Thanks to John Murray Press and Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

The book looks at the intersecting lives of Sam, a student in her twenties, and her friendship with the mother of a child she’s a nanny for, Elisabeth. It covers many themes, including relationships, family, marriage, parenting, friendships, and how we mature over time; as well as the challenges of figuring out what you want to do in life, keeping up appearances, speaking your mind, and making big decisions. 

The book is well written but I found it hard to get into it. The book is mainly set in America, and briefly also in London.

An interesting contemporary read, exploring motherhood, infertility, feminism and the whole range of issues that modern women face. Good characters and story lines, possibly a little too long for me, but well worth a read

A good read, well written with some lovely characters. Lacked the compelling features I need though unfortunately - a good enough light read, but not one I couldn’t put down.

The writing in this was really nice, so many lovely quotes to choose from. However, the plot was very slow moving (with a painfully unsatisfying ending) and I found the two main characters deeply unlikeable.

This story follows two women, for a few months, who become unexpected friends. 21-year-old student (Sam) accepts a part time job as a nanny for a local woman’s (Elizabeth’s) new baby and they soon become each others’ lifelines.

The book covers many important and interesting topics such as infertility issues, guilt, being a new mother, body dysmorphia, feeling lonely after moving to a new city, navigating difficulties with distant or unsupportive family members, keeping big secrets from partners, money struggles, infidelity, bias in education level, racial inequality and prejudices, and the struggle of long distance relationships.

But these interesting issues were heavily overshadowed by the frustration of a lack of resolve for any of them! (And in one case, a lack of explanation as to how it was resolved.) The end lacks closure, and that was seriously frustrating after such a slow read.

However, I did highlight a lot of interesting and thought-provoking quotes throughout, which were wonderfully wise. Really great thoughts and writing style!

Favourite quote:

‘Living in the city, you could easily blame it for your unhappiness - there was always a train delay or an angry stranger to accuse of ruining your day. One of the riskiest parts of leaving was that you might find out that, all along, the city wasn’t the problem. You were.’

Friends and Strangers will be released on 18th February 2021, thank you John Murray Press and NetGalley for the arc.

This is a well written and engaging book with a lovely story gently threading between the lives of women at different points, each learning from the other. I did feel that the author hurried the ending which didn't seem to fit with the flow of the book and could have been made more fitting with one or two more chapters. That said this was an easy and enjoyable read, great for the summer or a book club with many questions drawn out of it.

This book reminded me a lot of "Such a Fun Age" and I really enjoyed the premise. It was well written with great character development. The story had quite a slow pace at ties which left me not wanting to pick the book up much but I think once I got over halfway I really started to enjoy it.

Really enjoyed the book. Slightly similar in setting to 'Such a Funny Age' but its definitely got its own story. It is extremely readable and I couldn't stop reading and already can't wait for her next book! .The relationship between the nanny and the mother is very well written.

Friends and Strangers follows the lives of two women: Elizabeth and Sam. Elizabeth is a new mother, who moves from the city to the suburbs with her husband. Sam is a college student trying to balance school, her relationship, and her job as Elizabeth’s babysitter. Both women are trying to find their path, despite being at different stages in their lives.

I love Sullivan's insightful and intriguing writing. This element is what makes the novel entertaining, even when the plot dipped in excitement. The book provides an in-depth inspection motherhood and class divisions through a slow-paced narrative, perfectly capturing the truths and impact of privilege in a flawed system. I also really like how it highlights just how much of a hold social media can have on us, and how it warps our perceptions of others. Friends and Strangers is much more thought-provoking than I predicted, but this is certainly a welcoming surprise.

However, biggest struggle in this novel for me is Elizabeth. She is so frustrating! In the beginning, the secrets she keeps created an air of mystery and I was eager to uncover the lies. But her selfishness and narrow-mindedness completely eclipse this. She has human qualities that give her depth as a character, but her obsessions and approach to motherhood grew bothersome.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel, mainly due to Sullivan’s clear-eyed tone of voice. Sadly, I didn’t love the characters and would have loved to see more development in them. But I adore the way Sullivan unmasks the depths of female relationships and influenced misjudgements, and I’m excited to read more from her.

