I enjoyed this book about family drama and family dynamics. It was interesting to learn about Sunday’s past and all the family secrets. The character development was captivating and the plot was entertaining.

Sunday Brennan, a twenty-nine year old woman, abandons her friends and family in New York and runs away from her problems to California. Once she wakes up in a hospital after a car accident, her brother convinces her to move back home. Will the demons of her past still haunt her or will she learn how to work through it all with the help of her family?

Coming from a big Irish Catholic family myself (I know I’m American, but Irish because of our last name and, hey, we like to drink), I honestly was a bit hesitant to read this one 😅. But all worries quickly dissipated once I was drawn into the story. I ended up adoring the Brennan family, they all seemed pretty headstrong but so lovable. There were a lot of secrets, lots of drama, and even some thrills towards the end. It’s true what you’ll hear about this one: you’ll miss the characters. And the way Tracey Lange weaved the chapters from one to the next was captivating and fun. Such a great debut from her.

I switched from the book to audiobook throughout and loved the narrator on audio! Sometimes a narrator can do too crazy of man character voices, but this narrator was so good with every character. She even nailed an Irish accent!

Don’t forget to get this one when it comes out on Aug. 3rd. Thank you to @celadonbooks @macmillan.audio for the eARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really drawn to the beautiful cover of this book and was so pleased to find its contents were just as beautiful. This is a story of family, secrets and discovering just how important family really is, particularly when faced with problems. It follows multiple points of view, but ultimately revolves around Sunday Brennan, and an event that happened about 5 years ago. Like all families, there are secrets, misunderstandings, and missed opportunities that eventually must be dealt with in turn. Overall, it was an exemplary story of a family that prove they are there for each other through it all.
The narrator for the audiobook was excellent! She really brought the characters to life.

We Are the Brennan's is a complicated family drama, centering around a large Irish family. The Brennan's are full of devastating secrets & lies, but they are also full of love and loyalty. I wasn't sure what to expect coming into this one, but I did enjoy it. The pace was a bit slow for my liking, but this was an impressive debut novel and really well written. Dysfunctional family? CHECK. I really liked how the story was told in multiple POVs and how we got to know so much about the different members of the family. Each chapter begining starts with the last sentence of the previous chapter, but from a different character which was interesting to see how people viewed the sane situations differently.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me this Audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars for a family drama with very likable characters. I really liked the Brennan family and the lengths they would go for one another but it felt a little down the middle of the road for me. Not sure it’ll stick with me.

Truthfully, I requested this book after seeing it all over bookstagram and felt like I was missing out. I initially had no interest in this book (not really my favorite genre), but I ended up loving it. This book was a bit of everything: mystery, romance, coming of age, and family drama. One thing that stuck out to me was the fact that each chapter started with the last piece of dialogue from the previous chapter (that was so unique to me). While initially it is somewhat hard to keep track of all of the characters, I thoroughly enjoyed the complexities of their relationships.

Finished this guy the other day and really enjoyed it. Have you ever run from something instead of just dealing with it? I think this is something we can all relate to in one way or another. The story in itself was refreshing and I just couldn't stop listening.

Thank you @netgalley for the arc and I absolutely loved this in audio

Loved it! The relationships between the members of this family are real and heartfelt. The twist at the end wasn't entirely unexpected but didn't detract from the way everything was resolved. Highly recommend!

What a deep, emotional story the author has written for us. Sunday Brennan up and walked away from her family five years ago. Now, with her no where else to go she returns home and must face her past. The family who, though they love her is not altogether happy to have her home, Kale, her fiancé who she left with behind with no explanation and is now more a part of her family than she is and all of the mess that goes along with her reappearance. Every person has their own issues to work out with Sunday. It’s an emotional listen (audiobook version) while they’re all trying to reconcile the past, their relationships and heal their messy mostly broken selves. I was drawn in quickly and listened pretty much straight through all the time wanting it all to work out. You’ll thank yourself for gifting yourself this audiobook. The narration is fabulous.

From my blog: Always With a Book

A book about an Irish Catholic family that is full of dysfunction and family drama…sign me up!!! And it’s likened to Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes, a book I loved – I knew I was in for a treat and I could not have loved this one more. This is definitely going to be on my anticipated reads for August, even though I already read it because I want everyone to know about it…it is that good!!!

There is just something about family dramas and secrets that call to me and this one pulled me in right away. I come from a big family and we have our share of drama – what family doesn’t – so I always love seeing how an author tackles it. And this one, which may I just mention is a debut and totally knocked my socks off, gave me all the feels.

This is such an emotional roller coaster that had me loving some characters, and wanting to punch others in the face! I love forming those strong attachments to characters that I felt here with the Brennan clan and loved that there is a sense of suspense throughout as we wait to learn just what happened all those years ago and wonder if it is connected to what is going on now. There is such a sense of family and how if you mess with one, you mess with them all mentality to this book…and again, coming from a large family, I can totally relate to that.

