Master storyteller JoJo Moyes returns with an engaging, witty story of a woman with an untraditional, messy, blended family in WE ALL LIVE HERE.

About...

Things are not going well for Lila Kennedy. She's dealing with a broken marriage, two wayward daughters, each with their struggles, an elderly stepfather who has moved in, and her lifelong absent father who has suddenly reappeared. All these past and present relationships intertwine to create a rich and complex family dynamic.

Lila is an author, and her husband, Dan, has left her for a younger woman. why is her father turning up now after 35 years?

On top of this, how can she write about happy marriages when her world is in shambles?

My thoughts...

WE ALL LIVE HERE is a lively, character-driven family drama that's a story and a journey of self-discovery. It's filled with wit, humor, life lessons, complexities, and wisdom, offering a deeper understanding of the true meaning of family.

It's a heartwarming tale of love, loss, forgiveness, motherhood, marriage, compassion, and the brokenhearted. But above all, it's a story that inspires and gives hope, even in the most challenging of circumstances.

Recs...

For fans of JoJo Moyes, WE ALL LIVE HERE is a must-read. It shares the same compelling storytelling and deep exploration of human relationships that fans have come to love in Moyes' works. If you enjoy character-driven family dramas, this book is for you.

Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Viking Penguin | Pamela Dorman Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

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@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
Pub Date: Feb 11, 2025
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We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes is a heartfelt and relatable story about family, resilience, and second chances. With her signature blend of humor and emotional depth, Moyes crafts a touching narrative about a woman rebuilding her life amid chaos. The characters are compelling, the themes deeply resonant, and the story is both poignant and uplifting. Fans of Moyes’ work will find plenty to love in this moving tale of love, loss, and unexpected connections.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking Pamela Dorman Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest novel by Jojo Moyes. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars rounded up!

Lila has a lot going on. Her ex-husband is having a baby with the woman he left her for and she has to see her every day at school pickup. Her mother passed away and her stepfather has basically moved in with her and her two daughters, in a house that is becoming a money pit. She has writer's block for her new book, and then her biological dad turns back up.

As with all Moyes' books, this one will tug at your heartstrings. I love a good family drama and this book's many characters and their emotions felt real and relatable, These characters are dealing with a lot - grief, loss, uncertainty - but there are so many lighthearted, humorous moments along the way. It explores real family - those related to us and not - with all the ups and downs involved. I was always anxious to get back to this family and I already miss these characters, especially Gene who was such a hoot and was trying so hard to be better. A must read!

We all live here~this family drama with plenty of highs and lows. It’s a good thing the characters were developed so well you really needed something to draw you back. This felt like the longest book ever.

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes is a family drama about love, loss and just trying to make it through life. Lila has a lot going on - recently divorced, two daughters, trying to keep a writing career alive, her mom recently died and her step-father quietly moved in with them. When her dad who she hasn't seen in 35 years arrives at her door and asks to live with her she's almost at her breaking point. 

This was much more character-driven and seeing Lily try to keep everything going despite all of the chaos in her life. I would have liked this book a lot more if it was about 100 pages shorter - it was 464 pages and it unfortunately was way too long and the middle seemed to go on forever. 
I still enjoyed Jojo Moyes beautiful writing, but not enough to love this book. 

Thanks to Pamela Dorman books for my advanced copy!

Another really great read from a great storyteller. There are authors and then there are storytellers - they take you through a story giving you all the feels- making you feel as if you are listening to a treasured friend tell you her secrets!

This is one of those!

Lila is living through a chaotic stage of life. She's divorced, raising two teen daughters, her mother recently passed away and her stepfather has essentially moved in with them... and then her real father randomly appears on her doorstep and inserts himself into everyone's lives. More and more events challenges pop up for Lila as she juggles the girls' school activities, writing a new book, and exploring relationships after divorce. The characters in this story are unique and lovable.

I absolutely love Jojo Moyes's emotional and heartfelt books and this ranks among her best! It's the story of a family that, like all families, has a great deal of dysfunction, chaos, and stress. Unlike all families, they manage to get through it with love, grace, and forgiveness. I loved all the quirky characters and loved to spend a short bit of time with them. Very humorous, entertaining, and warm read.

A house, a broken marriage, loss, family, motherhood, and writing set the stage for JoJo Moyes' We All Live Here. Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate - her husband has left, her home is in disrepair, her stepfather has moved in, her lifelong absent father has shown back up, and her daughters have their own struggles. Life has thrown her some lemons and soured her to a degree, with all that she has on her plate, she is struggling.

I had high hopes for this character driven book and thought that this would be a slam dunk for me. But I found this book to be quite slow for the entire 464d page book. While slow does not generally work for me, I did enjoy how JoJo Moyes showed Lilia slowly taking those lemons, that have been hurled her way and figuratively making lemonade with them.

Many different forms of relationships are shown in this book and through them, Lilia begins to heal. I enjoyed the family drama; especially the drama caused by Lilia's eccentric father figures in this book. There are some fun moments, some hopeful moments, some sad moments, and some outlandish moments along the way. I just wished that things would move along at a much faster pace. While I enjoyed the sentiment of this book, it was still a struggle for this reader.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW 🎧
Thank you for the gifted copy @prha

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes
Pub Date: Jan. 11th

Synopsis: Single mom Lila has a full house with her two kids, her elderly stepfather and her estranged father suddenly living under her roof.

Thoughts: An engaging family drama with complicated family dynamics, teenagers going through changes, and a single mom trying to begin dating again, this book has something relatable for everyone. I would have liked it to be a bit shorter - at 464 pages it didn’t keep my attention the whole time. A note on the audio: Jenna Coleman’s narration is great and the audio really helped me get through the slower parts!

Read this if you like:
🏡 family drama
🏡 multiple pov
🏡 character driven stories

This was a fun read about the chaotic life of Lila, a divorced mom of two daughters. Her house is a money pit, her dad and stepdad are both in her life, and her ex-husband's new wife is having a baby. And she owes her book agent an upbeat book - with some romance - about her life after divorce. Nothing life-changing, but most moms will find something to relate to in this book.

I had a little trouble getting into this one. We All Live Here started off ok, but was mostly just so so. Not the best Jojo Moyes book, but not the worst. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Moyes has a gift for writing women protagonists who have have some family drama/dysfunction, but ultimately come to realize the family that has created that drama is really loveable in the end. This is another novel with that plot line. Lila is dealing with her divorce from her cheating husband, her mother’s death, her stepfather’s grief, and her biological father’s return while trying to raise her two girls. Gene, the bio dad, and Dan the ex are the “bad” guys, but Moyes gives them depth to show maybe they aren’t so bad after all. I enjoyed this one while reading it, and i thought the characters were well written. It just was a bit too predictable.

This was fun!! I didn't quite love any of the characters but I did enjoy the family dynamics and the familial chaos.

Jojo Moyes is one of my favorite authors but I had a harder time getting into this one than her other recent stories. It is very long and a lot of the conversations were longer than they needed to be. I did love the humor and the characters, but sometimes that is not enough for me in a character driven story

An amazing story about Lila who has a failed marriage, two daughters who she has a somewhat relationship with, a house failing apart and then enters her father who she hasn't seen in over thirty-five years. This story of family and love is well written and made me cry at one point. Highly recommend!

I loved this book, for the well developed characters and the theme of families not always being traditional. Lila’s husband left her for a neighbor, so she is forced to see her daily at the local school. Lila’s mother died recently, and her stepfather moved in to help her with her two daughters, Celie and Violet. Lila’s birth father, Gene, reappears and moves in, creating a chaotic but humorous situation for this untraditional family. There is humor, sadness, love and hope as Lila has to face new realities. Highly recommended to women’s fiction lovers. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was a heartfelt, beautiful story about family, life’s ups and downs and finding yourself in the midst of the craziness of adulthood. Maybe I sympathize with Lila because we are a similar age, or because at our age we’re supposed to know what we’re doing (even though we don’t always), but I loved how relatable this story was. No, not everyone has two fathers that hate each other and decide to move in with them, but we do have family dynamics that challenge us, love stories that are sometimes messy and burdens that pile up and overwhelm us, and seeing those things in this story made it easy for me to root for Lila through it all. The characters in this story were so well developed and really each lent a different voice to the story unfolding. As a reader, we hope in stories like this we can see the evolution not just of the MC, but the characters around her and Ms. Moyes does not disappoint in delivering that. I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down. As someone who’s read many of her past novels, Ms. Moyes does not disappoint with “We All Live Here”, and I don’t think anyone will regret giving his book a try.

**Thank you so much to JoJo Moyes, NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I appreciate the opportunity!**

Pleasantly surprised because I wasn't sure how I was going to like this book in the beginning. So many characters and great character development. A mother with 2 kids, her 2 dads, her mother has passed, some sweet helpful neighbors and her ex husband that left her for a mom at the school. She's got a lot of shizz going on and isn't' sure how she is ever going to get through it.. Through out the book you see how her family changes, get's better and is so different. I really enjoyed the very ending "Postscript" because it gave you detailed information about how each person and issue were resolved and or played out in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I’ve liked the other books I’ve read by Jojo Moses, so I was excited to pick this up. However, this story wasn’t for me. It wasn’t grabbing my attention and felt a little bit chaotic.

I DNF’ed it at 10%. I’m sure this will be a fabulous book for some readers, just not me, which is why I’m giving a 3-star rating.