A painstakingly curated baby shower in a beautiful house on the hottest day of the year with four best friends each hiding their feelings from one another. What could possibly go wrong?

Only everything.

Lauren, a new Mum struggling with severe exhaustion and PND.

Nicki, heavily pregnant and overwhelmed by a face from her past.

Charlotte, secretly pregnant and terrified of anything going wrong.

And Steffi. On the brink of huge success in her career, but feeling ostracised by her lack of maternal instinct.

A child left unattended for a minute.

As the heat builds and tensions rise, arguments break out that leave all the women fraught and deeply upset. I loved everything about this book, but in particular the portrayal of Lauren's experience as a new Mum, felt entirely authentic and incredibly moving.

Firstly I would suggest this book is not for those who just want the cut and thrust of a mystery. Secondly I would say this is a book for women.

While there is a mystery, this book is built on a beautiful narrative of friends in very different places. One pregnant, one recently postpartum, one dealing with loss and one who is child free.

I found myself lost in this book, I loved every moment of it. The skill Bourne has at writing is truly expansive. I don’t think we commonly think about how our casual behavior could be harming our friends and this book was a masterclass in it. Taking huge issues and boiling them down in to succinct jabs was masterful and I found this book important and I got more than I have ever got from another mystery/thriller.

It’s deep, it has very light parts and you’ll see someone you love in it.


I received this eARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review, which this is.

#netgalley #SoThrilledForYou

Written the in the ilk of Liane Moriarty or we might say with echoes of Lucy Clarke, Holly Bourne attempts a different genre with this latest release, and in doing so shows some gravitas and departure from both the Young Adult and previous adult fiction she has released.
Not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but given the premise, this did not exactly set in motion the 'wow' factor.

The narrative is centred around the lives and intersection of friends since university Charlotte, Nicki, Lauren, and Steffi . Life has been pulling them in different directions now they are in their thirties, but a baby shower which is deemed less than appealing for pregnant Nicki reunites the group and the trajectory of the story is launched from. Perhaps predictably, the pathetic fallacy of a sweltering summer afternoon catalyses the already rife tensions within the group - then a fire starts at the house, with the lingering mystery being that of who started it and why.

Though well-written, with a really effective use of multiple perspectives, the point of the fire and then the subsequent conclusion just let the book down a bit in the latter third. The relationships, histories and unspoken emotional ties amongst the women lay some excellent groundwork in engaging readers in the first part of the novel - and Bourne's characters are, as always, relatable and believable. But this dissolves a little into thinly laid conclusions wherein the final outcome is already understood and quite cut and dry. Therein there is a fizzle out of both engagement and continued level of mystery. Not so much predictable, but underwhelming as an overall narrative.

Nonetheless some well-written characters, believable exposition and well built world wherein the friendships live and breathe. Marketing perhaps a little misleading - or just personal preference for a mystery/thriller to be a bit darker and make me work a little harder...

Another absolute pageturner delivered by Holly Bourne. I have lots to say — and I will in a proper review — but mostly that I am amazed by Bourne's talent in presenting all her characters with so much empathy. I have felt extreme emotions, both good and bad, for each of her characters in this book.

The biting context and theme were a ride as well.

I found elements of this book annoying but it's a very good dissection of university friendships once you hit your thirties and in particular what happens when some women have children and some don't. I found it very readable and I genuinely didn't guess where the story was going. Recommended and thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A heatwave, a baby shower and a group of best friends - what could go wrong?
Best friends since university and now the women are all in their thirties are all going in different directions. They all attend their best friends baby shower hoping to reconnect and celebrate. But tensions rise, words are said and the aftermath involves the police.
I love the fact the book goes back in time to give versions of the characters individual stories. This was a book I just couldn’t put down. It was a journey I didn’t want to end! From start to finish I was hooked. 5🌟

This was a quick and easy read, I think it would be a pretty successful bookclub choice because it invites opinions as much as it explores the lives and choices and friendships of women.

It very much reminded me of Liane Moriarty’s books, and I think this would make a very watchable miniseries. I liked how it didn’t pull any punches or romanticise female friendship, whilst acknowledging that it’s an incredibly powerful and unifying force.

