A wonderful debut and really interesting read that I greatly enjoyed. I would highly recommend this and will be reading more from Laura Price

I am afraid that I struggled with this book. The main character didn't resonate with me and I didn't feel connected. I see that other readers enjoyed it more, and I am happy about that. I think I wasn't in the right headspace to get into it, and I am sorry about that.

Single Bald Female follows Jess, a magazine editor in her early thirties who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. On top of this, her friends are getting married and having children, and she’s just found out her partner Johnny is cheating on her with an Instagram influencer. The book follows her journey as she meets Anabelle, a fellow young cancer patient, and her brother Joe, as she comes to understand what it takes to live when you might be dying.
This book was heart wrenching at times and the characters were well rounded and believable. This is not a book for people still grieving (especially cancer related deaths).
*Mild Spoiler* I enjoyed this book, it was a quick read. My only critique would be to trim down the first half as there were several repetitive bits with the ‘will she won’t she’ when breaking up with Johnny, which we knew was coming given the title of the book.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan for the E-ARC via NetGalley UK.

This story had me feeling all the feels, good and bad. It even made me cry a little. I loved Jess as a character, she was real and true. I also loved the story itself and was captivated from start to finish. I learned a lot about what cancer patients go through both physically and mentally. I also learned what the people they love and who love them back are feeling. This isn't your typical cancer patient book though as Jess uses humour to get through it and I loved that about her, I found it so refreshing, what a unique take. This is the type of book that makes you sigh and hug it when you are finished reading it. Such a poignant and thought provoking read. All. The. Stars.

Tender, funny and insightful. So good on friendship, love and the things that make our fragile lives worth living. This book was a thrilling ride from the beginning. The author’s style places the reader in the book in each scene for an entertaining journey.

Jess's life is going well - a great new promotion, a lovely boyfriend, lots of close friends and a wonderful cat. She's recovering from the recent loss of her mother but is managing to cope with her tragic loss as well as anyone can. But in one week, everything is completely upended when a routine check on a lump in her breast turns out to be invasive carcinoma, and her boyfriend admits that he cheated with a beautiful Instagram influencer.
The story focusses on Jess's journey through treatment for breast cancer and her new friendship with the magnificent Bel, who has secondary cancer and making the most of every minute whilst she can.
The story covers so many issues including fertility and motherhood, body image and relationships - beautifully and tragically portrayed, and based on a real life experience

I read a lot of books about cancer: my Goodreads shelf has more than 30 books identified as 'cancerographies' but I've read a lot more than that. This perhaps makes me an atypical reader for Laura Price's 'Single Bald Female' and I may be a more than averagely demanding reader of this genre. So if you like the sound of it, don't let my 3-star rating put you off. There's nothing wrong with this book. It's just I've read so many that moved me so much more.

I started the book without any sense of whether it was fact or fiction. By the end, I still wasn't entirely sure and I had to go off and do some fairly intense Googling to learn more. Laura Price wrote an excellent blog about her experience with breast cancer and once I'd had a dabble in the blog, I was just more disappointed in the book.

When it comes to this type of story, I do think that truth is so much more powerful than fiction. The things that irritated me (the ridiculously high powered job at a bizarrely young age, the catty 'Devil Wears Prada' colleague, the 'let's change the history of fashion publishing from my hospital bed) were the bits I assume were mostly made up.

I wish Laura had written her own story instead of making one up. I could understand if it was just too personal for her to put this book out there as an autobiography if she hadn't already blogged her life quite extensively. Reading this book, I honestly didn't have a sense of whether the author knew her topic through personal or borrowed experience. That tells me that it just didn't get DEEP enough. It's all a bit too light and fluffy most of the time.

I've had cancer (not the same type as the characters in this book) and I've lost fabulous friends to that cancer. I know the friendship aspects of this book and the need to balance 'grab it now friendship' with the sense of impending doom that your relationship has a sell-by date and it could be soon. That side of the story is handled REALLY well but I'm just a tad dissatisfied that I don't know if it was real or not.

