Having previously enjoyed books by Holly Bourne, I was delighted to be granted an advance review copy of her new novel, So Thrilled For You. Here’s the blurb:

“Nicki, Lauren, Charlotte and Steffi have been friends since university. Now in their thirties, life is pulling them in different directions – but when Charlotte organises the baby shower of hell for pregnant Nicki, the girls are reunited.
Under a sweltering hot summer day, tensions rise – and by the end of the evening, nothing will ever be the same. Someone started a fire at the house – and everyone’s a suspect…
Is it Steffi, happily child-free but feeling judged by her friends? Is it Charlotte, desperate to conceive and jealous of those who have? Is it Lauren, who is finding motherhood far, far worse than she imagined? Or is it Nicki herself, who never wanted a baby shower anyway?”

You know that a dreadful fire has happened – but not how it started or what the outcome is – and the story unfolds flicking between police interviews, flashbacks to the party, the back stories of the key characters and social media posts.

Each of the four main characters – friends since Uni – have a different relationship with motherhood. I have to say that each of these are written BRILLIANTLY and you can really understand their viewpoints. I might be a mother of four myself, but I completely respect women who are childfree by choice, and can understand that for some people the journey to motherhood is incredibly difficult – and I remember the early days of being a parent which is so very, very hard.

The ways each of the individual woman’s personal journeys intertwine is incredibly cleverly written – and there continue to be surprises throughout the book. I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going on – and the style of writing really keeps the momentum going. The description of the stiflingly hot weather – particularly in the glass box of Nicki’s parents’ grand designs house – is so well written.

Some of the characters are more likeable than others, and as you understand the history you realise why some of the foursome are closer than others, and why some now don’t actually like each other at all. The way everything ties up at the end is clever – and not completely predictable, which is always the sign of a good book.

Overall it was a great book which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for my ARC – the book is published on 16 January 2025 if you’d like to pre order it now.