If I’m not mistaken official release date for this book is on Valentine’s Day (in 2 days!!!), but it would have been even better for Galantine’s day, the day before (as in: tomorrow), as this book explores female friendship at its best and worst. I don’t often read this kind of book (what kind exactly? This is not romance, this is too light-hearted to be classified as a psychological novel…) but I quite enjoyed it.

Fiona and Natalie have been BFFs since forever… and now they’re in their mid-20s and their lives are entering another stage. Fiona works in an ice cream parlor on the coast of Cornwall, Natalie has a boring admin job. Fiona moves out of their shared flat to live with her boyfriend and Natalie feels a bit abandoned and stressed out (to find a flatmate to pay the rent). But Natalie soon gets a chance to apply to her dream job, until she discovers that Fiona has applied too. On the other hand, Fiona starts to question her life choices but tries to hide her doubts with a brave face.

The book is told alternatively by both young women, and as misunderstandings compound we see how a perfectly minor mistake or a wrong choice of words can resonate and take gigantic proportions. Some of these seemed so very British to me, as a direct and frank discussion may have deescalated the situation much earlier than polite chit-chat and self-deprecatory humor. As I have the advantage of being quite older, I had a sort of motherly empathy for the young women. I remembered how exciting this period of life is, when people start to get serious in their career, when relationships turn into something possibly serious, when the studying carefree life morphs into adulthood with responsibility. I was never in that situation with my friends, so I could only imagine the situation. If those young women had older female mentors in their lives, they might have resolved some of their problems due to immaturity or naivety or selfishness… But did I have an older female mentor at that age? Of course not!

I had some difficulty to be on Team Fiona as much as on Team Natalie, who is a lot more likeable. At times it was hard to fathom how those two would be best friends because their characters and aspirations are very different, but it can happen with childhood friends. The book passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. Some events seemed a little predictable, but I really enjoyed the rush of conflicting, eventually heart-warming emotions and I would be quite interested to read another book by this writer.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for review consideration.

This was an excellent example of the ups and downs of a longtime friendship. When you know someone for most of your life and spend a lot of time with them, everything is not always going to be peachy. If the friendship is strong enough, however, you can overcome those hard times that occasionally arise. Natalie and Fiona have a friendship that is more like a sisterhood and I loved reading about it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to rate and review an ARC of this book.

Ready for it follows Natalie and Fiona as they move through some big life changes - Natalie gets a new job and Fiona moves in with her boyfriend. It alternates from their POVs, and they have a big blow up on a ngihtout, which ends in some one filming it and it going viral.

Honeslty as the story progressed I was left wondering where the plotline was going. I think this was meant to be a commentary on female friendships and supporting your friends through their life changes but honestly I just thought both characters were quite unlikeable and if Fiona was my friend and ditched our plans to go travelling with someone else... she wouldn't have been moving back in with me when she returned!!

A middle of the road one for me.
Thank you for the chance to read this ARC.

I loved this; honestly, as someone in my mid twenties, edging closer to thirty every year, I thought this was an excellent portrayal of the challenges that come when friendship dynamics change and previously entwined people move towards different milestones/goals. Masters did an excellent job at highlighting the instability of your late twenties - the pressure to have your life together and to fit in, the self-critical inner monologues when you don’t, and the impact this can have on your friendships when you’re all trying to pretend that everything’s okay. The writing style was effortless to follow and engage with, and made for a really cosy, snappy read.

I love that this was an alternating POV book, and because of this I never felt I was routing for one or the other of the MCs. Fiona and Natalie were both experiencing their own heartbreaks and successes, and I felt for them both. I felt that even the “side” characters were given enough personality that you got at the very least a vague understanding of their backstories and feelings.

This was a solid 3.5 stars for me; I’d definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants a quick, easy read exploring the complexities of friendships in your late 20s.

I have been on a big buzz of reading books about two female friends recently and this book did not disappoint.

I find them fascinating, the dynamics and social politics of relying on one other person as your social anchor. You cannot expect one person to meet all of your needs, it puts too much pressure on the relationship and sometimes turns it toxic.

I loved watching Natalie and Fiona's relationship change over time. When Fiona moves in with her boyfriend, both women start examining their friendship and lives through different lenses. It is so refreshing to see female friendships explored in this way.

