life.

The writing had me completely hooked from the beginning of this book, I love when an author writes a book in a diary entry format and the fact that Kirby included illustrations for the reader to enjoy as well was really fun and would definitely appeal to younger readers.

I can’t tell you how much my 11/12 year old self came out whilst reading this book, I had so many nostalgic moments that came over me such as gossiping about boys and the start of heading into womanhood. I absolutely adored the style of writing and I connected so well with Lottie, who reminded me how much as a pre-teen/teenager I really thought it was just me against the world and it’s really interesting and funny to see Lottie feel exactly the same.

This book reminded me of a pre-teen Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and Mates, Dates… type of book. I was completed OBSESSED with both series when I was growing up and loved how much I was able to resonate with characters in a book who was feeling/going through similar things I was.

The overall message of this book is to be yourself, always. I absolutely adore this message and think it’s so important for a younger audience to take this message on board as it can feel like a popularity competition when it comes to starting secondary school and ultimately, that is the least of a young person’s worries although it doesn’t always seem that way at the time.

I would have loved to have read this book growing up and would definitely recommend to girls who are 10+ year olds. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series when it is published in the future!

Such a brilliant teen read, cute, funny, relatable and something to think about. The relationship threads from distant friends, parents and new friends were so well written, I’ll definitely be buying this for my younger relatives!

Hopefully this will be a hit, as an adult I found it to be fun and interesting, fingers crossed that it is a hit with the target age group. It had some great story lines on being a good person, and being kind.