The focus is on four university friends and their different stages of motherhood (childless by choice/struggling to conceive/heavily pregnant/baby under one).

It's a sharp and witty account of a baby shower told from the POV of the four women. There's a blistering heatwave and we know from the start rhat the party is going to end in a catastrophic fire.

Part satire of motherhood and part blistering account of the agonies and ecstasies f having children. It's a fun read and well written account.

Thank you so much for letting me read So Thrilled For You. I absolutely adored this amazing book from the fantastic Holly Bourne
What could go wrong at a baby shower.
With 4 bestfriends from uni, all in slightly different phases of their lives. Lauren has baby woody, who she is struggling with getting the right sleep pattern. Nicki who's heavily pregnant at her baby shower. Charlotte's dream has always been to become a mum, but has struggled. Then there's Steffi, she's just launched her own business.
A lot of pressure all around, we get to see all the angles how wrong it can all go when they don't communicate

Holly Bourne’s *So Thrilled for You* is a powerful exploration of the shifting dynamics of female friendships in your 30s, where life choices around motherhood, relationships, and identity can drive friends apart or deepen bonds. Set during a heatwave at a baby shower gone hilariously wrong, the story captures the frustrations women face with societal expectations and personal biases. Bourne’s characters are messy, human, and raw, making every perspective feel genuine and eye-opening. True to her style, this book balances humor and hard truths, leaving readers with both laughs and deeper reflections.
Thank you to the publisher & netgalley for the arc!

I flew through this book, completely gripped. I found it quite hard to read where some of Laura’s story mirrored my own experience, but I’m glad someone is writing about birth trauma and the often dehumanising experiences of early motherhood.

In her first novel for adults, How Do You Like Me Now? Holly Bourne's snarky-but-sweet heroine Tori Bailey throws a baby shower. Expecting an afternoon of fun, gin and cake, she ends up with her cream carpets being trashed by toddlers while her old friends make passive-aggressive remarks at her while ticking every possible box of heteronormativity.

Here, Bourne takes four women - Charlotte, who in her smallness, primness and difficulty conceiving, resembles her SATC namesake; Nicki, the woman whose baby shower it is and whose identity is in flux; Steffi, a child-free publishing supremo who can't get a man to commit; and Lauren, frumpy mum of a one-year-old who's slowly going under after a traumatic labour and too many sleepless nights.

Throw in some memories of university 'cheese nights' and lots of miscommunication between the girls, plus a peony wall and a vulva pinata, on the hottest day of the year, and sparks are going to fly!

There were a couple of odd moments - I didn't get why Charlotte would invite the one guest that Nicki doesn't want to see, Nicki felt the least relatable of the characters, and I didn't get why she remained jealous of Steffi when any spark between Steffi and her husband was in the past. I was torn between identifying most with Lauren and Steffi, who seemed like real people, and the book feels like a bit of a love letter to publishing women Kimberly Atkins and Madeleine Milburn, who I'm sure have helped make this bravura book what it is.

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

Perceptive Delve.,
With a dark edge, a perceptive delve into the lives of four women and the expectations of mothers and motherhood and of female friendships and bonds. Whilst the mystery element is certainly here, it does feel secondary to the main emotional thematics. Well plotted and compelling and populated with a credible cast of characters.

A very honest depiction of life with a young baby after a difficult birth and the choices and heartache that the thirty something women face. The fire was sort of secondary although symbolic in this feisty, fun, scary account of female friendship.

Holly Bourne has a real knack of getting the reader completely absorbed in her characters and situation and the book flows along easily. Having said that (and bearing in mind that I'm probably not the target audience) I found most of the characters really irritating. I'd like to think that women have moved on from the 'perfect mother' trope but Lauren is constantly comparing herself with other mothers and finding herself wanting. The endless whining about exhaustion becomes exhausting in itself! Charlotte is completely OTT and Nicki is totally self-absorbed. The only one I could relate to was Steffi. As this is supposed to be a story about friendship it didn't resonate with me at all. If they were such good friends why didn't any of them try to help Lauren who was obviously struggling? The fire is an unnecessary part of the story but I suppose it gives the women a reason to start pulling together.

A good read but nowhere near the standard of 'You could be so pretty' which was stunning.

