We Are The Brennan's was one of my favorite books when it came out and I'm happy to say Connelly's is another winner. (I liked Brennan's a tiny bit better (personal preference with the storyline and chapter transitions), but I rated them the same.)

I really appreciated how in Connelly's, it brought a spotlight on the impacts of returning to society after incarceration and the impacts on family relationships - I haven't read a book with this topic in a white lower-middle class family in quite some time so it was a good change of pace. I thought the author did a fantastic job of writing this story and pointing out (without hitting you over the head with it) that people end up in prison for all different reasons and that there might be something else behind the story than what it might seem like at first.

I read most of the book, but I finished the last 20% up on audio and I thought the narration was very good.

I would definitely recommend both books by Tracey Lange and I can't wait for the next book she writes.

Thank you to Celadon Books for the gifted printed copy as well as Netgalley & Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

Review Date: 07/24/2023
Publication Date: 08/01/2023

Tracey Lange does family drama so so well!

The Connellys of County Down is a story of three siblings navigating life after the youngest is released from prison.

We follow each sibling and the struggles they are dealing with. Tara needs will no longer be able to teach children due of her conviction and needs to find a new job, the oldest sister, Geraldine is struggling at work, and their brother, Eddie, is still learning how to deal with daily activities after a TBI.

This book is all about dealing with grief, love, hope, and forgiveness.

Tracey does such an amazing job of writing vulnerable and perfectly flawed characters that you cant help but root for!

Read this if you like:
- family drama
- difficult family dynamics
- family secrets
- messy but lovable characters

The narration for this audiobook was amazing!

Tara Connelly just got out of prison on a drug charge. Basically starting over she moves in with her siblings and her nephew. As she starts to pick up the pieces of her life the cop that arrests her keeps showing up. Even though he put her away she can't help but deny her attraction to him. Things aren't ever what they seem though. Her family has their fair share of secrets. And some secrets can rip their family apart.

This was my first book by Tracey Lange and it won't be my last. This book is told in multiple POVs, which I love. You get to see what is going on in the story but all sides. I did call the twist early on, but still was invested in the book. I can't wait to read Tracey Lange's first book!

I really liked most of the characters in this book. The older sister drove me nuts at times but after finishing the book and really thinking about it I felt bad for her. All three siblings have had to carry secrets and trauma around. It's no wonder why their family is a bit messy. I thought the author did a great job at navigating through the family dynamics. I really liked Tara. She was such a strong female character. I connected with the brother too. I have two brain conditions, not as bad as his, but I do have a headache everyday from them. I can understand when they get so bad how debilitating they can be. It was nice for the author to show that families aren't always perfect...families have problems. I think it was great to show how mental illness can impact a person and the people around them. I really liked Brian too.

I listened to the book as I read it. I thought the narrator did a great job. I would have liked to have different narrators for the different POVs though. Thank you to NetGalley, Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio for the copies of this book!

I’m not sure what it is, but Tracey Lange has a way of writing about themes and subjects I’m not normally drawn to and making them truly captivating. She did it with We Are the Brennans two years ago, and she’s done it again with her poignant new novel, The Connellys of County Down.

On the surface, her two books have much in common. Both are about Irish-American families living in suburban New York, adult sibling relationships, and righting past mistakes. Both highlight ordinary people in difficult situations and finding a path forward despite it all. While I normally run away from books about lower class families in small towns (it cuts too close to my own childhood), Tracey Lange writes in a way that feels comfortable, familiar, and heartfelt.

The Connellys of County Down focuses on four characters: the three Connelly siblings, plus police officer Brian Nolan. In the months that follow Tara’s release from prison, all four of them will be affected by the past and faced with new hurdles to overcome.

