Pretending, Holly Bourne
Pretending, Holly Bourne
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Pretending
A Novel

Author: Holly Bourne

Narrator: Heather Long

Unabridged: 9 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/17/2020


Synopsis

“It made me cry and laugh and rage…A really important, timely book. Sheer brilliance.” —Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List

“Thoughtful, smart and painfully true.” —Cosmopolitan UK

He said he was looking for a “partner in crime,” which everyone knows is shorthand for “a woman who isn’t real.”

April is kind, pretty and relatively normal—yet she can’t seem to get past date five. Every time she thinks she’s found someone to trust, they reveal themselves to be awful, leaving her heartbroken. And angry. Until she realizes that men aren’t looking for real women—they’re looking for Gretel.

Gretel is perfect—beautiful but low-maintenance, sweet but never clingy, sexy but not too easy. She’s your regular, everyday Manic-Pixie-Dream-Girl-Next-Door with no problems.

When April starts pretending to be Gretel, dating becomes much more fun—especially once she reels in the unsuspecting Joshua. Finally, April is the one in control. It’s refreshing. Exhilarating, even. But as she and Joshua grow closer, and the pressure of keeping her painful past a secret begins to build, how long will she be able to keep on pretending?

“The most freeing, reassuring book on dating after #MeToo I’ve read. Perceptive. Hilarious. Brilliant.” —Laura Jane Williams, author of Our Stop

About Holly Bourne

Holly Bourne is a UK bestselling author and Ambassador for Women's Aid. Inspired by her work with young people, and her own experiences of everyday sexism, Holly is a passionate mental health advocate and proud feminist. She lives in London, but dreams of the day she has a garden, dog, chickens, and a bee hive. Pretending is her US debut.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily May on May 29, 2021

So you pretend, a lot, that you’re fine. That you’re like the other girls. But … maybe you are pretending to be a woman everyone else is pretending to be too? I'm giving this book 4 stars and I'm probably going to be starting another Holly Bourne book very soon, but I have to say this one made me......more

Goodreads review by Nilufer on May 20, 2021

Okay. I’m confused. I’m going back and forth between two opinions: Yes I liked what I read: I enjoyed this book’s feminism message, the approach to the sensitive issues including sexual assault, feeling inferior, not deserved to be loved or cared, being stranger in your own body. And let’s not forge......more

Goodreads review by Danielle on January 30, 2022

Note: I received a free copy of this book, in exchange here is my honest review. 🛑Trigger Warning: this book is primarily about sexual assault and the fall-out/recovery/aftermath. Readers should be aware of this content before picking this up.🛑 Now that’s out of the way, this book definitely started......more

Goodreads review by Melissa (Always Behind) on November 12, 2021

Starting off, I need to put a trigger warning. If you have difficulty reading about sexual assault/rape, then this is absolutely not the book for you. I have not personally experienced this myself, but many parts of this book are so raw and real that it made me uncomfortable and in pain for those wh......more

Goodreads review by Mish on May 20, 2020

When I started this review I gave the book 3 stars but by the end I had to bring it down to 2. Sorry in advance for how long this is lol Firstly, this book needs to be HEAVILY trigger warned for rape. Both in the sense of the word being thrown around very casually and also with how April’s triggers a......more