I just had to read this book now!
Never have I ever read a Holly Bourne book I have not enjoyed. I bought this last year during the first lockdown. Holly was part of a project along with other authors to help promote buying books from smaller sellers that potentially may be suffering through the restrictions. As a Holly fan and knowing there were books of hers I still needed to own I hopped on board, bought this book and even got a handwritten note from Holly herself.
This story I have now realised this is actually a follow on from another of her books 'Am I Normal Yet?'. Annoyingly I do actually own this so I could have read it before if I had done my research! But it has happened, ill have to work backwards! I read this book purely because of the title and figured it was the best time of year to start it!
I would highly recommend starting the other book first, however if you fancy jumping in like me then fear not, it all still makes sense! However may give away some important parts to the first book. This follows three friends as they get ready for the New Year. Each chapter follows each friend and each in chronological order. So the first set of chapters starts at 10pm and follows each of them individually. Then 11pm and so on. Each are holding their own secrets which are clear to the reader from the start but not to the friends. It is a build up of emotions and the girls running out of time before midnight to see in the New Year together.
There are many reasons I like this book. Firstly my closest girl friends are also a group of 3. We all have different personalities and very different reactions to situations, much like these girls. You can clearly see they care a lot for each other, but also know each othersannoying traits! And on top of it all they are all are hiding secrets, and this impacts on how they react to each other and events. It reminds me very much of times with my girls when this has happened so I loved how completely real this was. You can be best friends but the moment you start hiding things or not sharing how your feeling it clearly impacts on yourself and the group. As a girl being part of a friendship group honesty is massive. The moment you keep your feelings hidden away or do not reveal something that is causing a problems... girls know, and best friends know more than others. The worst is they cannot always piece everything together and can sometimes get the wrong end of the stick. Girls are intuitive but we are not perfect!
The other thing I liked was how in sync the chapters were with each other. I liked seeing the hour with one friend and then experiencing the same hour with another, seeing their differing perspectives and conversations was super interesting. Like I said before girl friends pick up on sooo much but it is so easy to miss something. So it was great to experience the hours 3 times with each girl to piece together the night in full.
I am used to Holly's books being blunt with witty, feminist slurs and occasionally hard hitting, and while this book does not disappoint it also did not have as many quips as others and certainly didn't his any hard topics. This book is part of her Young Adult collection which explains why. It more so covers the daily struggles girls have with friendships, boys and the pressures of being a teenage female. So if you prefer the easy, holiday read this definitely ticks the box.
I gave this 4 stars, it would have been 3 due to the teenage-ness of the story but due to it reminding me soo much of my own friends I had to rate it higher. Holly hits the nail on the head with female friendships and I really enjoyed the rawness of it.
...And a Happy New Year? by Holly Bourne
Pages -
Goodreads Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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