Loved this family dynamic book! I always think they’re so interesting to read, and especially the bittersweetness of feeling like you’re regressing by coming back home.

A nicely written and enjoyable novel, I enjoyed the POVs used in this, I liked the drama , but I found it to be a bit slow and I didn’t quite click with the story, I’m sure plenty of others will enjoy this more, but it wasn’t the right fit for me.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I liked the bond between the siblings here. I didn’t care for the stereotypical Irish brogue given to the dad at times, to be sure. And of course the Irish family own a pub!

The twists and turns were interesting along with the complex relationships characters had with each other and themselves.

It kept me intrigued to see how storylines would develop and where the end was for everyone.

The Brennans, an Irish-American family, who may be a messy bunch of people but they would do anything for each other. Literally.

Each chapter told by different family members, this novel has a great structure and distinctive characters. Jumping back in time every now and then, the reader feels from the beginning that something happened five years ago which cut the family's life into two: Before and After couldn't be more different. Once we learn what happened, it is clear what tough decisions they all have to face in the present.

These people are tied together by such strong bonds that it made me envious. I'm so happy to pick this book up - I enjoyed it from cover to cover.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an Advance Review Copy.

This was a excellent family drama tale of The Brennan family. Well written, fast paced with multiple POV chapters to keep the reader engaged throughout. The characters were well developed and interesting. Numerous plot twists along the way made for a thrilling read.

Highly recommend.

Many thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the review copy.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.
Each chapter reflected a different character and I thought this would be too confusing however the author has done a fab job to keep you reading and not getting overwhelmed. This book also took a different turn as it honed in on the mistakes active and not people decided to make but you can see the family unit and still root for them.

An engaging book that looks at flaws, melodrama, misunderstandings and really poor decision making. I really want to know what happens next the Brennans!

We Are the Brennans is a novel that focuses on an Irish Catholic family living in New York City. 29 year old Sunday Brennan has returned home after an absence of 5 years and the novel smoothly moves between the points of view of Sunday and other family members. Secrets are revealed as they attempt to save the family business.
I loved this beautifully written, well layered novel and the gradual pacing slowly reveals the secrets of the family members. The author really brings the close knit family and their tensions to life.
If like me, you are a fan of Claire Lombardo and Mary Beth Keane I'd highly recommend this beautiful, engrossing and moving novel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

3.5/5 - a good drama-filled time.

A fast-paced, well-written novel with multiple POVs following the Brennan family. This was genuinely full of family drama and I had a good time, but found it was often predictable and slow to the reveals. And without spoilers, I definitely had a problem with how some things in the book were handled.

If you're not looking for anything groundbreaking then this is definitely a good read, with largely believable characters and plots. It just didn't quite deliver what I was looking for.

Big thanks to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan, and the author for the e-ARC. Available to purchase now.

Denny has secrets
Jackie is keeping his nose clean
Sunday wanted to get away
Shane loves his family
Kale has regrets
Mick is losing grip
We are the Brennans

Sunday Brennan is the first of the family we meet and her life is a car crash quite literally! She has purposely distanced herself from her family for years and now she needs their help but to be honest they have plenty problems of their own. I took to all of the Brennan brood and Kale who is one in all but his surname, straight away. There was nobody that I did not enjoy reading about as they all had some depth to their character and were all highly believable as a family unit. The main hub for heart to hearts and revalations was of course their precious pub and I could very easily visualise this. I would actually love to see this come to life in a TV adaptation (are you listening Netflix?)

I adore a good family drama but they are hard to pull off as there is a fine line between interesting and insipid. This was definitely the former as this family had more going on over the course of a few weeks than some families have ever! So much so I could have happily carried on following the Brennans for much longer and

sincerely hope this is not the last we have heard of them.

The story is broken up into chapters, each narrated a different character. The chapters move so smoothly from one narrator to the other that the story just flowed. Rather than grumping about the bad decisions that are made, either actively or by not acting when acting would have been the only right decision, I couldn't help wanting this family to get find a way to get through to each other. They love each other but it seems that their love sometimes leads them to distance themselves physically and emotionally from the very person/people they care about the most.

Wow, what a crazy family this is - The Brennans - what a messed up, crazy family.
I thought there were great characters in this book and lots of drama to keep me turning the pages.
What an unexpected great read !!!!
Thanks to the author and publisher for this ARC in return for an honest review

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

I had seen this everywhere and I was so sure it was a book for me. I like a character driven story but I have to like at least a couple of the characters. I was not a fan of these, unfortunately.

This book had me gripped from the beginning. The family dynamics and Sunday and Jake's past intrigued me and felt like some Chesapeake Shore like setting. From the Irish pub to the large family everything about this worked and you can see how Sunday's secret spiralled changing her life. Such a good book, loved it!

I saw BOTM compare this to Shameless and knew I wanted to give it a go. Although I'm not sure that was an accurate comparison I did enjoy this family saga. Lots of dramas and different POVs- a fun time.

We are the Brennans is such a great debut novel.

I loved how the dysfunctional family worked their way out of troubles from the past and still sticking together.

Grunge and rejection can hurt a person to the point of wanting revenge at any cost, and a lot of moments in the book are based on it.

I loved it book and I honestly can't wait to read more from the author because it's unbelievable how in under 300 pages she could fully create these characters and a great story with so many POVs and not losing sight of the focus.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy through NetGalley

We Are The Brennans is a polished NY Times-bestselling debut novel with tv adaptation written all over it; a book about buried secrets and flawed characters. I think it’s one of those books that probably has mass appeal, but might also irritate some readers.

The book opens with Sunday Brennan, the lynchpin of the Brennan family, involved in a DUI/car accident. We find out that Sunday moved to LA abruptly from the suburbs of NYC five years ago, leaving her family and fiancé behind, for reasons as yet unknown.

Sunday’s brother Denny was left to run the family pub, care for their widowed father in his advancing old age, their brother Shane who has an intellectual disability, and their brother Jackie who has had a recent run in with the law and is serving out his probation. Denny’s business partner Kale, who is also Sunday’s ex-fiancé, has moved on their break-up but with the return of Sunday to the fold, how will things play out?

I did enjoy the book to an extent, I’m just struggling to get excited about it. It is nicely written, a big Irish-American family story told from several perspectives with a neat trick to switch between the voices. The tone of the book was a little flat overall though, and the reveal regarding the main character’s reason for leaving in the first place anti-climactic.

There’s a fine line between twee and acceptable sentimentality when it comes to portraying Irishness in stories about Irish-American families, and perhaps as an Irish person this veered slightly too far into mawkish territory for me at times. I was hoping for a slightly more mature ending for two of the characters but that wasn’t to be. It felt clichéd and predictable.

It might work nicely on audiobook due to the changing perspectives. For me, just an okay read. 3/5 ⭐️

A terribly good story of family, the Brennans are of Irish descent, living in New York. Twenty-nine-year-old Sunday, the only daughter in the large clan, returns home after five years of being in Los Angeles. She is involved in a car accident caused by her drinking and staggers right into ongoing family dramas and the unravelling of family secrets. Exploring loyalty, sibling relationships, love and betrayal and told from multiple viewpoints, this tale had me invested from the beginning. A character-rich, strong début novel that's well worth reading.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Pan Macmillan via NetGalley at my request and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

A beautiful story of a dysfunctional family unit. The Brennans are an Irish Catholic family living outside of New York. They are far from perfect, they are almost all flawed and have made some terrible decisions in the hope of protecting those they love, whilst instead causing greater pain. That said, I absolutely loved them all, Fabulous!

This was quite an enjoyable book with an interesting premise. The Brennan family have been a tight knit group in the past, but their only sister Sunday inexplicably and mysteriously moved to Los Angeles five years earlier, Sunday returns and this is the catalyst for secrets to be uncovered and relationships to fall apart. I found my interest in this book waning as I read on, but it is saved by an interesting finish. Some of the characters are a bit cliched and others are more fully drawn. Not a bad read to pass the time. Thanks to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel

What a stunning debut this is from author Tracey Lange — a richly spun family drama, alive with intrigue, dysfunction, and a laundry load of dirty, shameful secrets. And love. A bucketful of the stuff. For when the chips are down, families stick together.

The Brennans are an Irish Catholic, New York family: Dad Mick, brothers Denny, Jackie and Shane, and estranged sister Sunday, who ran off to Los Angeles five years ago under the pretense of following a writing career.

But now Sunday is back, brought home to recover after a serious DUI incident that landed her in hospital. And her return to the fold, where she’s welcomed with open arms, triggers an unraveling of closely held secrets — some held to protect, others to deceive — that threaten to blow the family apart.

Wow! Just wow! I didn’t want this book to end, so gripped was I by the unfolding drama of this engaging, wholly relatable group of people. I adored the Brennans, each and every one of them. I recognized their failings and flaws. I admired their concern and compassion for each other. And I breathed their ambitions, frustrations and disappointments.

I especially loved the dynamic between Sunday and one-time fiancé Kale, now Denny’s business partner and married father of one. Why had she dumped him? Could he forgive her? Did they still have feelings for each other?

Thanks to the multiple POVs, I felt I knew each character intimately. More than that, I understood them. And I desperately wanted a resolution to their troubles.

The layers to this story — like the Brennans themselves — are so tightly knit, so finely textured, they defy unpicking. They weave together to create a beautiful, flawless whole. And I want more.

Chapeau, Tracey Lange!