Geraldine, Eddie, and Tara are such different siblings. Their mother died when they were young, and their father left when Tara was only 12. Geraldine, the eldest at 19, was old enough to keep their small family together, working hard to support her younger siblings through school. As adults in their 30s, they still live together and rely on one another. Geraldine still is orderly and likes to be in control. For much of the novel, I found Geraldine hard to like, even if I felt empathy for how she had to take care of her two siblings at such a young age. Eddie was in a car crash at 14, leaving him with a traumatic brain injury that continues to have effects on his daily life; he’s also a single father to 10-year-old Conor. I liked Eddie and felt empathy for him, too, and how his TBI makes work difficult. Conor is a delight, always ready with a joke and a smile. Tara, formerly an art teacher, did 18 months for a drug trafficking charge. She’s opinionated and impulsive, but she’d do anything for her family. Then there’s Brian: the officer who got Tara into prison in the first place… but has regretted it ever since.

More than anything, The Connellys of County Down is about sibling relationships and all the messy parts that make up the whole. We see the kinds of sacrifices each sibling has made for each other, and what kinds of sacrifices they’re willing to continue making. For all their disagreements, they also work hard to lift each other up, whether that’s seeking therapy for a closet hoarder or helping a sister with a record get her life back on track. But can the three Connellys fully trust each other again, after all that’s happened?

Another storyline in this book is the tentative relationship between Tara and Brian. They start off knowing the worst of each other, yet they still find something in each other to continue exploring. Theirs is an unlikely relationship, and it puts Tara into some tricky situations, but it can ultimately be healing for both. A couple of times, the two of them go to the Brennans’ pub, a nice little Easter egg fo those who’ve read the previous novel. When Tara and Brian have an argument at the end of chapter 20, it leaves us on my favorite line in the book: “The most honest words didn’t have to be loud or dramatic to cut deep.”

The Connellys of County Down gets its name from the fairy tale the Connellys’ mother used to tell them. It’s a heart-rending thread throughout the novel: their Irish heritage, the magic of storytelling and family values, and the forgotten superpowers each sibling had as children and hopefully still has in adulthood.

Audiobook
Barrie Kreinik does a marvelous job of bringing the characters to life in the audiobook version of The Connellys of County Down. Like the book itself, her narration is gentle but incisive. Each character feels vivid and unique through her subtle voice acting, making the whole audiobook a joy to listen to from start to finish.

The Connellys of County Down is a tender, raw, and beautiful portrait of an ordinary, complicated family. It strikes me in a way that few books quite achieve, and this a story that will stay with me. Tracey Lange may be my favorite author of contemporary fiction, and I look forward to reading every new book she publishes in the coming years.

With a title like The Connellys of County Down, you might assume it’s a story set in Ireland, but you’d be wrong! The book is actually set in a town in Westchester County, New York, which is a close-in NYC suburb near the Connecticut border. The Connellys are Tara, Geraldine, Eddie and Eddie’s son Connor. As the book opens, Tara is being released from prison, after serving 18 months on a drug-trafficking charge. She went to prison because she wouldn’t rat on anyone. We gradually get to know Tara and her family. They haven’t had it easy! After their mother died and their father left town, Geraldine had to step up as a parental figure while she was still 19. Eddie suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car wreck (driven by his father) and is mostly ok but he definitely has difficulties that affect his life, especially his work. Tara is an artist and just wants to get her life back together and stay out of trouble.

We quickly realize this family is not your typical family - no one shows up to pick up Tara when she is released from prison and they haven’t visited her much, if at all. But Brian, a detective who played a part in putting her behind bars shows up because he wants to apologize to her!

Gradually we realize that there is a huge amount of love and strong ties between these three siblings, along with the stress that their lives have imposed on each of them. There are secrets galore that the reader/listener is eventually privy to. We also get Brian’s backstory and realize that he hasn’t had it easy either.

I was really rooting for Tara and her family to figure out how to make things work. I loved Connor and his jokes/riddles! He was asked by Tara to come up with a bunch of jokes for when she was feeling down or wanted to smoke a cigarette, to help her quit the habit she took up in prison. I also really liked the character of Brian, the detective who felt he needed to apologize to Tara. I listened to the audiobook and was so pulled in to the story that I kept finding excuses to keep listening!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. Barrie Kreinik, as always, did a great job with the narration. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book. This is the second book I've read by Tracey Lange and I think she has a great writing style. Her characters are flawed, but generally realistic. I love the family relationships and the issues that she includes. They all seem like it could actually happen and the decisions the characters make trying to rectify the situations are often just bad choices made from good intentions. People are often trying to protect other people and do the right thing, but end up making mistakes.

