Happy February!

With it being February and one of the themes often talked about in February is love. I thought it would be a perfect time for some themed posts and sticking with the theme of love, what better time than now for a little review.

Today’s review will be of How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne. This is a book that I have read a few times and each time there was something for me to love about this book.

Author:

Holly Bourne (born 6 May) is a British author of young adult fiction. She is the author of best-selling novel Am I Normal Yet? and several other critically acclaimed books. She also writes online on feminist issues and writes for The Mix, a charity-run advice website for under-25s.

Synopsis:

Amber, Evie and Lottie: three girls facing down tough issues with the combined powers of friendship, feminism and cheesy snacks. Both hilarious and heart-rending, this is Amber’s story of how painful – and exhilarating – love can be, following on from Evie’s story in Am I Normal Yet?

All Amber wants is a little bit of love. Her mum has never been the caring type, even before she moved to California, got remarried and had a personality transplant. But Amber’s hoping that spending the summer with her can change all that.

And then there’s prom king Kyle, the guy all the girls want. Can he really be interested in anti-cheerleader Amber? Even with best friends Evie and Lottie’s advice, there’s no escaping the fact: love is hard.

This book has something for all YA fans but I love how the subject of feminism is brought up and discussed within the novel without overpowering the characters and drawing away from the storyline.

My Thoughts:

This book was hard not to fall in love with, in many different ways and by using many different relationship examples, it talks heavily about the effects unrequited love can have on an individual. This is talked about most within the complicated non-existent relationship she has with her alcoholic mother. This storyline had me gripped as it gave me a new perspective on a situation of someone who I used to be close to and really gave me a new sense of empathy for them.

Another reason I fell so head over heels for this book is the strong female friendship group that you see when she talks to her friends back home, some of the topics they disgusted hit me with a strong sense of nostalgia and given where we are currently with all that is happening in the world. It hit me just how lucky I have been to have the relationships I have had with people over the years, even if they are not serving me anymore and for whatever reason, we do not talk anymore at some point or another they were a massive part of my life and I will be eternally grateful for the lessons they have taught me. It also made me miss my friends so much but appreciate them so much more. 

Lastly, Kyle deserves his own little paragraph of recognition it was so easy to fall in love with this character because he is so miss understood. I love how the author made sure to have an area where he talked about his feelings and the way he acted because I think it would be really easy for him as a character to be misconstrued whereas he actually is a lovely guy who has her best interests at heart. 

This book definitely found a place in my heart and I now need to go and read the rest in the series, and her other books. If you love a little bit of cheesy highschool romance I think you will love this but also if you like books that allow you to almost submerge yourself in the role of the character this very much does so. I now feel the need to run away to America to explore more, the little road trips in this book just sounded so gorgeous.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Love Always,

Gee xoxo