I was excited to listen to this family saga featuring a big Irish family. Many of my friends are large Irish-American clans. We Are the Brennans started off strong and drew me into the drama. My problem with the book is that I could not connect with any of the characters. The storyline seemed to drag in the middle. It was well-written but not for me.

We Are the Brennans takes a deep dive into a flawed Irish family harboring old secrets that resurface in the most surprising of ways.

When Sunday Brennan returns to her family home in New York following a drunken car accident, her family and ex-fiancé are shocked, but thrilled. Gone for five years, Sunday had packed up and moved to California rather abruptly, without concrete answers and leaving her family reeling. Recently returned, Sunday begins physically healing while helping her brother and ex-fiancé with the accounting for their family pub, which is on the brink of financial ruin. As the story develops, we realize just how closely the characters are interwoven and how the aftershock of some mistakes can be felt even decades later.

The author gives us a glimpse into each character’s perspective, allowing the reader to better understand the intricacies between family members, friends, and romantic partners. While each character is deeply flawed, this story also shows the lengths the characters will go to to protect their family as their secrets begin to bubble over.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Solid story of a large Irish catholic family and their poor decisions. Sunday, the only daughter and estranged from everyone, comes home to heal after a drunk driving accident. The family has to come to grips with the reason Sunday moved away and their current financial issues.

Each chapter is told from different characters points of view. Well written but a bit too much victim blaming.

Excellent narration.

I really enjoyed this story! The book is very well written. I enjoyed how the story is told from several different points of view.

A saga of a novel reflective of the Irish families and the protectiveness they feel within the roots of the family. After 29 year old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital following the crash of her car into a barricade she is forced to return home to her family in NY. She needs them, but until she returns home, she doesn’t realize that they need her too, with the family’s Irish Pub on the brink of Financial ruin. Sunday left suddenly for Los Angeles five years ago without any explanation to anyone—not her family or her long-time boyfriend—so her return stirs up a lot of questions and emotions. And as she settles back into her family, she realizes that they’re struggling just as badly as she has been all these years, and it's not too long before she falls into the all-too-familiar role of caretaker. But she really doesn't seem to mind. A lack of communication and some questionable decision making are front and center throughout this book, told from multiple POVs. That said, the deep bonds of the Brennan family are also evident and despite not agreeing with some of their choices, I was rooting for most of the characters by the end of the story.

The book flips back and forth from current to past to reveal the entire story as we as the protectiveness of the family.. I enjoyed the book and would rate it at about 3.5 rounding up to 4. The book is a bit sow at times and as it is a good story it does lack a bit of pizazz. I enjoyed it and would look for another book from this author as it is the first book from them and is a wonderful accomplishment.

Thank you to the author., Netgalley and the publisher for ARC for review.

Than you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

First of all, I thoroughly enjoyed the narration of this narrator, Barrie Kreinik. Considering that this book is told from varying points of view of several of the characters, she did an excellent job of portraying the emotions and characteristics of the family members. She was able to really bring the characters alive. She did a great job with the Irish accent. I plan to look up other books she has narrated.

This is a great family saga that I found very engaging and looked forward each day to listen to. Although the characters were flawed, they were very realistic. The family dynamic seemed very true to an Irish family. The story flowed easily between past and present, filling in the gaps of things that happened in the past to make the characters who they are. This is the author's debut novel and I look forward to following her career in the future.

Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital after a drunk driving accident. Her older brother Denny is her emergency contact and he is on his way from New York. He manages to convince her to come back to New York to recover, despite Sunday not having been home since she left 5 years ago. Surrounded by her 3 brothers, her father, and her ex-boyfriend, Sunday tries to figure out how to rebuild her life, while also understanding the problems and dynamics of her family since she's been gone.

This is told in the alternate POVs of the various Brennans and Sunday's ex Kale, most times picking up right where the previous chapter ended, which I really liked. The Brennans face outside forces, but their family bonds are still tight, even when they are at odds with each other. I liked this family - except for the dead mother OMG! - and how they interacted with each other were realistic.

Narrator Barrie Kreinik was especially easy to listen to and while I'm certainly no expert, I thought her Irish accent (especially for Belfast Billy) was well done. The pacing was perfect.

Available August 3, 2021.

I received this audiobook from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange is full of family drama. The book begins with Sunny Brennan being involved in a drunk driving crash. She ends up in the hospital and wakes with her brother Denny at her bedside. Sunny moves back home to the east coast with Denny to put her life back together. Her family is struggling to keep their Irish Pub out of deep financial problems. Sunny also faces her high school sweetheart Kale and works to repair that relationship since she left. This family is full of flaws but is refreshing because it represents a genuine family experience.

Overall this was an enjoyable book. I would recommend it. All the chapters flow together seamlessly, and the reader gets to observe the events of the book through different characters, which is interesting.

Thank you, Macmillan Audio, for this complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. I still am not a fan of NetGalley's audio quality for audiobooks.

