Why TROUBLE Will Be Your Next Favourite Book
14:10
By Non Pratt
Source: Second hand, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary,
In this dazzling debut novel, a pregnant teen learns the meaning of friendship—from the boy who pretends to be her baby’s father.
When the entire high school finds out that Hannah Shepard is pregnant via her ex-best friend, she has a full-on meltdown in her backyard. The one witness (besides the rest of the world): Aaron Tyler, a transfer student and the only boy who doesn’t seem to want to get into Hannah’s pants. Confused and scared, Hannah needs someone to be on her side. Wishing to make up for his own past mistakes, Aaron does the unthinkable and offers to pretend to be the father of Hannah’s unborn baby. Even more unbelievable, Hannah hears herself saying “yes.”
Told in alternating perspectives between Hannah and Aaron, Trouble is the story of two teenagers helping each other to move forward in the wake of tragedy and devastating choices. As you read about their year of loss, regret, and hope, you’ll remember your first, real best friend—and how they were like a first love.
Why TROUBLE Will Be Your Next Favourite Book:
1. It explores family themes like no other book. When you start this book, it’s pretty obvious this will explore families (I mean, there’s fucking sperms on the cover, what do you really expect?), but I never knew it would do it just so well. I loved the dynamics between everyone because they were so realistic, and family life was captured so well. Hannah’s family really became my own while I was reading this.
2. I adored all the characters! Trouble is told with 2 POVs, and I cared about each of the characters completely equally. I was really rooting for them all the way, and I found their story so captivating. I was hooked throughout the whole book, and found it really hard to put down, because of how much I just wanted everything to be okay! They had so much depth, and were so complex. Everything became too real, so I just didn't want the book to end!
3. SO. MUCH. FRIENDSHIP. This might have been one of the biggest ideas, and I loved it! It showed how much a true best friend can mean to us, and this was the aspect that really helped me. The platonic relationship between Hannah and Aaron made me realise so much about my own life, which was one fo the reasons I found this book so touching. It hit really close to home, and although this won't make it everyone's favourite book, I think it was really moving, and important for everyone.
4. It’s feminist. If you’ve read this, you might be thinking: “What on Earth is she talking about?!”, but hear me out. It doesn't explicitly deal with gender politics. But I found that the way this dealt with issues like slut-shaming, and misogyny in sex, really opened my eyes (and will do to so many other people). Let me explain further:
Hannah is known for being ‘easy’ in her school. Everyone has the idea that she’s slept with loads of guys, so she’s worth less. (Bear with me for this bit). The other protagonist, Aaron, doesn’t believe in any of this. He doesn’t think of Hannah any differently, even though his ‘friends’ are miming her giving them a blow job, and being really horrible about her behind her back.
I liked the way this was shown to be not true. It’s a really big issue for teenage girls today, and it was explored so well, if you want to look for the themes. It's another really important message that I took away from this book, and I think if you're willing to think about it a bit, it's really educational. Also, Hannah's self esteem and self worth is not dictated by these disgusting men. She knows it isn’t true, and that’s one of the reasons why I love this book so much.
5. It’s emotional af, but in a good way. There were sad points (yes, I did well up in the school library. I was having a tough day, ok?! *sniffs*), but there were also times when this book was so uplifting. I loved how happy it made me feel (the ending... it was perfect!). SO MANY FEELS HERE. It was sad and happy all at once, but overall, it was light-hearted (even if it dealt with some really hard topics), and such an enjoyable read.
6. It’s super meaningful, and has so many brilliant messages for you to take away. There’s some pretty heavy themes in the second half of the book, but they were dealt with so well, and the book was still kept light and enjoyable. These dark feelings a character had were really important, and weren’t glorified in any way. It was real, dark, yet uplifting because of how well they were dealt with.
7. It’s a sex positive YA, and deals with it really well. Although this won’t appeal to everyone, I think if you’ve made it this far, you’ve seen the cover, and you’ve seen the sperms! I think you’ve probably twigged that this book is (to some extent) about sex. I liked how it was shown, as it wasn’t the typical fade to black scenes. There certainly wasn’t any “and then I didn’t know where he ended, and I begun” crap that seems to be in 50% of the sex scenes I’ve read. It was so honest, which I think is so important in YA fiction.
As you can tell, I adored Trouble! I didn't expect for it to be one of my new favourite books right until I finished it. It's UKYA, so it very British, but I'd highly recommend it to everyone, from every country, because it was absolutely fantastic! Also, this is a new format of review for me, so let me know what you think!
Hello! I'm D - a dog-loving feminist from the UK. You'll probably find me with my nose in a book or playing my clarinet
12 comments
Such a great review! I didn't know that book before seeing this, but I'm so, so glad I did. It sounds like a really interesting story, and first-real best friends/first love?! THIS IS FOR ME. Thank you for this discovery! :D
ReplyDeleteMarie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books
It's waay too unknown! I think so many people will love it, so I hope to spread the word! I hope you get to read it soon!! It's such an amazing book, haha :D
DeleteThanks for the comment!
I recently read Firsts and really loved it - from the sounds of it, this book sounds like it deals with a lot of the stuff that I saw in Firsts as well! I'll definitely have to read this book!
ReplyDeleteGeraldine @ Corralling Books
I've heard a lot about Firsts, so I need to get to it soon! Hopefully I'll be able to read Firsts, and you'll be able to read this one, haha. I hope you enjoy it! :D
DeleteI haven't heard of this book before, but it sounds great! Adding it to my TBR pile! Wonderful review, by the way! :)
ReplyDeleteThank-you! I hope you get to it soon :)
DeleteWhile I'm not a huge contemporary reader, I'm always really happy to hear that there are novels out there that are feminist and sex-positive! It's super important that that kind of book be available (especially to teens)!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! I'm not usually a big contemporary reader too, but Non Pratt is one of my favourite authors, so I knew I had to read this. I'm so glad I did! It is really important, and I'll be recommending it to everyone!
DeleteOuhh! This book look SO good and right up my alley!:D
ReplyDeleteAnd Feminism? Sex positivity? All the feels? Give it to me!
You sure made ME want to read TROUBLE, so congrats for that! I'm definitely adding this one to my TBR!
Have a nice evening lovely!<3
YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK! It's so so good, so I really hope you get to it soon, and love it as much as I did!
DeleteThanks for the comment, Sophie <3
I NEED THIS BOOK! I have had it on my TBR since I read an excerpt from it and the whole thing just captivated me. On top of this being a brilliant sounding novel and your ahmazing review I just... I just want ;.; it.
ReplyDeleteYOU DO NEED IT!! Buy it now, so I can have someone to talk with, about it!! You'll almost definitely love it. So it's definitely worth it. Thank you so much!! ☺
DeleteThanks for commenting! I read and respond to every comment, so make sure to check back to see my reply. Have a nice day! ☺♥