What's A Girl Gotta Do? | Holly Bourne | Review

What's A Girl Gotta Do? | Holly Bourne | Review

• Sunday, 14 August 2016

The finale to Holly Bourne's Spinster Club trilogy has arrived, (aside from the novella 'And A Happy New Year...?' due out later this year), and this time it's Lottie's turn to tell a story. I read the vast majority of this book on London Underground trains to and from YALC, and I make a point of this for a reason which I'll outline below.

In this book, Lottie decides to start a project, the Vagilante Project, where she must call out every instance of sexism that she sees. Her project gains traction, gathering attention from the press, but also gains trolls and hate towards Lottie as well. With concerns from her parents and teachers that the project may be affecting her future plus with growing hate from trolls, can Lottie keep it up?

Holly's a fantastic writer. The Spinster Club trilogy features three main characters; Evie, Amber and Lottie. Each book in the trilogy focuses on the story of one of them. Am I Normal Yet? for example focuses on Evie's story and Evie's experiences with OCD and mental illness. However, all three stories are weaved in with one another. I really like this.

All three of the Spinster Club books have a focus on feminism, and just like she's done with the last two books, Holly has presented the theme in a unique way. It's feminism, but the book shows you just how out of place things some people may do every day can seem. For example, one of the examples of sexism you read about Lottie calling out is when a waiter or waitress in a restaurant hands the bill to the man instead of the woman, just assuming that the man is the one who will be paying.

But it's a funny book too. There are lines and jokes and phrases used in this book that really will make you laugh, and I think it's a great combination of both taking these very important topics like sexism and feminism, but also combining it with friendship and humour.

Whilst there is still a novella to come, I was gripped by this book. I usually never read books on trains because I can't focus on them, but I really was gripped by this book, which is why I made a point of saying I read most of this on the way to and from YALC on Tube trains. Plus Holly was there and signed my copy, which was great too!

I would recommend that anyone who wants to read this book also reads the other two Spinster Club novels, but they all work by themselves so if you just read this one or any of the other two you may find references that you would get if you did read the previous novel, but you should be able to read them all independently. And I definitely think you should be reading this book.