The dating storylines just irritated me but then all stories about online dating seem to have that impact on me. I found it deeply creepy that the handsome Spaniard seemed to be looking for a sick, bald woman to look after. and that there appeared to be a lot of men out there with a weird fetish for either bald heads or sick partners.

I'm very happy for the author that she's made a great recovery and I suspect she has way more real-life stories that would knock this chick-lit fluff into a cocked hat. I'm sorry that I'm rather bored by fiction about 30-something women and their career-baby-relationship angst.

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for my copy.

Brilliantly contemporary, amazing read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

Life follows this formula right. Get a job, a nice partner, marry, buy a house and babies. And that’s life sorted.
Well Jess has a fabulous job, a long-term partner. With her friends marrying up it’s not long before Johnny proposed. Fingers-crossed. But then Jess discovers that he cheated on her with a younger woman. And that lump on her breast isn’t nothing. It’s a cancer. And finally that nice job she got is going to be hard to manage when her colleagues don’t respect her as an editor. What a struggle!
But then Jess starts therapy and she meets Annabel (or Bel), and Bel shoes her life isn’t to be lived in an order like a list. Life is about moments and seizing it. And Bel knows because she doesn’t have long to live.

Oh I cried and how! What a stunner of a read. This shows the life of a woman, and the many forms it takes. It’s complex, it’s harrowing at times. I learnt so much as well about cancer and the affects chemotherapy has on the body. We have cancer patients literally comparing breasts at one point. I had no idea that as a result of operation the nipples can fall off 😬 I loved the entire cast. How complicated they’re!! A beautiful, beautiful book!!

This is a no question - absolute 5🌟 I ugly-sobbed, especially in the second half.
Our protagonist, Jess, has a landed a dream job of editing a high-flying editing job. She’s nervous but excited. Although it doesn’t help that that damn Tabitha seems to undermine her authority as her boss! But life comes crashing when she finds out that her boyfriend of five years cheated on her, shortly followed by the shocking news that she has breast cancer. We follow our protagonist dealing with her illness, as well as coming to terms with her mother’s death who also died due to cancer. She also meets Annabel, a 27-years who’s got secondaries, which means she’s about to die soon. Yet Annabel is full of life and shows Jess how to really live...
There’s so much packed into this one. I loved the representation of women and their bodies, and how it changes due to cancer. Through Jess and Annabel, we see that a woman’s life doesn’t follow the formula of get married and babies, when you’re thrown such curveballs as the big c, but that’s okay. I also loved Jess’s friendships and how female friendships changed in your 30s. This was heartbreaking at times, but realistic and not too saccharine. I for one was fine without the one year later epilogue, which was too neat in my opinion.

I enjoyed this book and when I say enjoy I mean stayed up reading until 1am, shed a (happy) tear but went to sleep with a smile on my face.

Laura tells the story of a young woman recently diagnosed with cancer and tells us, the reader, of how she deals with it. I can't say that I have personal experience of the subject matter but I felt that Laura dealt with sensitively and with great humour. This story tells us about friendship, motherhood, relationships and everything in between.

A strong recommend for this book!

I came to love Jess and enjoy her brave journey through her cancer diagnosis and treatment. I also liked how realistic some of the touches were, such as Jess's original partner not being up to supporting her because of his immaturity and drinking - some of these scenes were painful but really beautifully observed and realistic. The incidental characters were well drawn and I loved the scene on the beach towards the end. My only quibble was the rather Stella Newman-esque, food-focused conclusion, where Jess gives up her cushy job on a women's magazine (where she has a cool lesbian boss, loads of creative freedom and presumably health insurance) to make doughnuts in Borough Market! Does she know how tough food service is? Either way, a great book of self-discovery, friendship and love that doesn't shy away from the difficult moments.

Wow what an awe inspiring read! A total rollercoaster of emotions, so poignant yet uplifting at the same time! This was rather close to home for me as I’m going through a very similar diagnosis but could totally relate to Jess snd what she was going through particularly the hair loss chemo induced symptoms and gauntlet of emotions that you go through!
Jess is in the prime of her life, new job, great friends, long term relationship then she is dealt a devastating blow breast cancer! Having witnessed her mums recent battle and subsequent death through cancer Jess is well aware of what she faces!
As Jess progresses along her cancer journey she has to face fertility issues, relationship woes, career obstacles,and altered friendships, but she overcomes this with humour, strength of character and resilience and in doing so makes new friends and support groups particularly Annabel and joe and not forgetting her wonderfully supportive dad!
A quick read that will inspire you and stay with you long after you read it!
Thank you netgalley for this early read.

