Book Review | It Only Happens In The Movies by Holly Bourne

It Only Happens In The Movies by Holly Bourne

Published by Usborne in October 2017

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Source: Library
Links: Goodreads, Amazon, The Book Depository

 

Synopsis
Audrey is over romance. Since her parents' relationship imploded her mother's been catatonic, so she takes a cinema job to get out of the house. But there she meets wannabe film-maker Harry. Nobody expects Audrey and Harry to fall in love as hard and fast as they do. But that doesn't mean things are easy. Because real love isn't like the movies...

The greatest love story ever told doesn't feature kissing in the snow or racing to airports. It features pain and confusion and hope and wonder and a ban on cheesy clichés. Oh, and zombies...



 My Thoughts 

This book is everything I've ever wanted in a contemporary. Holly Bourne does a fantastic job combining humour with the real-life situation of relationships when you're young. I loved the fact that it didn't shy away from anything, it discussed everyday situations such as sex, divorce and love in a frank but relatable way.

1.      The characters were some of the most real I’ve ever read about. Audrey felt so relatable, particularly how she handled herself in different situations. There were times where she was strong, stood her ground and didn’t compromise herself for anybody but there were also times where she was vulnerable and displayed her fears and regrets. Harry, I did have problems with his behaviour sometimes but that’s ultimately what made him a multi-dimensional character. He felt like one of the boys I went to school with or someone I could potentially meet someday, and I loved it. Their relationship was messy and romantic and intense, as real relationships are.

2.      The fact that it didn’t shy away from the gritty stuff. It dealt with all the horrible things that teenagers go through from friendships and relationships to dealing with parent drama. How it dealt with the issue of sex and being sexual was the stand out for me. After a bad experience it’s easy to lose confidence with yourself but the way Audrey built up that courage to be open with her feelings again was amazing. I also loved that once she was having sex regularly she didn’t gloss over anything and she didn’t try and hide her enjoyment of it which was refreshing.     

3.      I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a sucker for romance films, I love watching love stories play out on the screen. I liked how Audrey talked about all those clichés that you always find in romance films and how they rarely ever happen in real life. In the end though all love stories are special even if there is no kissing in the rain scene.

4.      The witty, humorous writing style. I haven’t read anything of Holly Bourne’s previous work although I do own another of her books. After reading this it’s going straight to the top of my TBR pile. She mixed serious issue with humour brilliantly and I also loved how British it was. Finding UK YA is quite hard for me due to the amount of American publications I read but I really want to start making a conscious decision to read more by UK authors.

Rating
4/5. I loved the relatable characters and the humour but I would have liked it to have had a stronger ending. It felt a little rushed to me, I really wanted to delve deeper into Audrey’s emotions during those final scenes.