Rachel's Holiday is one of my most beloved books, in fact I consider it a classic. I was filled with no small amount of trepidation when I realized there would be "Again, Rachel" set in the future, but I should not have worried. Reading this book was like meeting an old friend and just spending the loveliest weekend catching up. It was delightful! So soothing seeing the usual suspects and their growth and trajectories. Rachel is in a different headspace from RH but so am I, and maybe that is why I am able to relate to both books and their differences.

A huge thank you to the Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC. Really appreciated

I have devoured everything that Marian Keyes writes since I found the Walsh sisters over a decade ago. The return of Rachel and this iconic family made me so happy!

Rachel's Holiday was published 25 years ago, chronicling the journey of the 3rd Walsh sister as she comes to term with her addition to pills and cocaine. In her signature style, Keyes gives us a lovable and unreliable narrator and finds humor in the darkest of situations. When we last see Rachel, she is clean and about to reunite with her hunky love, "Real Man" Luke. In Again, Rachel, we see middle aged Rachel, clean and working as the head counselor for her old rehab facility, the Cloisters. Rachel still has more work to do to uncover her past and her present as a recovering addict. Her story takes place back in Ireland, and we get plenty of Walsh family updates and shenanigans.

Definitely read all of the Walsh sisters books, but especially Rachel's Holiday before you read this one. I am so happy to see my old friends again, and all of Keyes books leave me with tears of heartbreak and joy.

I loved this book SO MUCH. Rachel’s Holiday was the first Marian Keyes book I ever read (so many years ago now!) and I loved it so much that I then read everything else she had out at the time, and I’ve read every book of hers since then. I have to admit, I’m always a little skeptical about sequels that come so long after the first book, but this one was amazing!

At the start of this book, Rachel is seeing a man named Quin, whom she met at a meditation retreat a couple years ago. But when her ex-husband’s mother dies and he comes to town for her funeral, she realizes this is the opportunity to get some much-needed closure with him so she can fully move on with her life. With each encounter between them, the reasons their marriage dissolved six years ago becomes clearer and clearer, and things turn out not to be as she thought. The emotional journey that Rachel goes through is so poignant—heartbreaking and healing and wonderful all at once and I loved it so, SO much.

This is a slow-paced read that I really enjoyed sinking into. Rachel is an addiction counselor at the Cloisters, where she rehabbed twenty years ago. Her own battle with addiction helps her identify with her patients. We learn a lot about their struggles and their paths to recovery. I really loved all the side characters and I was rooting for their success along with Rachel. Writing amazingly lovable side characters is something Keyes really excels at and I really enjoyed that aspect of this book.

This was such an emotional read and it deals with a lot of really heavy topics, but it never felt like too much. Though I feel like Keyes’s more recent books don’t have quite as much humor as her earlier ones, this one still has her brilliant, witty voice, and I laughed out loud several times. The writing style of this one felt very in line with her previous book, Grown Ups, than with Rachel’s Holiday (though it’s been a very long time since I’ve read that one!), and I really enjoyed it.

I loved revisiting the world of the Walsh family, but I think anyone can enjoy this book without having read that series. I loved the family dynamics and Rachel’s different relationships with all her family members was amusing and felt so true to life.

Overall, this was an amazing book—definitely one of the best I’ve read in a long, long while, and one that will stick with me for a long time. For anyone who enjoys Marian Keyes, this is an absolute must-read, and for anyone who loves an emotional, character-driven story that slowly unfolds, this is definitely one to pick up!

For this reader, a long-time fan of both Rachel and all the Marion Keyes books, visiting with Rachel again, (along with the entire Walsh family), is a visit with old and treasured friends, - so much so that re-opening the door, six years later, to step back into their world is remarkably, as intimate, captivating, hilarious, and magical as it was the day we left it.

And of course, no-one, absolutely no-one, writes like Marian Keyes.

The author strikes the perfect tone, achieving an incredible balance between caustic, ice-pick women-of-Walsh judgements and side-splitting, eye-watering sardonic humor - this book had me on a constant roll, chuckling out loud as I read about Rachel’s mishaps with her “abnormally girthy lower legs”, encounters with the “Lentil Boys”, and wise advice from the sincere pooch Crunchie, reminding us (with a touch of pathos) - “I'm not Esther Perel, I'm only a dog”.

But life for Rachel, her sisters, and all their assorted partners, colleagues, friends and family, is not all fun and games. Like a crazy quilt of somewhat jarring colors and patterns, Rachel’s life is so deeply enmeshed with that of her emotionally involved family, that, thankfully for this reader, telling her tale means telling large bits of theirs as well.

As we meet with a now somewhat middle-aged Rachel (forty-something years old), she has settled into a sort of cushioned groove. A former drug addict, long in recovery, Rachel now counsels addicts (a number of which are both rascally and lovable) at the same rehab facility she attended, years ago - a job she is astounding good at.

Settled with her partner of two years - the handsome, competitive, and imminently likeable Quin, Rachel’s world is rocked to its core when she receives an invitation to the funeral of her ex-mother-in-law - the mother of none other than Luke Costello, Rachel’s ex husband - the painfully absent love-of-her-life, who up and left her (suddenly and wrenchingly) six years ago, leaving a whole pile of unfinished business jagged and raw in Rachel’s heart.

Without giving the plot away(no spoilers here) - this author is not afraid to tackle some seriously dark themes, as Rachel’s brush with her past conjures up (for her and inevitably, the Walsh sisters) a tangled web that includes addictions, grief, loss, motherhood, fear, loneliness, sexual apathy and of course, love ( be it requited, hopeful or devastatingly lost).

Wise and funny, charming and even bleak, this is a book that will is guaranteed to make you smile, tear up, ponder and ache, and (if you’re anything like this reader), glow with the joy of time spent in the bosom of a family as familiar and dear to you as only old friends can be.

A great big thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

I'm unable to access the file, which is a total bummer because I hear this one is an amazing follow up!

I fortunately I was unable to access this file. However, I love the cover and the rest of her books, so I know that this will be another winner! I can’t wait for it to come out on kindle. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for considering me!

I want to start off by saying that I love Marian Keyes books. She's one of the first authors that I read years ago out of college. I really enjoyed the book, "Again, Rachel". It was really interesting how Rachel's personal life, romantic life, and work life were all inter-related. I loved following the story of Rachel and how she grew throughout her life and eventually ended up getting her own happy ending. While the book was slightly long, I enjoyed it all and honestly didn't want it to end. I felt like I was part of Rachel's crazy family! I took one star off of my review because while the story was light-hearted and funny at times, there were a lot of deep themes that I guess I wasn't expecting - drug and alcohol use and child death.

When I first found out Keyes was working on another book in the Walsh Family series, I thought I was in the midst of a fever dream. When I found out it was centered around Rachel and it takes place 20 years after Rachel’s Holiday, I had to punch myself to be sure. But it’s here! And it’s everything I hoped for! We first meet Rachel as a 27 year old hot mess and now she’s successful, sober, and approaching 50. But a phone call from a former love interest throws her life off balance. Romance, family dilemmas, self-realization, and growth is all present here and excellently done. As a recovering addict herself, Marian Keyes nails writing about addiction.

Oh, the tears and laughter. Marian Keyes writes with such authenticity and beautifully captures the hardships of life, all while making you giggle along the way. This one broke my heart just to build me back up again. I LOVED the ending and cried twice while reading. Give this book all the stars!

Do I think you can enjoy this as a standalone? I mean, technically you COULD. But you would be missing out on all of the background and emotional journeys these characters have gone through in the previous books. At the very least, you most definitely should read Rachel’s Holiday but Again, Rachel will spoil key parts of the other books if you plan on reading them. Keyes has been writing The Walsh Family series since the 90s and seeing where they are in the year 2018 was like visiting an old friend. Mammy Walsh is in full form in this one! The matriarch of the Walsh clan never fails to have me ugly laughing. I enjoyed where every Walsh Family member was at this stage of their life, particularly Claire because I feel she is the most absent in the other books.

I honestly cannot recommend this book and this series enough! Marian Keyes remains one of my favorite authors and she did not disappoint. My personal Queen of Contemporary/Women’s Fiction.

A bit about the Walsh Family series: Each book is centered around one sibling (Claire, Rachel, Margaret, Anna, and Helen) in the Walsh family and they can be enjoyed as standalones but I highly recommend reading all of them for maximum enjoyment! I personally did not read them in order the first time I read them. All profoundly written, hilarious, and deals with each sibling going through a tumultuous time in their lives.


Favorite quotes:

That was the great thing about being not-young: knowing through practical experience that feelings, even the worst of them, calm down and eventually ease. They’re probably not gone forever—that was another thing I’d learnt: the notion of ‘closure’ is unrealistic.”

“Menopause seemed like a strange country with some very odd practices and I did my best to pretend I’d never be old enough for it. As it happened, I could well have been perimenopausal, but it was hard to be sure, seeing as I already had several of the symptoms. Insomnia? Step right up! Tiredness? Well, that’s just modern life.”

“There was an edge to him that sparked something in the flat battery that was my heart.”

“With her unmanageable impatience and robust opinions, life was often difficult for her. For every person she enchanted, there were about ten more who became instant enemies. And the thing was, Helen would speak unpalatable truths when everyone else was too scared to open their mouths. The world needed more Helens”

“There was no point ever in me asking for something specific—Chanel bags, global cooling, green traffic lights all the way home—the only thing I had consistently been given was an eventual acceptance of my situation, whatever that was.”

“The people who care about addicts have it very hard. So much of their time they’re plagued by suspicion, fear, thwarted hope, frustration, anger, and then, when they’ve finally convinced their loved one to get help, they usually feel terrible guilt.”

“In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed woman is queen.”

“For once, I was entirely caught up on my work. My caseload was always heavy and my obsessive tendencies probably didn’t help—I usually researched my patients so thoroughly that I could have gone undercover and lived as them.”

“Tragedies could hit anyone, I knew I wasn’t immune, but still, to find myself on the wrong side of the divide, to be the object of everyone’s pity instead of being the one doing the consoling, felt all wrong.”

“You can stop but addiction is never cured,’ Bronte said. ‘It’s just under control.”

Thank you to #netgalley for letting me review this book. I’ve read several books by Marian Keyes and loved them and this book is no exception! She writes dialogue and family relationships so well and with such smart humor. Her stories are also very realistic and could happen in real life.

I loved the characters and story and highly recommend this book!

Sadly, I am unable to access this file, but would be thrilled to read and review this title if it becomes available for kindle viewing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for accepting my request for an ARC.

Too bad that the publishers don't seem to plan to sell this book in the US,
I loved it. Cried twice.
True, I've been reading Marian Keyes and the antics of the Walsh family for ~20 years. I enjoyed catching up with the characters.
Very well done. The title resonates in at least two ways.
The novel still works as a standalone or entry point to Keyes' oeuvre. The scenery will appeal to fans of Ireland and the story skillfully balances a range of emotions.

Would love to review this but sadly I'm unable to access the .acsm file to read Again, Rachel--and I hope a more accessible version is offered for review.