Pretending: The brilliant new adult novel from Holly Bourne. Why be yourself when you can be perfect?

What pulled me in about Pretending was the idea of trying to be someone you’re not. Especially, as the book focuses on relationships, pretending to like, do, or say things in a dating situation is an easy trap to fall in to. However, in Pretending Holly Bourne tried to cover more than the politics of online dating but the experience of rape victims.-The main character, April, is a 30 something-year-old women, working in charity, living with her rich best friend - and this is where the first tropes of the narrative come in. April is a version of a woman who is searching for love, her friend Megan is the opposite, the stereotypical career-driven woman who has given up men. The two characters switch and change positions throughout the novel, but Holly Bourne builds gender normative characters who perpetuate the gender politics of stereotyped millennials. Women who love white wine, GU Puddings, Laura Ashley pillows, and dream of their wedding day. Men who don’t know what foreplay is, check the football scores during a wedding and are particular about their coffee.Yet the first few pages of the novel promised something very different. Opening with a monologue about how she hates men, our first impression of April makes her seem like an opinionated character with strong feelings and then he texts back. And while this experience is relatable, Bourne based a lot of her characters' personalities on minor moments of relatability which meant there was no real development.-What Bourne did well to demonstrate in April’s character is the effects of manipulation and sexual assault on how someone sees themselves. But this part of the novel and character felt unfinished.Bourne experimented with different writing styles, featuring inner monologues, texts, emails, a running how-to guide on dating alongside the narrative, but her efforts to tackle a difficult subject were belittled by the teenage and cliche writing. The very-specific mentions of popular places in London, like Gordon’s Wine Bar and Dishoom, and how she used the word ‘butt’ trivialised the book and made it feel like the writer was trying to be ‘cool’ as opposed to fully developing the plot.-It felt teenage and ultimately was predictable and unsatisfying.

I don't think it is possible to overstate how powerful this book and Holly Bourne's writing is. It's like having your best friend articulate every thought you've ever had about dating and heterosexual relationships in a way which is warm, kind, funny and sharply observed. It's incredibly relatable and raw and I think I loved it even more than How Do You Like Me Now?I wish every man could read this to gain a better understanding of what it's like being a woman.

I bought this book after listening to Holly talk on Hannah Witton’s podcast and the concept of the book just fascinated me. As a queer woman, I’ve sometimes struggled with the power imbalances between genders as I feel so much more comfortable with a woman. ‘Pretending’ narrates this female truth so well and expresses how universal our feelings as women are. This book also tackles the difficult conversation of sexual assault and I think Holly has integrated the difficult stories and experiences of survivors in a way that left me as a woman feeling empowered. Holly narrates April’s perplexed inner dialogue so well and has created a book that I would urge all women to read. As there is certainly a part of all of us in April.

I was so excited to read this after holly bourne’s whitty, sharp and painfully honest first adult book.... but pretending was a huge let down.It was boring, whiny, and repetitive chic lit, a million miles off being by the 21st century feminist masterpiece other reviewers have dubbed it.And it’s a shame really because it addresses a really important topic which needs to be spoken about more

I bought this book after hearing Holly on the High Low podcast. I’m seriously confused as to why it’s being dubbed as some urgent, feminist novel as it brings nothing new to the table and is not an enjoyable nor a thought provoking read in my opinion.I agree with people saying it is immature (the main character is 33 yet acts like a 13 year old - I’m only 25 and even I couldn’t bear it!), as well as giving a two dimensional portrayal of men and women, of married people being boring and unhappy and single men being trash (all of them).I found the narrator unlikeable and the writing style just plain bad. I don’t necessarily mind unlikeable protagonists but April is whiny, self obsessed and every conversation with other characters seems to be about her life, her trauma, her heartbreak, which just didn’t leave any room for any other character development!So overall, whilst the topics are important, and I have most definitely met a Simon or two in my life, I thought the writing style was so bad, so lacking in nuance, that it didn’t manage to say anything meaningful about being a single millennial woman.