Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for this eArc for an honest review.

‘Say You’ll Be There is a celebration of friendship, a story of survival, and a fight against the notion that some girls were destined to quietly disappear’

For me this book didn’t quite hit the mark.
I couldn’t really connect with any of the main characters and struggled when picking it up.
It was a gritty, raw and sometimes uncomfortable read which I’m sure some readers will enjoy.

This was my first book by this author - a book written over two times periods and some fascinating characters. An enthralling read that will stay with me for a long time.

Say You’ll Be There had some much promise but something about the writing style just didn’t appeal to me; I found the narrative disjointed and the main characters lacking distinct voices, so they seemed to bleed into each other and I had to keep checking who was who.

wow this book focused in all my senses and plucked at heart strings i didn't know were there. i fell for the cover first off with this one. and i wrongly assumed it was a bright, light possible friendship adventure. but it was something different. something so much more than that. but somehow at the same time it was bright and still brought the light.
i love how it describes it in the blurb aswell. haha it hit home so much. 90s and dressing up for red nose day, as spice girls no less! the 90s has such a fond nostalgic backbone to it for so many. and for me i could picture the very scenes as if id been there, and indeed in my own way i had.
maybe this book also healed a little part of that young girl too. i was alongside these girls, these woman and fighting with them and for them.i couldn't put this book down and sat and let it soak into my skin.
there are some terms and themes that felt so close to home, they weren't easy, but neither were they at the time. and id like to say things have changed...
but what makes this book so readable so healing, so comforting if it doesn't sound so wrong to say about a book that captures so many harsh,raw and exposing themes. is that Nina handles them all with brilliant writing, a kind and caring touch. she does it with skill, with warmth and like she is hugging you as she tells you them. like she is calling them out so they don't stay buried. and fighting for all those who go through it. getting that balance between shining a thorough light on these topics but without being too much must be hard. and so i applaud authors that manage it as well as Nina did.
i love how we learn from each of our friends and also with a mixture of times so we know exactly what is going on. it never confuses though and just treads to inform you proper. it takes us on a full period from the time the girls were all at school together right through to their adult years. and we get to know each in their own right and also how those years, with time has changed them and within the group too. times shift and so do the roles they play and the time they spend. and of course through this time we witness what they went through. what they had to go through wasn't easy, fair or justified. but all within and there for each other was what was important. i love watching their bonds develop sometimes strained, pushed, pulled put forever tied.
in getting to know they you truly DO get to know them. this leads such greater understanding of their behaviour, actions and choices. you don't suddenly get thrust into a decision or event and make a one of judgement on it. you can GET it. you can understand them. you SEE them.
you go along with these friends. you become one of their friends. and you want to cheer, support and hold each one like a friend.
i am truly lucky to have been able t read such a book as this. it will sit within my heart and soul forever. books like this make me emotional just for how wonderful they are and how lucky and blessed i feel to get to read them.

𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄: Say You’ll Be There
𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑: Nina Millns
𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: 4⭐️
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“Sometimes it’s a slow awakening, years long. Of life experiences that teach you something different to what you had been told was normal.”
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𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒:

Wow. Wow wow wow.

Devastating and raw, heartbreaking yet full of hope, this book broke me and healed parts of me simultaneously.

You know that rare, unexplainable feeling you get deep within your soul when you find read a book and find yourself so wholeheartedly immersed in the story that you don’t want it to end — but equally you physically can’t put the book down because you just HAVE to see how it ends? This book gave me that experience. So much so, that I accidentally found myself wide awake, sobbing at 4am just to get to the end.

SYBT is definitely a heavy, and lengthy, read which tackles many dark themes within its 528 pages. While the humour at times can feel a little close to the bone, it’s important to remember the book is partially set in the 90’s and the comments and/or slurs were commonly used. Sometimes the uncomfortable is necessary.

Saying that, the entire book and the topics it handles — addiction, gaslighting, grooming, domestic abuse, alcoholism, love bombing, exploitation, sexual abuse, abortion, strained parental relationships, homophobia, racism and a minor x teacher relationship — are all approached with the care, sensitivity, dignity and grace they require and deserve - and I could tell very early on just how much research had been done. Nina has such a knack for delving into harder topics with the grace and sensitivity required, without ever making the reader feel like she's 'playing it safe', or 'insincere.

The overall structure of the book is actually everything I look for in a book; short chapters, a dual timeline (past and present), and is told from multiple perspectives, mainly following the 4 girls: Arianna, Tess, Dana, and Candace.

We go on a journey with the 4 girls throughout their formative high school years, right into adulthood. Through that, we get to see how their friendship with each other has shaped them; individually and as a group. We get to see the roles they have each played in each other's lives and the things they should never have had to experience, but experienced together. All this builds us up to the final few POVs where we see the unshakable imprint their sisterhood left on their souls and how a bond like theirs can never truly be erased.

The dual timeline, alongside the multiple POVs,a allowed me to fully connect with each character and understand their journeys, their struggles /and essentially their trauma before we were introduced to the present. This then allowed me to sympathise with certain characters and their questionable choices. Because I had been with them through their journey, seen what they’d been subjected to, I understood the heartbreakingly human choices they had made to some extent and how they would be a perfectly rational move for each character to make.

I almost felt - as the reader - as the fifth friend.

While I connected deeply to each character individually, for different reasons, the character that has haunted me the most since closing the last page is Arianna. I can’t say why as it’s a huge plot point, but if you know then you know. On a smaller and less severe scale, I could relate to her and I caught myself feeling so proud of the person she had become and the avenue she had gone down in her adulthood. Each characters backstories were so profound, and painfully realistic, and I found pieces of myself in each of them to relate to - and I found that so beautiful about this book.

“She understood now that it would never dawn on him that she had achieved all that despite him, not because of him. That she was in fact a miracle-worker to have just survived him.”

This story is about trauma, resilience, and the unshakable power of sisterhood. I feel honored to have read it early. It was emotionally devastating, heartwarming, hopeful and so beautifully written. There is nothing stronger than the bond between the family you choose for yourself.

I don’t think I will ever forget this book and the way the characters turned their scars into armour, and their pain into hope. This book shattered me in the best ways; it was devastating and entirely unforgettable. It will stay with me long after the last page.

Nina Millns looked the ‘second book curse’ straight in the eye and laughed at it - what a book.
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“What happens to the men who have been outed? What happens to the ones whose history has finally caught up with them?”

I picked this book because I immediately thought of the Spice Girls with the title and it turns out they have a part to play connecting these 4 girls with one another.
Following them through high school, later life, friendship and turmoil. Flicking between the points of view of each of the girls, and changing from past to present.
So many important topics were covered in this book, even though I feel it may need a trigger warning! From addiction, grooming, coercive behaviour, domestic violence and exploitation to name a few. This books covers these deep topics so well, with key expertise clearly gained and researched.
I kinda got Jacqueline Wilson vibes from this book, but obviously with an older reader in mind. Even though I do think what is discussed would be so important for teenage girls to read too.

Thank you for allowing me to read this ARC of this book.

I'd really recommend this book.