What do you think?
Group Chat
Not yet published
Expected 29 Sep 26Part Bridesmaids, part White Lotus, and part Mamma Mia, Group Chat is a love letter to female friendship and a powerful reminder that life is short, and it goes real fast, so book the damn girls' trip.
When Farah's husband has an affair (she f*cking knew it), her group chat doesn't offer platitudes. They offer Mykonos. A free luxury villa, thanks to Vivian's DJ toy-boy. Clubs, beaches, boats, cocktails, and a week free from school lunches, perimenopausal insomnia, and husbands waking them at 5am for run club.
But the five friends arrive with more than just new sunglasses and linen sets. There are sick parents, secret illnesses, sullen teenagers, and marriages that have lost their spark, and possibly their relevance. What follows is late nights and bad decisions, savage honesty, too many cigarettes, and the kind of laughter that only comes when you're with the women who know and love you best.
For Stella — married, stable and increasingly restless — the trip stirs something she can't ignore. Watching her friends, and remembering who she was on this island twenty years ago, begs the is choosing security the same as choosing happiness?
Sharp, funny and unflinchingly honest, this is a novel about female friendship at its most powerful, and what happens when the life you've built no longer feels like the one you want.
When Farah's husband has an affair (she f*cking knew it), her group chat doesn't offer platitudes. They offer Mykonos. A free luxury villa, thanks to Vivian's DJ toy-boy. Clubs, beaches, boats, cocktails, and a week free from school lunches, perimenopausal insomnia, and husbands waking them at 5am for run club.
But the five friends arrive with more than just new sunglasses and linen sets. There are sick parents, secret illnesses, sullen teenagers, and marriages that have lost their spark, and possibly their relevance. What follows is late nights and bad decisions, savage honesty, too many cigarettes, and the kind of laughter that only comes when you're with the women who know and love you best.
For Stella — married, stable and increasingly restless — the trip stirs something she can't ignore. Watching her friends, and remembering who she was on this island twenty years ago, begs the is choosing security the same as choosing happiness?
Sharp, funny and unflinchingly honest, this is a novel about female friendship at its most powerful, and what happens when the life you've built no longer feels like the one you want.
348 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication September 29, 2026
About the author
Zoë Foster Blake
26 books689 followersZoë Foster Blake is an Australian author and the founder of Go-To skin care. Yes, she is writing this in third person.
Zoë writes mostly for young women, because she thinks they're wonderful and deserve nice books.
Zoë has published five fiction titles, THINGS WILL CALM DOWN SOON, AIR KISSES, PLAYING THE FIELD, THE YOUNGER MAN and THE WRONG GIRL (made into a network TV series in Australia).
Zoë has also written four non-fiction titles: a dating and relationship guide called TEXTBOOK ROMANCE, (written with Hamish Blake), AMAZINGER FACE, a compilation of beauty tips and tricks, BREAK-UP BOSS, (also an app) and LOVE!, essays from a decade spent writing relationship advice. She published CLEAN SLATE, an Audible Original about infidelity in a seemingly perfect marriage in 2020.
She also writes picture books: NO ONE LIKES A FART, which won the ABIA Children’s Picture Book of the Year in 2018 because farts are where it’s AT, BACK TO SLEEP, FART AND BURP ARE SUPERSTINKERS (titled NO ONE LIKES A BURP in the US), SCAREDY BATH, BATTLE MUM, HAPPY FARTER’S DAY, and BEST PRESENT EVER.
When she's not updating her goodreads bio she's writing her new novel, out Oct 2026.
Zoë writes mostly for young women, because she thinks they're wonderful and deserve nice books.
Zoë has published five fiction titles, THINGS WILL CALM DOWN SOON, AIR KISSES, PLAYING THE FIELD, THE YOUNGER MAN and THE WRONG GIRL (made into a network TV series in Australia).
Zoë has also written four non-fiction titles: a dating and relationship guide called TEXTBOOK ROMANCE, (written with Hamish Blake), AMAZINGER FACE, a compilation of beauty tips and tricks, BREAK-UP BOSS, (also an app) and LOVE!, essays from a decade spent writing relationship advice. She published CLEAN SLATE, an Audible Original about infidelity in a seemingly perfect marriage in 2020.
