Am I Normal Yet? (The Spinster Club Series #1)

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Overall I'm in love with this book and it tipped my TBR over the edge, as I now need to read all the Holly Bourne books. I already knew most of it but it’s still is necessary to discuss about it all in literature, especially in YA. By writing this, Bourne acknowledges that mental illness is not something one simply experiences and then walks away from. It should come as no surprise or spoiler, though, that Evie’s OCD plays a significant role in the climax.

We have all been affected by mental illness in some way, whether it is friends, family or ourselves who have suffered or are still suffering. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. She managed to pull me in, when Evie is experiencing panic-attacks, it’s as if I am also experiencing the same thing in the real world. I feel I would have enjoyed this book too if it had not been for this horrid comment and the hypocrisy on what makes a valid mental illness. Then there's little headings like "Bad thought" that gives a more visual idea of what living with OCD is like.

Bourne could very well have gone and written just a feminist YA novel and it would be awesome—but no, Am I Normal Yet? I would have preferred some good girl positivity—because god forbid the girls noticed that Jane was struggling and stood around her, supporting her instead of mocking her in front of people.

However, a curveball – such as learning more about the reasons behind the “love interest’s” actions – could’ve been nice. She's losing her best friend Jane to her boyfriend Joel, who plays in a terrible heavy rock band, and goes on a string of terrible dates with Ethan, Oli, and Guy, whilst her therapist warns her about the complex difficulties that dating will bring to her life. En fin, protagonistas que la cagan y dejan que las traten mal, pero que luego no se tragan la justificación del tío de turno. I mean they literally discuss in the narrative that they should not be doing this while complaining boys are trash. People I follow on Twitter and watch on YouTube have been raving about Bourne for a while now, so I figured it was time to see what I have been missing.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. I’m also very happy with the anxiety and OCDs representation, which I found to be perfect and I never read a review saying the contrary. It shows three teenage girls who become increasingly aware of how messed up our society is when it comes to gender equality and decide to do something about it. Things like this really made me kind of bond with Evie and get even deeper into her character and the plot, but also I loved how whilst it was showing us her personality and entertaining us and everything, it was also educating its readers by giving us all of this information from the point of view of a teenager and somebody who’s suffering with the condition themselves which made it really easy to understand and empathise with, and I imagine it's opened up a lot of people to concepts about mental illness that they wouldn’t have necessarily been exploring otherwise. i really liked how the romance aspect was handled, toxic relationships are scary bc often times you don't know how awful it is.

No matter what, Evie was strong, nice and she inspired to keep getting better, but also to keep doing better. Lottie is better developed than Amber, who's a bit plain, but I really enjoyed the way the friendship between the three was developed and how the girls all had their own flaws. For those who aren’t young adults, the book still stands up, being funny and heart-warming and a reminder of those teenage years. Bad stuff happens, people are mean, there are no steps you can take that ensure the world leaves you alone. There are a few feminist YA stories out at the moment, but this is the first I've read that actually talks about feminism and discusses how to be a feminist, and I think it really could be a game changer!

That doesn't mean I can't see the wonderful message or the beautiful aspect of having friends, it just doesn't work for me anymore. She tries hard to be good—tries hard to be normal—but she makes mistakes, just like the rest of us, and eventually some of those mistakes catch up to her. It wasn't hushed up like it was a bad thing; rather, it was explained in a clear way, and shown that while it can be painful and heartbreaking to sufferers and their families, there are various methods to deal with it. Because feminism is hard enough when you’re a privileged white dude like me, let alone a 16-year-old girl with OCD constantly being told to be normal and pretty (but not too pretty) and smart (but not too smart) and slutty (but just the right amount of slutty).

The Spinster Club series has also inspired the formation of Spinster Clubs across the UK and Ireland.because I'd recently read Under Rose-Tainted Skies, another book with a main character with OCD and a heavy romance focus, and hadn't really enjoyed it. Holly Bourne tackles the big issues that teenage girls face daily: feminism, mental health, friendship and boy drama and shows how these themes are intertwined and affect one another making life as a teenage girl treacherous to navigate. She's made two new friends, Lottie and Amber, who don't know her as "that girl that went crazy", and men are starting to find her attractive. I heard such good things about it from the Twitterverse and couldn't wait to get stuck in (I'd already bought the companion sequel, How Hard Can Love Be?