I'll just start by saying I loved this book.
I was captivated from the moment I read the blurb, and was so glad to have been granted the chance to read an arc.
The C-Word. It's a b!tch, isn't it?
This book highlights so many issues with the suffering a cancer patient goes through, from the words they hate people using to describe their experience, to the changes they experience, but also, it looks at how cancer affects those around the patient, too.
Jess has it all. Great job, wonderful partner, lovely friends, and a doting dad.
Then she realises she has something else she hadn't counted on.
Breast cancer.
From trying to hide her diagnosis from all but her closest colleagues and friends, to deciding to announce to the office,, andher Facebook family, we accompany Jess through her experience.
Should she harvest eggs?
Freeze an embryo?
Cut it or shave it?
Wig it or go au natural?
Soldier on or admit she's floundering?
Jess's life is turned upside down. But there are ways she can right it. They just don't all seem to be the right decisions.
She meets Bel, a younger cancer patient, who teaches her the value of the life she has, and through Bel, she learns more about love, life and herself.
Again, I'll say it. I loved it.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an Arc in exchange for an honest review.

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was instantly drawn to this book due to it's fantastic title and description, I am like a magpie and the cover is so vivid and eye catching.
Not usually a fan of modern, contemporary fiction this book was our of my comfort zone HOWEVER it did not disappoint, complete opposite in fact. I was hooked from the start and had to peel myself away from reading. I loved all the main characters especially the main protagonist Jess and her new best friend Bel. Even though I've not been in either of their situations, I found them so relatable. 21st century feminists showing the world that just because you have been diagnosed with one of the worst diseases in the world, they're alive! Not dying

Such a original and unique book, it is amazingly written from start to finish. Incredible debut! Laura Price is one to watch in future.

Actual rating 3.5 stars

Jess is thirty-one, starting a dream job as an acting editor at a magazine, and has a wonderful boyfriend. But then she gets diagnosed with breast cancer and finds out her boyfriend isn’t that wonderful at all …

The main topic of this story is cancer, but Single Bald Female tackles so much more. The directions women are pushed in when they’re around thirty. The pressure to make a career. Relationships, romantic and platonic. Family.

I loved a lot of things. Even though this book deals with heavy topics, Single Bald Female is an easy and funny read. The writing is typically British, and engaging and captivating. I like this kind of writing, and I flew through the pages. I loved Annabel, so full of life while she knew she was dying. I had one issue, though, that I couldn’t let go of. I didn’t particularly like Jess. She was so focused on her career yet went to her new job twice the same week with a (massive) hangover. I just didn’t understand what getting so drunk added to the storyline. And somehow, this impacted my feeling about the book while reading. Overall this is a nuanced and sometimes harsh story about breast cancer at a young age, and I really liked the ending.

I have fallen in love with everything in this book. The storyline and the characters are so endearing and some hardhitting issues are dealt with so sensitively with a raw realness to it. I laughed, I cried and I didnt want it too end without Annabel becoming a friend for life. I loved it

WOW. This is one emotional rollercoaster of a read. Tackles such sensitive subjects more than cancer, including fertility, relationships, and children. There is so much richness and life to be living in this read. Annabel is such a rich character and her joy of life shines through. Online dating messages make for fun reading too. You wont get through this without a teeny cry but its so worth it as it brings so much to the table. Poignant, thought provoking.

I thought this looked like a fairly interesting sort of chick-lit style book and I was truly blown away by it. Jess is a young woman working her way up in magazine editing when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. She's at a stage in her life where she thought she'd be settling down and her friends are all getting married and having children but fresh from a breakup and going through cancer treatment, she's at a very different place in her life. This book captures beautifully the different types of friendships and connections you have and I sped through it. It's so well written and I grew so attached to the characters. I loved it!