I requested this book because I've previously read, devoured and loved every non-fiction book I've read by Emma Gannon. I love her podcast and online content and I was pleasantly surprised to finally read a fiction book from her.

The core of this novel is what instantly drew me in. I don't think we often see such realistic depictions of adult friendships and the challenges that those entails, usually in books we read a lot about love with friends as side characters and not at the centre of the story. So I particularly appreciated that Gannon chose this route.

I also particularly loved that she covered the topics of child-free by choice. It is definitely something that we rarely see in books, when we usually get a child-free character it's always a character that resents that state and does everything to find a partner and settle down with children. So it was definitely refreshing to see a character that willingly doesn't have children and doesn't resent her situation.

I love Gannon's writing style and I definitely can't wait to read more of her novels in the future.

DNF @ 17%

I guess I couldn't relate but in reality I just couldn't connect with the characters whatsoever.

Olive, the title character of Emma Gannon's debut, and her three best friends are diverging from the closeness of their childhood and early 20s as their lives take different paths a decade out of school. The timeline bounces around throughout the novel, from the girls' days at university to graduation, ten years later, and everything in between. Olive and her boyfriend of nine years break up because she doesn't want to have children, just as her best friends are having babies or struggling to have their own. Olive feels adrift, more lonely, and isolated than ever. I found her to be a somewhat unreliable narrator, selfish, and often out of touch with what is happening with her best friends in the world. Olive isn't always likable, she certainly doesn't always make the right decision, but the questions and issues that she grapples with are relatable and important.

It was refreshing to read a book that deals with important and often unacknowledged issues women face when it comes to pregnancy, fertility, and the decision to have kids. They need to be talked about more. Emotionally gripping, Olive asks questions I have spent so much of my adult life struggling with.

I'm glad to have read this book. Thank you so much to Andrews McNeel Publishing for sharing this important book with me.

This book covered the topic of women who choose not to have children, which is something that is rarely spoken about, even in 2021. However, this book just didn’t massively hit the spot for me, I didn’t feel like I connected with the characters. Unsure if I went in with too high an expectation due to the hype around this book?

It's the first time that I read a book with such a topic, the perspective of a women who doesn't want kids sorrounded by friends with children, it made me think about my self, I really enjoyed the book, Olive is amazing

I love a well written book with women as the varied, complex people that we are. I am one of those women that chose to have children, as deliberate thought out choice that I went into slowly while resenting expectations that it must be choice, even though it was in fact my choice, I hated the imposition, the assumption that we must all want the same for our lives, or that our happiness is hinged on one common goal, purple or function in society. This book is about that choice and the women that know motherhood is not what they want or choose. For me, the fact that women can a should have this decision for themselves somehow makes my choice also more valid, rather than some default role that had to be fulfilled. Great concept.

I really enjoyed OLIVE. As a woman who is childfree by choice, it was especially refreshing and gratifying to see a contemporary novelist handle this hot-button topic with sensitivity, humor, and honesty. And it wasn't limited to Olive's perspective--each of the four main characters, of different minds and experience with fertility and parenting, were well-drawn and compelling. This book felt very "real," for lack of a better word, and I think it will speak to a lot of women!

I know I’m not the target market for this book about a woman’s right to not have children but I still thought it was very good. It is very well written and I enjoyed the narration a lot. The narrator had a good voice and it was a pleasure to listen to. However I did not enjoy the portrayal of the different friendships in the book.. I did not think they were good friends or supportive friends and that got to me by the end. The friends prejudices and Olive’s own feelings started to really bug me and affected my enjoyment of the novel. I liked the authors writing style and I will certainly read more books from her in the future.

This wasn't available for me to download from the day I was accepted for this. I'm gutted as I really wanted to read this. Therefore I'm giving it full stars as I haven't been able to read it

Thank you NetGalley for the e-book advanced edition of Olive in exchange for my honest review.

This was a long book that seemed to drag on. Motherhood is always on of those topics where everyone has an opinion and advise but it comes down to a personal choice and often for personal reasons. I found Olive to be self centered, I wanted to like her and kept reading in hope that she would become a more considerate friend and person. Sorry, that does not happen in this one, she never made it clear as to why she did not want children but by the time I was finished I was glad she didn't have any.
There was far to many morally selfish action that I wanted the book to just end but held onto the glimmer of hope.
I do not let one lesser book turn me off to an author and will certain pick up another one written by her

I loved this book! It was heartwarming and strong. It was exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world! A happy little escape!

Once I picked this book, I could not put it aside. It was real, intense and captivating. The emotions and the situations felt true and actual, just as life is. Life is clearly not easy, with its ups and downs, and so are friendships and the road to find one's self - the books show it all.

This book was an interesting read to say. It was refreshing to see a woman be unapologetically herself. The relationship Olive shared with people was intriguing to read.

It was really good to see a woman not being defined by the societal norms. The last thing olive wanted was to be a mother but at the end of the book she is given the role of a stepmother which was a little disheartening to read. But overall this was a fun read!

I don’t think that I was the target for this novel. It dealt a lot with not wanting to have children which isn’t something I’ve even thought about. The writing was well done and I’m sure someone else will enjoy this novel

Excellent and affirming. A refreshingly different take on the typical 30-something motherhood trope. A recommended first purchase for collections where WF is popular.

Thanks to NetGalley for offering this title on their Read Now list. The reason I only gave it 3 stars is because I found it to be too similar to other books I have read about the same types of friendships. Olive, the main character, is best friends with Bea, Cecily and Isla since high school. They are now in their early 30s, each pursuing different life and successful career paths, and still meeting up for drinks and dinner on a regular basis.

Olive is adamant that she is, and will forever remain, CFBC (child-free by choice). The other 3 women are in different stages of creating families with children. One has three, one is pregnant, and one is repeatedly trying IVF to get pregnant. All four navigate their journeys with and without the support of their best friends, depending on what is going on in the others' lives.

I found the character development to be pretty realistic. Although the story is set in London, England and I live in Toronto, Canada, there are definitely parallels to strong female friendships on both sides of the pond.

Great book.
I still have some mixed pink feelings about this book.
I think it was a great story overall.
The author touches on subjects like friendship, women fertility, marriage, relationships, careers and society´s overall pressure on women throughout the book in a way that just made me feel all the feels.
I was just happy to pick up a book so light and easy to read

It was a book that I identified with quite a bit, in many ways.
I think it was a story that touched me quite a bit.

This book unfortunately didn't grab my interest because of the pages of inner dialogue of the main character that sounded more like a magazine article about why someone would not want to have children.

i thought this was a fun and sweet read! i will definitely read more emma gannon books in the future! thank you so much for this arc. i will post my full review once the publication comes out.

Olive by @emmagannonuk

What an amazing book! I was lucky enough to be given access to the audio book from @netgalley and I just adored it! The narrator was excellent which is a big thing for me as I often find myself getting bored with audio books due to monotone narration and slow reading etc.

The story follows Olive Stone, a young woman who is set on living a child free lifestyle. The book follows Olive and her three friends who are all on different journeys and in different stages of life and the impacts that this has on their friendships and relationships.

The story was an excellent read and I loved the different time jumps giving alternate perspectives on certain aspects of the story. This was a heartwarming story of friendship and love and the acceptance of peoples choices in life and how we can all embrace the way that we choose to go forward in our personal journeys.

This is definitely a five star recommendation from me for all readers - but I would especially recommend this one to female readers and/or lovers of women’s fiction!

#Olive #netgalley