Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Jennifer E. Smith for allowing me to read Fun for the Whole Family in exchange for an honest review.

There are four very interesting Endicott children: Jude, a famous actress, Gemma, deciding if motherhood is all that fulfilling, Connor, an author with writer’s block, and Roddy, a professional soccer player. Then, there’s the mother, somehow causing these siblings to not see each other in over ten years. Well, Jude is about to surprise everyone with her recollections of living with mom and the secrets she has kept, but decides now is the time to share. Why share now? Will they all show up? How will they feel when the reunion is over?
This is a good book that opens our hearts to searching for and giving forgiveness.

I am making it a mission to set out and read all the books about contrasting, conflicting, strained sibling relationships.

Give me 4 dramatically differing siblings with their vibrant personalities and put them in the middle of nowhere for a long weekend together. What could possibly go wrong? Or what could go right with the strained Endicott crew?

Relishing their youth and the sporadic road trips across America with their estranged mother Frankie, siblings Gemma, Connor, and twins Roddy and Jude each grapple (separately and together) with their falling out and secrets. Oh the SECRETS!

I dove in and was so invested in this motley crew of brothers and sisters.
And the ending sort of wrecked me in a way that feels so deserving of 5 stars.

Grab this book ahead of your next roadtrip or getaway.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for allowing me to read Fun for the Whole Family.

Smith writes families - especially complicated ones - so well, and with nuance. The family isn’t complicated just for the sake of complication, rather is rendered so thoughtfully that each family member feels fleshed out and positioned intentionally to form this curious collective. The flow and pace was expertly crafted and I couldn’t put it down. It was heartfelt and pretty emo - but never too overly sappy (which I could never stand for). Loved it.

Fun For the While Family is the story of the Endicott siblings that as children were inseparable and whose unpredictable mother would show up and whisk the children off on a road trip to make wonderful memories .. until something terrible happened.

Now as adults it has been three years since Gemma, Connor, Roddy and Jude have communicated with each other. Jude needs her sibling back together, she needs them to know the truth and have ask them all to meet her in the small town of Portree, North Dakota to spend a few days together. While reluctant to go, they all show up .. Gemma, Connor with his two children, and Roddy with his fiancé Winston.

Jennifer E. Smith brilliantly weaves this story through each of the siblings as they struggle with the past, pass to present in a random timeline and from state to state. As the Endicott family’s story unravels over the weekend, they will discover that Jude has been harboring three secrets.

Fun For the While Family is a heartwarming story about family, the bond of siblings and forgiveness

Thank you, Jennifer E. Smith, Ballentine Books and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a poignant but fun book about adult siblings reconnecting after years of not speaking. The Extraordinary Endicott siblings, as their mom called them, consists of Gemma, Connor, Roddy, and Jude. Jude is a famous actress who’s carved out a weekend right before her first Oscars weekend to see her siblings. Roddy is a professional soccer player about to marry his longtime fiancee Winston. Connor is a divorced dad of two rambunctious children and a published author. And Gemma is happily married and going through her first round of IVF.
Each sibling has their own chapters from their POV, some in the present day and some in the past, when the four siblings would go on roadtrips every summer with their mom, trying to travel to each of the 50 states. Each Endicott has been affected by their mom’s alternative lifestyle choices in different ways, and this present-day weekend getaway forces them to confront that.
For having such a full cast, each character is developed, realistic, and memorable. I loved the sibling dynamic both in the past as children, and in the present with their new family members added in. Their bickering banter and goofy reminiscing was so sweet, and their fights were heartbreaking.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who avoids heavy literary fiction, and is looking for a bright and fresh story about an American family. I will add a warning that this story is not all sunshine and rainbows, and did tear my heart into pieces by the end.
Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Fun for the Whole Family is a family saga following the adult children of the Endicott family. As a child, their mother left them with their father, but returned each summer to take them on a road trip. Now they are called together by one of the siblings and the meetup spot is a small town in North Dakota that no one has heard of. These siblings are forced to overcome the secrets and differences that have kept them apart.

I found this book to be vaguely reminiscent of The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, but also very different. I enjoyed the sibling bond. Each of the siblings is floundering a bit in life and this meetup offers the opportunity to bring the family back together. The focus of the book is on family and forgiveness!

I don’t know if I get the title for this particular book, but that’s my own question. The Endicott siblings are wonderful in this story and the end is so incredible and heartfelt. The longing is woven through the book in a way that makes it so believable and made it feel like it was mine, too.

Advanced reader copy provided by Ballantine and NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

Sometimes I read a book and feel so utterly freaking gobsmacked by the sheer awesomeness of the story that all I can do is cry and feel grateful to be alive at the same time as the human who created such art. That’s how I feel today, having finished Fun for the Whole Family.

A sweeping tale of family spanning decades and told in multiple POVs, Fun for the Whole Family follows the Extraordinary Endicotts. Gemma, the eldest/caretaker who lives a seemingly normal life, Connor, the writer who found fame from his personal, but not true, book, Roddy, a professional soccer player nearing the end of his career, and his twin sister Jude, a famous actress. The siblings haven’t spoken properly in three years but a random text from Jude brings them all to small town North Dakota to face their past and discuss their future. Jude has three secrets to share with her siblings and only one weekend to find the courage to do so.

I can’t think of a single thing I didn’t love about this book. The main characters are amazing, their backstories are exciting, their current day dilemmas and partners are engaging, the sibling dynamic is moving, and the ending is so perfect it made me cry and feel everything. I can’t recommend this enough!!

I really enjoyed this book although it was much heavier than I was expecting - this is definitely a case of “don’t judge a book by its cover”! The characters were dynamic and even though I predicted several parts I still really enjoyed the read. Definitely recommend!

The writing in this book was good and I liked the characters, but I didn’t love how it jumped around so much and it was much heavier than I was expecting. Be sure to have tissues!

This was such a well written book, all the characters felt so real, all with flaws and virtues, just trying to live as best as they could, making mistakes along the way, as we all do.
The connection between all the siblings were strong, but all different, and even though they shared the same childhood, they all experienced it differently because they are different people.

Fun for the whole family is an enjoyable family saga that. Caught me by surprise with how much I liked it.

The four endicott siblings haven’t spoken in three years after a fight that transpired between them. Gemma is the oldest and the motherly figure of the 4 unable to have her own children- Jude is a famous actress who is never able to find fulfillment in relationships- Connor is a rising author reeling from a divorce-and Roddy is a gifted soccer player unable to commit to his fiancé. The four of them had N.A. inseparable bond as kids born from trauma with their chaotic mother, who would breeze in every summer to take them on cross country road trips. The four are now scattered and they receive a text from Jude summoning them mysteriously to a weekend in North Dakota. Unable to ever resist the call from one another, they all converge on the town and their insecurities, resentments, and secrets, and pain all rise to the surface over the course of the weekend.

For all of their mess, the siblings are real and fully realized characters-each with his or her own voice. The present timeline intercuts with the past roadtrips with their mom as kids and the readers get a full picture of why the endicotts became such complicated adults. Funny, sad, warm, empathetic-this book will take readers on a journey.

I recommend this book to all readers of fiction and family stories! Thanks to the publisher for providing this arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book! The characters on their own are interesting and dynamic, and it was fun to learn more about their relationships. There were some predictable parts, but I found that I didn't mind that. I will definitely be recommending this to patrons and friends alike. Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

Fun for the Whole Family is a character-driven novel that follows the four estranged Endicott siblings on a weekend reunion after years apart. The mix of past and present timelines showcases the complex bond of siblings: feeling less than your siblings, feeling like you're not the favorite, remembering family occurrences differently and essentially coming to terms with the fact that you all really did have *different* parents depending on your age, birth order, family status at the time, etc. ...which is something my siblings and I have talked about some in real life, also.

The siblings: Gemma, the safe, boring, oldest sibling experiencing infertility; Connor, the author who is struggling with writer's block and has separated himself from his wife/children; the twins: Jude and Roddy: movie star in LA and "old" soccer player in likely last season, respectively, meet in North Dakota at the request of Jude who ends up having secrets she needs to share. This is a story about growing up & apart and then reconciling relationships with the people who have known you the longest.

I think the biggest take away from this story, for me, can be applied to all relationships, not just familial or sibling relationships: Just because that's now how you remember it doesn't mean that's not how I felt during it.

That sentiment is the exact reason I feel conflicted in my dislikes of the story being: the parents' place in the story didn't feel big enough, and some (at least 1) of Jude's "secrets" didn't seem high stakes enough and/or we didn't spend enough time sitting with the feelings that would likely occur in real-life when these secrets are revealed.

Despite being an OBVIOUS Gemma (oldest sibling, feeling like the least extraordinary sibling) I felt connected to each of these adult siblings at some point in the story.

If you have siblings of any number, biology, history: this book will resonate with you to some degree.

What an amazing book!! This poignant family drama centers on a North Dakota reunion of the “Extraordinary Endicotts” - four siblings who have been estranged from each other for over three years after a dramatic sibling fight broke out between them. They’ve been summoned together by their sister, the ultra-famous Jude, who’s just been Oscar nominated for her acting and has paid for the trip. Turns out that Jude has brought them back together as she has powerful secrets she both needs to share, and fears to share, with her siblings, each of whom she deeply misses.

Jude’s twin Roddy has particularly missed his closeness with Jude, but has thrown himself into his now fading career as a soccer star. Roddy has brought along with him his fiancé, Winston, with whom he’s fighting as they live in D.C. and Roddy has accepted to play for one professional soccer season down in Florida with asking Winston. Attending means Roddy will miss their wedding date, and Winston questions his commitment to their relationship.

