This is my first book by this author. The writing style is lovely. The plot is interesting and well thought out. It's about friendship, relationships, betrayal, lies, secrets, and finding one's self.


Thank you to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, & the author for this eARC.
*All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Making Assumptions
Making Excuses
Keeping Secrets

None of these things ever turn out well…

When Zara, who was once the fifth member of the inseparable “Girlfriends’ Club” resurfaces at a friend’s Funeral and drops a “bombshell”, Naomi’s life implodes.

Zara’s revelation shocks the group and immediately, their daily “WhatsApp” group chat falls silent.

All of a sudden, Naomi finds herself sitting at home instead of sipping Strawberry Mojitos with the girls who she has met up with on every second Wednesday for years.

Old wounds have been opened and loyalties have been questioned- and Naomi will be forced to confront the truth about her past.

Can the Girlfriends’ Club survive “the Fall-out” or will Naomi, Rowan, Kate and Abbie all go their separate ways for good?

Sophie Ranald is a NEW author to me, so I had no idea when I downloaded this book that it was book FOUR in the “Girlfriend Club Series”-Naomi’s turn to star.

At first, I had trouble keeping the women straight but had I started at the beginning they would have been “old friends” by now! Still, after a few chapters, I got my bearings and I DO think the book works fine as a stand-alone, although by the end of it, I decided that I WANTED to go back to read the earlier books in this series.

P.S. I Hate You is Abbie’s story
Santa, Please Bring Me a Boyfriend is Rowan’s and
Not In a Million Years is Kate’s book

These are likable and relatable ladies living in London and Sophie Ranald writes stories to CELEBRATE FRIENDSHIP as well as to touch on the highs and lows of dating, marriage and parenting.

I don’t know if they all feature a “moral dilemma” but this one definitely does, adding substance to the story-and it’s the first book in awhile that I could not wait to get back to reading any chance that I got, because it felt so REAL.

I enjoyed my time spent with the “Girlfriend Club” and look forward to reconnecting with them, when I go back to read the earlier novels!

NAOMI’s story- “The Fall-Out”- will be published on July 19, 2024.

Thank You to Storm Publishing for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. These are my candid thoughts!

Friendship among women is something worth of an extended study. It’s funny how coincidental it’s for us to form groups of five friends, have all type of crises through time and finish with a group of four or absolutely dissolved.

No matter how many times we repeat the experience we never stop trying to rebuild our own community of friends. We have girls code that most of us respect, and our friends are the support system our families, no matter how lovely they are, sometimes lack.
Whenever we reach that blissful feeling of support you feel unstoppable and the strongest in your life.

Kate, Rowan, Abbie, Zara and Naomi met through their boyfriends and immediately created the Girlfriends’ club. At the beginning they all wanted companionship and support but as life goes on, and complications appeared they will have to work every step of the way if they want to keep their emotional support system alive.

This book reminded me of the bad, the not so good and the best moments of girl friendship. The insecurities and life experience in life and how you deal with them goes in line with how you build a strong relationship around you.
I enjoyed the book in spite of the betrayal between Patch, Zara and Naomi, honestly my least favorite characters in the story.

Friends by fate, supporting the boyfriends at a football match, the boyfriends are long gone but the girls friendship remains.
Zara the glamorous and elusive friend flits back to London for catch ups whilst the remaining 4 meet more regularly.
The death of Andy is a catalyst that brings them all back together.
Has time healed hurts or are they being pinched and prodded again?
Slights, hurts and betrayals are coming through to splinter the group but who is at the root of the issues?

Lots of drama in this one.

Friendships, relationships and lies. This book has everything. Some parts were a bit surface level and I was hoping characters and the plot digged deeper. I definitely liked some characters and their storylines more than others. I do think it would make a great book club choice as the discussion would be top tier.

Thank you NetGalley, Storm Publishing and Sophie Ranald for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story focuses on a group of friends - switching between how they found each other and their early friendship and then present life.

I loved the friendship aspect of the book and the drama was interesting but overall it just felt slow to me and surface level. I expected more emotion in a few different parts.

I liked this book, the plot was good and hooked me. It’s a story about friendship, relationships and betrayal.

Five friends that all have different, but similar lives, it’s kids and marriages, while one friend is living it up in Paris. All is not true though, the friendship is made up of lies, but who’s lying?

I liked the way the chapters was the present and past. You get hooked into the woman’s life and how everything happened. It’s a fun, quick 4 star read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advance reader copy.

This book was quite slow paced, so it was hard to get into at the beginning.

The book starts with a death of a close friend Adam and then another friend from their past shows up at the funeral. With Zara’s arrival, the FMC starts questioning everything. Especially her marriage and how loyal her husband is.

I was expecting a lot more anger and frustration, but even though we didn’t get that, it was still an emotional read.

It was definitely giving “Happy Place” vibes, just more adult version of it.

Overall it was a good read.

This book was really enjoyable to read! It was my first Sophie Ronald book and I really liked the character development and the deeper darker tone of the book! It definitely was a meaningful read about a friend group and resilience!

This was an emotional rollercoaster to read! I will need some time to recover from this.

It took some chapters for me to be really involved with the characters and the story, but all of the sudden I found myself very emotional and totally invested in this! I actually cried during some parts of the book, which is rare. Sophie really nailed this one! I found myself getting really worried about the Naomi several times during the book. The characters were well developed and the story almost too realistic. This was both a hard read (because I really FELT Naomi’s emotions as my own here. They were THAT well described) and a fantastic read all at once.

