4.5 stars

WE ARE THE BRENNANS completely took me by surprise and captivated me the entire way through.

Each chapter of the story alternates between different point of views, and while this could easily lead to confusion especially as an audiobook, Lange (author) and Kreinik (audiobook narrator) did a fantastic job differentiation the various perspectives. Kreinik included just the right amount of accents, dialect changes, and personality to help distinguish the various characters.

And don't even get me started on these characters, especially the differences between the Brennan siblings! While the story primarily focuses around Sunday, I loved "getting to know" all of the characters during their chapters and start to piece together various parts of the plot based on things they were thinking about. It truly allowed the reader to grasp a full picture of the Brennan family.

In my experiences, family dramas can have a serious lull in the plot, but not this one. The plot would feel resolved at points only have another twist pop up, which kept the momentum going throughout the whole story.

So if you enjoy family dramas, twisty plots, and multiple POVs, this book or audiobook might be for you!

oh, wow. i will definitely be following this author! wonderful family drama - i thoroughly enjoyed this book and getting to know the Brennans.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for my audiobook copy of We Are the Brennans
by Tracey Lange Narrated by Barrie Kreinik in exchange for an honest review. It published August 3, 2021.
First off, the narration was very well-done, and I definitely would listen to more by this skilled reader. The Irish accent was very believable and it added to the overall experience of this book.
I have to admit, at first I had a hard time getting into this book, but I am glad I stuck with it. There were lots of twists and turns that didn't make it too predictable. Or when things seemed they were going to go one way, they sort of did, but not completely how I thought they would.
There is a lot of foul language, and some very tense subjects are broached, so be wary of that. But if you're into family sagas and drama, you'll definitely enjoy this one.

This is the perfect book for anyone who loves a family drama. After a terrible car accident, Sunday is convinced to move back home with her family to recover and help with the family business that is close to financial ruin.

But, what she finds are the family secrets long buried and the potential to cause her family further disruption. This story is about the bonds of family and the secrets we keep to protect those we love.

I was sent this book from the publisher/publicity team. My ratings and reviews will be my own personal opinions and are in no way influenced by publishers or authors who may have sent me books to review.

When this first started you learn about way too many characters a little too fast. It is well worth sorting everyone out and pushing through though.

This had a little bit of everything: family tragedy; current mystery; romance. I loved the pacing and never found myself bored with the storyline. There were so many side stories and I enjoyed each and wanted more about them all: romance, the bar, history around the family, and etc.

This is one of those reads where you will not want to put it down. I only did a few times and every time I stopped reading, I was thinking about these characters and their story. I ended up finishing this one is one day for that reason.

Overall, I really loved this one.

4.5 Stars!
Drama, Drama and more Drama, mixed with so many family secrets! Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this wonderful novel.

I loved it! I loved the narrator of the audiobook too!
This is a family drama with lots of secrets and the characters become like your family while reading it.
The Brennans are a close family but one member moves away. When she is forced back after an accident, we find out why she left on the first place and lots of secrets get let out.
I highly recommend this one for fans of domestic dramas!

Tracey Lange’s debut is a cleverly written, taut suspense and the audio version is excellent. The narrator held my attention throughout. Her characters are complex and she employs an ingenious technique of ending one chapter with one character’s point-of-view and continuing the same scene in the next chapter from another character’s perspective. I loved this aspect of her writing and found it to be both unique and insightful. I predict that this will be a big draw for book clubs. It is a quick, interesting read and there is a lot to discuss.

I LOVED this book - and easy 5 star read.

Sunday Brennan suddenly decides to returns home after a drunk driving accident. Initially thinking it’s just going to be temporary, she slowly realizes she needs to be back home as much as her family needs her there. As the story unfolds, family secrets are revealed, bringing them all closer together again. This book makes you realize that everyone makes mistakes but our families are the ones who can help us through them.

The narrator, Barrie Kreinik, does an amazing job of portraying the different characters in this book.

Overall, highly recommend!

Thanks to Celadon Books for the arc/alc of this book.

One sentence review: An engaging family drama featuring the Brennans, an Irish family that runs a local Irish pub.

The story centers around Sunday Brennan who returns home to the family after getting into a drunk driving accident. As she returns home we get to see the Brennan family dynamics and interactions along with a whole lot of family intrigue.

My thoughts:

- I really enjoyed the format of this one. The book rotates viewpoints amongst the various family members so that you get to see everyone's perspective of the events going on at the time. I really liked the various viewpoints.
- I loved learning about the family dynamics and how the various family member interacted with one another.
- If I had to peg a genre for this it would be contemporary fiction. It is a family drama with elements of romance and romance thrown in for good measure.

Overall I really enjoyed this book a lot and would recommend it to those that like family dramas.

NARRATION: Barrie Kreinik does an excellent job of narrating this one. I was 100% engaged the whole time as he switched narration from one character to the next.

Quite the interesting story: full of melodrama, deeply flawed characters, misunderstandings, betrayals and bad, bad decisions. For a debut novel, this was pretty decent. The writing was good, as was characterization - for the most part. There were so many colourful characters springing at you from every corner of the Brennan mansion. I didn't know what to make of the "pseudo-adopted" son, Kale Collins (who was so aptly named!) His indecisive nature often reminded me of a limp vegetable. He drove me up a wall with his conciliatory, noncommittal ways. His was one of the weakest characters in the novel.

The plot needed a bit more work: I had a hard time suspending my disbelief regarding the reasons that Sunday left for Los Angeles. That whole scenario felt stretched out of shape like sticky pizza dough. However, I did enjoy listening to this very tall tale. It often resembled those night-time soap operas that started coming back into vogue a few years ago. That drudge of a daughter, Sunday, who was caught up in the web of family secrets! The pining, separated lovers! The looming menace of bankruptcy! The father's shady past in Ireland. Toil and trouble, everywhere you turned!

Did I think this was a masterpiece of great writing and original storytelling? Not quite. There was too much repetition and rehashing of the same events by the various narrators. All the retellings by each of the Brennans, Kale, and the guileful Vivienne had me sighing with frustration towards the end. "Are we really going back there - again?" I kept groaning during each rehash.

I thought it was odd that the author gave Denny (who had gotten his family into such dire straights with his poor judgment) the task of predicting for the reader Sunday and Kale's fate. I'm giving this one a 3.8 out of 5 stars because I enjoyed the family dynamic: how all the siblings pulled together to support and protect one another. Did Kale deserve to be part of that protected circle? I certainly wasn't impressed with him, but the majority of the Brennans and the author seemed to think he was, so I'm staying out of that one. That said, I was satisfied with the ending. I want Sunday to choose - for once - herself and her happiness, and if that wilted cabbage of a man is ultimately what her heart pines for, who am I to stand in the way of true love?

I did enjoy listening to this audiobook, and I couldn't wait to find out what happened in the end. I was entertained and - for the most part, it fully engaged my interest. But towards the end, the author seemed to be churning her wheels in the sand and I wasn't sure which direction this story would go. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when it finally did come to its satisfactory conclusion!

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I got an ARC of this book. The family, even in all of their poor decision making and dysfunction, is relatable and lovable. That said, I felt like it ended a bit abruptly and I found myself wanting to know what happens next.

Families aren't perfect and, in the Brennans' case, maybe even less perfect than they originally thought. Each member of the Brennans' personal flaws and decisions over the past decade or so has added to fuel to the fire and is testing the bond of the family. When they all get together again, who knows what secrets will unfold? This book is so full of love and consideration. I thought We Are the Brennans was a lovely story of family and personal growth. The audio book is also very well paced and was a good match to the writing style. I would absolutely recommend the audio version of this book.

This book was everything I wanted it to be.

There is a lot going on with the Brennan family, but it is all believable. The characters make some bad decisions and keep some secrets, but their reasoning is understandable. One of the things I loved about this novel is how realistic the characters were. They made decisions based on information they were given, but of course the information wasn't always complete. They judged other people's behavior based on what they believed the situation to be, but when you hear the other person's perspective you are reminded that you should always give people the benefit of the doubt.

This book is told from several different perspectives. Your opinion of each character shifts slightly as you see the story from their viewpoint. I thought this was very well done and was a perfect example of how to use varying points of view to benefit a story. I loved that the last line from one person's perspective would be repeated as the first line of the next person's perspective. This gave a really cool sense of the shifting view and made it feel that what each person was telling you was the truth.

This audiobook was superbly narrated by Barrie Kreinik. She was able to give each person their own voice so well that you always knew which character was speaking and who was narrating the story without making any of them sound false, even the children. This is also props to Lange for giving each character their own distinct personality and staying true to it, but Kreinik was able to make you forget that the story was really being spoken by one person. Kreinik is quickly becoming a favorite narrator.

I enjoyed this so much and look forward to reading more of Lange's writing in the future. I would absolutely recommend giving this one a try if you enjoy family drama, secrets, love, and mostly family coming together.

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Warning: Drunk Driving Accident

We Are the Brennans is a good family drama book! It was a great break from my typical Romance choices. For me, this book is quite different than any other I’ve read due to the nature of the genre. I thought the storyline was interesting and really keeps your attention from beginning to end. The author does a good job of completing the story and not leaving things undone. Read if you enjoy a good family drama!

Synopsis:
Sunday causes a drunk driving accident in Los Angeles. When she wakes up in the hospital, she realizes she needs to go home to New York. Back in New York, Sunday tries to rebuild her life, but ends up having to overcome several obstacles to get to the end result.

Thank you NetGalley for an audio-ARC of We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange.
Pulled into the story from the first page, We Are the Brennans is the story of an Irish family. Dysfunctional yet solidly committed to each other. This story shows the messy side of life and how important family is to survival. Told in alternating points of view, I love how Lange transitioned between each! The narrator, Barrie Kreinik, had the perfect accent for this Irish family.

This is a Literary Fiction book that follows a Ireland American Family during a time a lot of secrets are coming out. This book starts out with a lot of drama, and it keeps the drama going through out this book. I think the little seeds of drama through out the book keeps you wanting to not put down the book. There are so bigger twists and turns in this book to. I have to say I normally do not read a lot of Literary Fiction books, but I really enjoyed this book. It was written very well, and if you like family drama book you should enjoy this book. I love that it shows it only takes one or two big events in a family to change the family. The characters in this book felt like real people, and the drama felt like something that could have really happen. Note: This was my July Book of the Month pick, and then I got approved for the audiobook from Netgalley. I listen to the audiobook while reading the book. The narrator of the audiobook was really good. I was kindly provided an e-audiobook of this book by the publisher (Celadon Books) or author (Tracey Lange) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

"...the idea that she was lying never occured to them."

Lies and secrets are at the heart of the family drama We Are The Brennans by debut author Tracey Lange. The difference with these lies and secrets from most stories is that the are not malicious but based on shame and a misplaced love to protect loved ones.

At 29 years old Sunday Brennan has come home after a self imposed 5 year exile. Everyone thinks she left NY for a writing career in LA but she left after a truly heartbreaking trauma that she believed would only bring embarrassment to her family.

Her older brother Denny has his own secrets with his wife and daughter moving out and the very real possibility of losing the family bar. Then there is her brother Jackie, who is on parole, and hides his artistic side from his tough and rough family and friends. The youngest brother is Shane who has learning disabilities and is considered "slow" but he is the only Brennan with no secrets and that includes their problematic parents.

The author's ability to write realistic dialogue and circumstances is what makes it so easy to care about this family. Each chapter's ending dialogue is the start of the next chapter's dialogue and how the words effected the person hearing them. It was such a perfect way to understand each character and their emotions.

I also listened to the audiobook narrated by the remarkable Barrie Kreinik. When Sunday's truth was finally revealed I broke down because I believed every word and every emotion performed by this immensely talented actress.

When you finish a book and feel lost because you cannot visit these characters anymore you know you have just read the writing of a true storyteller. I will read anything Tracey Lange writes.

I received a free copy of this book and an audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you for the advanced audio version of We Are the Brennans! I loved this plot and the entire Brennan clan. This novel was relatable, realistic, and poignant. As the reviews state, it is very similar to Mary Beth Keane's Ask Again, Yes, but I appreciated that this plot was never *too* extreme or graphic for gratuity's sake. It felt like a genuine exploration of the trials and tribulations of a first-generation, large American family, and I could not stop listening.

I’ve been reading a lot of annoying novels lately about backstabbing friends who can’t stand each other and incessantly gossip and scheme and betray one another, and the whole time I’m thinking, “Um, then don’t be friends.”

But families, amiright?!

I love me a good family melodrama, most likely because the really great ones get to the heart of the human condition. Trying to work through relationships and feelings of self worth and belonging amongst those we didn’t choose but somehow still manage to know us better than we know ourselves - pure gold. That’s certainly the case with the cast of characters in Tracey Lange’s debut novel about a family of adult Irish Catholic siblings dealing with the legacy of their own mistakes as well as those of their parents.

The style of the storytelling is nearly flawless, as each chapter transitions from one character to another. There’s a hint of mystery to the tale, which also keeps the reader engaged enough to never want to put the book down. (Or in my case, the audiobook, which is narrated by Barrie Kreinik. She nails the Irish accents when required and adds inflections that feel gender appropriate for all the characters.)

I will absolutely been adding Lange’s future novels to my Must Read list. In the meantime, I highly recommend you add We Are The Brennans to yours.