She also writes picture books: NO ONE LIKES A FART, which won the ABIA Children’s Picture Book of the Year in 2018 because farts are where it’s AT, BACK TO SLEEP, FART AND BURP ARE SUPERSTINKERS (titled NO ONE LIKES A BURP in the US), SCAREDY BATH, BATTLE MUM, HAPPY FARTER’S DAY, and BEST PRESENT EVER.
When she's not updating her goodreads bio she's writing her new novel, out Oct 2026.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
It pains me to say this but I struggled through this book. I enjoyed the first half enough to keep me interested but I never liked the characters or their dynamic enough to really care about what happened to them.
The story follows Stella, a 43 year old mother of 2 boys who is at a bit of a stalemate in her life. Her safe and dependable husband has just lost his job, she is drowning in her kids activities and she's losing her sense of identity beyond being a mother. One of her good friends, Farah has just found out her husband was cheating on her and suddenly the girls group chat is pinging with ideas to deal with this. Model, Viv suggests her DJ boyfriend will be in Mykonos in July so suddenly all 5 group chat gals are heading to Greece!
Other than Molly, I found them unlikeable and incredibly self-centred. Their relationships felt real, like the kind of friendships where you know their history and know each other's baggage. I could absolutely believe this group of women could exist - but I wouldn't be in it and maybe that's what made me feel a little uncomfortable 🙈 Their insecurites, their obsession with image and complicated relationships all felt incredibly real but I never really connected with them.
I enjoyed the group dynamics to a point. Travelling with other people who want to do different things than you can be a juggle and I could definitely see the reality in that. But the drama was so tedious and I found myself getting bored despite how much was happening.
I found the ending incredibly frustrating. So much of Stella's storyline was leading to a decision that wasn't even made. I didn't need everything wrapped up in a bow, but I wanted some indication of where Stella was heading. It was way too open-ended and unresolved and after feeling disconnected throughout the novel, this just amplified my frustration.
While this wasn't the book for me, I've seen some wonderful reviews, so it indicates others may appreciate the complexities of these messy friendships more than me 🙃
Thank you Allen & Unwin for providing me with this ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
2.5 ⭐️
The story follows Stella, a 43 year old mother of 2 boys who is at a bit of a stalemate in her life. Her safe and dependable husband has just lost his job, she is drowning in her kids activities and she's losing her sense of identity beyond being a mother. One of her good friends, Farah has just found out her husband was cheating on her and suddenly the girls group chat is pinging with ideas to deal with this. Model, Viv suggests her DJ boyfriend will be in Mykonos in July so suddenly all 5 group chat gals are heading to Greece!
Other than Molly, I found them unlikeable and incredibly self-centred. Their relationships felt real, like the kind of friendships where you know their history and know each other's baggage. I could absolutely believe this group of women could exist - but I wouldn't be in it and maybe that's what made me feel a little uncomfortable 🙈 Their insecurites, their obsession with image and complicated relationships all felt incredibly real but I never really connected with them.
I enjoyed the group dynamics to a point. Travelling with other people who want to do different things than you can be a juggle and I could definitely see the reality in that. But the drama was so tedious and I found myself getting bored despite how much was happening.
I found the ending incredibly frustrating. So much of Stella's storyline was leading to a decision that wasn't even made. I didn't need everything wrapped up in a bow, but I wanted some indication of where Stella was heading. It was way too open-ended and unresolved and after feeling disconnected throughout the novel, this just amplified my frustration.
While this wasn't the book for me, I've seen some wonderful reviews, so it indicates others may appreciate the complexities of these messy friendships more than me 🙃
Thank you Allen & Unwin for providing me with this ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
2.5 ⭐️
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
If a girls’ trip to Mykonos, questionable decisions, group chat chaos and a whole lot of oversharing sounds like your kind of holiday… you might want to pack your bags✈️🍸🫒🕊️⛱️
Group Chat is such a fun, messy and surprisingly raw look at female friendship and everything that comes with it….marriage, kids, family, relationships, expectations and the feeling of trying to figure out who you are amongst it all.
I really loved how real the conversations felt. The overthinking, the support, the arguments and the absolute chaos that comes with long term friendships were all so relatable!It genuinely felt like I was sitting in on a group chat with these women!!