Thank you so much to Storm Publishing, NetGalley and Sophie Ranald for letting me have this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy

In this read, we follow Naomi, a married mother of twins with a core group of girlfriends who she admires greatly. When an unfortunate event occurs, it brings together the group of friends and people from the past. Naomi is forced to relive her past including how she met her husband. So many secrets all stemming from one person. I really enjoyed this read, could not put it down!

Love some good girl drama that is not mine :) Love the characters and the depth that Sophie developed for each of them.

This title was perfect for this book. It was a great story about the fall out when truths are revealed.

Naomi is married with twins. When her friend Andy passes away, she is shocked when her old friend Zara shows up at the funeral. Immediately things start to change, as Zara starts turning up everywhere.

Naomi starts to question everything about her life including her marriage.

The author did a great job of blending past and present. As you were getting pieces of the present you would get relevant pieces of the past. This abled the reader to see two separate "fall outs", one in the past that broke up their friend group and one in the present that again tests their friendship.

I judge an author by the way their characters make me feel. This author did a great job making me have strong feelings for all of the characters in this book. Some I liked and some I disliked. I think that is a mark of a great author. When you can make me hate a character but still enjoy the book you must be doing something right.

I did end up really liking the book. There was one thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars but if I put it here it would spoil the whole book! I thought the ending was great and really did a nice job of wrapping up the whole story.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this title. This is my very honest review.

The Fall-Out by Sophie Ranald
Rating: 4/5
Release Date: 19 July 2024

"The Fall-Out" revolves around Naomi and her tightly-knit group of friends who call themselves the Girlfriends' Club. Their bond is disrupted when Zara, a long-lost member, returns with a life-changing secret. This revelation sends shockwaves through the group, causing rifts and challenging loyalties among the friends.

As Naomi faces her marital issues head-on, she finds herself unraveling a web of secrets and buried emotions from her past. Her journey through this turmoil is not just about repairing her relationship with her husband but also about rediscovering herself and reevaluating her friendships. The return of Zara, with her bombshell secret, acts as a catalyst that forces Naomi and her friends to confront long-held grievances and doubts about each other.

The novel delves deep into themes of betrayal, as Naomi questions whom she can trust and how well she truly knows her friends. It explores forgiveness as characters grapple with past mistakes and hurtful revelations, trying to find a way forward without letting bitterness consume their relationships. Throughout these challenges, the story celebrates the enduring strength of female friendships, portraying how these bonds can withstand even the toughest of trials when nurtured with honesty and empathy.

Amidst the emotional rollercoaster, "The Fall-Out" also weaves in moments of humour and warmth. These lighter moments provide relief, highlighting the resilience and camaraderie that emerge when friends come together to support each other through life's messy and unpredictable moments.

Overall, “The Fall-Out” is a novel that will resonate with readers who value the depth and complexity of friendships, offering a poignant reminder of how friends can become pillars of strength, offering solace, laughter, and unconditional support during life's most challenging times.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and the author, Sophie Ranald, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

This book explores how a toxic friend can ruin a friendship group with a few well chosen words here and there. For the main character, Naomi, it is fairly easy to see that she is being played. However, the clever part of this book is how the friends work out their own problems and confront their own insecurities. This would make a great holiday read. Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for a copy to freely review.

3.5 🌟
I enjoyed The Fallout.
There was lots of drama centered around Naomi the fmc, and her friendship group.
Secrets came to light, loyalties were tested and relationships were pushed to breaking point.. all very relatable and real.

However, something that didnt work for me was this: I had a feeling about what transpired between 2 of the characters quite early on, and tbh, I was expecting more angst and hurt from the fmc. There wasn't enough emotional turmoil for me. It was kind of glossed over in some respects and I'm not a fan of that. I was shocked though because whilst I'd thought I'd guessed correctly, I was kinda hoping I wasn't! Naomi definitely deserved better and I'm glad she took steps to improve her own life, putting herself first for once!

For fans of women's fiction, this was a great read. It was easy to follow between the past and present chapters and Sophie has highlighted the highs and lows of friendships brilliantly (regardless of age!)

Thank you netgalley for letting me read an early release of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC of this book!

This was a fine book, with a lot of drama circling a friend group. It definitely gave me Happy Place by EH vibes. Unfortunately, for me, the pace was very slow and just not a whole lot happens by the 40-50% mark. It was very easy to read, and the dialogue and banter was well written.

This definitely feels like a women’s fiction piece with all of the internal monologues we get from our FMC.

Overall 3 star rating and would recommend if you like Emily Henry books!

The Fall Out is a story of friendship, forgiveness, and redemption. I found the first half of the novel frustrating, Naomi, the FMC, is not in a good place, with young twins, losing herself taking care of her kids, husband, and mother in law, and nobody around her notices!!! Thankfully, though the terms of the novels sh realizes she needs to find herself, and in the end there is a HEA but it’s not the one you think. This is a quick and enjoyable read, perfect for summer days..

Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC!

Sophie writes great books, always thought provoking and with characters that it’s easy to take a dislike to, but they also have good parts and that keeps it interesting; basically like reading about real life!
This book is split in time between the past and present, and I enjoyed that.
At times Naomi’s character can be quite easy to dislike but it’s easy to understand the way her thoughts work. I never warmed to Zara, but that may be because of how her character was portrayed; she reminded me of somebody I used to know and I actively wanted her to be found out; thankfully she was in the end and everything came good with a few twists and turns along the way!
Overall I’d definitely recommend the book and will happily read more by this talented author

We see this friendship through Naomi’s eyes, both in present day and when they first met. Naomi comes across as being naive, falling for a guy who’s already involved with one of their group, and being pulled into what seems to be a very twisted relationship with one of the other women. This is nicely paced, well written although I didn’t find much humour in it. It makes you glad of your own circle of friends, with all their quirks but hopefully none of this groups machinations.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.