Not my favourite of Louise O'Neill's books. It was quite slow and not much really happened and I really couldn't stand the main character, though I know that was the point and I do appreciate Louise O'Neill showing that female characters don't always have to be likeable. I found the juxtaposition of the first and third person a bit jarring at first, but in the end I think it worked quite effectively as you could see the obsessiveness of Sarah's behaviour more clearly when you were inside her head. I would still read more of Louise O'Neill's books, but this one just didn't really work for me.

Reviewed on YouTube: https://youtu.be/42G_kCoql9E

I've read all of Louise O'Neill's work to date so was really excited to get my hands on a review copy of Almost Love. Only Ever Yours is up there with my favourite books of all time - it was absolutely gut-wrenching and beautifully explored. Asking For It explores rape culture incredibly with a hard-hitting edge and a daring insight.

Almost Love follows Sarah, a twenty something teacher living in Dublin. The narrative splits between past and present, which works really well. Sarah falls for an older man, who evidently doesn't have the same feelings as her and sees their relationship purely for sexual satisfaction . Almost Love depicts a toxic, obsessive 'love' and one that is extremely uncomfortable to read.

I really struggled to like the protagonist, Sarah. I felt that she was selfish, possessive, spoilt and demanding. At times throughout the novel, I felt that she wasn't the one suffering - her poor friends and family seemed to take the brunt of her obsessive 'relationship'. Sarah has so many character flaws that I found myself getting frustrated and angry with her, particularly for the way she treated people. Almost Love is a really difficult book to 'like'. I felt that Sarah was the type of person that if you were a friend, you'd get her toxicity out of your life pretty quickly. Whilst the subject matter is current, and the setting familiar - it made for an uncomfortable read.

Whilst for me personally Almost Love isn't in the same league as O'Neill's other work, I can appreciate it for its brutal honesty, raw perspective and the way it portrays an obsessive, degrading and dysfunctional relationship.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this release.

"Love was holding your breath until they texted you. Love was waiting for them to decide that you're good enough."
Almost Love is a tough look at toxic, obsessive love that explores the roles of women in society and relationships, the main character Sarah is unlikable yet relatable and it is so easy to connect to her and see her viewpoint. Another fantastic book from Louise O'Neill

Louise's book is a frank and honestly bleak look at relationships, and self-worth. Sarah is not particularly a likeable character but she is certainly relatable. This is a tough read, and explores sexual gratification and sexual relationships and the long-lasting effects bad ones can have.

Almost love sounded a fab read but I was sadly disappointed and it wasn't for me.

I can't say this book has left me feeling content but it has definitely given me pause for thought. Sarah's previous relationship with an older man, Matthew has left her disturbed and determined to ruin her relationships with the other people in her life, her current boyfriend, best friend and Dad. I was mildly irritated by Sarah at times but I think this was the skill of the author to really get me put where she was. The writing was compelling, the first few chapters were slow burners but suddenly I was hooked and racing through.
I fear I am going to be walking around all day in an Almost Love Daze. This book has really made me think about how we treat people around us and the effects that we have on others.

Lovely book. A must read and I recommend to all. Thanks for the read.

So it doesn't matter that he's twenty years older. That he sees her only in secret. That, slowly but surely, she's sacrificing everything else in her life to be with him.
Sarah's friends are worried. Her father can't understand how she could allow herself to be used like this. And she's on the verge of losing her job.
But Sarah can't help it. She is addicted to being desired by Matthew.
And love is supposed to hurt.
Isn't it?

Breathtakingly raw, rips out your heart and exposes the very dangerous side of love, obsession and placing all of your self-worth into the hands of another human being.
An important and relevant book for especially women to read.
O'Neill has a way of tackling very difficult subjects in a completely honest and unflinching way.

This is the second Louise O’Neill novel I have read and, once again, her raw observations and haunting prose will stay with me for a long time. Almost Love is a searing portrayal of a young woman, Sarah, who, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, is not convinced she is worthy of the love she is so desperately seeking – tragically – in the wrong places.

On the surface, Sarah seems to have it all. She’s beautiful and talented and surrounded by friends and family who love her. She lives in a stunning home, with her rich, gorgeous boyfriend who adores her and underwrites most of her high life existence. The trouble is, while Sarah has more than most people could dream of, her dreams are all about the one thing she can’t have. Matthew Brennan. Her former lover who, unfortunately, never really loved her at all. Sadly, Matthew’s emotional unavailability didn’t stop Sarah from making him the centre of her world.