Seeing this referenced as being similar to Ask Again, Yes should have been a red flag for me. I wasn't a fan of that one (it was just slow). But I wanted to give family dramas another shot. I got about 1/3 of the way through and realized I wasn't in it. I didn't care what was happening or what would happen. I should have known.

I received a copy of the audiobook from NetGalley - as far as the audio, it’s fantastic. The narrator is fantastic and does well with different voices for the different characters. If an audiobook doesn’t have a full cast, a narrator capable of voices is amazing - especially for a book like this that has different characters narrating different chapters.

As for the story, I come from a large Irish Catholic Family myself and this book resonates with that so much. Family first, hide everything that isn’t positive, food, beer, church weddings - it’s sort of nostalgic.

The story starts when Sunday Brennan gets into a car accident in California and her brother in New York is notified as her emergency contact. He convinces her to return home with him, at least until she heals from her accident. When they get home, everything she missed hits her in the face and old feelings resurface.

This is a story about family. The things that’ll tear you apart if you let it. Things that build a family - blood or not. Things that make a family stronger.

I loved this book. It was fantastic. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I listened to the audiobook of We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange. It was narrated by Barrie Kreinik who I have had the pleasure of listening to several times before. Her narration was brilliant once again. Tracey Lange’s talent shone bright in her debut book. Having shared the fact that she had grown up in a large Irish family herself with plenty of their own secrets, her debut novel borrowed from her experiences and produced a book that was both captivating and believable. It was most definitely character driven but had a complex plot that held my attention from the very beginning until the very end.

Sunday Brennan grew up in a town in Westchester County in New York. Her family were Irish Catholics and proud of their heritage. Sunday lived in a big home with her mother and father, older brothers Denny and Jackie and her youngest brother, Shaun, who was intellectually challenged. Her father’s construction company allowed her family to lead a very comfortable life. Sunday was the only daughter and as she got older her mother made sure that Sunday knew right from wrong and never made others question her choices. Appearances and good reputations were very important to her mother. When Sunday was in high school, she began dating her brother Denny’s best friend, Kale. Kale had practically grown up in the Brennan house. As Sunday and Kale matured, there was no denying that they were meant to be with each other. They slowly accepted their fate and fell deeply in love with each other but were determined to keep it a secret for the time being. Around this time, the Brennans family and Kale were planning a trip to Ireland. Sunday was excited about it and Kale was too but Sunday’s mother prevented Sunday from going. Her mother had recently been diagnosed with cancer and claimed she needed Sunday to stay home and help her get to her appointments and take care of her. After the family and Kale had left, Sunday started to feel lonely and resentful. One night she went to a pub with her cousin and made some very bad decisions. That night and the decisions she made changed Sunday’s life in ways she could never had expected. That harrowing night led Sunday to leave the people she loved with no plausible explanation and resettle in California.

Five years later, Sunday, now twenty-nine years old, found herself in a hospital room with bruises, a broken arm and injuries from a car accident. Driving while intoxicated, Sunday had crashed into a barricade and with little memory of what had happened woke up in a hospital room as she stared into her oldest brother Denny’s eyes. Somehow, with much coaxing, Denny was able to persuade Sunday to return home with him to New York. Sunday had not been home since her mother’s funeral. To Sunday’s relief, everyone welcomed her home with open and loving arms. Lots had changed though since Sunday had left all those years before. Denny and Kale had remained best friends and but were now business partners getting ready to open a second pub in Mamaroneck. Denny was harboring lots of secrets himself about the financial status of the new pub. A burst pipe had compromised the structure of the new pub and instead of communicating with Kale, his wife or anyone else, Denny assumed responsibility for fixing it single handedly. With no else’s knowledge, Denny secretively found a solution for getting the extra cash they needed to fix the pub’s structure and get it ready for the big opening It proved to be a very unconventional and dangerous way that would end up putting Denny’s and Kale’s friendship in jeopardy as well as Denny’s marriage. Kale was now married and had a young son. That was probably the hardest thing for Sunday to swallow and see. Then a man from Sunday’s past reappeared and threatened her family’s business with financial ruin. Could Sunday just sit by and let that happen or could she muster up all her courage and strength and confess to the secrets that she had harbored for all the years since she had disappeared years ago? Could she save her family from ruination and mend old wounds at the same time?

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange was about an Irish Catholic family that was torn apart by secrets. It was told from the POV of the many diverse characters. The plot captured me and the characters kept me engaged. It was about family, secrets, trust, shame, appearances, second chances and healing. I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook and recommend it very highly. I rated this book with 4.5 very strong stars that I rounded up to 5. If you enjoy family dramas with a bit of romance thrown in, then I think you will enjoy reading or listening to We Are the Brennans. I can’t wait to see what Tracey Lange writes next.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio through Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

4.5 - A well written story following a family of Irish-American pub owners as they make mistakes, screw up, but ultimate find, and support eachother.

Not at all what I expected of this highly anticipated release, but in a great way! Lange has a unique way of writing scenes from multiple perspectives, and then coloring it in with character backstoey that really makes you feel what each person is going thru, and what has led them to the decisions they make.

Very solid read!

Thank you to Celadon Books and MacMillan Audio for an ARC and ALC of We Are the Brennans.

The Brennans are an Irish Catholic family and each member has their own secret. While trying to protect each other, those secrets begin to come to the surface, even those buried many years ago. Can the truth bring them closer together and save what they have all worked so hard for?

Told from multiple POV’s, this debut novel is wonderfully done. Tracey Lange seamlessly weaves the story together, which could get very tricky with the amount of POV’s presented. The audiobook was well done, also. I loved the Irish accent given to some characters.

Sunday Brennan crashes her car into a barrier after drinking too much at a birthday party for a coworker she barely even knows., It isn't like Sunday to decide to drive after drinking,. But Sunday has made quite a few decisions that are not like her in the last 5 years. It was then that she abruptly left her dysfunctional but close Irish Catholic family in New York to head out to Los Angeles for a writing job, She also left her longtime boyfriend, Kale. He never saw it coming, .
Sunday returns to New York to recover and to help out the financially struggling family pub which is co-owned by Kale. They are trying to open a second location, but everything seems to be going wrong and the financial hole seems to be bottomless. Sunday's brother, Denny keeps telling the family that he has things under control and it will be all right.. They don't know who he is getting his money from and Denny does not know why this is the last person he should have accepted money from. The secrets the family has kept from one another were meant to prevent any harm. Now these very secrets are bringing destruction to the Brennans..
Tracey Lange looks at familial bonds - parent/child, sibling/sibling. - and how they make us who we are, even if that is not the person we want to be, The ending was a little too quickly resolved, in my opinion, but I did enjoy the story. THe narrator did a lovely job conveying the feelings and characters of the story, My thanks to NetGalley for the ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review

This book had been on my wish list for some time and I was excited to receive an advanced copy of the Audio version narrated by Barrie Kreinik. I finished the book in less than 48 hours and am now sad to leave the Brennans behind. My favourite book of the year thus far. Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen and review an advanced copy.

Secrets and more secrets. A traditional Irish family that has found themselves back together again. The narrator does a great job revealing these secrets. Great read.

Overall Impression: I was going to wait to post a review until can process it more, but I couldn’t wait. I loved this book so much! I had been in a reading slump where everything was good but not great, and this one was better than great! 🙌🏻

We Are The Brennans follows the Brennan family (duh) after Sunday gets in a drunken car crash in LA and decides to come back home to New York to be with her Irish family 5 years after suddenly leaving both them and fiancé Kale.

(I’d say more, but I don’t want to give anything away, it’s best to read this one without expectations. DM me for TWs if needed.)

It’s told in alternating points of view in a way that pulls you deep into the story. I about threw the book across the room in solidarity with the brothers’ and Kale’s anger and cried with Sunday throughout her journey. Ok, so I might have always cried with/for Kale and Denny and Jackie too. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I am astonished that this is a debut novel for Tracey and can’t wait to read more from her. Honestly my only complaint is that it was too short and I want more. I could literally keep talking about this book, but insta said it was already too long 😂🤦🏻‍♀️.

I started this one on audio thanks to a free advanced copy from @netgalley (in exchange for an unbiased review) and went back and forth between audio and hardback for a while. By the last 80 pages, though, I was too sucked in and had to pick up the book to finish it off. I highly recommend the audio though. I maybe preferred to read this one, but I think that @barriebarriepix did a wonderful job of narrating the different characters and brought a realness to their stories.

Just like all families the Brennans aren’t perfect, but they do love each other in their own way. Tracey Lange is an amazing storyteller, weaving the lives of a big Irish family, lost young love, and a bit of twist at the very end. I listened to the audiobook and usually listen to audio books only when I'm doing something active like exercising, but this audiobook had me up until the middle of the night. I couldn't wait to find out how it ended. The narrator was great. A really good heartfelt story about the power of family.

This was a fantastic family centered novel. It was short but didn't lack any detail. And I loved the author's writing style. For sure a 5 star read for me.

We are the Brennans is a fantastic epic family drama with great flawed characters and theatrics throughout the story! Everyone in the Brennan family has secrets, from Sunday, who left her family restaurant in New York to become a writer in Los Angeles, to her ex-fiancé who is now married and has an adorable young son. Her father moved suddenly to the US from Ireland decades ago, and her 3 brothers have their own challenges. I was intrigued from the first chapter when Sunday crashed her car in what seemed like a series of accidental bad decisions, wound up in hospital, lost her license, and then returned home to recover with her family. The push and pull of family tensions throughout the story kept things interesting and I was touched by how they always stuck up for each other. Barrie Kreinik is a fantastic narrator and this was such a fascinating story to listen to, I didn't want it to end!