Sunburn is a really raw but also really delicate in writing story about Lucy, a girl who lives in a small village in Ireland, and her relationsip with Susannah, when they were teenagers.

I think this is Howarth's debut novel and I think we will heart about this author again in the future. I really enjoyed this story: every novel set in a small town that deals with a teenager findind her voice and herself is very interesting to me, and this was also the case.
I completely appreciated the writing style, I even underlined some sentences of my Kindle, because they were so beautiful and completely haunting in their prose.

The main characters were very real in my eyes, with their insecurities and the uncertainty that is so characteristic of that time of our lives that comprehends our teenage years.
Also, I loved how the author really encapsulated the title of the novel in the story. The sun, Summer, all of these is a really big part of it all and it shines (no pun intended) throughout the whole book.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the inclusion, even for a small part, of how religion can affect the lives of the people living in a small village, and juxtapose the experience of growing up queer in a community like that, and growing up religious. I think it was a very insightful aspect.

In the end, I think Sunburn is a very wonderful coming of age story, and a very sweet story about first love and our first everything in life. I highly recommend it.

In rural Ireland in the early 90s, the seasons are changing. Lucy knows what shape her life is supposed to take—she'll gradually pair up with her best friend, Martin, and they'll be lovers and then spouses and then parents. Probably their lives will be shaped by the rhythms of farming, and the other girls in Lucy's year will also pair up with boys and peel away, and she'll remember Susannah as nothing more than a good friend.

But it's gradually dawning on Lucy that the future she's been promised is not really the one that she wants. The *person* she's been promised is not the one that she wants.

"Sunburn" is a slow burn of a book. If this were YA, it would take place over a summer or even a month; instead, here, weeks spin into months spin into years as Lucy waffles and settles and tries to keep everyone happy. It's frustrating at times: she resists having to choose, resists taking a stand, hurts more than one person in the process. But she's young, and she feels that she has little choice, and in the end...none of her choices are all that good. It's much more satisfying and realistic for it, this way that Lucy retreats into her inflamed skin, uses lies like aloe applied thickly, waits for the lies to catch up with her and for the decisions to be made for her but also doesn't quite believe that it'll happen.

One interesting thing is that you can see, around the edges of the story, alternative futures for Lucy, or for Susannah. Martin might get caught up in someone else, or Lucy might make choices that lead her to a boat to England, or she might live alone in Dublin with the chance to figure out who she is by herself, away from Crossmore, in a place where more things seem possible. Lucy doesn't always see these alternative futures as such—she's not really in a place to recognize options beyond the ones she's always known, decisions beyond the obvious ones that she doesn't want to make—but it's something of a reminder of how much can hinge on a seemingly small moment.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Sunburn is a beautiful, queer, Irish coming-of-age story set in a small town. It grapples with identity and belonging.

This is definitely one to take to the park, the beach, the pond, or wherever you plan on spending your summer. I think it works best dipping in and out of - ideally with some sunshine but no guarantees in England.

Howarth captures the angst and politics of being a teenage girl very well.

For me, the style veered a little too far into telling the reader what happened, rather than showing. I also think it could’ve done with being a bit shorter, but that is just my preference!

Pick up this book up if: you’re looking for your summer drama

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

the writing and lyrical descriptions of obsession and attraction in this were beautiful.

it came across like the main protagonist’s journal, as we are given lucy’s every thought, even the strange and odd and at some times perverse things she feels in her attraction towards susannah.

journal like descriptions which do not feature much dialogue are not really my sort of book, as i struggle to fully immerse myself when it is purely just the feelings of our main character, which is no fault of the author because if this style of writing draws you in, then this is a perfect amalgamation of all you would want in a coming of age story exploring sexuality.

it’s great to see more sapphic representation in this form of writing after how popular call me by your name was, which i did not gel due to similar stylistic tone but aciman’s writing gives me a similar feel to this story.

dnf’ed at 20%

beautiful writing, just not my cup of tea :)

A beautiful coming of age story told through the lens of Ireland in the 90's. Lucy, our protagonist, paints the landscape of a rural Irish village in the 90's, where you know everyone and everyone knows everything about you. The closeness of this community can be seen as comforting and suffocating in the same beat when Lucy starts to discover her true self and the differences she has compared to the regular teens of the town. As Lucy explores the feelings she has for her friend Susannah, the author does a wonderful job of reminding you of the difficulties coming out entailed not that long ago. Lucy's fears and realisations of her sexuality and interwoven with the thoughts of first love, infatuation and obsession. Susannah and Lucy are such a warm lovely couple written so delicately and simply true to teen love. Their relationship comes second however to my favourite relationship in the book, between Lucy and her mam. Her love for her devotion and the fear she has about losing her and so immaculately written, you are left feeling all the emotions of Lucy as you read.