Cutting back and forth in time between these two relationships, Louise O’Neill shows us Sarah’s life from the POV of both first and third person narration. Although both are handled beautifully, the reasoning for this narrative choice eluded me. I kept waiting for it all to make sense to me at the end and so I will look forward to seeing if other readers understood what I missed.

As with the previous Louise O’Neill novel I read (Asking for it) one of the strongest elements is her ability to deliver interior monologues with a candour bordering on the catastrophic. No one should ever get to see quite this far into the inside of anyone else’s head. It doesn’t make it easy to like the character it’s happening to, but it certainly gives us amazing insights into their psychological makeup and motivations. Of course, it’s particularly unsettling when an unlikeable character is thinking the same sort of unreasonable things one has thought in shameful silence oneself. (I will spare you the self-flagellatory urge to quote directly…)

Both timelines unfold in Ireland - which is as fully evoked and inhabited as the characters themselves, and this certainly added to the reading pleasure. There are a lot of characters in the novel, names and faces going past in the street, or in the pub, in a bit of a blur at times. But it all adds to the verisimilitude; the feeling that within about an hour of landing it turns out you are already connected to everyone else by three degrees of separation.

Similarly, I loved the art world settings and Sarah’s views on painting (her own and Oona’s, as well as those of her art college contemporaries). The way Sarah’s feelings of not being good enough for love and not being good enough to create art were both showing signs of being on the mend, without having it all wrapped up too neatly in a bow, worked for me.

I am grateful to the publisher for allowing me to see an advance copy of Almost Love in exchange for a fair review.

3.5 out of five. This can be a difficult book to read at times. Sarah is relatable – we all have a Matthew – but she is wholly unlikeable and can be hard to condone or connect with.

This was my first Louise O’Neill book and I hope to read more soon.

This is a great, if very uncomfortable to read, piece of contemporary women’s fiction. It tells the story of Sarah, who becomes infatuated with Matthew, a wealthy man 20 years her senior, and how she is quickly caught up in what she kids herself is a relationship, but what to Matthew is just a series of quick sexual encounters in a hotel room.

Sarah becomes so obsessed with Matthew that all other parts of her life begin to fall apart and she neglects her friends, family members and anyone who truly cares about her.

Both the main characters are deeply unpleasant, but there is something addictive about this book that kept me turning the pages late into the night.

Louise O’Neill does a great job of portraying this toxic relationship and of getting inside the head of this insecure, selfish young woman. The writing is raw and brutal and I hate to say it, but at times I recognised my younger self in Sarah.

I look forward to reading more of Louise O’Neill’s novels.

Another fabulous book by Louise O'Neill. The main character, Sarah, is deeply troubled and dislikeable yet I couldn't get enough of her and her story. I devoured this book.

Louise O’Neill keeps getting better and better. I’m not lying when I say hers are some of the best books I have ever read. Not only they are written impeccably, they also allow every woman to relate to them. Her first novel, Only Ever Yours, looks at women’s role in modern society through a dystopian narrative. The second one, Asking for It, reflects on the rape culture and victim blaming. Almost Love steps away from young adult literature and adopts a more adult tone, examining a toxic relationship and how the protagonist’s obsession with pleasing the men in her life throws her over the edge.

Almost Love tells the story of Sarah, a twenty seven year old that seems to have a pretty good life. She works as an art teacher in a private school and lives with her lovely boyfriend, Oisín, in Dublin. The house is free: Oisín’s mother is a famous (and very rich) artist that has given it over to them after moving to a mansion with her husband. However, Sarah is not happy. She’s still not over a man she hasn’t seen in over three years, a man that ruined her life, even though (or perhaps because) they never had “a real relationship”. He is Matthew, he is twenty years older than Sarah and has more money she will ever see in her life. Sarah falls in love (or almost love, anyway) with him, and she doesn’t care that he is much older than her, or that he only wants to meet her in secret in a shitty hotel room to have sex. Little by little, she sacrifices everything she cares about just to be with him: her friends, her family, even her job.

I think Almost Love is an incredibly important read that will open your eyes to the idea that love doesn’t have to hurt. That love is not having a constantly clenched gut, nor is it leaving everything behind to follow someone else’s dreams. It’s very easy to see it from the outside: I spent every second reading Almost Love wanting to shake Sarah, she was just so stupid. However, after I finished reading, I started thinking. Louise O’Neill always makes me think, and that is something I love about her. I finished reading yesterday evening, and I was still thinking about it today, and I will probably keep mulling it over tomorrow.

It didn’t take long for me to realise that Almost Love is not a young adult novel, even though the cover looks very similar to the author’s previous ones. The topics are more adult, even though they still appeal to women of any age. Who hasn’t been in a “relationship” when they would spend hours, even days or weeks, waiting by their mobile phone for the other person to text back? He has a very busy life, you tell yourself. He didn’t find the moment to message me back. And an hour passes, and two, and one day, and three days, and one week, two. Finally, you are the one to text again. He must have forgotten, he’s such a mess with his phone, you say. No. If he were interested, he would find two seconds to write to you. If he were interested, he would take you out for a drink, or for dinner, or he would introduce you to his friends. If he were interested, he would remember your birthday, or ask you how you are. I could keep going, but I don’t want to bore anyone.

This book alternates between the present and the past, Sarah’s current life and her relationship with Matthew a few years ago. I think it is a brilliant way of narrating a story like this one. In the present we see a depressed and irritable Sarah, trapped in a loveless relationship, mistreating (to say the least) a boyfriend whose only crime was to fall in love with her. In the past we witness her transformation: we see a more or less happy young woman (she has, of course, her faults, like her selfishness or jealousy over her friend’s success) turn into a shadow of herself, obsessed with pleasing Matthew, with being “worthy” of his love. Then, and even though I think Sarah is a horrible person anyway, we get to understand why she is so horrible with Oisín and how she got to the situation where she is now, keeping the tension in both plot lines.

Almost Love is brilliant. Each character is carved in a way that it doesn’t look like a character anymore, but a person. I recommend this to everyone, same as with Asking for It and Only Ever Yours. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. If you are a woman you will relate to every line, and if you are a man you will get to understand us better.

This is a bleak and hugely frustrating read. If there are likeable characters here they're well hidden. Instead, a parade of selfishness and self-obsession takes over in a relentless story that lacks the chunks of hope that have broken into O'Neill's YA books.

I read it too fast! It was reading about me. I have read a load of reviews and social media comments about the book. Some feel irritated by Sarah some sympathetic to a point. I am amazed that the author has such insight into addiction to another person and how they make us feel and how completely blind deaf and dumb it makes us. Her description of the denial the constant lie telling to oneself and how she allowed him to pick her up and drop her as he pleased, was spot on. Her struggle to be with someone who was kind to her and how difficult it was to see and feel love at all.
She did well go get out in such a short time it took me 30 years of back and forth physically and even more emotionally.
This stuff eats your life away and you don’t ev n know it.
Well done for a stunning book.

Almost love is a love story with a difference. Sarah the main character is 24 when she meets a powerful man almost 20 years older than her. Although he treats her badly she is obsessed with him and gaining his love and approval.
The toxic relationship spills over into her life and helps destroy other relationships and Sarah’s happiness along the way. Her questioning of is she good enough, does she deserve love and her inability to identify love when she has it is very well perceived.

This novel was very addictive and hard hitting. I related to a few of the characters and situations and potrays toxic obsessive relationship very accurately. Definitely not your average love story but one that will have you rethinking relationships and valuing good ones.

Louise O'Neill uses language beautifully. It was “Asking For It” that made me realise the main protagonist, especially a female one, does not have to be likeable for an engulfing and resonating story to be enjoyed.

Sarah is selfish, directionless, immature, although by the end of the novel, she does at least seem to be aware of these many faults.

The story is presented in chapters alternately headed “NOW” and “THEN”. The “now” chapters describe her current relationship with Oisin. The “then” chapters describe how she meets Matthew and traces her growing obsession with him and the resulting fall out with friends.

I found this book almost impossible to put down and highly recommend it.

I found this book very relatable. I connected with the main characters and the storyline. It was very believable and realistic. I would recommend this book. I love this author and have read all her books and am looking forward to the next one.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Louise o’Neill for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

4 - 4.5 stars

Louise O'Neill is doing something incredible for women's fiction. Her subject matter is current, her setting is familiar, her female characters are real (not very likable but, wow, can we relate to them) and she is pushing boundaries when it comes to language. O'Neill gets it. She just gets it.

