The female character: “They’re always crazy perfect skinny, even though they’re supposedly always munching down burgers and chocolate.” I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. ❃ After finishing this, I vowed to read the rest of Holly’s work, but the second and third books in the Spinster Club series are still sat on my bookcase… I will rectify this shortly, promise! When I heard that Holly was writing a new YA book, I just had to get my hands on it. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the book that deal with true life romance, with all its highs and lows. Without sugarcoating it. Without showing you the happy fluffy side of things only. This book show you true life romance. It shows you how to choose yourself, to love yourself first. Something many girls would relate to.

this story is about what is essentially audrey's senior year of high school (i say essentially cause hoe is british) and the life changes that are happening to her. her father has left her mother for another woman. her brother is away at uni. her ex dumped her pretty savagely. and there's a new guy at work that she's kind of crushing on. Essentially, the story proves how almost every element of romantic movies is unrealistic through Audrey’s personal (firsthand and secondhand) experiences which she actually documents for her thesis. Why had I not thought about this topic for my thesis? It’s clear to see why Bourne’s novels have been successes in their own right – they’re uplifting, funny, and deal with real, complex issues that youngsters face while presenting believable characters and scenarios – must readers young and old, everywhere.Witnessing an average heroine’s turning into a badass one who stands for herself including asshole cheating father like a rabbit’s transformation into a roaring lion✅ I feel like this was a big step forward from Holly Bourne’s others books. The subjects are pretty much the same - friendship, love, problems with parents, feminism -, but there is something new and fresh in her narrative style, something better.

She's just gone through her first breakup, she's seen her parent's divorce, she's read all the books and watched all the movies. Every single emotion I'd been squashing into my guts exploded like a burst appendix. I jumped off the bed and turned to him with a scowl I was sure he'd need permanent therapy to recover from. Talented actress Audrey (named after Hepburn) has just started working in an indie cinema where she begrudgingly serves gourmet hotdogs to the well-heeled inhabitants of Bridgely-upon-Thames alongside zombie-movie-maker and “player” Harry. When set a Critical Research project by her media studies teacher, Audrey decides to write about “why love is never like the movies”, and boy does she know about the devastating disappointments of real-life love, what with her mum seeking solace in alcohol as a result of her dad starting a new family with someone else, and her own experience with an ex who dumped her a week after she lost her virginity to him. No wonder, then, that Audrey’s left wondering what the point of love is, and the project excerpts that appear as chapter intros wittily expound her views. But this hard-held conviction is put to the test when Audrey agrees to play a “feminist freedom fighter zombie bride” in Harry’s new movie, and finds that she might just be falling for him.

Creative Play

Just published my October Book Vlog and whew! It was a lot of reading but so worth it! The Written Review Audrey has sworn off romance - and NO not in a "totally swears it off but is secretly looking for love" - she actually means it. Hi everyone, welcome to my review of It Only Happens in the Movies. I read Am I Normal Yet by Holly Bourne last year and immediately felt a deep connection with it, due to it featuring a main character with both anxiety and OCD, both of which I have been through myself. Reading this book actually relieved a lot of the stresses I had bottled up, mostly because there was somebody else “like me” in YA literature! I'm changing my rating to a 5 stars simply because as soon as I woke up this morning, my first thoughts were of this book! I am in love! But, whatever you're going through, I can promise it’ll be one of those books that make you forget your life for a little bit. Prior to reading It Only Happens In The Movies, I’d never heard of Holly Bourne nor had I been a fan of YA fiction. However, after capturing the true essence of what a brilliant YA book should be about, I’m definitely going to give more of Holly’s books a go in the future. I’m also excited to know that she will be releasing her first adult novel, How Do You Like Me Now?, next year.