Holly Bourne

The Yearbook

Finding your voice. Speaking the truth. Falling in love. All the biggest drama happens in high school... Mean Girls meets To All The Boys I've Loved Before in this hugely relatable high-school takedown from the queen of UKYA. Paige is used to staying quiet in the face of lies. Like how popular girl Grace is a such an amazing person (lie). How Laura steals people's boyfriends (lie). How her own family are so perfect (lie). Now Grace and friends have picked their "best" high-school moments for Paige to put in the all-important Yearbook. And they're not just lies. They're poison. But Paige has finally had enough. And as she starts to find love through the pages of a book, she finds her voice too. Now she is going to rewrite her story - and the Yearbook is the perfect place to do it. Paige Vickers: Most likely to...bring down the mean girls

Sophie Ramirez

Throughout 70% of the book I found myself forcing myself to finish it..

The idea with how the mc meets the other mc through books is nice, but for me it didn't play out nearly as good as it could have

The mc gave me lowkey pick me vibes with how she always felt bad for herself and she seemed very pitiful. The male mc seemed weird and too goofy, I missed the depth in both of the characters

However the family relationship in Paige's family had more depth to it

The writing was a bit cringe and immature but it's supposed to be from junior high, so I guess it's not that weird

It did remind me of junior high and at times I found myself relate to some of the lines, situations and feelings in the book 

Lulu Evensen

Throughout 70% of the book I found myself forcing myself to finish it..

The idea with how the mc meets the other mc through books is nice, but for me it didn't play out nearly as good as it could have

The mc gave me lowkey pick me vibes with how she always felt bad for herself and she seemed very pitiful. The male mc seemed weird and too goofy, I missed the depth in both of the characters

However the family relationship in Paige's family had more depth to it

The writing was a bit cringe and immature but it's supposed to be from junior high, so I guess it's not that weird

It did remind me of junior high and at times I found myself relate to some of the lines, situations and feelings in the book 

Rhionna

grace richards

i get that it is secondary school and some of the stuff that goes on there is a bit pathetic but the issues and drama that we’re going on at this secondary school were so juvenile it made it incredibly hard to suspend any disbelief at all. like what do you mean 16 year olds are believing rumours about a girl getting rabies from a hamster and a girl and her boyfriend being in a weird satanic relationship? it’s just so :/

THE BEAT BOOK! It's so nice and realist and relatable and It encourage my to write in the books and fill in with red pen 

Kate Heneghan

THOS IS MY COMFORT BOOK!!!

THE BEAT BOOK! It's so nice and realist and relatable and It encourage my to write in the books and fill in with red pen 

Also such a CUTE SHIP OTP

brooke

paige vickers my best girl i need a hug from her immediately

Tia Roydhouse 

** spoiler alert **
           I honestly love Holly Bourne and all her books. 
The way she finally stands up to everyone in her own way, made me love the book even more. The way she stood up to her parents made my heart ache for her, the way the way they didn't see her - I related to that as well as Elijah told her that the drama in her year meant nothing to the other years made me think and relate about my time in school. 
I related so much to this book it hurt a little. 

Favourite Quote: "If your not scared, then its not courage."

Audrey |  Bookstagrammer 

Wow! 
Paige's characters development is definitely my favourite part. She starts off a quiet shy caterpillar and by the end she is a butterfly that stands up for herself and others. I feel a little bit lied to because everything on the cover is all about Paige brining down the mean girls in the yearbook but that only happens in the past 50 pages or so! However I would of loved more about that it was still enjoyable and interesting to see how much things progress.
(see the rest on my Instagram) 

Arabella Mai Wallis

** spoiler alert **
           In this book we follow quiet year eleven student Paige (writer in the school newsletter and barely known throughout school as she would rather keep her head down as she had her entire life) as she is signed up for the yearbook committee alongside the group of 'mean girls' in her year group, having to suffer through endless meetings and blatant lies as they want to make the yearbook a 'total experience' which everyone hates but them. This book follows Paige as she starts to think more about why she sits back and let's things happen, why people act the way they do, and why she puts up with all aspects of her life, sticking with annotation and making her mark on the world in smaller ways with two simple words. 'I exist.' Through these annotations and unknown Red Pen annotated library books, Paige finds lower sixth former Elijah, known for being quiet yet eccentric, and the two embark on a new friendship whilst using books and their teachings as ways to help see the world and the way they handle things differently, which ends up eventually leading to an amazingly wholesome and supportive romance for both parties. We also get a glimpse into Paige's life both with her family (verbally abusive father, timid mother and incredible aunt) and her previous friendships (linking to readers about how as you grow up things change and so do the people you once thought you know). At the end of the book we see Paige make the decision to add her own mark to the yearbook after catching the mean girls rigging it to be a lot more cruel and harmful than a yearbook should be, deciding to expose them for who they are and adding the actual truths throughout in her very own girl boss moment. No matter the consequence Paige will no longer sit by idly and watch the world and its cruelty happen around her. 

Okay okay okay. Let's just take a second to appreciate this absolute masterpiece! I loved every second of this book whether it made me laugh or it made me cry or it made me swoon and I immediately brought myself a copy which I will be annotating and highlighting myself with a red pen (of course). I related so much to this book both with Paige in general and the aspects and experiences of secondary school which Paige describes (giving me some slightly triggering times but was fascinating to see my mind and experiences essentially splurged onto paper) and I just could not get enough of this. Also I just loved how although there was a romance it was not a big focus and Elijah was a key role in Paige finally standing up for herself and knowing that she is loved and appreciated no matter what her prick of a father told her growing up. Also Aunt Polly is a fucking icon and I love Elijah. A new favourite book for sure. Wow.

Linn Jukri

Joan 

When starting this book i thought it was about getting back on the mean girls like mean girls style. Even thought that didn’t happen it was still very interesting to read. Her getting to know herself and finding the strength to fight for whats right!

Charlot van Dijk

De boeken van Holly Bourne zijn altijd boeken die ik moet lezen. Ze zijn makkelijk geschreven, leuk om te lezen en je leert er vaak nog levenslessen van ook. Dit boek laat zien hoe het leven van Paige was, op highschool. Ze wil niet vergeten worden maar ze wil eigenlijk ook de confrontatie niet aangaan. Het is makkelijker om je terug te trekken en gewoon met jezelf te bemoeien, toch? Thuis gaat ook niet alles op rolletjes en dat maakt dat haar aandacht daar ook écht nodig is. Of niet, want ook daar valt ze niet echt op. Dan ontmoet ze Elijah via een boek wat ze leest. Ook hij wil niet vergeten worden, samen zorgen ze ervoor dat ze niet vergeten gaan worden. Ik denk dat veel mensen hopen dat ze net zo sterk zijn als Paige op het moment van het einde van het boek was. Ik wens ook dat veel mensen hun eigen kracht en inspiratie kunnen halen uit Paige. Ik heb zeker kracht gehaald uit Paige en Elijah en lees boeken nu ook anders dan eerst. Ik geef Elijah daar de schuld van wel. Het was in ieder geval weer een heerlijk contemporary verhaal van Holly Bourne en ik weet wat ik ga doen als ze er weer 1 schrijft, gelijk lezen!

The Yearbook

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