I am a big fan of O'Neill's work, I feel I need to start by saying. Only Ever Yours was masterfully evoked and was such a powerful depiction of a dystopian society where women are bred for male pleasure. Asking For It, too, was just excellent. O'Neill's handling of the theme of rape culture and the notion of consent was both daring and intelligent. And so relevant, especially with the trial of Paddy Jackson in the news currently. A brave writer, O'Neill puts her voice out there, is unapologetic in her role as a strong female figure in contemporary Ireland and, as a woman in my early 30s, I truly admire her for it. Last year, I went to hear her speak in the University of Limerick, where I work, and I thought she was just wonderful.

Almost Love is no different in its stark and revealing exploration of issues that face women. In this story we meet O'Neill's most detestable protagonist yet: Sarah Fitzpatrick is approaching her late-20s. Having graduated from art college and qualified as a teacher, she is living in Dublin with her boyfriend, Oisín. Oisín has a good job, they are living rent-free in a house belonging to his parents and her immediate support network constantly encourage her to get back to her art, including Oisín’s famous artist mother, who seems to genuinely care for Sarah. Despite her apparent good fortune, Sarah is deeply unhappy. Through sections titled 'Then' we go back in time to learn about the death of her mother at a young age and the subsequent breakdown in relationship with her father, who neglected his grieving daughter when he found himself unable to cope. We also gain insight into Sarah's relationship with a man 20 years her senior, a high-profile father of one of her pupils by the name of Matthew Brennan, a relationship that is so toxic we can't help but devour all description of it.

When we first meet Brennan, we are excited for an riveting and engrossing tale of boy meets girl (or, rather, girl meets manipulative older man). Soon, however, we realise that there is something darker here. Brennan uses Sarah for his sexual pleasure while remaining completely indifferent about what pleases her. He refuses to treat her with respect or with dignity and is completely ignorant of her feelings. And while that may make you hate him and pity her, it's not that simple thanks to O'Neill's searing precision in creating modern-day monsters who we love to hate. And Sarah is just that: she is utterly hateful. She looks down her nose at the small village she came from, as well as the people in it, including her old friends who she openly insults. She is angry at her father; angry at her friends for finding happiness; angry at her family and friends for encouraging her to paint; angry at herself for not painting; angry at her boyfriend for loving her and, yet, angry at him when her constant berating of him results in his retreat from her emotionally. And here is where you might find yourself retreating from this book. I admit, being inside the mind of such a cruel, self-obsessed protagonist can be tough; I found it exhausting and draining at times. But therein lies the spark and the beauty of O'Neill's writing. She is fearless in her depiction of characters who we as readers will hate. She challenges us to see things from their perspectives, to read their ugly thoughts, and asks us if they are deserving of the treatment they receive.

As you read Almost Love, you will find yourself shouting at Sarah in your head to leave Brennan. His treatment of her is despicable, as he plays on her neediness to fulfill his own sexual and emotional comforts. When we see the texts she sends him we cringe; when we read about their sexual interactions where he has his needs met and she is treated as nothing but a physical body, we shudder; when we read page after page of her obsessing about Brennan, exhausting her friends with constant self-mutilating thoughts about how she could make him love her, we get frustrated. And when we see her abuse her relationships and treat her family and friends dismally, we get angry.

Again, what O'Neill does here is genius. It would be so easy to write a gentle, suffering protagonist who we cry for and hope she finds happiness. Then we would be told who we should root for an who we should despise. Good cop, bad cop, if you will. But with Almost Love our normal comfort of sympathising with our protagonist is challenged.

One thing that will no doubt encourage endless discussion between readers is Brennan's treatment of Sarah and Sarah's subsequent treatment of herself. There is a grey area here that is so well presented by O'Neill that it will perplex and divide audiences. Does Brennan treat Sarah so badly because he is just a complete asshole? Or does he treat her so badly because Sarah allows herself to be treated this way? Sarah is a complex character in that she doesn't seem to able to love herself and refuses to allow other people to love her, so one could argue that she is responsible for the treatment she receives, that she perpetuates it almost. What your feelings on this are, I will leave you to decide.

One thing is for sure though: this story is relatable. Whether it is watching the phone until a text comes through from a man or agonising over how we could have done things differently to change the outcome of a relationship, there is a little Sarah in all of us.

While the toxic and obsessive love affair takes centre stage, at its heart Only Ever Yours is a deep, explorative psychological portrait of a grieving young woman. It is razor sharp, brave and so utterly important. Highly recommended. And going straight onto my Top Reads of 2018 shelf.