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Say You'll Be There: a compelling and brilliantly real novel about friendship, love and betrayal
A Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.
528 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 25, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 20, 2025
𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄: Say You’ll Be There
𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑: Nina Millns
𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: 4⭐️
•
“Sometimes it’s a slow awakening, years long. Of life experiences that teach you something different to what you had been told was normal.”
•
𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒:
Wow. Wow wow wow.
Devastating and raw, heartbreaking yet full of hope, this book broke me and healed parts of me simultaneously.
You know that rare, unexplainable feeling you get deep within your soul when you read a book and find yourself so wholeheartedly immersed in the story that you don’t want it to end — but equally you physically can’t put the book down because you just HAVE to see how it ends? This book gave me that experience. So much so, that I accidentally found myself wide awake, sobbing at 4am just to get to the end.
SYBT is definitely a heavy, and lengthy, read which tackles many dark themes within its 528 pages. While the humour at times can feel a little close to the bone, it’s important to remember the book is partially set in the 90’s and the comments and/or slurs were commonly used. Sometimes the uncomfortable is necessary.
Saying that, the entire book and the topics it handles — addiction, gaslighting, grooming, domestic abuse, alcoholism, love bombing, exploitation, sexual abuse, abortion, strained parental relationships, homophobia, racism and a minor x teacher relationship — are all approached with the care, sensitivity, dignity and grace they require and deserve - and I could tell very early on just how much research had been done. Nina has such a knack for delving into harder topics with the grace and sensitivity required, without ever making the reader feel like she's 'playing it safe', or 'insincere.
The overall structure of the book is actually everything I look for in a book; short chapters, a dual timeline (past and present), and is told from multiple perspectives, mainly following the 4 girls: Arianna, Tess, Dana, and Candace.
We go on a journey with the 4 girls throughout their formative high school years, right into adulthood. Through that, we get to see how their friendship with each other has shaped them; individually and as a group. We get to see the roles they have each played in each other's lives and the things they should never have had to experience, but experienced together. All this builds us up to the final few POVs where we see the unshakable imprint their sisterhood left on their souls and how a bond like theirs can never truly be erased.
The dual timeline, alongside the multiple POVs, allowed me to fully connect with each character and understand their journeys, their struggles /and essentially their trauma before we were introduced to the present. This then allowed me to sympathise with certain characters and their questionable choices. Because I had been with them through their journey, seen what they’d been subjected to, I understood the heartbreakingly human choices they had made to some extent and how they would be a perfectly rational move for each character to make.
I almost felt - as the reader - the fifth friend.
While I connected deeply to each character individually, for different reasons, the character that has haunted me the most since closing the last page is Arianna. I can’t say why as it’s a huge plot point, but if you know then you know. On a smaller and less severe scale, I could relate to her and I caught myself feeling so proud of the person she had become and the avenue she had gone down in her adulthood. Each characters backstories were so profound, and painfully realistic, and I found pieces of myself in each of them to relate to - and I found that so beautiful about this book.
“She understood now that it would never dawn on him that she had achieved all that despite him, not because of him. That she was in fact a miracle-worker to have just survived him.”
This story is about trauma, resilience, and the unshakable power of sisterhood. I feel honored to have read it early. It was emotionally devastating, heartwarming, hopeful and so beautifully written. There is nothing stronger than the bond between the family you choose for yourself.
I don’t think I will ever forget this book and the way the characters turned their scars into armour, and their pain into hope. This book shattered me in the best ways; it was devastating and entirely unforgettable. It will stay with me long after the last page.
Nina Millns looked the ‘second book curse’ straight in the eye and laughed at it - what a book.
•
“What happens to the men who have been outed? What happens to the ones whose history has finally caught up with them?”
𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑: Nina Millns
𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: 4⭐️
•
“Sometimes it’s a slow awakening, years long. Of life experiences that teach you something different to what you had been told was normal.”
•
𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒:
Wow. Wow wow wow.
Devastating and raw, heartbreaking yet full of hope, this book broke me and healed parts of me simultaneously.
You know that rare, unexplainable feeling you get deep within your soul when you read a book and find yourself so wholeheartedly immersed in the story that you don’t want it to end — but equally you physically can’t put the book down because you just HAVE to see how it ends? This book gave me that experience. So much so, that I accidentally found myself wide awake, sobbing at 4am just to get to the end.
SYBT is definitely a heavy, and lengthy, read which tackles many dark themes within its 528 pages. While the humour at times can feel a little close to the bone, it’s important to remember the book is partially set in the 90’s and the comments and/or slurs were commonly used. Sometimes the uncomfortable is necessary.
Saying that, the entire book and the topics it handles — addiction, gaslighting, grooming, domestic abuse, alcoholism, love bombing, exploitation, sexual abuse, abortion, strained parental relationships, homophobia, racism and a minor x teacher relationship — are all approached with the care, sensitivity, dignity and grace they require and deserve - and I could tell very early on just how much research had been done. Nina has such a knack for delving into harder topics with the grace and sensitivity required, without ever making the reader feel like she's 'playing it safe', or 'insincere.
The overall structure of the book is actually everything I look for in a book; short chapters, a dual timeline (past and present), and is told from multiple perspectives, mainly following the 4 girls: Arianna, Tess, Dana, and Candace.
We go on a journey with the 4 girls throughout their formative high school years, right into adulthood. Through that, we get to see how their friendship with each other has shaped them; individually and as a group. We get to see the roles they have each played in each other's lives and the things they should never have had to experience, but experienced together. All this builds us up to the final few POVs where we see the unshakable imprint their sisterhood left on their souls and how a bond like theirs can never truly be erased.
The dual timeline, alongside the multiple POVs, allowed me to fully connect with each character and understand their journeys, their struggles /and essentially their trauma before we were introduced to the present. This then allowed me to sympathise with certain characters and their questionable choices. Because I had been with them through their journey, seen what they’d been subjected to, I understood the heartbreakingly human choices they had made to some extent and how they would be a perfectly rational move for each character to make.
I almost felt - as the reader - the fifth friend.
While I connected deeply to each character individually, for different reasons, the character that has haunted me the most since closing the last page is Arianna. I can’t say why as it’s a huge plot point, but if you know then you know. On a smaller and less severe scale, I could relate to her and I caught myself feeling so proud of the person she had become and the avenue she had gone down in her adulthood. Each characters backstories were so profound, and painfully realistic, and I found pieces of myself in each of them to relate to - and I found that so beautiful about this book.
“She understood now that it would never dawn on him that she had achieved all that despite him, not because of him. That she was in fact a miracle-worker to have just survived him.”
This story is about trauma, resilience, and the unshakable power of sisterhood. I feel honored to have read it early. It was emotionally devastating, heartwarming, hopeful and so beautifully written. There is nothing stronger than the bond between the family you choose for yourself.
I don’t think I will ever forget this book and the way the characters turned their scars into armour, and their pain into hope. This book shattered me in the best ways; it was devastating and entirely unforgettable. It will stay with me long after the last page.
Nina Millns looked the ‘second book curse’ straight in the eye and laughed at it - what a book.
•
“What happens to the men who have been outed? What happens to the ones whose history has finally caught up with them?”
December 17, 2025
I'm not sure how or why this book was recommended to me based on my past read but I've found it very troubling. I know there's a market for female friendships and I wanted this to be positive without the trauma bonding.
Telling the life of Dana, Arianna, Tess and Candace, this book is in 4 parts spanning from teenage years in 1997 to adulthood in 2022. A previous reviewer was right that it needs some TW as a health warning.
Telling the life of Dana, Arianna, Tess and Candace, this book is in 4 parts spanning from teenage years in 1997 to adulthood in 2022. A previous reviewer was right that it needs some TW as a health warning.
August 12, 2025
I picked this book because I immediately thought of the Spice Girls with the title and it turns out they have a part to play connecting these 4 girls with one another.
Following them through high school, later life, friendship and turmoil. Flicking between the points of view of each of the girls, and changing from past to present.
So many important topics were covered in this book, even though I feel it may need a trigger warning! From addiction, grooming, coercive behaviour, domestic violence and exploitation to name a few. This books covers these deep topics so well, with key expertise clearly gained and researched.
I kinda got Jacqueline Wilson vibes from this book, but obviously with an older reader in mind. Even though I do think what is discussed would be so important for teenage girls to read too.
Thank you for allowing me to read this ARC of this book.
I'd really recommend this book.
Following them through high school, later life, friendship and turmoil. Flicking between the points of view of each of the girls, and changing from past to present.
So many important topics were covered in this book, even though I feel it may need a trigger warning! From addiction, grooming, coercive behaviour, domestic violence and exploitation to name a few. This books covers these deep topics so well, with key expertise clearly gained and researched.
I kinda got Jacqueline Wilson vibes from this book, but obviously with an older reader in mind. Even though I do think what is discussed would be so important for teenage girls to read too.
Thank you for allowing me to read this ARC of this book.
I'd really recommend this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2025
There are not enough stars for this book... it is brilliant. All women should read it. Nina makes the characters come alive for you. I found myself moving through a myriad of emotions with them.. laughing with them, crying for them, feeling their humiliation, feeling their confusion, being drawn back to memories of my own teenage experiences. And then anger ... rage at the exploitation of their vulnerability. I kept reading late into the night many times. I was totally absorbed by the lives of these 4 girls. I needed to find out what happened.... please read it yourself.
September 7, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for this eArc for an honest review.
‘Say You’ll Be There is a celebration of friendship, a story of survival, and a fight against the notion that some girls were destined to quietly disappear’
For me this book didn’t quite hit the mark.
I couldn’t really connect with any of the main characters and struggled when picking it up.
It was a gritty, raw and sometimes uncomfortable read which I’m sure some readers will enjoy.
‘Say You’ll Be There is a celebration of friendship, a story of survival, and a fight against the notion that some girls were destined to quietly disappear’
For me this book didn’t quite hit the mark.
I couldn’t really connect with any of the main characters and struggled when picking it up.
It was a gritty, raw and sometimes uncomfortable read which I’m sure some readers will enjoy.
October 31, 2025
An absolutely fantastic book - storylines of humour, trauma and heartache all weaved together in a really clever way.
“Girl Power” themes running through the book - with some brilliant nostalgic moments for anybody who grew up in the late 1980’s/1990’s.
Definitely in my “Top reads for 2025” list………looking forward to more from Nina Millns in the future.
“Girl Power” themes running through the book - with some brilliant nostalgic moments for anybody who grew up in the late 1980’s/1990’s.
Definitely in my “Top reads for 2025” list………looking forward to more from Nina Millns in the future.
December 24, 2025
This was an incredibly addictive read, largely thanks to Millns’ use of short, character-driven chapters and decent, snappy dialogue. Also, it lives and breathes the millennium, and I became nostalgic for things I hadn't thought about in years. However, the narrative eventually suffers from a rather scattergun approach to controversial storylines that makes the plot feel overly cluttered.
November 24, 2025
Wow, what a wonderful book.I loved the character depth, I really bought into the characters and felt so many different emotions with their different stories.
The subjects that were explored were very emotional but are subjects that need to be talked about and they were handled so well with so much thought and care.
The 90’s nostalgia was also great and took me back to my late teenage years.
This is a brilliant and beautiful piece of work by Nina Millns.
I would highly recommend and I am so glad that I have read it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews