Three adult children going on a cruise with their Mom. One daughter brings her husband (not willingly). Everyone involved has secrets and think this just may be the trip where it all finally comes out. One can only imagine the level of craziness.

I must admit this hooked me from the very beginning. I had to find out if everyone would have the nerve to show their true selves. And who doesn't like a good story about a dysfunctional family? I have yet to meet an adult who doesn't have some level of messy family dynamics. As all of the Perkins reflect back on their relationships as young kids, they also have to come to terms with who they are as adults and if they even still like each other. Very interesting.

My thanks to Ballantine Books and Netgalley for this ARC.

What could possibly go wrong on a family cruise? Anything and everything. At times funny and a little heart wrenching it's a solidly told story with characters that will be hard to forget. Happy reading!

Charlotte Perkins is 71, and her best friend has just died. Long single, she longs to be touched and loved again, so she writes an essay (a rather racy one at that) to the "Become a Jetsetter" contest to win a trip for her entire family (and to perhaps meet someone). Charlotte is shocked and elated when she actually wins, earning the the chance to take her three children to Athens, Greece and on a nine-day cruise to Barcelona, Spain. Lee, a struggling actress who has just returned home on a "break" from acting (and from her famous ex-boyfriend) figures she has nothing better to do. Cord, her son, a wealthy New Yorker, isn't thrilled about being trapped on a ship while he struggles with his sobriety. And Regan, an exhausted mother of two daughters, can't believe it when her irritating husband Matt joins the group. This will be a particularly fun trip since Lee and Regan haven't spoken in ten years. Trapped on this adventure together, secrets come out and the Perkins family suddenly learns more than they ever wanted to know about each one another.

It took me a while to process this one. I really enjoy Amanda Eyre Ward's writing, and I have such a soft spot for her book, The Same Sky, which is one of my absolute favorite novels. This book is very different from that one, and it took me some time to warm to the pacing and the characters. Charlotte turned me off in the beginning, and I was just slow to get into the book. We learn that the Perkins kids had a rough childhood, but one that also bonded them together. Yet when the book opens, none of them are particularly close to each other--or their mother.

"This day, and the two more excruciating days that followed--days of sand and beer-scented misery--would be the last time Lee went on vacation with her mother and siblings. Until thirty-two years later, when they became jetsetters."

The book presents the story from not only Charlotte's point of view, but that of each of her wayward children. None of the kids are easy to like at first, but Ward's prose makes them come to life before our eyes. They are fallible, for sure, and it's hard not to feel a bit sorry for everyone. I for one am not sure I could handle being trapped on a cruise ship with a group of unhappy family members.

"Oh. Charlotte's children. To her great sadness and bewilderment, Charlotte's three adult children were lost to her, and perhaps to themselves."

The novel does an excellent job at portraying all the difficult relationships in the book, giving us an in-depth portrait of a complicated family. While the story is told solely over the span of their trip, we learn all about Charlotte's life--much of it hidden away from her children--and the lives of her three kids, even bits and pieces of their childhood and backstories. No one has had an easy go of it, for sure. How much do parents, and their actions, affect their kids, the book asks. How do families in general influence the people we become. They have so much power: both to help and to hurt.

It's funny, this wasn't always a story I enjoyed, even though there are humorous and touching moments, but I recognized its powerful parts too. Overall, I would rate this at 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4 stars here. It's worth a read.

I was fortunate to receive an advanced copy of The Jetsetters long before it became Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club selection for March. With that said, I can certainly understand why it was chosen.

The Jetsetters is about a dysfunctional/functional, imperfectly/perfect family whose baggage goes well beyond the type one takes on a trip. Charlotte Perkin's best friend has just died. A widow of many years who was married to an angry alcoholic, she has three children. They are not the Brady Bunch. She starts to feel as if her life is over. She needs something new in her life or she knows she will die.

She decides to enter a writing contest called Become a Jetsetter by writing a little erotic short story from when she a young single woman. And she wins! And the prize is a European cruise. She decides to ask her children to join her in hopes of somehow bringing them all together.

Lee is her daughter who is still trying to become an actress, even though she now is in her late 30's. Regan is an unhappily married mother of two who put aside her dreams to become an artist to marry and have children. She married Lee's old boyfriend! Cord is a businessman who Charlotte cannot understand why he won't just settle down. He is gay. Charlotte has no idea.

So the family sets sail with all their baggage...pun intended! As they cruise and visit the cities of Rome, Athens and Barcelona the children (who are really adults) but hardly act that way, and Charlotte, begin to explore their individual problems and demons as well as disagreements and squabbles with each other. Fighting ensues and Charlotte does what she does best in these situations...smile and pretend nothing is really wrong.

But as old wounds and secrets begin to surface, Charlotte must not only face and accept her children's flaws and love them anyway, but she must also accept her own regrets which she has carried like heavy baggage from her own childhood and learn to love herself.

