We are Family focuses on two sisters, Laura and Jess, dealing with the death of their critical mother. Although sisters, Jess and Laura appear to be very different and not close at all. It took me a while to get into the book as I found Laura to be a challenging, and at times unlikeable, character. However, Laura grew and developed over the course of the book, which I quite enjoyed. The novel covers a lot of heavy topics (death, cheating, bullying) while maintaining humor and lightness.

Overall, a solid read (closer to 3.5 stars rounded up). Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. Apologies for the delayed post!

My thoughts




Narrative and Plot


We Are Family is told mainly from Laura's perspective. Laura is the younger sister, who is more casual when it comes to her approach about life. Laura has a witty voice which comes through and brings a smile many a different times. And the story needed those chuckles now and then given the topics it dealt with. Laura made it palpable with her charming storytelling voice.

The plot is mainly family oriented. The one and main issue that I had with the book is it is uncharacteristically long. Normally, women's fiction books are somewhere between 300-400 pages. This one is around 500 pages. I did notice that before starting the book. Honestly, it did feel like a long book after the first half.




Characters and Conflicts



Laura and Jess might be polar opposites on the outside but their heart is in the same place and that is love and care for their sibling. Sibling rivalry is often not so black and white. Particularly if they're steered by parental influence. This is not an uncommon story. Laura and Jess are relatable sisters on that regard. The animosity is not something that explicitly estranged them. It is a gradually developed distance that grew with time. Those are the most dangerous ones because you never feel the need to mend it.

How Jess and Laura work to get over that invisible wall is the main conflict of the story. Laura herself has a remarkable character arc throughout the story. The book talks a lot about anxiety, mental health and getting over grief. I read a similar themed book a few weeks back and it is surprising to see how both these books tackled these issues. While the other one was a bit more serious, here you get to see the subtle hints from the beginning of the story itself. It is by the end of the second half that the book completely embraces the coping strategies for an individual. The final act of the book seemed unwanted and only served to make the book longer.

Laura and Jess's mother has been a passive presence throughout the story. Billy is a breath of fresh air even at times when the situation looks grave.





Conclusion






In short, We Are Family is a one time read which explores familial relationships and how it shapes our own personalities. This is definitely not a quick read. So pick it, if you have plenty of time to read about family drama and dealing with trauma.

qotd: Do you have siblings?
aotd: I have two elder sisters!

We Are Family by Nicola Gill

This is a story of two sisters, Jess and Laura, who are completely opposites of each other. Jess is a perfect Instagram influencer, her home is super clean, her children are well mannered and her life is basically perfect. Laura, on the other hand, is a full time journalist; her house is always messy, her live in boyfriend is less than perfect and she has a five year old boy who likes to create mess! However, the death of their mum brings the two sisters together and how they try to open up to each other and develop their broken relationship is what the story is about.

The book discusses the impact of death of parents on children and how people have different ways of dealing with grief (no right or wrong way really). It also deals with the social media pressures and how perfect life on social media can be a farce. These issues are very relevant and they were dealt with the sensitivity they deserve.

It was an interesting read however Laura (whose POV was used throughout the book) was too whiny at times and acted like a child which wasn't great. Regardless, there were some funny moments and Laura's sarcasm was at point most times making me chuckle ! I also enjoyed the overall writing but I wanted more from Jess!

Growing up, Jess was always favoured by her mum (who had no filter and no realms about insulting people!) and Laura always questioned it, however this issue wasn't wrapped up in the book properly and a few family secrets remained unanswered.

I would give it 3 stars out of 5.

Thank you @netgalley and @avonbooksuk for an ARC for this book in exchange of honest opinion.

A delightful story about two sisters and their lives it follows them and their relationship with each other as they deal with grief, love, breast cancer, bullying and life.
The story gets better and better as it progresses. The more you read, the more you want to read.
I would recommend this book.

