A fascinating memoir as you would expect from such a bright and lively woman, you might want to know that its written in dialect which you soon get past and in my experience didn't;t take away from my enjoyment of the book.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is AMAZING!!!!! The best I’ve read in a long time!! Brutally honest, funny and heartbreaking.
I went into it blind and for the first part thought it was a novel. The writing is so easy to read, it’s like your listening to her speaking.
You know when you read a book and close it at the end and just have a little moment to yourself to process it all and smile….this book made me do that.

The language was daunting at first, but it would not have been as real if it was written in standard english.. A good book for us CIS people to read, to get a better understanding of a trans woman's life.

Raw, original, deeply emotional and darkly humorous story of a teenager growing up queer and shunted between disinterested parents which ultimately gives them the freedom to explore living how they want to live with people who understand their struggles.

Written in an authentic Nottingham dialect, this is unbelievably Paris Lee's own inspirational but harrowing autobiography, documenting their trans journey.

Definitely worth a read, and the audiobook is brilliantly narrated by the author.

Raw and unapologetically queer. This is a lovely, funny, yet sad memoir. I won’t lie, the Nottingham slang was intimidating at first, but it got easier and easier to read the more I went on.

This is a book about gender, sexuality, and finding yourself. I found it very charming and loved hearing about Paris’s experiences.

Paris Lee is an incredible human being and I am very glad that I read this memoir.

I first came across Paris Lees on Question Time a few years ago. She spoke so passionately about being trans and the lack of visibility for the trans community. She highlighted how she was the first trans person ever to appear on question time and how about trans people are talked at and about but never included in the conversation which crucially had such a negative impact on how the trans community are perceived by society. She was, quite frankly, amazing.

Her autobiography, What It Feels Like For a Girl is pretty damn good too. Paris Lees has led a pretty interesting life. In her no holds barred account of what it is like to grow up in Nottingham whilst dealing with her sexuality and becoming the person she was born to be you really are taken on a massive emotional journey.

Through all the terrible things that Paris Lees has to go through you have no doubt that she will survive. She is a survivor. A fighter. And to be perfectly honest, after I finished the book I just wanted to be her friend. I feel that there is much more of this story to tell and I really hope that Lees does a follow up because besides leading such a fascinating life she also writes incredibly well.

What It Feels Like for a Girl is one that I would happily reread several times over.

What It Feels Like For a Girl by Paris Lees is available now.

For more information regarding Paris Lees (@parislees) please visit her Twitter page.

For more information regarding Penguin (@PenguinUKBooks) please visit www.penguin.co.uk.

A bold, raw memoir with extreme highs and lows much like the rollercoaster of a life on which we accompany this teenager. From the violence and neglect they suffer at home to the hedonistic lifestyle they embark on, underpinned by their wonderful relationship with the one family member who loves and understands them and set against a 00s background of crop tops, Madonna, garage music and Nokia 3310s to a soundtrack of 00s pop tracks which serve as the chapter names.

Written in the present tense, the Nottinghamshire dialect is spelled phonetically which brings the character of Byron (and later Paris) to vivid life. I cannot envisage it having the same punch had it been written in standard English.

The plot is eventful to put it mildly, and reads like fiction - and may in fact be slightly embellished? - either way, it works.

I have so, so many feelings about this book. Funny? Yes. Heartbreaking? Also huge yes. The writing was absolutely brilliant and just made me feel the right things at the right time. I cannot wait to see what Paris Lees does next.

Phenomenal and necessary. Written with heart and humour and academic prowess. A must-read for absolutely everyone.

I struggled reading this due to it being written using Hucknall abbreviations and slang. (I like the idea of this but i struggle sometimes with oxford english). I found it hard to understand and i feel being dyslexic made it harder to read, so i ended up getting the audiobook.

Paris lees is clear as a narrator but you do hear her accent and made it easier to read and listen.

I think using song titles as chapter names was clever but also relevant to the chapter. This was looking more at the past when Bryon was trying to understand themself, but the struggles with this due to environment, culture, friends/family etc. Its not a all happy but more a raw detail about struggles and feelings, getting into trouble with the police which again shows the struggles.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy.

I was really looking forward to this book unfortunately it was unnecessarily hard to read and I couldn’t enjoy it. A dark and raw memoir that was good but too hard to enjpy

This is a truly remarkable book. It’s an uplifting and empowering memoir of self-identity. It’s smart, witty, and authentic. However, it’s also filled with immense sadness, including stories of physical & emotional abuse.

There are very few books that make you want to laugh, cry, despair, cringe, and shout out for joy all in one chapter, but What It Feels Like for a Girl is one of them.

What a voice! The distinctive way this book is written - think Irvine Welsh but with a Nottingham accent - marks it out from other memoirs from the first page. It took a chapter or so to 'tune in' to the narrative style but after that I was gripped. The story of an often challenging life told without self-pity or sentimentality, it is ultimately one of the most uplifting books I've read in a long time.

I'll admit, I read the first couple of pages, saw that it's written entirely in a Midlands vernacular, and gave up instantly. I mean, I mainly read just before falling asleep and figured all the "sez" and "guz" were probably too challenging for my dozy brain.