The story centres on a baby shower that is being held for one of a group of four university friends. Charlotte who is struggling with fertility problems has arranged the shower for her friend, Nicky who is heavily pregnant. The other two women in the group are Steffi and Lauren. Steffi is a career woman who is in the middle of a life changing book deal for the publishing company she has just started and Lauren who is there with her baby, Woody. Lauren had a traumatic birth and has barely slept since Woody was born. The baby shower is taking place at Nicky’s parents’ house on one of the hottest days of the year. Of the four women the only one I could take to was Steffi who had come to the baby shower despite being very preoccupied with amazing offers coming in for the book she is publishing. Despite not wanting children she seems to be one of the most unselfish of the four of them. Charlotte almost appears deranged with her manic organisation for the event which has been planned with military precision, while Nicky comes across as totally self-centred. I found the story slightly confusing with the characters and the time lines not always clear. The investigation into the fire seemed rather unrealistic and I found the description of the actual baby shower dragged on somewhat. Overall the book is well written but could be very off putting for anyone planning parenthood. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read an ARC of this book.

this is released today and i'm SO DELIGHTED about it because i LOVED this book. holly bourne has such a clear and wonderful talent for writing intense, messy interpersonal dynamics and making it gripping, emotional and also funny. if that's what you're into, i super recommend this book.

the novel follows a friendship group. it's the type of female friendship group that met in their teens, at university, but now they've reached their thirties and all the complicated mess of life that goes along with it. within the friend group, there's a heavily pregnant woman, whose baby shower is the main event of the book, someone struggling with infertility and pregnancy loss, someone who has chosen to be child-free and instead concentrate on their career and a brand new business and a woman who is really struggling with post-natal depression. this book really wonderfully presents, skewers, and appreciates the complicated ideas of femininity that society sells and how much people take that into themselves, i thought. all four characters felt huge and funny and heartbreaking and real to me. what holly bourne does here is allow each woman to be as "likeable" and "unlikeable" as each other. they have huge flaws and are worthy of huge amounts of sympathy as well. they have often diamtrically opposing ideas about the same thing. it's so much fun to sit in each of their heads as the book takes its turn with them.

something wonderful i also think she does is such these particular female friendships as messy and human and petty and selfish, sometimes. each character falls victim to pretty severe misunderstanding of others. they think unkind things about each other and sometimes themselves. they are jealous and impatient with each other in a way that i thought rang very authentically when you've known someone for nearly longer than you haven't but your lives have diverged so much. this seems likely to be one of those books that makes some people uncomfortable, but what i thought it did was showcase something with so much bombastic fun and also care. to me, it was so obvious that these women did care about each other -- but life is hard. the constant societal pressures regarding womanhood, and personhood, and motherhood are huge and ever-present. it's hard to get away from and it's even harder in your thirties.

holly bourne's note at the end reveals that she was struggling with an infant who did not want to sleep ever while writing this book and i think it shows in the fierce sympathy and also cloying dread imbued within one of the narratives of the book. i gotta say, the postnatal depression here hits HARD as a storyline. it was very emotional and i thought that, as the book went on, the sheer pain and the terror and the overwhelming nature of it was rendered so well. this felt like a great glimpse at something often swept behind the curtain.

for all that this may Sound Heavy, i do think this book was really funny. i often laughed throughout it. it had a whip sharp sense of humour -- i mean, it literally starts talking about a vulva pinata. instantly hilarious, idc. i laughed so much at lauren's Cool Mum inner monologue, which pays due credit to the Cool Girl bits from gone girl and does it so well.

it's also extremely gripping. it took me maybe 3 hours to read about 75% of this book and i stayed up very late because at no point did i feel like i could put it down. the incident the book revolves around is a huge fire started at a baby shower and i was gasping to know how everything happened, when, and where. this had the cadence and tension of a thriller while also being deeply interested and invested in female spaces and friendships, the complicated areas in between. i absolutely loved this. kiss kiss from me.

i received an arc from netgalley! these are my own opinions. no one would bribe me to say kiss kiss and capitalise sweet fanny adams so

This book is a real warts and all look at motherhood and also female friendships!
Written in multi pov with some really well written and flawed characters.
It's such a good drama with so much going on in each of the characters lives .. it shows how we need to be more open and honest with each other as life can be hard, motherhood can be hard and actually being honest about it really helps.
This book had me completely hooked .. and it was easy to follow each characters story.
I'd recommend if you like a good drama about a group of friends!

So thrilled for you
By Holly Borne
Published by Hodder & Stoughton

Holly Borne’s latest novel ‘So thrilled for you’ does not disappoint!
Funny, relatable, fast-paced and punchy you will laugh, cry and shout out loud!

Four university friends are reunited for a baby shower on the hottest day of summer but time has passed, people change and tempers flare for everyone when “nobody is listening to me!”
Will it all end in tears or tantrums? Who will shout the loudest and be heard?

Nicki, Lauren, Charlotte and Steffi have been friends since uni and now in their thirties, they have very different lifestyles and their outlook on life has changed.
So when the baby shower of the year is the talk of the town for pregnant Nicki, the girls have the chance to catch up.
But tensions rise and so does the temperature and by the end of the evening, nothing will ever be the same again!