I am sorry but I thought that the story was too slow and I could not get interested in the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I enjoyed this book.
It's not one of my usual got-to reads., but I would still recommend it for a nice quick read!

Surprisingly funny, super insightful and painfully real. I read contemporary novel every so often and this one was totally one of the good ones. It's the story about friendship between two women in two different points in their lives: I was lucky enough to find a bit of myself in both of them. I laughed with them, I felt sorry for them,I admired them.

Really good read.

This was great book about female relationships - I thought it was really similar to Everything Here Is Under Control by Emily Adrian, and Tilly thought it was similar to Such A Perfect Age by Kiley Reid. If you liked either of those books, do check this out!

It’s incredibly relationship lead, not only in those between the main two characters, Sam and Elisabeth, but all of the people around them. They slowly start to merge into one world. It was slightly on the long side in terms of pacing, but I think this was due to long-ish chapters. However, it was such a simple story, with very real characters - the family Christmas chapter was fantastic and conveyed this completely dysfunctional family. We both were not Clive fans though!

I loved the chapter with Sam which was primarily set in London - I recognised so many of the places they visited, which is always fun in books and films. I related to Sam more than Elisabeth, and found it interesting to read that the author wrote these chapters prior to having a baby, and the Elisabeth ones after. I think both sides of the story are really strong because of this and they feel very accurate/relatable to the circumstances of the characters. I also love the cover of this book - it’s feels like one of those abstract pieces of art you can stare at for a while and different images come out every time?

Initially the storyline looked promising but I became disillusioned with the lack of pace and found there was very little depth to the book.
I finished the book but it took me a while because it did not grip my attention.

As Elizabeth has increasing demands placed upon her, in her new hometown, with a young baby, possible plans for a second and a book to write, and her own dysfunctional family to boot, she turns to external support. In walks young, talented, loved up college senior Sam. What follows is the story of Elizabeth as they Sam slowly learn about one another, walking the narrow line between being friends and strangers.

I was really quite excited about reading this book as the synopsis sounded just so perfect. However, it took me a long while to read (nearly two weeks of bedtime reading instead of the normal 3-4 nights) and it didn’t go anywhere. Not that much needed to happen if it was designed that way - some of my most beloved books are centralised on the characters and the intricacies of the relationship rather than large scale events, but to me this felt lacking.

J. Courtney Sullivan writes extremely well and with such detail too. I felt, however, that the focus was in the detail and not on the depth. Even by the end of the book, I didn’t know exactly how the characters may think or act in any given situation despite the length of the book.

What was interesting, however, was having two perspectives from the same situation - often opposing and often due to the differences in age and backgrounds of the two protagonists. It makes for an interesting read from a psychological perspective albeit I still think it could have achieved very similar results in a story half the size.

So I didn’t ‘not’ enjoy the book and it was never going to be a ‘did not finish’, but at times I felt it a struggle which is most unlike me. I suspect it needs to be read when the reader can truly give it the time and attention it deserves, which includes pondering and reflecting upon between chapters as well as the end.

Thank you NetGalley and John Murray Press for an ARC of this book.

Enjoyed reading this book but it didn't grip me and at time felt a little long winded. Felt sorry for Elizabeth and wished she would get herself some help

"Friends and Strangers" centres around the friendship between a new mom and the wise-beyond-her-years babysitter she hires from the local women's college. This particular domestic story was an intriguing concept to me, having recently enjoyed "Such a Fun Age," though the employee/friend line-blurring in this book was quite different.

J. Courtney Sullivan's writing was a slow burn but extremely engaging, and presented complex perspectives on womanhood, parenthood, relationships, and class. Surprisingly, it was most impactful as a critique of modern-day neoliberal capitalism. Elisabeth and Sam are both well-written depictions of ambitious and flawed women in a competitive and flawed world - I saw parts of myself in both of them, an uncomfortable but necessary reading experience.

