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whatelliereads 's review for:

How Do You Like Me Now? by Holly Bourne
3.0

If you like books with great characters, I’d highly recommend this. Tori was a total badass with an enviable career, but she was also layered and complicated and had relatable insecurities. I think that every woman in her 20s and 30s could resonate with some part of Tori’s life (even if we find it hard to admit it to ourselves). What I love so much about Holly Bourne’s writing is how truthfully she captures the female experience in the 21st century.

Tori is one of those characters you love to hate because, when it comes down to it, she’s a total hypocrite. She’s obsessed with remaining “truthful” and true to her honest brand in her writing, while screening every photo posts online to ensure she selects the one where she looks prettiest. There were some aspects of Tori’s character that I disliked (namely her vanity and her inability to share her friends’ joy), but I think that was kind of the point. Holly Bourne created a character that reflected the worst traits most of us possess, accentuated by social media.

Read if you liked: Expectation by Anna Hope - while the writing style differs a lot between these two, the narrative held similar themes.

Synopsis: From the outside Tori seems to have it all, and she has carefully crafted it that way. She’s a successful author, inspirational speaker and influencer (although she sometimes suffers from imposter syndrome) and she has the perfect relationship (even though she and her boyfriend want completely different things and secretly resent each other). Tori is lying to herself and the world as she struggles to come to terms with what she wants.