I literally couldn't get enough of this book and devoured it in under 24 hours. It's definitely a book I will re-read in the future.

The writing was stunning, Sally Rooney really did capture the essence of growing up and the dynamics shifting between school and university so brilliantly. My only issue was with the formatting of the speech, it was sometimes unclear what was actually said out loud and what was thought.

I absolutely loved the two protagonists. They had such different fleshed out personality yet remained so loveable to me. I really loved the way their relationship develops in the book and some of the scenes in here broke my heart. I wanted to hate Connell, because at times he was a massive idiot ,but he genuinely didn't mean to be. He was a loveable idiot. I also loved the fact that his behaviour was explicitly called out for being wrong and there was clear communication!!!

I also enjoyed the depiction of two very different family dynamics in this story, at times being hard to read but ultimately giving amazing insight into where these characters have adapted from.

It did a great job of discussing coming of age, not fitting in, grief, sexuality and a whole host of other topics with tender authenticity. I really loved this book.