This just was not for me. The characters were okay, but the story a bit meh.
But i really enjoyed that the main character were talking to her cat, who dosen`t???

This book started out a little slow, but then I couldn’t put it down. I just wanted to give Breeda a hug. It was part family drama & a little mystery sprinkled in. Quick read.

I liked this book, but thought it would be more upbeat and lighthearted. It was very serious, where I was expecting some laughs. I would recommend it, however, don't expect a light read.

This was a really enjoyable and heartwarming novel that beautifully described Breeda's life in a small Irish village. Having to change her life to support her mother, Breeda finds herself struggling with public panic attacks, battling her Aunt Nora, and in search of hidden family truths. The book was wonderfully written; it was easy for me to feel wrapped up in Breeda's character and root for her success as she finds her place in life. I'd recommend as an easy, sweet, and fun read (although frustrating just on Breeda and Nora's behalf). I'm on the lookout for other books by Oliver Sands.

The initial description about this story made me want to read it form the outset. Breeda reminded me of the leading ladies in another two of my favourite books: Eleanor Oliphant and Needlemouse. She is the oddball, the outcast, the butt of the joke and seems to be a very lonely person.
When we first meet her, she is grieving the death of her mother who she had looked after since giving up her job. She is prone to panic attacks, drinks too much and even her Aunt Noora despairs she will ever be ‘normal’. However, Breeda’s dull and contented life comes to an end with the accidental uncovering of an old family secret, the father she thought long dead is in fact alive. Armed with this knowledge she sets out to find him, something that Aunt Nora is determined will not happen. Thus, begins a journey that takes Breeda from her home town all the way to Camden Town and back again. Long kept secrets are exposed which threaten everything Breeda has ever known and believed in.
Oliver Sands has written a character worthy of the comparisons made earlier. He has written a tale that is comic, a mystery and also intensely sad. I loved reading Breeda’s journey (both physical and mental). I loved the rich characters he has created. This was a great read and I can highly recommend this book.

This beautiful book follows Breeda as she tries to unravel the mysterious of her life and come to terms with so much that's gone wrong. I really enjoyed this book and I sympathized with Breeda in so many ways as she is very relatable. This book was so endearing and totally unexpected too. I wasnt sure if I would like it after reading the summary but I really did.

This book was gifted to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion. All opinions are mine and mine alone.

“It had recently dawned on Breeda that without her mother to care for her life had lost its meaning. She was rudderless, each featureless day a carbon copy of the one that had gone before. And worse were the nights… it was like she was off kilter with the universe, two steps too far to the left.”

Breeda Looney Steps Forth is the first novel by Irish-born Australian author, Oliver Sands. It’s two years since Breeda Looney gave up her job in Galway to nurse her dying mother back in Donegal. It’s a month since Margaret Looney died. So it’s little wonder Breeda is depressed, and the panic attacks don’t help matters. Nor does her critical Aunt Nora. Who can blame her for indulging in a drink…

Soon after her thirty-seventh birthday, Breeda learns of a new arrival in town, taking her thoughts back to the awful time in her childhood when she inexplicably became pariah to her classmates. Surely after this long, Dervil Sneddon no longer hates her?

Then Breeda accidentally discovers that the father she had believed long-ago drowned did not drown at all, and she has been lied to for twenty-five years. Why? But that certainly isn’t all: more shocking revelations follow, cementing her resolve to track down the father who might still be alive, explain the deception, and assure him of her unfailing love.

Sands populates this perfect depiction of an Irish seaside town with a typical cast of characters although, even if they start out a little stereotypical, they gain plenty of depth by the final pages. Breeda is a rather tragic figure, plagued by Catholic guilt and a sense of obligation that makes her the perfect target for her manipulative aunt, who acts pious while lacking any true charity.

Equally loathsome are the grown woman who holds onto resentment like a teenager, even if she does sort of have an excuse, and the nasty gossiping shopkeeper. Then there is the charming womaniser, the quirky neighbour, the supportive best friend, the sympathetic boss, and the mysterious biker.

