[AD: Audiobook kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for a review.]
The Delaneys are facing a dilemma. The four siblings, Amy, Troy, Logan and Brooke, have reported their mother Joy’s disappearance. However, now the most likely suspect is their father, Stan. Is this related to Savannah, a complete stranger who turned up at their parents’ door one night and ended up staying with them for a while? Joy had said she would be “off the grid” for a few days, so is she dead or alive? And if she’s dead, is Stan guilty?
Weaving this mysterious disappearance in the present and the Delaneys’ past, Moriarty shows us the full picture of a seemingly happy, successful family who were a staple in the Sidney tennis community. The story not only tells us who the siblings have become and why, but also who Stan and Joy are now that their tennis days are over. Longing for grandchildren, Joy expresses her frustrations, which leads us to discover the flaws in her marriage.
It can be easy for your mind to drift when you’re listening to a story rather than reading it, but the audiobook narrator did an excellent job at keeping me interested, wanting to know what had happened to Joy. While I enjoyed the depiction of complicated family relationships and how parents’ expectations can affect their kids, I feel like this lacked the gripping mystery I was expecting. The characters were rather annoying and I didn’t manage to really connect with them, and the pace of it was rather slow and the plot twists far between.
This is a solid 3-star audiobook that you will enjoy if you like dysfunctional family dynamics, long, slow-burning mysteries and complicated, flawed characters with complex relationships.

Confession time - I have never read a Liane Moriarty book before and I’m now absolutely kicking myself because I loved this one.

I’ll admit it took me a couple of chapters to get into the swing of it but once I got used to the narration I was totally hooked.

This family drama is set around the Delaney family and what an interesting bunch they are. Stan and Joy have been married for 50 years, they’re now retired but used to have their own tennis coaching business,. Their four children Amy, Troy, Logan and Brooke all have very different lives and none have followed in their parents tennis footsteps.

When Joy disappears her children are obviously worried. It’s not like Joy to just go off like she has and when her bike is found discarded suspicions turn to Stan, has he done something to his wife? And who is Savannah?

This isn’t a fast paced story but a steady one that really draws you into this family, as you get to know each character a bit better you start to understand how complicated the the Delaney family actually is.

I have absolutely loved listening to this book and it’s certainly helped the boredom of housework and those long car journeys. I found myself trying to find the opportunity to listen whenever I could and I’m looking forward to seeing what other Liane Moriarty books I can add to my list.

I am a huge Liane Moriarty fan, having loved every one of her books which I’ve read, so I had high hopes for this one - thankfully I wasn’t disappointed! I did a combination of reading and listening to the audiobook which is one of my new favourite ways to get through a book - I love hearing the voices and the narration was spot on for me 👌

When Delaney matriarch Joy goes missing, her four children are divided - could it be their dad, Stan? Should they report it? Or did it have something to do with the strange houseguest they’d had recently, a young woman called Savannah who turned up out of the blue? As we move back and forth in time, we get to know all about the many secrets that the Delaneys are keeping, ending with where Joy might be…

I love the way that Moriarty walks that line between thriller and family drama here, and you don’t know which way it’s going until the very end. It meant that I felt this strange combination of dread of what might be coming, and total pleasure at the brilliant character driven narratives which were often quite funny and relatable, especially Joy’s take on motherhood.

As always, I love the Australian setting of her books and the familiar places which always get me nostalgic, but I especially loved the tennis family angle of this one - particularly on point this week! The dynamic between the Delaney family is the real hero of this book, where the author has just captured all the nuance of a competitive family of that size. I found it absolutely compulsive reading, and whilst others may have hoped for a juicier ending, I actually thought it was perfect as it was - and made me laugh out loud.

I have enjoyed books by Liane Moriarty so definitely had high hopes for this book. From reading the synopsis, I had an idea it would be have family drama and suspense like many of her books. I love a good domestic thriller! 🧐

So APPLES NEVER FALL 🍎 it was a slow burner to start with which as an audiobook, I find hard as I like to get stuck in quick to keep my attention, especially thrillers. I have a habit of drifting off if it doesn’t excite me straight away 🤪 I didn’t mind the narration, but for me this book was too long….way too long…..

I enjoyed the family drama side of the book. Love dysfunctional sibling relationships so the Delaneys ticked that box. It’s just the characters didn’t grab my attention and the storyline felt like it dragged. I was expecting something to happen and it didn’t 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’m worried I’ve missed something?!! 😅 I did want to finish it as I’m stubborn like that 😂 and the ending was just felt “ok”.

