Pretending - Holly Bourne Review

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tw: this book has mentions of sexual abuse, rape

 Just by reading the synopsis of this book you might think that this book is a fun contemporary about April pretending to be Gretel, the perfect women that all men want in order to try and find someone that will stick around past date 5 but this book is so so much more!

 This book is quite confronting and is honestly hard to read at times and leaves you feeling exhausted but it is also uplifting. Just reading through the chapters and all the things mentioned that men expect women do/be and all the things that women do in order to try and keep that said someone honestly leaves you drained. However the girl power chapters definitely uplift you and inspire you to just be yourself.

 Holly Bourne has an amazing ability to write realistically relateable characters and to normalise mental health which I wish more authors would do. If this book is not something you can think you can handle based on the trigger warnings then I would urge you to read her other books because they are all so amazing.

 While this book is in no way a light fun read, it does have it's hilarious moments and it does leave the reader with a feeling of hope by the end.

 Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette books for an advance e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

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