I'll Be There For You

by Louise Candlish

Hannah hugged her sister tightly. "I know you don't trust life any more. But you've still got to live it—and so do I." Hannah and Juliet Goodwin have been best friends since childhood, but when Juliet's boyfriend Luke is killed just as Hannah marries the affluent Michael, the divide between the two sisters is suddenly too painful to bear. While Hannah prepares for the birth of her first child, Juliet begins to neglect her job, her health, and all those who love her the most. Hannah is the last person she'd appeal to for help. But then she finds herself drawn into a secret betrayal that threatens to destroy Hannah's happiness before she even has a chance to enjoy it.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Chick Lit

384 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2005

About the author

Hello and welcome to my page... You may already know my domestic noir thrillers or perhaps you're curious and not sure which to try first - either way, you're in the right place!

My latest is OUR HOLIDAY, a Sunday Times bestseller, WHSmith Richard & Judy Book Club pick and Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025 nominee. It features my favourite ever love-to-hate characters Perry and Charlotte, second home owners in the idyllic English beach resort of Pine Ridge. It's now in development for the screen - I'll share news on that as soon as I can.

Next up is A NEIGHBOUR'S GUIDE TO MURDER, published in July 2025 (UK) and 2026 (US), available to pre-order now.

Last year I celebrated my 20th anniversary as an author with the news of two prestigious awards for my 90s-set thriller THE ONLY SUSPECT: the Capital Crime Fingerprint Award for Thriller of the Year and the Ned Kelly Award for Best International Crime Fiction. Stay tuned for TV news on that one too - it will be the next of mine to hit our screens!

OUR HOUSE is the one you may know me for as it's now a major four-part ITV drama starring Martin Compston and Tuppence Middleton (watch the full series free on ITVX). This is the novel that turned my career around, winning the 2019 British Book Awards Book of the Year - Crime & Thriller and shortlisted for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, the Capital Crime Amazon Publishing Best Crime Novel of the Year Award​, and the Audible Sounds of Crime Award. It was also longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and the Specsavers National Book Awards. A Waterstones Thriller of the Month, it recently received a Nielsen Bestseller Silver Award for 250,000 copies sold.

A bit about me: I live in a South London neighbourhood not unlike the one in my books, with my husband, daughter and a fox-red Labrador called Bertie who is the apple of my eye. Books, TV and long walks are my passions - and drinking wine in the sun with family and friends. Authors I love include Tom Wolfe, Patricia Highsmith, Barbara Vine, Agatha Christie and Evelyn Waugh. My favourite book is Madame Bovary.

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Reviews

[Nicki]

Quitting this because the print in my copy is so tiny and I’m getting old. 😂.
I like Louise Candlish, but even aside from the small print issue, I can see her style was a little more chick littish than her newer ones, not so much for me these days as in the past.
Writing quality is good as always but the story, one character a grief stricken woman whose partner has died and the other her pregnant sister, does not particularly appeal to me. Decided to DNF.

[Petra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across this book by accident as it came free with Cosmopolitan I think. I don't think I would actually choose it myself in a library or something as it didn't seem to be anything special. However, it was a good read. It started a bit slow, but once things got complicated I just couldn't put this book down. So many twists and turns! I loved it. It may as well be a true story as the things from this book do happen in real life unfortunately. There is so much infidelity around and nothing stops these men, not even when their partner is pregnant.. And they don't change either. As per Lottie's quote at the end: "There's always someone with these men." I loved the ending. It was a good one: Hannah throws her cheating husband out of their house after learning he had another child with somebody else and he continues to cheat on her while she is looking after their baby...
Highly recommend to all the women, apart from the pregnant ones. Only because it's thought-provoking and has a good ending..
I'll Be There for You

[Karen Wickham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure about this book at first but it grew on me.

It's an interesting story about two sisters and the issues they are facing in their very different lives.

I must say I think the blurb on the back of the book is somewhat misleading. It talks about Juliet being "drawn into a secret betrayal that threatens to destroy Hannah's happiness". I kept waiting to find out what this "secret betrayal" was going to be. We (and Juliet) finally find out this secret right at the end of the book (about 20 pages from the end). So the story is not about this "secret betrayal" as I thought it would be. It's just the climax to the whole story, which is a good page turning climax but not the whole crux of the story.

The main crux of the story is the relationship between the sisters, who relationships can go wrong, the problems we keep hidden from each other and the value of support from friends and family.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very different from the other Candlish novels I read (and really enjoyed). In fact, if I had read this one first, I probably would not have tried another. First, the blurb on the back cover of the book didn’t really “match” the story at all. Neither Hannah nor Juliet, the two sisters who are the primary focus of the novel, are particularly admirable. One appears far more interested in money and status than substance, and the other is weak and amoral.
It was very difficult to feel sympathy for either one of these characters (or their family and friends for that matter), and even harder to wish that they eventually find happiness, as both were too selfish to try to bring happiness to others.
This is the type of novel that I think only soap opera fans could appreciate.

[Sue Fehlinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars only because I love Louise Candlish! This was far far away from her usual standard, it was actually boring. I’m guessing this one was written earlier but I only picked up on it now. So tedious that I DNF! Most unlike me. I’m 70 and life is too short to plod on with a boring book. Definitely not my kind of book. I’ve read most of her other novels, the one that sticks in my mind is My House, it’s almost like it was written by a different author! I will be waiting with bated breath for her next book. But sadly this one wasn’t for me, yawn!

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has no beginning and no end, it us like joining in with a soap opera and dropping out of it ten months later. There's no drama, no tension, no mystery, no characters you will love or hate. There's nothing really not to like about this book but really nothing to get excited about.... a totally predictable tale.

[Betsy]

DNF. Boring. Did not care about the characters and I kept waiting for something to happen. Oddly, the book started and it felt like it was in the middle of a story. It was disorienting and I think it kept me from settling into the book. I've heard good things about this author, so might try a different one.

[Lorraine Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Audio book] Listened in a disjointed way but good book. Hannah is pregnant and sees her husband sleep with another woman. She leaves and moves in with a single mum. Hannah sister is pregnant and has a termination. Eventually Hannah returns to Michael but the leopard doesn't change its spots.

[Adeline Kam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am reminding myself not to buy her books anymore. Almost all her books are boring. It has a nice title, book cover and synopsis but the storyline and characters are very boring. The story is very draggy and it's all over the place. I did not finish this book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good holiday read!!

[Pat Raab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad but true.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy to read however rather boring and predictable

[Susan Watts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average chick-lit book

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book from what I can remember.

[Chlo Gerroni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decentish I guess but very obvious ending.

[ashleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Birgitt Krumboeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was not as addictive as Our House and The Sudden Move of the Frasers, but it had the usual plot twists so I ended up liking it more than at the beginning. A bit too chick-litish for my taste!

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cried

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book but was difficult to get engrossed in at the beginning.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juliet works for an advertising company, where she sometimes clashes with the boss, but has some good friends. She has plenty of ideas but is more interested in after-work drinking and smoking; her self-esteem isn't great anyway, and she's still grieving from the loss of her fiancé Luke a year previously.

Juliet used to be very close to her older sister Hannah, who is a calmer, more motherly kind of person. But Hannah is now married to the slick Michael whom Juliet doesn't like or trust. Michael is quite rich, however, and Hannah likes to live comfortably. And somehow, in their drastically changed circumstances, the sisters have drifted apart.

Well-written, with plenty of interesting and believable subplots, and a mostly satisfactory ending. Some moving sections and some lovely people - I particularly liked Hannah's new friend Siobhan - with my main irritation being the way that so many people kept reaching for cigarettes... not something that's part of my life at all, and it seemed so irrelevant to the plot.

But all in all, a good if sometimes hard-hitting story.

Latest review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be there for you - such a beautiful and sad novel all at the same time. I loved the characters of Hannah and Juliet and loved their bond even more so.

Throughout the book, both of their relationships with each other was portrayed greatly; best friends and sisters. I love how it showed both the negative and positive sides of their relationship too, it's not always a bed of roses with them, but when one is in need, the other is there for them.

It took me a chapter or two to actually get into the story and then I started getting more in to it. I loved the description, almost as if i were part of the story and the main two female characters were extremely in depth. My only negative thought on the book is that some of the minor characters were not defined as good as some of the others were. Overall, i good and emotional read.

[Vandana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alright, so I have these books I like to call "My airport books". Airport books, are books that are suppossed to be fun, not too deep, great for the airplane because you can get into them, and not have to think too hard, and long enough for the airplane ride. Well this was a disappointing airport book. I thought this book would exhibit more of a connection between sisters, and the bonds between them. It did none of that. The storyline got more and more ridiculous. It should have been a clue to me when I read one of the reviews on the back from Glamour magazine. Clearly, how good was this book going to be... This book is not even worthy of being an "airport book.

[Rebecca Haslam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always liked stories that play on the relationship between family members, portraying both the good and the bad times in their lives - such occurs in this book.
Two sisters, close all their lives suddenly find themselves in different places and situations in their lives' death, love, family; they all feature prominently in what unfolds.
I've often heard that your family can help you through anything, that true family will be there for you to lean on no matter what, and through this book, I'm starting to agree. The last few chapters and pages especially (not that I will say what happens)left me thinking, just now and again, that I too hope my family can be like the one in this book.

[Barbara Elsborg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two and a half stars. I did sort of like it. There was a lot I liked but some bits I really didn't. For instance the character of Guy was an issue for me- nowhere near enough detail on him to appreciate his role in the story. But Michael was well drawn. The big coincidence was - well - big, but since my books have coincidences too,I didn't really feel it was an issue.I could feel the reveal coming but it was done well. Not as good for me as some of her other books but I do like her style of writing and generally - the depth of the characters.

[Jinx · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think what the book is trying to express is really nice and important especially in our now days.
But I have found the technique of writing is really complicated and hard to understand at some parts. And I am half british half american, so my english is -you can say- alright. I want to know if anyone faced this or is it just me.

I love the overall story though.
Please email me at ghydababiker@hotmail.com
Thank you

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a couple of chapters for me to get intot his book but once I did I was hooked.
Although I did pick the ending it was still enjoyable.
I liked the relationship between the sisters. Some times sisters, sometimes good friends - but not always close but there when they need each other.

[Edel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me a while to read and get into at first it was painful and boring. Juliets job in Imagineer was over-described but her descend into alcoholism and the ending was dramatic and satisfactory. Good ending not as predictable as I thought.

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good worth reading but not her best book

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not her best.

[The Twins · Rating 3 out of 5]

easy read and enjoyable however what a coincidence that pretty much all main male characters are cheats in this book - Come on not all men are that bad?!!