What happens when you take The Golden Girls and mash it up with Agatha Christie? Well, you might find yourself with something like The Girls. Jackie is Blanche - flirtatious and somewhat in denial about her age. Val would be Dorothy, the most serious of the group, the one who holds things together. Pauline is reminiscent of Rose, the friend who just wants everyone to get along and keep the peace. Unfortunately, Zara doesn't fit the Sophia mold - she's an aging actress, a wealthy drama queen who brings the friends back together after many years apart.

The women, all in their 60s-70s, agree to move together to Zara's home in the French Riviera, to support each other and to help Zara, the oldest of the group, as her health declines. While the initial chapters suggest more of a beach read about friendship and the dynamics between the group, as the book progresses it shifts more to the mystery model, and reminded me quite a bit of classic Agatha Christie novels. Not quite a cozy mystery, but definitely a comfort read - there are strong hints and foreshadowing dropped along the way and I enjoyed reading along.

This is a quick and fun read, but I would probably recommend it more for older audiences or for die-hard mystery fans. It was a real change of pace from my usual fantasy and romance fare, but I enjoyed the detour into cozy mystery territory!

Oh I do love a Bella Osborne read and this is no exception. Pauline, Jackie and Val get an invitation to Zara's 80th birthday. They used to house share in the 70's and now they are brought back together.
You fall in love with the characters and it did remind me a lot of the Golden Girls, which I have to admit I still love to this day.
Bella Osborne has a knack of writing about character's that become relatable and you really identify with them, regardless of their age.
If you want to read something different, as usual, this book is for you

3.5 stars rounded up to 4
I've enjoyed all of Bella's novels but for me this one just missed the mark.
Four women who lived together in their student days back in the 70's, reunite 50 years later for Zara's 80th birthday party.
Zara has the idea that they should all live together again in their twilight years. As all the women are single they agree and head off to the south of France.
Zara has a motive for inviting them.
Each character is very different. Val who is a solicitor and very straight talking. Pauline whose husband died a few years ago is anxious and Jackie who is a carer and gobby.
I felt sorry for Pauline as she was so nervous and jumpy a lot of the time.
I really disliked Jackie, she really didn't know when to keep her mouth shut.
I thought Walter, Zara's gardener was a great character and definitely a dark horse.
Unfortunately for me the ending was a little farcical with the paparazzi and police scenes which was a shame.
Overall it was an ok read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Aria for the ARC in return for an honest review.

A group of best friends getting together after a long time apart. Life and people change as they get to know each other again. It has a Sex in the City vibe. The characters are colorful and the story is good. Not my usual read, but I truly enjoy it.

Thank you to Head of Zeus, Aria and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very poignant book, well written with some laughs and tears along the way.
An aging film star want inf to recapture the time she spent with we girls where they were all different younger versions of themselves now.
They are all living together in.a villa tecreating the 70’s house share they had before. Then things take a bit of a u turn.
Well written and a great read ,

The Girls
The Girls were once best friends and house mates in the 1970s. None have really kept I contact for the last 40 years, and they are all drawn together to one of the friend’s (Zara) birthday party. All of the girls – Jackie, Val, Pauline and area – are reunited. Things start to change in their lives and in a space of a few months are all living together in the south of France. It is here each of them gets to know why they were all reunited.
I chose to read this because it is very rare to see fiction with older women featuring as the central characters. Highlighting them also gives prominence to older women who are often neglected and cast aside in reality. They hold a wealth of knowledge, expertise and life experience and bringing them into the limelight is a nice way to acknowledge that. Mind you, Jackie needed a slap or to be pushed off the boat to Monaco as she was quite rude and superficial. I loved the small storyline of Pauline getting a kitten, and her opening up having something in live again to love.

This sounds like a mystery, and there is a little element of this nearer to the end, but it more a fun and quaint book about four older women who are at crossroads in one form or another, and seek to find happiness through their long standing friendship. They also learn to overcome some of the reasons they drifted apart in the first place, which was a nice touch.

