Girl Dinner

A Novel

By: Olivie Blake

Narrated by: Rita Amparita, Stephanie Németh-Parker

"[Narrators Rita] Amparita and [Stephanie] Németh-Parker excel in providing distinct voices for the many female characters. Listeners will find themselves entranced by their performances. " — AudioFile

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six, Girl Dinner is a darkly-fun novel about power, lust, and eating your fill, as wealthy moms and sorority girls practice a sinister new wellness trend . . .

Good girls deserve a treat.

Every member of The House, the most exclusive sorority on campus, and all its alumni, are beautiful, high-achieving, and universally respected.

After a freshman year she would rather forget, sophomore Nina Kaur knows being one of the chosen few accepted into The House is the first step in her path to the brightest possible future. Once she's taken into their fold, the House will surely ease her fears of failure and protect her from those who see a young woman on her own as easy prey.

Meanwhile, adjunct professor Dr. Sloane Hartley is struggling to return to work after accepting a demotion to support her partner's new position at the cutthroat University. After 18 months at home with her newborn daughter, Sloane's clothes don’t fit right, her girl-dad husband isn’t as present as he thinks he is, and even the few hours a day she's apart from her child fill her psyche with paralyzing ennui. When invited to be The House’s academic liaison, Sloane enviously drinks in the way the alumnae seem to have it all, achieving a level of collective perfection that Sloane so desperately craves.

As Nina and Sloane each get drawn deeper into the arcane rituals of the sisterhood, they learn that living well comes with bloody costs. And when they are finally invited to the table, they will have to decide just how much they can stomach in the name of solidarity and power.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

Not Delightful

The performance producer did not catch the many mispronunciations of words by the actress playing Nina. By hour 6 it became grating. She pronounced “mystic” as “mesquite” and Betty Friedan (Free-Dan) as Fra-deen”.

The story was also difficult for me. Interesting way to tell the story, from the perspective of two people at the same time in the same general space.

Starving and Yearning

This is a deserved introspection of what modern post Girl Boss Feminism has devolved into — I cannot even use the term without giving the story away, without spoiling the feast which lays in this rich and decadent tale. Yet, what Olivie Blake has done is marvelous, the crafted world built feels innocuous and unique, yet distinctly pedestrian. The intersections of these women’s lives are haunted with their observations of the other, and the boundaries they’re confined to…

Read this, listen to it earnestly. There’s a fervor that comes to life with each introduction to this prismatic experience of womanhood.

Bleh

The concept and core themes were spot on, capturing the challenges of motherhood, academia, and marriage with vivid accuracy. The portrayal of the sorority and power dynamics, however, was underwhelming. I felt a bit disappointed towards the end, but the story had a strong start.

an addictive propulsive unputdownable 5-star satire about female rage and power you don’t want to miss

tied with we love you bunny by mona awad for my favorite book of the year (boty, if you will). again, another book where i thought i knew where it was going to go but then every time i would get completely surprised and it’s SO RARE for any story to do that to me nowadays. need this as a movie or series ASAP; specifically by neon rated, annapurna, or gilga if i’m being picky and choosy. maybe even a shudder original cause they did their big ones securing grafted and the ugly stepsister from sundance 2025! i inhaled girl dinner like it was an oasis filled with pristine drinkable water after i’d been lost in a desert for two weeks. nom nom nom nom nom. need more olivie blake women-rage satire in my life !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! can’t believe she almost didn’t write this because it’s truly now one of my new favorites she’s written. my second 5-star binge-read of my reading slump year !!! should probably get a 5* for that feat!

End already

I enjoyed the characters, the setting, but the story took forever to unwind. Great author, but this was a mis for me.

A waste of my credit

Tries too hard to make points; storylines are predictable and I feel not meant for my race or age group.