Holly Bourne has a knack for creating instantly believable characters and I was able to keep each of the women straight in my head immediately, no small feat when reading an ensemble story like this one. There's a streak of humour through the book and I loved the twist however I felt the overall story was a little light to be considered truly crime fiction.

Holly Bourne's latest novel, So Thrilled for You is a great thriller to kick off 2025.

Centred around a baby shower set during a suffocating heatwave, four friends who met at university are coming together but not everything seems to be as you would expect. Cupcakes and presents are the last things on anyones minds.

From the start we know that there's a fire at the baby shower with the fantastic first line, 'The flames take the vulva pinata immediately,' and from there the reader delves into the lives of each of the four friends - Nicki, Lauren, Charlotte and Steffi from the present and the past when they were at university. This intense, thrilling novel not only looks at the secrets we hide to appear perfect but also looks at motherhood and complex friendships from all angles.

Holly Bourne peels back the layers that make each of the friends to show the reader that what we see on the surface, and how they are viewed by their friends is definitely not how their lives are.

Twists and turns are aplenty, and I had a few late nights as I could not put down the book!

A great read, and thank you Netgalley for the ebook version of this book!

I wasn’t sure what I would make of this book as I am totally the wrong age group for it. However, I could not put it down. There is a “who done it” side to it with questions from the police but the book is mainly about the relationship between the “little women” who have been friends since college. Their characters are very well depicted. The story takes place at a very much “over the top” baby shower during a heatwave. It is so easy to give spoilers to this story including commenting on the note at the end of the book from the author and so I will just say thank you Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book.

I don’t think I was expecting what I ended up reading. This was a very raw and deep look into motherhood and the choices each of the characters made in regards to it. Very well written and a heart-felt read

There were so many relatable moments here but also moments that shocked and surprised me, very compelling read overall.

This book was a very raw read exploring the differing perspectives and experiences of women around having and wearing children. Cleverly written, it is centred around a friendship group, The Little Women and significant, confronting events at Nicki's baby shower. Thanks to netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Although this was a harrowing read, I think it’s such a needed one. Holly Bourne ruthlessly and beautifully describes what it means to be a woman - whether a mother or not - in a patriarchal society that cages us all. A must read.

This book truly packed a punch. I love how the story began with us getting to know each of the character's and their perspectives really added to my developing opinions of them all. I found the premise to me quite unique and I didn't really know what to expect, but the narrative felt more than just finding out what happened, but watching the journeys experienced by each of the characters.

Bourne's writing style is super descriptive, and she excellently tells a story. This book was packed full of explanations, situations and experiences that made me warm to some characters and repel away from others.

I want to leave all else as a surprise but it was a great read.

This is an in-depth story told by four female friends from university, who are reuniting to celebrate Nicki’s baby shower. An exaggerated reflection of professional career women in their thirties – Nicki, heavily pregnant, is sweltering in the heat wave, with Charlotte avidly organising the most extravagant baby shower. Lauren struggling with her baby’s demands and lack of sleep. Only Steffi seems to have got her act together, with her flourishing literart business on the verge of success. Though she feels judged by the others for wanting to remain childless.

Though slow at first, the book slightly gathers pace as the friends’ stories unfold. Character driven, the women are well described, with all their complexities brought alive by expert descriptions and dialogue.

The story is about friendships and how they evolve through different stages. Although well written, I felt that some impact was lost as each of the friends go into great detail and depth about their problems and issues in separate chapters. The alternating going backwards and forwards resulting in a slower paced story.

Absolutely brilliant! I loved So Thrilled For You from beginning to end (I genuinely did 'Enjoy Every Moment'). A searing, honest portrayal of some of the many different aspects of motherhood. Every character was superbly developed, with their own fears, dreams and singular worldview, which often lead to them misinterpreting the actions of the other women. While I was drawn to some characters more than others, I enjoyed all four of the viewpoints, empathising with different aspects of their lives. The threads of the story came together in a dramatic and satisfying conclusion. I will be recommending this to everyone I know.

I enjoy a lot of books, but contemporary novels about female friendship have been giving me hours of reading pleasure over the last few years. This new book from Holly Bourne follows four university friends - now in their 30s and pulling in different directions - and the new tensions and old resentments that bubble to the surface at a baby shower in the sweltering July heat.

The really interesting thing about this book is that in the same vein as Big Little Lies, it plays out like a thriller. It kicks offs as a transcript from a police interview, which are then interspersed throughout the narrative. They help build the full story, which moves from past to present, stretching back as far as university when the women met, to present day after a fire breaks out at the baby shower. A fire the police think is arson.

The characters are really well-drawn. Nicki is expecting her first baby and, at the baby shower, navigates tension with an old work colleague. Lauren has a nine-month-old, and is finding motherhood much harder than she expected (or believed from social media), Her birth experience has also left her with PTSD. Steffi is happily child-free, but is dealing with judgement from her friends, who talk about her behind her back. She has just opened her own publishing company, and her latest debut discovery is garnering interest from a Reese Witherspoon-like powerhouse. And, finally, Charlotte, the baby shower's host, has been struggling with fertility issues and yearns to have the family she's dreamed about. Any one of these women had the potential to boil over and start the fire...at least, that's what the police think.

