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stopchoresreadmore's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
user927463892's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
hokkaliini's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
It took me a bit to get used to this one, I totally forgot this one was about another girl from our trio. :) So I was all like, wait what? How? What? But then I settled in and I loved it.
I first have to rant about one thing (the other thing comes later). Unlike the last book I knew about the feminism, but I still wanted to read the book. I read some parts, but generally I just tuned out of the feminism talk. It was a bit too much for me. Like I said in many other books, I don't mind feminism though I have no interest (though these days thanks to me being on twitter it is getting beyond the no interest and moving to the zone of being annoyed with it getting pushed in my face too much) in it beyond equality for woman in work/pay, for girls and woman to be able to go to school and get a diploma. Other than that, no thank you.
Back to the book, I was really turned off when they girls started bitching about that Melody girl, and even going so far to call her a chauvinistic pig. Sorry, but you are all for Feminism and that, yet you bitch about a girl? Wow. Really progressive. :|
So yeah, I went to tuning out/ignoring the OMG YOU MUST DO FEMINISM OR DIE stuff (sorry, it just felt like that) and enjoying the other parts of the book, because there were a lot of fun parts.
Like the whole Kyle and Amber thing, it was so sweet, though I was a bit frustrated with Amber for not going for it sooner. I mean, yes, I know you are going back to England, but um, this is 2016, we have skype, you mail each other (snail or email), and so many other options. I know it won't be easy, but you can always save for flights. If you really want, and really are dedicated this shouldn't be a barrier.
So I just kept cheering, and hoping, and crossing my fingers that these 2 would get together, they had such a great energy and chemistry. It just sparkled and popped every time these 2 got together!
I absolutely love camp books, so you can imagine my joy when I got to the point in the story where we find out that Amber is going to spend a few weeks at a camp, helping out with the kids, doing fun camp things and much more.
And it really turned out to be fantastic and fun and interesting and much much more. Those kids, they made me laugh so much. Calvin was a bit creepy, but in general the kids were fun to read about. Especially all the stuff they did (I felt sorry for our main character and her fellow friends).
The writer really wrote detailed about the camp, I could often just imagine myself there. Seeing the gorgeous lake (though unlike Amber I would just jump in immediately), seeing the cabins, trying to enjoy the food (From what I read in other stories it doesn't tend to be that good), having a great time doing all sorts of activities.
I absolutely rolled off my chair numerous times. My book is packed with little strips of paper so I can write down the quotes and remember them. I also had so much fun to read them to my boyfriend who also laughed hard at them. :)
The ending (and what happens there) it was awesome. I can imagine why Amber did that, why she decided on that, it might not have been the best idea, but considering the circumstances....
I won't say more, because that would spoil things, and I don't want that.
I absolutely adored Whinnie, she was a fun, happy character and her whole personality was (even though her life wasn't easy) just bright and shiny. I loved that she just was who she wanted to be, and didn't give a damn about anything or anyone. Go girl. :D
I loved the English/American stuff. It was really interesting to read about a British girl going to America and see her observe everything, make funny remarks, and be amazed at all the stuff going on.
Now for 1 big thing, and 1 smaller thing that I didn't particularly like, but that formed the story, and the characters so I can forgive it a bit.
First the smaller thing, the amount of drinking that Amber did. We later find out why, but I was quite a bit disgusted at the fact she was constantly drunk. Especially considering her mother, I found it sick, and wondered why the heck anyone would drink themselves to almost a coma when you have a family member like that.
Then we have the parents. God, really, I will stick to what I said in other reviews of other books, some people shouldn't get children. Really, never.
Two cases in this one, the father. For how he didn't care to react to his daughter, and just blamed her. For how he didn't seem to care about her. For how he seemed to care more for his new wife and his new kid. Also, we find out a detail about him in this book and I was just shaking my head. How in fuck's name can you even do that? Didn't you listen when you married your wife, in good and bad times? Not just dump your wife in a pile of poo when it is bad.
And then we have the mother. Or as I will call her, bitch. Because that is what she was. I know what is going on with her, and yes, I sympathized, but throughout this book I just wanted to throttle her, for doing what she did. For the blaming she did. For the shit she pulled on her own kid. For the shit she keeps pulling. For the hurt she does to everyone around her. I was just so frustrated with that woman throughout the book.
I could go on and on for a long time about this woman, but I rather not waste my time on her any more. I have said what I said and I think that is OK.
So all in all, this was a great, fun, hilarious, sweet book, and I would still highly recommend it, even though it had a few points that were negative.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com
I first have to rant about one thing (the other thing comes later). Unlike the last book I knew about the feminism, but I still wanted to read the book. I read some parts, but generally I just tuned out of the feminism talk. It was a bit too much for me. Like I said in many other books, I don't mind feminism though I have no interest (though these days thanks to me being on twitter it is getting beyond the no interest and moving to the zone of being annoyed with it getting pushed in my face too much) in it beyond equality for woman in work/pay, for girls and woman to be able to go to school and get a diploma. Other than that, no thank you.
Back to the book, I was really turned off when they girls started bitching about that Melody girl, and even going so far to call her a chauvinistic pig. Sorry, but you are all for Feminism and that, yet you bitch about a girl? Wow. Really progressive. :|
So yeah, I went to tuning out/ignoring the OMG YOU MUST DO FEMINISM OR DIE stuff (sorry, it just felt like that) and enjoying the other parts of the book, because there were a lot of fun parts.
Like the whole Kyle and Amber thing, it was so sweet, though I was a bit frustrated with Amber for not going for it sooner. I mean, yes, I know you are going back to England, but um, this is 2016, we have skype, you mail each other (snail or email), and so many other options. I know it won't be easy, but you can always save for flights. If you really want, and really are dedicated this shouldn't be a barrier.
So I just kept cheering, and hoping, and crossing my fingers that these 2 would get together, they had such a great energy and chemistry. It just sparkled and popped every time these 2 got together!
I absolutely love camp books, so you can imagine my joy when I got to the point in the story where we find out that Amber is going to spend a few weeks at a camp, helping out with the kids, doing fun camp things and much more.
And it really turned out to be fantastic and fun and interesting and much much more. Those kids, they made me laugh so much. Calvin was a bit creepy, but in general the kids were fun to read about. Especially all the stuff they did (I felt sorry for our main character and her fellow friends).
The writer really wrote detailed about the camp, I could often just imagine myself there. Seeing the gorgeous lake (though unlike Amber I would just jump in immediately), seeing the cabins, trying to enjoy the food (From what I read in other stories it doesn't tend to be that good), having a great time doing all sorts of activities.
I absolutely rolled off my chair numerous times. My book is packed with little strips of paper so I can write down the quotes and remember them. I also had so much fun to read them to my boyfriend who also laughed hard at them. :)
The ending (and what happens there) it was awesome. I can imagine why Amber did that, why she decided on that, it might not have been the best idea, but considering the circumstances....
I won't say more, because that would spoil things, and I don't want that.
I absolutely adored Whinnie, she was a fun, happy character and her whole personality was (even though her life wasn't easy) just bright and shiny. I loved that she just was who she wanted to be, and didn't give a damn about anything or anyone. Go girl. :D
I loved the English/American stuff. It was really interesting to read about a British girl going to America and see her observe everything, make funny remarks, and be amazed at all the stuff going on.
Now for 1 big thing, and 1 smaller thing that I didn't particularly like, but that formed the story, and the characters so I can forgive it a bit.
First the smaller thing, the amount of drinking that Amber did. We later find out why, but I was quite a bit disgusted at the fact she was constantly drunk. Especially considering her mother, I found it sick, and wondered why the heck anyone would drink themselves to almost a coma when you have a family member like that.
Then we have the parents. God, really, I will stick to what I said in other reviews of other books, some people shouldn't get children. Really, never.
Two cases in this one, the father. For how he didn't care to react to his daughter, and just blamed her. For how he didn't seem to care about her. For how he seemed to care more for his new wife and his new kid. Also, we find out a detail about him in this book and I was just shaking my head. How in fuck's name can you even do that? Didn't you listen when you married your wife, in good and bad times? Not just dump your wife in a pile of poo when it is bad.