And then there’s the girls’ trip… because obviously putting a group of women together on a holiday in Mykonos is going to bring out everything🫢
I also really appreciated that I didn’t feel like this was exclusively a book for women in their 40s. I think women of so many different ages could find pieces of themselves in these characters and their experiences. It’s honest about the pressures women can face with family, motherhood, marriage, friendships and simply trying to make space for themselves.
It was warm, messy and slightly relatable, even if the pacing/storyline didn’t completely land for me (there is an open ending….) I had a good time with it though!
Out 29th Sept!
Thank you to Allen & Unwin and Zoë Foster Blake for the physical copy in exchange for an honest review.
Group Chat is such a fun, messy and surprisingly raw look at female friendship and everything that comes with it….marriage, kids, family, relationships, expectations and the feeling of trying to figure out who you are amongst it all.
I really loved how real the conversations felt. The overthinking, the support, the arguments and the absolute chaos that comes with long term friendships were all so relatable!It genuinely felt like I was sitting in on a group chat with these women!!
And then there’s the girls’ trip… because obviously putting a group of women together on a holiday in Mykonos is going to bring out everything🫢
I also really appreciated that I didn’t feel like this was exclusively a book for women in their 40s. I think women of so many different ages could find pieces of themselves in these characters and their experiences. It’s honest about the pressures women can face with family, motherhood, marriage, friendships and simply trying to make space for themselves.
It was warm, messy and slightly relatable, even if the pacing/storyline didn’t completely land for me (there is an open ending….) I had a good time with it though!
Out 29th Sept!
Thank you to Allen & Unwin and Zoë Foster Blake for the physical copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Completely unlikeable and un-relatable characters. Kind of like the characters that grate on you in White Lotus.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is easily my least favourite book by ZFB. The first 40% of the book seemed a waste, then when stuff finally happens it has an open ending? The whole story felt rushed and inconsistent. The characters were fairly unlikeable and it all felt very try hard unfortunately it just didn’t land for me, perhaps this is exclusively for women in their 40’s / mums. I really struggled to finish it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Best friends Farah, Stella, Molly, Vivian and Gab have always been there for each other through thick and thin. Now in their early forties, distance has come between them and they keep in contact via group chat.
When Farah's husband has an affair, they want to help and support her through it. Vivian has a hot DJ toy-boyfriend and is in Mykonos, Greece and staying in a free luxury villa. The besties decide it’s time for a much needed holiday together, a week of fun, the husbands and kids will have to survive without them.
The five friends discover Gab hasn’t changed a bit, she’s still as unorganized and impulsive as ever, and lives like a nomad and jetlag is real.
Once they recover, the ladies are determined to have a great time, reminisce, swim, party, dance, drink and maybe have a ciggie or two. Everyone is older, has their own opinions, adding in late nights, alcohol, hangovers, perimenopause and what follows is chaos.
Stella especially feels like she’s lost herself, she traded her plans of traveling and writing a novel, to copy editing others work, she loves her kids but her husband is clueless, has she chosen security over happiness and does she want to upend her children’s lives and would it be selfish?
I received a copy of Group Chat by Zoë Foster Blake from Allen & Unwin and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. A raw, emotional, honest, funny, look at female friendships and how they start, evolve and change over time.
Many women could relate to topics raised in this narrative, such as aging, body image, juggling too many things and being the problem solver, stress, putting yourself last, illness and your own mortality, rejection, cheating, and starting over.
Five stars, I highly recommend Group Chat, it made me snigger, laugh out loud, cross my fingers my pelvic floor held up, cry and sing I am woman.
When Farah's husband has an affair, they want to help and support her through it. Vivian has a hot DJ toy-boyfriend and is in Mykonos, Greece and staying in a free luxury villa. The besties decide it’s time for a much needed holiday together, a week of fun, the husbands and kids will have to survive without them.
The five friends discover Gab hasn’t changed a bit, she’s still as unorganized and impulsive as ever, and lives like a nomad and jetlag is real.
Once they recover, the ladies are determined to have a great time, reminisce, swim, party, dance, drink and maybe have a ciggie or two. Everyone is older, has their own opinions, adding in late nights, alcohol, hangovers, perimenopause and what follows is chaos.
