My Hot Friend: A funny and heartfelt novel about friendship from the bestselling author

Product Information

Joanne's just had a baby but her friends keep forgetting she's no longer available for tequila fuelled nights out. If Where I End was a horror story about being bound by the blood knot of family, My Hot Friend is more like a rom-com - a buddy-com? I just felt that the situations they were in at the beginning felt very contrived and it felt very predictable where the various storylines were headed. Their stories come together in unexpected ways - sometimes very funny, sometimes very sad - and their friendship grows slowly over the course of the book. I am no mental health expert but I found the discussion of Claire's bipolar to be raw, real and urgent - especially when I learned that White has the same condition.

All three women are in situations where they really need some support, but feel that those who they should be able to count on, they no longer can. The title for this review should probably be "Never judge a book by its cover" This book sat in my Kindle for months because the cover made me think it was 'fluffy chick lit". Joanne a new mum and the first of her friends to have a baby, but her pals keep forgetting that she's no longer available for tequila-fuelled nights out, and Claire is the nanny who's Whatsapp chat with her old school friends is ominously quiet these days, which can only mean one thing - a side group without her. Every relationship is complex and dynamic, showing the confusing and frustrating sides of friendships that can happen when people change or get lost.The second half largely focuses on illness and I did like the way it was dealt with - I felt it was very real and showed how illness is dealt with both from an individual’s perspective and from her friends and family. Claire is perhaps the most relatable narrator for a reader without kids and struggling with friendships as they get older (it me). Sophie captures mental illness with such rawness and realness that I found the book increasingly difficult to read but in a good way. Entertaining, poignant, wise and funny; contemporary fiction at its sharpest and so gut punchingly relatable . I genuinely don't think Sophie White can do any wrong when it comes to writing, which she's again in My Hot Friend.

White also shines a light on the true realities of early motherhood and isn’t afraid to show that it isn’t all cute insta friendly matching outfits and smiles. White's characters are beautifully developed, with even the most unlikeable ones given thought and shown empathy at stages throughout the text.I loved how fate brought the three girls together and how there friendship in the end was stronger than the longer friendships in the book, showing that it doesn't always matter how long your friends with someone but instead matter how's supportive they can be.

I recently heard one of those rare Republican never-Trumpers, Adam Kitzinger, talking on the Bill Maher show, about how his family had decided he was the devil for having turned on Trump. Her depcition of a manic episode is genuinely frightening to read, as is its aftermath, and there is more than a brief reminder of White's darker writing in the latter chapters. The Whatsapp chat with her old school friends is ominously quiet these days, which can only mean one a side group without her.As I said I rolled my eyes because if someone is rude/mean/dismissive of me now I'd not sound a whole lot of time wondering how I could make them like me. I loved the different relationships in this book (and by this I mean friendships too, not just romantic relationships) and at times I laughed out loud.

Finally, the meat of the book: the sections that brought My Hot Friend from a 4 to a 5 star read for me. I definitely think that anyone reading the book could definitely identify with the feelings the main characters go through including being left out of plans.I appreciate that it does discuss mental health issues and how friends and friend groups change as we get older and each goes through different things. This was a bit of a slow burn for me - until the three women’s lives became intermingled, I wasn’t really feeling it but once that kicked in, I was fully invested and couldn’t wait to find out what happened. Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. To cavil over this would be a bit like grumbling about quests for powerful magical objects in fantasy. My only qualm with this book, alongside some moments of slow pacing, is that I would have liked more insight into the character of Amanda.