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A review by ladywestfall
It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne
5.0
"What I learned was love isn't just a feeling. Love is a choice too. And you may not be able to help your feelings, but you are responsible for the choices you make about what to do with them."
I'va always adored Holly Bourne's writing and I can truly say that she is one of YA's truest (is that a word) voice these days.
"It only happens in movies" may seem like your typical YA fluffy romance but it's more than that. This book speaks to me in a personal level. This is the book I've been waiting for and expecting for in YA. This book showed readers the reality of "love". The good side and the ugliest side of it. I've always felt like movies never do enough justice portraying this side of love. Main characters always end up fighting halfway of the movie but you know they'll eventually end up together just because, well, it's love. These movies never show the parts after, the parts where they argue and be dull with each other over time. Because that happens a lot. This is also why I love movies more where the main characters don't end up with each other and go on their seperate ways. For me, that is more of the 'love' I'm looking for. Love for yourself. To do and know what's best for you and to always look out for yourself first. They sort of look much, much real for me. I also love how it discussed those totally ridiculous cliches in movies. Bad boy meets a girl and changes for her (ok, wow), Man and woman have sex for the first time and it was wonderful (oh yeah, totally), kisses in the rain (ok fine but I love The Notebook so...) and many many more. I think these kinds of little things need to be tackled in some way and I'm glad it was perfectly derived in this book
This book hit that spot for me. It tackled everything about ugly and awkward sex, broken families, ruined friendships, fuck boys and heartbreaks in the realest (is that a word?) form.
I also applaud Holly Bourne with how she executes her books. With this one, I love how Harry and Audrey did not end up with each other. In a typical YA book, this should've ended with the characters smooching their faces off after a grand gesture but with this, Harry did show his effort and sincerity to Audrey in saying sorry about him cheating. He even made a whole movie of it. You'd think he'd be forgiven but he was not. CHEATING IS STILL CHEATING. We girls should know that. If a guy have done it once, they can do it again and again and we'll end up on the same fcking routine. I just wanted to give Audrey a big hug after her decision. I adore her character. She loves Harry but she had to make a choice of what would be better for both of them.
But one thing that did break my heart was the scene with Audrey and his father. YOU ARSEHOLE OF A FATHER!!!! I AM SO MAD AT HIM! How could he choose his whore over his daughter? I just can't imagine how badly that hurt for Audrey to hear *sighs*.
One thing I also adore about Holly's books is how she creates strong female characters who doesn't depend on guys. I'm so tired of women acting as damsel in distress all the time. Also, if you've been a fan of Holly's books and have read them all, you'd know that they mostly do not end up happily (in the romance sense). But I absolutely love those! I am not an anti fan of romance. I love them! It's just that sometimes, it is refreshing to read something that's real and heartbreaking. Sure, there are books that makes us cry just because it's sad (main character dies, main character has cancer, main character is stupid etc) but Holly has a way of breaking reader's heart just because we know it's real. Reality is much more fcking sad than anything else.
Over all, this book truly deserves 5 stars!! And I hope Holly Bourne gets more recognition about her books because they are truly exceptional.
I'va always adored Holly Bourne's writing and I can truly say that she is one of YA's truest (is that a word) voice these days.
"It only happens in movies" may seem like your typical YA fluffy romance but it's more than that. This book speaks to me in a personal level. This is the book I've been waiting for and expecting for in YA. This book showed readers the reality of "love". The good side and the ugliest side of it. I've always felt like movies never do enough justice portraying this side of love. Main characters always end up fighting halfway of the movie but you know they'll eventually end up together just because, well, it's love. These movies never show the parts after, the parts where they argue and be dull with each other over time. Because that happens a lot. This is also why I love movies more where the main characters don't end up with each other and go on their seperate ways. For me, that is more of the 'love' I'm looking for. Love for yourself. To do and know what's best for you and to always look out for yourself first. They sort of look much, much real for me. I also love how it discussed those totally ridiculous cliches in movies. Bad boy meets a girl and changes for her (ok, wow), Man and woman have sex for the first time and it was wonderful (oh yeah, totally), kisses in the rain (ok fine but I love The Notebook so...) and many many more. I think these kinds of little things need to be tackled in some way and I'm glad it was perfectly derived in this book
This book hit that spot for me. It tackled everything about ugly and awkward sex, broken families, ruined friendships, fuck boys and heartbreaks in the realest (is that a word?) form.
I also applaud Holly Bourne with how she executes her books. With this one, I love how Harry and Audrey did not end up with each other. In a typical YA book, this should've ended with the characters smooching their faces off after a grand gesture but with this, Harry did show his effort and sincerity to Audrey in saying sorry about him cheating. He even made a whole movie of it. You'd think he'd be forgiven but he was not. CHEATING IS STILL CHEATING. We girls should know that. If a guy have done it once, they can do it again and again and we'll end up on the same fcking routine. I just wanted to give Audrey a big hug after her decision. I adore her character. She loves Harry but she had to make a choice of what would be better for both of them.
But one thing that did break my heart was the scene with Audrey and his father. YOU ARSEHOLE OF A FATHER!!!! I AM SO MAD AT HIM! How could he choose his whore over his daughter? I just can't imagine how badly that hurt for Audrey to hear *sighs*.
One thing I also adore about Holly's books is how she creates strong female characters who doesn't depend on guys. I'm so tired of women acting as damsel in distress all the time. Also, if you've been a fan of Holly's books and have read them all, you'd know that they mostly do not end up happily (in the romance sense). But I absolutely love those! I am not an anti fan of romance. I love them! It's just that sometimes, it is refreshing to read something that's real and heartbreaking. Sure, there are books that makes us cry just because it's sad (main character dies, main character has cancer, main character is stupid etc) but Holly has a way of breaking reader's heart just because we know it's real. Reality is much more fcking sad than anything else.
Over all, this book truly deserves 5 stars!! And I hope Holly Bourne gets more recognition about her books because they are truly exceptional.