Review: Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

All Evie wants is to be normal. She’s almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as the girl-who-went-crazy. She’s even going to parties and making friends. There’s only one thing left to tick off her list…

But relationships are messy – especially relationships with teenage guys. They can make any girl feel like they’re going mad. And if Evie can’t even tell her new friends Amber and Lottie the truth about herself, how will she cope when she falls in love?

Shona's review 5 of 5 stars

If you are going to read this book, or perhaps you have already read it once and thinking of a second read, I'd seriously recommend giving the audible version a go. Bourne has done a fantastic job of writing this book, and Charlie Sanderson has done an amazing job at bring Evie's story to life. There are several scenes, filled with emotion and tension and I dont doubt that they would eevoke strong feelings from the author, but when you can hear Sandersons emotion behind Evies words it tugs at the heart more and gives the scene an extra depth.

This is a fantastic look in to mental health and the way we perceive people and their illnesses, and whilst this is a serious subject which Bourne handles fantastically, she softens the seriousness with humour without dismissing the message.

This is one of my favourite passages from the book and I feel it gives you an idea of Bourne's approach.

“Mental illnesses have gone too far the other way. Because now mental health disorders have gone “mainstream”. And for all the good it’s brought people like me who have been given therapy and stuff, there’s a lot of bad it’s brought too. Because now people use the phrase OCD to describe minor personality quirks . 

“Oooh, I like my pens in a line, I’m so OCD.
NO YOU’RE FUCKING NOT!

Oh my God, I was so nervous about that presentation. I literally had a panic attack.
NO YOU FUCKING DIDN’T!

I’m so hormonal today. I just feel totally bipolar.
SHUT UP, YOU IGNORANT BUMFACE!" 
My biggest worry about this book was that after dealing with all her ups and downs, the author would allow Evie to become miraculously cured because she had found some great friends and a boy who liked her. Because that is just not how it works. Thankfully that wasn't the case. You don't suddenly become normal, the way Evie wanted to be because as her therapist Sarah says
“Everyone’s on the cliff edge of normal. Everyone finds life an utter nightmare sometimes, and there’s no “normal” way of dealing with it. There’s only what’s normal to you.”