April is kind, pretty, and relatively normal - yet she can't seem to get past date five. Every time she thinks she's found someone to trust, they reveal themselves to be awful, leaving her heartbroken. And angry.

If only April could be more like Gretel.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. It starts angry. April is jaded, having been hurt in the past (in more serious ways than you initially think - we’ll get to this in a second). It’s feminism message, the approach to the sensitive issues including sexual assault, feeling inferior, not deserved to be loved or cared, being stranger in your own body is all very important. It breaks your heart for her, because of the things she’s been through and you can see the delicate ness Holly has tried to deal with this, showing the pain and hurt that April is going through.

However, it just lacks care. I found myself just feeling angry. I kept holding onto hope that April would not end up hating all men, but I kept reaching a point where I couldn’t put myself through it anymore. I finished it, but can’t say that I enjoyed it.

It’s a shame, because she dealt with some serious messages. However it just fell down for me.

My first book by Holly Bourne and I have come away with really mixed feelings about it. It tackles some confronting issues and, by reading other reviews, some love it and some don’t. Sadly, I fall into the latter category. It most definitely has a story to tell but it does not work for me as I feel the main message is over the top and the mixture of humour and seriousness does not quite gel.

This book has solid ideas especially dealing with mental health issues, friendship and sexual abuse. However, the alternation between serious traumatic issues and light-hearted chick lit - the polar opposites - just don’t mix. I empathise with the main character’s justifiable reasons based on her history, however, it is not only repetitive but somewhat unbelievable at times. I just did not like her. I also had trouble with the writing style which I found to be quite disjointed and erratic, with an ending that left me rather perplexed.

All this being said, there are many glowing reviews of the book and I invite you to check them out. Maybe this is a generational thing but I struggled with the vibe of the book, looking for something more uplifting and this book just did not deliver.



This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

While this book is much more confronting than I expected it to be, there were some light moments that broke up the heart breaking ones.

I found 'Pretending' to be an incredibly slow paced book, it took until about half way before I was invested in the story. April was quite a hard character to like, though she has her reasons for how she feels about men; at times it felt like just too much, too repetitive.

While the topics covered within the book are ones we should talk about more, it all just felt incredibly flat and for me the ending was a let down.

Pretending is the story of April who due to trauma in her past doesn't trust men and has a strong hatred towards them all. And the fact she works as an advisor at a sex and assault charity doesn't help with this hatred. After another guy dumps her after the 5th date aka the sex date, she decides to take on a fake persona called Gretel. Gretel is basically meant to be like everything April isn't and manages to woo this great guy called Joshua. With all the lies you know it's never going to end well.

I had a lot of trouble getting in to this book for the first 1/3 and wondered if I would even finish it but eventually the story developed a bit more pace although it still felt slow at times.
I can't really say I love April as a character though. I don't understand her choices in life because what could be more triggering for a rape victim than becoming an advisor to other rape victims when you don't know how to cope with it yourself in a healthy and healing way.
Also their is so much hatred towards men in this book. All men are evil!l apparently!
It is well written though and it does give you a good insight into how victims feel and how strongly it can effect your mental health.
In the end the book ends awfully abruptly which didn't leave me satisfied at all. And I hope the final copy gives the appropriate information on how readers can get help if they are in a similar situation.

This is the first one of Holly Bourne's books I've read and I'm not sure if I would rush out to read more.
Thanks to Netgalley.com and Hachette for allowing me to read an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel, it was powerful and raw and honest.
I completely fell in love with it and couldn’t put the book down!

I'm not really sure where I sit with this book..

I have been a big fan of Holly Bourne in the past but this one just did't connect with it.

I liked the idea of the story with themes of mental health, dealing with sexual abuse and the importance of friendships. I think I found it to drag on a bit too much in parts of the story. I didn't like the repetitive nature of some of the content and pretty much the writing of style of this particular book.

To be honest i could not get on board with the main character April. As much as I tried to like her there was something not right. He behaviours and attitude simply bothered me.

After finally getting to the end of the book I also found it just ended! There was so much time put into non important aspects of the story and minimal was put into the ended.

Unfortunately not one of my favourites this year.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by Holly Bourne and I have to say I have mixed feelings about it.

It was very well written. It touches on some confronting subjects, which are talked about respectively.

While it was an enjoyable read, it had a very over the top 'I hate men' message which I feel was going for a feminist agenda however it slightly missed the mark for me.

While I understand that the main character definitely had justifiable reasons for being distrusting, I feel like the amount of hate she had for every man she met was repetitive, reaching and a bit unbelievable.

In saying that, I am glad I got the chance to read this book as I predict it popping up everywhere within the coming months.

Thank you so much to Hachette and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book to review.

This book tried to tear my heart out and rip it to shreds. Bourne writes in a way that makes you feel the very heartbeat of a book. This is a book about love and about friendship but most of all it’s about accepting who are, just the way you are. I couldn’t put it down but it should be noted that it contains triggers involving domestic violence, rape, addiction.
This was the first Holly Bourne title I have read and loved it so much that I went to work the next day and ordered all of her others (for both myself and the shop). Have I made it clear enough yet? I LOVED THIS BOOK.

tw: this book has mentions of sexual abuse, rape

Just by reading the synopsis of this book you might think that this book is a fun contemporary about April pretending to be Gretel, the perfect women that all men want in order to try and find someone that will stick around past date 5 but this book is so so much more!

This book is quite confronting and is honestly hard to read at times and leaves you feeling exhausted but it is also uplifting. Just reading through the chapters and all the things mentioned that men expect women do/be and all the things that women do in order to try and keep that said someone honestly leaves you drained. However the girl power chapters definitely uplift you and inspire you to just be yourself.

Holly Bourne has an amazing ability to write realistically relateable characters and to normalise mental health which I wish more authors would do. If this book is not something you can think you can handle based on the trigger warnings then I would urge you to read her other books because they are all so amazing.

While this book is in no way a light fun read, it does have it's hilarious moments and it does leave the reader with a feeling of hope by the end.

I enjoyed this book very much. I began it expecting the usual rom-com, but it is so much more than that. Though written in a very accessible style, if delves into complex issues about the way women are perceived by men, and how women feel that they can begin to deal with it. It was an interesting plot, and gave me some uncomfortable moments as I recognised April’s feelings about the way women are treated. Definitely worth a read.