The story doesn’t go quite where expected, and because Breeda doesn’t know all the facts (and neither do we), Sands has us fooled quite a few times. This is a tale of grief and guilt, secrets and lies, betrayal and shame. Intriguing, moving and often darkly funny, this is an impressive debut novel.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Books Go Social.

After her mother died Breed Looney has no one to call family except her controlling, manipulative and demanding Aunt Nora. She still believes everything will be fine. But Breeda keeps discovering new lows in her life, until she can't take it anymore.

But a shocking discovery gives her new hope, new mission in her life. Her father, said to have died when Breeda was a child, might actually still be alive.

Breeda's search for her father will open all the can of worms of her past. She will go against the only family she have, Aunt Nora. And this past will shatter everything that Breeda once believe in. Breeda will begin to wonder is it even worth it?

Review-

First of all I would advice you to not compare this to Eleanor Oliphant while reading this. I know there is a great amount of similarity between both the books but still comparison will dull the intensity of this book.

I love the writing, characterization, plot and the set up of the book. The town is also as much as a part of this book as its characters and it gives us a wholesome feel and connects even more to the readers.

This book just gets sadder, sadder and more sadder. You feel really sorry for Breeda but at the same time empathize with her decision and her situation. You want to help her badly but the more important part is Breeda should help herself.

This feel so close to reality. Breeda doesn't exactly understand what is happening to her and she is chasing a new way of happiness and ignoring a harsh reality which is exactly right in front of her.

Don't judge the characters in the beginning because each character has their own secrets and their own reason to act in certain way. The most shocking has to be Aunt Nora. Though I understand some of her actions but I couldn't justify some harsh things she did to Breeda. Oona is the perfect best friend we all want in our life

The only problem was with the architecture of the house in some important scenes. Like there are one or two scenes where architecture of the house plays an important part in terms of characters position. But I felt it was messy and confusing.

The most important part about the ending is accepting you have a problem and you want to get a solution for it. Breeda will help you and connect with you in so many ways and at the end she will give you courage and inspire you to accept yourself as it is.

I was hoping to like this a little more than I did. I found Breeda to be rather dim and unrelatable. I was expecting quirky but she was really flat. People weren't nice to her but it was hard to feel bad for her because she seemed like a cartoon outline.

After her mother's death &a suicide attempt directionless Breeda decides to finally clear out her mum's house. From there Breeda finds a thread which unravels her entire family. I felt for Breeda. I could all too well identify with her. I was sensitive to her plight. For a debut novel this was an excellent read and had me hooked throughout. I liked the twists and turns, the characters. I switched off completely and got into this book and the ending was satisfactory.

My one issue was Breeda's surname Looney. I don't like the word looney, I think it's a cruel word and what with some of the topics in the book - felt tactless but I understand the word has other origins and this book is based in Ireland, with Irish characters.

I would recommend this book and I will definitely be reading it again.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I didn't find the story or characters engaging or relatable. It is a shame because I had high hopes.

This was the story of Breeda Looney, a young woman whose life is not quite what she wants it to be. Her mother died, her boyfriend recently called off their relationship, she has an overbearing, controlling aunt, and to top it all off she keeps blacking out which fuels the town rumour mill that she is the village drunk.

They do say that things have to get worse before they get better, and that is very much the case when Breeda discovers some hidden truths about her past which send her on a journey from Donegal to Camden Town.

This book was a great read, dark and realistic where the characters were complex and believable. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Would recommend it for sure.

That was a curious experience. I've never read a book settled at Ireland before and I guess I'm not used to the language. But I could enjoy a lot the narrative. I love the author's prose, the voice is quite good to read. But I couldn't warm up to Breeda and her story.
I was mostly frustrated all the time. Everytime I expected a great turn, it just didn't happened. And it was a little tiring to see her being badly treated by almost everyone. Not even her friends were that great.
<spoiler> At the end, it was unsettling that the only person who was good to her had to go away just because he wanted what it was due. And how she just took her aunt's side so easily. I don't know, it didn't seem realistic, she spent all her life being mistreated to just be okay suddenly because "she understand". Being a complete bitch to someone who did nothing wrong to you all their lives is a little too big a pill to swallow. And that seems to be a theme in this book. </spoiler>

The story is of Breeda who has spent the last few months caring for her dying mother and then grieving for the loss. She is adrift, and this is a sort of coming of age story for Breeda because she may finally be able to shake off the weight on her heart. 

The setting is based in a close-knit community in Ireland. This means that both the good and the bad are common knowledge amongst the general public. The villain of the piece, for the most part, was Breeda's aunt. She holds herself to the strictest of standards, making her a caricature of a righteous older woman. During many parts of the story, I felt like there was something off about the picturization and only at the end did I register that it was written by a man(I genuinely did not pay attention to that fact when picking it up). This fact made my discomfort, with some parts of the story, make sense. It did feel like someone outside of Breeda narrating it all, despite us having access to her thoughts. 

I think the story has potential, and if the reader is not as finicky as me with regards to the turns stories take, they will be able to enjoy this more than I did. Until the halfway point, I still was involved and even liked the last chapter or so, but the big climactic scenes did not sit well with me. There are some interesting dynamic interactions that I think can be dissected by reading groups, but overall it was not a book for me.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed Breeda Looney Steps Forth. It was reminiscent of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, another book I loved. Breeda is grieving the loss of her mother, seeing her suffer from embarrassing panic attacks. While cleaning out her mother's effects, Breeda discovers her father may not have died as she had been led to believe.
First impressions lead you to believe Breeda is simple and has been sheltered much of her life, however the character develops nicely through the book and by the end you realise she is much stronger than originally thought.
Aunt Nora is another character who I originally found rather irritating, however by the end her story is nicely with Breeda's and I found her witty and likeable.

A great book! I thought that it started off a little slow but once it gets going it really sucks you in, I stayed up late just so I could finish it. I really enjoyed the characters in this one, I found myself really getting attached to them and at the end I was sad that I wouldn't be able to read about them anymore. Breeda, Oona, and Aiden were my favorites, I wish Aiden was in the book more but I understand why he wasn't. I also like how the family relationships were handled well without being over the top and unrealistic, at times this book made me very sad. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in family dynamics and great characters.

This is one of those books that I didn't know whether I would enjoy it or not when I picked it up. However, this is a fun and quirky read, which is just what I need right now as I am sitting home wondering when I will be back to work. It was nice to have a book that was so unique to delve into.

I was looking for a book set in Ireland for a reading prompt, and when I saw this available decided to give it a go. It was fine - a quick, one sitting read. And I found myself caught up in what the possible family drama could be, but then felt kind of let down by the end. I really wanted to know what happened the priest as well, as those flash backs seemed odd to include if they weren’t really relevant...unless my brain just failed to connect the dots. This wasn’t a new favorite book for me, but I definitely see the likeness to Eleanor Oliphant, and if you liked that, I would recommend this.

I feel like this book is a sort of mix between Eleanor Oliphant and Keeping Up Appearances. Breeda is a sweet woman struggling with her mental health, as so many are today. She is genuine and relatable. Her aunt Nora is concerned with what people think and will do anything to keep things nice and tidy. The Irish setting is a dream, there's something extra special about books set in faraway places. This novel is very enjoyable, it's a great read for fans of the physiological fiction.

This book is about Breeda Looney who is stuck. She was raised by an overbearing aunt who continues to try to manage her life as Breeda yearns to find her own way in the world. Breeda uncovers major family secrets but all is not what it seems to be. Perhaps some secrets are best left alone?

I had different expectations for the book and I think because it's not being marketed appropriately. It is not a book a la "Where did you go Bernadette" or "Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine" as positioned. It's definitely not light hearted and superficial - it has a bit more depth. The marketing should be re-evaluated.