On a scorching summer day, four university friends are brought back together for a combination baby shower/gender reveal that goes disastrously wrong. Each of the four women have made different choices and are facing different struggles from Charlotte's challenges conceiving, to Steffi feeling judged for her choice to remain child-free. Holly Bourne's depiction of Lauren and the difficulties that this character faced with her traumatic childbirth experience and the struggles of being a new mother really stood out. It felt very honest and brave. By contrast I felt that I connected with Nicki the least. Her story revolves around her challenges with her identity and what she wanted out of life because it was impossible for her to get everything. However, it felt a bit rushed and perhaps her story needed more time, and Steffi could have benefitted from some more plot time as well. The theme of it being impossible to have it all comes up repeatedly, as whatever choice women make apparently society will only judge them.

The mystery of who started the fire was really only a small part of the book, it was much more about the women's different choices and their relationships with each other. The police interviews helped to break up the format and keep the pace of the book fast, but really near the end of the book I could believe that any of the four main characters would have done it. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early!
I was a huge fan of Holly Bourne’s YA work as a teenager, so I was very excited to experience her adult fiction for the first time. It’s a testament to her writing that I was so hooked on the story and the main relationships as a young adult who has nothing in common with most of the characters. The differing representations of motherhood and adulthood were very interesting, and I found the way the female friendships were presented very true to life. I really liked the way it all wrapped up, and where the characters ended. Holly Bourne has such a unique writing voice and a very specific style of humour which is what made me fall in love with her writing as a teenager - it was nice to read this and still recognise her voice. I really enjoyed this and I think anyone could find something to take from it!

Holly Bourne is an automatic read author for me. I love how she weaves contemporary stories about women with really hard topics, without it ever feeling heavy. I was beyond thrilled to receive my first ever arc of one of Holly’s books.

So thrilled for you, was the most honest and insightful look into being a women in your 30s I have ever read. Being a women in your 30s, with other female friends can be the most difficult time to hold a friendship group together and to be a friend. Everyone’s lives can look so dramatically different. Are you trying to have children, already have children, don’t want children? Your life choices and choices in partners can completely dictate and change your relationship with your best friends and no one ever truly prepares you for that. Or for what others are going through. I truly believe every women should read this book to help not only understand themselves and how they view their friends but also how your friends could view you. We are all full of our own biases to a situation and what struck me the most about this book was how it’s all a matter of perspective.

I always leave a Holly Bourne book having enjoyed it and also having learnt something. It’s like subtle therapy with a side of cocktails. Once again reminding me why she is my automatic buy author. Immense thank you to netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for approving me for an e-arc, it was an honour to read and review this book

Holly Bourne is a genius and this book is perfection. I stayed up wayyyyy too late to finish this proof, which was unwise, as I am deep in the trenches of new parenthood, which is explored so viscerally in this novel. I loved every part of this - all the beautifully nuanced and flawed narrators, the police interviews inserted between chapters, the dissection and excavation of long-term female friendships and all the feelings they stir up, the knife-sharp depiction of envy and jealousy that we all experience but never talk about, and the devastation brought about by infertility and PND. Hard recommend.

If you are looking for a fascinating mystery with a group of female suspects, look no further! An excellent and suspenseful story.

This was an incredibly perceptive read about four very different women and the paths their lives have taken, it has a mystery element running through it but that’s more background noise in comparison. Set during a very tight timeframe which is the day of Nicki’s baby shower but also looking back on some elements of their past this features heavily pregnant Nicki who is only having the baby shower at the insistence of Charlotte who arranged all of it, exhausted new mum Lauren and child free by choice Steffi. I found Charlotte quite a difficult character especially with her fixation on throwing the perfect baby shower which was more of a displacement activity to ignore her issues regarding her fertility problems and to prove she’s totally ok about Nicky’s pregnancy. Nicki has some interesting backstory but despite this being her baby shower I don’t think I really got to know her, Steffi offered a good juxtaposition but this focuses more on her work than her. The main character in this for me was undoubtedly Lauren who I just felt such emotion for as such a horrific birth as she experienced would cause such problems for any new mother and then the issues with her son sleeping just felled her but what stood out was how much she loved her son and would actually do anything for him. The combination of each of these women’s issues made for a tense read as they gradually crack under different pressures which put all their friendships to the test. The mystery element helps weave it all together somewhat but the culprit was extremely unexpected but added an interesting element to the women’s friendship.