Stella especially feels like she’s lost herself, she traded her plans of traveling and writing a novel, to copy editing others work, she loves her kids but her husband is clueless, has she chosen security over happiness and does she want to upend her children’s lives and would it be selfish?
I received a copy of Group Chat by Zoë Foster Blake from Allen & Unwin and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. A raw, emotional, honest, funny, look at female friendships and how they start, evolve and change over time.
Many women could relate to topics raised in this narrative, such as aging, body image, juggling too many things and being the problem solver, stress, putting yourself last, illness and your own mortality, rejection, cheating, and starting over.
Five stars, I highly recommend Group Chat, it made me snigger, laugh out loud, cross my fingers my pelvic floor held up, cry and sing I am woman.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is a familiar story, told with warmth and appealing characters. Although it doesn’t break any new ground, it will entertain and satisfy readers.
The problems these women have are generally very recognisable. If you haven’t experienced one of them, odds are that you’ve commiserated with a friend who has. Foster-Blake keeps this grounded and believable, but gives her characters enough self awareness, distinctive characteristics, and warmth that it doesn’t feel too familiar.
The group dynamic is as important as the individual characters, and like them it is strong and rings true. The love, the laughter, the squabbles, the occasional scratchiness. The honesty that’s sometimes welcome and sometimes a touch too much. All of these are drawn realistically and again with a warmth which draws readers in. If you don’t have a group chat like this, you’ll want one.
This is a pleasant read. It’s not too demanding, but might prompt a bit of reflection about your own life choices. It also gives the impression of being a happy and positive read, despite the fact that not all of the characters are necessarily happy. Despite some darker threads, the overall novel gives a bouncy sense of positivity. It just… doesn’t drag you down.
This should appeal to a fairly wide range of readers – it’s probably more a book for a female audience than male, but beyond that. the way it mixes a light tone with substance in the subject matter should appeal to a variety of readers.
If you enjoyed this review, please visit www.otherdreamsotherlives.home.blog to read more.
The problems these women have are generally very recognisable. If you haven’t experienced one of them, odds are that you’ve commiserated with a friend who has. Foster-Blake keeps this grounded and believable, but gives her characters enough self awareness, distinctive characteristics, and warmth that it doesn’t feel too familiar.
The group dynamic is as important as the individual characters, and like them it is strong and rings true. The love, the laughter, the squabbles, the occasional scratchiness. The honesty that’s sometimes welcome and sometimes a touch too much. All of these are drawn realistically and again with a warmth which draws readers in. If you don’t have a group chat like this, you’ll want one.
This is a pleasant read. It’s not too demanding, but might prompt a bit of reflection about your own life choices. It also gives the impression of being a happy and positive read, despite the fact that not all of the characters are necessarily happy. Despite some darker threads, the overall novel gives a bouncy sense of positivity. It just… doesn’t drag you down.
This should appeal to a fairly wide range of readers – it’s probably more a book for a female audience than male, but beyond that. the way it mixes a light tone with substance in the subject matter should appeal to a variety of readers.
If you enjoyed this review, please visit www.otherdreamsotherlives.home.blog to read more.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Five words to describe this book: real, relevant, chaotic, nostalgic and fun.
Haha, this book was a WILD ride, filled with those moments of nostalgia for your 20-year-old self.
Now, I am not a parent, so I can’t relate to the parenting woes of these characters, but there were pieces of each female character that I felt DEEP in my soul. Life is messy, you don’t always think you’re where you’re meant to be, you question your life choices, your body decides to pack it in… honestly, there is SO much in this book that is just so very real for women.
I loved how individual each character was, and yet you just KNOW a woman, a friend or a friend group like this. It felt familiar in the absolute best way and made for such an entertaining read.
As a woman pushing 40, this book gave me a little reminder to FIBI, live life to the fullest, go after the things you want and chase your happiness, no matter what that looks like. Find that sparkle you lost.
A chaotic, fun and real read. PS. I adored GAB! What a vibe LOL
Thank you to the author and Allen & Unwin for sending me a physical copy for my review.
Haha, this book was a WILD ride, filled with those moments of nostalgia for your 20-year-old self.
