Very Nearly Normal by Hannah Sunderland is a heartfelt exploration of love, self-discovery, and healing. The story follows a protagonist who is struggling to find their way, dealing with personal setbacks and emotional wounds. Through moments of vulnerability and unexpected connections, the novel delves into the complexities of relationships and learning to embrace imperfections. It's a touching, relatable journey about finding light in the darkness and rediscovering hope when life feels uncertain.

Thank you to Netgalley for a pre publication copy. In return for an honest review! #verynearlynormal #netgalley

Effie is a failure, well so she thinks! Her initials are MEH, her life I MEH and everything she does is MEH. Until she finds Theo can he bring her out into the open or will he push her further into the dark?

It was the cover that drew me to the book however after reading it I really don't think the cover does it justice.

This book covers some very emotional but modern topics which are often unspoken in the face of depression. These include MAST Cell activation, substance abuse, coma, homlessness and affairs amongst other things.

This author is fantastic. Her writing just jumps off the page at you making you want to read on. You can feel every ounce of emotion pouring off the page and Effie is so relatable to everyone at some stage in their life..

This book is like Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine and should be way more hyped than it is.

This is not a quick read particularly towards the end purely due to the subject matter you will find you have to be in the mood to pick this book up. Although it is well worth taking the time to delve in. You won't be disappointed.

Very Nearly Normal by Hannah Sunderland is a beautiful, emotionally moving love story. At the center of this narrative are two extraordinary characters—Effie Heaton and Theo. Effie has always felt like an outsider, but Theo has a life-changing secret that helps them connect. As Effie finds herself unexpectedly falling in love, fate takes a turn and raises the stakes.

Hannah Sunderland's writing is masterful, weaving together the beautiful emotions of Effie and Theo's love story while touching on deeper themes such as acceptance and understanding. As the novel unfolds, readers will be pulled into a gripping narrative full of plot twists, unexpected revelations, and thought-provoking insights. It is a must-read for fans of Jojo Moyes and Gail Honeyman.

Very Nearly Normal is a captivating, unforgettable novel that readers will not soon forget. With vivid characters and compelling storylines, Hannah Sunderland has created a book that celebrates the complexities of life, love, and acceptance. Highly recommended.

A book with a relatable main character, she is so real and recognisable. I can't believe this is a debut novel, it is so beautifully written. Recommended for anyone who loves modern books

This is a debut novel which gave me many emotions.
I did enjoy this book but I didn’t warm to the main protagonist
It’s worth a read.

I did not get around to reading this book prior to it’s publication date and it has since been archived therefore I cannot leave a review at this time.

I LOVED this book - 5 stars.
Effie is messy, she's not perfect, she drinks too much, is really rude and just plodding on with life, but she's human, And whilst she is at times irritating you can't help but love her.
I think this book could have easily been to predictable but it wasn't. I loved it.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a fan of Effie at first and I almost put this book aside because the last thing I needed to be reading was something negative and depressing. But I stuck with it, and I’m glad I did. Theo is such a sweetheart, and I loved everything he tried to do to help Effie even when she was throwing it back in his face. I did grow to adore Effie too. Great character growth towards the end. I would have like more chemistry between the two MC’s, that woudl have made it a five star read for me, but I just wasn’t as invested in them as I woudl have liked.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

⭐ Quirkly love story full of heart & humour.
⭐ Effie is so relatable, you'll be rooting for her happy ending from the start,
⭐ Brilliantly written I can't wait to see what Sunderland does next.
⭐ Highly recommend it - one of my favourite books of the year!
⭐ Although it did move me to tears - so don't forget to have some tissues close when you read it!

I loved Effie and Theo, and I really rooted for them to get together. But, I did struggle with this book overall as I found it quite slow.

Effie and Theo are a couple you will root for,. Effie takes some getting used to but you'll eventually understand why she is the way she is. And you'll eventually learn Theo's secret. This has a twist- no spoilers- that takes it out and above others in the genre. A good read.

I am still very much on the fence about this book, although I did enjoy the story I just couldn’t connect with Effie. I found her very annoying. I also felt very disconnected to Theo and the whole mystery about him.

The story is missing something for me, I just don’t know what. Maybe its just me. I hope the book does well though.

This was sitting on my shelf to be read for ages, and I’ve only recently got round to it. I was really impressed and would definitely recommend. This is a great debut novel with excellent strong characters that you can really get to know

I accidentally let this one sit on my shelf for too long! What a mistake!

Books that revolve around books–I’m not quite sure what else one could ask for.

Matilda “Effie” Heaton works at a a bookstore but lives with her parents. So, her life is a little bit in shambles. She’s not a very happy person.

I won’t lie and say that I loved Effie from the beginning. This is definitely one of those stories where the main character must go through some growth for me to relate to them or even enjoy them.

But, no worries–there’s growth aplenty for Effie! And by the end of the story I was enthralled with both Effie and Theo.

While this may not be a re-read for me, I definitely enjoyed the last half of the book and would recommend.

My review will be available on the website provided on March 18, 2021.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great debut novel by Hannah Sunderland. I cannot wait to see whatelse she does. I think this was very well written especially for a debut novel

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

I really struggled with this book. Sitting on my shelf, I'd pick it up over and over to see if I could get into it, but I found the main character much too miserable. I tried! I've seen other people say that she gets better but I just could not do it. I got to maybe 30% before having to call it quits.

An excellent debut - strong characters, great storyline and fantastically written. I will definitely be looking out for more by this author.

This wasn’t really the book for me, it was just a generic romance that feels like it’s fine many times before, there wasn’t really anything wrong with It, but just nothing that stood out for me either

An unlikely treasure. I wasn’t sure when I began reading this if I was going to enjoy it. But in fact I thought it was great.
Effie, our heroine, isn’t the most likeable of characters to begin with. She carries a ‘dark cloud’ around and is rather depressing. But when paths cross with our other main character, Theo, we begin to see that there is more to Effie than we first thought.
A wonderful read where we see our heroine grow and learn to become the very best version of herself.