Closer to reality than fiction - 4.5*

I'm going to be honest...I didn't think I was going to like this book - but I was wrong. I consumed this book. I truly think I set a record on how fast I read this book on my Kindle. Guinness World Records, I'm here. There was something about this book that meant I couldn't stop reading it. Perhaps, it was actually seeing well-thought out 40-year-old females, who play more than a supporting role in a book and are actually complex people and just really cool characters. Maybe it was my anxious mind; I literally could not commit a crime. I would start to panic, even in the planning stages. Perhaps, it was the plot that truly hooked me in. I loved the whole setup and steps leading up to it. I enjoyed how the plot continued to develop through each character's point of view.

Now unfortunately, I've either experienced the misogyny and clear sexism in this book or I've witnessed it. I hate that this book is so relatable but I love the hopeful nature of this. That maybe things can change. Not drastic change. This book isn't a magic wand but maybe it's a start.

This is a definite must read and I can definitely see this as a future Netflix drama or Reece Witherspoon film.

I loved the cover and title of this book - it really grabbed me. It also felt unusual - in a good way - to read a book centring on middle-aged women that didn't fall into one of the more stereotypical storylines 'middle aged woman solves murders' or 'middle aged woman goes on trip to Italy and has a romance'. I also liked the setting of Hamilton in South Lanarkshire. It felt like a really original concept for a novel.

The author writes about their characters affectionately, and there are many likeable moments of humour/banter. However, I didn't identify with the friends in the book as much as I'd hoped to. It bothered me that the way the women talked included a fair bit of internalised sexism (e.g. "Not like most women our age - boobs like baked potatoes and underarms you could attach a string to and take for a spin around the park.") The graffiti they spray up often mentions men - "WOMEN ARE BETTER THAN MEN, END OF", "MEN DRINK THE HOUSEKEEPING MONEY, WOMEN STRETCH IT", "A WOMAN NEEDS A MAN LIKE A FISH NEEDS A BICYCLE" - the slogans wouldn't pass 'The Bechdel Test'.

I would have liked the story to engage more with feminism now - rather than echoing the slogans of the 1970s/1980s. There is very little mention of modern feminism, or recent feminist icons, in the book - other than a couple of references to the #MeToo movement. The story reminded me a bit of the #MeToo movement - feminism for beginners, for women who didn't have feminist mothers, who are just catching on to the idea that feminism might be needed. Kim Kardashian gets a mention, but Magdalen Berns doesn't.

There are several flashback scenes to the 1990s, and these resonated with me more than the modern-day storyline. I liked the nostalgic details (the 'Friends' duvet!). The vignette of the awful exploitative/controlling sixth-form boyfriend Alfie felt very true to life. This is a good book, and a wonderful idea, it just wasn't for me.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Being on the wrong side of 40 myself I was able to empathize hugely with the four protagonists in Graffiti Girls. This is a wonderful story of friendship, hardship, feeing undervalued and put upon and I am sure so many people can understand what the author is trying to accomplish here.
Amy, Carole, Lenore and Susan have been friends since their school days and though their lives have taken different paths they still remain close to each other. They have reached the stage where they are all fed up with the way that life is treating them and the time has come for an act of rebellion and this comes in the form of making their grievances public by using graffiti as a weapon.
I laughed out loud whilst reading this book, it is beautifully crafted with very real characters and I really felt that I knew these women. Set in Hamilton in Scotland it really gives one a sense of the landscapes and people of the area. Such a good book.

Fun, heartwarming and uplifting. Packed with love, compassion and a sprinkling of feminist rage.

Friends Amy, Carole, Lenore and Susan have known each other since school. Now in their early forties, although they remain close their lives have taken different paths. They each have cause to reflect on how their lives are turning out, and feel rather short-changed.

Spurred on by acts of misogyny and the patriarchy, they decide they will not be silenced any longer, and embark on a clandestine project to make their voices heard by writing their message where it can't be ignored.

A lovely flowing writing style and a varied cast of likeable and familiar characters, whose lives and relationships we become invested in as they navigate and embrace their new place in life.

Loved this book about 4 friends Amy, Carole, Lenore and Susan who are fed up with being ignored and decide to fight back by spraying graffiti slogans on buildings. They soon get a reputation and are called the graffiti girls. by the locals in Hamilton, they each have a reason and I loved reading about their backgrounds.
Would highly recommend for a book about women fighting back.

Oh dear, I really didn't get in to this book at all. I didn't warm to any of the lead female characters and didn't much appreciate the stereotypes at play, such as the lesbian plumber. The graffiti spraying seemed to be amplified as a positive thing, which really charred with me and I ended up skimming pages just to get to the end. No surprise that the sisterhood was still very much intact at the end, which left me hollow. Sorry, but this novel just completely missed the mark for me.

I only intended to read a little of this book as I had things to do at home but it did not turn out that way. Once I started to read it was difficult to stop and then the day was over . What a wonderfully liberating book, I felt as though I was with them all of the way and wished I had the courage they did. As an older invisible woman dictated to by society, I howled with laughter, had my soul lightened and felt the surge of female empowerment within me. Just going back to read it again. No supper tonight !

