I absolutely adore Holly's YA books, so was excited to see that she was branching out into writing for adults. How Do You Like Me Now? is the story of self-help writer Tori Bailey and her struggles in her current life and relationship. Her self-help book based on her own life experiences ended with her in the perfect dream relationship and now she is living a lie, because her relationship isn't all she makes out. Tori is really not happy and that very much comes across in the writing, along with her bitterness about other people's relationships, which sometimes makes for uncomfortable reading. Holly explores the emotions of living a life that is very different to the one we present brilliantly.

This book just didn’t work for me. It felt preachy and I really couldn’t gel with the main character. I would say I’m the exact age range that the book was written for but I just didn’t see myself or others of my age in the character. The constant talk/use/reliance on social media just made the book feel like a story that I’ve read many times before. The writing was great though and I will definitely still read the authors other work, I think this one was maybe just not right for me.

Whatever your age, this book will speak to you but it will particularly resonate with those in their thirties or who remember what a messed up time it can be. It's witty and unflinchingly honest but captures the confusion and complexity of this difficult age. It's easy to see why some people don't like it but for those who can relate it will be perfect.

I am currently working on expanding our school library's senior section after years of a dismal and uninspiring selection of books that our older readers never checked out. My job has been to seek out much more diverse, gripping and modern books that will get them into reading by appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible. This really appealed to me because of its fantastic narrative combined with believable characterisation and its contemporary and pertinent nature. It's hard to get young people into reading and if the library is not stocking the kind of book that they might grow up to buy as adult readers then we are not really meeting their needs. I can imagine this provoking lots of discussion after finishing it and a long queue of people trying to reserve it as they've heard so much about it. Will definitely be buying a copy and know that it's going to be a very popular choice. An engrossing read that kept me up far too late to finish reading it. It certainly stood out from the other books that I was considering and I look forward to converting more Holly Bourne fans in future!

Holly Bourne's first novel for adults did not disappoint! I really enjoyed this one as a departure from her YA.

Somehow I never wrote a review for this book. And that makes this reviewer feel all kinds of awful, as this book was all kinds of wonderful. And I figure it's never too late to shout from the rooftops about how much I loved it.

The main character was one I loved to hate, while at the same time I hated to love her. I was conflicted but intrigued. Tori is messed up. Striving to be authentic on social media, but in a very contrived artificial way. Craving meaning in her life, but trying to find it in superficial things. And I could jump on to Instagram right now, and find dozens of insta-celebs just like her.

While reading I wanted to highlight every line, as it just sang so true, and I wanted to remind myself of how toxic the internet can be. It captured the fakeness and insanity of social media to a tee.

The book had a great structure with instagram updates, text messages, etc. Fun and easy to read. But also razor sharp in its honesty.

This was Holly's first venture into adult fiction, but for me she is now an auto-buy no matter what genre she is writing.

I'm finding this review difficult to write. You see I probably should never have read this. It's set in a world I find really crass and shallow. Online gurus that people think have a perfect life leave me feeling a bit nauseous. But that is actually in essence what the story is about which I can only applaud. But the issue I couldn't raise any sympathy for the main characters at all. Tor and Tom are thoroughly unlikeable. Frankly, they deserve each other. But there are a few genuinely funny moments in this story which made me laugh out loud. Unfortunately, it was in front of my 7-year-old and the laughs aren't ones to explain to your daughter...or even your mother!

This is definitely aimed at the late twenties/early thirties readership - perhaps I'm just ten years too late to relate?

As a big fan of Holly Bourne's YA books, I was looking forward to reading her first adult novel. Tori Bailey is the best selling author of a self help guide for your 20s, so you'd think she'd have it together as she approaches her 30s. But her life isn't what it seems to the outside eye. While all around her are settling down, her long term boyfriend won't discuss marriage or children, her best friend that she could always rely on is now loved up and there's work pressure to write a follow up book. I liked that this book shows that life isn't what you think it is and that everyone has their own doubts and pressures.It's very honest in that regard, that there isn't a set path for everyone that goes 'marriage, house, babies'. You go through a whole range of feelings reading this, from sadness, to laughter, to cringing at how awkward Tori is and the bad decisions she makes. It reminded me of Marian Keyes, a main character that isn't perfect, a serious message or content that's relatable, all wrapped with humour and delivered with honesty.

