A realistic portrait of Rachel’s life as a student in Ireland, absolutely fantastic read. Funny at times, even through some awful turns for Rachel, I can’t recommend this enough.

I had to keep reminding myself whether this was a novel or a true story throughout my reading of it. The writing was so personal I felt like it could have been a true story…I would not be shocked if I later found out it was based on one. This book also did a great job of reminding me what it was like to be 21-ish and how hopeful and rosy and yet stressful and open everything can be all at once.

I was interested in this because it was based in Ireland. But I have to say it really wasn’t for me. Too much about sex, both gay and straight, and 20s angst. And it’s billed as funny, but I didn’t really find much humor in it. Just not for me I guess. Thanks for the chance to read it anyway.

This is a story about friendship, love, first jobs, school, mistakes, and the messiness of young adulthood. Reading it really took me back to what it was like to be in my twenties again - the uncertainty, all the "firsts" - jobs, boyfriends, roommates - and just trying to figure out how to navigate life and all that comes with growing up. The characters, the dialogue, the humor - this book really resonated with me, especially the ending. Highly recommend for fans who loved Sally Rooney's Conversation with Friends and The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. I heard it's already being adapted for television, and I cannot wait to watch this come to life on screen.

Thank you for walking me down memory lane!
This book had all the 2009 references I needed, from reruns of Fraiser to Buffy to subway sandwiches and even Leona Lewis! The vibes were immaculate and I'm so glad to have read it. I adored the male characters in this book so much, James and James are so utterly wholesome and hilarious. I had only wished the author had given an extra depth to her female lead. I'm going to be honest here, our main gal, Rachel, was a bit of a dud.
For that I give this 4/5 stars 🌟 but I'm now a fan of anything this author writes! I loved her writing so much. It was so fast paced and fun to follow along. Trust me I skipped dinners and sleep for this.
Thank you Netgalley for approving this beautiful book!

I thoroughly enjoyed The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue. The story revolves around Rachel Murray, a twenty year old young woman, a less than steller college student finishing a degree in English, lving in Cork County, Ireland and exploring and struggling with all of the challenges a woman at that time of her life faces: independence, relationships, responsibilities, sexuality. Rachel has two young men named James in her life. James Devlin is a carefree young man, Rachel's coworker and very best friend and James Carey, a 27 year old man who Rachel longs and lusts for,yet has a tendency to disappear from her life. The book explores their relationships over a period of years. It is a delightful book that tells a story of friendship, love, loss, reconciliation and yes, redemption. It is realistic, funny at times and touching at others- just a wonderful read. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC, it did not impact my review in any way. 5 Stars.

I LOVED this book. I laughed out loud and was moved by these characters. I loved the voice of the book and felt nostalgia for the time this was set in. I will think about this book and these characters for a long time. Highly recommend. Thank you to the publisher and net galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very character driven story about Rachel and James, two Irish best friends in the 2010's. Rachel is graduating from the university in Cork, and James works with her at a bookstore, so they decide to live together. Rachel has a professor she adores, and there begins the story about relationships and friendships. I liked the writing, was interested in the story, but the characters were a bit whiny to me. Could be my age--I think this will appeal to readers in their 20's and 30's. I can also see why people are comparing this book to Sally Rooney's books. If you like hers, I think you will like this one, too.

From the publisher:

Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.

When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife.

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This was a slow start for me. I really wasn’t sure about it at all. But just past the halfway point, it really took hold and I flew through the rest. Rachel is young and thinks in a way that seems older while at the same time acting her age. I recommend this book for sure, but just be patient. You won’t be sorry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me with an advance copy of this book on exchange for an honest review.

Available June 27, 2023.

If Sally Rooney had a sense of humor, this is the book she’d write. It’s a perfect depiction of that time in early adulthood where you’re not a teen but non a grown-up either, on your own for the first time but unable to actually care for yourself, and when your best friends are your family.