And then we have the mother. Or as I will call her, bitch. Because that is what she was. I know what is going on with her, and yes, I sympathized, but throughout this book I just wanted to throttle her, for doing what she did. For the blaming she did. For the shit she pulled on her own kid. For the shit she keeps pulling. For the hurt she does to everyone around her. I was just so frustrated with that woman throughout the book.
I could go on and on for a long time about this woman, but I rather not waste my time on her any more. I have said what I said and I think that is OK.
So all in all, this was a great, fun, hilarious, sweet book, and I would still highly recommend it, even though it had a few points that were negative.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com
willow_axolotl376's review against another edition
4.0
Reading about Amber was such a cute story, I love Holly Bournes writing :)
kalliste's review
3.0
I was hoping that I'd like this more. I feel like there was too many pages wasted on angst and communication problems than anything actually happening.
I found myself just wanting to yell at Amber a lot to just say what she was thinking already!
I still enjoyed the book and it was great to see life from Amber's point of view but I feel like this book could have focused more on other parts of the story.
I found myself just wanting to yell at Amber a lot to just say what she was thinking already!
I still enjoyed the book and it was great to see life from Amber's point of view but I feel like this book could have focused more on other parts of the story.
ruusaer's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ohbookisme's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
bethanieawp's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the summer camp setting which took me back to a nostalgic time when read books about pony camp and dreamed about being sent to America for the summer. Yet this summer camp is hard work, with most of Amber’s time spent trying to look after the kids and desperately trying to get her mum’s attention. She feels Bumface Kevin is always getting in the way.
Amber’s mum is a recovering alcoholic and the book explores what that means to a child who has often had an absent mother. She remembers times when her mother couldn’t take her to school or her dad had to cover for her behaviour. Even now she’s sober, she still have to be selfish to keep herself alive. It’s still hard for both of them, but Amber learns how to be a more accepting person by the end of the book.
Whilst I preferred Am I Normal Yet? on a story and character level, How Hard Can Love Be? does a much better job of including feminist issues without them being an info dump which I found in her previous novel. We learn about raunch culture and the idea of a Female Chauvinist Pig through one of the characters and also how feminism can help men escape gender stereotypes.
I really liked the fact that the idea of a nice guy being boring is explored. So many novels focus on troublesome relationships, and women do claim to love a bad boy persona. Yet finding someone good, kind and trustworthy, who won’t mess you around is actually a good thing. I probably would have scoffed a bit at the romance when I was younger, but it is good to see a writer showing how relationships don’t have to be all drama.
Whilst this book does contain characters from Am I Normal Yet? it can be read independently. There are a few references to Evie that could be considered spoilers, so if you want to reads both they are best read in order. There's also plenty of humour in amongst the serious issues; Holly generally writes really likeable charaters.
Amber’s mum is a recovering alcoholic and the book explores what that means to a child who has often had an absent mother. She remembers times when her mother couldn’t take her to school or her dad had to cover for her behaviour. Even now she’s sober, she still have to be selfish to keep herself alive. It’s still hard for both of them, but Amber learns how to be a more accepting person by the end of the book.
Whilst I preferred Am I Normal Yet? on a story and character level, How Hard Can Love Be? does a much better job of including feminist issues without them being an info dump which I found in her previous novel. We learn about raunch culture and the idea of a Female Chauvinist Pig through one of the characters and also how feminism can help men escape gender stereotypes.
I really liked the fact that the idea of a nice guy being boring is explored. So many novels focus on troublesome relationships, and women do claim to love a bad boy persona. Yet finding someone good, kind and trustworthy, who won’t mess you around is actually a good thing. I probably would have scoffed a bit at the romance when I was younger, but it is good to see a writer showing how relationships don’t have to be all drama.
Whilst this book does contain characters from Am I Normal Yet? it can be read independently. There are a few references to Evie that could be considered spoilers, so if you want to reads both they are best read in order. There's also plenty of humour in amongst the serious issues; Holly generally writes really likeable charaters.