Quick read about two sisters with very different personalities. I really enjoyed the narrator’s inner-banter and humor. This novel explores the complexities of family, grief, and personal growth. While at times very sad, it was also funny and tender. I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys women’s fiction!

This book was about two sisters who lose their mother and can not seem to get along about anything. They are very different but over time, realize that that family is everything.

I enjoyed this book..I thought maybe that it was just a little too long and that caused it to drag some.

Thank you for the early copy.

I really liked the whole premise of the book. Daughter can never live up to mother's expectations, mother dies, how to deal with the rest of your life, etc. I don't have the best of relationships with my mother and she is quite older now so I know things will never change. However, I felt like this book just went on and on and on. It felt about one hundred pages too long. Aside from that, I liked the characters and the last third of the book was the most appealing.

I really enjoyed reading this book, I liked following Laura and Jess's sisterly journey through there families ups and downs. We mainly follow Laura's journey through her grief, loss, parenting, and feeling unloved by her mother and her childhood, teen hood problems with her mum. I felt sorry for Laura and Jess and what they both had to endure with there mums attitude and behaviour (you will know what I mean when you read it) unfortunately this does happen in real life (I've seen first hand and its horrible, it can effect you badly) and I am so glad someone has written about it and have given the subject justice, as a lot of people don't believe this happens to people. I Don't want too say too much about the plot as I am worried I will spoil the storyline. I think its a great book that keeps you reading and wanting to know more, it also makes you think how you talk and act to family members (hope that makes sense, if not it will once you read this book). This was my first book By Nicola Gill and it wot be my last, I liked her style of writing, very real.

How many times have we heard the saying, “you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family?” I think everyone can relate to that idea, at least at one time or another in their lives. Nicola Gill’s new release takes this concept to the extreme. Two sisters, fiercely competitive in every way, are forced to examine their relationship after the loss of their mother (who blatantly favored one daughter over the other). We Are Family is a realistic, poignant and darkly humourous examination of (dysfunctional) family dynamics.

From the publisher – Laura has a laid back attitude to life. Her home isn’t spotless, and after a hard day she likes to take to bed with a block of cheese.

Jess, on the other hand, is your classic overachiever: The Big Sister, Chief of Chivying, Queen of the family WhatsApp. Her life is picture-perfect.

Laura and Jess lost their dad when they were kids, and now their mum is gone too. And one of the hardest times in life is made harder by the fact they can’t agree on a single thing, from where to scatter the ashes to whether “passed away” is even an acceptable term.

But when Laura starts pushing her own boundaries and Jess agrees to let other people in to her (not so) perfect life, the two women realize they need each other more than ever. They might not be ready to admit it, but family is everything…

I did enjoy We Are Family overall. Nicola Gill does a wonderful job of creating characters that you can really relate to. They are human; flawed, emotional and ultimately in search of happiness and respect. They go through ups and downs and face real life conflict throughout the novel. As a result, you become emotionally connected to Laura, her sister Jess and their respective friends and families.

This novel is definitely character driven and a slow build in terms of plot development. Laura narrates the story and provides immense detail into her relationships with Jess, her partner, Jon and her mother, Evie (both through present day events and flashbacks to childhood). I do think Laura is an interesting character and has great potential. However, she definitely has issues and jumps to conclusions very quickly (which becomes redundant after a while). She takes fault with everything Jess says and does. This, coupled with her innate desire to please her mother and constant competition with her older sister, impede her ability to be successful in her relationships and career path. There were several times I just wanted to tell her to snap out of it!

I do wish we had gotten the story from Jess’ perspective as well, since the novel is framed as an examination of two sisters and their lives (a sequel perhaps?). She was interesting in her own right and deserved more detail and perspective.

To wrap up, this was an enjoyable read overall. If you are looking for a well developed, character focused narrative, then this is definitely the book for you.

Meet Jess and Laura
Sisters
And polar opposites
Jess is a Insta influencer
Laura wears her pj’s to drop her son off to School
They have a ‘cordialish’ relationship and Jess is much favoured by her Mum ( who is never going to win Mum of the year award )
But when their Mum dies there is reproach, anger, sadness and recriminations, from both

It’s hard to say that a book centred around a death had me howling with laughter, but it did, also ( and I am not one to cry buckets at books, dunno y as do at films and tv ) I had a few tears, many grimaces, some shocked faces and as a lot of the reviews have said empathy, the author hit many a nerve for many people in this very honest, open, frank and truthful book ( after my partners recent passing of his Mum some of the narrative was spookily on point )
The book travels through Laura’s journey at this stage of her life, the good, the bad, the ugly and I would almost offer a money back guarantee that you will love her and her character, flaws and all
It’s a book of so many things, packed into one story that will have your emotions flowing and as you welcome these 2 ( and the other cast members ) into your life for the time you read about them fall in love with them, superb

10/10
5 Stars

A lovely story about sisters who aren't friends at the start but then,....Laura and Jess become orphans when their mother dies. They react differently, as they've always reacted differently. Now, though, they also begin to creep toward one another. Jess lets go of some of her control freak tendencies and Laura becomes a bit more responsible. It's all about meeting in the middle- and family, Both of them feel very real. If you find it a bit predictable, well, it's also heartfelt. it's also funny (at minimum smile worthy) in spots. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

What a wonderful book! I really enjoyed Neighbours and again, Nicola Gill delivers. I am never sure why these are filed under romance in NetGalley, because they aren't, but they are great reads if you're looking for a family type of drama. Thanks NetGalley for the free ARC.

