Dysfunctional family dynamics are always a sort of catnip for me. However when it is the juxtaposition between two sisters, I am automatically pulled into the text. The contrast between Laura and Jess's lives create depth to the plot that make it impossible to put the book down. While the first quarter of the book is harder to get through because the two sisters and their differences are completely overwhelming and mildly annoying; the rest of the book pulls through albeit a very hasty ending. 

All in all despite the sisterly conflict and the depressing death theme, the book was enjoyable and easy enough to read for a couple of bittersweet and cathartic moments.

I really enjoyed this book and found myself relating to the main character, Laura.

Laura and her sister Jess are total opposites and their relationship isn’t an easy one consisting of assumptions, judgement and accusations.  No ones life is like they portray it to be and behind closed doors is a web of lies, betrayal, secrets and ill health.

A very abrupt ending though - not sure if I was missing a few pages on my kindle?!

I received this Advance Review Copy from Netgalley  in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Netgalley!

I finished this book ages ago but completely forgot to write a review. 

I finished this book in one sitting. Such an amazing and beautiful story about 2 sisters and I keep loving this till the end. But the twist in the end, I couldn't imagine. Blood doesn't always make a family and we all know it.
loved the writing style and story line , looking forward to more books by this author.

This book deals fantastically with grief and the loss of a parent. It's done with a lot of compassion, and you really do symapthise with both Laura and Jess.

However, for me the book was not without faults. I felt it much too long - there are over 100 chapters here, some of which could easily have been grouped together.

Laura's constant negativity was tiresome, and I would have loved to have a split narrative featuring both sisters.

We Are Family by Nicola Gill is a story of how a family comes together is the wake of grief and tragedy. It's a story of sisters who are opposites but who come to rely on each other. Overall, the content of the book is darker than I thought it would be. It's not a criticism per se, but the writing also carries that density at times. Overall, however, it's an engaging meditation on sisterhood. 

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Wow, what a joy this book was to read!. It combined the perfect levels of humour an romance to make it an absolute page turner that I simply couldn't put down. The writers way with words is extraordinary and brought the story to life, I absolutely loved it!.

Unfortunately DNF at around 40% - it was full of lots of hard hitting content, but eventually I got a little bored of the storyline, and so couldn't finish it.

We are Family follows two sisters - who couldn't be more different - in the aftermath after their mother's death from cancer. Laura is struggling to keep it together with her deadbeat boyfriend, father to her young son, while Jess is a social media influencer who always has it together and does no wrong.

Laura felt like the odd one out of her family, compared to perfect sister Jess, her entire life - and especially after her dear father passed away in childhood. As she and Jess come together due to their mother's passing, we see how they change, where they get stronger, and where things are not always as they seem.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you have ever had children, a tricky sibling relationship or a nightmare parent, this is a book that will give you great pleasure and in which you will find many moments of recognition. You will also laugh - a lot. Two sisters, Laura and Jess, are navigating a historically tricky sibling relationship whilst dealing with the death of their remaining parent, a glamorous but self-involved mother. Laura (our main protagonist) has a stressful job, a school age infant and a “man-boy” partner. Her life is messy and chaotic. Older sister Jess is comfortably married with two well-behaved Older kids and is on to her second successful career. She’s hyper organised and just a bit bossy. The book takes us on a journey through the ebbs and flows in their relationship as they negotiate the emotional fallout from their mother’s death and tackle job, parenting and partnering challenges. The book is written as a series of vignettes: some in the past, most in the present. Many will provoke smiles of recognition; some will make you wince and plenty will make you laugh out loud. If you have ever negotiated the horror of the “whole class” infant’ party, battled the school playground (parental) pecking order,
or wondered whether your partner will ever get off his/her arse and finally put the bins out: this is a book for you. It’s a relationship drama and the honesty, pain and humour in the relationships, and the skill with which they are depicted, are what drives the book along. There is a narrative path and the odd twist, but you are not reading this book primarily for the plot. Both sisters can be admirable and irritating - they are rounded characters and I found my sympathies switching between them as the story unfolded. You will be in the corner of Laura, but equally want to thump her at points. I bet many of us have had a friend like Amy (a Mum friend and colleague of Laura’s who is one of life’s cheerful ‘takers’) and you may find yourself willing Laura to hurry up and develop a bit of backbone around that relationship! The final stages of the book are warmly affirming.

A beautiful story of 2 very different sisters coming together after heir Mum dies.  Great characters and really relatable.  Highly recommended.

This book had me in stitches from the start. Both sisters are relatable and the story is brilliant light reading

an overly-drawn-out and repetitive slice-of-life story without weight.

"we are family" perplexed me; for how long it was, not much happened. ostensibly the story is about an unhappy woman who, over the story, comes into her own and develops a better relationship with her sister. what i read was a story about a sad and self-deprecating woman who whinges about the same things over and over, presumes the same things about the same people, never speaks up for herself until the end of the book, and is otherwise boring to read about. i think this book would have been well-served by a stricter editor and more focus on the major events of the book instead of glossing over them to rush back to the main character's anxiety spirals. 

something could be said about the realistic nature of the story; real life is slow and one's inner thoughts are repetitive, but that doesn't make for an engaging story.

thank you to netgalley and avon books uk for an audio-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Initially I really enjoyed the book. The difficult parent/child dynamic and sibling relationship issues was familiar and relatable. I liked how the story unfolded as it progressed but I can’t help but feel it was rushed at the end. I feel that there were too many unanswered questions and gaps that I wanted to know more about. All in all it was an ok read.

Laura and Jess are sisters, and polar opposites dealing with the recent death of their mother. This is told from Laura's POV who has always resented Jess's place as their mother's favourite daughter and Jess's seemingly perfect life. As the two start to spend more time together and open up they realise they may not be as different as they thought. This is a fun contemporary despite some of the darker topics explored, it was was pretty predictable and hit all the expected beats but still enjoyable. A solid three star fun family drama.

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.