In this novel, we meet the Connelly siblings and a few other characters. The Connellys had a difficult childhood, but make it through by depending on and taking care of each other. Each sibling has their own struggles as adults due to their history. One of my favorite parts in the story was the jokes from Connor, the nephew of our main character, Tara. He was adorable and I laughed out loud at some of those silly jokes.

This book was narrated by Barrie Kreinik who did a wonderful job and is quickly becoming one of my favorite narrators. I would definitely recommend the audio.

Super fun little tidbit - This story takes place in the same town as We Are the Brennans and two of the characters in this story go to Brennans, the family’s pub from the previous book. I loved that little connection.

Loved, loved, loved this new release from Tracey Lange. I listened on audio (thank you, Macmillan Audio) and read in between on my Kindle (thank you, Celadon Books). Tara Connelly has just been released from jail for a drug trafficking charge as our story begins. Her older sister Geraldine and older brother Eddie take her back into the family home and she struggles to get back on her feet. The police detective duo that put her away still wants to nab the dealer she was working for. Brian Nolan is the younger of the two detectives and he is finding that things just did not add up. What is Tara's connection to the infamous dealer? Meanwhile Geraldine struggles with addiction issues of her own and Eddie sharpens his skills as a single dad while dealing with a brain injury from a car accident. Eddie's son Connor tells some really great dad jokes and I loved the job Tara finds giving her an outlet for her artistic skills. There are a lot of moving parts and Tracey Lange brings them all together while at the same time giving us a crossover connection to the Brennans. This family drama really kept me engaged and I am looking forward to seeing what Irish family is featured in Lange's next title.

Thank you, NetGalley and Edelweiss+ for the ARCS I was able to read in return for an honest review.

💭Thoughts:
This is a beautifully emotional character driven story. I honestly wasn’t expecting to fall in love with these characters like I did. I really felt for Tara and what she went through. The love she had for her nephew was really remarkable. It’s hard for me to put into words exactly why I loved this book without giving things away about the story. It’s more enjoyable to learn the family secrets as they happen.

The narrator did such a fantastic job with this story. I could really feel the emotion in her words.

I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy family dramas filled with lots of love, secrets, and past traumas.

This was a new author for me and I was hooked from the beginning!

Tara Connelly is getting out of prison after 18 months for a crime she only committed to help someone else. The policeman who put her in jail is there to drive her home and she has no idea why. She goes home to her brother, sister and nephew. She and her siblings lost their mom and their dad split when they were young so they've always been there for each other.

However, they all have their own issues and as the secrets start to come out, they realize they have to come clean. And why is this policeman trying to help them after putting Tara in jail? Finally, Tara remembers her mother's story, The Connelly's of County Down, and that they all have superpowers that fit their personalities. She sees how they have all protected each other.

I gave this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I listened to the audio and loved it! I was hooked from the beginning and loved these imperfect characters. It is about loyalty and love and new beginnings. Go get it when it comes out!

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for an advanced audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a magical story of family, loyalty, honor, and love. The characters are so well-developed and I love the growth we see in all of them from beginning to end. I adore this kind of family drama and I fell in love with the Connelly's a little bit more with every page I turned. I listened to the audiobook that is narrated perfectly by Barrie Kreinik and I can't wait to read We Are the Brennan's next!

The Connellys of County Down AUDIO by Tracey Lange is the story of Tara Connelly who is shown being released after spending eighteen months in state prison on the charge of trafficking drugs. She knows rebuilding her life at thirty will be difficult but she has her family: a brother, Eddie; a sister, Geraldine; and most importantly, a nephew whom she adores. She is ready to leave prison when she is held up. A policeman has something to say to her. She can’t stand the holdup, especially when she discovers the detective who arrested her in the first place. She is distraught when her sister isn’t there to pick her up and she has to accept a ride with this same detective who had come to apologize for arresting her!

