Wow, this lady is like me. I don’t want kids either and am surrounded by people (especially my mum) who think I will change my mind. I liked that this book is totally different to what is out there.

I need to point out some errors which I hope,isn’t too late to sort out. The author wrote “the crays” when it should have been “the krays”. Also, the author mentions the social media app tumblr being used however, the story takes place a year before the app was invented. Who proofread this book?!

All in all not bad but isn’t riveting.

Ahhhh!

Olive, Cecily, Bea and Isla have been best friends since childhood. They've experience everything together, break ups, boyfriends and bust ups. However, as the women get older, their friendship is tested as their life choices start to differ. We follow Olive who is adamant she doesn't want to have children, she is constantly surrounded by women who are either mothers, pregnant or trying to get pregnant. She then starts to question are her feelings normal?

This is such a refreshing read! This portrayed being at the age when people constantly harass you about when you're starting a family perfectly. It was great to follow a story out of the typical narrative when a woman is expected to settle down, have kids and just be content. This shows motherhood from all the different angles.

Olive felt instantly real to me from the beginning. I loved how this really tackled adult friendship and how you can feel isolated from the people you love because you're experiencing things at a different rate. I also adored how it didn't just end with the main character and instantly changing her mind about all her beliefs.

This is the perfect 'quarter life' read and I can't recommend this enough! I cannot wait to read more from this author!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for providing me with a copy to read.

Firstly a big thank you to the publishers for my netgalley copy . Im yet to read any of her non fiction books but i have heard great things.

This is a modern ,relevent and importamt novel about women . The friendships,the relationships,careers,highs and lows. What makes us who we are in todays society?

For anyone who has questioned their place and purpose in the big wide world ,meet Olive.

Olive is brave ,strong and unique. Not afraid to be herself and to ask the questions others wont. Shes outspoken and honest. Something that has got me in trouble myself as a woman.

Warm,witty and hits the spot like a g&t after a long week.

Highly recommend and will make the perfect summer read.

Published 23rd july

This book is about Olive, a thirty something journalist working at .dot, who has just broken up with her boyfriend of over a decade and is now at a crossroads as she watches her best friends settle down.

A really great book, with a topic that is so important for today's times - women choosing to not have children. Even today there is certainly an expectation that as soon as a woman turns 30 she will be choosing to have a child. I've experienced it with a doctor telling me that I should come off of the pill soon as I'm now 30 - this was without even knowing my circumstances and whether I could financially afford to have a child!
I'm so pleased that I read this. The characters are relatable, the writing is brilliant + Emma Gannon has done such a good job of writing a book that will resonate with a lot of women without seeming condescending.

This is a really refreshing take on life for a woman in her thirties. Olive was in a long term relationship and whilst they both loved each other and wanted to be together her adamance that she did not want children when he very much did was a deal breaker. Olive is really struggling due to the separation and really needed the support of her friends but she felt she couldn’t tell them unless in person and her keeping this to herself for so long is I think part of why she feels especially prickly about her decision to be child free. Sadly though because of this I found Olive hard to like as she came across as quite selfish, not because she didn’t want kids but her inability to empathise with the problems each of her friends were having, don’t get me wrong when you have your own issues it’s not always easy dealing with others problems though. I liked the many different aspects of motherhood and fertility struggles, it really does cover a plethora of perspectives. I found some aspects of this odd for example going to see a fertility expert to discuss the fact you don’t want kids(?!) but overall Olive is an inspirational character.

This perceptive story focuses on a woman's right to choose a childfree life.
Everyone has the right to make their own decisions about whether or not to have children - but it seems to 32-year-old Olive Stone that she has to justify her decision to remain childfree, even to herself. In her quest to discover if she is justified - or just unnatural - Olive investigates like-minded group Childfree By Choice and visits therapists and Reiki masters - but in then end, of course, she must make her own decision as to where her happiness lies.
But will she lose more than she gains? She's already sacrificed a loving relationship with boyfriend Jason over the issue. Now it seems her three close friends - Bea, who is a mother of three; Cecily, who is abut to give birth, and Isla, who's onto her third round of IVF - might be slipping away from her, too. Caught up in their own dramas, they sometimes seem to have little sympathy for Olive, or she for them, What happened to the girls they once were?
Too often, we stumble along in life, doing what is expected of us, but this funny and perceptive read will make you question your own choices. As important as the issue of to-be-or-not-be a mother is, the overriding theme of this nartrative for me was friendship - the author tackled it brilliantly, showing friendships can falter and alter, but true friends will always have your back.

