The Rachel Incident was recommended by a friend who has similar literary interests and, again, we share another book we enjoyed.

One of the things I really loved about this book is that it felt like I was having a new friend tell the story about this specific time in her life with her charismatic, gay roommate in Cork, Ireland, the “incident” in question, and the subsequent ripple-effect of said incident. It is great storytelling with completely realized characters that felt familiar.

One of the things that I kept wondering while reading the book is, why is this book called the Rachel Incident. But when it happens…probably about two-thirds in…it was a slap in the face, even though you kind of saw it coming.

I’m not one to give spoilers in my reviews, nor do I give the Cliff Notes version of the book, because you should experience that on your own. Just know that I highly recommend this book. Go read it and get lost in Rachel’s messy life.

Thanks to NetGally and Knopf for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

This is coming of age story that takes place in Cork, Ireland in the 2010's during the Great Recession. Rachel Murray is struggling at the university, when she meets James, a closeted gay man. They quickly move in together and become best friends. James begins an affair with Rachel's married English professor and she finds herself embroiled in their affair and keeping secrets for them. She also has her own messy love life and falls head over heels for another, James that she decides to call Carey, as not to confuse him with her more important best friend, James.

I love that these characters were unique individuals that seemed like real and distinct people. They were both funny and angsty. They made bad decisions but I never hated them for it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about their friendship and lives and I was sad when the book came to an end. If you enjoy Sally Rooney books, then you will love this one! Thanks to @netgalley and @aaknopf for the ARC. Publishes June 27, 2023.

Sometimes you can judge a book by a cover. This cover caught my eye, simple but it really drew me in.

This is going in my list immediately of my favorite books I’ve read in 2023. I have never read anything by our author and this was a fantastic start to that. I loved this book and not only during reading, but of course upon completion, was recommending it. I loved Rachel, appreciated her story, and am sad I’m done with the book now.

This is one of those that is very hard to talk about all that was so impactful and memorable without giving away spoilers. There were so many “wows” & “I did not see that coming”. I was invested the whole time but then around halfway it was unputdownable for me. Talk about wanting to know what happens. I will let you peek at the synopsis on this one but I did go in fairly blind for the most part aside from the summary.

I believe this had an authors note that said our author wrote this during the pandemic lockdown. Not only was it written then, it was in place of another that was supposed to be written. I’m glad the universe worked in the way in which it did because I would not have wanted to miss out on a book like this!

I would warn of triggers for this one, and again out of respect for spoilers will let you do your own research. While they were present I was impressed with how they were handled.

A giant thank you to our author, Netgalley and Knopf publishing for providing me with an advanced eGalley copy of the book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The publication date is June 27th, 2023. Mark your calendars! I hope you love it also

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I felt like this was the novel version of “Will & Grace” (which was referred to often in the book) but with some more serious issues sprinkled in to keep it from being a completely comedic read.
Set in 2010 in Ireland, readers get a look at the terrible shape of the economy, the struggles facing young 20s trying to find employment, and the fight for abortion rights. James and Rachel have a beautiful friendship and remain true to each other while nursing heartbreaks and the desire to leave Cork. An enjoyable read.

I had a hard time putting this book down! The Rachel Incident is an Irish coming-of-age novel that follows 21-year-old Rachel as she’s finishing her English degree in the height of the 2010 recession and figuring out the relationships in her life. After James Devlin, her closeted best friend, convinces Rachel to throw a book launch for her the professor she has a crush on, antics ensue. This novel is funny, intelligent, and immensely entertaining. It also has a satisfying ending that sticks the landing.

I think lovers of Lily King and Sally Rooney would enjoy this book.

Many thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for the ARC.

“The Rachel Incident” by Caroline O’Donoghue is a fiction set in Ireland about a young woman — Rachel, naturally — and her friends, relationships, and (mostly) 20s & college years.

It will publish June 27 from @aaknopf, so if the following sounds good to you, be sure to seek it out on NetGalley beforehand or in stores & online when it comes out.

Categories — 20s & College, Irish, Contemporary, LGBTQ, Adult Themes, Drama, English Major, 2000s, Coming of Age, Unhinged, Humorous

Pub Info - June 2023, Knopf, 4.2 + 500 ratings so far#

Quick Summary — Rachel goes off to uni and works in a bookshop. She meets James and they hit it off. He becomes her “gay bff” and they move in together. Things go quickly unhinged when he encourages Rachel’s crush on her married English professor, Fred. It doesn’t work… for her anyway. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s wife.

My Thoughts (No Spoilers) ⤵️

This is a quick, consumable read. If I had to sum it up and sell it to someone concisely, I’d say “Irish Fleabag (the show) adjacent” meaning it has the trappings of your typical unhinged, degenerate 20-somethings making decisions I totally abhor but I want to see more of what happens next 😂

Other elements that may appeal (or not) to potential readers:

🌸 Setting: Cork, Ireland against the backdrop of 2000s economic recession

🌸 Characters explore facets of relationships including sexuality, power dynamics, unrequited feelings, lack of commitment and ghosting, immaturity, etc. Others in very minor capacity

🌸 20s and Young Adulthood: Impermanence of things in youth like jobs, career goals, friendships and relationships, boys, feelings, belongings, identities. Also “coming out” via James experience

🌸 Style: Easy to read. First person perspective. Only one POV. Sometimes funny, in that way that things can be when they aren’t happening to you

A marvelous story about love, friendship and growing up. We see how messy earlyadulthood can be and we just want every character to be happy in their life.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was just okay for me. The continuity got a bit scrambled toward the end. Hopefully, that will be resolved before publication.

There are some who will take issue with the abortion angle. For myself, I thought the author handled that very well. No preaching one way or the other. She stated facts and moved on.

Thank you NetGalley, Knopf and Caroline O'Donoghue for an advance copy of this book.

#NetGalley#TheRachelIncident#Carolino"Donoghue#Knopf

I did not enjoy this but if you are looking for queer coming-of-age stories, these might work for you.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue is a novel about a student named Rachel. She works at a bookstore where she meets her co-worker James. Soon after their first meeting, James asks Rachel to be his roommate. This is the beginning of a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne. James helps Rachel organize a reading of Dr. Byrne’s new book at bookstore where they work, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Dr. Byrne has other desires. The evening of the reading at the bookshop marks the start of a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Dr. Byrne and his wife.

This book is a wonderful contemporary coming-of-age novel and I really enjoyed reading it. The Rachel Incident a story about loyalty, friendship, love & heartbreak, jealousy and forgiveness. In the story Rachel looks backs at the time she lived with James. As a reader, you get to experience how she feels about the things that happened and you get to walk with her on her journey of self-discovery. Both Rachel and James are easy to like characters and I loved getting to know them. The writing is engaging and because of that I had trouble putting this book down. I kept saying ‘just a few more pages’.. I can’t wait to read more books by Caroline O'Donoghue.

An enjoyable coming-of-age novel set primarily in Ireland in the early 2000s narrated in the first person by Rachel Murray, now a journalist in London. The story opens with present day Rachel attending an event where she is recognized by a former university classmate who relays news about an English professor they had at UCC. This chance meeting prompts Rachel to tell the story of her final year of university ten years earlier in Cork city. In the final year of her English degree in 2009/10 at the height of the financial crisis in Ireland, Rachel is working at a bookshop to make ends meet and is infatuated with her married English professor, Dr. Byrne. Rachel moves in with her new gay (but not out) best friend, James, and the two of them stumble through the year drinking excessively and trying to figure out friendship, love and where they're going in life.

There's a lot of the insecurity and angst that plagues one's early '20s as they deal with relationships/sexuality, work, school and family while their lives also become increasingly intertwined with Dr. Byrne and his wife. James, Rachel and her boyfriend (also James but called Carey) are flawed but likeable characters who make some very bad decisions (but who doesn't at that age) and you want everything to work out for them. The plot also touches on some serious reproductive health/abortion issues that existed in Ireland at that time prior to the vote to repeal the abortion ban. The Rachel Incident is a good read - sometimes funny, sometimes poignant with relatable characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

What a quirky, wonderful coming-of-age story! Set in 2010-ish Ireland, we follow the story of Rachel's final year in college as she meets her best friend, a gay man named James, falls in and out of love, and navigates some extremely messy drama, all with the economic downturn in the background.