Thirty-one year old Tori Bailey is living her best life…She is a successful author and personality after the success of her memoir ‘Who the F*ck Am I?’ which was inspired by a break down in her twenties. After years of conforming, Tori decided to ignore society’s expectations and live the life she needed to lead, rather than the life she felt she should be leading. In doing so she happened to meet Tom, or ‘Rock Man’ as she refers to him in her book (clue: they met on a rock) and six years later they are still happily together. At least that is the image Tori portrays to everyone round her and what her posts on social media would have you believe.



However, Tori’s ‘perfect’ life is thrown into turmoil when her best friend and fellow non-conformist, Dee, admits that she is pregnant. Surely this can’t be happening. Dee is everything to Tori. Her Plus-One at the flurry of weddings they are invited to now they’re in their thirties, the person who cringes along with Tor at the influx of vom-inducing social media posts by people they went to Uni with “Date night for me and the hubby”, “Couples selfie alert”, “Saturday night in with the fam.” Bleugh. Tor knows that things will change with the arrival of Dee’s baby (and she will also stop having disastrous dates and giving Tor a detailed analysis of each and every one… ‘Help me he’s a crazy person’.)

Ok, so everyone else might be settling down and starting a family and Tori is sure that she and Tom will be doing this at some point. But when? Tom refuses to even talk about putting a time-scale on their future and now she’s in her thirties Tori wonders if she should be worrying about the ticking time bombs that are her ovaries.

So things aren’t so great at home…But that’s ok. Tori has a sparkling, successful career. Never mind the fact that her last book was released six years ago and she really should be writing her new one. The one about how to navigate your thirties now you’re settled with your dream man and everything is wonderful. She should be writing about her forehead lines and that extra bit of flab on her stomach she has named Herman. But for some reason she just can’t do it…

Finding herself trapped in a deeply unhappy state of affairs; can Tori practise what she preaches and follow her own path in life? Or is being perfect from the outside enough? What the F*ck is Tori Bailey supposed to do now?



The advanced reviews for How Do You Like Me Now were pretty damn awesome and I was just the tiniest bit excited about reading Holly Bourne’s foray into adult fiction. She is an absolutely amazing Young Adult writer and I couldn’t wait to see how her debut adult novel would pan out. I was hearing good things, my expectations were high, and it had an endorsement from Marian Keyes. What more could any living, breathing human being want from a novel?

But OHMYGOSH I wasn’t expecting to love this book quite as much as I did. As a twenty eight year old woman (gulp) it seemed to capture all of my fears, dramas and difficulties and shine an uncomfortably bright spotlight upon them. The thought of that might sound pant wetting-ly terrifying, but it actually proves to be nothing but reassuring. Someone else has been there. Someone else understands. It’s not just you who sometimes feels left behind, it’s not just you who hasn’t got life figured out, it’s not just you who has an unhealthy obsession with Colin the Caterpillar cake (Ok, that last one might just be me…)

Holly Bourne has captured every woman’s inner most thoughts, feelings and concerns and whipped them up into this realistic, hilarious and extremely clever novel. With an added shot of self-loathing and a side plate of self-deception, I think every woman at every age has felt a portion of the feelings that Tori is experiencing in this novel and it is hugely comforting. It also pokes fun at some of these inner most thoughts and worries and turns some of them into things that can and should be laughed at.

Of course, not everything is that simple, as Tori proves. Her relationship with Tom is worrying for many reasons and as an outsider it is easy to form your own opinion on what she should or shouldn’t do, but I’m sure many readers will be able to understand that when you are in that situation yourself, things are never that black and white.




