Reviews

Pretending by Holly Bourne

georgiasophia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

uhhlexiconic's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-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

4.0

Willing to show its protagonist at her worst, both in the ways people can be broken and the ways they can hurt, Pretending is a wonderful look at the lies we tell and what healing might look like.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Sexism

saskiarudgetreads's review

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

lozwesty's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

rose_marie_fern's review against another edition

3.0

***Major trigger warnings for this book***

I should have read more reviews before picking up this book. I had to go slowly through it as there’s quite a bit of discussion on sexual violence. I wasn’t entirely in the right frame of mind, but I still think this book is good. Despite all the hurt here, I felt that there are so many aspects to this book that are relatable. We all just want to be loved don’t we? We all want to be seen, but going through life to find the people that make us feel whole is a process, and that process can really hurt. We’re in an age where self care is being jammed down our throats, but self care looks different for everyone. I’m glad I got to experience April’s journey to self care in this book. She experiments with the world around her in a crazy way by going on dates pretending she’s a different person. It made my heart hurt for the man she does this to, but I was also proud of the honesty and hopefulness April ultimately found. This book is hard to swallow, but bitten off in chunks, I found it worth it.

alexregan's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.75

the_colourful_reader's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.0

befsk's review

2.0

I was genuinely unimpressed with the book beginning with a rant about hating men, which was then followed by a short "oh never mind, he messaged back". It felt very trite and would've worked better if the rant hadn't been so long and all encompassing. It's never good to start reading a book with a bad taste in your mouth straight away from the first page.

At 50% in the attitude of the book was still really awful towards men. It was acting as if rage and being angry in the long term is healthy in any way, when it isn't. The main character was just unlikable. She lied to a homeless man that she doesn't have any change but felt good about herself because she didn't outright ignore him. Bizarre.

The book never really lifts despite finally throwing in the opinion that maybe rage and hatred of all men is not totally normal or healthy.

Spoiler

But then the main character never learns her lesson about that in any real way - she goes to one therapy session and realises it's maybe more about her rather than all men and still manages to keep her boyfriend despite all the lies she told him.

It was, as always from this author, well written, but the book just thoroughly depressed me. It just did. No other words. That anyone would think this way about half the population, no matter what trauma they personally have been through. I just could not relate.

I received this ARC through Netgalley.

cwillads18's review

5.0

Very excellent book that had me hooked from the start. There was a lot of discussion on SA and related topics which were carefully and thoughtful constructed but were jarring nonetheless. I enjoyed all the characters and the character development and I think this was a really great read.

audrey_ad's review

3.0

'I hate men.'

Best een krachtige openingszin van Holly Bourne, maar als je ooit een boek van deze powerwoman gelezen hebt, dan is het helemaal niet verrassend.

Holly Bourne hoort in het rijtje van auteurs waar ik bewondering voor heb. Ze is niet bang om delicate thema's en emoties met kracht en eerlijkheid op papier te zetten en in 'Pretending' was dat helemaal niet anders.

In dit boek worstelt hoofdpersonage April met de emotionele en fysieke pijn na seksueel geweld. Hoe krijg je weer vertrouwen in mannen als ze je in het verleden zoveel pijn hebben gedaan? Hoe ga je om met je pijn en (onzichtbare) wondes als je toch graag een relatie wilt? Hoe ga je om met je boosheid, frustratie en toch ook veel verwarring? Holly Bourne snijdt al deze vragen aan en maakt het messy, herkenbaar en ergens ook treurig. (Want zoveel mensen komen in contact met grensoverschrijdend gedrag en seksueel geweld.)

Zoals ik al zei, het zou Holly Bourne niet zijn als dat er niet allemaal in zat. En toch was er ook veel liefde, humor en vriendschap.

Dus kijk, een topper van Holly Bourne. Als je nog niets van haar gelezen hebt, dan spoor ik je met veel liefde aan om eens haar backlist op te zoeken.