Lila Mackay is Very Misunderstood
by Gill Sims
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Pub Date 14 Aug 2025 | Archive Date 14 Aug 2025
Farshore | Electric Monkey
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Description
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Fourteen-year-old Emily is gloomily spending the summer with her mum’s best friend Uncle Tom, helping him renovate his house, instead of being at home hoping the gorgeous Toby will ask her out. Worse, she’s broken her phone and left her iPad at her dad’s house. How is she supposed to survive without her tech, her BFF and her social life? No one understands her despair, least of all the boomers.
Then she finds her mum’s old diary. MASSIVE CRINGE. But as Emily starts to read, she’s stunned to discover that her mum was once a teenager too. A nineties teenager called Lila MacKay, who was VERY MISUNDERSTOOD. It’s a long-forgotten era of weird fashions, TV shows and music Emily’s never heard of. There are boys too, notably cute Park Boy Tom and her mum’s dorky neighbour Weird Nicky. And as she becomes more and more invested in Lila’s teenage life, Emily begins to wonder if perhaps she and her mother are not so different after all…
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Perfect for fans of Geek Girl and readers who are that next age up from Lottie Brooks.
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Readers LOVE Lila Mackay!“I can't wait to find out what happens next for Lila as I know there are more diaries to read! Perfect for fans of Lottie Brooks. I was looking for a new series to get into!!” – Nia, 13
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780008513788 |
| PRICE | £9.99 (GBP) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Amelia F, Educator
Thanks to NetGalley and Electric Monkey Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
It's 2025 and Emily is going to stay with her Uncle Tom for the holiday... with a broken phone and no iPad! How on earth will she be able to stay in touch with her friend and find out if the love of her life likes her too? The grown ups have NO IDEA and just don't know what it is like to be a teenager!
And then Emily find's her mum's diary. Tom persuade's Lila to let Emily read it.
Immediately we are transported back to 1996, when Lila is starting college.
Reading this reminded me of my own 90s teenage angst, the desire to 'fit in', the heartache, the desperation... but also how very important it all felt and tge friendships that grew around that time.
Funny, heartfelt, relateable, suitable for mums AND their teenage daughters this has it all... laughter, heartache, growing up, all served with a nice big spoonful of nostalgia!
Everything you would expect from Gill Sims, including border terriers.
Kirsty S, Educator
Emily is fed up. She knows her crush is just on the verge of asking her out, the Easter holidays are about to start and she's being shipped off to her Uncle Tom's with a broken phone and no ipad. Deprived of internet access and news from home she is reduced to reading her mum's diary from her first year of sixth form - a window into 90s teenagerdom that makes her realise maybe her mum isn't completely clueless about her life.
As a 90s teen and mother of a 14 year old myself, some of this book felt a bit close to home! It was a quick, easy and very funny read which I found myself laughing out loud to regularly (to much eye-rolling from the teen). I'm looking forward to book 2!
Marz H, Reviewer
A lighthearted story with dual timelines and an "old" diary, what's not to like? The characters are pretty endearing and it's an easy, entertaining read, which will probably be interesting to both people who are currently teens, and people who were teens in the 90s :)
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