Reviews with content warning for Rape - Pretending

this book 🥺 I really felt for April - she’s been through so much and her struggles throughout the novel are deeply relatable. I loved watching her grow and mature as a woman, and I’m still just so happy that she got her happy ending in the end
(got me so much that the only emoji to express my feelings was this gross one. it’s ok)

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charlottereadsthings's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Pretending by Holly Bourne sees a woman called April who struggles to trust men after very bad experiences with them. The reader sees several instances where potential partners view her differently when she aska fir accomodations or starts to open up about past situations. This leads April to imafine a version of herself, known as Gretal, who is the polar opposite of herself: sexy, damage free, says and does whatever men want to make them think they have all the power. She takes this to a whole new level when she makes a dating profile inder the name Gretal and manages to secure a date with an unsuspecting man called Joshua. Only things start to go well
Too well.

In the usual way, Holly Bourne expertly crafts an engaging narrative with important socia commentary. Showing through April's job as a charity worker just how widespread sexual violence is in daily life. She tacklea diatresaing topics with care and the way everything was interwoven just had me unable to do anything else but read this book, waiting for the moment where eventually Joshua would learn the truth.

I will be thinkung about this book for a long time.

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foreveralicexox's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I went into this book thinking it would be a good romance to enjoy but nothing mind-blowingly special, and I came out of it hugely surprised and with a new favourite. In just the first few chapters I was crying from the honesty, accuracy and delicacy this book captures sexual assault and sexual experiences for women. The character development and elements of both the main and side characters felt so real and relatable, that element of feeling like there is something wrong with you and you are going crazy and hiding parts of yourself that you think will scare men off I really resonated with, as well as the feelings of blaming yourself for not being able to please everyone or not being able to have what you perceive as a normal sex life. I just think this book would be so enlightening to so many women through its themes of sexual assault and I don't think I can explain how much this book means to me but I would definitely urge others to read it, so long as they look into and are aware of the trigger warning to do with rape and sexual assault.

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crossyc's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This books need a trigger warning, as the lack of one seems a little irresponsible given the subject matter and just how detailed it is about life after sexual assault, abuse and rape.

I wanted to enjoy this, if enjoy is the right word, but I couldn’t accept the character’s thinking.

Content Warnings