It's a very well written book, dealing mainly with alcoholism and its effects on everyone around the central character.
I have to say that i found Effie an absolute pain, so self involved, so egoistic, but I guess that is how the author wanted us to see her. She lives with her parents and has a job in a Bookshop where for a few moments each day she is happy. She meets Theo, who has issues of his own. Her relationship with Theo is interesting, and I did wonder how he put up witth her.
Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy.

Very Nearly Normal is Hannah Sunderland's strong debut novel. What's compelling about this book is that it is as much about personal growth as it is about the main characters' romance and relationship with one another. Effie and Theo each have their own challenges and secrets, but they have something special together. What's in question is if those individual foibles will drive a wedge between them, which feels very realistic.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Very Nearly Normal by Hannah Sunderland was an interesting read for me. Reminiscent of someone close to me so very poignant in relation to Effie’s evolving self awareness of the part she plays in her own misfortunes. On the other hand definitely a little too predictable but hey, in these weird Covid19 times we need hope, and friends like Arthur and Caleb, and lovely loyal families and prospective positive endings. The book was very interesting and well written so kept me reading. Overall I enjoyed it and would give it three and a half stars but I’ll round up to four and embrace the predictability since I do love a satisfactory ending.

I will first off start by saying that I hate giving reviews under four stars! But I feel like this book was not for me. I felt like it was hard to connect to the main character. I did not like how negative she was and did not enjoy reading the start of the book. I almost found myself sort of dreading the tone of the book and the outlook the character had. I also did not like the way she would not give Theo a chance in the beginning of their relationship. Unfortunately, this book was not for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon for this ARC!

I was lucky to read an advance copy of this book via Netgalley and whilst I loved I loved most of the book, the ending was a bit of a let down which made me give it four stars.

After a terrible tinder date, Effie bumps into Theo who at first she doesn’t give him any attention until the next day when he returns purse. Over the weeks, they go on more dates and Effie get more attached and realised she is loveable. They get more and more close, creating a

Until, one night at a concert, a terrible accident has occurred and from then Theo shuts Effie out of his life completely. Effie, having low self esteem takes this a sign from everyone round. She considers leaving her life after getting kicked out former family home. Until she her boss puts her up and then Effie 2.0 is born!

Determined not to drink as much booze, help out with charities and comes to love herself and more confident.
I loved reading the way Effie became herself and more confident but the ending had me so disappointed as I can normal tell what is going to happen but not this time. I also got annoyed at the end chapter.
However, I would suggest this book for people to buy and would defo recommend.

A sweet tale and an enjoyable read, but I personally don’t like it when we’re kept in the dark about one of our leading characters until the final pages....feels like a lie. I’d rather know and be able to understand and empathise. Personal preference.

When I was given the chance to read and review this novel for netgalley, I did presume it was going to be a normal romance novel - girl meets boy and fall in love ect. However, I was pleasantly surprised as this story was much more than that.
It follows Effie's personal journey from being an unpleasant spikey character as she becomes a person who learns to love herself and to live life without holding grudges. It also follows her friendship/romance with Theo who has a secret.
I would highly recommend this book & have given it 5 stars.

This is a contemporary fiction set in Birmingham, England.

It is written in the first person and focuses on Matilda Effie Heaton. A 28 year old who despite being a graduate lives with her parents and considers herself being a failure in comparison to her friends especially best friend Kate.

She prefers to be called Effie as she didn't like being compared to 'Matilda' and is on the verge of being an alcoholic.

Unexpectedly Effie meets Theo, a charismatic handsome stranger who helps her and they begin a relationship. However, Theo has his own secrets that complicates their relationship.

I liked how the story was written in the first person so you understand what the character is going through and it sounds more like a diary entry. I also liked the setting of Birmingham, England and how references were made to degrees, Jobseekers Allowance as well as living with parents, which are things I can relate to. The main thing I didn't like was I felt the character kept moaning about her misfortunes. I like to be more optimistic. Also the alcohol consumption part of the story was too detailed for my liking.

Matilda ‘Effie’ Heaton thinks her life is a failure. She's constantly comparing herself to her 'best friend' Kate, who has a successful career, fancy apartment, and a gorgeous fiancée. Meanwhile, Effie is still living at home and spends most evenings drinking herself into oblivion. The only thing she loves is her job at a bookshop.

Then she meets Theo, and her luck finally seems to be changing. Because Theo has a life-changing secret and knows how important it is not to take life for granted.

Can Effie fall in love instead of falling apart?

I wasn't sure what to think of this book in the beginning. Effie isn't the easiest character to like, and her constant self-deprecation started to get on my nerves. Then she met Theo and I was worried this would turn into one of those stories about a girl who only manages to pull herself together because of a guy.

However, as their relationship progressed, I soon started to soften towards Effie, especially in the second half of the book. I liked seeing how she changed and grew. Birmingham is my local city and I loved that there were references to places I know.

I debated between giving this 3 or 4 stars, but I did enjoy it overall and would recommend it.

A lovely story about Efffie. She is very down on herself, she is unhappy that things never seem to go to plan for her. Everyone else seems to have life sorted. Her best friend has a fantastic job, life, job and is getting married. Effie's life as she puts it is ‘meh.’

One evening she has an awful date. The man sitting on the next table overhears. In her hurry to leave, her purse gets left behind. The waitress having seen her talking to him thinking he knows Effie. He tracks her down and the next morning Theo wanders into her life...

