GOOD BITS: My favourite aspect of this novel is the relationship between Evie and her two best friends, Amber and Lottie. When she turned thirty, Holly wrote her first adult novel, examining the intensified pressures on women once they hit that landmark. Mir hat sehr gefallen, wie gut Holly Bourne die Gefühlswelt von Teenage-Girls herausgearbeitet hat und vor welchen Problemen sie im Alltag stehen. August 2015 Book of the Month Evie is starting sixth form college and like any normal young person wants to fit in and make friends, and she’d like a boyfriend too.

But a dogmatic Evie is busy hiding her problems in an effort to appear 'normal' in front of her new friends. Yeah, there were boys in the book, and a little romance, but Evie's entire world didn't just change when a lad started liking her. With all the boys, the drama and the mental health issues, Evie had a lot to handle and I felt like I was right there with her. At times these overlap at lot and it's impossible to see where the line ends between teenage worries and her illness. It's full of so many insightful comments about life, dating, and people's attitudes towards mental health.

Her three 16-year-old protagonists are fully capable of having intense philosophical and theoretical discussions on a high level of gender roles, just as real-life 16-year-old girls are—while simultaneously lapsing into debates about boys and friends, just as real-life 16-year-old girls are.

Embarrassingly, I kept rooting for Evie to work it out with one of the boy’s despite his shocking behaviour, which is an insight into my teenage unrequited loves and self-esteem. This combined with themes of female friendship and feminism makes for an informative but engaging read. As members of the club they regularly meet to discuss topics important to themselves, such as the portrayal of women in films, misogynistic language and body image. The book is about her recovery in a sense but what I love is that it explores the idea of relapse and the whole thing is centred on her fighting to stay ok. In particular, I love protagonists who acknowledge their flaws and the fact they will make mistakes before they make them.But now I'm in my early 20s, I've lived too many situations, I've seen too many things happening and I've read too many books and essays to let this story impact my person.

The groundbreaking and bestselling first Spinster Club novel from YA star Holly Bourne - "A brutal and brilliant takedown of how we talk about mental illness, feminism, and friendship. There were moments that made me laugh way loud and made me punch-the-wall angry and just heartachingly sad. It reminds me of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls, which also pulls no punches, and also features the protagonist’s younger sister finally seeing the true injuries of a mental illness. I like the offset “bad” and “good” thoughts, though I confess I wasn’t a huge fan of Evie’s bubbliness at the beginning of the book, and I’m a little curmudgeonly about this trend of SHOUTING AT THE READER when we have perfectly good italics to get the job done. Besides the fact that it's important and deals with serious issues, it's well written with fully realised characters you really care about.

I really enjoyed the style this book is written in, though it's very Young Adult which won't appeal to everyone.