Pretending - by Holly Bourne (Paperback)

About the Book

"April is kind, pretty, and relatively normal, yet she can't seem to get past date five. Every time she thinks she's found someone to trust, they reveal themselves to be awful, leaving her heartbroken. And angry. Until she realizes that what men are looking for is Gretel. Gretel is perfect: beautiful but low maintenance, sweet but never clingy, sexy but not too easy. She's your regular everyday Manic Pixie Dream Girl Next Door with no problems. When April starts pretending to be Gretel, dating becomes much more fun, especially once she reels in the unsuspecting Joshua. Finally, April is the one in control, but can she control her feelings? And as she and Joshua grow closer, how long will she be able to keep pretending?"--Back cover.

Book Synopsis

"It made me cry and laugh and rage...A really important, timely book. Sheer brilliance." --Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List

"Thoughtful, smart and painfully true." --Cosmopolitan UK

He said he was looking for a "partner in crime," which everyone knows is shorthand for "a woman who isn't real."

April is kind, pretty and relatively normal--yet she can't seem to get past date five. Every time she thinks she's found someone to trust, they reveal themselves to be awful, leaving her heartbroken. And angry. Until she realizes that men aren't looking for real women--they're looking for Gretel.

Gretel is perfect--beautiful but low-maintenance, sweet but never clingy, sexy but not too easy. She's your regular, everyday Manic-Pixie-Dream-Girl-Next-Door with no problems.

When April starts pretending to be Gretel, dating becomes much more fun--especially once she reels in the unsuspecting Joshua. Finally, April is the one in control. It's refreshing. Exhilarating, even. But as she and Joshua grow closer, and the pressure of keeping her painful past a secret begins to build, how long will she be able to keep on pretending?

"The most freeing, reassuring book on dating after #MeToo I've read. Perceptive. Hilarious. Brilliant." --Laura Jane Williams, author of Our Stop

Review Quotes

"I love this book! It made me cry and laugh and rage and fall completely in love with the characters and you MUST READ IT! It's beautifully written and completely engrossing but also a really important, timely book. Sheer brilliance." --Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List

"A raw, important, hilarious, whip-smart triumph of a book. It's amazing that a story can be so hard to read and yet still such a page-turner; that it can be so bleak but still send you away hopeful." --Beth O'Leary, bestselling author of The Flatshare

'Bourne is searingly honest about the trials and tribulations of modern dating and unafraid to examine the dark side of human relationships. But Pretending is full of humour, too, from April's loathing of men who 'spread their legs on public transport' to her observation that they 'literally cannot handle being driven in a car by a woman, even if they're terrible drivers themselves.'' --Sunday Express

"Pretending is the thoughtful, intelligent, urgent novel we need in a post Me Too age. It is both unsettling and hopeful, enlightening and entertaining. Holly Bourne examines the darkest of subjects while retaining incisive wit, absorbing narrative and a totally loveable lead." --Dolly Alderton, author of Everything I Know About Love

"So relatable, powerful and thought-provoking . . . This is a vivid, contemporary exploration of the darkest side of relationships, anger and powerlessness, but it's filled with joy too." --Daisy Buchanan, journalist and author of The Sisterhood

"Every page brings another eye-wateringly relatable moment and I couldn't put it down. I was constantly laughing, crying, and nodding aggressively at every page." --Lucy Vine, author of Hot Mess

"An extraordinary book . . . It's feminist and angry and compassionate and hopeful." --Julie Cohen, author of The Two Lives of Louis & Louise

"Such unbelievably dark themes . . . yet Pretending still has a joy and a lightness of touch that makes it easy to breeze through." --Caroline O'Donoghue, author of Promising Young Women

"Smart, perceptive, funny and touching about modern life for modern women." --Rowan Coleman, author of The Summer of Impossible Things