This was a heartwarming well written story, a really enjoyable read.

Effie is angry at the world, her parents, her job and old friend. Why had life not followed the plan in her head. It had ground her down till her anger and expectations were so low. Then a chance meeting brings Theo in to her life, he won't give up on her. Effie finally let's him in and open up to a future but.
This is where I found the book being pushed away, ignored for a number of months. Effie found she could cope alone and succeed, revisited old dreams and following them up. The twist at the end left me undecided. Well written and compulsive but for me I wanted a different ending.

A lovely, well written enchanting tale about love, about, family, about friendships, about relationships, about social awkwardness, about not filling in,, about failure, about achieving your dreams, about jealousy, about self acceptanc. A love story

Very Nearly Normal is the story of Effie, a young woman who really doesn’t like herself. Everyone she knows seems to have their lives together but Effie’s way of getting through life is to drink. When Theo enters Effie’s life she is on a downward spiral and with his help and encouragement she begins to see a light at the end of the tunnel. But Theo hasn’t been completely honest with Effie, and when she discovers his secret, how will she cope with his deception?

A great first novel by this author, I look forward to the next one.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Very unusual love story with a surprisingly happy ending. Not sure I particularly like the characters. Didn’t feel like the ending gave me any emotional payoff. The heroine’s initials are MEH and it seems a bit one the nose. 2.5 rounded up

Thank you so much NetGalley for an advance copy of Very Nearly Normal in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved how this book started! I could not stop reading it! I was so very looking forward to knowing how the book continued and what had the future prepared for Effie.

At the beginning, I could relate a lot to Effie, the main character. Her way of narrating her life, her failures and how she is feeling about it all was so raw, so real, so true, so authentic, so sad that I liked her straight away and wanted to be part of her life in this adventure that is her book.

I understood most of her struggles like meeting people and making friends, I get how difficult it's! The older you get, the harder and awkward it becomes and I appreciated her efforts for trying.

I found the writing style quite addictive due to how easy it is to read. I had no problems with the vocabulary, the lenght of the chapters was more than okay and I enjoyed the way things were told.

I suffered a bit about Effie's relationship with Theo. Unfortunately, alcohol plays a very important role in the story and I found it overwhelming in a couple of scenes because I thought they became a bit over the top and hard to believe.

I didn't especially liked the fact that Effie seemed to be a mess without Theo and he was described as some sort of hero that came to her life in the right moment to save her from going downhills.

I also didn't enjoy Effie's negativity about everything. I got that her life wasn't the dreamt one and there were aspects that she could improve in but, in general, I thought she was just complaining without much reason.

I didn't like reading how she talked about her parents, especially her mum. Living with them when you are a 28 y/o must be difficult and irritating and annoying but for the first half of the book, Effie didn't have a single nice word about her parents. At all.

In my opinion, the last third of the book was way too cheesy and convenient. We all knew how the book was going to end but I just didn't enjoy the process.

This book started very well off but it didn't do anything for me and I can't give it more than 2/5⭐

I requested this book based purely on it’s cover. I knew nothing about the book or the author but this as definitely a good read and a good judgement of a book by it’s cover.

It had some good humour throughout and kept me engaged through the one sitting it took to read.

When I started this book I was unsure of what I was going to find. Is it a love story or is it about friendship? Effie is the main character along with the lovely Theo. From the beginning Effie to be honest was quite annoying... But this was because she reminded me of me. She wasn't happy with herself and things always seemed to go wrong in her life. A date went disastrously wrong but with a word from a stranger this seemed to change her entire life.
Effie reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant (if you have read that book) her character seems to be in turmoil. Theo on the other hand seems to be the perfect man. Good looking, adorable and wants Effie. The story takes you on a long but wonderful journey through the ups and downs of Effies life and brings Theo in and out of it too.
I glorious read and will definitely look for more from this author.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book pre release for an honest review

Gorgeous book which I adored. Effie is a likeable, protagonist whose life hasn't worked out the way she hoped it would. She's also bristly - until she meets Theo, this is when she finds that slowly everything starts to change.
But Theo hides a secret which he doesn't want Effie to know about.
This book was so funny/humorous, I laughed out loud.
I found this book is full of heart, too.
It was compelling, entertaining, life-affirming, it's truly a book to lose yourself in. Highly recommend it.

Very impressive scene were Effie is overwhelmed when she sees the art work Beata Beatrix by Rossetti! How she takes it in and needs to get her bearings.

This book makes you think twice about what you take for granted, once you get passed its ghastly first chapter: if I got a pound for every time the f-word (failure, failing, etc.) was mentioned, I could've bought myself a whole stack of new books... not to mention the enormous amount of 2nd hand books.
I'm glad that around the third chapter the book was able to make me smile. So this couldn't possibly be my first paragraph of a review, or no one would care to read beyond those five words I started this paragraph with.

But of course, she has a point: don't we all feel like a failure from time to time? I know I do.

Lots of themes in this book, I am glad I finished it!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

When I started reading this book I found the lead character Effie, irritating in her bitterness, lack of self-esteem, rudeness and general all-round unpleasantness. However, it was obvious from the get-go that this was just to lay the ground-works for her to change as the book went on.

This book was actually really good, and I enjoyed following the journey of Effie and how she developed into a fully-rounded human albeit a flawed one.

That is in fact the beauty of all the characters - they are all flawed, as all humans are and this makes them more relateable. There were even a couple of points that I felt myself tearing up.