What to read next based on your favourite reality show
From unputdownable thrillers featuring beautiful people in luxurious villas to tales of treachery and betrayal, we're bringing a whole new layer to the phrase ‘my type on paper.’
From the couples you root for on Love Island, to the backstabbing of The Traitors and the awkward moments you watch through your fingers on Below Deck, reality shows offer the ultimate escapism. If you’re looking for a holiday read that complements your viewing habits, we’ve found your perfect match, whatever your binge-watch. Read on for books that will have you turning the pages faster than you can click 'Next Episode'.
If you like Botched, read:
New Skin
by Sarah Wang
If you find yourself hooked by the human stories (and plastic surgery mishaps) featured on Botched, we’ve found your next read.
Coming home after a few years away, Linli Feng is shocked by her mum’s new face. In a risky quest to achieve the 'right' kind of beauty in a string of LA’s basement beauty parlours, Fanny is in big trouble – and piles of debt. While Linli wades through the mounting unpaid medical bills and tries to wean her mother off her addiction, Fanny secretly earns a spot on a reality show which offers a chance to get her bootleg surgery fixed. Suddenly thrust into the spotlight, she finds herself asking: was the pain really worth it?
If you love the drama of Below Deck, read:
Below the Deck
by Nikki Allen
The perfect summer read for fans of Below Deck’s Captain Lee and his uber-privileged guests’ deckside antics, this is a suspenseful tale of scandal and mystery, set aboard a luxury superyacht.
A free holiday on a luxury charter yacht courtesy of your boss sounds like a dream, and for three high flyers and their partners, the trip starts off as a paradise of sun, sea and sailing in the azure waters of French Polynesia. Slowly but surely, tensions between the guests (and the crew) start to simmer, and when someone is found dead, the trip of a lifetime quickly turns into a nightmare.
If you dream of being on The Apprentice, read:
NextGen CEO
by Mike Soutar
If watching The Apprentice has you shouting at the screen about how much better you could do, it may finally be the time to start your business or go for that promotion at work, and this is the book for you.
Written by one of the people across the desk in the show’s legendary interview episodes, in NextGen CEO Mike Soutar shares the leadership secrets that have helped him scale his multi-million-pound businesses and stay at the top of his game. Each of the book’s sixty micro-learning chapters offers actionable ways to be a successful leader in a world where work is changing faster than ever before.
If you’re obsessed with Love Island, read:
The Villa
by Ruth Kelly
Do you spend eleven months of the year counting down the days until the next series of Love Island is on our screens? Then this deliciously scandalous thriller will be your perfect companion this summer.
When an undercover journalist is sent to compete on a reality show with a familiar premise – ten beautiful people living in a luxurious villa on a private island – her mission is to get the tea on her fellow contestants and report it back to her boss. As the contestants are streamed to the nation for twenty-four-hours a day, the show’s production becomes ever more twisted in the pursuit of views, with tragic consequences.
If you love The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, read:
Meet the Newmans
by Jennifer Niven
If you took the picture-perfect American family of I Love Lucy, mixed them with the drama of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and then added in a dash of 1960s counter-culture, you’d have Meet The Newmans.
For over a decade, America has tuned in every week to catch up on the lives of the perfect American family: Del and Dinah Newman and their sons, Guy and Shep. As the allure of the swinging sixties sweeps the nation, and the family start to buckle under the pressure of their flawless facade, Dinah finds herself questioning whether the Newmans can ever show the world who they really are in full technicolour.
If you’re more Traitor than Faithful, read:
No Friend to This House
by Natalie Haynes
With its backstabbing, scheming and, of course, Claudia Winkleman’s iconic knitwear, The Traitors keeps the nation hooked. If you’re looking for your fix of vengeance and deception while you wait for the next series, we’ve got the book for you.
Less Victorian-era Scottish castle and more Ancient Greece in setting, No Friend to This House is Natalie Haynes’ epic retelling of the story of Medea, iconic witch and priestess, who is faced with the ultimate choice. Should she save Jason and betray her family, or leave her lover to face certain death? And what will happen when she becomes the one betrayed?
If you have opinions about the verdicts in The Jury: Murder Trial, read:
Dissection of a Murder
by Jo Murray
If you were glued to your screen by The Jury: Murder Trial's shocking peek into what really happens in the courtroom, you’ll love the drama of Dissection of a Murder.
The debut novel from criminal barrister Jo Murray, it follows Leila Reynolds as she reluctantly defends Jack Miller, a man on trial for murdering the judge who sent him down for a different crime several years previously. The twist: Leila's husband, Julian, the man who taught her everything she knows, is the Prosecutor. As a mystery witness threatens to reveal secrets that Leila thought she had long buried, she realises that she has more at stake than just winning the case.