A rare book about a woman who doesn’t want to have children, Olive is a great timely read, following Olive as her friends all start to begin families, the questions and attitudes she faces and her own soul searching about her decision. A really good read that will resonate with many.

TW: struggles with getting pregnant and IVF, cheating, death of a character (not seen but mentioned)

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Fiction for allowing me to read an eARC of Olive.

Where do I even start with how much I loved this book? The plot was just so refreshing and felt so unique compared to other contemporary novels i've read about a friendship group of women. I loved every moment of this book and couldn't put it down from the first few pages that I read.

I felt that it was so easy to relate to Olive and the way she was feeling; there are such expectations put on women, especially when we reach late twenties/early thirties that we should have found the one and settled down and be on our way with children. But life doesn't always work like that and it's not for everyone. Whilst I don't relate to her child-free desire (but really why is the question always when, not if), I definitely related to her feeling that she was out of the loop with her friendships and that they were all moving so far ahead of where she was. Being the only single person out of all of my friends makes me often feel that i'm falling behind or having missed some step somewhere in life. So this book just feels like what I needed to read. I like that the ending's weren't solved for all the characters, life isn't a cabaret and you can't solve every issue in 400 pages.

The book portrays women in different stages of their lives, all of whom are having issues but not quite wanting to admit where they're failing. I loved that this friendship group felt real; they offended one another without meaning to and it took time for them to sort things out. They all felt fleshed out and I enjoyed reading about each different woman.

It's definitely a difficult read at times; Olive is certain that she doesn't want kids and her friends think this is just a phase, whilst her friend Isla is desperate to have kids and is continually struggling with IVF, and then there's Cec who's just had a baby and didn't perhaps realise how difficult it was going to be, and then Bea with her three lovely kids but her failing marriage. They said things and did things that were insensitive to one another but they were each grounded in their own views and opinions that they didn't always realise it. It just felt real to me and that there were still some tensions towards the end of the book.

My only niggle of this is the relationship for Olive at the end of the book; it did feel slightly rushed and how she quickly became this step-parent and I feel that that could have been done away with and the book would have been just as strong. But it didn't ruin my enjoyment of this book at all.

One thing this book has really highlighted for me is my own behaviour and mistakes; I have definitely been guilty of asking newly married friends when they'll be having a baby - because this is what society expects. So I think this has definitely pulled me up on that.

Overall I just absolutely loved this book and really highly recommend it!

I really loved this book. It was one of those reads where I started out with no particular expectations and then suddenly realised 'I am loving this!'

Olive and her three best friends have been close since childhood. They know everything about each other and have shared highs and lows. When we meet the girls they are in their 30s and living four very different lives. And suddenly they find there are pressures on their friendship which they could never have imagined.

Olive has just split up with her boyfriend of nine years because he is desperate to have a family and she is completely certain that she does not want to have children. Never ever. And no, she won't change her mind in years to come. While Olive has made the active choice to be child free her friends are living very different lives. One has a rambling, chaotic child-filled house, one is a successful lawyer who suddenly finds herself struggling to look after a baby and the third is tied in knots of anguish through her failure to conceive. Olive suddenly finds herself very alone. She hasn't even told her friends that she and her ex have split up. She wonders why she feels the need to justify her life decision and doesn't feel supported.

All four girls find themselves in a place where they need their friends more than ever but they are finding it difficult to connect; to support each other but feel their needs and opinions are heard too.

If that makes it sound a heavy read it isn't. The characters are all very human and likeable. It is just a lovely portrait of friendship and life with and without children. It was a pleasure to read.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy.

Olive was a breath of fresh air. I am in a similar position (and the same age) to Olive and I felt so known, so heard, so understood while reading this book. It was like venting with a friend. This is SUCH a necessary read. Thank you so much for the ARC!

1.5 stars~
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm really sad that I didn't like this as much as I was hoping I would. I dont know if I'm just not the target audience being slightly younger than the characters, or if I just didn't like the plot of the story and the writing style as i found it monotonous, and sometimes, it felt like a 12 year old complaining constantly. However, this has never stopped me from enjoying books that I'm not the target audience for. I found it really difficult to get my head into this book, and it put me off of reading for a while as I found it tedious.

When I started this book, I worried that it and I just weren't going to get along. Despite being 30+, and going through some stuff, Olive can come across as immature and self-centred. And the opening scene, with four giddy girls leaving university and dramatically screaming and sobbing all over each other did not sit well with me. However, thankfully, there was a lot more going on in these pages, which managed, in a non-judgemental way, to raise good questions about having children and whether you even need an obvious reason if you don't.

