How Do You Like Me Now?: the hilarious and searingly honest novel everyone is talking about

Two points before I begin my review-rant: a) Holly Bourne is one of my ABSOLUTE favourite YA authors, especially after her book What’s A Girl Gotta Do? And when I heard she was releasing a “Must-Read” and “Hilarious” adult debut, it became a MUST read for me. b) I adore romantic comedy novels with a message, and this sounded like a GREAT ONE, regardless of age. Comparing yourself to others, society’s expectations and social media? HOW ABSOLUTELY RELEVANT TO EVERYTHING WE GO THROUGH ON A DAILY BASIS. And while there were a lot of lovely, on-point messages in this book, a lot of scenes that made me laugh, the main thing that stayed with me about this book, days after I put it down is HOW MUCH THE MAIN CHARACTER WHINED AND COMPLAINED AND HAD UGLY THOUGHTS and I get it, because we do all of the above on a daily basis, but Tori Bailey, the protagonist was just such a NEGATIVE person about everything and stuck in a relationship that she knew was going nowhere and I honestly didn’t know how to deal. I guess, even though we shouldn’t compare books, I hoped that How Do You Like Me Now?, just like all of Holly’s other books would be uplifting or have some sort of positive message, and while it got to it in the end, there were still 300+ pages of all the negativity that ended up being a little more than I could handle. Also, more than anything else, Tori couldn’t find it in herself to be supportive of her BEST FRIEND when she found someone and got pregnant and that really annoyed me because WHAT EVEN? I guess I just wish that this book was more. There were still a lot of things I REALLY liked about this book, including: 1) Tori Bailey’s stark honesty: Even though she was a negative and unsupportive person in general, I did love how absolutely unfiltered and unflinching her thoughts and opinions were. 2) THE RELEVANCE: How many of us DON’T scroll down social media and then feel bad or that we’re not doing things ‘right’ when we look at other’s accomplishments? I loved that the book dealt with the SHEER PRESSURE these online platforms and the ‘life achievements’ of people you follow there exert on you because IT IS REAL. 3) YES FOR THE ENDING: Like I mentioned before, the ending of this book was more the Holly Bourne books WITH MESSAGES that I’m used to. I loved how supportive Tori’s parents were and so proud of Tori for finally standing up for herself and doing the right thing. I guess all in all, this was probably the most REAL adult contemporary I’ve EVER read, but I wish there was more positivity or support from the main character towards anything at all. 3 stars.

I really liked the style it was written in, but the content and the ending where really meh for me. The protagonist just whines constantly and it is never emphasized what made her act the way she did. Still a pleasant read though!

But the character got on my nerves! Still great gripping read. A real page Turner