The celebration becomes a shouting match, and then everyone is a suspect because the house is on fire!
Is it Steffi, happily child-free but judged by everyone?
Is it Charlotte, desperate to have her own baby and jealous of everyone?
Is it Lauren, who is finding motherhood the biggest nightmare ever?
Or is it Nicki herself, who never wanted a baby shower in the first place?

After the puzzle is solved, the police find their truth but will you agree?
Because only the four friends know the truth and that will shock everyone, including you reader!
A wonderful celebration of friendship, honesty and commitment that you will love to read, reflect and maybe change because of…

Joanne Bardgett - teacher of littlies, lover of Children’s literature.
#Netgalley

There's a lot packed into this book!

Four women, friends since school, re-unite for a baby shower for one of them on a sweltering hot summer day. Now in their thirties, life has taken each of them in different directions. Nikki, heavily pregnant, didn't really want a baby shower in the first place; Lauren already has her baby and is finding motherhood so much harder than everyone led her to believe while Charlotte is desperate to conceive and a bit at odds of those who have so easily got pregnant. Then there's Steffi, perfectly happy in her childless state but feeling judged. All those emotions and rising temperatures - inside and out - make for a stressful day . . .

This is a novel which perfectly demonstrates that no two women live the same lives - or have the same attitude towards children. I admit to cringing a bit at the details of Lauren's experience which made me realise how lucky I was when mine were born. The tension is palpable in this one and I had no idea who did what and when until all was revealed. Another terrific read from Holly Bourne. 4.5* and my recommendation.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

I really enjoyed this part whodunnit mystery part raw and honest exploration of motherhood.

I loved reading about the lives of Nicki, Steffi, Charlotte and Lauren, they are all such interesting characters. The focus is on motherhood. Lauren is a new mother to 9 months old Woody and is recovering from a traumatic birth and suffering from post natal depression. Her story I think affected me the most, as a mother I feel like a lot of the time you are only a fine line away from becoming Lauren and her after care experience in hospital was very similar to mine (something I work really hard to not feel bitter about and still fail almost 6 years later).

I also had a huge amount of empathy for Charlotte watching her friends get pregnant so easily whilst she was desperate to conceive. I can only imagine how hard that must be.

This book felt so real, raw and honest. You can really tell it's written by a new mother for who the newborn days are still at the forefront of their mind. It was so refreshing to read about these imperfect, flawed women and explore how being in their thirties, marrying and having babies has changed their friendship.

I've previously read one of Holly Bourne's YA books and loved it so I'm pleased to have enjoyed her adult fiction just as much! Will definitely read more from this author.

Wow I was expecting this story to be basic not bash everything that is basic and generic. And for that I applaud Holly Bourne for giving well rounded voices to both sides of the child-free movement. It follows a group of friends who have recently drifted apart as they get together to celebrate a baby shower. How Holly describes Steffi’s child free situation is spot on. It really is hard to date and find a partner who is on the same page. Also I feel the lack of equality concerned with celebrating life events. Those events deemed accepted by society I.e a baby shower or hen do and those events that pale in comparison I.e celebrating the success for a female owned business. Then highlighting the massive gaps in care for women especially post birth; ooooffff that was hard hitting. Whilst I enjoyed the read I’ve rated it 4⭐️, I found the ending a bit unexpected and the epilogue sort of too fluffy for my liking which lost a star. Still I’d recommend it to anyone who like a who done it sort of story with mixed media (police reports, text messages etc)

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for sending me an advanced reader copy of this book

Completely brilliant! So brutally honest, it’s refreshing. Hilarious, yet also utterly heartbreaking. Holly Bourne, you have left me still chuckling away to myself, yet emotionally wrung out, all at once!

Nicki’s baby shower should be everything she wants, but it’s been organised by her friend Charlotte, who has chosen to gift her own baby shower dreams to Nicki, as she hasn’t been able to conceive herself. To say that Charlotte is a control freak is a huge understatement and the baby shower is nothing like Nicki would have planned for herself. The two women met and became friends at uni, along with Steffi and Lauren. Steffi is a career focused businesswoman who doesn’t want children and Lauren is mum to Woody, a seven month old who doesn’t sleep for more than 40 minutes and cries constantly when he’s awake. Lauren is a shadow of her former self, exhausted and desperate.

This amazing story explores friendships and relationships, new motherhood and the impact of our actions on others. I really appreciated the honest take on pregnancy and motherhood as I have always wondered how anyone can find it as easy as some women seem to claim, because IT IS INCREDIBLY HARD! No, no, whatever you’re now thinking, it’s harder than that!

