In her first adult novel 'How Do You Like Me Now?' Holly Bourne writes how it really is. So if you are a fan of fairy tales / chick lit romances - stay away from this book! I love how Holly's books are deep and meaningful. In the era of Facebook and Instagram 'How Do You Like Me Now?' is something that all modern women will need in order to remember that life is life and all sorts of things happen and at least half of them is not Instagramworthy. The novel is about Victoria, a successful author of one self-help book. And now turning 32 she really needs some help to sort out her not so perfect life. Most of the 30-something readers will feel the vibe that it's at least partly about them. Holly Bourne, great work as always!

I loved this so much. It was honest and refreshing and brilliant, just truly, truly brilliant. I haven't read any of Holly Bourne's work before but I'll definitely be looking at her YA titles now!

This book is Holly Bourne's first novel for adults, and like her highly acclaimed young adult novels, it breaks the mold of what we've come to expect from women's fiction. It centers on Tori, a successful 30-something woman who's built a career on the back of a self-help novel about getting your shit together in your 20s. She has a legion of social media followers, and her every move is put out there for her fans to see. The problem is, the relationship her book ends with isn't quite as perfect as her followers think. But how do you end a failing relationship when your whole career is built on it being a success?

At first glance this book is about the trials and tribulations of watching all your friends get married and have babies - the baby shower scene especially resonated with me. But in reality, it's got more in common with Rachel's Holiday than with books about settling down, because it's really about being in a toxic relationship and what that does to your life. Whilst I really enjoyed this, and would definitely read more of Holly's books, I couldn't help but dislike Tori, which coloured my perception of the book.

This was my first encounter with Holly Bourne’s writing and i’m really sorry to say that at nearly 40% it’s a DNF. I tried, I really did.

I have been told that this was Holly’s first venture into adult fiction so I do feel bad but I don’t think what I read was a successful venture.

It may be the fact that I am older than the main character and my circumstances are different but I could not sympathise with Tori at all. Her problems are not made up, don’t get me wrong, I get that everyone questions their life choices but she was going on and on and on about it.... If this was all an exposition, then it was an awfully long one.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I read books to distance myself from the doom and gloom of every day life and this book was very far away from that. It left me irritated and exhausted pretty much every time I opened it.

I recently saw Holly at an event for her latest YA book and I found her really interesting, so as soon as I heard about her first foray into adult books I really wanted to get my hands on it. I've never actually read any of her YA novels, I've started some of her books but never finished them for various reasons. I will be writing a full book review of How Do You Like Me Now in the future, as I have some mixed opinions but they don't overwhelm my enjoyment of the book.

The main issues I had were that the writing style is still very much in the voice of a YA writer, in my opinion, with just an added addition of a lot more non-apologetic sex. The actual story is simple and repetitive: self-help writer hates her life and struggles to ditch her crappy boyfriend because she's scared of being single in her 30. But, despite some misgivings, I couldn't put the book down and it was extremely believable. Hence I'm giving it 4 stars.

Loved, loved this book! Clever, current, humorous, irreverent take on life in your 20's and 30's. Hugely likeable main character and the author did not take the easy option to end the book.

Seamless transition from YA to adult fiction for Holly Bourne.

Did not finish, because this book just wasn't my cup of tea. With all the thing Tori was unhappy about, but still persisted in (like the high maintenance of her hair, taking 30 photos looking for the perfect selfie that suggested it was taken in an instant...), I made it to 50% but then couldn't get myself to finish the story.

I thought this book was fantastic - definitely one of Holly's strongest novels. Funny, fresh and feminist, and an incredibly fun read. I loved how it seemed to invert typical chick-lit narratives of finding a man - instead, Tori is finding herself. My only quibble is that I would have liked to have seen a little more on Tori writing her new book, but other than that, I thought it was brilliant. Hope Holly does more adult fiction in the future!

First thoughts
I fucking love this book. It’s raw, unapologetically honest and brutally real when it comes to life as a 30 something woman in the age of social media.
While I knew I would love Holly’s book; her work is always incredible I was not expecting to finish it and feel so understood.

Characters
Tori will be a character that divides readers; and it makes me love her all the more. She hasn’t been created to tick boxes and please everyone.
She’s relatable and likeable; she’s the Bridget Jones for Gen X (I am 2 months away from 32; I refused to be labelled a millennial) I want to go for a drink with Tori, I want to go for many drinks with Tori.
She’s not perfect, she’s a bit of a fuck up and a little emotionally unsettled (read: sexually frustrated, angry and very fucking confused). However, I feel that is very much a side effect of her environment and I’m already pondering her life outside the novel’s ending.

Tom. I’m unsure as to what to make of him and I can’t trust my own judgement because I’m on the outside looking in, with only Tori’s thought process to guide me.
Honestly, I think he’s a prick and I’d be picking... Only that’s not true. Yes, I still think he’s a prick; I know I would limit my confrontations as Tori does.
I don’t want to tarnish all men with the same brush, but in my experience all my boyfriends have been akin to Tom. I almost felt that there was just enough left out of his character to allow for an element of projection.

Plot
You do see where the book will go; you sense the ending. And by sense, I mean you know, but you’ll slow down your reading hoping that will stop the pain. That’s no bad thing because, certainly for me, it’s not really about what outcome we get; it how Tori gets there. Holly has a wonderful ability to give us not what we want, but what we need.
It’s a wonderful episodic narrative that is tied together with a number of story arcs that help Tori question her relationship and personal fulfilment.
The most important part for me, is some of the difficult sections of the book. This, my friends, is not the Notebook. It’s also not an episode of Sex and the City. Tori’s descriptions of her relationship with Tom will hit a nerve, they challenge you to question what a healthy relationship with yourself and others looks like.
There’s one scene which brought back memories of my previous relationship (I lie, MANY scenes brought back that relationship. Fuck, at one point I felt like Holly had taken a nose dive into my pensieve); one in which I was reluctant to leave. It hit me like a wall of PTSD before realising; shit, it’s not just me.
Some would argue that a person would not stay in a relationship with so many unresolved issues as mentioned in the description. Well, as a women who has contemplated becoming a raccoon lady; If I’m going down that path, I will not become a walking clique (that and all my friends hate cats) I would have to disagree. The internal battle of Tori is a real as breathing.

Writing
Holly has always had a wonderful writing style; engaging, funny and relevant. However, this is something else.
My reading of the first few chapters was staggered only because I had to stop every page to fire off a quote to my best friend and co-blogger.
There’s an ease and comfort in reading How Do You Like Me Now? I loved both Sex and the City and Bridget Jones has I was approaching adulthood, but it was never talking to me and it felt like fiction; almost fantasy. Where as Holly has taken the world of taboo (let’s face it, female masterbation and women wanting sex are still things we could be chastised for bringing up depending on our social circle) and given women of Gen X a hero who is as fucked up as we are.

This book. It's given me so many feelings I don't even know where to start.

Tori is 31, a self-help author who's written a very successful book about overcoming a mid-20s life crisis which has resonated with thousands of young women. But now she's 31 and she's starting to feel like maybe she doesn't have her life together after all. Her public persona is so carefully crafted, though, that it's difficult for her to admit she's actually unhappy.

I'm twice the age of Holly Bourne's usual target market, but I absolutely love her young adult books: they are unapologetically feminist and celebrate female friendships and overcoming adversity as a teenager. This, her first foray into adult fiction, is everything I wanted and more. It retains her spiky writing style and very honestly flawed protagonists (the admissions of insecurity and secretly bitching about acquaintances and always wanting to look the best in group selfies) and is so relevant to the early-30s life experience in the digital age that it was almost painful at times. A resounding YES from me, and one I will be recommending to all my other just-turned-30 friends.

There were a few formatting issues with some double text in my ARC but I assume these will be straightened out by publication.

I loved this book. It’s honesty was refreshing, it covered subjects that some people don’t like to discuss. It was a lovely change from what I usually read. I liked the layout and the content. I would recommend this book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Holly Bourne for a copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

HDYLMN was not a completely enjoyable read for me (it kept hitting a nerve) but it was a very important one. It has been proposed that often books might come along when we need them. This was Authentic, Raw and Validating. It's also very contemporary and real. I have definitely had variations of the discussions in this book with friends and family.

Holly has an ability to tap into the collective consciousness of women and girls. During reading there were times that I felt she had climbed into my mind and splurged my thoughts and feelings on the page.

The main character Tori is flawed or as her own guru Taylor would say 'She's a difficult woman'. Except she's not. She's human. She has emotions and those emotions are valid and okay to display.

Because I was reading an eARC the formatting was not what the final version will look like however this is what I can gleam. The book is split into 9 chapters spanning 9 months (I only realised after I finished how clever this was!). My only issue with that is that each section was quite long and hope on printing there are some natural breaks (white space) included. I may be odd but I don't like to leave a book mid chapter and I struggled to find clear break off points.

I loved the use of social media statuses in each section. The plot does explore issues around social media including 'does seeing other people's statuses make you depressed' and 'how important is it to get likes and validation'.

Tori's relationship with her boyfriend Tom was so conflicted and Holly really explores the challenges of long term relationships. Personally there are a couple of things he does that I find unforgivable (there is definitely some gaslighting) but I can totally understand why Tori is in the situation she is.

I like this quote from Taylor which says 'Anger is neither a positive or a negative emotion. It's just a signal that a boundary of yours is being crossed.'

The challenge for women in particular to be seen as successful is to be doing the next thing. Whether that is marriage, babies, a promotion, a new book. The issue of children is hugely important here and it is personally the sections around this that had me in tears. Both of laughter and sadness. Whether you are a woman who has had, hasn't had, wants or doesn't want children there is something in this book you will empathise with. I would urge women to be cautious when talking with peers about children because we often don't know what is going on behind the scenes with respect to that. Not only is it a perfectly acceptable lifestyle choice to not want children there are also people that desperately do want them but for whatever reason can't.

Feminism and female relationships, which are central in Holly's YA books, are just as important to older women. The struggles of being a 'good feminist' is addressed along with a discussion about pubic hair that had me shaking my head in disbelief.
Tori's friend Dee is awesome and there were some great scenes in the book that reminded me of nights with my mates. The evolution of female friendships especially when children come along is also examined. I love how the concept of jealously is understood and that is acknowledged that it's okay to be jealous and happy for someone at the same time. My younger sister is getting married next year and just this weekend, before I finished the book, she asked me how I was feeling about it. She gets that it might be tricky for me and I love her for that. Luckily I am mega happy for her so any slight jealousy I have is only fleeting.

Tori goes to counselling in the book and oddly enough I have just started going too and I even spoke about this book in my last session?!? See - art imitates life people. That's why it's important.
Mental health issues such as eating issues and self harm are touched on but are not the main focus. There is a sense given that there is no quick fix but just an acceptance that problems exist.

This book may not speak to every reader in the way it spoke to 39 year old me but it's almost turned into Tori's second book 'For women in their thirties'. Obviously it's a story not a self help book but there are some good nuggets of advice amongst the humour and drama. Men who are with women in their thirties should totally read this too. It might help them understand some things.

I most often read fantasy as I like some escapism in my stories. This book is so evocative of real life that I did actually get a book hangover and it made me think about changes I want to make. Holly please keep sharing the truth with a capital T. Publishers keep sharing women's fiction that isn't just romance with a happy ending. Holly has taken the authenticity and relevance that I love about reading YA and put it info a book that I won't be criticised for reading at my age!!! (Not that I give a f**k what people think about what I'm reading - now to work on giving less f**cks about other things too).