The Jetsetters delves into what a broken family looks like. It is funny, yet sensitive and heartbreaking all at the same time. We can all identify with family crisis of some sort. And as we would in our own family, we root for them all, feel their pain and embarrassment, and hope they can put their baggage away and become better people and a new family.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #BallentineBooks, #AmandaEyreWard, #TheJetsetters for the advanced copy of this amazing book.

A heart warming, with just the right amounts of serious and sweet mixed into it, "The Jetsetters" is sure to capture your heart.
"The Jetsetters" is a story about a dysfunctional family, a widow and her adult children, who embark on a Mediterranean cruise all while each member of the family is trying to figure out a way to share their secrets with one another.
This book will make you laugh, cry, and smile all in the same sentence. The only thing I wish had been better was the epilogue, but besides that this book is four out of five stars for me. I recommend reading this book if you need a good light-hearted, quick read in between books.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballentine Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Jetsetters starts with Charlotte Perkins mourning the passing of her best friend. Late in her life, long-widowed, with distant adult children, she decides to try something new. Soon after, she and her children are whisked away on a Mediterranean cruise.

As the journey unfolds, you see from each person's perspective the burdens they are hiding, how they have been dealing with them, the impacts on their lives - and what happens when this dysfunctional family gets together.

This book starts slow. You root for the characters, but sometimes different parts of their stories are so scattered it's hard to keep track. It is a great summer beach read, or perhaps for spring break by the pool?

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballentine Books, and Random House Publishing Group for an opportunity to review an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

#TheJetsetters #NetGalley #travelfiction #cruisefiction #mediterranean #BallentineBooks #dysfunctionalfamilycomedy #fictionreads

I really wanted to get into this family drama. I thought it would be quirky and fun. It really wasn't. This dysfunctional family has been estranged for a long time. A bad marriage and an abusive father start the prologue. Then we jumps over 30 years. Mom is a pretty old 70 and she wins a cruise for herself and her family. Once they all get there, it is obvious that they haven't been open and honest with each other since the early 80s. Maybe never. The story jumps perspective between Charlotte, Regan, Lee, and Cord. We know how messed up everyone is. But if I wanted to be in an uncomfortable situation with people and have a miserable time, I would just take a cruise with my own mother, sister, and brother. Not much escapism there. I thought it was OK. I was hoping for more. Parts did stay with me, though, so it gets 3 stars just for that.

This book was fun. And sad. And somehow that made it real and a good book to spend time with. Thanks for the chance to read it!

This is a Netgalley ARC review. All opinions are solely my own.

This book will make a great spring break beach read. Amanda Eyre Ward creates a great escape. The Perkins family are all a hot mess that you can't help but watch. They're all keeping secrets from each other.Put them all on a cruise ship together and watch the cards all come tumbling down. There were definitely some twists that I did not see coming.

I really enjoyed the accurate cultural references surround the art and architecture of the Mediterranean.

I found this book to be delightful and will be recommending to others.

Charlotte Perkins buries her best friend and realizes how lonely she is now. At 70, she lives alone and the only person she talks to regularly is her priest. On a whim she enters an essay contest where the prize is a 10 day cruise and shore excursion trip through Greece, Italy and Spain. Charlotte wins and takes this opportunity to take her 3 grown children on a dream vacation and hopefully bring the family closer together and heal what is troubling each of them.
This was a fun, light read. I liked how each chapter was told from the perspective of either Charlotte, Lee... who was a washed-up actress still pretending to be making it big, Cord... who couldn't seem to find the courage to tell his family he was gay, and Regan....who is in a miserable marriage and is looking for a way out. If you are a fan of chick lit I think you will enjoy this.

I have read most of this authors books and loved them all.
I love her short books (usually under 300 pages) and her tackling social issues with a stand out character.
This was a little different from most of her other books in that it dealt with the dis-functional family genre. A mother and her three adult children with all having their own problems connected with the family they come from. I ended up enjoying this one when I didn't think I would, Maybe because of the subject matter and knowing this author and her normal genre which is a little more serious and taking on social issues.
There was a happy ending in that each character found themselves and happiness in being themselves.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC copy of one of my favorite authors.

I really enjoyed this book. Not all families are perfect and come together for every holiday. This dealt with a 70 year old woman wanting reunite her children on a family cruise. Every character seemed to learn something about each other and themselves. There are light moments as well. Quick Read.

This was honestly pretty sad -- I don't think I would even use dysfunctional to describe this family, more like terribly sad. It was an interesting premise but there was a lot left unsaid that I think could have provided a richness. Don't let the cheery cover fool you -- if you want to read something with humans that are are all at their rock bottom, then you may enjoy this one. The writing is fine and the travel was interesting but I definitely felt malaise when finishing this book rather than anything good.

The Jetsetters comes out soon on March 5, 2020 and you can purchase HERE.

