Reviews

When We Were Friends by Holly Bourne

bronski's review

4.0

Wow. I expected a story that celebrates female friendship, but it was so much more than that. If you are a woman who went to high school or university in the early 2000's, this might mess you up a bit.

katlizmag's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I felt so much reading this book, in part because of the fantastic writing and in part because of the visceral memories it brought up of being a teenager and having intense friendships that don’t survive the shift to adulthood, and how mental illness changes with age but stays with you 

as1u18's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

recovering_my_sparkle's review against another edition

5.0

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was more lighthearted than my usual book choices but I’m glad that I stuck with it! Despite having lightheartedness to it, there were also important themes running through and it does talk about sexual assault and rape within it - but actually I feel this is important to be covered within literature, especially in society today where people are encouraged to speak up more than ever before. I think it was covered with a great deal of care and was gentle in its approach. The short chapters that alternated between present day and the past also helped to break things up and keep it from feeling too heavy.

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me early access to this book!

mollyhyland's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

cerysejones's review against another edition

5.0

I got this book at the airport because my flight was delayed and I had some cash on me and I am SO HAPPY I did. The accuracy of some parts of this book was absolutely insane - I felt like someone had scooped up parts of my brain and spread it onto a page. I’ve folded over so many pages so I can come back to them and write all over them and save the quotes forever because they say what I’ve felt in such better words than I could use. Kind of disturbing sometimes but only because of how accurate the scenarios felt, even though the teenagers in it are from the 2000s. Read it waiting for the plane, on the plane, in the bath and then before bed because I literally could not put it down and it’s been a while since I’ve had a book like that. Big fat five stars.

aerm_x's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

fallonheartss's review

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

easyvisionary's review

5.0

Female friendships :(

Also!!!!!! The seeing your experiences differently with age!!!Especially your experiences with men!!! AHHH!!!!

Loved the twist!

sweetiekeke's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Overall this book was okay. I feel the plot of Jessica having done this unforgivable thing and then coming back around was a little thin and I found myself getting bored at times. Especially when the unforgivable thing was arguably not that malicious or even intentional.

That being said, this discussions on therapy, selfishness, etc were interesting.