The Pieces Of Ourselves: SYNOPSIS
Flora doesn’t do people”, not since the Incident that led to her leaving school midway through her GCSEs. The Incident that led to her being diagnosed with bipolar II. The Incident that left her in pieces. Until Hal arrives. He’s researching a story about a missing World War I soldier, and he wants Flora’s help. Flora used to love history before the Incident, but spending so much time with Hal is her worst nightmare. Yet as they begin to piece together the life of the missing soldier, a life of lost love, secrets and lies, Flora finds a piece of herself falling for Hal.
The Pieces Of Ourselves: FIRST SENTENCE
I have picked the worst possible moment to be standing on the pavement outside the village shop: the exact moment the bus to the sixth-form college goes past on its last morning run of the term.
The Pieces Of Ourselves: MY OPINION
With The Pieces of Ourselves, I’ve finally found a book which I was unable to put down. Haven’t had this feeling in a while. I just loved everything about this book. The characters, the story, the writing style. It was such a happy, honest and different read and I am so glad I picked it up.
The main character Flora talks about an ‘Incident’ that happened a year ago and which made her leave school. She now works at Hopwood Holmes hotel where she met her best friend Mira. The hotel is her safe space, where people don’t know her, where no one knows about the Incident and her disease. I liked Flora from the beginning on. She was such a strong, round character. In some ways she reminded me of myself, always overthinking and worrying what other people might think. She is scared of what people might think of her after she got diagnosed with Bipolar II. I haven’t read any books where the main character has Bipolar II but I appreciated learning more about it and Maggie Harcourt did a great job bringing across Flora’s feelings and what the disease does to her.
Hal, our male main character, arrives at the hotel as a guest. He comes to the Hopwood Holm hotel to find out more about a soldier who served in WWI. The hotel’s manager tells Flora to help Hal with the project and the more she gets into the story of this WWI soldier, the more intrigued she gets and the more Flora and Hal get closer. Their feelings for each other grow slowly, a slow brun romance. It felt so real, like that first love you will never forget and I loved that about the book. Everything felt so real in The Pieces Of Ourselves.
As Hal and Flora start to put the pieces of the WWI story together, Flora slowly picks up her own pieces and she starts to be happier and stronger again.
I would have never thought that I would like the researching part of the book but I loved it. It reminded me a little bit of ‘The Longest Ride’ where the main character Sophia learns more about the story of Ira and his wife. I was scared that I would be bored by all the history but as Flora got more and more into the world of WW1 and couldn’t stop researching and finding out more about Albie and Iris, I got intrigued by it too. Her passion for it was contagious. I really, really enjoyed this aspect of the book.
Overall, this story was just so good. I literally loved everything about it. Flora’s brother and his partner, her best friend Mira. All characters were so lovable, so real and I wish there were more books like this one out there. I had the feeling I was part of the story.
The Pieces Of Ourselves: SUMMARY
Like I mentioned above, I loved everything about The Pieces Of Ourselves and so far it’s my favourite book of 2020. I can’t wait to read more books written by Maggie Harcourt.
So, if you are looking for a story with real characters, a strong storyline, a little bit of history, a real romance and just an overall feel-good read, then The Pieces Of Ourselves is the perfect YA book for you. Well, I would say The Pieces Of Ourselves is for everyone.
Such a good book, wow.
The Pieces Of Ourselves RATING: 5/5 ★
Find all details about The Pieces of Ourselves on Goodreads and Amazon.
Picture Cover: Amazon ; Synopsis: Goodreads
*Thank you, Usborne Publishing for sending me a copy.
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This sounds intriguing! I don’t read a lot of YA but I think this one could convince me ^_^
Author
Me neither! That’s why I was even more surprised that I liked it so much 🙂