Bring tissues, it’s a wonderful but emotional read. A beautiful story with great characters, I wasn’t sure about Effie at the start but she grows on you as the story progresses. A cute lovely romantic story, but bring the tissues.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Effie Heaton is barely getting through life. In her late 20's, preferring wine over almost anything else, and still living at home with a mom who doesn't understand her it seems like everyone else's life is just fantastic, Instagram perfect. When a Tinder date goes terribly wrong before it's even really gotten started she meets Theo. He seems too good to be real, handsome, charming and for some reason, despite all of her flaws, attracted to her, but Theo has a huge secret.

What a rollercoaster. Very Nearly Normal is a beautiful tale of growth and discovery, while we do spend a good amount of time with Theo and Effie, it's more about Effie learning to take control of her life, making it what she wants and finding happiness. I loved watching Effie grow and learn to stand on her own, I felt like she was relatable on some levels, and that the mental health aspects of the story were accurately portrayed. This is a great book, it has humor, compassion, forgiveness, and a small twist at the end. Definitely recommend.

I enjoyed this book - initially I wasn't so sure as the main character was just a tad unlikeable but I think that was the point. A tale about the danger of comparing yourself to others and following your dreams and giving things a go! I finished this book feeling very heartwarmed!

A corker of a debut! I loved Effie. Her flaws made her a great character. A 2020 reading highlight! 5 stars!

At the beginning of this book we meet Effie. Effie is 28, has low self esteem, still stays with her parents, doesn't see a purpose in very much and is annoyed that her peers have 'got on' in life. Effie also has an alcohol problem. All this does not make for a loveable character...but I did love her. I loved her spikiness, I loved her feisty attitude and I loved her reluctance to believe in herself. When she and Theo meet, by accident and not by design, he enables her to help herself to see a way forward.
I enjoyed Effie and Theo's journey complete with all its ups and downs. I liked most of the other characters in the story as well and felt they all had something to add. At times I found I laughed with Effie and at others I cried with her, and for her, too. All in all I enjoyed the book and will recommend it to friends.
Thank you to NetGalley, Hannah Sutherland and the publishers for an advance e-copy of this book.

The synopsis for this novel is that Very Nearly Normal is a charming, unusual and uplifting romance to captivate your heart. For me, I did find it to be an unusual love story because our lady of the moment Effie is such a complex difficult character to instantly like.
Effie and Theo’s love story begins with a first chance encounter in a diner where Effie is on a blind date with douchebag Daz and Theo is eavesdropping on their conversation. The humour and funny one liners are present in the writing from the start but it is Effie’s character who will either steal your heart or frustrate you immensely. Her character is an amalgamation of familiar traits that trouble many of us which actually makes for painful reading at times. Effie’s permanent sense of failure is worn like a crucifix around her neck, dragging herself further into a pit of self hatred, low self esteem and poor perception of herself in relation to others. That should endear the reader to this young woman weighed down by all her perceived weaknesses but her overwhelming self pity turns this fictional character into the most gloomy depressed individual I’ve encountered in a modern day love story. Don’t get me wrong, I could sympathise with Effie up to a point and believe her character will resonate with many who find themselves on the periphery of life , more often that not outside looking in, believing everyone else is living a far more successful life, happier, richer, in a loving relationship blah blah blah. There are a few film references dotted throughout the storyline and one in particular struck a chord and sums up perfectly the way Effie views herself . This is the scene in Love Actually when Keira Knightly discovers her husband’s best friend is secretly in love with her and declares this on her doorstop via handwritten cards. A romantic yet heartbreaking scene and Effie can never ever imagine herself to be on the receiving end of such a romantic gesture. Join the club!!
At twenty eight Effie is still living at home with her ‘joyless’ mother and a mostly silent father, working in a bookshop, having shelved her dreams of becoming a writer. So basically she’s not in a good place at all when the handsome, persistent and patient Theo enters her life.
Naturally the course of events hereafter are pretty much what you’d expect from a novel of this genre and I liked Theo’s idea of a list; a way to achieve and experience new things whilst perhaps changing Effie’s perspective of herself and life in general. Although not original, it does make for heartwarming if predictable reading and like all good romantic reads you can expect the path of falling in love to be bumpy. Whilst I did think Theo could possibly have a dramatic and positive effect on Effie I did think his character suffered from double standards which you’ll discover if you think this novel is one for you.
Despite Effie’s self pitying nature I grew to like her more as she progressed through her list so that by the end you can imagine a more hopeful future. Throughout her journey to becoming a more positive individual, finally letting go of past resentments, that old adage ‘it’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all’ kept springing to mind. Like I said at the start there is humour in this romantic read, often of the self deprecating type and my favourite characters had to be bookshop owner and Effie’s boss, Arthur and his accountant Toby who offer a hand of friendship when it’s most needed. They provide some lightness and shade to offset the more darker aspects of this novel.
If you prefer a romantic read to mimic reality rather than those that are all light and fluffy and full of sunshine then look no further than Very Nearly Normal. My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

Thank you Net galley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review. I didn't look at the description of this book before requesting. I got the jist that it was going to include some romance. I loved the cover. Well Hannah Sunderland's debut novel definitely took me on a journey. I fell in love with Effie from the first page. Should I be worried at how relatable I found her. With the exception of wine consumption of course. I found myself laughing out loud as she stumbled through life less gracefully than others appeared around her. And when the story started taking a different route I think I was almost as heartbroken. This book had everything for me. I haven't read a book that made me laugh in a while, but I was rooting for Effie all the way through. I loved this book and have recommended it to a few friends for when it is released.

When I first started reading this book I didn't think I was going to like it. Effie seemed whiny and was on a continuous pity party....then came the second chapter and I found myself laughing out loud and I realized Effie was adorably self deprecating.

It is a well written book that touches on some real life issues It made me laugh, stirred a lot of empathy but it also kept me engaged and eager to read on. It was a quite amazing mixture of feelings that Hannah Sunderland delivered in just perfect proportions. The story left me with a warm, optimistic feeling about people.


I believe the main message of the book is about importance of human contact, even when circumstances for them are not optimal. It is a very uplifting message, especially now. Such an impressive debut. I will definitely read the future books by this author.

Oh this book… what a journey. It covers only a short period of time between the two main characters (Effie and Theo) but it feels like a lifetime that we spend with them.

The characters are relatable - whether you feel like Effie or Theo or even their parents or Effie’s friends. Lots of hot topics are gently tackled throughout and carefully explored. There’s a balanced mix of heartbreak and humour as well as triumphs and downfalls.

This is Hannah Sunderland’s debut novel but the great news is that @avon_books signed her up for a two book deal so hopefully we’ll get to read more from this author!

Very Nearly Normal is a novel that took me through all the emotions. Effie is in her late twenties, a failed novelist, barely employed, and living under her highly critical mother’s roof. In short, she’s at rock bottom. When a failed date leads to an encounter with handsome Theo, her life takes several unexpected turns, challenging her to sit with her truth, fall a bit harder, and search for her inner strength and joy. I laughed, I cried, I loved this book.
Advanced copy provided by #NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Available May 2020.

'In all seriousness, if I get through a day without severely injuring someone, breaking something or accidentally insulting someone, then I take that day as a win.'

A brilliant unconventional love story centered around Effie, a girl whose life hasn't exactly panned out the way she would have liked. While her friends are moving on in their lives, she's heavily drinking at her parents house. Then Theo comes along and she starts soften her prickly exterior and fall for him - but Theo is keeping a life changing secret...

I could highly relate to Effie, her self esteem issues and the way she compared herself to her peers and the stages they were at in life. I loved the mix of highs and lows that were throughout the story.

For fans of Sarah Haywood's The Cactus and Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

I appear to be in the minority with this opinion, but I was not a fan of the main character. She was too negative, too judgmental in the beginning for me to connect with her. It was just too much, and I found her incredibly unlikable. She was also fairly rude, which I do not like in a main character. I couldn't connect with her or the book as a result.

I LOVE this book!!!

What a rollercoaster...Effie is a character who I can totally relate to, someone who is overly hard on herself and doesn’t quite know how to get herself out of the rut she is in.

Theo is her knight in shining armour, or so we are led to believe. After falling in love with them both and willing them to get together the book left me heartbroken half way through when Theo breaks Effie’s heart.

I struggled on, reading angrily through Effie’s heartbreak and glad I persevered as I loved seeing Effie grow to live herself, to find out who she is and start to take control of her life.

A fabulous book that I didn’t want to end.

I really enjoyed this book. I was drawn in from the beginning and really identified with the main character. I felt the character of Theo could have been written slightly differently, their earlier interactions seemed a bit strange. I did it really quickly though and even though I felt the ending could have been better I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This book was a rollercoaster and I loved every minute of it. It had me laughing, smiling and crying!

It was so beautifully written and I just couldn't stop reading. Effie is great character, she's relatable and I got so involved with her story. I got really attached to the side characters also.

This was a great book to escape with!

Effie hates her life. She barely scraped a third in sociology at university and is living with her parents and a cat that urinates in all her shoes. Effie drinks too much and is now used to living her life with a constant hangover.