Laura's Mum dies of cancer & she is having difficulty grieving because she didn't like her very much. Follow the road of Laura getting to know her sister better & dealing with what life is throwing at her. I read this book in two sittings, I was grabbed by the honesty of Laura & how she was dealing with it all. Enjoyed the way the book has been written & I'm sure many people could relate to the problems that are happening. Recommeded read.

Laura and Jess are not the closest of sisters, they’ve grown up to be very different people with different lives and very different relationships with their mother. When their mother dies and with no other family close by they’re forced to come together to not only arrange her funeral but to sort through her flat; obviously this is a really difficult time for both of them but its made more difficult by the fact that they just can’t seem to get along. Jess is a lifestyle blogger and in younger sister Laura’s eyes is always looking down at Laura’s not spotless home and slightly more overall laid-back attitude to life.

I was drawn to this on Netgalley because it sounded a little like me and my own sister, we’re very different people and don’t always get on perfectly but like Laura and Jess, we’re still family. Fleabag was mentioned in the Goodreads summary and I was hoping this would include some of the same difficult but ultimately heartwarming sibling relationships.

Unfortunately, I struggled with this a bit mainly because I found I couldn’t get behind with Laura’s character, I spent the first part of the book furious at her partner Jon and the rest slightly annoyed with her and personally I find books like this to be difficult to enjoy if I don’t feel like a cheerleader for our main protagonist. I also found that some plot points I was enjoying fell a little flat and then a lot happened in the last 10% of the book which felt a little rushed which was a shame because there were some interesting little twists I wasn’t expecting.

What a great book this is. I absolutely adored Laura instantly but did take a little bit of time to warm to Jess due to how her character is portrayed but she really comes through as a great character as the story goes on. Great character development for Jess I thought.
This book has wit, drama and also really pulled at my heart strings in certain areas, especially a certain letter towards the end that is addressed to Laura.
It has left me wondering though if there will be a follow on

I was sent an advanced readers copy by Netgalley and Avon Books UK for an honest impartial review.

Rating 2/5

Plot Summary

We are Family by Nicola Gill follows the lives of two sisters Laura and Jess, who are estranged, and following the death of their mother have been forced into reconciliation by the circumstances which involve joint decisions like planning the funeral and sorting out their mum’s apartment.

What Didn’t work for me:

While this was intended to be a story about two sisters’ journey towards reconnecting and reconciling, Laura became the central character and unfortunately also the centre point of the plot, which took away the focus from the actual plot itself.

I found the character of Laura deeply problematic, because it seemed to me that Laura was miserable and disliked her sister, not only because she got the short end of the stick when it came to life in general, but also because she had some deep rooted behavioural issues that made her enjoy being miserable.

She was at times, unfairly jealous and insecure of Jess and unfortunately the author has spent far too much time going over these issues rather than focus on the plot.

More or less the plot was predictable, and also tended to waffle – for example – when Laura decides to come clean to Jess about trolling her on the blog, the author has dedicated 2 entire chapters to Laura’s inner musings, introspections and bouts of self-pity.

This theme is recurring throughout the book, to the point where I skimmed through and kept reading just because I wanted to finish the book.

What I’d have liked to see:

The story, as it talks about 2 sisters, would have been better told from the POV of both Laura and Jess – there’s always two sides to the coin.

The mother Evie, is also depicted in unfairly just from Laura’s POV – I would have liked to see why Evie was how she was, as narrated or shown from a neutral or third person POV.

Central characters that are better etched out – As mentioned earlier, Laura ends up becoming the central character in this book, and every character – Jess, Evie, Billy, Amy – are shown as Laura would view them – and given Laura’s ‘got-a-chip-on-my-shoulder’ nature, the depictions are one dimensional and frankly unfair. Well rounded characters – at least the main characters would have added much more depth to the overall plot.

Conclusion:

I’d give it a miss, or put it really low on my read list.

A solid 4 stars!
This was a phenomenal story of complicated family dynamics, grief and regrets. The best thing about this book is how much realism is inserted in it. I was a great fan of this point of the book.

"We are family" focuses on the story of two sisters Laura and Jess, who couldn't be any more different than each other. Jess, the eldest one has a perfect life, perfect career as a Social media influencer, perfect husband and perfect family. Everything in Jess's life is picture-perfect. Laura on the other hand, has a messed up lifestyle, her job as a column writer or precisely the Agony Aunt isn't all mesmerising, her partner Jon is a laid-back guy content with being a lazy couch potato, Laura is tired of pushing him for a stable job at least for the sake of their 5 year old son Billy, but Jon is adamant nonetheless. So, we can see Laura's home life is far from being picture-perfect. And her mother never stopped comparing Jess's perfect lifestyle with Laura's not-so-perfect lifestyle.
Jess and Laura lost their father as kids, being brought up by a mother who didn't shy away from doing partiality between them was never a good place to grow up. They always failed to be like other families, a happy mother daughter trio. This has strained Laura and Jess's relationship forever.
But now Laura and Jess are grown ups, in their late-thirties and their mom's dead.Finally the sisters start to get along with each other, and slowly rekindle their bond, Laura finally realises Jess isn't all perfect goody-two shoes, she had her bad days, made her fare share of bad choices and is as humane as everyone else.
We are presented with a messed up family dynamics with lots of confrontations filled with emotions, grudges, regrets and so much more. This book is written in Laura' s POV, we get a "Then" flashback chapters which helpes the readers to understand Laura's relationship with her family.
I really loved reading this one, how the sister warm up to each other finally after never having a close bonded friendship with each other. By the end of the book, Both Laura and Jess mend their relationship, they also discover some hidden shocking truths about their family. I felt so bad for Laura the entire time, I hated Evie for destroying Laura's childhood and turning her into an over-emotional mess.
This book is really emotional and talks about family relationship and how you can never really put your back to your estranged family.
When I started this book at first, to be honest, I thought it will be in my DNF list. But holymoly! How wrong I was! This book was amazing throughout. I loved reading about this two estranged sisters who are so different from one another. The older one Jess had a perfect life and was the favourite child of their mother, while as the latter one Laura grew up in negligence and in the shadow of her perfect older sibling. We see Laura falling the victim of inferiority complex and Jess being the bossy older sibling added fuel to their strained relationship. Even during their mother's funeral, both were quite hostile to each other.
This book presents how favourism in a family harms the children in the long run. I am very delighted, the author pointed this out. This book was surely one emotional ride and I couldn't ask for a better ending.
I am so glad the sisters got their well deserving endings. I have been reading a lot of sisterhood trope books a lot for a while but this particular book with its character development stole my heart.

For me this book felt a little bit flat if I’m honest. I don’t know if this was due to the time when I was reading it as there was stuff going on in my family life and so certain bits were very relatable. I liked the characters of both Jess and Laura and felt that the relationship between them was very honest and realistic.

Even though things did happen, and quite a few things, it still didn’t feel very eventful to me. There didn’t really seem to be a purpose of the book and it’s just flowed along nicely.

I liked the book and it was a nice calming read, with really good character development but I think it just lacked that something.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

When I read The Neighbours by Nicola Gill I was hooked! But it is possible for Nicola Gill to get EVEN better so if you loved The Neighbours then you will adore We Are Family.

It was a slow start for me – but only for the first 10% and then I was hooked just like before. I was getting strong Fleabag vibes throughout with a hint of Bridget Jones but at the same time Nicola Gill has a writing style all of her own.

So much is crammed into one book that it’s almost impossible to believe that contemporary issues can be explored in such depth. However they are, and Nicola Gill does it with great talent and sensitivity. Blended families, romance, grief, illness, work, home, children…and so much more is covered in this book whilst at the same time being highly entertaining, heart-breaking and hilarious in equal measures.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
We Are Family is an excellent story to show the interactions of two polar opposite sisters. Jess and Laura may be related, but Laura is more laid back and Jess is the overachiever. As they each have different types of personalities, the writing gives you a glimpse into life on the other side as many people have a sibling that is their opposite and sometimes it can be hard to understand why they do things or think about things a certain way and can't always see the other side. For me, I'm more similar to Jess while my sister is similar to the laid back style of Laura. Although the ending felt a little rushed to me, it was a heart-warming story of family. This was the first novel I've read by Nicola Gill and after reading her book (and other reviews highly recommending her other one), I now have her on my list of books to read. I recommend this novel for anyone who wants a feel-good book with a good mix of happy and emotional moments!

I have to separate my feelings for the characters in the book and the actual writing of this book.
The characters in the book are pretty annoying and not very likable, but I think the author did a good job on character development, since I really disliked the people quite a bit. I do not think that I would have strong feelings about them otherwise.

The actual writing of the book, in my opinion, was very dragged out. When I reached half of the book, I was really getting tired of reading, what I felt was the same thing over and over. I was reading to finish the book, more than caring about what happened. I think the book could be shorter, which perhaps would have held my interest better.

I received the advanced reader copy from NetGalley. My review is my own opinion, not influenced by receiving the ARC.

Interesting plot about family dynamics.
Loved how Nicola Gill narrate it in a such lighthearted sense of humour.

I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley.

DNF'ed at 60%.

This book has room to be really good, but 500 pages is way to long. There is a lot in here that I don't think needs to be. It causes the story to drag. I think the storyline is good and the characters are interesting, but I just couldn't continue to drag though the story to see how the ending was.