Negatives: I thought there were a few too many characters for what it was--not exactly a sweeping, multi-generational epic. The flash-forward ending also felt like a bit of a cop-out and not especially interesting. Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, just wish the scope had a bit more depth than width.
3.5 stars.

Tell me you don’t believe friends and strangers are often the same people and I give you this novel.

Elisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly twenty years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms' Facebook group, her "influencer" sister's Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore.

Enter Sam, a senior at the local women's college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit. Sam is struggling to decide between the path she's always planned on and a romantic entanglement that threatens her ambition. She's worried about student loan debt and what the future holds. In short, they grow close. But when Sam finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Elisabeth's father-in-law, the true differences between the women's lives become starkly revealed and a betrayal has devastating consequences.

These two characters are what I enjoyed most about this book. They each tell their story, offering insight into the mind of a mother, a child-carer, and the two individuals independent of these identities. Elisabeth and Sam get sucked into each other’s lives and their relationship evolves during the course of a year into something that gets increasingly complicated. Through them, the author traverses the frailty of human bonds and why delicate limits must not be breached.

I wouldn’t say this is a page-turner but it has an almost hypnotic appeal to it. An exploration of motherhood, privilege, and power dynamics within communities – it will question the very foundation of relationships.

This ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Two Roads Books.

Whilst this book is insightful and thought provoking I did find it very slow. It has so much detail that I sometimes felt there was a bit too much and was not always needed.

It took me a lot longer to read this novel than normal. Sometimes I would not read it for a few days. Sometimes I would read a chapter and think it was becoming more exciting but it just never felt like it went anywhere in particular.

Although for me it was not a page turner, it did cover issues such as motherhood, family, equality and privilege. It was I felt beautifully written nut just didn't always hold my attention.

Although I didn't love this book, I would encourage people to try it, I am glad I gave it a go and read it nevertheless.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Relationships are complicated. Humans are multifaceted creatures, driven by emotions and social interactions. Relationships between women are particularly complex, with so many labels placed upon us and so many familial roles to fill - from mother, sister, wife and friend, I'm fascinated to see what authors do with the various dynamics this brings.

Sullivan dedicates her book to examining the intimate relationship between mother and babysitter. It's a sacred role, to trust someone enough to care for your children, and Sam and Elizabeth form a unique bond and a fledgling friendship as they each provide the other with something they need. Elizabeth is struggling to adjust to new motherhood, and missing her old life and friends. Sam provides a youthful link to her past. Sam is a naive college student, who looks up to Elizabeth and aspires to have her life. However, as the two grow closer their relationship drastically changes.

This is a quiet novel in many respects, heavily character driven without much of a plot, it spends much of its time delving deep into the thoughts and emotions of our characters. It brings up a lot of important discussions on privilege, class and expectations. And although I enjoyed this, I do think the lack of plot and slow pacing dampened my enjoyment. I also didn't connect to these characters as much as I wanted to. There was just something lacking for me.

The writing is excellent, the characters thought provoking, but I found this lacking in plot and personal investment.

Disclaimer - I read 65% of this books but then stopped so my review is based on that section read.

The fact this is a DNF tells you everything you need to know about my enjoyment of this book. Friends and Strangers centres around two women, Elizabeth the new mum and author trying to find her feet again and Sam their babysitter juggling her final year at college and a long distance relationship.

There is however a huge lack of storyline, I kept reading thinking something was going to happen, thinking the storyline was about to kick in. It doesn’t, or at least it hadn’t by 65% and almost 300 pages in when I finally called it quits.

I couldn’t connect with the characters. The first world problems Elizabeth has was really starting to grate with me. They seemed very shallow despite the pages of unnecessary back stories.

The 2 stars I have given it goes solely to J. Courtney Sullivan writing style. She writes really well and I would read her other work, but unfortunately this book lacked anything real for her to write about. The irony that the main character Elizabeth is an author who is struggling to write her next book, struggling to come up with what to right about shouldn’t be overlooked!

So in summary, meh. Thank you to Net Galley and John Murray Press for providing me an advance copy of this book.