It’s lovely that female friendships are being explored more. It’s very hard to capture conversations with realism, specially when they’re the sort of regular conversation you have with a friend-about things that are banal to anyone but yourself. This book pulls that off with an incredible lightness of touch, and is not pretentious at all. Natalie and Fiona have been best friends since school, and now their lives are at a bit of a watershed moment-Fiona’s moving out of their shared flat to live with her boyfriend, Natalie’s thinking of a career change. Things also really aren’t the same, and Masters chronicles all the resentments, some unfair and some not, that can build up over a decade-long friendship and how hard it can be to actually talk things over and resolve them. Masters gets a lot of little nuances absolutely perfectly-for instance, Natalie always feels obliged to narrate her Tinder misadventures as funny stories to Fiona, who’s in a long term relationship, and sometimes Natalie just doesn’t want to be the punchline of a joke-navigating the minefield of dating can be hard, even if you can look back on it with laughter, and that’s not really something you would want to do all the time. On the other hand, she also doesn’t want Fiona’s pity as the pathetic single friend who’s stuck in a rut, because that’s obviously not all that her life is about. There are very well-etched scenes:I loved the sort-of possessiveness Fiona and Natalie feel when either of them show that there are things they share with other people, that’s so real! It’s also one of the few books that’s quite real about the economic situation about the protagonists-a gap year might sound really fun, but it can potentially affect your career prospects, making your monthly rent can be difficult by yourself, interviewing for a new job can be terrifying and you could be paralysed by imposter syndrome. A lot of novels on similar themes seem to completely ignore real life considerations like these-probably reflecting the authors’ unbelievably privileged backgrounds. THIs one, however, felt deeply relatable. Masters also engages with what it means to go viral in a thoroughly nuanced way-it’s both a big, and not a big deal, and I don’t want to say anymore about how she resolves it, please read the book to find out! Ditch your overrated and over hyped Patricia Lockwood, Sally Rooney and Meg Mason novels that are supposedly about modern womanhood, and pick up this one instead. Super fun, poignant and written with a tight control over plot and dialogue. I want to read the author’s first novel as well, and will definitely read all her next ones.

Loved this book! a well written story about two best friends. it almost felt like a thriller with the different perspectives. i couldn't put this down.

I really enjoyed this book.. An exploration of the tensions that arise within a friendship when people are at different stages of life. I liked the dual perspectives and feel that equal attention was given to each so both main characters felt rounded.

Ready For It is the story of best friends Fiona and Natalie navigating growing up and growing apart. When Fiona moves out of their shared apartment to live with her boyfriend, Natalie is left scrambling to cover the rent. This fissure in their relationship grows as Natalie is hired for Fiona’s dream job.

While the premise drew me in, the frequent transitions from Fiona’s to Natalie’s respective points of view made this a bit difficult for me to enjoy. It took me a while to figure out what Fiona was doing vs. what Natalie was doing and to distinguish between the two characters. I can see how this may appeal to readers looking for a brisk friendship drama.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Great novel exploring the dramas of friendship and turning thirty.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

I have mixed feelings around "Ready For It". On one hand, it's an interesting portrayal of female friendship and how such relationship may change and evolve, with an interesting narrative choice of two main characters with fairly equal space for their perspectives.

On the other, said friendship is quite toxic, which reinforces the trope of relationships between women being problematic and at times insincere. This shows not only in the relationship between Fiona and Natalie, but also between Natalie and her supervisor, Fiona and her boyfriend's mother.

There were glimpses of exploration of such topics as "playing adults" and insecurities around advancing romantic relationships, limited opportunities while living in a small town, and accidentally becoming social media sensation for all the wrong reasons. I wish they were given more space within the plot and been explored in even more depth.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I tend to love books about female friendships but this one fell flat.

Told in alternating viewpoints between Fiona and Natalie, it covers a brief time in their friendship. They are best friends and flat mates, and Fiona moves out to live with her boyfriend. This causes some minor friction in their friendship, and they both end up applying for the same job. One gets it, and each feels badly about it. They go viral in a video and it causes even more problems.

Honestly, I found all of the characters in this book irritating. They sucked at communication and had the dumbest problems. About halfway through I realized how unlikeable the characters were, and I finished it just to finish it. I wouldn’t recommend this one, unfortunately.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

'Happy Happy Happy' by this author was my favourite read of 2022 - I loved it! So I was delighted to get an ARC of this one. I didn't love it as much, hence the lower rating HOWEVER, this author writes with strong voice and focuses on personality traits people can relate to.

