Loved this! I’ve always been a fan of the way Holly portrays female friendships in her books and thought the four different perspectives was great way to tell the story. However, Nicki’s victim complex became quite irritating and the labelling of Phoebe as a ‘predator’ felt dated. With that being said, I liked how the fire brought the girls together again in the epilogue and we got to see them each get somewhat of a happy ending.

Thank you NetGalley for the early copy!

Textbook Bourne. Hard-hitting at times and realistic in many ways. I found Lauren's sections particularly difficult to read and had a lot of empathy for her. I didn't like all of the characters, and perhaps that was the point.

I found the ending a little rushed but overall another excellent offering from Holly Bourne.

I found this book absolutely gripping and ripped through it in a couple of days. I very much appreciated the stark exploration of the realities of motherhood, as well as the presentation of a complicated and messy intersection of female friendships. I did however slightly struggle with the characters, who all struck me as so selfish that there were points where they lost me and I wasn't rooting for them through the finale as much as I might have. The exception to this was Charlotte, who I felt was wonderfully drawn throughout. I would highly recommend this book for people interested in the issues around the misrepresentation and instagramification of motherhood.

Emotional, enraging, unflinchingly honest: The new pageturner from Holly Bourne.

The very first sentence already plunges us facedown into the action: “The flames take the vulva piñata immediately.” Hence, from the very beginning, we know that this story of a baby shower gone bad is going to end in a devastating fire. But we don’t know who is responsible for the arson. What follows is structured like a thriller and just as gripping: Holly Bourne takes us back in time to the morning of the same day and we get to know the four main suspects: Steffi, Charlotte, Lauren and Nicki, best friends since uni and superficially inseparable. But beneath the facade, things are crumbling.

But what really makes this book a pageturner is not even the thriller-like plot. (Although that helps, of course.) No, it's the brutally honest, painful, infuriating, unflinching portrayal of what it means to be a woman in her thirties today. The big theme of the novel is motherhood, how it changes our lives and how it changes our friendships.

Just as I've come to expect from Holly Bourne, she has once again written a gripping novel that makes you want to shout "Thank you!" so many times when you read it. Because Holly Bourne is so good at creating situations and expressing thoughts in which you see yourself represented and that no one else (that I know of) can capture on paper quite as well as her.

One criticism I've had with Holly Bourne's novels is, that she seems to have a clear agenda with each book - there are always one or more points, messages that she wants to get across. This can sometimes seem a bit over the top or on the nose. Nonetheless, the feedback from her readers shows that she is opening people's eyes and/or that her books resonate with readers (including me). So, I am happy to forgive this small weakness because her books are so brilliantly told, so clever, so brave and so captivating.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the review copy!

This is actually the first book that I’ve read by this author, however I’ll definitely read more in future. The writing style is raw and unfiltered, yet the plot is relatable. I really enjoyed this book and would certainly recommend,

If I have to be nitpicky, I would have preferred the book without the 'whodunit' element, as for me the reveal was underwhelming

Ever since I heard Holly Bourne is coming out with a new book based on female friendships in their 30s and motherhood I knew I had to preorder it asap. Then I was SOOOO happy when I got accepted for review. This book opened my eyes - it's unflinching, honest and raw. While I didn't enjoy this as much as her other recent books (Girlfriends, You could be so pretty), she remains such an autobuy author for me. 3.5 stars

This new novel from Holly Bourne is about the relationships of a group of women who have been friends for a long time and their relationships with motherhood. One of the women is having a baby shower, another has recently given birth, one is child-free and one is desperately trying to conceive. The narrative switches between the women and their opinions on each others choices and gives an insight into how nobody really knows what is going on with other women. This is really relatable book no matter where you're at with fertility and the choice to have children. Would definitely recommend!

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for this advance reader copy!

From the very first page of this book, I was gripped. Holly Bourne is entirely unflinching and immediately sets the tone, no cushioning needed. She has perfectly distilled the modern woman’s voice. She uses it to weave a story that is a perfect balance of relatable mundanity with a really honest outlook on how complex it is to grow older around the people you love.

Firstly a massive thank you for my access to review , I own all of hollys books and love her work .
This was no exception!
With the focus and themes being on an older group of friends and the struggles life is throwing at them .
I raced through this only stopping due to that thing called sleep and life.
As a mum and a woman in her 40s this hit different in contrast to her other books .i had pnd with both of my children but in different ways and it was refreshing to read about the thought processes in her mind.
It’s a genre bending ,addictive , thought provoking and moral questioning story .
It highlights how even those who look to have it all have struggles .
Absolutely loved it and know this is going to be huge maybe even attract a new audience .
It fully emerges you into the pages and there’s some tense moments where you can’t quite believe what is happening !
I wish holly every success with this book .
Easy 5 stars all round !!

The focus is on four university friends and their different stages of motherhood (childless by choice/struggling to conceive/heavily pregnant/baby under one).

It's a sharp and witty account of a baby shower told from the POV of the four women. There's a blistering heatwave and we know from the start rhat the party is going to end in a catastrophic fire.

Part satire of motherhood and part blistering account of the agonies and ecstasies f having children. It's a fun read and well written account.

Thank you so much for letting me read So Thrilled For You. I absolutely adored this amazing book from the fantastic Holly Bourne
What could go wrong at a baby shower.
With 4 bestfriends from uni, all in slightly different phases of their lives. Lauren has baby woody, who she is struggling with getting the right sleep pattern. Nicki who's heavily pregnant at her baby shower. Charlotte's dream has always been to become a mum, but has struggled. Then there's Steffi, she's just launched her own business.
A lot of pressure all around, we get to see all the angles how wrong it can all go when they don't communicate

Holly Bourne’s *So Thrilled for You* is a powerful exploration of the shifting dynamics of female friendships in your 30s, where life choices around motherhood, relationships, and identity can drive friends apart or deepen bonds. Set during a heatwave at a baby shower gone hilariously wrong, the story captures the frustrations women face with societal expectations and personal biases. Bourne’s characters are messy, human, and raw, making every perspective feel genuine and eye-opening. True to her style, this book balances humor and hard truths, leaving readers with both laughs and deeper reflections.
Thank you to the publisher & netgalley for the arc!

I flew through this book, completely gripped. I found it quite hard to read where some of Laura’s story mirrored my own experience, but I’m glad someone is writing about birth trauma and the often dehumanising experiences of early motherhood.

In her first novel for adults, How Do You Like Me Now? Holly Bourne's snarky-but-sweet heroine Tori Bailey throws a baby shower. Expecting an afternoon of fun, gin and cake, she ends up with her cream carpets being trashed by toddlers while her old friends make passive-aggressive remarks at her while ticking every possible box of heteronormativity.

Here, Bourne takes four women - Charlotte, who in her smallness, primness and difficulty conceiving, resembles her SATC namesake; Nicki, the woman whose baby shower it is and whose identity is in flux; Steffi, a child-free publishing supremo who can't get a man to commit; and Lauren, frumpy mum of a one-year-old who's slowly going under after a traumatic labour and too many sleepless nights.

Throw in some memories of university 'cheese nights' and lots of miscommunication between the girls, plus a peony wall and a vulva pinata, on the hottest day of the year, and sparks are going to fly!

There were a couple of odd moments - I didn't get why Charlotte would invite the one guest that Nicki doesn't want to see, Nicki felt the least relatable of the characters, and I didn't get why she remained jealous of Steffi when any spark between Steffi and her husband was in the past. I was torn between identifying most with Lauren and Steffi, who seemed like real people, and the book feels like a bit of a love letter to publishing women Kimberly Atkins and Madeleine Milburn, who I'm sure have helped make this bravura book what it is.

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

Perceptive Delve.,
With a dark edge, a perceptive delve into the lives of four women and the expectations of mothers and motherhood and of female friendships and bonds. Whilst the mystery element is certainly here, it does feel secondary to the main emotional thematics. Well plotted and compelling and populated with a credible cast of characters.

A very honest depiction of life with a young baby after a difficult birth and the choices and heartache that the thirty something women face. The fire was sort of secondary although symbolic in this feisty, fun, scary account of female friendship.

Holly Bourne has a real knack of getting the reader completely absorbed in her characters and situation and the book flows along easily. Having said that (and bearing in mind that I'm probably not the target audience) I found most of the characters really irritating. I'd like to think that women have moved on from the 'perfect mother' trope but Lauren is constantly comparing herself with other mothers and finding herself wanting. The endless whining about exhaustion becomes exhausting in itself! Charlotte is completely OTT and Nicki is totally self-absorbed. The only one I could relate to was Steffi. As this is supposed to be a story about friendship it didn't resonate with me at all. If they were such good friends why didn't any of them try to help Lauren who was obviously struggling? The fire is an unnecessary part of the story but I suppose it gives the women a reason to start pulling together.

A good read but nowhere near the standard of 'You could be so pretty' which was stunning.

On a scorching summer day, four university friends are brought back together for a combination baby shower/gender reveal that goes disastrously wrong. Each of the four women have made different choices and are facing different struggles from Charlotte's challenges conceiving, to Steffi feeling judged for her choice to remain child-free. Holly Bourne's depiction of Lauren and the difficulties that this character faced with her traumatic childbirth experience and the struggles of being a new mother really stood out. It felt very honest and brave. By contrast I felt that I connected with Nicki the least. Her story revolves around her challenges with her identity and what she wanted out of life because it was impossible for her to get everything. However, it felt a bit rushed and perhaps her story needed more time, and Steffi could have benefitted from some more plot time as well. The theme of it being impossible to have it all comes up repeatedly, as whatever choice women make apparently society will only judge them.

The mystery of who started the fire was really only a small part of the book, it was much more about the women's different choices and their relationships with each other. The police interviews helped to break up the format and keep the pace of the book fast, but really near the end of the book I could believe that any of the four main characters would have done it. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the advance copy.