How Do You Like Me Now?

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What to expect

A Stylist Must-Read & a Red Magazine Best Book of 2018

'Funny, real and heartbreaking. I haven't been this obsessed with a book in years.' LUCY VINE

'Gave me all of the feelings...this generation's Bridget Jones.' CARMEL HARRINGTON

'Bourne incinerates the lies we're all capable of telling ourselves in this raw and very funny book; it'll resonate with anyone trying to convince themselves that sticking it out is better than being alone.' EMERALD STREET

***

'Turning thirty is like playing musical chairs. The music stops, and everyone just marries whoever they happen to be sitting on.'

Who the f*ck is Tori Bailey?

There's no doubt that Tori is winning the game of life. She's inspired millions of women to stick two fingers up at convention with her bestselling memoir, and she has the perfect relationship to boot.

But Tori Bailey has been living a lie.

Everyone around her is getting married and having babies, but her long-term boyfriend won't even talk about getting engaged. And when her best friend Dee - her plus one, the only person who understands the madness - falls in love, suddenly Tori's in terrifying danger of being left behind.

When the world tells you to be one thing and turning thirty brings with it a loud ticking clock, it takes courage to walk your own path.

It's time for Tori to practice what she's preached, but the question is: is she brave enough?

The debut adult novel by bestselling author Holly Bourne is a blisteringly funny, honest and moving exploration of love, friendship and navigating the emotional rollercoaster of your thirties.

***

What authors are saying about How Do You Like Me Now?:

'Smart, witty and perceptive. Razor-sharp on friendship, self-image and self-deception' Lucy Diamond

'Funny, sad, honest, insightful, up-to-the-minute. Kept me guessing (and hoping) to the last page' Roisin Meaney

'Sublime, perfectly observed' Laura Jane Williams

What reviewers are saying:

'I f***king love this book. I was not expecting to feel so understood. I had to stop every page to fire off a quote to my best friend.' - Netgalley, 5 stars

'This book is everything - I was hooked from page one.' - Netgalley, 5 stars

'A laugh-out-loud read you will not want to put down... funny, relatable, honest and extremely addictive.5***** 10/10' - Waterstones reviewer

'This book. It's given me so many feelings I don't even know where to start.' - Netgalley, 5 stars

'A very important book... Authentic, Raw and Validating. There were times that I felt Holly had climbed into my mind.' - Netgalley, 5 stars

'I can't get over how much I loved and appreciated this book... I needed to read this so badly. Holly speaks for me completely. The late-twenties/thirty-something's Cat Person.' - Netgalley, 5 stars

(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critics Review

Truly a f***ing good novel
Evening Standard
It is so good! It is so honest about being a woman and all the things that are expected of us ... I enjoyed it very much.
Marian Keyes
Bourne incinerates the lies we're all capable of telling ourselves in this raw and very funny book; it'll resonate with anyone trying to convince themselves that sticking it out is better than being alone.
Emerald Street
The most perceptive book I have ever read about the female interior
Dolly Alderton, The High Low Podcast
Injected with such reality it can't help but be hilarious
Times
Relatable for any woman navigating emotional time bombs
Red
There's a duality in reading things that are super relatable - it feels great to be heard, but also a little exposing. There's a little bit of that in Holly Bourne's latest novel, but nothing will stop you getting to the end...This novel is funny, touching and searingly honest
Grazia
Funny, real and incredibly relatable
Culturefly
It speaks so many truths about being a woman in your thirties; friendships, love and what a fickle beast social media can be.
Clemmie Hooper
Honest and unflinching
Stylist
Hilarious and painfully true
Grazia
Identifiable, heart-breaking and wickedly funny. I'd say this is one of my favourite books of the year
Giovanna Fletcher
I haven't been this obsessed with a book in years. It's painfully funny, real, but also heartbreaking. Get this book now or be the loser who can't join in when everyone else is talking about it.
Lucy Vine, bestselling author of Hot Mess
'A smart, witty and perceptive novel; Bourne is razor-sharp on friendship, self-image and self-deception'
Lucy Diamond, bestselling author of The House of New Beginnings
Sure to resonate with anyone navigating the emotional minefield of their thirties
Red Online
Sublime, perfectly observed
Laura Jane Williams, Ice Cream for Breakfast
'This novel is sharply observant about the issues in young women's lives today - feminism, relationships, mental health and motherhood - and it is very, very funny.
Bookseller
Authentic, funny and utterly relatable; this book gave me all of the feelings. This generation's Bridget Jones!
Carmel Harrington, author of The Woman at 72 Derry Lane
Perfectly addresses the storm of emotions you go through as a young woman, growing up in a world where you need to have the best boyfriend, best career and best group of friends (and it's all got to be displayed beautifully across your social media profiles.)
BBC News Online
'This is a deeply feminist novel that questions whether the competitive nature of social media is breeding a lifestyle conformism among women that can only limit their freedom and their happiness. It is also, almost line by line, wincingly funny'
Metro
Will strike a chord with anyone who worries about their relationship with social media, feels like they're being left behind by their friends or is wrangling with the pressures of being in, or out, of a partnership in their 30s. Buy it for your best mate whose boyfriend isn't good enough for her, your recently dumped sister or just for yourself if you're feeling a little 'what the hell?' about your fourth decade; you'll all take something from it
Stylist
Tori is surely the Bridget Jones of our times
Stylist
Brutally honest but charmingly funny
Stylist
Well-written, genuinely funny and movingly honest. It could be a life-changing read for many.
Sheerluxe
Holly Bourne nails the pressures that young women face and captures that feeling of teetering on the edge of 30 and still not knowing what you want from life. It's funny and sad in equal measures'
The Express, S Magazine
A very funny novel that lives up to its hype
The Sunday Telegraph
Mordantly funny, flinchingly well-observed... A smart, zeitgeisty, and caustically funny read, it has characters you root for. More than that, however, Bourne holds a mirror up to contemporary aspiration, deftly probing the dissonant dualism between the shinier selves projected online and people's offline reality.
Sunday Times
Cheerfully plunders all that can be plundered from a young woman's quest for life in the 'fast line'
Helen Lederer, Metro
Funny, astute, bitingly honest, it's a genuine triumph
Bookseller
Brutally honest, appallingly funny and very moving - so accurate on the female interior, and the loneliness life in the public gaze. I want to read everything Holly Bourne has written now
Rosie Walsh, author of The Man Who Didn't Call
Funny, sad, honest, insightful, up-to-the-minute. Bourne's pacy narrative kept me guessing (and hoping)to the last page.
Roisin Meaney, author of The Reunion

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