So, after that opener, I thought I would have some problems with this book. And there were times when I was quite frustrated by it - some good therapy, or even just hearing what each other was saying would have sorted a lot out.

But there are a number of important messages here for all women (however, if you are looking for diversity in your reading, you won't find it here ...).

Although this is a book about one woman navigating in her own head that she doesn't want children (which doesn't necessarily require a 'why'),  and that the decision to not want children can affect your relationships, friendship and how other people perceive you.

But this story was also about an established mother dealing with her own family, a new mother struggling and a woman desperate to be a mother.

And, for once, in this style of feminist rom com/women's literature (both terrible category titles that don't quite cover this) all of those friends actually had backstory, voice and motivation and required support of their own - finally the best friend group didn't just feel like side characters that revolve around the MC's all-important self discoveries!

There were inconsistencies within that though - Olive can't relate to their problems, so she doesn't always hear them, or know how to support her friends, although that goes both ways. And, at times, with their different jobs and outcomes, this feels like a reimagined British Sex and the City (for grown ups).

The narrative is also a little bit jumpy at times - it's not always clear how quickly these events are taking place (days, months, weeks?) and the jumping between 2008-2018 and 21019 doesn't always add a huge amount to the story except context. I'm also not clear on whether Olive is actually writing articles about women not wanting children - she goes to events as research, but it's never explicitly said that she has written articles on this, until her friend Isla calls her out for it. And, although there are plenty of fun pop culture references, a lot of these fill a little clumsy and awkward - like naming the song and the artist, because details?

Although there is an awful lot of crying, and everyone could do with a good therapist - especially Olive - there is also a lot of moving on, of trying new things and developing as a person, which makes the ending (the Prologue), a really nice way of rounding the story off. It's not all about happy endings, but it is about the strength of friendships.

There is also a really important message in all of this - that you don't have to know 100% what you want, or why you want it - but all of the decisions you make will get you to where you want to be, as long as they are your own authentic choices.

As a woman who knows she wants children, at times this book ended up making me want them more - a lot of the reasons women give for not wanting children are reasons have the opposite affect on me.

HOWEVER, for someone who doesn't want children, or just doesn't know yet, I think this book has the potential to be very empowering and deals with a number of issues around families, child-free and fertility in a good way - it's not all one-sided, or hammering home an agenda - it's about being able to make a judgement-free choice for yourself.

Realistically it's 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

A well-told story about what it means to grow up and grow apart from your friends, how to choose the best path for yourself and remember to judge your own happiness, not against other people's chosen ways of living. And how, eventually, that allows you to build better relationships with those friends as well.

Olive is a thirty something year old woman who is sure that she doesn't want children. From her tight knit group of friends, she's the only one that feels like this. Being of a similar mindset and age to Olive, I found this book so relatable and it definitely isn't something you see written about that much. I haven't connected with a character in a book like this for a long time and I was so sad to finish it. This is definitely the best book I've read this year and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I received a free digital copy for review purposes but I have already preordered a couple of copies to pass on to friends who I know will love it as much as I do!

Olivia – Olive to everyone but her mum – has a great job, great friends and a life that she is pretty happy with. She’s made a lot of choices and decisions in life but there’s one biggie hanging over much of how she currently feels. Sometimes there’s too much choice, too many options and they can leave you feeling a little shellshocked. At a difficult crossroads, Olive has to decide if what she wants is what her best friends have, or if it’s something a little different. We follow Olive and her friends on their journey and you have to feel empathy for her. She is clever, funny, insightful and above all, a bit lost. I enjoyed reading how she thought out what she wanted and I think there’ll be many who will feel a sense of closeness to the character.

Olive Stone is a thirty-something career woman living in London. She’s ambitious, headstrong, and witty. Her best friends, Bea, Isla and Cecily have been her closest companions since her school days. When they graduate university, they promise to keep their tight-knit bond at the forefront of their lives. But when met with life’s ups and downs, that pact is much easier said than done.

As Olive’s friends move through life, with their careers, their marriages, and their families, Olive starts to question her choices. Because her life looks different. But the thing is, Olive doesn’t want the same things her friends do. Mainly, she doesn’t have the same maternal desire her friends have.

The book jumps between the past and present years of Olive’s life. I didn’t expect this format, but it made it so such much easier to get to know the characters. Although the entire story is told from Olive’s point of view, the reader gets to know her friends incredibly well. Like most friendship groups, every person plays a role. I really like how the author managed to keep each voice very unique but lifelike. No character bled into another, they all had a different tone which added to the authenticity of this tale.

