Well, here it is - my favorite book of the year thus far. People compare O’Donoghue to Rooney + it’s too easy. Caroline’s story + style of writing has a lighter, more hopeful quality that really highlights the humanity + darkness of Rachel’s experiences. I saw a lot of myself in this character + appreciate her loyalty to James + the selfless pride she takes in his accomplishments. I’m grateful to have come across this book + will be hand selling it until the cows come home.

🧠 My Thoughts: This book was such a pleasant surprise! I had seen a few good reviews and was in the mood for a lit fic, so I decided to pick it up and ended up loving it. I highly recommend the audiobook as well. I feel like the narrator capture the tone of the book perfectly!
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WHAT I LIKED
❤️Coming of age story- really reminds you what it feels like being in your early 20's
😄A bit of a messy MC
Several really funny moments
🎧Audiobook narrator with an Irish accent
👨‍👨‍👧‍👧Really great side characters
📚I'm realizing I generally like the tone and humor of a lot (ok the few I've read) Irish literature
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
📚 Nothing!

Wow a phenomenal book. Can't recommend enough, I absolutely loved it. One of my favorites of the year.

I loved loved loved this book! I didn’t pick it up right away, because I felt as if I had my fill recently of twenty-somethings muddling through life and making mistakes, i.e. books that are compared to Normal People. (I have a theory that all ‘new adult’ literary fiction is compared to Sally Rooney in the way that every psychological thriller in the aughts was compared to Gone Girl. I digress…) But I am SO GLAD all the rave reviews had me downloading it to my Kindle.
I enjoy Rooney’s work, but O’Donoghue’s did not read similarly to me, as the drama felt juicy, there’s a romance element, and the tone is more exuberant than introspective. Most importantly, it is narrated by the main character from her vantage point in the future, where she is wizened and somewhat settled. I love this type of narrative device, because of the intense curiosity it engenders of how this messy character can possibly evolve. And it is such a satisfying redemption story.
I laughed, I cringed, swooned and held my breath, wondering what would happen next. It was such a wild ride of friendships and falling out, affairs and misunderstandings, breakups and makeups. I think @Bretts.book.stack perfectly compared it to the feeling of Fleabag which I COMPLETELY agree with, and such a comparison should pique the interest of so many readers because who doesn’t loveeee Fleabag, whereas Normal People is so polarizing. (Also I just realized Brett has Caroline O’Donoghue on his new podcast, @gaysreading so I gotta go listen to that now...) If I had to make a comparison, I’d also say it reminded me of Marian Keyes, or even JoJo Moyes’ contemporary fiction - a must read this summer!

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read the ARC of the The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue. I very much enjoyed reading the story of Rachel and the situations she found herself in. It felt very real and I did check have to check that it was fiction. It was both a cringy and hopeful tale of friendship and love. I would shelf it as a coming of age novel. Rachel is a very flawed main character but I was rooting for her all the same. I listened to parts of the book on audio in order to finish it more quickly and I absolutely loved the Irish accent the narrator had.

Caroline O'Donoghue managed to capture such a universal, often overwhelming feeling of coming into adulthood in this captivating story following a pair of university-aged best friends in Cork whose complicated connection with a married couple ultimately alters the course of their lives. From the moment I started, I couldn't put it down.

A great coming of age novel. Definitely for fans of normal people. It starts in the present and then Rachel brings you into her world as she reveals the incident. I wanted more of the ending of this book.

I had a hard time getting into this one, it just wasn't for me. I didn't connect to the characters and it felt a bit disjointed.

This was everything I wanted in this book!!!
I loved the main character Rachel!! She did anger me at times in what she was doing but it was a very realistic sense instead of faking "good" characters. I found myself making noises out loud., talking to myself, laughing having some come on moments. I was invested., I have even now thought of actors etc to play all the characters and how it would all look.

I devoured this book. I love a coming of age novel and this one did not disappoint and had a satisfying full circle moment ending. I can't wait to recommend this one to friends who love Sally Rooney or a book set in a college setting. I need to read more from this author!

A wonderful novel. Presented so many different thoughts to my mind, and I loved the story. Definitely will be recommending this to my friends and followers!

the rachel incident shocked me almost immediately, ran straight away from my expectations and sucked me in. i couldn't put this down, and felt enraptured by the characters. caroline o'donoghue delights in each character, their personality, mannerisms, and humanity shining through each one. i found myself feeling for and yearning to comfort them. the friendship between rachel and james felt so real, as though every joke occurred and was experienced by real people who grew organically into their own places in the world. rachel's profound inability to think through her decisions felt so organic, i felt myself falling into the same holes and crawling myself out alongside her, and her growth in the end was natural and earned. this book was delightful for me, i felt heartbroken in rachel's struggles and patched up at the end.

thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the e-copy!