Now, I am not a parent, so I can’t relate to the parenting woes of these characters, but there were pieces of each female character that I felt DEEP in my soul. Life is messy, you don’t always think you’re where you’re meant to be, you question your life choices, your body decides to pack it in… honestly, there is SO much in this book that is just so very real for women.
I loved how individual each character was, and yet you just KNOW a woman, a friend or a friend group like this. It felt familiar in the absolute best way and made for such an entertaining read.
As a woman pushing 40, this book gave me a little reminder to FIBI, live life to the fullest, go after the things you want and chase your happiness, no matter what that looks like. Find that sparkle you lost.
A chaotic, fun and real read. PS. I adored GAB! What a vibe LOL
Thank you to the author and Allen & Unwin for sending me a physical copy for my review.
August 12, 2026
5 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Vibe check: Peak Girlfriend Energy, Girls Trip, Fun Vibes
full review ⬇️
If I was an annotator, this book would be absolutely covered in coloured tabs and highlights. The quotes and banter were pure gold!
This book covers the group chats we all have in our lives, the friendship groups full of many personality types and how sometimes those friends are the ones to open your eyes to your life and how short it can be. Especially when you go on the ultimate girls trip together.
It's funny, warm, messy and ridiculously relatable with the kind of storyline that made me laugh one minute and had me wanting to book a girls holiday the next.
I loved how real the conversations felt with the overthinking, the ridiculousness, the support, the arguments and the absolute chaos that comes with long term friendships. Reading this felt like spending time with new friends, laughing out loud and feeling all the emotions.
I kept wanting to be that annoying friend sending screenshots to my girlfriends because they needed to read this particular very relatable line immediately 😂
This is officially the book I'll be telling all my gals to read... preferably while we collectively book a girls' holiday for us STAT ✈️🍹
A big thank you to Allen and Unwin for the sneak peek.
Vibe check: Peak Girlfriend Energy, Girls Trip, Fun Vibes
full review ⬇️
If I was an annotator, this book would be absolutely covered in coloured tabs and highlights. The quotes and banter were pure gold!
This book covers the group chats we all have in our lives, the friendship groups full of many personality types and how sometimes those friends are the ones to open your eyes to your life and how short it can be. Especially when you go on the ultimate girls trip together.
It's funny, warm, messy and ridiculously relatable with the kind of storyline that made me laugh one minute and had me wanting to book a girls holiday the next.
I loved how real the conversations felt with the overthinking, the ridiculousness, the support, the arguments and the absolute chaos that comes with long term friendships. Reading this felt like spending time with new friends, laughing out loud and feeling all the emotions.
I kept wanting to be that annoying friend sending screenshots to my girlfriends because they needed to read this particular very relatable line immediately 😂
This is officially the book I'll be telling all my gals to read... preferably while we collectively book a girls' holiday for us STAT ✈️🍹
A big thank you to Allen and Unwin for the sneak peek.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
4.5/5
This book was so relatable!!! Possibly because I’m a mum surviving on air and my girls’ group chat is my saving grace, but mostly because every character had little traits that reminded me of myself or one of my own girlfriends.
A group of friends navigating their own challenges, feeling consumed by work, family, children, housework, calendar upkeep and all the other little things that somehow take over your life before finally realising they are well overdue to take those holiday plans out of the group chat and actually make them happen!
This book had a bit of everything. It was fun, funny, flirtatious and feisty, with plenty of heart and friendship woven throughout. I absolutely loved Stella's POV and found myself very invested in the women's lives and wellbeing!
Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the ARC. I was so excited when I saw a ZFB book available!
This book was so relatable!!! Possibly because I’m a mum surviving on air and my girls’ group chat is my saving grace, but mostly because every character had little traits that reminded me of myself or one of my own girlfriends.
A group of friends navigating their own challenges, feeling consumed by work, family, children, housework, calendar upkeep and all the other little things that somehow take over your life before finally realising they are well overdue to take those holiday plans out of the group chat and actually make them happen!
This book had a bit of everything. It was fun, funny, flirtatious and feisty, with plenty of heart and friendship woven throughout. I absolutely loved Stella's POV and found myself very invested in the women's lives and wellbeing!
Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the ARC. I was so excited when I saw a ZFB book available!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
F U N
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews