Olive is a 30 something, newly single woman struggling to understand her place in the world.

Successful in her career, with a solid friendship group, Olive watches her peers settling down, starting families in there apparently perfect lives and wonders why she lacks a desire to do the same.

I loved how Emma Gannon presents such a mismatched group of friends, demonstrating the various struggles women can face in relationships and motherhood.

Gannon addresses some very real, sometimes difficult topics that are really discussed in literature. Reading this novel brings these topics to the forefront and demonstrates the normalcy of them, breaking some of the taboos surrounding them.

At times, the subject matter and scenarios that occur in Olive felt slightly repetitive and the interactions between friends are slightly unrealistic, leaving me wondering at times whether people actually interact in this way.

However, if you’re a woman looking for a fictional novel exploring self discovery and self acceptance, particularly around the topic of choosing to be childfree, I’d completely recommend this.

If children and family choices are not something that interest you, I’d recommend to pick up something else!

Personally, I would definitely choose to pick up another of Gannon’s novels in the future.

Thank you to @netgalley and @andrewsmcmeel for this audio in exchange for my honest review.

Oh this book made me feel seen! There are not that many books about being child free by choice. I have felt what Olive has felt so many times. Heard what Olive heard. I really appreciated this book and hated to put it down.

Listened to on Audio.

We meet Olive and her friends as they move from school, A levels, to university then out into the world where they work, marry and start to have children. This is where the differences emerge between Olive and her 3 friends.

Olive is very firm in her belief that she does not want babies. She feels that her friends do not quite understand that she wont have babies, that it is inevitable that she will eventually change and have babies. This is the storyline of the book, and it creates distance between the women. This distance is reflected very realistically and memorably in the chat group the friends communicate through. There is one instance where one of the friends is typing on the chat and you are very keenly awaiting the response. Its very realistic - who hasn't been left hanging waiting and watching the … as someone responds? The feelings of guilt, anxiousness and difference are all very keenly highlighted, and it is very realistic and reflects modern day use of chat groups, wots app etc.

The theme being that Olive doesnt want babies, and the response to that by society and worse the reaction of her friends opens up a discussion that child free women are after all quite normal. The book is essentially about love, friends and family. And you dont need to have babies to feel the strength of familial love that Olive feels by the end of the book. Her friends and family create the loving family atmosphere that is possible despite not wanting babies.

I loved the narrator, characters and the friends' relationship was very true to life. Its a fresh, honest and real portrayal of female friendship, and the changes that women encounter in life. Read/Listen/Learn from it and enjoy.

Rating 5/5
#Olive #NetGalley

This book was so not for me. All I kept hearing about is women wanting babies, being mommies, and those women not wanting babies and being so misunderstood by society. I couldn't care less what other women want to do or NOT to do with their bodies; who are those women judging other women who don't want to procreate? This is beyond me. And make a whole book discussing this topic? This just blows my mind. The only thing I agreed with is that a woman who never want to have children has a partner who hopes to become a daddy one day needs to be honest with him and not waste his time so he can end the relationship and find another partner he can build a family with. This is only fair. He shouldn't be blind sighted.

This story is unrealistic, I came across too many stereotypes for my liking, and the friendships did not come across as genuine. The characters were not relatable, one dimensional, and the character Olive was very immature for her age. A real waste of my time.

Thank you Net Galley and Harper Collins for this audio in exchange for my honest review.

OLIVE: Rating total 3.25

OLIVE is a easily digestible novel about a woman named Olive who has decided she wants to be child free, but at every turn is presented with all the ways in which having children is the ‘right’ way to be an adult. She’s had a group of friends since primary school and as they all move forward with their lives, (getting married, buying houses, having babies) Olive doesn’t feel that path is for her. She’s recently broken up with her boyfriend of nine years and doesn’t feel like she can really chat through the breakup with her friends because of all of their issues with their fertility or infertility.

I recently had a discussion about the topic central to this novel. Why are childless women seen as having less going on or less value attached to our existence without children? And with acknowledgment that no one’s pain negates anyone else’s pain, why are women (because let’s face it, men don’t get the same demand of them to become fathers) called selfish when wanting to talk about issues that have nothing to do with becoming a mother?

OLIVE was a quick read (or in my case, a listen) but I never was taken away by the story or characters. I want to really feel for my characters and what I got was more like a fictionalized essay.

NOTE: I was provided an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. Thanks NetGalley!

As a woman in her mid 20s, who's often prodded to settle down or provide a family by strangers and family members, Olive by Emma Gannon is a relatable experience. The pressure to provide a family is strong for both women who do and do not want children. Adult life can be complicated. Everyone working and dealing their own struggles, it can be hard to find time to come together and simply enjoy being alive.

Olive can be very long-winded, judgmental, and lost in her own struggles. She forgets about promises she's told friends. She's lost in her own losses and emotional turmoil to properly support her friends when they also go through hardship. While this makes Olive come across as unlikable at times, I found her actions and thought process to be incredibly realistic. Olive is a complex, flawed person who is trying to find her place in a world which doesn't quite fit her. Learning where you belong is a universal struggle which any reader could identify with. In Olive's case, she is trying to figure out how her life fits in with the narrative of child-rearing. Her lack of interest in having kids creates tension in her relationships, friendships, and how she views the world around her. With some effort to find others who assure her that her life path can be meaningful without kids, Olive begins to truly thrive.

The feeling of sinking away from friendships was a real theme in this book, which defines living in your 20s well. As people begin to figure out who they are and where they see themselves in the world, it's natural for people to drift apart from one another. In some cases, people can reconnect. In other cases, people must learn to cherish memories and say goodbye. This was a very underrated subplot present in Olive, as many reviewers focused on the central themes and plot of the story in their reviews.

This book feels long-winded at times, repeating information that was already presented without adding a great deal of different perspectives or insights. This is meant to support the main thesis of the book, but instead hides some truly beautiful character conversations and internal dialogue that Olive experiences. In addition, the story is so singular in its message of living without children, I couldn't help but think about the amount of women that still do not have access to family planning resources. In the book, Olive has the choice to remain childless. Olive has a relationship with a man for about 9 years and has never once had to worry about access to contraceptives. One of Olive's friends is paying for in vitro fertilization visits. This book, which is set in the United Kingdom, comes across as written in the perspective of the white, upper middle class woman. While the story was fine and it's important to have a variety of stories and perspectives in literature, I would have loved to see someone challenge the idea that being childless isn't always a choice a woman has.

Four young women navigate their changing friendship as their lives encompass careers, marriage, childbirth, breakups and divorce. Olive feels increasingly alienated from her oldest friends when her relationship with her boyfriend dissolves over Olive’s insistence that she does not want children. The breakup is handled with great empathy for both parties who are deeply in love, but unable to compromise. I’m not sure if there is a more emotionally volatile subject for women as motherhood, and women can be incredibly judge mental of other women’s choices. It’s quite a recent privilege for women to be able to choose whether or not to have children, but it’s a right that all women should be free to decide without judgement from anyone. Olive has really mixed reviews and I wonder if at least part of the reason there are so many negative reviews is due to Olives’ certainty that she will not bow to society’s expectation that she have children. It’s a decision that comes at a high personal cost, but fortunate are those who know what they want, or in this case, don’t want.

I loved this book! I think it is a wonderful story of moving through adulthood and navigating the world that you feel is moving in all different directions around you. Gannon worked hard to include numerous aspects of motherhood and the many ways it could be done. (Adding in a storyline of adoption or fostering would have been a nice touch though.) I found the character of Olive so relatable. Was she problematic at some points? Yes, but aren't we all?! As a young adult I thought it was very important to see a flawed, yet very strong woman that tackled her challenges and took time to do things for herself. I did sometimes find it a little annoying with how relatable the author tried to be with mentioning popular things within the time period of the chapter. They felt a little forced. My biggest issue was how the book ended. Everything got tied up in a neat little bow. I'm all for happy endings but the overwhelming joy that each character had made me roll my eyes a little. I think that Sian Clifford was a wonderful narrator, especially with how well she defended each character. Overall, I thought that this was a wonderful read that I would recommend to everyone!

Edit: I have changed my 4 stars to 5. After finishing the book, I realized that Olive is all I can think about. Surely that makes it worthy of a higher rating!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Emma Gannon for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those books that I came across at the perfect moment for my life. I loved this book. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook for my honest review.

Olive and her three friends have been in the same walk of life since they were children in primary school. All of a sudden Olive is presented with a difference in life that she feels like is separating her from her group of girls. This book follows Olive as she is struggling through a “quarter-life crisis” and is one of the most relatable narrators I’ve experienced. This is a book of discovery, and it highlights the stress that women feel when it comes to society and the role of motherhood. This book explores the different life paths including not wanting children, post-natal depression, struggling with fertility, and the feeling of failure that can come along with each role. This is a beautiful way to let each character live their journey and come to the conclusion that they need for their lives.

This book does jump back and forth on different timelines. It often goes back 9 years in time to give a tidbit of background information based on group dynamics, but it always ties in to what is happening in the present and makes sense.

I highly recommend this book.

This story follows 4 friends from childhood and on. A very tight knit group navigates their way through life while relying on one another, but also coming to terms with the fact that they have different ideas about what makes a happy life. There were parts of the book I found endearing, such as the bond the friends shared. I also found some of the characters to be annoying and the flip flopping between past and present didn’t always flow.

Sian Clifford is a fantastic choice to bring out the nuances of the protagonist Olive's inner ruminations. Gannon's debut explores motherhood with a care and candour rarely present in popular fiction. She depicts adult female friendship honestly, and allows characters to voice their grievances with each other. The narrative primarily follows a year in the life of its protagonist, Olive, who is struggling to piece together what her identity looks like in light of her decision to be child-free. The book tackles pertinent themes of comparison, community, grief and self-acceptance. Although Gannon's prose felt clumsy at times, I have no doubt that this story will have prompted innumerable, valuable, conversations among 30-something friendship groups just like Olive's.

Olive does not want to be a mum. Coping is easier said than done when she has the perfect boyfriend, a steady job, and 3 best friends who are on their own paths towards motherhood, but Olive herself has absolutely zero desire to have a baby or raise a child. This book immerses the reader in Olive’s perspective while she struggles through relating to women with children and even when she finds the CFBC (Child Free By Choice) crowd, she still struggles to see herself clearly through the child-free women’s perspectives.

Understandably, it isn’t easy to make a choice that is so drastically different than all of her friends. However, Olive’s fear of potential regret and anxiety is borderline obsessive and exhausting to bear witness to as a full-length novel. On one hand, I have no doubt that there are women out there who identify 100% with Olive, and I like to hope that they got something out of this book, but for the rest of us I found it incredibly surprising and tedious that the book really didn’t stray from one woman’s quest to accept her own desires and path.

I would have much preferred a book about these 4 best friends that gave more equal weight to each of their stories. I think I would have liked Olive a lot more if I didn’t have to spend quite so much time in her head as she spiraled over this difficult period in her life. Each character spent some time stuck in their own personal drama, which is completely understandable and expected, but their lack of empathy towards one another had me questioning the depth of their friendship in the first place. It also made them less likable and there was not a lot of personal growth for any of them.

I think most readers and even Olive’s best friends are like, “you do you, Olive! It’s okay to not have children!” But Olive still needs to hash it out for hundreds of pages, weakening her relationships with others, and spiraling into anxiety and depression.

The audiobook narration was charmingly British and I think the narrator did a fantastic job breathing personality into Olive. This book was not for me, but the audio performance made it more bearable.

I wanted to like this story, and I think the idea of exploring the themes in this book was a wonderful start, but there was so much that didn’t work for me, so I am unfortunately giving this a brutally honest 1 star rating.

3 stars *may change
PRE-WARNING: This book had a very strange section discussing trans and non-binary identities. The main character gets into a taxi (?) with her best pal and the driver goes on a rant on the "absurdity" of gender-fluidness and makes some heavily transphobic remarks. The main character thinks to herself, "I should tell him he's being a jerk, but for decency's sake, I won't." This scene is never mentioned again. It plays no part in the plot. It was very weird? I don't understand why the author felt the need to have a character bash on trans/non-binary identities for no reason. It caught me off guard, so I'd like to warn anyone else about it.
This is technically a review of the audiobook since I got an early copy of it, though I don't think there's much to say. I'm not very fond of listening to British accents for hours on end, but I also don't really care. The only thing was that I like to put it rather quick, say around 2x to 3x speed, but the 2.5x option was so abysmal I could hardly make out the words. I swear that option cut half of the syllables being said.
Anyway, the book itself was alright. Olive (or anyone for that matter) isn't particularly very likable. A lot of the parenting decisions in this book were questionable. I do think she went through an interesting journey, although I also feel like she went through that journey in the first half and for whatever reason the author decided to redo the entire journey for the other half. It's whatever, since i read the audiobook in 4 hours and didn't spend a lot of time on it.
Also, the romance was a bit huh? Like, I would have liked the book more without it. He's a nice fellow, but not really necessary.
This was overall fine. Might raise the rating the longer I think about it.
Thanks to Netgalley for an early copy of the audiobook.

I kinda enjoyed this book, even though it does have a lot of flaws and moments that just don't make any sense (for example, when Olive has a meeting at 8 a.m., her therapist is running late because she was with a client. 8 a. m.)

I also really liked the reading, I enjoyed it even though there were some really bad comments about it. To me, it seemed natural and expressive, and it was easy to listen to.

The ending was really poorly written and I didn't like how she magically ended up with an older guy who already has grown kids and becoming a part of a family.
Also, that bullshit just before the epilogue, like, finally coming to terms with yourself... It took her a long time to get there over something that isn't all that unusual anymore.

I do get it somehow, though. When I was a teenager 6-7 years ago and was sure that I wanted no kids, I was made fun of. But I think that it is just the people you are with, so I really don't understand why Olive was trying so hard to stick with the friends who had zero support for her.

That being said, that chick who can't have kids and who's undergoing IVF, why does she think that she is the center of the universe? She is mad at Olive for not wanting children, she is mad at another friend for being pregnant. I mean, they were all supportive of her, but she couldn't find it in her to be happy for her best friend for having a child? Fuck off, lady! You are not noble and your problems are not more important that someone else's!

Also, all that moms sticking with moms, and not-moms sticking with not-moms in their little group of 4 was ridiculous.
This whole friend group was ridiculous, actually. At times, it seemed like they all hated each other and I have no idea why they are friends at all. They aren't there for each other, they all just cry over themselves. But the things magically come to where they should be and the 4 of them is a teenage girl band again...

All in all, I did enjoy the book, no matter how much nonsense there was or how irritating some of the characters were. I'm sure that there are better books on the topic, but this is the first one I read and I didn't hate it.

P. S. I really liked the cover.

This book was simply wonderful to listen to. It really struck a chord with me and I found myself, thinking about it after I’d finished reading it. Really excellent listen.

So, I think 20 years ago, it was more controversial to choose not to have children, but I feel like today, it's so much more common than this book makes it seem. Yes, friends who do want kids don't often understand those who don't have the urge to reproduce and I've often heard the "you'll change your mind" comments myself - no, I didn't and I don't regret it at all. In the end though, I think this story was more about a group of friends learning to accept each others' choices and realizing that the right choice for them isn't necessarily the right choice for others. The characters aren't always thre most likeable but I do think they were fairly realistic. We all get wrapped up in our own issues at times.

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It's really exciting to find a book like this. Olive is an easy to read, contemporary and relatable story with a really heart warming message to it. The characters are all so special and unique and the storyline of Olive coming to terms with not wanting children of her own while she is surrounded by friends moving in different directions is so relatable and important for young women. Thank you for writing this book Emma, it was one I needed to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Olive's story really resonated with me, the whole discussion on being childfree by choice and not feeling like anyone around you is understanding it, that hit a bit too close to home... I don't really know what else to say about this book, the writing is not the best I've read but I totally glossed over it because I felt seen in so many scenes.

I think this would be a good book to buddy read with someone who doesn't feel the same as you about motherhood as it shows different experiences between Olive and her friends and how to navigate those different life choices without losing each other. It doesn't put the blame on anyone, it shows that every feeling is valid and equally important.

I really did not like Olive at all. So I didn't care about her and this made it hard to enjoy the book.. The narrator did not help this book either, she droned on and on and I almost gave up several times but stayed with it hoping it would get better; it did not.

I expected to love this book. Like Olive, I do not particularly want children. I also have a small group of friends who I met at university, and who I stay in close contact with. In my wider group of friends, the majority of us either don't want kids, or haven't got there yet. So I was expecting to relate to the characters in this story a lot.

I'll start with the good. I liked the very beginning of the book, where Olive and her friends are leaving university. Ending that chapter in your life is difficult. You know everything is going to change, and yet there's nothing you can do to stop it. I also liked the epilogue, where everything has finally fallen into place.

Unfortunately, I didn't much like anything in between. Olive is rude, mean and selfish. She expects her friends to be there for her whenever she needs them, but she doesn't offer them the same consideration. She shows up late and is then angry because they have to go home, even though they're dealing with difficult home lives and health issues. At work she expects people to treat her with respect but she doesn't even seem to do much work and thinks it's ok to skip meetings or show up late to them.

She talks about working for a feminist magazine, and yet she's quite happy to judge other women for their choices in life. Being a feminist doesn't mean rejecting the idea of having a family. Yes, you can absolutely choose not to have children, but a woman who has children isn't any less of a feminist. Honestly this just felt like a bunch of middle-class women acting in a really pathetic way and then expecting people to feel sorry for them.

So disappointing, as I hoped to love it.