BOOK REVIEW: The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne

Rating: 4/5 ⭐

"It looked like love. It felt like love. But this isn't a love story" 💔

I have to admit that it took me quite a while to process this book after finishing it. I went into this book expecting one thing and it ended up being completely different to what I expected. I thought it would be a typical break up story, but it ended up being a lot more than that.

I haven't read any books by Holly Bourne in quite a while and I can honestly say that I am planning to buy the rest of her books. I love her style of writing and it makes it easy to follow the story.

In this book we follow Amelie's story, where she has had to move down south from her hometown as her father lost his job and couldn't find another job close to home. She is forced to leave her friends behind, as well as her boyfriend Alfie. Before she leaves, she and Alfie make a pact to take a break whilst she's at college for two years, but to wait for each other, until they're able to go to university in Manchester together.

Amelie is a songwriter and singer, although she battles with terrible stage fright. When she wins first place at her new college's talent show, Reese walks into her life. He is the leadsinger of a band and Amelie is immediately drawn to him due to his confidence and charm. He seems perfect to Amelie and she lets her guard down, regardless of her pact with Alfie.

Her relationship with Reese is the opposite of her relationship with Alfie. As you continue reading, it's easy to tell that Reese is manipulative, controlling, emotionally abusive and a narcissist, but due to thinking she is in love with him, Amelie does not see this and instead, she is convinced the problem lies within herself and she defends him whenever someone does try to save her from him. Due to his manipulating ways, Amelie fails to see him for what he really is and instead she is convinced that she is crazy for feeling the way she does and she blames herself for the way he treats her.

The abusive relationship leads to Amelie crying more often than not and we then follow her as she retraces all her steps, going back to the places she has cried due to Reese, so that she can try to understand where it all went wrong.

This book really highlights the differences between healthy and toxic relationships and it shows how easy it is to fall into a toxic relationship. It highlights how easy it is to ignore red flags in a relationship and how blind one can become to someone's toxicity. It shows how bad the consequences can be of being in a toxic relationship and how difficult it is to get out of a toxic and abusive relationship, especially once you think you've fallen in love.

I know there are a lot of people who have stories similar to Amelie. I truly hope that anyone who is stuck in a toxic and abusive relationship, is able to gather the strength and courage to save themselves from it and heal, because they truly deserve better. ❤️

• There are scenes of emotional and sexual abuse in this book.