A Little Cheesy // REVIEW: How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne |A Thousand Words A Million Books || A Young Adult Book Blog

Title: How Hard Can Love Be? (The Spinster Club #2)
Author: Holly Bourne
Publication Date: February 1st 2016
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 2/3 of The Spinster Club
I Got A Copy Through: Usborne Publishing (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon UK || Foyles || Wordery || Waterstones || The Book Depository || Kobo || Google Books || WHSmith ||

Blurb Description: Amber, Evie and Lottie: three girls facing down tough issues with the combined powers of friendship, feminism and cheesy snacks. Both hilarious and heart-rending, this is Amber’s story of how painful – and exhilarating – love can be, following on from Evie’s story in Am I Normal Yet?
All Amber wants is a little bit of love. Her mum has never been the caring type, even before she moved to California, got remarried and had a personality transplant. But Amber's hoping that spending the summer with her can change all that.
And then there's prom king Kyle, the guy all the girls want. Can he really be interested in anti-cheerleader Amber? Even with best friends Evie and Lottie's advice, there's no escaping the fact: love is hard.

Actual Rating 3.5 stars!

One of the first things that struck me about this book was how EASY it was to slip into it all – Holly Bourne’s writing is simple and yet designed to make you think about all things Feminism, Family and Friendship that I’ve fallen in love.

Amber has always been the odd duck. She’s 5’11, her mother left her for a bum-face and skipped continents with him, her father had an affair and her step-family is horrible and now she’s boarded a plane to fly across continents to be with the woman who she hasn’t seen in two years.

Combine hyperactive in a camp in the mountains, a mother with barely any time for her, cliché American Girls who make her blood boil and a Prom King perfect boy, this book promised to be A WHOLE TON OF FUN!

And it really truly was.

Until Kyle (aka the more gorgeous than life Prom King) turned out to be THE BEST HUMAN IN THE WORLD WITH LITERALLY 0% FLAWS. 0%. ZILCH. He comforted Amber when she was drunk and puking, he took her on magical trips to National Parks, didn’t mind when she didn’t kiss him back, he wanted to hear all about her past and apologized and he also went “OH WE’RE SUCH A CUTE COUPLE.” I’VE MET GUYS. I KNOW PEOPLE. NOBODY IS THAT PERFECT.

He was too much perfection and ZERO FLAWS and I honestly couldn’t even believe/ fathom/ trust/ like him.

Another thing that made me cringe was that ENDING. After TWO YEARS of nothing, and YEARS BEFORE THAT OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE, all we get is a THREE PAGE TALK? And a one paragraph apology from her mother. THAT’S IT. MEH.

Amber storyline with her mother was one of the things I LOVED THE MOST because like Amber, I’m a repressor. I have so much stuff pent up inside me that I WON’T SAY OUT LOUD and I GET WHAT IT MEANS TO BE LIKE THAT. And for all that GREAT STORY to end with practically nothing felt off. And wrong. And that THE TOO PERFECT FOR LIFE PROM KING KYLE was more important than her mother. REALLY?

If I shove all that aside, because this all turned into something frustrating only in the end, there are a LOT of great things about the book.

1. THE SETTING: I don’t think I’ve read enough books with camps or fun nature stuff but I REALLY TRULY LOVED THE SETTING. Also, there were so many Harry Potter references and hyperactive little kinds (I get it, I’ve got cousins) and camp was SUCH A FUN PLACE TO BE.

2. THE FEMINISM: Everyone’s definitely had that one girl who you just NEED TO HATE – and the ladies of the Spinster Club handle it BEAUTIFULLY. It’s all about supporting women, and not hating/ being jealous of other women no matter how different you are and I REALLY LOVE THE WAY IT WAS HANDLED.

3. THE EASINESS OF THE WRITING: Like I said when I started this review, this book was a REALLY EASY READ. HONESTLY. I think it’s the fastest book I’ve read in 2017 despite the fact that it’s almost 500 pages long. It was an easy and fun story to slip into.

Honestly, I SO BADLY WISH that the ending was extended and handled better. I wish that there was more of a reconciliation and bonding between Amber and her mother, I wish Kyle was LIKE 0% FLAWED because that would have made How Hard Can Love Be? One of my best reads of the year.

Definitely worth a read for a few smiles, and some thought provoking feministic ideas but I KNOW it could have been better.

Holly Bourne writes YA novels and blogs about feminist issues. Her favourite things to complain loudly about are: the stigma of mental health, women's rights, and the under-appreciation of Keanu Reeves' acting ability.

Holly's first two books, Soulmates and The Manifesto on How to be Interesting, have been critically acclaimed and translated into six languages. The first book in the 'Normal' series, Am I Normal Yet?, has been chosen as a World Book Night book for 2016 and has inspired the formation of Spinster Clubs around the country.

Before becoming a full-time author, Holly was editor and relationship advisor for a charity website.