The writing is so engaging and my favorite part is how the last line of each chapter was carried over to be the first line of the next chapter. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this technique before, but I absolutely loved it.

I cannot recommend this book enough! It’s the perfect book for summer reading and I think it would be a great book club pick – I even recommended it to my own!


Audio thoughts: This was so great on audio. Barrie Kreinik did such a fantastic job with the characters, giving each one their own unique voice. Because I was so invested in the story, I ended up listening to it in one day – I just couldn’t put it down!

I love a good family drama!! This books was full of great characters with mysterious backgrounds. It seemed like everyone in the Brennan family had secrets they didn’t want to get out, even to other members of their family. And I liked that each character had their own flaws and demons to face. This was a great book to listen to on audio because you really got the feel of each character on their own. This was a very quick listen (the book is less than 300 pages). I enjoyed reading about this family dynamic and uncovering what everyone was hiding.

This was a beautiful family novel. The dysfunctional family was so easy to fall in love with. They are natural and real flawed human beings and I appreciated that in this story. I enjoyed reading from each of their perspectives and I thought the way the author switched between points of view was unique and well done. The plot was a bit slow for me, but I enjoyed savoring this read. If you’re a fan of family drama books, this is definitely a read for you. The narration was done well in this one.

I loved this smart and interesting family drama. It would make a great movie. I loved the character development and the storyline of Sunny and Kale. A sweet and sour family drama that makes you want to read the book in one sitting. A great summer read.

Thank you to Celadon books for my advanced audiobook.

Review:

I honestly had no idea what in the world this book was about. I love going into books blind, but I usually have some idea. Am I going to swoon in love? Do I need to keep the light on because I’ll be worried of an intruder? Do I need to double check my drink for arsenic? With We Are The Brennans, I had zero clue what to expect or anticipate, and I really enjoyed it.

We Are The Brennans is extremely well written and also, well narrated. Barrie Kreinik is an amazing reader, and if you do audiobooks, I’m sure you’ve heard them before. Between Kreinik’s voice and Lange’s writing, I just felt enraptured by this family and their drama.

I actually had no idea it was ending or coming to a resolution! I looked quickly at my phone and it said 26 minutes left. I thought surely it means I’m only 26% in! It wrapped up very abruptly, but I thought it was really fitting for the book.

Overall, hello wonderful surprise! Go into this blind and enjoy the real and flawed family that is known as The Brennans. It was a very quick audio listen and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you @celdaon and @macmillan for the gifted copy! We Are The Brennans is out August 3rd!

3.5 stars

I'll admit I was skeptical going into this one. Family dramas aren't usually my jam but I'm really glad I decided to take a chance.

After a drunk driving accident, Sunday Brennan returns home to New York to face the family and boyfriend she left 5 years before with no explanation as to why. Naturally, they have many questions for her when she returns. As Sunday tries to rebuild her life, family secrets are uncovered and threaten to upend her life. We Are the Brennans is ultimately a story about family bonds, the trickle effects of keeping secrets, forgiveness, and love.

I listened to this story as an audiobook. While the story has multiple POVs, there was only one narrator which I really enjoyed and never felt lost while listening.

Some parts of the story felt a bit slow but then a secret would be revealed and kept me hooked. I can see this being a great book club book. There’s a LOT to unpack and discuss here.

The Brennans are one heck of a flawed family but I couldn’t help rooting for them in the end.

Overall I found this to be a strong debut novel and look forward to future works from this author.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for providing an ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a family drama that deals with loyalty, life choices, mistakes and the consequences of all those things. Sunday is a young woman from a close-knit Irish family in New York. Five years previously, she flees to Los Angeles because of an incident that causes her shame and leaves her grief-stricken. She's encouraged by her older brother Denny to come home where she is forced to face the rest of her family and the fiancé she had left behind. The story is told from multiple points of view, i.e. Sunday, Denny, Jackie (another brother), Mickey (her father), Kale (her ex-fiance) and Vivienne (Kale's wife). I love stories told from various POV's because the reader learns so much more about the characters without the author having to spell it out. I especially liked that when a new section (POV) starts, it begins with the last things that character said in the previous section. The story flows more smoothly that way, especially for audiobook listeners (like me).

There is an incident that happens in the last quarter of the story (I won't say what to avoid spoilers) that adds a little more drama. And I figured out who was directly responsible for that incident almost immediately, but given how the book ended I don't think it was meant to be that much of a mystery. While the ending seems open ended, I really enjoyed how, for the Brennan family, the major secrets that had been causing strife for so many years were exposed and resolved. In addition, I felt that the resolutions were realistic.

Each of the characters were given sufficient backstory (considering the relative shortness of the book), which made the decisions they made seem plausible. I do feel like an additional 50-75 pages would have been reasonable to add more depth. I was engaged with the characters but not wholly invested in them. I appreciated the writing; the author clearly has talent for character development and the cultural background of Irish Americans.

The audiobook narrator did a fantastic job, especially with the Irish brogue.

Expected publication: August 3, 2021

Thank you NetGalley for the audio version ARC.

Such a wonderful family drama. I couldn’t stop listening to the audiobook. I loved how each chapter is told from a different characters perspective. It kept everything moving quickly. Probably one of the best family based books I’ve read.

I absolutely adored this book!  I felt so connected with all of the characters.  The family relationships reminded me a lot of the relationships in The Haunting of Hill House which i also adored.

My heart broke time and time again for Sunday and Kale and I rooted for them the whole book!  Their connection was so obvious and I loved how the whole family supported them throughout their roller coaster of emotions.
It was painful learning about Sunday suppressing her trauma and how that had affected her in her adult life but I appreciated how the whole family came together to support her and help her heal even though it was years later.

The audiobook narrator was amazing and I loved when she used her irish accent for the older characters!

Beautiful family drama!  I will think about these characters for a long time.

I enjoyed this family drama where each family member has a secret. It felt like a real and chaotic family.

I listened to this as an audiobook and enjoyed the dual POV’s. I do wish there had been a little more distinction between characters, but overall it was easy to follow

When I read that a book is dealing with long-held family secrets, I always feel a dip in the pit of my stomach. In my experience secrets are never good, they're always foretelling of something dark or tragic or traumatic, plus there's the kind of gray area of who is keeping the secret and why. Will this make the characters unlikable for me? I typically have a hesitancy when starting a book like this. I'm just personally not a fan of books that delve too deep into trauma. With that said, however, something just drew me into We Are the Brennans. Because despite the secrets, I am a big fan of second-chances and going home again.

The story opens with Sunday Brennan getting into a car accident after drunk driving. Five years ago Sunday moved from New York to LA much to the surprise of her friends and (now ex-)fiancé. When Sunday wakes up in the hospital with her older brother Denny sitting by her bedside, he convinces her she needs to come home to recuperate. Sunday agrees.

Sunday is quickly welcomed back into the Brennan family fold and it's clear she's desperately needed as Denny been having trouble getting his new pub off the ground being met with roadblock after roadblock, plus dealing with problems in his marriage. Helping Denny brings Sunday face-to-face with her ex Kale who is now married with a young son.

The Brennans are family and no matter what they'll be there for each other. So when someone from the past threatens their futures, they'll all ban together, but that means revealing all their secrets.

The story is told alternatively between pretty much all the characters. I loved the transition between chapters ending on a bit of dialogue and whomever had spoken last would be the person who's point of view picked up the next chapter. I felt like we got a really well-rounded view of all the characters. This is where narrator Barrie Kreinik really excels. I was surprised at the choice for only a single narrator. Where this book seems perfect for a "full cast", but Barrie Kreinik really carries the whole book well. taking on each character's distinct tone of voice, and in some cases accents, and really making me lose myself within the story.

There were numerous times where I would have my thoughts or opinions about one character, then we would see things from their point of view and my perspective would invariably alter. It's a good subtle kind of commentary about there being two sides to every story. Through that lens we see the effect that Sunday's leaving had on everyone. I loved how the story started out kind of simplistically in regards to Sunday left, now she's back. Slowly the story unpacks or unfolds all the varying layers of what her leaving and now coming back means for everyone.

The story kind of hinges upon Sunday's traumatic experience from five years ago - which was, yes, traumatic but not as dark as I had braced myself for it to be thankfully - that is the turning point the precipitated her leaving that is the cause for where we find ourselves in the present tense of the story proper. Although not the only thing going on - since Denny's marriage trouble and issues opening the new pub are his own - other conflicts are certainly connected. I feel the way that Tracey Lange weaves in and out of the past and present making those connections is expertly done.

And no one has more of a past in their present than Kale and Sunday. Going in I tend to root for the second-chance romance. In this case, however, Kale is married and has a son. Immediately I was curious to see how Lange would spin this. There's very clear unresolved issues between Kale and Sunday. At first Kale's wife, Vivienne isn't painted in the best light. Then we get her one point of view section and - as mentioned before - my perception of her shifted as I could better understand, and even empathize, with where she was coming from. It put me in a quandary.

While I won't spoil how things work out, I think the biggest message this story leaves me with is that we are all flawed and family is always messy, but you have to decide who your people are and who you can count on.

Much to some people's chagrin, the book has a kind of soft ending. By that I mean, not everything is tied up nicely with a bow. Admittedly, there were a few story threads hinted at then seemingly abandoned which I would have appreciated a little more from, but we do get the prospective path into the future. I think based upon each readers own opinion and interpretation of the characters will depend on how you read into what that future looks like for everyone. For me, it was satisfying.

While I went into this book with trepidation, I can say it's been playing on repeat in my thoughts since I finished.