However, a few days later, I heard Elizabeth Day interview Lees on How to Fail and was utterly drawn in by her incredible life story. So, I figured I should give it another try.

What followed was a series of deep belly laughs that were so loud I surprised myself. This book is a perfectly crafted coming of age tale, a memoir written as fiction, though there are some moments that you really wish weren't true. The beauty of the story is that you are rooting for Byron all the way, while knowing that it clearly all turns out ok.

There's a level of detail in Lees' recall that transported me back not only to the early noughties but to the awkwardness and emptiness of being a teenager. The forever wondering what your life will become. The boredom of being forced to deal with other people's crap (adults and other teens alike) until you are granted the agency to live life on your terms.

My favourite character in the whole book is Gaz, Byron's father. Not because he is in any way a likeable character, but seeing him through Paris' bewildered eyes gave me the most laughs (as well as some

This book is a uniquely beautiful insight into the teens trans experience. We're so lucky to have writers like Lees share their stories with such mastery. Truly one of the best books of the year.

One of my favourite read of the year so far. I loved how dialect was used and so I will also be able to use extracts from the finished copy as part of my creative writing lessons with the pupils.

13-year-old Byron is trapped in Hucknell, where she tells us the streets are paved with dog sh*t. She is terrorised by school bullies, neglected by her mother, and lives with Gaz, her violent and bullying father. Her trouble is they see her as a boy: an effeminate and gay boy.

Written in both first-person and Midlands' accent, What It Feels Like For a Girl is a moving account of growing up trans in the last twenty years.

Paris' unconventional prose is a risk. But it works: she creates an immediacy that transports the reader to her world, full of both painful and inspiring scenes. Each chapter is titled after a song from the early 2000s that bring back memories and helps set the scene.

As Byron grows, we meet a fantastic cast of characters: her wonderful grandmother: Old Mother Hubbard, the fantastic Lady Die, her first love, Max, amongst others. We see her start to find herself and make mistakes. It's incredibly warts-and-all and inspiring.

I loved this book and have purchased it for gifting. It's highly recommended.

What it Feels like for a Girl 💛

Enlightening but so raw and devastating.

13-year old Byron is just trying to figure out life when along comes a whole new group of friends about to change everything and show what British trans life can be like.

Paris has been THROUGH it. The stories were at times so shocking that it didn’t feel real, but you will not be able to finish this without having huuuge respect for Paris and how she has fought to be herself against all odds.

The ‘Uknall dialect completely brings this memoir to life and gives it such an authentic feel that you will believe you’re right there with her.

A really great memoir that I am so pleased to have read.

This was one my best reads of 2021. I was gripped by this story of self-revelation and understanding how other lives are lived. My heart broke over and over in this book but also the elements of joy and fun were unmissable. A very personal, revealing book and yet one that I think any of us who have felt alone or other could relate to.

This is such a unique memoir and thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC and the opportunity to review.

Growing up in Nottinghamshire, Byron (now Paris) had a unsettled childhood and faced constant bullying. Paris takes us through all the ups and downs in these early years through to securing a place at University in Brighton. Some of it shocked me, some of it made me sad, it also made me laugh and I found the later chapters of losing a family member incredibly moving and thought this was written so honestly and beautifully.

The style of writing took a few chapters of getting used to and after being unsure at first, I think this writing style gives the book its unique voice.

Having now read this book and seen Paris interviewed and photographed in Vogue, I am keen to read what came next. Ultimately this book highlights how grit and determination can triumph and I wish this book and the author every success.

Penned in a strong midlands lilt, Lees uses a hyper present tense narrative model to retell her upbringing, coming of age and discovery of her self in a truly unique take on the memoir / auto fiction genre. It’s almost entirely devoid of self reflection, something that seems to make memoir, memoir. Instead we are in the head of a younger Paris, experiencing life as they did, in real time. Beginning in Ucknall, a working class town, close in proximity to Nottingham but as Younger them puts it, it’s where the streets are paved with shit and the people are small of mind. As they explore, they find ‘the fallen divas’, a rag tag group of misfits amalgamating to some kind of misshapen family. We watch as they forge ways to make a living, survive a barrage of bigotry and transphobia and the almost constant grief of losing family, both literally and figuratively.

Lees’ writing is a portal to the 00s, Nokia flip phones, early morning fare dodging and podiums in nightclubs. Loud garage music and the era of Brit pop. She leans into the 5 senses and albeit forces the reader to experience the ecstasy and tragedy of a life led at full speed, with little aversion to risk.

It feels as though this may be the start of books by trans writers who get to tell stories that do not require them to humanise themselves to us cis folk; The unapologetic frankness that Lees chooses to tell the complex story of adolescence involving drug use, sex work and incarceration could (& may still be) used as leverage for the god damn awful right wing press to assign demeaning labels to a group of people,that they’ve likely never interacted with.

But you know what? That is not paris’ or anyone else in the trans and LGBTQI+ community’s, issue. I hesitate to use the word brave, it feels trite verging on patronising, so I guess what I mean is, I admire Paris’ choices in both a bold use of language and what feels like a purposeful lack of the ‘aha’ ‘I am different’ moment that heteronormative society seems to require of folks who dare to tread a different path. A brilliant, wholly unique take on the retelling of a life so far.