She returns to all kinds of problems: Eddie is still suffering from the brain damage he got as a youth when he was in a car accident. Geraldine has become a hoarder. Her probation office is a nightmare. No one wants to hire her until she comes upon a couple of very young men who are gamers and need a graphic artist. She had been an art teacher before prison and spent all her time in prison drawing, developing characters/comic books for her nephew and the daughter of her cellmate. This was such a character-driven novel. The characters were well-written, well-rounded, mostly likable. The plot was all about he characters and their problems and boy, did they have them. It was a bit of a romance as well. It was a terrific listen!

The reader was Barrie Kreinik who did an amazing rendition. It was a long read and he was there for every second of it. There were plenty of difficult moments and he handled them with equanimity and grace.

I was invited to listen to a free audio of The Connellys of County Down by MacMillan Audio, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #MacMillanAudio #SpencerQuinn #BarrieKreinik #TheConnellysOfCountyDown

This book was just alright for me. Three adult children with shared trauma, causing each other more trauma by communicating with each other?

And the power dynamic between Detective Nolan and Tara just made me feel gross. Like I’m glad she’s happy but good lord he should know better. Come on man.

The writing was fine, I just didn’t vibe with some of the plot.

4.5🌟
I love a family drama, and this latest by Tracey Lange absolutely delivered!💃

Tara Connelly is about to be released from prison and placed on probation. After eighteen months behind bars for a charge she’s eager to put her life back together and move forward.

When neither of her siblings show up to take her home she reluctantly accepts a ride with the detective instrumental in putting her behind bars. So many questions! Why was he at the prison at the precise moment she was released? What does he want from her now? And most importantly…can she trust him?

After losing their parents as youngsters the three Connelly children banded together, becoming as tight a family as they come. Eddie, suffering from a brain injury is raising his son Conner (loved him and his cute jokes💙). Geraldine, the oldest is trying to keep the family together.

So you would naturally assume that given her track-record of doing time in prison, young sister Tara would be the black sheep of the family. Oh come on! Then where where would we find all the juicy family drama?!

I listened to the audio and absolutely loved every minute.

Thank you to Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley

Welp if you can’t sleep and need a natural dose of melatonin this is the book for you. Whoah. What a snooze fest. I don’t like to be negative with my reviews so I won’t be other than that, and I hate to even say that because I did enjoy the Brennans but dang this was….🥱🥱 I even listened at 2x just to get it over faster and it still felt like it took forever to be done bc nothing really happened. If you are a fan of character storylines where the MC is a good girl caught up in a bad situation and a cop whose willing to break the rules for her. Sounds like there’s a story there right?! Well there wasn’t. It was monotonous and made the cop look dumb and made me feel as a reader like the author underestimated my intelligence.
I will still read books by her because I enjoyed the Brennans, and hope for the best, but this was not for me.
That being said, the narrator couldn’t even save this one.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tracey Lange, MacMillan Audio and Celadon for an advance audio galley of The Connellys of County Down in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my one, except for any quotations, and may not be reproduced.

I was one of the select few who had not previously read Tracey Lange’s prior novel, We Are the Brennans. I had heard great things, but just hadn’t gotten to it yet. So this was my first read by this author and didn’t know what to expect going in. It was getting some buzz and I was interested. After being approved for the advance copy, I still put it on the backburner for just a bit. One of these days, I am going to learn to stop doing that, because EVERY SINGLE TIME I do that, I end up LOVING the book and it ends up being one of my favorite reads of the year. That is exactly what happened here!

“When Tara Connelly is released from prison after serving eighteen months on a drug charge, she knows rebuilding her life at thirty years old won’t be easy. With no money and no prospects, she returns home to live with her siblings, who are both busy with their own problems. Her brother, a single dad, struggles with the ongoing effects of a brain injury he sustained years ago, and her sister’s fragile facade of calm and order is cracking under the burden of big secrets. Life becomes even more complicated when the cop who put her in prison keeps showing up unannounced, leaving Tara to wonder what he wants from her now.