Older brother Connor has authored of a book that has gone on to win national awards, but that he’s based without permission on his siblings and their time growing up together. His siblings are suitably pissed at him. Connor’s divorced, has moved to Nashville to work on a new novel that’s going nowhere, and has brought his two children with him for the sibling’s reunion in North Dakota.

Gemma, the oldest who basically ended up parenting her siblings, lives a normal life in Chicago, happily married, but facing infertility and a husband who adores her but is desperate to be a dad.

The siblings grew up with a detached father and an absentee mother who decided to leave them to pursue her dreams as a small-time actress, but who spent every summer with them on a quest to visit all 50 states.

The novels continually alternates between everyone’s points of view, as well as individual sibling first person memories from summer trips on the road with their Mom. Each remember family stories that they see as defining who they emerged as adults. These growing up memories intermingle with the North Dakota weekend unfolding.

What emerges is the capturing of the drama, hurt and love that entangle sibling relationships, and what it ultimately takes to get over hurt feelings, face ugly self-truths, and find acceptance.

The depth of their emotional connections and powerful love for each other proves transcendent.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, and Netgalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Some family stories morph into legends over time. Others are legendary always, from the moment they're lived through the future retellings.
In Jennifer E. Smith's latest novel, Fun for the Whole Family, the Endicott siblings-- Gemma, Connor, Jude, and Roddy-- knew their week with their mom every summer would be...different. Their mom, who left them with their workaholic dad to pursue her acting dreams, would flit into their lives for a road trip every August. An old car, seedy motels, and a sense of adventure were the only constants of these trips. Until one fateful night when a fire changed their lives. Now as adults, the Endicott siblings have barely spoken in the past three years when a text from Jude brings them back together, a text requesting they come to North Dakota that weekend.

This novel enraptured me from the start. Each character is so well developed they feel real, and the way they speak to one another shows their childhood bonds.
Chapters are arranged in alternating timelines as the third-person omniscient narrator shifts focus among the siblings. Though the novel moves between flashbacks and present day, the memories are layered in such that they fit seamlessly within the narrative.
Smith's novel is a character study, analyzing each character's memories, lives, choices so the reader understands, intrinsically, their motivations and reasonings.
This is one of those unputdownable books you'll devour in days, then regret reading quickly because you don't want it to end. I laughed out loud, cried, rollercoastered my way through all the emotions. It made me look up plane tickets to see my sister (even though we're the farthest thing from estranged, this book made me miss my sister). Perhaps because these characters are so human, their sibling dynamic is so well represented, and it made me miss my sister for the same reason these siblings missed on another: because no one knows you better, more deeply, at a cellular level. And sometimes, you just need to hug your sister (or whomever your sibling is, reader!).

This is one of those books that gives me the tingles-- I look forward to seeing it on the bestseller tables, all over Instagram, and (in two to three years) as its made into a movie. Why? Because it is a beautiful mosaic of experiences, shown in a tender way amongst these flawed, relatable characters.

Much gratitude to the author, Random House/Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for an E-ARC such that I could share my honest opinions.

Fun for the Whole Family is now available.

Happy reading!

This was a fun family road trip novel that had me entertained the whole way through. While it had a little more family drama than I like, I thought that it was done well and everything wrapped up perfectly. Very cute!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I was really excited about this one due to the overwhelming amount of positive reviews and buzz, but this one fell flat for me. The major character conflicts that tore these siblings apart in the first place didn't feel major at all. They were quick to resolve with little to no conversation.

It is a slllloooowww burn. I wasn't really invested until the last 10% of the book. Though the last chapter had me emotional and the story was beautifully wrapped up.

Overall, it was entertaining, but just fine.

An enjoyable multiple POV read that explores sibling dynamics and past traumas. Books about families, especially siblings, are some of my favorites and this cast of characters was great! Each of the four siblings has a very different life/career and it kept things interesting to switch perspectives every chapter. Despite the turmoil, the siblings’ love for each other was clear, so even though it was emotional, it was also a heartwarming read. Recommend!

Fun For the Whole Family caught me by surprise, the cute cover gave me lighthearted snowy family vacation vibes but the story was so much deeper than that.

The Endicott siblings; Gemma, Connor, Jude, Roddy haven’t spoken in three years and Jude is determined to fix that. The siblings, responding to Jude’s urgent request, find themselves snowed in in rural North Dakota where they must come to terms with the secrets among them and heal old wounds.

This is a deeply poignant story off four siblings grieving the loss of their estranged mother and coming to terms with the truth behind the traumatic events of their childhood. They must also learn to let each other back into their lives while navigating their own personal issues.

Equal parts heartwarming and sad this book had me in its claws until the very end. A great and surprisingly multifaceted read about family and sibling bonds.

Fun For the Whole Family is out now! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for my copy; all opinions are my own.