Holly Bourne’s writing is superb. She has created characters you will genuinely care about, a relatable storyline that you will quickly become submerged in and I also think that she has created something quite special with How Do You Like Me Now?

I’d like to put this book into the hands of every twenty-something female and tell them that things are going to be ok. Because that is genuinely the message that I took away from this novel and I’m really grateful to Holly Bourne for that. I certainly wasn’t expecting to read a book that made me feel so understood and I appreciated that massively. This book is fearless, honest and sometimes so true-to-life that it actually hurts.



Read it, be reassured by it, laugh at it, laugh with it, but ultimately - ENJOY IT.

I actually stopped reading this after a few chapters and left it for a few days before going back to it but I'm really pleased I did. I initially found the protagonist frustrating and hard to get along with. It was only after going back to it that I realised I found her annoying because she was so similar to me and I think probably similar to a lot of us. I really liked how it wittily examines our obsession with social media, our search for approval and the way we choose to represent ourselves online. I think it's really great that it has the potential to make the reader feel uncomfortable about their own use of social media, it certainly did with me. While I am yet to actually change my habits, it certainly made me think!

Absolutely loved this book and ended up recommending it to everyone in Work, I’ve read most of Holly’s YA books but this is by far her best one to date.

I have some very mixed feelings about this book and I think most of them come from not quite being the target audience. I am in my mid-twenties and found it very difficult to relate to Tori (for many reasons) and am not at the point where I'm worrying about life in my thirties at all.

I didn't really like Tori and can't figure out if I was supposed to. She would flip from saying something that I totally agreed with to just throwing any of her development out of the window with a bitchy comment. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I have never made a bitchy comment (obviously we all do) but some of what she was saying really rubbed me up the wrong way. There are several times where she bitches about people getting married/being in long term relationships because they act like it's a big part of their identity and it shouldn't be????? And other moments where she hates people saying that they're marrying their best friend?????

Being in a long term relationship is a huge part of who you are (I've been in one for 11 years and although still very much my own person think it's insane to suggest that spending a significant amount of your life with one person and growing and learning together doesn't in some way shape your personality. This isn't a negative thing at all, it happens in the same way as long term friendships help to shape you which is portrayed positively in the book. This part in particular really riled me) and I really don't understand what's wrong with the person you're planning on spending the rest of your life with being your best friend. It just struck me as really odd. I get that it may come from a place of jealousy in Tori because her relationship is rocky but I feel those comments could have been tackled with a bit more nuance.

I appreciate a lot of where the book is coming from as unfortunately the whole idea that women are not valid humans unless they're married with children is still a thing and Holly Bourne does a good job of tackling that. However, I felt all the way through that Tori really wanted to marry Tom for exactly the reasons that are put forward as negative in the book. She wanted the validation of marriage but pretended she didn't to Tom so she didn't come off as needy. The messages were again very mixed.

The relationship in this was just horrific, I know it was meant to be but jesus christ there was just no understanding there at all and I was waiting for the inevitable from about 10%. For it to happen in the last 3% and for Tori to be so hypocritical when talking to her fans throughout was massively disappointing for me. I can't help but feel that there would have been a stronger message of female power if the break up had happened earlier on and we followed Tori through rebuilding her life

On the plus side, I love Holly Bourne's writing style and some of the side characters were brilliant. I loved Dee and Sandy was my favourite even though she was introduced quite late on. It was also super quick to read and I think it will resonate really well for people who are a little bit older than me and are finding themselves at a real transition point in their lives.

Overall, this just wasn't quite there for me. I had huge expectations as I love Bourne's YA work and this just didn't quite live up to them unfortunately.