I love that I can’t relate to the main character in any way, yet it’s so easy to empathise with her. Her personal battle isn’t something I’ve given much thought to, but it didn’t diminish how she felt to me. Olive is so human it was difficult not to feel for her. She isn’t perfect by any means. There are a lot of things she does that irritate me. But it was an understandable irritation, the same way you become irritated with yourself for mistakes and missteps. Olive has her good days and her bad, and I like that the author included both in her story. It made everything seem more down-to-earth.

I adore the bond of friendship between the women. This is another huge highlight for me. I wish I had that kind of friend group. Even with the bumps in the road, the love and loyalty they have for one another is really heart-warming to read. The dynamic between the four women is entirely lifelike and representative to modern-day friendships. Some grow close while others drift, then it switches depending on circumstance, then it switches again. There’s a genuine flow that really grounded the conversation between Olive, Bea, Isla and Cecily.

Gannon’s writing is warm and compassionate, even as the characters in her book struggle with weighty issues. Motherhood is explored in a variety of ways through the characters, and no path feels less significant than the other. This book really forces you reflect and it’s a brilliant quality for a novel to have. As we see the group evolve, it subtly pushes the reader to examine their own choices and desires.

The only thing that stopped this novel being a five-star read was the length. Some chapters or moments didn’t feel necessary, and I was tempted to skim a few pages. I also appreciate that Olive was going through a very real struggle and felt alone, but her thoughts felts repetitive from time to time. There were a few times I felt like the character said the same things over and over.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Olive. This debut novel explores a woman’s decision to live child-free, life after a break-up, female friendship, and navigating adulthood. And Emma Gannon’s original and honest voice made it a refreshingly pleasant read.

Olive tells the story of Olive (unsurprisingly) and largely focuses on her relationship with her three friends - Bea, Isla, and Cecily - and her realisation that she does not want children when it seems like they are all her friends can think about.

For me the standout of this book was the characters, all four members of the friendship group are complex and have their own issues, but none of them are really made out to be a hero or a villain. Instead, we get to see it from all of their sides, the book is told from Olive's perspective and of course, we are rooting for her, but it is also easy to see how she may be in the wrong, and how each of them may feel that their own problems is more important than everyone else's.

I also really enjoyed the use of flashbacks throughout this story and we got to transition between the present day and earlier memories from the girls' friendship. Not only did it allow a wonderful contrast between their relationships then and now, but it also provided wonderful context, and made the characters even more realistic than they might have otherwise been. By learning about what has happened in the past, it made their present-day decisions even more complex, but also made me understand them all even more.

This book was also highly readable and I found myself flying through it. At the end of the day, this book is a lot more character-driven than plot-driven so if you like a fully fleshed out story then this might not be the book for you. But I loved this as a character and relationship study, on the commentary on whether children are right for everyone. I appreciated that it was made clear that Olive didn't hate children, she just didn't want them for herself.

I think books like this are increasingly important for me personally, as I become older and start to worry out the future it can sometimes be reassuring to remind myself that not everyone knows where they're going with their life, and that not everyone is following the same path. Olive was a lovely insight into a millennial life and while I'm not 33 and surrounded by new mothers, the feelings that Olive had when thinking about her future were something I could really relate to.

Hmm - this was an okay read - I did enjoy it to a degree but just found the overriding theme of being child-free a little monotonous. I enjoyed more the interactions between the four friends and the changing relationships between them but overall I found it not really to my taste. I' know others love it though.

I enjoyed this - it was great to see lots of family-based issues spoken about in such a frank & open way. One criticism though, and please somebody correct me if I’m wrong: I don’t think there was a single POC in the whole book? 🤔

As much as I think the message of this book is really important and it is empowering for woman who decide not to have kids to read books with the same story. The characters were well developed and the friend group equally as messed up as the other.
I'm not sure because this was a pre-release copy if the final edits has been done, as there were a lot of grammar mistakes and spacing errors in the beginning.
I know I can't talk my grammar is shocking but you just would of thought they would of been ironed out.

But it is so full of cliches and stereotypes that by the time I got to the line about Olive 'going to see a Reiki healer it fitted all of the Millennial cliche.' Olive is a 30 year old single in a job with.dot a trendy on line magazine whose three friends are marrying, have children or in IVF, husbands having affairs, when she splits from long time boyfriend Jacob because she doesn't want children. Olive goes through a transitional time of her life and ends up..oops no spoilers. Some of my friends have made similar decisions in their life, it just seemed to drag on