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.

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.

Thank you Headline and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

The book takes place over the span of a week, in which Hero has to decide if she wants to accept her boyfriend's proposal.
It had beautiful prose that reminded me of a fairytale, but with a modern and feminist twist.
"Hero" is written in the second person singular pronoun "you" to address the boyfriend, so it reads like a guide for him to understand her, which I found unusual but interesting.
The stream of consciousness style confused me from time to time, simply because I'm not used to it. Overall, it was a challenging reading, but I'm glad I kept going because I got to experience a special story and exceptional writing style.

'I can't stop writing about you, because even when it seems it's about you, it's about me. But I'll try to tell the story in the best way'.

This story begins at the end. Hero has just been proposed to by her boyfriend, but rather than giving a resounding 'yes', there is pause enough for him to pack up and leave. In the week she has, before he returns to their apartment for the rest of his things, Hero reflects upon her hesitance. She recounts her previous. toxic relationship. She muses over her mother's, sister's and friends' relationships. As a writer, she tells stories about her feelings, using myths and creating fables to convey her feelings - her fears and anxiety. Each chapter is a new day, counting down to the day when she'll face him again, circling around what her answer will be - wondering if now that she has found true love, will she be bold enough, strong enough to be a wife and not lose herself as an individual, 'I felt that old pull, that desire to blend so totally with somebody else that you forget who you are'.

Whoah - I wasn't sure about this book initially, but it builds into an aching poignancy, revealing a flayed heart that still beats with a painful vulnerability, 'This is what my heart looks like. It has boot marks on it'. At times using crude language to highlight the raw and ragged emotions of Hero, this story explores how we mould, concede and yield in relationships in order to make ourselves fit into the spaces a man leaves free. It ponders thoughts that we surely all have had a points in our relationships. Such a unique take on a love story.

'I am a myth. What is a woman but the product of other people's imaginations'.