While she works to build a new career and hold her family together, Tara finds a chance at love in a most unlikely place. But when the Connellys’ secrets start to unravel and threaten her future, they all must face their worst fears and come clean, or risk losing each other forever.”

The story was utterly fabulous! Each character was written to perfection. This novel fully embodies what it means to love your family and to be loyal to them and do what is best for them, no matter the cost.

I wish Tara Connelly was real & a part of my family. Or at the very least, my ride-or-die BFF. I was HOPING that her “unlikely” love interest would be who I wanted it to be. I was not let down.

This story will definitely make you ask yourself how much you love your own family and what you would do or sacrifice for them.

Now that I love The Connellys so much, I’m running to get my hands on The Brennans! I am officially a Tracey Lange fan.

I will absolutely be promoting this title on my Bookstagram and recommending it to anyone and everyone!

5 full stars!

I binged this audiobook in one day because I just could not put it down! I never got around to reading this author’s debut, “We Are the Brennans”, but I will definitely be moving it toward the top of my TBR. I absolutely loved this story about a dysfunctional family with complicated sibling relationships. There were times when I was frustrated with the decisions these characters made but, isn’t that just life?
🤷🏻‍♀️
An enthralling read for any fan of contemporary fiction novels, focusing on realistic familial relationships. I will definitely be recommending it.
💜
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a free copy of this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this family drama about Tara's adjustment to life outside of jail. We are introduced to her as she is leaving jail and how she helps her family including her sister and brother after she is out. This is a slow developing family drama and I loved getting to know the small town and the characters! The narrator did a fantastic job too!

After serving 18 months in prison for a drug charge, Tara has returned home to attempt to get her life back on track. Tara isn’t exactly thrilled about moving in with her siblings; her brother Eddie is a single father who faces many difficulties due to a traumatic brain injury, and her sister Geraldine seems to be hiding something that is wearing on her. Attempting to make the best of the situation, Tara attempts to move on, but soon faces a new obstacle when Brian, the cop who arrested her, shows up, threatening to unravel and uncover all of the secrets held by the Connellys. 

The Connellys of County Down is a touching novel that shows the strength of love within a family, as well as the pain that family can cause each other. The story is so well written and it drew me in right from the beginning, although at times the narrative seemed to drag. I really enjoyed the characters. They are so well developed, honest and relatable, and I found myself immersed and invested in their lives. Eddie was my favorite character and I loved seeing his growth within the tale. The Connellys of County Down is a heart-felt novel full of love, drama, and perseverance.

The audiobook was an enjoyable listen, although it was a bit slow and I was grateful that I could speed it up. Kreinik, through her tone, pace and voice, brought real emotion to the characters and the events within their lives. She pulled me further into the story and the lives of the Connellys.

The Connellys of County Down is a wonderful book about 3 siblings navigating grief and trauma when their whole world gets turned upside down. Tara has just gotten released from an 18-month stint in prison after getting arrested on a drug charge and after she gets home, she finds out her family has been struggling in a lot of ways.

I loved the passion in this novel, there’s a lot of multi-layered characters and motivations and when they all come together things get messy and real. I was honestly a little stressed out while reading this book but that just shows how invested I was in the characters storylines. I wanted everything to work out for them and seeing these flawed people created bigger issues for themselves had me internally freaking out.

Lange has managed to perfect the art of a character-based novel. It doesn’t lull and there’s enough plot and action that we don’t feel bogged down by internal thoughts of the characters. Her reveals are also really well done, this book keeps you guessing just enough.
The Connellys of County Down was beautifully crafted and I really enjoyed the ride that Tracey Lange took us on. A great read for fans of family sagas!

I quite liked this!! Again, a 4.25 if I did that 👀 I was entertained by this messy but lovable family. They make really irksome choices at times, but you can’t help but root for them. This isn’t really plot driven but there is plot. It’s also not solely character driven but there’s plenty of examination of the human condition here. Although there are some heavy topics discussed, the overall vibe is still light. I will say this surprised me by propelling me along throughout. I wanted to see what happened and what this family was going to do next. And the audio was great!!