Published By: Tinder Press
Pages: 304
Released On: 12/02/2026
Sophie, a painter, is holidaying with friends in a stunning villa in Greece – her best friend Helena is shortly to be married, and this is the last time she and her friends will be together as single women. But life has treated them so differently since their university days, that Sophie is questioning everything about their friendship. Meanwhile her partner, Greg, is desperate for them to try for a baby, but she wants to devote herself to her art – and there are other, deeper forces, pulling the two of them in opposite directions.
In the course of the holiday, Sophie paints a nude portrait of her friend Alessia, and becomes involved in an intense affair with Ky, who lives and works on the island. Both the painting, and the affair, will challenge everything Sophie thinks she knows, about art, about motherhood, about sex – and about how and with whom she wants to spend the rest of her life.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Tinder Press for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This was not my usual kind of book and so I was somewhat apprehensive going into it.
It is a very poetic style of writing and storytelling which took some getting used to. It’s like Rhiannon has tried to make sure every sentence was as beautiful as it can be before moving to the next, which isn’t an outright negative, but it is a fine line between beautiful language and something distracting to the story.
I can’t deny her ability to create a sense of space, place, and time, from the physical landscape and weather, to this idea of a group of friends inhabiting a space at the same time.
It’s mainly set over a short space of time, which I thought was impressive because she’s manged to make 300+ pages not feel too stretched out, like she’s trying to fill the page rather than write organically.
Every so often, dotted about, we get small passages by various female artists, which seemed a bit clunky, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.
Not a lot actually happens, which is fine, I prefer books with well-written characters over plot anyway, and I think her characters are wonderful. Not always nice people, but they’re layered, morally grey, and feel so real, and so I don’t really mind that the plot is light.
It’s still not a book I would have voluntarily picked off the shelf, but I did enjoy it on the whole, and so I will be broadening my mind when it comes to picking books out of my comfort zone.
I really enjoyed the exploration of friendship groups changing. You can have the same friend your whole life, but your friendship at school, university, work, as adults, when married, with children – they’re completely different people at each stage, s are you, and I loved how Rhiannon has been honest here. That not all friendships are suitable for every stage of life.
I think the whole thing is a bit borderline uncomfortable. I found it okay, but it definitely has this erotic, sensual undercurrent that some readers may not enjoy, but that’s really down to your own preference.
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