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.

Beautiful reflective book on all aspects of motherhood. Would make a great movie or miniseries. Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies.