Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an e-ARC of The Rachel Incident.

Rachel and James are not Will & Grace, but yet they kind of are. Deeply dependent on one another and living in Ireland in their early 20s, we see them fumble their way into early adulthood and entangle themselves in the life of Rachel’s professor, Fred Byrne, which will forever change the course of all their lives.

Caroline O’Donoghue’s writing feels fresh, and despite her incredibly flawed characters with arguable terrible morals, I couldn’t help find some charm in them. I didn’t agree with a single decision they made, but I was happy to see where they all ended up. I would certainly pick up another book by this author.

Also important to note, as the setting is written during Ireland’s country wide abortion ban, abortion is a prominent theme in this novel.

Thank you for an advance copy of The Rachel Incident. This tells the story of best friends Rachel and James, living in Ireland and living a fun life of being single, fun and in carefree. Things change when Rachel falls in love with her professor, Mr Byrnne, and James helps her make a plan to seduce him, even though he's married. This is when the story turns as these characters have other plans, and the reader is launched into a complicated plot with Rachel, James, Mr Byrnne and his wife. This book is not what I expected but I loved the well developed characters and the twists of the story. The book also had an unexpected but still satisfying ending. Overall, I enjoyed this story of friendship, love, growth and dishonesty.

The Rachel Incident is all about keeping secrets and their ability to destroy. The story is set in Cork, Ireland and centers around college student Rachel; her new-found friend, James; and Rachel's potential love interest, married professor Fred Byrne. While Rachel and James plot how to entice Dr. Byrne into a relationship with Rachel, things begin to shift, and the secrets start to mount.

I can't say that I particularly liked any of the characters -- they were all too self-absorbed -- but the storyline as well as the question as to how this will all end, kept me reading. The language could be off-putting to many readers, but if you can get past that, it's a quick and interesting read.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Knopf for providing this electronic ARC of #TheRachelIncident.

<i>The Rachel Incident </i> gives a very <i>Normal People</i> feeling and it's perfect for the genre.

Rachel Murray is in her early twenties, navigating life, friendships, jobs, and love. She immediately bonds with her bookstore co-worker James Devlin, who is colorful, full of life, and covertly gay, and the two quickly move in together, having the time of their lives in a small Irish town. Together, they deal with heartbreak, love, ambition, finding your dreams and passion, and seem like an unbreakable duo.

As mentioned, this book has a very <i>Normal People</i> vibe and humor, and well... I didn't love <i>Normal People</i>. I wasn't enamored with any of the characters, although they did feel very real, flawed, and fleshed out. But I kept waiting for the book to find its pace and go somewhere and... it never did.

It just felt like I was reading someone's journal, and that person wasn't very interesting to begin with. Probably it would've been way more interesting to read it from James' POV than Rachel's. But it would've been a completely different story then.

However, the ending did show quite a lot of character growth for Rachel (and wow, Carey), so I do appreciate that.

Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable piece of commercial fiction: a rom-com set in Cork during the Irish economic crash of 2010. Rachel is a university student who is working her way to her degree by working in a bookstore, and becomes best friends and roommates with James, her closeted gay co-worker. She cute-meets Carey, a slightly older guy from Derry, in a pub, and complications ensue. O'Donoghue is a proficient storyteller, delivering laughs and tears, and I could see this being developed into a limited TV series or a film. On a more serious note, this novel addresses issues of reproductive injustice in Ireland before the 2018 referedum that legalized abortion.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I like how this is more like a come of age book, telling the story of Rachel and her roommate and their adventures as they navigate their lives in the beginning of their adulthoods. There's intrigue, there's all sorts of ups and downs, but it is nice to see how things turn out in the end.

Wow! This book was NOT what I expected but it was good. The friendship dynamics and character roles were interesting and you could visualize all of this happening. I pick Scarlett Johanson to play Rachel. I only gave this book 3 stars as it did fall a little flat for me, its pretty slow paced.

The vibes of this book are immaculate!! Put my 2000-2010s indie music Spotify playlist on and felt all the feels. Irish literature will never not do it for me!!! I hope people start talking about this book so much more. And I can’t wait to read more by the author in the future !!

What a tough book to get through. It’s told from Rachel’s point of view in two different periods of her life – present day where she’s presumably more mature and has her life figured out, and in her 20s, when she was a student. While trying to just get through college, she makes a series of terrible decisions that make her seem like the most selfish character. This was not my favorite read and I struggled to get through it. I never warmed to Rachel and found her so unlikeable.

I completely enjoyed The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue, with its loveable characters, tangle of events, emotions and amazing conclusion! Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. It involves, as you may guess, Rachel who is a 21 year old Irish woman and what becomes known as "The Rachel Incident." I have seen a lot of references to Sally Rooney and I don't know my judgement is clouded because they are both Irish authors, but I will say if you enjoy Rooney's novels, you will enjoy this one too. Both authors write in a particular style that is almost minimalist and also witty. I don't often use the Highlight function on my Kindle, but I did several times while reading The Rachel Incident because I just wanted to collect a few sentences that were hilarious and/or poignant or just hits the nail on the head. Somethings that kept me from 5 stars: The novel jumps timelines and sometimes I would be confused because I didn't know the narrator was back to the present. Overall really enjoyed this one!

If Sally Rooney met Fleabag, The Rachel Incident is a breakthrough and seemingly momentous accomplishment from Caroline O’Donoghue. As funny as it is cringy as it is nostalgic for the early 2000s, this book delivers what it means to be young, broke, and confused while still reminding readers how special friendship can be.

Rachel is an English literature student, working in a bookstore, and just trying to discover herself. At the job she meets James a fellow employee, who ends up turning her life upside down. They move in together and it is instant platonic love at first sight. Rachel begins to develop a crush on a married professor of hers, and James encourages her to pursue him. They devise a plan for him to launch his next book at the bookstore they both work at. Their plan does not go exactly to plan but her professor does become involved in their lives and so begins a complex relationship between James, Rachel, Professor Bryne and his beautiful wife.

This book really hit me in a special place because in uni I met a boy who I also had a very intense friendship with and although we did not stay friends past uni, I do look back on my time with him fondly. This book is a very good character exploration and what growing up and finding yourself means. Being in toxic romantic relationships and situations, can really shape you as a person. I just really really loved this one.

This book was so fun ! I loved Rachel’s character . She was beyond relatable and made me nostalgic for my early 20s. I also really enjoyed the friendship she had with James . This was such a great coming of age story . I literally read this in maybe a day so good !

LOVED this! Spent most of the first half chuckling away to myself and reading it in my head in an Irish accent. I love Irish Fiction so much. There’s something about the humour that just snaps for me. Very funny.

This is another of those 20-somethings finding themselves types of books about messy relationships, cheap rentals, part time jobs, Uni and drinking. James and Rachel are the platonic loves of each other’s lives and look out anyone who gets in the way. Told in a flash back style, they’re now both adults and Rachel is confessing in a tell-all tale about an ‘incident’ that occurred during their time as housemates.

I just really enjoyed it and don’t have too much more to add to the rave reviews that are already out there. If you’ve read it, and read her other book Promising Young Women – is it as good? I’d really love to read more from this author. Highly recommend!

I have been putting off reviewing this novel for weeks. I love this book, but I feel like I am far from the target audience. That being said I absolutely love and adore this story. Rachel’s story is not what you expect it to be in the most delicious way. Based on the blurb, I went into this book expecting something along the lines of My Dark Vanessa. Not that I have anything against that book, but I was so pleasantly surprised when this story took a sharp left turn from that sort of territory. As a millennial (zillenial??) American southerner, I have no reason to relate to a story about woman’s coming of age amidst the aftermath of the 2009 Irish recession. Or do I have every reason to relate?? I can’t decide. This sounds cliche, but this story is so real and raw that anyone could relate to Rachel and those around her. Rachel’s story is so sad you couldn’t make it up and so crushingly too good to be true in a way only real life can be. The fact that Caroline O‘Donoghue has captured this in a book is a triumph.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf got the eARC of this novel.

One of my favorite elements of a great book is when I feel a genuine, deep connection with characters, a true sense of knowing them as if they were figures from my own "real world" life. Here, Caroline O'Donoghue masterfully does just that and I swiftly developed an affinity for Rachel and carried a distinct empathy for her through to the very last page.

O'Donoghue expertly balances moments of levity and humor with complex topics around abortion access and intergenerational coming out (or not) stories. Start to finish, this novel felt highly readable with beautiful prose and minimal fluff. I very much enjoyed O'Donoghue's nuanced approach to the complexities and inherent difficulties of both romantic and friendship love which are layered throughout The Rachel Incident's lush plot.

Also, for my fellow booksellers and indie bookstore loyalists, you will love the bits about Rachel and James' life at the bookshop and the honest portrayal of its eventual struggles.

Rachel is a 21 year old English major at Cork City College in 2010 when she falls in love with her English lit prof- Fred Byrne. Money is tight for although her father is a dentist, Ireland was is a financial crisis and she must work to pay her own college fees. She meets and clicks with James at the bookstore where they both work parttime, and decide to be roommates. James is a safe roommate - first of all, he is her best friend, and secondly, he seems effeminate (possible gay). She also falls in love with Carey, a golden boy from Derry who is her ideal.
After Rachel expresses her love of Fred (her prof), she and James devise a plan to promote Fred's book - The Kensington Diet - by arranging for a reading and book signing at the bookstore - with the idea that Rachel will be able to seduce him after the event. However, James also finds Fred captivating, and ends up having an affair with him (unbeknownst to his wife, Deenie).
The innocence of the characters was a little overdone and for me, the relationships never gelled. It felt that there were too many coincidences, and too many holes in the stories. I did appreciate the linear timeline, especially the major part of the novel told in Rachel's point of view.
I liked the ending - which was prefect for the book. It did seem to be a young adult book though. I felt that the author explored some issues which millennials could encounter including closeted homosexuality, loyalty, affairs, male-female friendships, cheating. I also thought that the author bright into play the issues of Abortion (in Ireland) and women's right to choose in a very sensitive and thoughtful manner. I think that she might have included more about the characters feelings and emotional reactions to the events in their lives.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and the opinions expressed are my own.

You ever have those moments when you look back at your younger self and go "WHYYYYYY." That is what this entire book felt like and then at the end, even Rachel realizes she was ridiculous at times. Fun read!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Rachel Incident is a complex coming-of-age novel set in Ireland. The perfect pick for fans of Sally Rooney or Colleen Hoover.

A witty and emotional story about Rachel, a young student working in a bookstore as she finishes her English degree and tries to navigate her adult life. She and James, her closeted coworker and new roommate, struggle to make a living while finding romance and dealing with the insecurites and struggles of young adults. The university setting expertly captures a time in life where money is scarce and friendships are intense.

A substantial heartfelt romance that covers serious topics such as abortion, loyality and morality. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and the unexpected turns that lead to a heart-wrenching climax. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my honest review.