This is the first of Holly Bourne's books that I have read and it was completely amazing. On the surface, Tori appears to be this woman who has her life together and who is glamorous and happy, but who is completely falling apart underneath it all. The fear of coming back into the single world when all your friends are married and pregnant was portrayed so well, as well as the emotionally vacant relationship that was so hard to leave. Also the descriptions of social media and how misleading they can be were really well done. All in all, it was an amazing book which I would, without a doubt, rate five stars.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review will also be posted on copyandtea.co.uk

I absolutely loved this book.

In her twenties, Tori Bailey wrote a memoir come self-help book entitled ‘Who the fuck am I?’ , which propelled her to social media stardom, as a lifestyle guru and all round envy of all. She seems to have it all. Now in her thirties, she’s struggling to write her follow up book, as the happily ever after she wrote about is unravelling day by day.

It goes without saying that between your twenties and your thirties, things change. Your friends change, their priorities change, and the things you once thought were wonderful don’t seem that way anymore - and sometimes the things you once thought were awful don’t seem so bad. Holly Bourne really captures this feeling of change and uncertainty in a very neat way - and a way which feels particularly visceral and real. This novel is, in many ways, the story of Tori Bailey realising that the world does not necessarily move at her pace, and things change whether you want them to or not.

There is a sort of hubris at play. Tori is not an unlikeable character, not by a long way, but because of the life she’s led, she does assume that most people envy her and want her lifestyle. She is somewhat shocked when faced with the realisation that people don’t. When her best friend (who, though she never says it in quite so many words, Tori clearly regards as less cool, less pretty, less thin, and therefore unable to be as happy as her) chooses a settled relationship and a family over going out and getting drunk, Tori sees it as a betrayal. There is a lack of empathy for the fact that people might want a baby, a husband, a job which is secure but not necessarily exciting, and that’ll be enough to be content. From this point on it’s a steep learning curve for the woman who is still cashing in on the belief that her life is just a slightly more glamorous version of what it was when she was in her twenties.

Tori’s problem is that she always seems to be chasing the next big dream - aka the way of capturing her fan’s attention, and Instagram likes. And it is quite clearly apparent why quite early in the book. Her relationship with Tom - ‘Rock Man’ from her book - is at its best neglectful and at its worst abusive. T It’s heartbreaking to see how desperate Tori is for him to love her or show her any affection - or really just have a good time with him. As a reader you’re screaming at her to just leave him, but of course, it’s not quite as simple as that. Tori is crippled by the idea of letting her fans down, of losing her dream and fairytale ending. She blames herself for Tom’s behaviour - believing that if she was just a little bit prettier, or more exciting, Tom would come back to her. Tom, in turn, gaslights her and throws her a bone every time she’s about ready to end with him, and generally treats her appallingly. Real life, for Tori, is a vicious circle that is a world away from the fiction she portrays on her social media.

I think it is this which makes Tori so relatable, even though she is a social media celebrity. She’s flawed and she’s sad. Everyone has been in a situation which doesn’t quite feel right - be it a job, a relationship, a lifestyle, a place - and making a decision to change is not an easy one. We’ve all had moments where our lives seem to be switching upside down, our friends are moving on without us, we’re running out of time to achieve everything we want to. Holly Bourne does a very good job of capturing the emotions related to this.  We’ve all said things we don’t mean to our friends. Tori’s feeling of betrayal as her friends move on and she’s forced to look at her life in a new, harsh, life is very visceral. Her feelings are so raw and well written that it made me pause as I was reading.

I was in places moved to tears, in others frustrated and annoyed with the characters. And if that doesn’t capture the feeling of being in your late twenties and early thirties, I don’t know what does. So yes, Tori does occasionally grate on you, she is self obsessed, she is a little vacuous occasionally, but she’s meant to be. Bourne manages to write a book about, essentially, “finding yourself” for the second time, without it being twee and preachy. That’s impressive. The ending is open, and I do hope there will be more from Tori. I would love to see her what happens next - and how she recovers her sense of self.

I completely recommend this book, 5 stars (and a couple of tears).