Thanks NetGalley and Aria Publishig for the e-ARC.

Oh this is such a good read.
A group of old friends reunite in their twilight years, having not been all together for decades.
They are all single and lonely, and while reminiscing about their younger years when when they shared a house together, they decide to give it another go.
Cue a new life in the South of France.
Funny, heart warming and a little fantasy.

Ouch. This book was totally confusing for me, I didn't have a feeling it's written by Bella Osborne, to be honest. I adore her books - full of humour, sunshine, positive characters and unpredictable situations. "The Girls", however, was on totally different level - and not a high one. Already the beginning was... weird. Different. Not inviting. The characters were not immediately likeable, and actually, they stayed like this through the whole story, especially one of them - not sure what the author wanted to achieve with this one.

It felt chopped and muddled, changing directions, it wanted to touch upon heavier and controversial issues but felt absolutely superficial, without a depth. I relatively quickly started to skim - reading as it really didn't keep my attention. It was not funny, the moments that were supposed to bring a smile felt forced and overdone. The idea of four friends getting back together was lovely and I do love mature characters, but there was so much negativity and the friendship didn't feel real and genuine. It started to feel like reading a farce and I really couldn't believe it's by this author. A pity, really, as I was looking forward to enjoying this one.

Thank you NetGalley, Bella Osborne and Head of Zeus for the ARC of The Girls. This is my personal review.
Zara, Val, Jackie, and Pauline have been friends sharing a house and good times for many years. But with each of their lives going in different directions they did not see each other for many years.
Then one day Val, Jackie and Pauline got an invitation for a surprise birthday party for Zara. This party was just the beginning of them being together again. After not being together for many years Zara suggests they relive being in the same house and to move in with her in her Villa.
The story builds in layers, and I enjoyed each layer as I read this book.
The start was slow, but it was needed to form the base for the story.
Being with the four women was told by the author in a way that made me care for each of these women.

Loved this book which focuses on the lives of 4 older ladies, loved the characters some of which were especially fiesty, some pretty weighty issues being dealt with such as confusion over sensuality, emotional abuse and assisted suicide however done in a really clever but not dismissive way which makes you think about the subject but doesn't overtake the book or turn it into a doom fest

In the 1970’s Pauline, Jackie, Val and Zara were house mates and best friends, but for the last 40 years they barely kept in touch except to swap Christmas and birthday cards. Much had happened in that time, but nothing as glittering as the celebrity that Zara Cliff courted. Invited to her 80th birthday, ‘The Girls” get back together and events mean they decamp to the south of France to a life of luxury. However this life also includes some difficult demands and decisions.

Told from the alternating perspectives of Jackie, Val and Pauline, Osborne takes the reader inside the mind of each of the characters whilst also allowing you to observe events. She uses metaphors and similes to great effect, such as “there was certainly less tension in the air but without her they were like the pages of a book left too long in the sun - without the glue they came apart.” Throughout there are also surprises and plot twists that keep you guessing, although some felt like they were signalled quite early on.

Osborne is an author I’ve enjoyed before (The Library) and whilst she isn’t too demanding of her reader she provides a good romp that is very engrossing. My only reason for giving her 4, rather than 5 stars is that with ‘The Library’ I felt more of an emotional connection to her characters and was moved more, rather than with this one there were times, particularly in the middle of the novel, where I was less engaged. However this remains a good read.

This book was outside my usual wheelhouse - not really a chick lit book, not really any sort of suspense. Honestly I didn’t care for 2 of the 4 main characters, they were annoying to the point of unredeemable. It was interesting to read about women “of a certain age” and not 20-30 somethings. However I think it was fairly predictable plot wise and I struggled a bit to get into it. Interesting story overall, just lagged a lot for me.

My biggest gripe with this book is it was marketed as a romance. If you are reading it expecting a romance you will be disappointed. However, if you take it for what it is, women’s fiction it is quite good.

The Girls is a lovely story about four women at the twilight of their lives. While once brought together by the sharing of a home, their connection ended there. Life took each of them in very different directions and the bond they once had was lost.

After decades apart, an invite to an 80th birthday party brings them all face to face. Perhaps it is best to say that they see each other for the first times in the their lives.

They end up sharing a home once more. In doing so, they have the opportunity to build back friendships, come to terms with their pasts, right wrongs that they have committed, and make the most of the time they have left.

While the story was good, I had two major problems. Fist, one of the main characters was unbearable. Jackie was one of the only characters to have little to no growth and I found her to be utterly shallow. I get she was the fun party girl in her youth, but at almost 70 it is not cute. Second, I thought the ending took on a bit of a mystery element. It became a more of who done it.

Special thanks to NetGalley.com and Head of Zeus for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

It's nice to see older women being written about! I had some trouble getting into this one and never really connected with any of the women. It was weird to me that they were living together since they seemed to dislike each other. On the other hand, the reasons for the living situation were thoroughly explained. The last third of the book is when I was won over. A creative premise for a book and I look forward to more from Bella Osborne.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Thanks to Aria and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Four girls who shared a house in the 70's are reunited and find themselves sharing a house again. It took me a wee while to get in to this book but after a few chapters I was there and thoroughly enjoyed reading about "The Girls".

Great story.

I blitzed through this book over the weekend as I just could not get enough. Light and witty I enjoyed every second. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Part of the genre of women's fiction is the familiar trope of old friends reunited after they have all experienced the slings and arrows of misfortune but they become a comfort to one another and they all live happily ever after. This is not that book. The Girls, Val. Jackie, Pauline and Zara lived together in their early twenties, when they were all trying to forge their own path. Zara went on to become a famous movie star, the other 3 did not fare as well. so when they are all invited to a fancy do at Zara's house, they want to reconnect, but with Zara asked them to move in with her and then tries to extract a very difficult promise from each them, what could be a joyous time is marred by the request and the women start to remember the flaws in one another that they found so irritating when they lived together. Things go from bad to worse when the police begin investigating a crime - and they are all suspects. Well written, with fun characters and a heck of a plot, THE GIRLS is a captivating read.

Bella Osborne is definitely one of my go to authors, I know as soon as she has a book out, I will get it no doubt as I know I will enjoy it and they never disappoint. The story line is so genuine and real and I feel people will be able to relate. It is such a heart warming about two friends who are alot older and decide to live together but what is the unspoken secret between them. It is a story about the true meaning of friendship and how you should tell those people close to you how much you love them. This was such a great and easy read that you will get swept up with.

I love Bella Osborne and this is probably my favourite of her books to date. I loved premise and it was a really good escapist read, I'd definitely recommend this to friends.

The Girls is a contemporary chum-com about four women who were flatmates and best friends in the 70s getting back together to support each other as they face the loneliness of old age. I requested this because I loved The Library by this author, and was looking forward to another heartwarming but poignant tale about friendship. It started well but unfortunately changed direction midway through and the result was rather a muddle that didn’t really work for me, especially as I really didn’t like one of the main characters. I’m not going to attempt a summary as I need to avoid spoilers, and this also makes it hard to explain what annoyed me.

On the positive side, I love the idea of a group of friends making their own retirement home by moving in together - and obviously having a fabulously wealthy movie star friend helps a lot. The early chapters which introduce quiet Pauline, boisterous Jackie, smart Val and flamboyant Zara were quite funny, and their delight as they explore their new home and reminisce about the good old days was charming. Then some dark topics were introduced and the cracks in the friendship start to appear which made what happened next too unbelievable. I wasn’t sure whether one key character was supposed to be a loveable rogue but I couldn’t stand her, and this tainted the book for me - particularly her ending which was not deserved. I’m sure those who enjoy chick-lit with a twist will love it though.

Thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
The Girls is published on April 14th.