I want to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity in reading this novel. A story of two sisters, Laura and Jess, where I can relate to sibling compariosns with rivalry,
Laura, the imperfect sister who feels her older sister Jess is always too perfect and always on time,even for their dying mother's last second Hospice moment.
Laura feels like an orphan now, their dad had passed years before. Jess is a social media influenster in WhatsUpp app .
Laura, a magazine journailist fopr Natter Magazine. She is sorta the Dear Abby role too and living with her husband Jon and four yr old Billy. Jon is counting and spending his eggs in a basket before theyre even hatched,assuming his mother in law's inheritance will be and should be divided up in half between the two sisters.
Laura cant even try to compete to rise above her sister. Yet an incident proves even the imperfections of a sibling can be the strongest to help the overacheiver.
With my own life experiences as a sibling , the ones who look like the family icon acheivers, are trully breaking deep down but won't admit to it. Jess has also always been mom's favorite daughter. But Laura was dad's favorite. I sure know about sibling parent favorites,I could relate and the author explained the ups and downs of this.

Jess is holding a family secret . Will this pull them or break them apart.
I started this novel at 6pm and finished it at 11pm...I couldnt put it down!! The humor and greif they go through kept me wanting to find out what would happen next. Their mom's life is still alive throughout the book because of the timelines the author puts in and thats what I love about a book, to get a glimpse why the present chapter is happening.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 Stars!

We Are Family is an emotional tale of Jess and Laura dealing with their mother's death, their own lives, and most importantly their relationship with each other. The characters feel real, the good, the bad, and the very ugly are all tangled in this story. Gill really captures how difficult and complex family relationships can be. As much as they love each other, Laura works on setting the appropriate boundaries with Jess and Jess begins to let Laura into her (not-so) perfect life. This is definitely a story to read with some tissues.

This is a book I got through Netgalley and gives us Laura’s viewpoint as she tries to negotiate her way through grief, sibling rivalry and a relationship that doesn’t seem to be working anymore.

Laura has a fairly relaxed attitude to things from means that her life has become something she doesn’t really recognise. Having lived with constant put downs and rejection from her mother Laura tries to deal with her grief towards her mum and their fractured relationship whilst trying to keep things together.

Add to this a sister who seems to have the perfect life, perfect children and perfect relationship and it just makes Laura feel even more of a failure. But as we all know, what you see isn’t always the reality.

Over time cracks begin to show in Jess’s perfect life and Laura starts to find her confidence again. Both pushing themselves in ways they never thought, their relationship changes and becomes more honest and true. There is clear affection between the sisters once they realise that they are both different, both have their flaws and neither should be compared to the other.

As they pick their way through memories of the past Laura finds her truth and is able to look to the future with positivity, strength and confidence.

On the whole I really enjoyed this story and found Laura a likable character, as is Jess once we get to see the real her. As for the mother, she really is a piece of work and I found it hard to feel anything but dislike for her and the way she treated Laura.

The one thing that stopped me from giving this 5 stars is that the ending all seemed to happen in a bit of a rush. It had taken a lot of getting to know the characters, that I felt there were a number of questions I was left with at the end of it. Personally I like my books to have a nice neat and tidy ending with little interpretation for what the future will be, but that is just me.

I was given the opportunity to read this book through netgalley thanks to the author and publishers.
I read the description of this book and instantly felt drawn to it. I'm sure lots of other people also felt that it was very similar to relationships in their lives too. It felt the characters and life stories were very believable and realistic. I found myself feeling very sorry and agreeing with Laura whilst at the same time thinking that her sister jess may also have felt similar in their past too. Relatable enjoyable from start to finish.

The equation of the sisters is very realistic and is not melodramatic thankfully because sisters in homes don't have such extreme feelings towards each other. What couldn't keep me engaged was the sudden change in the mood of the writing and the slow narrative and even if slow did not engage me much because the past and present were very contradicting in the nature of the writing of the characters. This book could have been much better. The skeltons in the closet kept me invested but I think I was looking for more in the story of sisters.

The book was okay. Nothing fantastic. A light read that dragged on for way too long in my opinion. It didn't stand out in any way.

I adored this book! This story follows two sisters, Jessica & Laura, and after a difficult loss, you see them come together. Every day family life, issues, relationships are tied to this wonderful book. I can totally relate to this book as having lost my sister and my mom, but this book still had me laughing at times! Such an easy read! Thank you Netgalley for a change to read this book for an honest review!

