I loved Butler’s The New Me and I was delighted to find that Jillian is every bit as gut-wrenchingly relatable.

The plot focuses on Megan, a depressed hospital receptionist who distracts herself from her unfulfilling life by obsessing over her hated co-worker’s equally unfulfilling life, as they hurtle down different paths towards self-destruction.

Butler again nails the kind of alienated millennial character I absolutely love. If you liked The New Me, this will not be a disappointment.

Jillian is an interesting character study primarily following two women - Megan and Jillian - who are co-workers and passive-aggressive enemies. We follow the pair through a series of bad decisions and this book largely centres around a study of how we judge others when we're not perfect, and I think tries to focus on how we never really know what an individual's circumstances are when we judge them, I found some of the overarching messages to be very compelling and found the first half of the book to be very readable.

All in all I can see some people loving this book but I''m afraid it just wasn't for me.

For me, the issue with this book was a lack of character development, I found both Jillian and Megan to be completely unlikable by the end of this book because neither of them took any steps to improve themselves or their situation. I also found the cast of side characters - Randy, Elena, Amanda, Carrie - to either lack depth or quite unlikable too. I realise this was the point, to demonstrate that as much as we judge others, others are likely judging us. BUT it was hard to care about the story when I didn't care about the characters and there was barely any plot to keep me going.

I also struggled towards the end with the writing style, as more and more POVs were being brought in I found myself caring less and less.about the story. I think that was where the end of this book fell flat for me.

I loved <i>The New Me</i> (I feel like reading it again now) and I loved <i>Jillian</i>. I think it's the normalcy, the day-to-day events that make it so simple but gripping. It's a depressing book but everyone has been Jillian or Megan at some point - either sinking in depression, or trying to find sanity and hope in multiple projects that ultimately won't work out and philosophies and gurus that will not change your life. This was well-written and entertaining, and uncomfortable. Loved it.