It makes absolute sense that the author is a new mother. With respect and empathy, she very accurately describes the fear, anxiety and self-doubt that comes with the role. There is really specific, minute detail on things like pregnancy, breastfeeding, recovery from birth, navigating altered relationships with your partner, and body issues, and it's so authentic and true-to-life, that parts of it made me sweat! But the book is also balanced with humour and heartache, as well as with an interesting discussion of the toxic positivity that exists around new motherhood, and the way society can gaslight new mothers.

So Thrilled for You is so compelling; an utterly engaging page-turner I found hard to put down. My only complaint is the tightly-wrapped and neat bow put on the story at the end. I think I'd be one to hold a grudge!

When I picked up So Thrilled For You, I was expecting drama, laughs, and maybe a touch of tension—but Holly Bourne delivered so much more. This book is a whip-smart exploration of female friendship, jealousy, societal expectations, and the unspoken pressures women face. It’s equal parts darkly funny and gut-wrenchingly relatable. And it all builds to an explosive and unexpected climax (literally).

What I loved most was how Bourne masterfully captures the messy complexity of friendship. These characters are flawed and self-absorbed, yet painfully real. One minute, I was nodding along with their struggles, the next I was rolling my eyes and sneering at their actions. But that’s what makes them so human—they’re walking contradictions, just like the rest of us.

The climax took me by surprise and the book left me thinking about the ways we perform friendship and the silent judgments we pass on each other. And while the baby shower from hell is the dramatic centrepiece, the real heart of the book lies in the raw honesty of its characters and their relationships.

If you love a story that’s unafraid to delve into the darker, unspoken sides of life and friendship while still delivering plenty of humour, this one’s for you.

Well this was intensely readable, hard to put down and such an engaging read.

Steffi, Lauren , Nicki and Charlotte have been close friends since meeting in university, now in their 30s- their lives are very different but their friendship is still as tight as ever, mostly. This book begins with a police investigation, a baby shower surprise has led to a fire which has decimated homes and the local countryside and the book unveils what happened on that fateful day and who is to blame.

This is predominantly a book about friendship and about motherhood. About having babies, wanting more than anything to have a baby, not wanting a baby and everything in between. It shines a light on the instagram version of new motherhood. One of the women desperately wants a baby, another is about to give birth, One is drowning in the depths of post partum depression and one has no interest in ever having a child. Set over one blistering hot summer day , the fire might destroy this friendship too.

There is a lot in this book from infertility, traumatic birth, mental health, grief, sex, pregnancy loss so do approach with caution. The topics are written with consideration and while it might not resemble others experience of these things, I felt the author did place care in researching and talking to people who may have experienced such things. The portrayal of the women's friendship was the strongest element of the book for me and well drawn each character is. This book is bubbling with emotions ,frustrations, memories and the intricate constructs of close female friendships.

Sharp, funny, sad and entertaining. I was hooked from start to finish.

I have to say I didn’t really gel with this novel. I’m not sure if it was the content or the writing style but it just wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author for the chance to review.

I'm not sure that I completely empathised with any of the four main characters, and there were times when all of them irritated me a little (though perhaps they were meant to) but I did really like the different perspectives around this one event and the idea that four friends can have such different reasons for wanting or not wanting to be at the same baby shower.

I was definitely not the favoured age audience for this one as it clearly will appear to young mums much more. However I didn’t hate it and I did certainly get the heatwave vibe. It just seemed to go on and on about the same thing so I’m only giving it three stars but it is one I will recommend.

My daughter has read some of this YA authors previous works so I was really interested to read this, Holly Bournes first adult novel. Set at a baby shower, it’s funny but also so believable. The impact of motherhood on friendships is explored so well, it pulled me in hook, line and sinker. Brilliant read.

A group of university friends are bought together again for a baby shower for one of the girls.
It all starts of perfectly but it ends with a massive fire
The girls have stayed in touch following uni, but understandably are not as close as they used to be. Charlotte has arranged the perfect baby shower for Nicky which is going to be held in Nicky's parents house which is a very modern- almost completely made of glass - house out in the sticks during a heatwave.
Charlotte is desperate for a child and has been through IVF a few times (all unsuccessful) and is throwing her all in to this shower for one of her very best friends.
Lauren is a new mum with a son who just won't sleep and Steffi is living her best, single life with no interest in having children and has just launched her own publishing company.

As the baby shower continues, we see the different relationships that all of the women have with each other and the reason behind any friction, both real and perceived.
Each of these women are at a different part of their journey and every single one of them is written so well. I can identify with most of them in different ways - and that's not entirely comfortable - and I can understand all of the different points of view.

This is a very well written book that doesn't shy away from some of the ugly, rarely discussed "secrets" of motherhood and female friendships.

My most anticipated book of January and man did it deliver! Holly Bourne writes female characters to perfection; the four main characters of this novel are as real as it gets. Their imperfections were what really made this whole story so good. Plus, the mystery was intriguing and despite having four points of view, every voice was easily distinguishable from the rest.

Nicki, Lauren, Charlotte and Steffi are friends from Uni days.
They are all in their thirties now and life is changing for them all. Nicki is now pregnant and Charlotte is organising a baby shower for her and a reunion for them all.
Its a very hot day and someone starts a fire with devastating consequences.
Who did it and why?