APPLES NEVER FALL just didn’t blow me away like I wanted it too. It had all the elements I enjoy; family drama and mystery, but for me it lacked some of the magic I have seen in the authors previous books. I know a lot of people have loved it so check out other reviews. For me, it missed the mark as I couldn’t connect. 😬

I went into this audio book a little nervous. I have always been fan of Liane Moriarty but her last book, Nine Perfect Strangers, wasn’t my favourite of hers so I was hoping this was going to be more like her older books.

Apples never Fall….I didn’t hate it but for me, if I’m honest, it just never really got going. I felt like the the story went around the houses too much before it really got going. The idea behind the story is great, but overall it felt rather long winded, the twist didn’t really catch me off guard with excitement and at the story felt too unrealistic.

I was also really surprised that the pandemic and covid were also mentioned towards to the end of the read. Personally, I felt it was unnecessary to the story.

I do find that it takes me a while to get into an audio book, I think it’s because it takes me time to settle in to the narration and the change of characters.

Overall it was ok but not my favourite Moriarty read. Thank you to @penguinukbooks for allowing me to listen to the audio book. Im enjoying audiobooks more than I thought I would.

My Thoughts
Set in present-day Australia, with some flashbacks relating to each character's past. I listened to the audiobook version and the Australian narrator of this book ensured I was transported to the land of oz, her accent made all the difference at capturing the atmosphere.

The story is mostly told from Joy's perspective, and what a character she is, funny, warm, caring, a real family matriarch. A family saga with the mystery of Joy's disappearance at the core, but who will solve this first the police or one of the Delaney siblings Amy, Logan, Troy or Brooke. The author captured the frailty of aging Stan and Joy very touchingly. Then you have the flip side, with the complex personality of Savannah, the reader can sense...that there is something just not quite right.

I enjoyed the sporting background of tennis, the family playing professional tennis and later running a tennis academy, a fascinating and interesting element to the story. It certainly worked well as a means to share the personality traits of the characters, particularly the Delaney children. Joy's husband Stan, my opinions of him changed several times throughout the book.

Pretty early on in this mystery, I thought I had it sussed, yep I was wrong, quite far off the mark actually.

On a side note, I would love to see a spin-off book about the Delaney siblings.

4 star read from me, very enjoyable indeed.

Thank you @penguinukbooks for a review copy of this audiobook

Thanks so much to the publisher for sending me an early audiobook copy! I’d heard a lot of good things about her books so I was really excited to get to this.

Apples Never Fall focuses on the Delaney family - Stan and Joy, who were famous tennis coaches, and their four adult children. But Joy Delaney goes missing, so why does no one seem that concerned? A mysterious woman named Savannah had also been staying with Stan and Joy before she went missing, and suddenly she’s nowhere to be found.

The audiobook is narrated by Caroline Lee, and she really brings the Australian family and setting to life. This book is very much a family drama focusing hugely on the Delaney family, as well as some extra characters. The character study is SO in depth and I really felt like I got to know them all well. All of the characters are flawed and complex, and I loved seeing the connections between all of them.

From the synopsis I was kind of expecting a thriller, but the book was definitely more of a family drama with a mystery. That’s not a bad thing, but the book was pretty slow paced. There were a lot of flashbacks and dialogue, so don’t go into it expecting a lot of action! I was a bit disappointed with some of the reveals - they felt a bit underwhelming after reading for so long. However, I really liked the writing and the in depth character study so I definitely want to read more by Liane Moriarty. I’m thinking of picking up Nine Perfect Strangers or Big Little Lies next.

Liane Moriarty always writes such great, character-driven domestic dramas, and I was really looking forward to this. It's a bit of a slow burner, and I think it's far too long, but I enjoyed the narration enough to persevere, and I'm glad I did. i enjoyed exploring the family dynamics, and their relationship with tennis - I thought this was a really interesting plot point. I was impressed by the narrator - especially considering how many characters there are!

Apples Never Fall is Liane Moriarty’s latest release and will be a familiar format for fans of her other work.

The Delaney family are a complicated bunch: Joy & Stan have been together forever and are semi-retired tennis coaches- a sport which featured heavily in the lives of all four of their now grown-up children.

As with most of Moriarty’s work, there is a lot more going on beneath the surface and this seemingly enviable family dynamic is more complex than we first assume. When Joy disappears without a trace, it’s the catalyst to delve deeper and uncover a few skeletons in the Delaney family closet.