It clearly helped that I was the pretty much the exact same age as Rachel in 2010, so I could really relate to some of the minutiae in her life, but this story felt really special to me. It's one of those coming-of-age stories, where not a ton happens, but at the same time we really get to know Rachel and James, and there is some juicy drama. I also really loved that older Rachel was telling the story, and we did get to see how her and James' lives turn out.

4.5 stars!

LOVED. O'Donoghue's writing is sharp, smart, and classically Irish. I thought I knew what to expect and she constantly kept me surprised and delighted. Characters are complex, frustrating, and lovable, and the subject matter is familiar with enough of a twist to keep you hooked.

Set in Cork, Ireland during the global recession in and around 2008, this novel examines young adulthood, deep friendships, first love and the mistakes that come with being in your twenties. Rachel and her best friend, James, live in basic squalor while piecing together part time jobs and becoming way too involved with a middle age professor and his wife. This is a solidly written book with a propulsive plot and characters that you can’t help care about, even as they are not making good life decisions. I foresee this being a big book this summer and can’t wait to read what others have to say about it.

I received a digital Advanced Review Copy of this book from the Publisher via NetGalley.

Brilliantly written, the Rachel Incident follows Rachel, a self supporting college student, and her best friend James, an aspiring screenwriter, as they navigate their twenties together in a small Irish town.

DNF for me. I really wanted to get into this, but the timeline switching was not very clear. The main character felt whiny and when there are at least 10 f-bombs on one page I'm not going to keep trying. This tells me that the author does not know how to make use of the English language. Thank you for considering me for an ARC, but I just could not keep with it.

Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced copy.

An easy-read, coming of age that touches on some deeper topics, while still remaining humorous. Good representation throughout. Not the sort of book I’d usually pick up but I enjoyed following Rachel and James’s relationship through their early 20s.

TW - abortion

A chance encounter with a college acquaintance leads Rachel, a London-based journalist in her early 30s, to reminisce about her senior year at university in Cork, Ireland. College-aged Rachel is a mess. She and her best friend, James, live in a crappy apartment and work together at a bookstore. When Rachel's hot, married, professor visits the store and mentions that he has a new scholarly book coming out, Rachel and James concoct a plan for Rachel to start an affair with him. Instead, it's James who sleeps with him and Rachel begins a relationship with a commitment-phobic hook-up and gets a job as a supremely underpaid intern to the same professor's wife.

I can predict some resistance to this heroine. As I said, she is a mess, a slovenly, directionless mess--she admits it herself. As someone who also drifted around a college town for a few months immediately after getting an English degree, I found her very relatable. There are lessons here about not taking people for granted and for not assuming you know what other people are going through. There's a backdrop of economic uncertainty in Ireland circa 2008. It's mentioned in passing, and it directly relates to Rachel's employment and family circumstances, however, in true 20-something spirit, she notices but it doesn't make much of a dent given all her other, more personal, dramas.

Five stars. Thanks to #NetGalley for graciously providing the the ARC; the opinions are my own.

I loved this book so much. The first half had me highlighting so much that made me laugh out loud and the second half had my heart aching. Such a perfect book.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue so beautifully captures what feels like to be in your early 20s. Or at least it felt true to life specifically for me and my early 20s experience, for better or worse. The close friendships you hold on to for dear life when your thrust into world without having a clue what you’re doing. The messy first “real adult relationship” that you also cling on to for dear life even when they may bring out the worst in you. The scrambling to find a job when the economy f*cking sucks. Again, certainly not everyone’s experience in their post-college early 20s, but I connected to Rachel SO strongly.

The writing flows in such a way that it felt like an easy read even though it deals with heavier topics. The characters feel so real and are so well developed. O’Donoghue not only paints a picture of Rachel and James during their early 20s, but she also shows us how they grow and change as they get older and gain more real-life experience.

I just loved this book so much,

I feel so lucky to keep getting such great books off of NetGalley! Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.