So Thrilled For You follows a baby shower gone wrong. Nicki, Lauren, Charlotte and Steffi are all characters in this novel and they have been friends since university. They are in their thirties now and life has pulled them in different directions. Nikki is pregnant and the baby shower is for her but tensions rise as Steffi is child free, Lauren is struggling with motherhood and Charlotte wants to conceive more than anything.

This felt very dated to me and it feels like I’ve read this novel before. It felt like something that should have been published years ago rather than 2025. I’ve read a lot of books from this author before but her newer work just feels dated if I’m completely honest.

When I first started this book, I thought "I know these ladies".
I think we all do to some extent.
There's always trials and troubles in groups of friendships, but it's good to know you've got people on your side.
My heart went out to Lauren a lot, she was realistically broken.
This story raised the odd laugh, the odd moment to reflect, and the wonder of who exactly did start the fire.
An enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC.

Nicki is pregnant and her friend Charlotte is throwing her a baby shower and gender reveal party. Lauren and Steffi are invited too. Those four have been friends since university ten years ago but each has a different attitude to motherhood. Lauren has a nine month old baby called Woody but had a traumatic childbirth and hates motherhood. Nicki struggles with her sexuality and has sacrificed a lot to have a baby but she doesn't want this over the top baby shower. Steffi is happily child-free whereas Charlotte wants nothing more than to have a baby but three rounds of IVF later she is still struggling. She is throwing Nicki the shower she's always wanted herself, and it will be perfect.

It is a swelteringly hot day and they all literally sit in a glasshouse, while Charlotte had the bright idea to announce the baby's gender with a smoke rocket without actually letting anyone know this part. This can only go wrong and it does so spectacularly.

This is an exploration of motherhood and female friendship from all angles. The husbands don't really get a look-in. All four women feel judged for their life choices and actions. There is so much rage and resentment and failure to understand each other between the four that it seems almost insurmountable. They are accusing each other of being selfish and ungrateful, culminating in an almost hilarious 'Shut up, no you shut up!" shouting match on the parched lawn.

Like Steffi, I am happily child-free. I cannot understand the urge to have a child but even if I did I think the description of Lauren's traumatic labour and treatment in hospital would have turned me off children for life. Consider this a trigger warning for extreme description of labour. I still haven't recovered. I could however sympathise with all four women, at least for the most part.

The book is well-written and brings all the points across but suffers from repetition. I wasn't terribly interested in who ultimately started the fire. It was a scorching day with about 100 degrees, it was almost inevitable that something would catch fire sooner or later. I felt the police interviews boring and distracting.

You might get on better with this book if you have children and can recognise the longing and the feeling of inadequacy, either (not) becoming pregnant or being a new mother. There is a lot of backstory for everyone but Steffi and I would have wanted to give her life and job more prominence than it got.

I really loved this. It was such a brilliant observation of female friendships and the different trajectories life can take in your early thirties. Although I am most aligned with child-free Steffi, I could empathise with all the characters. The characters were so well-rounded and all had unique voices, so it was always clear whose perspective you were reading from.

I enjoyed the conversational writing style, it all felt really natural to read. I liked how we got backstory on all the characters and their friendship so that we could understand why they feel and act the way they do in the present. I was invested in all of the storylines and found the book really hard to put down.

If I have to be nitpicky, I would have preferred the book without the 'whodunit' element, as for me the reveal was underwhelming.

Overall I would 100% recommend this book.

What. A. Book!

Holly Bourne is truly one of the greatest authors of our time, and ‘So Thrilled For You’ is her best book yet. Honestly, I think it should be required reading for everyone.

This book follows four different women who all have different feelings around pregnancy and children, who come together in a huge glass house in the middle of a heat wave to celebrate a baby shower. But, funnily enough, a heatwave mixed with a gender reveal firework takes what should’ve been the perfect day into what the media call a ‘blaize-ic bitch baby shower’.

As with every Holly Bourne book, these characters are crafted in such a perfect, human way that they are so flawed, but so relatable and full of surprises. You can feel the the justified anger at how society fail women in so many different ways, from your decision on having children to how you act with them once you have them.

Honestly, all of the characters would’ve been justified in starting the fire and watching the world burn.

Exceptionally written, endearing, enraging, entertaining and extremely unputdownable - everyone needs to read this book.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Hodder Books for the ARC.