There was a lot I liked about the book. The complex family relationships lent themselves well to this story, adding depth and intrigue. I also enjoyed how Moriarty was able to thread very subtle storylines throughout the chapters which came to a satisfying conclusion at the end.

I did find this book unnecessarily long-winded though. There was a lot of slow-paced plot points which inevitably served little or no purpose. I found myself feeling increasingly frustrated at the pace and became tempted to skim read to get to the good bits!

I have to admit I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed other books by Moriarty so I was very excited to listen to this audiobook, however I felt something was amiss.

It is a very slow burning story. And probably, as an audiobook, that's why I found it hard to get into it, because I got constantly distracted.

The character development is great. I got to know the in and outs of the life of every member of the Delaney's family and I genuinely cared about all of them by the end. However, if I had to listen to another detailed description about them playing tennis, and how they won, why they lost, who was better and why, I could have screamed. It was just too much detail, and it struggled to keep me interested.

I really enjoyed the family drama and the mystery. Joy is a great, sassy character and it made me laugh in several occasions.

The narrator, Caroline Lee, made an excellent job and I really enjoyed listening to her.

Thank you @penguinukbooks for gifting me the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first time reading (/listening to) Liane Moriarty’s work, and now I’m mad at myself for waiting so long! This was SO GOOD and I’m going to be repeating the phrase “Harry fucking Haddad” in an Australian accent for the next 10000 years

The audiobook was narrated by Caroline Lee and she was unreal! It was so enjoyable to listen to and the humour was spot on, the only drawback being the tragic attempt at an Irish accent, but that’s probably difficult for an Aussie gal so I’ll let her off 😂

The twists in this story will have you SHOOK - just when I thought I had it figured out, we get hit with a massive U-turn!!!

I loved Liane Moriarty’s writing so much and this book has me questioning why I don’t read/listen to more of this genre! The only reason I’ve given 4 stars instead of 5 is because the story dragged a little in parts (for my preference anyway) and had segments where not much was going on, but I get bored easily so this is likely not the case for everyone!

Also Savannah is my new fave morally grey icon. The end

Ad- audio ARC from @penguinukbooks ❤️

I was very excited to listen to this book, but around halfway I gave up and skim listened to the rest of it. I found this book filled with unnecessary information that left me bored. The story is about parents that had a tennis academy in Sidney, Australia and their whole family. It is told from multiple perspectives allowing one to know every family member better as well as the police officers that dealing with the missing person's report. The character's stories were way too long and lacked something to keep the attention. The chapters are very long and after a while, my brain used to zone out. I really liked the narrator of this book, her Australian accent was very lovely to listen to and gave this book a proper atmosphere. The culmination of this novel was quite disappointing as well.

Apples Never Fall is a sharp and complex observation of family life, past mistakes, and the burden of regrets, expertly moulded around a mystery that brings its characters together to cleverly explore their interpersonal dynamics.

Moriarty is such a skilled writer. As with the other two books of hers that I have read so far, the thriller side of the synopsis, although pivotal to the storyline, remains in the background while the characters take centre stage. I love the An Inspector Calls feel to this story, as these family members slowly come undone and their secrets are revealed to show how small actions can lead to big consequences.

The characters are all developed with fantastic depth and you get to know each of them intimately, as we delve into their relationships to pick apart their loyalties, conflicts, and rivalries. There is constantly so much mystery bubbling under their words and actions and the twists that come are so unexpected.

Most prominently, Apples Never Fall is an insightful look at parenthood, and I especially love the discussions around certain things that you don’t understand about your own parents until you become a parent yourself. There was so much that I related to in this regard and a lot that made me laugh out loud, especially the comment about how your family assume that you like cooking just because you have to do it every single day (when deciding what to make for tea every day is actually a chore in itself, am I right?).

I did find the ending quite slow but that’s only because I’m used to quick wrap-ups, whereas Moriarty ensures that every one of her characters’ stories is tied up neatly. Just like all of her other books, I’m sure this will be gracing our TV screens at some point in the future, as it calls for big actors to take on these interesting characters and this mysterious plot.

Audiobook Review:

The audiobook is narrated by Caroline Lee who has also narrated every other book by Moriarty. I listened to What Alice Forgot recently and loved it, so I was so glad to have Lee’s voice back in my ear.

Lee adds so much personality to the characters, adding plenty of satire to constantly keep you paying attention to this very character-driven and dialogue-heavy story. Most of all, I love getting to hear the story told in an Australian accent as I feel like that’s how Moriarty’s need to be heard, emphasising the tongue-in-cheek humour and unique quirkiness of her writing.