Within the story of the baby shower, the women are being interviewed by the police after the party, which has ended in disaster. There are also flashbacks to their uni days, which gives an insight into the early basis of their friendships and relationships.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Holly Bourne and Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Holly Bourne has a real knack of creating characters that you instantly bond to and she's great at describing emotions and contrasting opinions. I enjoyed the strong female friendship - both good and bad - theme in So Thrilled For You and the story is a bit of a change of style in that it has elements of mystery and crime in it. I think Holly has managed to give a very real portrayal of motherhood , warts and all , and this believable, raw element to the storyline was easy to empathise with.

So Thrilled For You
by Holly Bourne

There's something exhilarating about a story that opens with a house in flames. Taylor Jenkins Reid's "Malibu Rising", Celeste Ng's "Little Fires Everywhere", you just know that there are layers of discoveries to be anticipated and a wild ride ahead, and this is certainly the case here.

Four friends, each with their own complex attitude to motherhood and each with their own secrets to hide.

One is pregnant, her first baby due any day and today is the day of the baby shower that she is, at best, ambivalent about, but the party is being thrown by the friend who struggles with infertility and who may be imposing her own Pinterestable dreams on the occasion. Joining them are the career obsessed friend who has made no secret of the fact that she has no intention of becoming a mother and cannot understand why the whole world, including her best friends, cannot find value in her unselfish selfishness, none more so than the fourth friend who has recently given birth and who is barely holding it together through lack of sleep, loss of identity, inability to keep all the balls in the air and crippling guilt over the equal parts love and resentment she feels towards her baby.

The best thing about this book is the way I can find pieces of myself in each of these women. It makes feel seen on so many levels because I have been each of these women at some stage of my life, and relate viscerally to the conflicts each feel about the others, about how they relate to each other, how they judge each other, how they judge themselves and how they feel judged by each other. Motherhood; it's avoidance, it's achievement, it's reality, is so complicated.

Told through revolving perspectives, this is a completely absorbing story. The author slowly reveals the underlying contradictions that add the spark to the incendiary dynamics that make up this group of lifelong friends. The pace starts well, then gradually picks up heart-thumping acceleration, until someone burns this goddamn house right down.

A well plotted character study that should not be mistaken for a mystery. Would make a great TV mini series.

Publication date: 16th January 2025
Thanks to #NetGalley and #HodderStoughton for providing an eGalley for review purposes

This was a lot more fun than I expected. A baby shower in a heatwave that has gone completely wrong and a police investigation into the events of the day made what was effectively a summary of a 12 hour event into more of a whodunit.

The four women in question - the Little Women - Nikki, Lauren, Steffi and Charlotte, may well be a close fit for the Sex and the City cast (Charlotte especially), but their voices, stories and experiences were clear.

Lauren was a frighteningly honest depiction of the worst experiences of childbirth and being a new parent, all rolled into one individual trauma, that, as a recent parent, was tough and sometimes familiar reading.

It's a story of sisterhood under false pretences, only for the group to finally find their common ground. It's not a rom com, or a thriller, but something more unique that works really well, as well as being four honest approaches to motherhood (or not, as the case may be).

Should come with strong trigger warnings of miscarriage and PTSD, however.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

So far when reading this book I have enjoyed and most intrigued about the current connections in this group of friends. They are all relatable in their own ways and it is interesting to see them all with different struggles coming together.

Though I was first pulled in by the cover and the blur, I feel like I was expecting something quite different. I was imagining something a little grittier, perhaps in the unhinged woman trope, rather than the comedy and sometimes more ridiculous and over the top moments. Additionally I was surprised from the first page that the fire mentioned in the blurb, resulted in a forest fire. I still am not sure about this featuring, sometimes feeling like it was making light of a more serious situation. However, after thinking about it a little deeper, the effects of the climate crisis are happening in the everyday for so many people, why not mention it as surely it would be effecting characters in a contemporary novel too. I feel like there could be some more delicacy around the topic, but interested to see whether the author has interest in the topic and includes this within other of her novels too.

I'm not mad I picked this up, but didn't feel like to had been marketed to me quite correctly.

4 friends since uni (the little women) come together for one of their baby showers at very different points in their lives. All 4 have plenty going on and not a lot of time to understand the others’ issues. Can years of friendship withstand major life events, hurt feelings and a fire? I really enjoyed this book. It flitted between the current and past perspectives of the four little women and because of this it felt fast paced and always interesting. No struggling to get through chapters, just always learning something new about one of them. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys books on friendships, funny books and for people that don’t mind serious topics about sexuality, pregnancy and infertility. This book covered a lot of serious topics but in a light manor that didn’t take away from the story of friendships.