4.5 stars
I’m not an Irish millennial but I think that some experiences transcend. I lost myself a bit in this story of Rachel and her relationship with the two James’ in her life. Secrets and lies and miscommunications usually don’t work for me but, somehow, Rachel’s insightful and sarcastic comments made it all work. I find myself wanting to say this is a feel good novel but that’s not quite right. It’s a book full of such realized characters that they felt real and stay with you long after you finish reading. Definitely recommend!
*Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for the advance review copy.

Set in Cork, Ireland during the recession, this one is all about friends, lovers, and figuring out your future.

Rachel works at a bookstore and befriends co-worker James. They eventually become roommates and best of friends. While Rachel is finishing her English degree, the Irish economy is in shambles.

A crush on her professor leads Rachel and James to concoct an event at the bookstore for his new book. The crush goes nowhere but Rachel is given an internship by her professor’s wife who works in publishing.

A romance with another man named James breaks her heart, she’s let go from the bookstore, and ostracized from the Cork community. Rachel moves to London and tries to begin her life all over.

While Rachel wasn’t always a likable character, she did finally grow at the end of the book. I enjoyed this different sort of book, but it’s back to thrillers for me!

The Rachel Incident has all of my favorite things: lifelong friendship, unrequited love, and twists I never saw coming. It’s a satisfying story of how Rachel finds her way and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. Love and friendship can both be very complicated and this books captures that in such a perfect way. Highly recommend. Now I just need all my friends to read it so we can discuss.

I read this in less than 24 hours; I couldn't put it down. It had so many quiet moments and wasn't necessarily a big, dramatic story, but it was told so thoughtfully and with such emotion that I felt for all the characters involved, on all sides of each situation. I only wish I knew what happened next!

Completely engrossing. Found myself sucked into this book and read it in one sitting in an afternoon. The story is compelling and hard to put down. Somehow the author has woven some characters with despicable traits at times that the reader still likes and trusts the word of. Everything just works well.

This is a lovely coming of age novel that follows Rachel, a university student who works at a bookstore and falls in love with James. The novel is good but not great and definitely more for the younger audience but I definitely think it’s much better than books such a Normal People.

Although this is being billed as akin to a Sally Rooney novel, for me it is much closer to something by Dolly Alderton or Caitlin Moran. Whoever your chosen comparative author, it is a series of warm, ruthlessly honest, and pithy vignettes from a year in the life of a university student set in Cork in 2010.

Rachel Murray is adrift: her English degree is going to be of little use, her middle class parents have been sideswiped by the financial crisis, and her relationship with her boyfriend is dull and in a cul de sac. Then she meets James Devlin and they instantly become best friends, and she develops a crush on one of her professors.

Told from the perspective of Rachel ten years in the future, it’s a year in which Rachel goes through many trials: personal, social, and professional. She makes the sort of bad choices we all did in our early twenties and they have the sort of bad consequences we all suffered, but we can also see the embryo of the adult which she will become.

At its heart, this is a book about the sort of wild and completely absorbing friendship that is only really possible in that liminal stage of life before jobs, relationships, and responsibilities take hold. Highly recommended if you want to remember what your youth was really like.

Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Even though this was not my typical type of read, I did end up enjoying it. It reminded me of how discouraging it was for young people coming of age at that time. I have read quite a few novels with dual timelines, but this one left me confused a time or two about when an incident being described actually took place. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an advance copy to read and review.

A very quick and enjoyable read, but a little bit one dimensional. A good book for a beach read, but many of the characters were a but stereotypical--i.e James as the "Gay Best Friend", the professor as a closeted gay man stuck in a marriage. I found Rachel a bit winey through most of the book, but found her less annoying by the end of the book. Not my favorite book of the year, but still a quick read and good for summer.

LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. A twenty-something with a messy, unsettled life in Ireland and her gay, male best friend. So sweet, so poignant, so FUNNY. I enjoyed every minute spent with Caroline O’Donoghue’s characters.