Hello, and welcome to my very first book review!

Over the past couple of years, I've fallen out with reading, which was actually a very sad thing to happen. I used to pretty much speed read, and I would finish a book in literally three days. But recently, I've started picking up books again and falling back in love, and I did in fact finish this book in 4 days!


The book revolves around the main character, Evie, and is in a diary form. The diary is basically her recovery diary as she attempts to come off her medication that is treating her OCD. Evie has an obsession with becoming a "normal" 16 year old, and doing the normal 16 year old things, like hanging out with friends, partying, drinking and of course, interaction with the male species.

What I like most about this book is that it's real. Not a true story, of course, but I feel like Bourne really gets what it's like to be a 16 year old going through struggles. She writes perfectly about the relationship a person has with their counsellor, that they are a person you can talk to a rely on, but you know at the end of the day they are paid to listen to your problems.

Bourne explores many issues that regular teenage girls have. Evie has to start college, and her best friend from school, Jane, has essentially ditched her for her new boyfriend. I feel like this is something that a lot of teenage girls go through, and something that definitely happened to me when I started my first college. Another problem that I related to was making new friends. When I started my second college, I had to make entirely new friends, which I did, but I definitely related to Evie with wanting to keep these new friends and not look like a freak straight away. *insert crying laughing emoji*

The story also delves into some more serious issues revolving around mental health, which can often be a difficult subject to talk about. But Bourne just seems to get it. And she also wrote about how mental health issues are commonly used like "I was so scared, I had a panic attack" and how much of an issue this is, creating further stigma around the issues. Finally, someone said it!

Overall, I feel as though Bourne really understands not only what it is like to be a 16 year old in this day and age, but also understands what it is like to have a mental health issue. I really enjoy her writing style, it's very personal and relatable, I felt as though I was walking by Evie's side as she went through this journey. I really want to read Bourne's other books as I have heard many good reviews!

Thank you for reading.

Layla x