A beautifully queer, Irish, coming-of-age story that will ring through for many no matter their age.

Y'all. I am devastated.
Devastated that this book exists, devastated that it's over, devastated that it only came to me so recently. I want to have this book for my entire life; I never want to let it go again now that I have it.

This truly is one of the best works of literature I've ever read. Howarth is a writer of unparalleled talent. The language is some of the most beautiful I have ever encountered. The topic is one of the most heartbreaking I ever encountered.

Sunburn is a book about first love, yes, but it's so much more than that. A lot of it resonates with me, simply because the feeling of not fitting in is so universal, but a lot of this book I will never truly understand, because around this whole plot is the inherent difference of growing up in Ireland during the late eighties and early nineties, something that is so specific to Ireland's culture during that time that someone who isn't from there simply cannot fathom. But what I do understand is that feeling of not being heterosexual in a culture that places so much worth onto religion. Our main character, Lucy, struggles to balance her love for a girl with her faith and her need for family and friends to be on her side, eventually having to decide between a possibly uncertain, but happy future, and a certain but restricting past.

One thing that this book does really, really well is mood and word choice. Many times while reading did I marvel at how perfectly the title "Sunburn" fits this work, simply because when Lucy and Susannah are together, their love feels blisteringly hot like sunburnt skin and sticky like suncream; when Lucy conforms to her family and belief system by pretending to be in love with Martin, you can feel the cold seep into the sentences like cold winter light filtering through skeletal trees. Susannah and Lucy's relationship is, while certainly not completely healthy, so wonderful and warm, with Susannah often being described as being like the sun, like some sort of stand-in to be worshipped when Lucy cannot see how to cope with her religion telling her that what she is is wrong. I love that we see the happy times of Lucy and Susannah, because lesbian couples in fiction are so often portrayed as either toxic and obsessive or inherently manipulative (think Evelyn Hugo and Celia St. James) or just sexualized for the male gaze (blue is the warmest color). Lucy and Susannah are happy. They love each other. Sure, there is some drama, because otherwise, we wouldn't have a story, and sure, they are flawed human beings, because they are teenagers, but at the root of it all, they love each other. And that was just so, so, so beautiful to read.

TLDR: Absolutely gorgeous. Please, please, please read this book. Preferably outside in the blistering sun.

Sunburn, by Chloe Michelle Howarth: a coming of age story in 90s rural Ireland.

The relationships between women were strained, such as mothers and childhood school friends. From outward maliciousness to indifference, it was painful to read.

The stifling relationship Lucy had with her hometown mirrored this. The shame, prejudice, and small-mindedness that shaped her and limited her choices until she couldn’t see a way to be open about her relationship with her best friend.

I most enjoyed the love letters between Lucy and Susannah. It’s a device that quickly offers an insight into the characters’ inner lives. However, while teenage love is dramatic, I found the overall writing style too theatrical.

Considering the underrepresentation of lesbian experiences in 90s Ireland, I was hesitant to give "Sunburn" a three-star rating. But, despite its important subject matter, it didn't captivate me as I had hoped.

Thank you to verve and netgalley for the advance copy.

I didn't take to the writing style of this book, or the characters, or the plot .Definitely not a good choice for me ,sorry.

Unfortunately I had to dnf this at 20%, I tried really hard and spent quite a while trying to get into it but I just couldn’t.
The writing style was hard for me to get to grips with which is definitely more of a me problem than anything else!

I also didn’t feel much connection to the characters. I understand I didn’t read all that much but it all seemed a bit clunky and like I was reading it behind a glass instead of infront of me, if that makes any sense?

I can see why a lot of people would like this title though, a coming of age story about being gay in 1990’s Ireland, it’s definitely a book that could have a lot of impact, for the right audience!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me early access to this book!

Sunburn is a beautiful, intense, and tender look at adolescence, love and sexuality. It is gorgeous and so stunning, I loved the writing and the characters are really well developed. The story is easy to follow and as easy to lose yourself in. A truly phenomenal coming of age story.

DNF - the writing style kept me from truly immersing myself in this story. I was constantly aware of my age & the generations that separated me from the characters. I read all types of books about the great variety of people that exists among us. The key factor is to be drawn into a story rather than feeling like you’re listening to someone in an awkward exchange while the third party is briefly out of the room. Certainly there is an audience for this book. The premise is interesting & the idea worthwhile to explore but, ultimately, it was not for me.

