Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Date of Publication: 14th June2018
Date of Review: 16th July 2018
Blurb
‘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 practise what she’s preached, but the question is: is she brave enough?
My Review
How Do You Like Me Now? Is a thought-provoking contemporary first-person narrative taking the reader into the life of Tori as she negotiates her way into her thirties. With a commitment-phobe boyfriend whose idea of satisfying her is giving her an angry dragon (look on urban dictionary if you don’t know what this is!) Tori is unable to face how she really feels as she is a best-selling author who has built a career around inspiring women, which includes finding true happiness with her boyfriend, Tom. Whilst all her friends around her are getting married and having babies, Tori starts to question what she wants out of life. She thinks she loves Tom, they tell each other .. sometimes.. but they don’t have sex and they’re not even married.
Tori isn’t sure Tom is The One but with a social media image she needs to keep up, how can she appear successful with a failed relationship with the man she has portrayed as being so wonderful?
Whilst Tom is a bit limp, in more ways than one, Tori herself is a bit annoying too: self-obsessed, controlling, jealous, passive aggressive. But this just adds to the author’s realistic characterisation. Constantly uploading duck face selfies and updates of her wonderful life, Tori is typical of the fake portrayals we see every day on social media. Snapshots of the finer moments in life with filtered photographs that hide imperfections. Everybody wants to be like Tori; except Tori.
Will Tori settle for what she has, even if it doesn’t make her completely happy? Or will she throw away her fake and stifling perfect life for one that might not be perfect but makes her happy?
This book really makes you think about how short life can be, and putting yourself first. Although the novel addresses some serious issues, there are still plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The humour is quite unique but I would recommend this book for anybody who likes Debbie Viggiano or Helen Fielding.
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Under Literature love’s rating scheme this book has been awarded 4 out of 5 stars.
I really enjoyed this book.
This book is highly recommended.
Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an Advance Review Copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
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