What does it mean to be a 'good woman'?. Olivie Blake explores this and rakes through feminism in a hauntingly gory way. I loved the concept, I could relate to so many of the characters struggles - balancing work, family life, self-care, being a wife and womanhood in general. I would have liked more background on the ritualistic elements, purely for my own interest. I really enjoyed Olivie's prose in this novel, I felt swept away by it at times in a good way. A great novel to get your teeth into.

Girl Dinner is a new standalone from Olivie Blake. The story follows Sloane who is a professor and has spent the last eighteen months with her newborn daughter. Sloane worries about her daughter and her husband doesn’t pay enough attention to her or his daughter. The story also follows Nina Kaur who is a sophomore who joins The House. The house will ease her years of failure and make her a success. Nina and Sloane will both be drawn into the sisterhood but will have to decide if they can stomach the cost.

Wow. I really enjoyed this and I can see this being super popular. It’s a sad girl novel in disguise and I loved it. The girlies who love weird fiction will really love this. The writing was accessible and I found it easy to get into the story. I enjoyed reading from both Sloane and Nina’s perspective. I particularly appreciated Sloane and how much she had to deal with. This had some absurd moments which just made me laugh out loud with shock. I loved the twists in this and thought it was perfect. This had so much to say about womanhood and motherhood. Sloane worries she’s not good enough for daughter and whilst I don’t have children I’m sure many women will be able to relate to that. It’s clear from reading the author’s note that Olivie Blake put the love she has for her son into Sloane’s love for Isla. That was really beautiful. This was so good and I can’t stop thinking about it. I hope Olivie Blake writes more stories like this. I loved it and will be recommending this to everyone I know.

Olivie Blake the woman that you are!! This is one of my favorites ever from her-i was completely totally hooked from the beginning. An observational, smart horror/thriller (the gore is minimal) i had such a fun time despite feeling a low level anxiety that permeated each chapter with insidious female rage. Also not for nothing, as the mother of two young children Blake’s observations on the inequality of parenting EVEN in a “liberal” household rang extremely true and cut to the quick, in my personal experience.

I really connected with Girl Dinner. It is a clever and emotional read that dives deep into what it means to grow up and figure out who you are. The main character, Liv, is raw and real, with all her flaws and struggles laid bare, which made her feel so relatable. I loved how the story explores her messy relationships and the way she’s trying to find her own path amidst the chaos.
What stood out most was how Blake balances the heavier themes with sharp humour and moments of tenderness. Liv’s journey isn’t neat or perfect, but it feels honest and unfiltered, which I really appreciated.

Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake

"𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒖𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒊𝒄 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚-𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅."

Girl Dinner is a dark novel about power, a lust for life, and a sisterhood. It has themes of dark academia and a strong point of view towards feminism. We witness sorority friendships, motherhood, and a sprinkling of feminine rage.

Wow! This book really got me thinking, about feminism, about what it means to be a woman, or to be a young girl growing into the world that we live in. I really enjoyed the friendships between the sorority girls and the complexities of the characters. I also really enjoyed watching Sloane evolve into something powerful.

Like, what makes us "good girls?" Can we choose power and beauty? Do we have to chose or can we have it all?

Excuse the pun, but I completely ate this book up! It's thought provoking, the dinners' are deliciously yummy and I just couldn't get enough of it! I was routing for the sisterhood and everything they fight for.

This book has officially surpassed my favorite Olivie Blake book.

This is a slow burn cannablistic story of a mother returning to work and dealing with the internal mom guilt we all tend to deal with, whilst also navigating in a male dominated space with a husband who is both useless at home and at work.

We also follow a new pledge for The House as she navigates her sophomore year of college and becoming a member of The House.

Olivie Blake has done it again!! Honestly there is just nothing this author could write that I would not love ... me and their writing just gel perfectly!! Look forward to rereading already.

This book is a delicious treat! Olivie Blake has crafted a sharp, funny, and deeply relatable story about friendship, food, and finding yourself. The characters' banter is as satisfying as a perfectly curated girl dinner, and the plot has enough twists to keep you hooked. A must-read for anyone who appreciates witty dialogue and a whole lot of heart.

Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake is a dark and razor-sharp book about ambition, power and the price of perfection.

The story follows Nina Kaur, a student desperate to find belonging, and Dr Sloane Hartley, a professor trying to rebuild her identity after motherhood. Both are drawn into The House, an exclusive sorority that appears to promise everything they could want, yet its rituals carry disturbing costs. What seems like protection and success slowly reveals itself as something far more sinister.

Blake’s writing is clever and unsettling, combining tension with thought-provoking commentary on privilege, solidarity and womanhood. The secretive traditions of The House feel chillingly believable, and the way both Nina and Sloane are pulled deeper into its grip makes for compulsive reading.

Unsettling, thought-provoking and brilliantly crafted, this book is as much about survival and identity as it is about horror and sacrifice.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Deliciously depraved.
I didn’t even know what genre this was when I picked it up. I once said I’d read Olivie Blake’s shopping list and honestly with a title like ‘Girl Dinner’, this might have just been that.

It wasn’t. It is a biting😉 literary fiction that is a satire looking at womanhood and the performance of being a girl, mother, subject.

Sloane is a new mother to a demanding baby daughter. Her body has changed, her husband seems to be less encompassed by an all devouring love for their daughter, and she is trying to write another academic book that centre women in a department headed by white men.
Our other perspective is Nina, a sophomore, who is salivating to join THE sorority. Being a member of The House was not only to be gifted access to the launching pad for eternal success, it was to be preselected for it.

<b>The physical shape-shifting only camouflaged a love that was more like insanity, contortions of the body to cage the madness inside. A love that defied reason and felt closer to pain. It would never be reciprocated—impossible, who had ever loved their parent as they loved their child? Who could ever reasonably ask for that kind of love in return?
</b>
This is a darkly humorous satire on what it means to be A Good Mother, to Belong. Every character is aware of the performance of womanhood and wants to rebel against it, but is aware they need to fit in to reach higher.

This was a hot mess. In a brilliant way.

You will either love or bounce off the writing style. Low-key stream of conscious, often uncomfortable and probing.
For example:

<b>But even if she didn’t, Max was basically a lock for tenure—provided that he didn’t, like, accidentally piss off someone at a dinner party or something!—not that he would—it was pretty easy to forgive him basically anything—so the point was Sloane didn’t have to worry about losing health insurance or whether they could afford their absolutely ludicrous mortgage, even though for some reason (?) she absolutely did.</b>

Is Olivie Blake inserting herself into this narrative? Are we as readers seeing ourselves in these words? Are we all secretly going to start what may potentially be a cult?

If you enjoyed Yellowface by Rf Kuang, you will find something in this.

Whilst this wasn’t a favourite from the author for me, I ate it up and left no crumbs. Basically, yes I would recommend this. Even if you haven’t enjoyed her other books, every book she offers something completely new.

Arc gifted by publisher.