Title: NO HARD FEELINGS
Author: Genevieve Novak
Publisher: HarperCollins AU
Read: May 2022
Expected publication: out now
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
Book Description:
Penny can't help but compare herself
to her friends. Annie is about to become a senior associate at her law firm,
Bec has just got engaged, Leo is dating everyone this side of the Yarra, and
Penny is just ... waiting. Waiting for Max, her on-again, off-again boyfriend,
to allow her to spend the night, waiting for the promotion she was promised,
waiting for her Valium to kick in. Waiting for her real life to start.
Out of excuses and sick of falling behind, Penny is determined to turn things
around. She's going to make it work with Max, impress her tyrannical boss, quit
seeing her useless therapist, remember to water her plants, and stop having
panic attacks in the work toilets.
But soon she's back to doomscrolling on Instagram, necking bottles of Aldi's finest
sauvignon blanc, and criticising herself with renewed vigour and loathing. As
her goals seem further away than ever, she has to wonder: when bad habits feel
so good, how do you trust what's right for you?
My musings:
Quite a few years have passed since I was in my
late twenties, and yet I could instantly relate to Penny, Genevieve Novak’s
protagonist in NO HARD FEELINGS. Penny is at that stage in her life where some
of her friends have moved on, getting married, having babies or being caught up
in high flying careers. None of these things have yet worked out for Penny
herself, and she feels stuck, waiting for her on-again, off-again boyfriend Max
to finally commit to a relationship or getting her long awaited promotion at
work. Every time she thinks she is close to her goal, something goes wrong and
she is thrown into despair. Is it any wonder her two best friends are losing
patience with her?
Novak writes with honesty and heart
and a generous dose of self-deprecating humour that made me chuckle even as
Penny goes through moments of despair. There was something original and
refreshing in Novak’s prose that kept me reading late into the night and stay
engaged, despite being able to predict where the story was headed.
NO HARD FEELINGS is a coming-of-age
story of sorts, as Penny slowly comes to grips with her own self, which she has
been trying very hard to suppress in her desire to belong and live up to the
expectations she has put upon herself by constantly comparing herself to
others. Even though I am almost twice Penny’s age now and already had two
children by the time I was twenty-seven, many of her observations still rang
true, especially her desire for purpose and belonging. Let’s be honest, some of
Penny’s self-doubts and insecurities will be encountered by most of us at some
stage in our lives, and Novak’s observations are spot on (even though I felt
like yelling at Penny in frustration at times, especially when she goes back
AGAIN to her jerk of an ex-boyfriend).
Summary:
All in all, NO HARD FEELINGS was a pleasure to read
and a book I may have passed by if I had not arrived on my doorstep one morning
courtesy of the publisher. Thank you, it would have been a terrible shame to
miss this one! I laughed, I raged and I deeply felt for Penny. To be so
emotionally involved with a character is the sign of a great story, and I
recommend it to women of all ages who have ever felt stuck or a bit lost in
their life. A feel-good read that ticked all the boxes.
Thank
you to HarperCollins AU for the free copy of this novel and
for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment