The flames take the vulva pinaata immediately. Welcome to the Happy Place Book Club with me, Fern Cotton.

Sweets inside popping like corn kernels as they explode inside their wiry cage. Today, so thrilled for you by Holly Bourne.

And there's a moment of stillness in me. The first time I've felt calm in so long, as I take in the view thinking, wow, I've never seen pink smoke before.

Soon the flames will claim the pile of duck patterned wrapping paper, gorge on the coarse

wall of the hand-knitted blankets and turn the fallen wall of peonies into a sweet, toxic perfume.

I can tell already that everything is lost. My life has already burned down metaphorically,

so it makes sense that I've now burned it down literally too. All I wanted to do was

torch it all until there was nothing left but sutty soil, rich with nutrients to grow something new.

But I never thought I'd actually do it. I watched the smoke plume out of the

cannon, dancing as it eclipses the vista and spirals around in the heat, juxtaposed against the

bluest sky. The fire around it ignites instantly, the smoke doubling, trebling, as flames

catch and dance in the kindling. The heat slaps my face and wakes me up.

I hear myself screaming at what I've done, and I run towards the heat.

Oh my gosh, this book. Okay, this is the plot. Nikki, Lauren, Charlotte and Steffy have been friends

since university. Now in their 30s, life is pulling them in different directions.

But the girls are reunited when Charlotte organises the baby shower from hell for pregnant Nikki.

Tensions are going to be high as these women are forced to confront their own and each other's views about motherhood,

while also dealing with an actual fire at the baby shower.

This is a who-done-it. It's a social commentary. It's absolutely bloody, brilliant.

I loved it so much. And that's why it's our happy place, book club read for February.

You loved it too. God, this one got you lot talking on Instagram. Here's a voice

note from Lena. So thrilled for you? What a book that was mysterious, gripping, but most

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