“Ready for It,” by Nicola Masters, explores the friendship between two women, Natalie and Fiona. The two have been best friends for years, but what was important when they were younger has shifted over time. When Fiona moves in with her boyfriend, both women start examining their friendship and lives through different lenses. Personally, I found the idea of this book interesting - so often women’s friendships aren’t explored in meaningful ways, so I was hoping this book would do so. It did and it didn’t. One of the characters, I felt, was so incredibly immature in many ways that I didn’t know if she’d been sheltered from realities or never cared for others, but only herself. Her lack of communication and trying to verbalize so people could understand was frustrating to see … but that could’ve been the point the author was trying to make. The other main character seemed to have a better grip on realities, but at times was so unsure of things even when faced with them head-on. I found the situation with the work environment (Natalie’s job) odd - new manager sabotaging her own advancement and the seemingly mandatory family fun event - at times it was a mess. I did have a bit of a problem keeping the women apart, especially in the beginning. Once I realized that the main characters (and circle of friends) were in their late twenties, I realized that a bit of immaturity and wanting to fit in was to be expected. This friendship was about maturing and growing, albeit not always at the same rate and amounts. While it wasn’t the book I expected, it did keep me engaged throughout, though I did figure that their friendship would survive. A 3.5 read for me, rounded up to 4 stars.

Fast paced, intriguing, fiull of suspense and twists that left me guessing right until the end. A really good read.

Ready For It follows long-time best friends Natalie and Fiona as they’re going through big changes in their lives - Fiona is moving in with her boyfriend, Matt, leaving Natalie in what was their apartment alone and worried how she’ll pay the rent. As they both learn and grow from these new experiences, they’re learning that they’re not always going to grow together, and not always at the same rate. When tensions grow and bubble over to a very public confrontation, they’re both left in the wake of their mess wondering if this is the end of their friendship, or if they can come back from it.

I thought this was a pretty heartwarming story. When you get to a certain point in life, it’s hard not to compare yourself to others - especially people who are so close to you. Friendships are changing so much when you get older, and I think this book perfectly captures those feelings.

I didn’t love the style of writing, it felt somewhat immature. I also felt like I had whiplash at some points, especially in the beginning, when the narration kept going back and forth between Natalie and Fiona. It was a bit too much at times and got on my nerves a bit.

An entertaining if not slightly predictable read. Relatable characters and humorous moments dealing with expectations of reaching a certain age and the pressure to tick off all the big life moments.

Thank you for the advanced copy.

I believe this is my first book by this author.

I loved how this was written, the way the author moves back and forth and concentrates on both the central characters point of view. The book is fast moving and we'll put together and it concentrates on the most important aspects of their relationship. All of the characters are believable and in every friendship group we can easily pick these people out! Of the two central characters, Natalie is the more likeable in my opinion.

This is a tale of friendships, societal expectations and everyday life. When Fi moved in with boyfriend Matt it looks like she has it all and yet she still feels she has some
growing up to do. Leaving best mate and flat mate Natalie to wonder how shes going to pay the bills, Natalie feels like her life course has been altered before she’s ready to. So when they both go for the same job and Natalie gets it, deep rooted resentments and elephants in the corner are more prevalent than ever. Can their friendship survive?

I liked Natalie a lot more than Fi but I suppose that’s kinda the point as Fi is self centred and hedonistic without thinking too much about the consequences of her actions. Something that struck me most is how much I resonated with the girls about the pressure of having it all together and having certain boxes ticked by a certain age. And having that comparison with your friends. This book was witting and I really enjoyed the growth of the characters.

Well, this was a very timely book for me. I happen to know how terrible fighting with one’s best friend is like and I can assure you that this story hit the nail on the head. Down to the internal arguments with oneself haha. I really enjoyed how the author moved back and forth throughout the chapter with both POVs as it helped with each of their emotions during pivotal moments. Both characters felt truly fleshed out and understandable. Even the side characters stood on their own. I think we’ve all known a Jenny or two. I really loved that the story was mostly about the female friendship and the romance was on the side (though not unimportant) for once. You don’t see many stories like that and I have no clue why not! As Natalie says, adulthood is sh*t and sometimes there isn’t anyone better to help you along than your best friend, Anyways, absolutely enjoyable story from beginning to end.