The best book I’ve read this year.
Freshers Summary
Phoebe has been waiting all summer for uni to start and her life to finally begin. And knowing Luke Taylor is going to be there too makes the whole thing even more exciting…
But Luke’s relationship is secretly falling apart and campus life isn’t proving to be the escape he thought it would be.
When the two collide in the madness of Fresher’s Week, everything changes – and they both get sucked into each other’s worlds in the most messy, intense and hilarious ways imaginable…
View Freshers on Amazon | Goodreads | Waterstones
Freshers Review
Freshers is without doubt my favourite book of the year so far, and it’s going to be difficult for anything to come close to knocking it off the top spot before I write up my top ten of 2017 in December. I bloody loved it.
I don’t think I can remember a book that made me laugh out loud as much as this one did. It is so, so funny, and I was in fits of giggles every other page.
The first term of uni for me (which was almost ten years ago now, gulp) was the most bonkers thing I’ve ever experienced. I can’t say I would ever want to go back and do it again, but I sure learnt a lot about myself and about humans as a whole. It was one of the most fun, terrifying, horrific and exciting few months of my life. I don’t think I’ve ever cried as much, argued as much, laughed as much or drunk as much as a did in those three months, and it definitely made me who I am today. It taught me who I don’t want to be, too, and for that I’m actually really grateful.
Reading Freshers was like experiencing it all again but without the consequences. No hangovers, no red eyes from crying all night long, no stomach swooping cringe-worthy moments that will haunt your nightmares for years. Instead you get to enjoy following Phoebe and Luke as they are thrown together with complete strangers and figure out where they fit in. You’ll experience the hilarity of clothes swap parties and the barmy conversations that come up when you’re fuelled by alcohol at 3am.
It absolutely hits the nail on the head, it’s is so true to life it’s quite frightening. Everyone who’s ever been to uni and lived on campus for a while will relate to Freshers on a whole new level. I know I’ve never read a book that’s so relatable.
For those yet to go to uni, it’ll give you a sense of what you’re in for if you decide to live in halls, something I’d have loved to have read in the summer before uni. And if you’re there right now, experiencing it for yourself, this is going to be the most fun read you could pick for your first term. It will help you feel so much less alone, knowing that everyone finds it as crazy and daunting as you are finding it right now.
I wish Freshers never ended. I want to carry on reading about Phoebe and Luke and Negin and Frankie, Josh and Mary and Arthur. I connected with these characters immediately and I felt like I was there with them the whole time. Some books feel like you’re looking down on the characters from a height, but with Freshers I felt like my feet were firmly on the ground and I was surrounded by them all, by York University’s grounds, by the horrible smells in the corridors and the jam-packed clubs.
Plus, with two authors writing the perspectives of our two main characters, their voices are so well defined so you’ll never be confused about whose point of view you’re reading.
Not only did I love Freshers because it’s funny, relatable and has an amazing bunch of characters, but also because I had no idea what was going to happen next. I could never have predicted the outcome of the entire novel, but equally from page to page it was continuously surprising me.
While Freshers is largely fun and friendly, it also highlights issues such as sexual harassment, sexual health, difficult relationships.
I can’t recommend Freshers enough. So much fun. It’s one of those books that I know I’ll read again and again, and it’ll make me laugh just as much every time.
Have you read Freshers? I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you’ve read any other books about university age students that you think I’d like, please let me know because I found it really refreshing to read YA about slightly older characters that haven’t quite made it into “adult” books yet.
My rating
**** 5/5 stars
You might also like
Brooklyn Girls by Gemma Burgess
Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando
