Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Pretending

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

charleyeliza's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rachel_nut's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Reading the first few pages, it is safe to say that this book intrigued me, a brilliant “hook” to draw the reader in. I will admit that it does “settle down” for the first 100 or so pages, and during that I was not as determined to finish it due to its slow pace. However, it picked up and I found it a struggle to put the book down and finished it in 2 days!

I especially like how there isn’t a good or bad ending, just a “neutral” one. I like how the author explains how falling in love at the end doesn’t mean it’s just “the end”, or that it’s a particularly happy ending, because falling in love isn’t the sole accomplishment women “should strive for”. In fact, falling in love doesn’t determine whether a woman is successful or not, and this, as well as other topics, is explained so well throughout this book. I highly appreciate how well Holly Bourne’s writing conveys the multitude of complex issues that arrive in the package that is the reality of women’s lives.

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shutupiamreading's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this so so so much and am sad to know this was just sitting on my bookshelves for more than a year. The topics explored are pretty dark and intense, but this author does so much justice to it. She's my favourite author when it comes to accurate representations of mental health.

The audiobook was also excellent and the narrator did such an amazing job, especially with the intense and rambley chapters.

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larasfavbooks's review

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dark emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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lucy33's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

ok, 12th and final book of holly bourne's!!!! is it my favourite of her's? idk, i hate pitting books against each other (they're all different wtf how??), struggle enough to give ratings for books. this book had some beautiful passages and simular to How Do You Like Me Now? (HB's other adult novel), contained a lot of my pondering questions - that was nice, made me feel less crazy. the MC was beautifully (perfectly, honestly) written, and it was heartening to see a real human being for a character rather than a fabricated version of the favourite things in a person. (the story literally being about fabricating/pretending to be a perfect person lol.) I really enjoyed how the final paragraph was written was an ambiguous s/o it was such the perfect way to wrap up the story. I loved how the different types of paragraphs were, and some of the shorter chapter paragraphs passages were so beautifully written. the chapter lengths were all perf, some short and long thank you very much, my lovely. overall, the book made me heart yurn and it was utterly gorgeous.

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