“GIRLCRUSH is a dark feminist comedy by bestselling author Florence Given. In Given’s debut novel, we follow Eartha on a wild, weird and seductive modern-day exploration as she commences life as an openly bisexual woman whilst also becoming a viral sensation on Wonder Land, a social media app where people project their dream selves online. But as her online self and her offline self become more and more distanced, trauma from her past comes back to haunt and destroy her present. Eartha must make a choice: which version of herself should she kill off?”
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Trigger Warning: mental illness, toxic relationship, gaslighting, sexual assault, biphobia, suicidal ideation, emotional abuse, self harm
Florence Given’s (she/her) Girlcrush is my first opportunity in partaking in a Tandem Readalong over on Instagram, and it’s safe to say it was quite fun, what, with all the prompts we are given to answer, and the sense of community, knowing that we are all reading the same book as one collective group, all from different parts of the UK!
I’ve seen a lot of discourse online about how bad this book is, and all I have to ask is: did we read the same book? I found it amazing.
I quite loved Eartha as a character from early on, and as the book progressed, even though she was becoming a completely different person to the one we were introduced to, but was it ever really her fault? I knew from early on that we weren’t to trust E.V, there was just something in the back of my mind telling me not to, and look how it ended up for Eartha!
There is a lot of focus on the negative side of social media in this book, and rightfully so. It can be a scary place if you have a large audience and have to constantly second guess your words. However, this being said, I do think that if you play it right, having an online presence can be a fun thing, just take a look at my Instagram account, for example; I’ve met some great people online who share the same hobbies as me, and I love sharing my views with them!
I’d recommend Girlcrush to anyone who needs to learnt hat social media shouldn’t rule your life, as well as anyone who is looking for an empowering story about women getting their revenge.
Girlcrush is already put, but thank you to Tandem Collective UK for the ARC and the readalong opportunity!
All the love,
Jade x
Tea Stains and Book Spines 