Prompt: Your favourite prompt from a past Popsugar Challenge

I must admit I have cheated a bit of this one – I picked a book I wanted to read and then had a look back to see what categories I could it it into!

The book I chose was newly published The Places I Have Cried in Public by Holly Bourne.

What’s it about?

Amelie is sixteen and has just moved Down South from Sheffield. She leaves behind her lovely boyfriend, Alfie, her best friends and starts her A Levels at new college. Amelie is a talented musician and singer and despite her crippling stage fright she performs at the college talent show where she catches the eye of Reese, the charismatic and good looking lead singer of a band. Amelie is quickly swept off her feet and her conviction that she has met her soul mates means she ignores the warning signs that this is not the perfect relationship after all.

What I think:

Holly Bourne’s YA fiction covers a range of mental health issues and this book is no exception. As Amelie’s reflects on her relationship with Reese and revisits all of the places he made her cry the true nature of the relationship is revealed. This is an important novel exploring the darker side of teenage relationships and the fact that abuse is not always physical. There are times when I wanted to shake Amelie and open her eyes to what is happening, but by the end of the book I felt just wanted to hug her. The subject matter is dealt with sensitively and with such empathy that as I reader I was fully immersed in the confusion, raw emotion and trauma that Amelie experiences. This is a book that all teenager girls should read.

One of my favourite reads of the year.

I grabbed my copy from https://chilternbookshops.co.uk/contact/chorleywood-shop/

But if you’re in UK you can also head to:

Waterstone’s: click here

Amazon.co.uk: click here