Rachel, James, Carey, and Dr. Byrne all have one thing in common: they want a full and complete love. Their paths all cross while Rachel is in uni, trying to figure her life out. At an initial glance, it seems to be a bland book about a young girl who becomes infatuated with her professor and it takes what feels like forever to get beyond that (reality is it actually only takes like 3 chapters?). However, once the layers start coming apart it all makes for a good story.

The beginning was a bit slow for me so it took all of my effort to not DNF this book. Once the story took a hold on me though, i became fully invested in Carey and Rachel’s relationship and really wanted the best for James (which spoiler alert: was *not* Dr. Byrne).

Def recommend and encourage folks to push through the first 5 chapters. Thank you to Goodreads for the ARC!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

I have mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed O'Donoghue's prose, There were really funny moments and I found Rachel flawed but interesting. However, I felt that the character James (Rachel's gay best friend) was stereotypical and two dimensional. Not only that but the bisexual character is painted as the typical stereotype of being finicky.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I completely enjoyed this book! It was fun and refreshing and I really connected with all the characters and was rooting for them throughout! I loved learning more about Ireland since I’m from the US and was still able to relate so much to many aspects of life that Rachel experiences. I would definitely recommend to just about anyone, as I feel there’s lots to take away from this story!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This was disappointing for me but unfortunately, I did not finish this. I made it through the first few chapters but it felt wildly over written and thick to me. It may just have been my mood as well but I felt like I knew exactly what was going to happen with this whole student, professor plot. I encourage others to try it because it seems to be well received!

Rachel is trying to figure it all out. When she meets James, she is immediately drawn to him. She assumes he is gay although he says he is not. They become best friends and soon decide to live together. Rachel develops feeling for one of her professors, Dr. Fred Byrne. James helps her set up a book signing for the new book he has written, with the hopes that she can seduce him after the signing. However, things do not work out according to plan.

Dr. Byrne, though married to a former student, takes a liking to James. This starts a chain of events that will impact evryone.

While I am not particularly fond of the Rachel due to her poor and selfish choices throughout the story, she is very real and representative of the bad and good qualities in most people.

Even though it's not the kind of story I usually read, I really did enjoy the story and the writing was superb.

I wish I could read this book over and over, and it would be as great as it was the first time. The two main characters are precious, and their friendship survives years in spite of many painful reckonings.
Rachel meets James at the bookstore where they both work. Their friendship is amazing; their relationship is true, fun, and sincere. This is the kind of friend any human longs for.
Rachel is smitten by her professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, who doesn’t seem to notice she’s there. She and James devise a plan to invite Dr. Byrne to a book signing in honor of his new book. Sparks fly and love is in the air, but not Rachel’s air. It turns out that Dr. Byrne, who is married, is bisexual and begins an affair with dear sweet James, who finally admits that, yes, maybe he is gay.
Rachel takes the high ground, but finds herself in the middle of the affair since she and James share an apartment. This proximity causes numerous issues, and one distinctive issue with Dr. Byrnes’ wife when she realizes where Rachel lives.
Vines of lies and deceit grow and intertwine until Rachel has to throw herself on the knife in order to help others. This magnanimous decision is truly honorable, but she suffers greatly from the fallout.
Entertaining, funny, heartbreaking, with wonderful characters. This book hugged me the entire time.
Thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date was June 27, 2023. 2023.

This was a wonderful, fun, quick read. It pulled me out of a reading slump and I read it in 2 days, I couldn't put it down. I love Rachel, her friendship with James, her relationship with Carey, the actual "Rachel Incident" was wild and unexpected (to me). I originally requested this on NetGalley because in the description it said for fans of Sally Rooney, and I can see the comparison, but the Rachel Incident was much lighter and funnier to me than Sally Rooney's books.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved every moment of this one. This is the second book I’ve read by Caroline O’Donoghue and I’ve got to say that I would now pick up anything with her name on it. I love her writting style and the characters are so relatable, I thoroughly enjoyed following Rachel and James through their lives with many ups and downs and the sort of student life dramas that we go through. A real page turner, couldn’t put it down!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.