If We’re Being Honest is heartfelt, humorous, and oddly comforting for a novel about grief. If you’re a fan of stories revolving around characters thrust into unexpected circumstances with unexpected consequences, you should give this one a try. An impressive debut, I look forward to what the author does next!

This family drama was a miss for me. The plot unfolded slowly and the drama was lacking. There were too many things happening and nothing was fully completed. I expected more drama.

Round up 3.5stars. Wow, this book has so many layers, with several interwoven plot lines, and a diverse cast of characters. Overall, it is a heartwarming novel that captures the essence of messy family dynamics with humor and authentic emotion. This story is the perfect blend of wit, sincerity, and moments of profound insight, detailing the family bonds and the healing power of love.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley & Celadon Books for an advanced listener copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t able to get through this Audiobook. I’m pretty sure it was just bad timing on my part. I’m hoping eventually I’ll give it another try but it just didn’t hold my attention enough as an audiobook.

The Williams' family patriarch, Gerry, has suddenly died and the family gathers for his funeral. Gerry's best friend Fred is tasked with giving the eulogy, and he delivers a bombshell that no one was expecting, leaving everyone reeling from his proclamation.

This has a large cast of characters that are introduced right away, making it very difficult to remember and keep track of, especially via audio. It made it hard to get invested in each of their lives and individual stories. Reading other reviews, I see that the print book had a family tree in the beginning that would have been helpful. On audio, I couldn't go back and reference it if was there.

The writing style was very much tell vs. show. This happened, then this happened, this character felt this way... I never felt truly connected with any of them, except maybe one or two. It was also a bit confusing having different character perspectives in the same chapter and it would have flowed better if the characters were given their own chapters. It also had LONG chapters which I am not a fan of.

The big revelation at the beginning of the book at the funeral was only slightly addressed and the characters never really processed their feelings on it, which was disappointing. It just got glossed over so it felt like clickbait in a book.

The audio narration was fine, but nothing spectacular. I later found out the book is only 304 pages, yet the audio was 11 hours long. I listened at over 2x and still felt it dragged on.

There were some heartfelt and touching moments as the story progressed and explored the human relationship with grief and loss. Additionally, the characters have their own life challenges to confront, such as secrets, marriage issues, pregnancy, etc., and they all have relationships at their core.

But overall, I just didn't find this very memorable. I even searched reviews WITH spoilers to help me recall what happened at the end of the book because I just can't seem to remember it. (Didn't find any, still don't know.) With all the things I disliked that I listed, I still didn't hate it. Some of it was enjoyable and perhaps it would have been even more so reading the print book instead of audio.

This was an excellent family fiction that I truly enjoyed. I feel like that the characters were very developed and the story was easy to follow. There was a lot of family drama, but also some realistic healing and reactions to was going on. The characters that were annoying were meant to be annoying and the growth of the majority of the characters was refreshing.
I feel like Cat Shooks did her research. Where race did play a small factor in one of the relationships, it was done in such a respectful way and the way that I wish it was in a lot of books.
Things that kept it from a 5 star for me were:
a lot of religion. I know it takes place in GA, but some parts felt preachy
The "coming out" storyline. I feel very strongly that this is a personal decision and in this family, no one was "allowed" secrets. It was frustrating for me.

I was looking forward to reading this, and both read and listened to the book and audiobook formats. The book opened with so many characters in the family that I would not have been able to keep up in audio alone had I not also had the print book.

I’m sad to say this one just wasn’t for me.

*many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Such a lovely book. I am always reluctant to read a book about grief, but this one took a lighthearted approach! I found, through audio at least, it was hard to keep track of all of the characters, so I might recomment this one as an "eyeball read" book! Either way, I enjoyed the journey.

Thank you Macmillan Audio & NetGalley for the ALC. A special thanks to Cat Shook! All opinions are my own.

I have mixed feelings on this one. There are a lot of characters and it was difficult to keep everyone straight. I did not particularly enjoy the audio. I might have enjoyed this one more if I had just read it.

I really wanted to love this one but it was very difficult on audio due to the long chapters and multiple story lines. I think there was too much trying to go on to create the illusion of chaos and it took away from the story. I can see what the author wanted to do but I had some difficulty deciding to keep going. I did finish the book but unfortunately it was a miss for me.

