Genre: Contemporary/Literary

Format: Audio/Physical

5🌟 - I loved it!

I loved this slice-of-life novel! Visiting the northeast this summer made me want to prioritize this one especially after seeing my bestie @booksbyheath rave about it!

This is an epitome of a character-driven novel! I think if you love being dropped in the middle of the lives of characters in a book, you’ll love this one. Although this book from the outside is a story about normal things and a normal life, it has a lot of deeper themes and topics explored. It made me want to go back to the northeast ASAP!

A family continues their tradition of staying at their beachside house; this slim novel looks at one particular summer in recent memory, particularly the wild events that occur and the secrets that come to the surface.

This had a lot of potential but didn't live up to a lot of it for me, unfortunately. The verisimilitude was absolutely stunning, and Newman's a great writer; with that, Rocky's narrative voice did feel flat and a bit heavy-handed in parts for me. Part of this also might have been that I was going in anticipating a light, summer read - but there are some heavy, serious topics discussed here. So that's not really a dig on the book but just about my own expectations.

This one hit home. Sandwiched between two generations, taking care of your parents and half grown kids, while dealing with your body going through changes. This made for an engaging read!
Thank you #harper and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I highlighted so many lines throughout this. So much golden wisdom

I’ve also never read a more perfectly accurate description of the Cape in summer.

A delight of a book! I laughed, I cried, I felt seen. If you want to read something light, but meaningful and to feel understood, don't miss this one!

Sandwich is a slice of summer life in a family that yearly vacations in Cape Cod. Rocky fondly remembers when her children were younger and needed her more. She has excellent and open relations with her children, but as she goes through menopause, she sometimes misses the way things used to be and when everyone needed her more. One snippet that rang true to life was her keeping up with everyone's doings by what they were ordering on her Amazon account.

What I liked about the book most was the witty dialogue and characters that really jumped off the page. The character of Rocky felt very real, if a little angsty. She didn't annoy me as much as she seemed to some of the reviewers.

Where the book fell short for me was the plot. The storyline was very thin to me, and while the good writing kept me going to the end, the story itself didn't.

Thank you to NetGalley, Catherine Newman, and Harper Collins for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Parts of this were charming and moving — it’s rare to read a book from the perspective of a menopausal woman who is so unapologetic about her needs and feelings. And the discussion of reproductive choices and regret was nuanced and powerful. But lots of the narrator’s quirks, which I suspect I was meant to find endearing, were just baffling and exhausting and off putting. And that in turn made it hard for me to care about some of the bigger emotional reveals. So, mixed bag.

While I quite enjoyed the ambiance and setting of this book, I was distracted and annoyed at some of the opinions of the matriarch and disagreed with some of the flippant opinions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for the complimentary e-copy of this book.

Rocky looks forward to the week her family spends in a tiny Cape Cod rental every year. She's now approaching menopause and is juggling hot flashes with her two adult children who have moved away from home but are still young enough to need their mother. Every family has secrets, and Rocky learns to prepare herself for openness and change while accepting the things she cannot undo.

I wasn't sure about this book at first--I couldn't quite tell where the plot was going and some of the humor didn't quite land with me. But by the end, it turned into a beautiful story about womanhood, female bodies, and family. I still do not think I grasped the full range of emotions the author had in mind due to the fact I am not a mother, but nonetheless, this book still had me laughing and crying. This is a quick read if you are still nostalgic for summer!

This is an enjoyable, easy summer read—quick and undemanding. It's a great example of modern women’s fiction, offering more than just light entertainment. The title "Sandwich" plays on two ideas: the Cape Cod town where the story is set and also symbolizes the narrator's role in her family, caught between caring for her aging parents and her almost-adult children, much like a sandwich with too many ingredients.
The long-standing tradition of summer vacations on the Cape provides a nostalgic backdrop, with both humorous and poignant moments. I found myself drawn to the universal themes of family ties, generational responsibility, and the bittersweet nature of change. Though a short read, you will relate to many of the characters.

3.5 stars . I enjoyed the cape cod content, though unfortunately most of it consisted of made up places and such. This book overall kept my interest. However, at times it saddened me , made me anxious, and even a couple times annoyed me.

This went right down the middle for me.
There were parts that tugged at my emotions and really left me relating or thinking of similar instances but the mom POV was very hard for me.
I'm a mom, not of teenagers but adolescents and she just read very immature and annoying at times, definitely felt more of an older generation...like an late 80's helicopter, less social parent.
I understood her wanting to keep things to herself, her views on her children as adults and sort of teaching them to see parents as not just parents but humans as well.
I really didn't enjoy her lashing outs at her husband, it honestly was kind of triggering to read growing up with an angry adult household.
The narrator was very easy to read, the writing style was breezy but didn't lack importance. I just didn't find it was marketed properly is what it comes down to... it isn't a beach read or even a summer read just because the cover is shown as such.
I take a cape trip every year with my family, sometimes two, and some of it sort of went along but it was sometimes just hard to overlook the annoyance in some parts to really see the messages within.

Poignant, relatable, and right on time for this current stage of my life. Made for a really lovely and perfect summer read for me.

Thank you to Harper, NetGalley and the author for this wonderful ARC.

This is the story of a family over the years during their annual vacation to Cape Cod. The kids are getting older and so are Rocky’s parents. She’s going through menopause and reflecting on her marriage to Nick. It’s a new era for their family and motherhood.

I enjoyed this book although I’m in a much different place than Rocky is. I have a baby that’s just born and I understand her feelings of being overwhelmed at times. It’s a really beautiful look at what’s it’s like to be a parent. I also love Cape Cod and go every summer. It’s truly my happy place.

Terrific on audiobook- the narrator captures the characters well. Newman provides realistic portrayals of the ups and downs of marriage and parenthood while maintaining witty humor. Willa is especially hilarious. CW: reproductive needs

Newman's latest is a quiet meditation on family, living in the present with an eye toward the past and the future. I enjoyed the setting and her characterizations very much. I could see her writing more about this cast in future books. Will recommend.

4.25 stars
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC. I truly loved this book. I felt like the author climbed into my brain and into my family and wrote a book. I saw so much that was familiar in this book. I don’t know how to describe exactly what this book is about- on the surface it is about a family’s yearly trip to the same place on Cape Cod. But below the surface it is about being a mother, a wife, a person. It is about loving so much it hurts, grief, the constant fear and joy of being a parent- and of watching your own parents age. I laughed out loud at a few lines in this book. There is humor and love and grief. I’m glad I read it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this title. I didn't hate it but I definitely didn't love it. Solid three stars for me.

This book is just ok. It has the potential to be really good but it just fell flat for me. I am menopausal so I could identify with the main character's issues but the relationship she had with her children seemed a little far fetched. It's a quick read but not one that I would recommend.

I really liked the mom in this book, but I felt like there was something missing. It was very good, but had then potential to be great, but it fell short. I wanted more.