"Who's talking about secrets?" said Regan, approaching. Matt followed few feet behind her, wearing a button-down shirt, pale pink shorts, and loafers. Cord felt a seething anger toward his brother-in-law, toward all the straight Southern men he'd known who thought the world was their oyster. Sometimes, he wondered what it would be like to be one of these men. On the outside, he looked like them, but under the skin, he knew he couldn't be more different.

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward tells the story of a widowed mother and her three adult children who go on a cruise in Europe. Each chapter is a different European city, and it dives into the personal lives and histories of the family members. This was a unique concept and I enjoyed the unique structure and setting. Although it deals with heavier topics, it is overall a light and breezy book and perfect to read on vacation.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly did not love this book. The characters just weren’t lovable to me. I was intrigued by the story line but I felt like it needed more focus. It was kind of all over the place and I found myself at the end just scanning to get through the book.

It's been quite a while since I've last read one of Ward's novels - over five years at least. But, I always keep an eye out for her writing because of how much I loved her earlier novels.

This one is a family drama - told over the course of a "jet-setting" vacation on a cruise in the Mediterranean. Charlotte, in her early 70s, is more bereft after the loss of her best friend than of her husband 17 years earlier. She feels alone and disconnected from her three adult children - who are also struggling with their own failures and secrets. The book skips narrators, locations and their memories though time. The characters all feel authentic and really come to life. It's a well-written and engaging character-driven novel. There really isn't too much about the plot itself- some of the plot's turns are easier to see coming than others, but there are some definite surprises, too. I think that this would make a really excellent book club choice, because I know that these characters would be fun to talk about and discuss. I do wish that the ending had been a bit less abrupt... I wanted more from the epilogue. But, I am curious to see what she will write next!

I went into this book expecting a fun, if not dysfunctional, family drama. I found none of the characters likable or even remotely interesting. They had so much undealt with baggage that cost them so many years spent alone, putting their family members way past arms length. Even on this once in a lifetime trip they couldn't see past their problems to try to enjoy the beauty in the places that they were visiting and didn't once try to rekindle any old family relationships. Charlotte was so worried about her appearances that she really wasted her whole life. This book would be a solid 3 1/2 stars for me if I could rate it in half stars.

The Jetsetters centers around Charlotte Perkins, a seventy year old woman who has just won a Meditteranean cruise. She invites her adult children to join her, and they set sail to see the sights of Rome, Italy, and Greece. During the cruise, family history and personal struggles come to light, and everyone learns and grows with each other.

This book fell short for me, in a big way. I expected something more intense, based on the description. The entire book seemed to drag painfully along, with sad story after sad story. I can’t imagine how hard it is to develop four characters like Charlotte and her three children (one is washed up actress, one is a gay man who hasn’t come out to Charlotte, and the last one is a stay at home mom who is having marital troubles), but the characters didn’t seem very balanced in terms of who we learned the most about.

Thanks to Netgalley, Ballantine, and Amanda Eyre Ward for my free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Charlotte Perkins’ life is a bit predictable these days. Her children have grown and moved away. She looks forward to her daily Chardonnay. And her best friend, Minnie, just passed away suddenly.

Charlotte needs a change. She decides to enter the “Become a Jetsetter” contest. Much to her surprise, her steamy essay entry wins. Charlotte rallies up her estranged children - Lee, Cord, and Reagan - to join her on a Mediterranean cruise.

The family packs up their baggage (both literally and figuratively) and heads off to sea. Charlotte quickly realizes that there is ages-old tension between her and her children. Is it irreparable, or will the Perkins family have the time of their lives on the vacation of a lifetime?

I’ve been following Amanda Eyre Ward’s writing career from the start, and I just love her novels. The Jetsetters is so unlike her previous novels as far as subject matter goes.

I think on some level we can all relate to the Perkins’ family dysfunction. At least I can! That, combined with wit, humor, unique characters, and short chapters, this novel is a great pick me up during this cold season.

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward was a sad book. I have seen other reviewers speak of it as having funny bit or being a tad humorous. Everything in this book is tinged with melancholy. Which, isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering the book’s story. Charlotte is in her seventies and alone after living a lonely life. Her children have all gone their separate ways having run from their childhood with their abusive father and the legacy his death left behind. She wins a jet-setting adventure and invites her children in hope of reuniting the family. Each character has their own story, path, and issues. The topics included in the book include alcoholism, abuse, and suicide. Heavy subjects that are dealt with beautifully. Not too heavy handed or glossed over.

I was really hoping for more resolution and a stronger ending. Alas, much like life, sometimes these things are not resolved with a nice bow. The Jetsetters reminded me of The Vacationers by Emma Staub but with more interesting characters and backstories. The main characters, and most of the supporting characters, are multifaceted. There are good and bad in both. When the book ended, I was sorry to see it go but, it was time.

I received a Advance Reader Copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions my own.