Thank you for an advanced audiobook,

If We’re Being Honest is a book about the Williams family…the very large Williams family. It’s told from many POVs which was hard for me to keep up with honestly.
I loved the narrator even though the story was a miss for me.

This was a debut by Cat Shook that opens with the death of the patriarch of the Williams family, and the story takes off from there. In the beginning there were a lot of characters to keep straight, especially while doing this solely via audio, however the more you get to know them the easier it becomes. This is a character driven plot that is on the slower paced side, but I liked it overall. I thought the audio was great, the narrator did a wonderful with this story.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC to review.

I’m not sure how I felt about this book, or if I really understood it. Don’t get me wrong, the intro had me hooked and I love some good family drama. I enjoyed the multiple povs, however, it was difficult to follow along at times. I also liked seeing the messiness unravel and the characters come together. I would’ve preferred some more depth and distinction between the characters, but this was still a fairly good debut!

Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for letting me have advance access to the book that I did not get to till now. Life happens, but I am doing my best to read and review all of my books.

I did more listening to the audiobook than I did reading the ebook. I loved all the different points of view that were in the book. I think listening to the audiobook let me get through the book faster, and sometimes that is really helpful to me because my inner monologue does not tend to include other voices or characters.

I think this might have been a debut novel, and I have to say great job!

Was not able to download in time so therefore am not able to review properly. So sorry about that but thank you for the chance.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. This novel is about the Williams family, more particularly about its patriarch, Garry who has recently passed away and the family is unsure who to select to give his eulogy. They ask his best friend Patrick who gladly accepts. What they don’t know is that Patrick has a secret, one he decides to share with the entire congregation during the funeral. What follows is how this family picks up the pieces and comes to terms with this long buried secret. This one had a lot of characters, too many for me and thus it was hard to follow all of them. While I didn’t love it, it was a tender hearted read and I found myself reading on to learn what becomes of each of them.

We all know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover but that’s precisely what made me pause while scrolling, with my finger hovering over this book. ‘If We’re Being Honest’ turned out to be just as warm and approachable as its cover.

The novel begins with a funeral and ends with a wedding which felt very fitting for this story all about a family. We step into the Williams family home after the sudden death of the patriarch, a good and kind man who was very loved - and also, it turns out, kept some secrets. As the plot unfolds, we follow the members of the family as they grapple with that legacy, and slowly confront secrets and truths of their own. It’s title very much makes sense by the time you reach the final page.

The characters are, for the most part, likable and real. The book is at its very best when it follows Ellen, the widow, but there are some misses with other characters. (The youngest sisters in both generations are painfully stereotyped.) I wondered if choosing fewer family members to follow would have been more fulfilling for the reader because we could have spent more time with them. The individual perspectives are the most informative and give a clearer sense of the family history. There’s just too much to keep track of with such a large family.

This is not a brooding, dramatic family saga. It’s lighthearted and sincere, and there are neat endings. If you tend towards darker genres (which I do), this might be a good departure for your mind. It was a lovely audiobook listen that gave me good feels. Not the very best read of the summer but certainly worthy of 3 stars, despite the need for edits.

Thank you to Celadon Books for the ARC and ALC.

I really enjoyed this one! At first I thought there was a few to many characters but as the story went on it really worked and flowed well, I loved this family so much. And was really invested in everyone story! I’ve been trying to think of what one I liked the best but honestly I think I enjoyed everyone the Same! I loved how they all banned together to help each other and how they all grew through out the story. I loved the tie in with the magnolia trees and just really loved this family drama story!

If We're Being Honest by Cat Shook is available now in eBook, Audiobook (Narrated by Kathleen McInerney), and Physical Book
⭐️⭐️⭐⭐ Book Review

If We’re Being Honest highly focuses on grief of a loved one and how everyone can handle and manage that grief differently than others. When Gerry dies, a celebration of life is held. His entire family flocks to Georgia to celebrate him. His significant other, Ellen, who is also grieving, sits back attempting to keep everyone in line while they wallow in grief attempting to figure out how to move forward. This novel was full of family drama, humor, and honesty making me laugh, cry, and then laugh again throughout. It reminded you that your own family was NOT the only dysfunctional family in this world. It also helped me to remember that not only can family rip you into a million pieces, they are the ones to help you pick up those pieces and make you whole again. I highly encourage this book to anyone looking for a good laugh and a feel good story.

Thank you to the publisher for the ALC. This book was very sweet. Not completely for me but I can see others loving it.