Review of ‘Poptastic’ by Victoria Holmes
Victoria Holmes’s lesbian debut novella ‘Poptastic’ is a real challenge for me to review. Because I’m the absolute opposite of the main character Julia and for that, I didn’t always understand her behavior.
This is an entertaining story about a group of lesbians in their mid-twenties who’ve known each other for many years. It is told from Julia’s point of view. She doesn’t want to be one of the bridesmaids for one of her friends and doesn’t like her job either. Instead, she is more interested in following celebrities on social media. She loves to hang out with her friends in bars and clubs. She desperately tries to find a girlfriend via a dating app called Kiss’er. She’s dating so many women she fears the pool of women in London will dry out before she’ll have found the perfect one. When a tv-music star shows interest in her, her life becomes a crazy rollercoaster ride which also affects her friends. Sometimes you can’t see what’s in front of you.
Maybe I’m just too old and as I said at the beginning I’m the opposite of Julia. I don’t drink much alcohol, I’m not interested in celebrities and I’m not one for insta-love. If I set my personality aside, this is an entertaining story about a woman who needs some time to realize there’s more to life than fame and celebrity status. Thanks to her careless actions long-lasting friendships are endangered and it’s not easy to get them back on track. The group of friends is very diverse with some interesting women. The most intriguing character for me was Julia’s best friend Kit and I would have liked to get to know her more.
Trigger warning, there is a side story about one of her friends who is stuck in an abusive relationship. Will she be able to find a way out? This part of the book is not easy as you can imagine, but I have to give the author some credit, that she could introduce this tough theme into a rom-com story without making it awkward.
Overall, it is a fast-paced entertaining read about a group of young women who are trying to find their way in life. Sometimes a bit rough, too detailed descriptions of fallouts and really not my lifestyle. But besides this, it held my attention and I wanted to know if Julia finally would discover who her real love interest was and if she could learn from her mistakes. Sometimes I just had to shake my head about how careless she was acting and in real life, I would have screamed at her. My rating 3.5 stars.
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