This is the first book I have read by the author Nicola Gill, although I have heard good things about her previous work ‘The Neighbours’ which I will definitely consider reading in the future. I was very interested in the premise of We are Family after reading the books description, although I will say that I was slightly disappointed to find upon reading that this story is only told in the point of view from one of the sisters (Laura) and not both- I think it would have been very interesting to see both sides of the story, as this would have helped to build a connection with both characters and get a full overview of the relationship as it starts to build stronger.

With this story being about the relationship between the two sisters, it’s not too surprising that it is very character driven rather than being plot driven. There is a lot of character development throughout the book for both sisters, and I really did find myself warming to both of them towards the end of the book- they both have their own flaws which make them quite unlikeable at the start, so it was nice to end it with positive feelings towards them both. Whilst I can obviously appreciate a character-driven story, I felt that this one was really quite lacking in the plot department, although definitely not through lack of trying. There was almost too many plot points and attempts at ‘shock twists’ or ‘big reveals’, there was endless drama throughout the story, although nothing ever really got a satisfying resolution (for example this story briefly touches upon; anxiety and depression, break-ups, affairs, bullying, cancer scares and miscarriage. This feels like quite a lot given it’s not a particularly long book).

I thought that We are Family was a really good exploration of grief and how it affects people differently, and I enjoyed the dynamic between the two sisters and the efforts to heal their relationship. However, I did find myself thinking it all felt a little long and dragged out at times, so with all things considered I have decided to give this book a rating of 3/5 stars.

this is such a fun and funny read! i'm so glad i got to read it. i lvoed the characters and it was amazing. please read this as soon as you can!!

I struggled with this one, as I found myself having trouble connecting with either of the sisters. If I can't connect with/root for the main character(s) in some way, then it becomes hard to enjoy a book.

Apologies for the late review.

A great debut novel. If you've brothers and/or sisters, you're sure to emphasise with Laura and Jess. You'll smile and cring at the same time as you laugh ouut loud. Very well recommended!

My thanks to Netgalley and Avon for the reading copy.

You know what? I wanted to DNF this book so bad because Laura is such a bitch and always bitter! I really really really hate her. I can't stand her attitude!! I know her mom favour Jess, her older sister more than her. But the way she treat her sister and defending her loser boyfriend, Jon goshhh I'm pissed off!! Whenever Jess tried to help her or said something she jump to conclusions and felt insecure.
There are a few twists and the ending was meh~

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!

*tw death of a parent, cancer*

I much preferred this book to Nicola Gills previous one, The Neighbours and feel it had the right mix of joy and sadness? Also it felt a lot like "real life" with things going wrong and not always instantly being fixed which I liked a lot and is often missing from books?

This book follows two sisters who are very different yet similar. Laura is laid back, lives in a flat with her partner and their little boy and doesn't worry too much if he doesn't have two veg along with his dinner. Jess on the other hand is a classic over achiever with her seemingly perfect marriage, house and two children.

When their mother dies the two sisters are left only with each other, their dad having died in an accident years ago, and so they try to work together to get through their grief. As expected they are unable to agree on anything and Laura feels like she is constantly chasing her tail trying to meet her sisters standards but as the book goes on we see Laura start to believe in her self and these changes have a big impact on a lot of things in her life.

Without giving any spoilers away I kind of worked out what was going to happen to some degree but that didn't make the book any less enjoyable, the sub plots that were happening around the main story also added to my want to keep reading!

As I said this book had the right mix to be almost like real life and the characters themselves were believable and likeable (or not in some cases!)

An enjoyable family drama. Really good exploration of the relationship between sisters, especially with a difficult mother. The writing flowed seamlessly and the characters were very well developed.

This was an interesting and absorbing story. It depicts the interactions of families and how it affects the future lives of the children. Some very normal characters that interact to bring the story to a realistic life. Very comprehensive and positive conclusion.

I loved this book and could not put it down. I laughed and cried in equal measure. I loved how they dealt with the topic of grief. Fantastic.