(first of, because I think Holly Bourne is really deserving of her support, you can find her help site here and her blog here)
I got this book for free from a Goodreads giveaway, but if you have entered one before and you have already looked up the information on how it works, then you'd know already but if you don't, they don't request anything from you. No honest review, no good review, nothing, you just enter and if you win, they send the book to your chosen address and that's all there is to it. If I had not entered that giveaway, I think I would never have purchased this book, simply because of the reasons I am about to explain.
This book is about a sixteen-year-old girl, in high school, with OCD. Lord only knows I avoid these books like lung cancer, and that wasn't even the worst part. She has the most stereotypical version of OCD there is - she likes to keep clean. On top of OCD, she also has Generalised Anxiety Disorder, but that wasn't the focus on the book so don't expect to be able to relate much on that area. It also has areas of sexual assault, numerous parties, drunken antics, drugs, you name it, it's in here. It even briefly touches the topic of bullying.
But it was still brilliant.
This is a feminist book. Not only that, but one of my biggest role models Emma Blackery loved this book too. Which, yes, did manipulate my overall view of this book a little bit but a majority of these opinions are my own, I swear. Evie and her two new close friends join a group called The Spinster Club, where they have topics and do feminist rants (such as why women are not crazy, and that sexism affects both women and men and needs to be stopped). It was pretty insightful. Even though I have been a feminist for months now, I still don't know all there is to know and tumble across new ideas that I didn't know were a thing. This book is aimed towards the younger generation, too, which gets me all giddy inside. Hopefully, this book will give them a boost to joining us and will educate a large amount of people on what feminism really is and not "Women power, men can drown!". These people are NOT FEMINISTS.
It also represented mental illness fantastically. How most people will support you, but when this support does not make you any better and you still relapse, they get fed up and float away. Or, how when you tell people, they will tell you to snap out of it and that it's easy to just not freak out. For them, maybe. The best part is that boys do not make you better. No amount of sex, or love, or crushes, or kisses, will make you any better - something YA romance/mental-illness novel authors haven't seemed to grasp...until my dear Holly Bourne showed up.
I highly, highly recommend this book to all ages, and all genders. It's education, insightful, supportive, funny...it was a charming read, I read it in just a few hours, go read it! (four stars on Goodreads!).
- Loz x
This is a feminist book. Not only that, but one of my biggest role models Emma Blackery loved this book too. Which, yes, did manipulate my overall view of this book a little bit but a majority of these opinions are my own, I swear. Evie and her two new close friends join a group called The Spinster Club, where they have topics and do feminist rants (such as why women are not crazy, and that sexism affects both women and men and needs to be stopped). It was pretty insightful. Even though I have been a feminist for months now, I still don't know all there is to know and tumble across new ideas that I didn't know were a thing. This book is aimed towards the younger generation, too, which gets me all giddy inside. Hopefully, this book will give them a boost to joining us and will educate a large amount of people on what feminism really is and not "Women power, men can drown!". These people are NOT FEMINISTS.
It also represented mental illness fantastically. How most people will support you, but when this support does not make you any better and you still relapse, they get fed up and float away. Or, how when you tell people, they will tell you to snap out of it and that it's easy to just not freak out. For them, maybe. The best part is that boys do not make you better. No amount of sex, or love, or crushes, or kisses, will make you any better - something YA romance/mental-illness novel authors haven't seemed to grasp...until my dear Holly Bourne showed up.
I highly, highly recommend this book to all ages, and all genders. It's education, insightful, supportive, funny...it was a charming read, I read it in just a few hours, go read it! (four stars on Goodreads!).
- Loz x
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