This is a stunning book. Breathtaking prose, a love story, and what it means to be a young woman trying to stand apart from a life shapen by the patriarchy and the male gaze. The tale takes place over a week, with a deadline at the end of it, when the narrator must decide whether or not to marry the boyfriend she loves. Told with an inventive mix of modern fairy tale and stream of consciousness recollections at the people and experiences that have led her to this point, Hero is brilliantly insightful about what it means to be a young woman right now. It's funny and sad, but never didactic, with a gloriously romantic story at its heart and exquisite, poetic prose.

I struggled really with the writing style, I was confused about the whole thing in general. I writing was not flowing at all (maybe it was in purpose but for me it didn't work).

I thought the style of this debut was very interesting and unique, however, after about 50 pages I got the feeling that it was getting more of the same. The book needed a stronger plot in my opinion, to get me to keep reading. So in the end, I don't think the book is for me, but Katie Buckley's prose did really impress me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for this ARC.

I would normally start a review by saying something about the plot, but I have no idea what the plot is.

This was too literary for me, too confusing and fragmented. It's basically a stream of consciousness by a woman called Hero.

I didn't like the writing style. I never knew whether we were in the past or the present, whether she was talking about herself or someone else or just generally what was going on. There's a lot of talk about what women have suffered throughout history and she tries to figure out how she feels about someone, but the story, if you can call it that, is open-ended.

Sorry but this wasn't for me. Mercifully, it's short.

For me Hero by Katie Buckley brought to mind Clare Pollard's novel Delphi in the way it explores mythology but in a contemporary setting and also the film Promising Young Woman in the way that it explores the ways in which women are subjugated. Beautifully written - I would love to read more from this author.

A refreshingly honest, beautiful, raw, emotional and realistic portrayal of womanhood and trying to rediscover yourself.