From the day they first meet as teenagers Fern and Jessica are best friends. Despite their differences, they are there for each other throughout everything, navigating the difficulties of growing up and fitting in. That is until Jessica crosses a line that Fern can't forgive. But now, more than ten years later, Jessica has unexpectedly reappeared in Fern's life. A lot has changed for them both - but can their relationship be different now they are older? Is it possible for either of them to rewrite the role that they have been cast in? Or will their shared history ultimately be doomed to repeat itself again?

This book was incredible from start to finish.

The way the story went from past to present gave the characters and story a greater sense of realism. I also enjoyed getting to see the experiences and thier relationship grow and break within the time periods.

This was also a very thought provoking book, with lots of issues being raised in the story that are and were important. I went from heartbroken to happy within the flip of a page, but that made the book all that more realistic.

This book will be one of my top books of the year, and I think will remain in my head for the longest time.

The ups and downs of the friendship between Fern and Jessica. Growing up, drinking, drugs, boys, love, festivals, college and university and more.
Well written, and makes you think.

Thank you to netgalley for sending me over a copy of this e-arc. I really enjoyed this book, it was exactly the kind of genre I can't help but adore. Definitely worth a read!

Another wonderful book by Holly Bourne examining the love between friends. The pain, heartache and loyalty is exquisitely written.

From the day they first meet as teenagers Fern and Jessica are best friends. Despite their differences, they are there for each other throughout everything, navigating the difficulties of growing up and fitting in. That is, until Jessica crosses a line that Fern can't forgive.

But now, more than ten years later, Jessica has unexpectedly reappeared in Fern's life.

A lot has changed for them both - but can their relationship be different now they are older? Is it possible for either of them to rewrite the role that they have been cast in? Or will their shared history ultimately be doomed to repeat itself?

Absolutely amazing read! Such a captivating read! Amazing cover art that was super eye catching would definitely recommend to all!

Thank you to @netgalley for sending me over a copy of this e-arc, I’ve read nearly all of Holly Bourne’s books now so this was one of my more anticipated reads

However, I can’t decide if I liked it or not. It’s one of those books that kind of left me feeling “meh” towards it. The book follows Fern in a dual timeline, one in the present and one when she was a teenager. Both timelines centre around her best friend Jessica and how Fern feels like she’s in her shadow

The book is quite heavy as I’ve found with more of Holly Bourne’s adult novels. As Fern deals with a lot of mental health issues as a teen, you start to see these issues resurface due to Jessica’s presence triggering it. I disliked how fixated Fern was around marriage despite having quite feminist views about other things. It kind of made me feel that the story was trying to convey that no matter what you do in life, you won’t be truly satisfied without having a husband.

On the other hand, the book had some very important themes around assault and sexual encounters with men in your teens. When Fern properly reflected on her past, she realised that things that she thought weren’t always black and white and that some of the boys she hung around with had very twisted views of women.

Overall, it was an ok-ish? read but with some very heavy and complex themes around mental health and sexual assault so please be checking content warnings before reading

I really loved Girl Friends. I thought it was a really accurate depiction of how friendships change over time and how something in your youth can travel with you as you get older, and inform the way you interact with others.

When We Were Friends is the story of Jess and Fern, two girls who become friends in school, until a falling out separates them for years. Jess shows up unexpectantly at a book signing event that Fern is helping promote. Fern is very uneasy about resuming a friendship with Jess but let's her better judgement overcome that feeling. Fern is unsure about letting Jess around her live-in boyfriend, as part of Jess's betrayal involved another of Fern's boyfriend years ago. The story accurately portrays old friendship, uneasy friendships and real-life situations in which young girls and young women get involved Its such a relatable book, with relatable characters and realistic events that happen to most girls. It's something I related to even though I'm ten years younger than the characters.

This is the third Holly Bourne book that I've read and again, it was an insightful and relatable story about life as a woman.
Like in previous books, this also handles difficult topics such as mental health, sexual assault and violence towards women, self-harm, suicide and more. But it does so in a sensitive way.
I think I am the perfect age for this particular book as it is told during life in your early thirties, having grown up and had our teenage years at around the exact same time.
That's probably why it resonated with me so much.
I also found it to be well paced and it kept me interested the whole way through.
If you've read Holly's other books or enjoy the likes of Dolly Alderton, I would certainly recommend picking this up.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The first ever book of Holly Bourne’s I struggled with. It felt self indulgent and written from a position of great pain. It was nowhere near as cathartic as her previous books.

Thank you to NetGalley for this copy. This is a really good book, kept me entertained throughout and I would thoroughly recommend to all.

‘𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 “𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙣” 𝙖𝙣𝙙 “𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙣” … 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙣 … 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 …’

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. It’s a very much character driven story, with very minimal in the way of plot. This isn’t usually my type of read but something about this just worked and really had me interested.

Told over dual timelines (you know I’m a whore for these) giving us the backstory of both Fern and Jessica - really helped cement the present day and give us an idea of who they were and their past relationship. Or so you think, the way the story unfolds all the way up until the end is very clever. It definitely highlights the fact that not everything is as it seems and just because you can’t outwardly see peoples struggles, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

The story shows the struggles of women in daily life and highlights a lot of important changes to society today, compared to back in the 00’s. As someone who grew up on the same timeline as these characters, I found it really relatable and in some ways quite cathartic. It’s funny reading about all these things that were the ‘norm’ when you were a teenager, that really aren’t ok when you think about it now.

I think it’s a very engrossing and deep read - in the best possible way. Interesting characters that are both well developed and deeply flawed, giving us a very relatable and realistic story. Would definitely recommend but please do check TW/CW’s beforehand as it covers some very dark topics.

Girl Friends by Holly Bourne

5 STARS

An insightful, thought-provoking and heartbreaking look at female friendships. Bourne is fantastic at creating realistic characters and dialogue; stories you can relate to because they're universal experiences. Another fantastic adult fiction book: I'll definitely be picking this up, and whatever else Bourne writes.

A stunning and powerful examination of female friendship, and the most scathing indictment of noughties millennial culture you'll ever read. Painfully relatable and wonderfully gripping, a total must-read!

Great read with a fab modern voice.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

I'm a long-time Holly Bourne fan and have always been impressed by how she writes about mental health, women's lives, and violence towards women. Her adult novels are always extremely readable and well-paced. Girl Friends didn't disappoint on any of this but I did, sadly, find it a tiny bit repetitive with her other two adult novels. It didn't feel like the book was covering new ground. In itself, it is just as good as her previous novels, but I found myself less excited by it having read Holly's back catalogue. I did enjoy the nuance of our slightly unreliable narrator and seeing how Fern learns to view her friend Jessica in a new, more compassionate light by the end of the novel.

This struck so many chords. A difficult but brilliant read that truly depicts so many of our teenage years.

Holly Bourne never disappoints when you want an easy read with added depth... I tend to stay away from novels with a focus on 30 something women but as a fan of her work I knew that this would be more than another millennial feminist dull novel.

The book is told in a dual timeline switching from the teenage years to the present day . Oh how i loved the nostalgia from the teenage chapters , i found myself laughing with the references , we've all been there , the insecurities of a night out, getting ready, girls holidays, house parties , it was a proper trip down memory lane . I can already see the screen adaptation with a great soundtrack!

Fast forward to the present day and the tone changes somewhat as we get to see a true exploration of female friendship and the darker side of such relationships over the years . The story does include references to self harm, drug abuse , rape and the overall treatment of women by men but these are talked about in a way that is by no means a chore to read .

Its funny, sharp , sad yet enjoyable , it's a bit of everything and such a delight to read

I have no idea whether I liked this or not. It didn't really have any nuance. Girl Friends is told from Fern's point of view in a dual timeline, one when she's a teenager and one as an adult. Her friend Jessica is the other central character in both timelines. As a teenager Fern always feels like she's in the shadow of other girls because boys always choose them over her. And Jessica is the most beautiful of all of them. Anyway there's loads of petty teen drama and Fern is still very insecure as an adult because of it.

I think I wish I had Jessica's point of view as well because we end up having to trust her word a lot. And because of the quick resolution we don't really get that much explanation.

Anyway, I'm not sure what some of the messages were supposed to be. I did like the reflection on the 2000s. I'm a little younger than Fern so my teenage years were a bit later but I still found some of it hilarious and some of it sadly relatable. Overall, I wanted to know how it ended so there was something keeping me going but I just wanted more believability because these two women have a very complicated past and one convo isn't going to fix it.

This is a good book. I will warn you that there are alot of triggering subjects in this book, rape, and domestic abuse to name just a few. You really wish the best for the characters in this book and you want to reach out and try and make everything better for them. It is well written too.