Thirst Trap follows three friends in Belfast as they turn thirty in the aftermath of their friend's death. Maggie, Harley, and Róise live together in a house filled with grief, alcohol, and unresolved tension. The book weaves through their messy, complicated lives, capturing the stunted growth of people struggling to accept adulthood. While the plot isn’t action-packed, the focus on friendship, grief, and the challenges of navigating life post-20s makes it a raw and relatable read. It’s a bittersweet, funny exploration of the messy process of growing up—realistic, imperfect, and maybe a little too familiar at times.

The story isn’t heavily plot-driven., but I found the character’s struggles relatable. Each woman faces challenges and setbacks along the way, often engaging in self-destructive behavior as they attempt to figure things out. It all reminded me of Sally Rooney a little bit.

However, the lack of a strong plot made it harder for me to stay engaged. I also struggled with the writing style which didn’t help. I cannot put a finger on it. Not sure why exactly, it’s easy to read but I couldn’t process it well. All in all, 3 🌟

Thirst Trap follows three housemates as they navigate life as a trio grieving the loss of their fourth housemate and friend, Lydia, and all of the complicated feelings that arose towards her both before and after the accident.

This book is a real triumph of a debut. It's an accurate portrayal of both grief and all the messy and complicated feelings that arise as a result of it, and also your messy twenties years - all of the characters felt incredibly real to me, to the point where I recognised several of my friends in them. Also, I'm not usually a fan of literary fiction and I've seen a lot of comparisons to Sally Rooney's work and I understand this to be a compliment, however, I honestly much preferred Gráinne O'Hare's writing and the characters felt far more real to me than Rooney's ever have done.

Gráinne's style of writing is also really funny in a way that will catch you off guard, slipped discretely in between darker moments.
Overall, this is an incredibly impressive debut and I have no doubt that Gráinne and this book will go far.

This book is basically vibes over plot - and unfortunately, they were not my kind of vibes.

The writing is good but trying too hard to emulate Sally Rooney and failing. Whereas Rooney can extrapolate and dissect her character’s feelings and relationships in the most insightful way, O’Hare for me failed to really hit the nail on the head here.

The three friends are unlikeable and I found I didn’t really care about them.

I admit that some of this may be a me problem - having never had a female friendship group - I can’t relate to the characters or any of their relationships to each other.

But aside from that, there was nothing else in the book to capture my attention. If there had been, I could’ve overlooked my lack of understanding of female friendships groups.

Nevertheless, there were elements I did like. The humour was great and analysis of grief and loss was outstanding.

I can definitely see why so many others rated it highly and there’s definitely an audience for this book, it just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to Pan MacMillan, Picador, and NetGalley for the arc in exchange of an honest review

Absolutely loved this book - the characters were great and their journey to essentially leave their rented house was both funny and moving. The author manages to capture the chaotic lives of the three friends in a way that totally reflects real life and the challenges of being a young adult in the world today. By the end of the book, there was a sense that each girl was coming of age and heading into their thirties a bit more enlightened. There are some laugh-out-loud funny moments in the book and the author's quick humour really captured the witty dialogue of the Northern Irish.

I haven't loved a book as much as this in a long time! Made me laugh and cry in equal measure. Perfect for fans of Girls.

I enjoyed this one a lot. It was an easy read and super funny.
Róise, Maggie and Harley felt so real, the dialogue especially was really well written. Despite venturing into some topics which could’ve otherwise felt too heavy (grief, abortion, drug abuse etc), the writing style kept it from ever feeling too dark.

It’s very much character driven rather than plot heavy, so if you’re the kind of person to want lots of things to be happening in a story, then it’s probably not for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan macmillan for the ARC!

Thirst Trap follows three friends. Maggie, Harley, and Róise, who share a crumbling Belfast rental, with one room left empty after their friend’s death. Told through each woman’s POV, the story authentically explores grief, friendship, and the ever-relatable struggle of feeling directionless, all wrapped in a sharp, modern writing style. I laughed, rolled my eyes, felt inspired to start writing on my own, and had a great time reading, at least through the first part. As with any friend group, my attachment to the girls wavered. The highs were incredibly fun, but the lows left me wanting more.

Witty chapter titles, “councel culture”, “m’lady doth protest”, “party politics”, made me wish I was that clever with my writing. The author’s bold, distinct voice shone through (she seems like such a cool gal!).

For me, the themes and pacing weren’t quite enough to keep me fully engaged in the 2nd half, but I imagine that’s very much a me problem.

Packed with laugh-out-loud one-liners and subtle, everyday moments, that shape the women throughout the story, this is a gem I expect to see on many best of ‘25 lists.

A coming-of-age story for the messy late 20s/early 30s.

I feel a bit bad about my 3 star review because ultimately this book was fine. Having read quite a few books that dabble with similar themes of being a bit lost at the end of your 20s, looking around and wondering "is this it?" and evolving relationships/friends & family dynamics, I just felt like this book was just missing a bit of charm? I think it does capture how hard the grieving process can be and how it looks and feels different for everyone but I just never really cared enough for any of the characters.

I am not sure I am the target audience for this book about the friendship of young women but I thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Great characters, great humour and whilst there was not a standard plot, the book didn't need one. It wasn't about the destination but more about the journey

Thank you to Picador for the ARC!

Thirst Trap is a 2025 answer to Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love.

A humorous, raw take on grief, female friendship and knowing when to move on to the next phase of life.

This character driven story brings us into a Belfast house share, where three women are trying to get on with life after losing their friend - navigating work, partying, and the dreaded turning 30.

The story is told through multiple POVs and is at times tricky to follow.

After recently turning 30 myself, I found parts of it super relatable - such as things like trying to find a hobby as an adult.

The Irish tone of voice is strong, which is great and I can really imagine it landing with Irish readers!

Overall, an enjoyable read as a modern coming-of-age story, navigating female friendship, love and grief.

This is such a bittersweet book. I think the way it handles friendships, grief and romance is incredible, as someone who is also fast approaching 30, this felt very relatable at times. Human emotions are complex and this shows that beautifully.

I really enjoyed this novel about three youngish women in Belfast coming to terms with the death of their flatmate in difficult circumstances and the next chapter of their own lives as they turn 30. Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, there's a good dose of Irish humour to keep the tone a bit lighter and the characters are really well drawn. Highly recommended and thanks to NetGallley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was a really good read. Character driven stories can sometimes be hit and miss but this one really did it, following 3 women navigating life in their late 20s/early 30s.
The writing, their stories, and even some (definitely not all!) of her personal experiences really spoke to me and I was invested in their stories, trauma and ways of trying to cope through life.
Will definitely try more by Gráinne O’Hare.

(Note: I would have loved a pronunciation footnote to Irish names!)

This gave Sally Rooney vibes, but way more messy and wild. There wasn’t much plot, but there were plenty of vibes and I quite enjoyed just following the girls lives. Themes of grief, aging and friendship make this the perfect read for women in their twenties.

I struggled with this book. I found the story line and the theme a challenge. It may be a generational thing, but I could not, in any way, relate to the chaotic lifestyle and personal dynamics. It may also be a book that women can relate to. As an older male, it was not for me.

Thirst Trap follows three friends, Maggie, Harley and Róise who live together in a houseshare. They had another friend, Lydia, who died unexpectedly a year ago. They left her room in the houseshare untouched and need to decide if they can live in the house without Lydia.

I enjoyed this novel for what it was. I loved the irishness of it and how relatable it was. It was very much plotless and just following the girls living their lives. They were all dealing with grief. That said, I wasn’t a huge fan of the casual drug taking in this and that did impact on my personal enjoyment. Overall, I enjoyed this and I think many young women in particular will relate to this and enjoy it.

This book contains so much feeling. I absolutely adored it. If you like books about friendship, relationships and complex human emotions, this is for you. The cherry on the top for me is that it is Irish fic, which has become my favorite genre. I liked all of the three main characters, which is unusual for me, and appreciated their depth and equally complex and realistic storylines. I do wish Róise's struggles were explored in more detail and had more of a resolution. Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed this and think it's an incredible debut. Gráinne O'Hare is one to watch!

The ultimate weird, messy-girl lithic. The final boss of the 'holy shit I'm turning 30 and my life is a mess' comedic novel. I still am unable to tell if this has made me feel better or worse about officially hitting my late 20s.

Particularly towards the end as things go absolutely (and excuse my French) tits up, I was laughing out loud constantly. O'Hare's characters were absolutely hilarious, finding humour through the messiness. All three of the main characters were incredibly well fleshed out, jumping off the page. The dialogue was quippy and clever and endlessly entertaining.

I would 100% recommend this book to anyone feeling a little lost in their late twenties/early thirties - it's either going to make you feel terrible or intensely relieved.

Rating: 7 out of 10

With this eye-catching cover, Gráinne O'Hare's debut novel is a tender story of friendship and grief. It was a real slow-burner and I found myself pausing often while reading it. The writing made the characters quite real, describing the everyday life, their thoughts and feelings. All three characters try to deal with grief, the messiness of late twenties, while also struggling with "having to grow up" as they approach 30. At times I felt amused, at times sad and emotional, at times I even felt bored while reading this book, but I am still glad I read it, because it was something a bit different from the plot-driven books that I often read.

📖 Synopsis: Harley, Maggie and Róise are turning 30. The girls live in a shared crumbling house in Belfast and face friendship and relationship struggles as they try to navigate the challenging times that are the late twenties, as well as the grief caused by the unexpected death of their friend Lydia.

Thirst Trap will be published on 12 June 2025. Thanks to Pan Macmillan and @netgalley for providing me with the e-book in exchange of my honest review.