Am I Normal Yet? (The Spinster Club Series #1)

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Evie and her companions all make for a typical teenage life (presented beautifully), and in a way Am I Normal Yet? is just that: it’s a teenage girl living life. The fact that it is just a book that shows a teenage girl living life again highlights that OCD is a trait, it is not a person. The characters were so fun and realistic. Evie's best friends, Amber and Lottie are great characters and I loved the interactions between these three. They have a great friendship. They discuss everything together, from gossip to actual deep things. That is the girl friendship I want to see more of! I've spent most of my life waiting; basically, since I can remember I dreamed about finding a best friend and all that crap. Then I had a time while I tried to convince myself I didn't need anyone to be happy, and now I'm pretty sure I'll die alone. This book is all about feminism and 16 years old cisgender girls realizing that the society isn’t that perfect for them. Most of the time, they were talking about really important subjects and were making some very good points. I already knew most of it but it’s still is necessary to discuss about it all in literature, especially in YA. However, they made some comments that made me cringe a lot. It is important to note that all the characters are white and straight. As they kept talking about feminism, it has been said a lot that only women had their periods and that it’s what makes them women. By saying that, it excludes transgender and non-binary people. Because yes, some men have their periods and they should be recognized as well. Plus, they often make each other feel bad for talking about men, as if dating one was against feminism. I really disliked that. I’m a feminist but I’m also a romantic and I love to talk about men. I would love to date one and if all I see suddenly is him, so be it. That doesn’t mean I don’t respect myself or women in general. It was really hard to agree to everything when they kept excluding people from their feminism. Holly Bourne did an excellent job of creating a character who is dealing with OCD, whilst desperately trying to live a normal, teenage life. Of inspiring empathy into the reader, celebrating differences and just accepting people as they are. Flaws and all.

Flood, Alison (24 April 2016). "Carol Ann Duffy and Matt Haig line up for UK-wide book giveaway; Organisers of the sixth World Book Night, which hands out books across the country, buoyed by research showing that 80% of past recipients have continued to read more". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 May 2017. If I had read this when I was 15, I would have enjoyed this much more, but as I haven't the book fell a bit flat for me. In the end, none of the characters were perfect but they were perfect teenagers and made mistakes everyone does at their age. It felt so good to read about teenagers actually acting like some, and not trying to be all grown up. Holly Bourne is really good when it comes to writing through the eyes of a 16 years old, and I’m really glad for that. I’m also very happy with the anxiety and OCDs representation, which I found to be perfect and I never read a review saying the contrary. Plus, Evie talked a lot about all the stigma around mental health and all I could do was scream "HELL YES" while reading it.

Young Adult fiction takes over the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2018". Edinburgh Festival. 12 July 2018 . Retrieved 3 September 2018. After reading Am I Normal Yet, the first thing that came to my mind was: ”I have to get the second book ASAP!!!❤️❤️❤️” i was really worried where it was headed but towards the end, i began to appreciate how the author played it out bc it made it have a much greater impact I get what Holly Bourne tried to do here and I appreciate it, but I think that ship is sailed for me. but there were so many fantastic undertones of feminism and friendship and it was really really beautiful

Unfourtantly, there were also comments and parts that I felt contradicted the whole message of the book. The main character Evie has OCD. She just wants to be normal. She goes to college (16 years old, UK system) and meets 2 new friends Lottie and Amber. They form the spinster club in which they discuss feminism.I loved the insight Holly Bourne gave into the mind of someone who has OCD, exploring all the ways it can affect someone's life. At times, it made it uncomfortable to read certain passages, because of how hard hitting and raw it was. But I loved that! It was educational, refreshing and honest. i really liked oli's character, i hope we get to see more of him in book 2 because hes a sweet little boy who needs friendship and acceptance The girls are amazing! Evie, Amber and Lottie form a gang called the The Spinster Club to help figure out how to be a feminist. They aim to stay true to themselves, and not lose their personality or their friends while trying to impress guys, and at the same time not being ball breakers! It was such a fun theme but also very powerful and inspiring.