Then Effie meets Theo. Gorgeous, charismatic and persistent, her persues Effie and sets about helping her find herself. However, Theo has a huge secret. Is he still in love with his ex? Is he purely about the chase? Or is there something else going on?

I don't tend to read very much in this particular type of 'romance' genre. In fact, I can only think of two I have ever really loved and only one of those is still in my 'fave' list. I'm not too keen on storylines when the main focus of a book is a romantic relationship.

This book is not bad for that genre. I like Effie and her character development throughout the story, she is wonderfully flawed and normal; and I love her relationships with her parents and friends. I am not overly thrilled with Theo. He is definitely not book-crush material. His persistence, in the beginning, is endearing but his deception and hypocrisy most definitely are not.

I found it clever that Effie's favourite film is Moulin Rouge and liked that the better parts of her character development happen without too much influence from Theo. I loved that this book is set not only in England but in Birmingham, so it's local.

I got a pre-release copy of #VeryNearlyNormal by Hannah Sunderland for free, from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Published by @avon_books this book is available from 14th May 2020.

*TW: Alcoholism, Self Harm, Drug use, Death of a loved one*

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for an advanced copy of this book.

This is my first 5* review in a while I have been thinking about this book for the week since I finished trying to put into words why I loved it so much but I'm struggling!

Effie the main character is in her late 20s, single, still living at home, works as a shop assistant (in a lovely bookstore I might add) and spends her life scrolling through all her pals getting married, or having babies, or buying a house and while I have my lovely other half I can relate on a lot of the other things. There were points in this book where I laughed with Effie, cringed for her and also cried for her (so many tears, I feel the pandemic might also to be to blame on that one). Her character was very well written, I loved her development through the book and was not expecting some of the twists!

I loved the slight back story that was going on with the Bookshops owner and his accountant in the will they wont they get together way too, it was written in a very believable way!

I'm not sure if those of you who are more settled than me would enjoy this as much but I'm going recommend it to all my friends!

Ps the author, Hannah Sutherland, runs her own small business that makes props for crime scene reconstruction. Is that the coolest job or what!?

I stayed up late to finish this book last night and am nursing a book hangover today - I didn’t want it to end!

What can I say? Funny, moving, sad, raw, quirky, happy, unique... Effie and Theo’s love story was far from typical, and that’s what made it so bloody brilliant.

I’ll admit that I found it hard to get into at first, because Effie was so messed up and angry (and okay, a little whiny) BUT as soon as she met the lovely Theo, I was hooked. I really enjoyed the ‘mission’ element of the story, as well as the writing and bookshop elements (I’m an author as well as a massive reader, so this was right up my street). I thought the relationships were very well drawn and the secondary characters were all well-rounded, especially Arthur and Toby, and Effie’s mum.. Theo was a great leading man, until he wasn’t... (don’t worry, no spoilers here!) but it’s Effie who I loved more than anything. A bitter damaged alcoholic, with low self-esteem, both intentionally and unintentionally funny, jealous of other people’s success, with her emotions and the ugly truth exposed on every page... I think there’s a little bit of Effie in all of us. Ultimately, it was seeing her develop over the course of the book and learning to live a full life that made reading Very Nearly Normal such a pleasure. I can’t wait to read it again.

I think this one will stay with me a long time, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what Hannah Sunderland comes up with next.

Bookshop assistant and would-be author Effie, still lives at home with her parents,drinks too much wine, dislikes herself and the rest of the world. Until she meets Theo ,who makes her a to-do list in order to boost her self esteem. She falls in love for the first time. but will it last or will her luck run its usual course.? Well written with an unusual romantic theme, hard to put down, I really enjoyed this book.

So.... I’m going to say in advance this is my fault. When I looked at the cover and the blurb for this book I thought it was going to be a rom-com with a little bit of serious topics.... it was not. This book was HEAVY. I’m not really a fan of books that make me cry so this wasn’t for me. This is just MY opinion and I know many people will love this book, but there are many triggers in this book including: depression/anxiety, talk of suicide, alcoholism. However, props to the author for being able to make me cry!! That does not happen often so that says a lot about the writing in this book. I feel like you should go into this blind but just knowing the triggers. And don’t be like me and think this is a comedy... another reason I wasn’t a fan is because of the heroine. The first few chapters I knew I wasn’t going to like her... I thought I would like her because in the blurb it says how she works at a book store!! But she was very judgemental and kept putting herself down for no reason.... the ending was great though! I loved it and I do think this couple is perfect together!! This just wasn’t for me but again, GREAT writing style, and I know a lot of people who would enjoy this! I also have no idea how to really explain this because I feel like if I tried people wouldn’t give this a chance!