Holly Bourne is best known for her YA, but her first foray into adult fiction was a huge success. Described as ‘the new Bridget Jones’, it is a gripping insight into the pressures felt by many women in their thirties: “Turning thirty is like playing musical chairs. The music stops, and everyone just marries whoever they happen to be sitting on.” It’s so relatable and I really recommend it for anyone in their late twenties and beyond.

How Do You Like Me Now? Is a thought-provoking contemporary first-person narrative taking the reader into the life of Tori as she negotiates her way into her thirties. With a commitment-phobe boyfriend whose idea of satisfying her is giving her an angry dragon (look on urban dictionary if you don’t know what this is!) Tori is unable to face how she really feels as she is a best-selling author who has built a career around inspiring women, which includes finding true happiness with her boyfriend, Tom. Whilst all her friends around her are getting married and having babies, Tori starts to question what she wants out of life. She thinks she loves Tom, they tell each other .. sometimes.. but they don’t have sex and they’re not even married.

Tori isn’t sure Tom is The One but with a social media image she needs to keep up, how can she appear successful with a failed relationship with the man she has portrayed as being so wonderful?

Whilst Tom is a bit limp, in more ways than one, Tori herself is a bit annoying too: self-obsessed, controlling, jealous, passive aggressive. But this just adds to the author’s realistic characterisation. Constantly uploading duck face selfies and updates of her wonderful life, Tori is typical of the fake portrayals we see every day on social media. Snapshots of the finer moments in life with filtered photographs that hide imperfections. Everybody wants to be like Tori; except Tori.

Will Tori settle for what she has, even if it doesn’t make her completely happy? Or will she throw away her fake and stifling perfect life for one that might not be perfect but makes her happy?

This book really makes you think about how short life can be, and putting yourself first. Although the novel addresses some serious issues, there are still plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The humour is quite unique but I would recommend this book for anybody who likes Debbie Viggiano or Helen Fielding.

Under Literature love’s rating scheme this book has been awarded 4 out of 5 stars.

This has been hailed as Bridget Jones for the 21st century. Except it is not. While BJ talks about being single and looking for the happily ever after this book does quite the opposite, which is the reason why it is so great and why it is so difficult to read at times. It exposes the toll expectations take on us - those from others and especially those we place on ourselves. While the main character us not single, she is so thoroughly unhappy that you want to shake her out if this blinkered state she's in. While teaching her dans to embrace tgeir real selves abd stop caring, ironically the main character herself is so dependent on approbation and accolade that she views her entire life through the lens of likes and retweets. It us a book about coming to terms with reality and with yourself, realising that what makes you happy does not apply to others and that sometimes things have to go bad before they go wrong. It is a piece of womens fiction that can be proud if itself and I hope we see more of this. Who needs a happily ever after, anyway?

I have never read anything by Holly Bourne before but I’m excited to in the future after devouring How Do You Like Me now. I found the book an engrossing, juicy easy read and could relate to Toni with also feeling in a bit of a slump and not knowing how to change. A modern day more relatable Bridget Jones for the millennial generation

I really enjoyed this book. Tori was really relatable (being a celebrity aside!) and it made me feel as though I wasn’t alone as a girl hurtling rapidly towards her 30s in this crazy world. The only niggle I have is how abruptly it seemed to end. Do we get a part 2? I feel like Tori has so much more to learn and tell.

There better be a book two.

A powerful story about a horrible, emotionally abusive relationship. It's hard to walk away from a relationship, really hard. But sometimes you have to do it no matter how scary life could be afterwards. My heart breaks for Tori.

Holly is brilliant with her feminist writing. I was swept along, even hating Tori to begin with, all the social media moments had me rolling my eyes.

Very good. Very sweary sweary. Very heart-breaking. Loved the photos and the mental impact and thoughts of life in your thirties when everyone is getting married and having children and you're not.

I need a happy ending Holly okay? Write Tori's happy ending. (Yes I've turned into a Tori-fan!).