This was a solid coming-of-age story, if a little too generic. It opens with Lucy developing feelings for her friend Susannah, set against the backdrop of a small village in Ireland during the early 90s. These early sections have an odd lack of tension - we know that Lucy wouldn’t be particularly accepted if she came out, and we understand that Susannah might reject her, but none of this is set out in much detail. When Lucy and Susannah do get together, it all feels a bit too easy.

Once this happens, the next chapters drag, bogged down with clunky, melodramatic imagery. It’s a bit pretentious and a bit heavy-handed - it captures the sincerity and earnestness of being a teenager quite well, but feels repetitive and isn’t very engaging to read through endless metaphors comparing Susannah to an angel, or to the sun, or whatever else.

Overall, I think it’ll find its audience and be received well, but that it skews a little younger than I was expecting it to. Those looking for a coming-of-age, queer love story will find enough to enjoy, with the themes of acceptance and love persisting through difficult conditions - but ultimately I think it all felt a little too familiar and lacking energy to be really great.

Many thanks to Netgalley and VERVE books for the ARC!

Sunburn was, unfortunately, a book where my overriding feeling on finishing was just frustration. It could have been good, but ultimately it just did not work for me.

A lot of this came down to the writing style. Firstly, the one good thing I have to say about it was that it felt very teenage, quite melodramatic and overwrought. The book had an appropriate voice. However. It was also beset with short sentences and an overreliance on telling me every little thing. With the former, I just wanted to take out a red pen and let sentences run into each other, become clauses, I don’t know, just something longer. The latter, I fear, could not be resolved so easily. It sounds a trite complaint, to bring it back to “show don’t tell”, but I really really did want to be shown a few things instead of being told them. Especially when the telling became the whole damn book.

The second element of my frustration was the lack of character development for the main character throughout. We have a main character who’s a lesbian, but who is, since this is late 90s Ireland and her parents are unaccepting on that front, very very closeted. She spends a lot of the book trying to explain this to her secret girlfriend who wants to be more open — and here, I think, the girlfriend might have been more sympathetic to an extent — and then the kicker: she fakes a relationship with a man. Initially, just as a one date thing, but for the second half of the book, at least, she’s just sleepwalking into a long-term relationship with him, all the while trying to tell her girlfriend she just needs to convince her ma that she’s straight.

Yes, this is all through fear — and understandably so, given that the main character is fairly concerned with if people like/love her and her ma’s reaction to walking in on the main character and her girlfriend was to blank her to the point of not even making food for her — but I think part of what made this frustrating is that I didn’t feel that fear myself. Be it the writing, or whatever, but there was just a disconnect. We go back to just being told things — I was told time and again that she was scared of coming out to her family, but I never saw that fear. All I saw was her sleepwalking into a relationship with a boy who genuinely loved her, and doing nothing to make it work besides. Even until the end, she would have been happy to remain in the state she was, if he hadn’t found letters she was exchanging with her (now ex-) secret girlfriend.

This is what I mean by lack of character development. I’m not saying she had to suddenly undo 18 years of being in an unaccepting family, but there was a lot more that could have been done. Although, on reflection that would probably also require a rewriting of her entire character to an extent, since from the start she was always inclined to go along with the crowd. It was just annoying to constantly have her telling me that she didn’t like the guy like that only to turn around and use him to act out heterosexuality, while still complaining she didn’t really like him. Well, sorry that I lack some sympathy here, but you don’t have to keep using him! She said at the start it would just be one date, to get her ma off her back — it turned into three whole years. They moved away from their village! They lived together! He was going to propose! This felt less like fear and more like sheer inertia. Because of this, the final chapter set two months later where she is more comfortable with her sexuality felt unearned (and, besides, we saw nothing of the development on page).

Maybe this was just a case of being the wrong person for the book. Surely the current rating and reviews of it attest to this. For me, though, it could have been good, but it didn’t live up to its potential.

DNF @ 30%

I went into this with high hopes as I've only heard great things about it. Unfortunately it wasn't the book for me as it failed to engage me.

"Perhaps we are all just islands, as wild and merciless as each other...Perhaps there is no remedy for it, and all we can do is learn which parts of ourselves to deny and which parts to bring into the light."

Thank you, NetGalley and Verve Books for allowing me to read Chloe Michelle Howarth's wonderful novel, Sunburn. I've been sneaking reading sessions in between work because I've been so engrossed in hearing more from our narrator, Lucy. She is a young woman from a small Irish village where everyone her age is seemingly destined to follow in their parents' footsteps: the girls become mothers and the boys become farmers. That's just the way it's always been. But Lucy is not like everyone else in Crossmore. This novel explores the complexities of adolescence, the excitement and heartache of first love, and the struggle to fit into familial/cultural/religious traditions. I loved the setting of this novel, and I especially admired Howarth's masterful lyricism that made me feel like I really knew Lucy. I would recommend this to anyone who loves coming-of-age stories and has an appreciation for rich, melodic prose.

“𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙈𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮, 𝙢𝙚𝙣, 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮. 𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙬. 𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙩. 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩.”

I’ve been on something of a sapphic reading run this year but Sunburn takes the cake. I also don’t think anybody else should bother writing coming-of-age novels, this is the only one you’ll ever need. It was devastating and gorgeous and I loved every second of it.

In a remote Irish village, where everybody knows everything about everyone, Lucy grapples with the uncertainty we all felt towards the end of school, not knowing what her future holds. She seemingly has her path laid out for her: a future devoted to her best friend, the boy next door, who’s conveniently smitten by her. But what happens when you realise that the easy road goes against your every instinct?

And so we’re taken on her journey of self-discovery: a passionate yet tender relationship with one of her best friends that comes alive in stolen moments, which is implicitly marred by shame, religious guilt and the fear of being found out. Their love is written with such a palpable intensity which so accurately captures the feeling of falling for the first time. Alsoooo, the epistolary aspect? Adored it. A recent discovery I’ve made about myself is that I LOVE (love) letters in novels - think This Is How You Lose the Time War and In the Absence of Men - and the secret passing of their notes in the school corridors evoked a very nostalgic feeling in me, while the emails exchanged in their adulthood were truly gut-wrenching🥹.

This was an emotional ride and though Lucy and her decisions were (at times) beyond frustrating, I found it difficult not to empathise and feel her confusion and inner conflict as if it were my own. The love story aside, many other issues were explored so eloquently: the identity struggle around her sexuality, the stifling nature and toxicity of ‘small-village mentality’, the complexity of mother/daughter relationships, estrangement in friendships and the precarious essence of the future - to name a few.

I couldn’t believe this was a debut. Howarth’s prose is so lyrical and immersive and I can’t wait to read more of her work!

I absolutely love love loved this book! Being a) from Ireland, b) someone who went to an all-girls catholic school, and c) someone who identifies as bisexual, this book was fantastic! It took me a short day and a half to read, just because it was so honest and relatable that it was like reading my own thoughts. I thought the characters were great: real, true, and gritty. It reminded me of Call Me By Your Name, in that that too is like reading my own thoughts. Will definitely be recommending! Thank you for the ARC!

This coming-of-age novel is set in Ireland in the 90s. If you think oh, another summer where somebody makes sense of her sexuality, you're mistaken. It's such a surprise, and what a good one. It deals with finding yourself on so many levels, depicts the relationship not only between friends and lovers, but also with mothers, and captures the spirit and problems of growing up.

Thank you to Netgalley, Chloe Michelle Howarth and the publisher, Verve Books, for providing me with an Arc of this stunning book.

Just like actual sunburn, this book has left a mark on me, a slightly painful one that I am constantly tempted to press on to feel its hurt again.
I don't always love a first person narrative, it's not easy to get right but it's perfect here. It's not overpowering. In fact the story is very atmospheric, the characters are vibrant and Lucy, our main character, is relatable. Although she comes to read herself as selfish, she is simply afraid and has some growing up to do to really become herself.
I must tell you how in love I am with this book. It's hard to believe it is the author's debut! I got caught in my feelings with this one, just writing about it brings tears to my eyes still. Lucy's love for Susannah is suffocating in a good way. It takes over everything else on the page and I could only root for them and their relationship. However do not be mistaken, it is more than just a love story, it's a coming of age, an observation of small towns and outdated views of morality. This book comments on so much but never spreads itselfs thin. It's such a perfect portrayal of what teenagehood feels like as a girl, of what falling in love for the first time feels like. uuugh, it's hard to find the right words to tell you how much I adored it. I only just finished it and I already want to read it again.

Also very seriously, I will be so pissed if this does not become a huge bestseller and isn't made into a stunning, aesthetic, saphic movie!!
I beg of you to read this! It comes out September 2023 and you can preorder it now off of Waterstones, Amazon and the likes!

Lucy is turning 18 in the early 90s. She should be falling in love with Martin who is her kind, respectable neighbour (well, his house is closest to hers) and would please Mother as well as her best friend but over the course of a summer she falls in love with Susannah.

This is an intense and lyrical coming of age story. I felt as if Lucy was telling me her story over a few bottles of wine as she puffed cigarettes. I loved every second of it. I could see, hear, taste, smell, feel what was happening. It is one of the most beautiful coming of age novels I’ve ever read. I’ll remember it a long time and already want to revisit it.