Reading the blurb for this I wasn’t sure if this was a book for me………on reading it I realised it is a book for everyone,men and women and everyone can take something away from it……
We all know the feelings we get of ‘life has passed us by’ and ‘it’s too late to do anything about it now’ but for Amy and her 3 friends they decide to rebel and vent their feelings via graffiti in their hometown
It shocks and satisfies and empowers and brings alive the dormant but never gone younger selves of the 4
Quirky and ambitious as said it will make anyone who reads it who has faced any kind of prejudice think ‘YES’ well done you 4
Great read

This book was really heart-warming and original. I identified with parts of the stories of all the main characters, and felt that the author coped really well when dealing with 4 different 'main' characters, although of course Lenore and her story is the main focus throughout..

This book really surprised me as I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It carries a lot of key messages about treatment of women, taking control of your own life, self love and risk taking, and ultimately conveyed these in a light hearted and engaging story about friendship, love, change and growing up.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to any readers, especially women, in need of a positive and hopeful pick me up! I loved it.

Feeling overlooked and unheard, long-term friends Amy, Carole, Lenore, and Susan begin to graffiti public buildings in protest. They become known as the Graffiti Girls, experiencing a mixture of praise and backlash as tensions build.

In principle, the reawakening of this band of forty-year-old friends is a positive story as they reassess their lives and take back agency.

However, I struggled with the dynamic between the women, which at times verged on the negative – badmouthing their friends’ sons and husbands in front of them and a continued fixation on each other’s physical appearance.

Perhaps an equal lesson here is not only to ensure the men in our life don’t take us first granted or treat us like secretaries/maids but also that true friendship means giving each other our undivided support even when we are frustrated by the attitude of their loved ones.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to break the law? Maybe you have, or do, regularly. I am absolutely a rule-follower though, and so even the thought brings me out in an anxiety rash. Thankfully I can live vicariously through books, and it was in this spirit I picked up Graffiti Girls from NetGalley. 

Amy, Carole, Lenore and Susan went to high school together. Now in their 40s, they’re rapidly realising that they are being continually undervalued by - well, everyone, to be honest. Their partners, children, employers and customers take them for granted and they’re constantly hearing that their best years are behind them. 


Fuelled by the sting of one slight too many (and a few wines), the four embark on a covert campaign of graffiti vandalism around their hometown of Hamilton, scrawling feminist slogans on walls in the middle of the night. Soon their actions are a hot topic amongst media and locals - and while there is some condemnation, there is a rising tide of agreement and sympathy with their message. Maybe they’re not so past-it after all?


I lived just near Hamilton for some years, and being of exactly the same age range as the Graffiti Girls I could relate to so many of their experiences - if not me directly, from some of my friends. Life challenges across relationships, parenting, careers, and friendships are all covered here. If I were to have a small niggle it would be that occasionally some dialogue didn’t scan entirely authentically - I suspect due to over-zealous editing rather than the writer’s own voice. But it’s still recognisably Lanarkshire in location and vibes, complete with some d’nicely obscured local landmarks.

Many readers in their 40s and beyond will recognise the sense (fleeting or regular) that life is passing us by, or that early promise we may have displayed hasn’t quite come to fruition. We can all pinpoint missed opportunities, or wrong choices we’ve taken, and this book taps right into that.

There’s a lot of seemingly awful men in the book - though some unexpected outcomes kept my interest piqued - but few of them were irredeemable, and I felt that played well against the flawed heroines. I enjoyed the flashback scenes to the friends’ high school experiences - it really rounded out the characters and provided authenticity to their motivations and behaviours.


There’s so much to relate to in Graffiti Girls, whether you’re a rule follower or breaker. Now, where’s my spray paint?

Graffiti girls is an empowering read about women in their 40s who think their best days are behind them and realise that there’s a lot more in their lives still ahead. Best friends since school, the four women form a direct action group.to challenge the inequalities they see all around them.
I enjoyed reading it, there was an easy flow to the story telling and I enjoyed watching the women’s confidence and strength grow.

Was not quite I thought be based on the synopsis and the authors previous work but none the less this was a good read however it is not my usual type of book a bit too fluffy for my tastes which made the underlaying important messages get lost. I liked hearing about each if the characters individually though I felt they were really rather underdeveloped and lacked something. I enjoyed the setting having grown near up Hamilton but I felt the book over lacked proper Glasgow humour and dark wit. The ending was a real let down given the premise of the book tho it was a nice ending if you put aside the fact the full underlaying points I believe author wanted to get across . All in all despite its failing it was a quick fairly entertaining read but don’t expect a Ginger And Me it is very different.

A group of women who have been friends since school are feeling undervalued by society now that they've turned 40. I was excited to read this book as I loved Ginger and Me so much. It's brilliantly Scottish, witty and engaging. The women turn to expressing themselves through graffiti, causing some suspicion about who these new political activists are.