I headed into this book entirely blind and as a newcomer to Caroline O’Donoghue’s work and I enjoyed this book so much!

Present-day adult Rachel takes the reader on a journey back through her adolescent years which took place in Cork, Ireland amidst the recession. I’m a big fan of a coming-of-age story and this one is up there with the best ones - there is a mixture of humour, love, heartbreak, juicy secrets and everything in between. I adored the meeting of Rachel and James and the growth of their friendship. The dialogue, particularly between those two, was witty and made me actually laugh which is rare! There were also some very tender and sensitive subjects explored which were written with care but were thought-provoking.

There are so many different strands to this story, all loosely connected in some way, and I enjoyed the way the author presented the different versions of love that a human can experience: through parents, best friends, lovers and partners.

Despite the at times heavier topics, the writing was light and breezy and this is just one of those books that is incredibly easy to read and you’re sort of shocked when you reach the end because you didn’t realise how much you’d already read.

Thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor & Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Meet Rachel. She’s twenty-one, in platonic love with her roommate, James, who is also a co-worker. She’s also a bit starry-eyed over her professor, Dr. Byrne, who has a wife.

Rachel and James work in a bookshop and Rachel has discovered that the good Dr. Byrne has written a book. She meets his wife at a book signing she has organized and she seems lovely. It’s only later that the weirdness begins.

This book follows Rachel over the course of a year. She falls for another James, the Byrnes are acting strangely and the secret they share is about to blow up.

This is pretty much every twenty-something past. We are a messy bunch at that age. Trying to figure out where we fit in and who we want to continue living with. It’s all trial and error and this reminds me of all of that.

NetGalley/ June 22, 2023, Knopf

The Rachel Incident. Yes there is an incident and it likely won’t be what you expect when diving into this lovely debut. It’s a character-driven coming of age novel with a steady yet laid-back European pace. A sprinkling of surprises keep you reading for more. By the end you will fall in love with James and Rachel and you’ll want to enjoy a wine dinner with them. If you ever had to get creative to scrape by in college, enjoyed drunken nights with your best friend or fell deeply in love with someone you really shouldn’t have, you will find yourself in this book. I know I did. The emotions presented were real - all the hilarious, heartwarming and heartbreaking ones.

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

A great story about learning to navigate life as a new adult. It's funny, thoughtful, insightful, and full of love. Reading this feels like you crawled inside Rachel's head and saw her life through her eyes. It doesn't feel like a book and I just love that.

I devoured this book in two ling sittings within a 24-hour time span, which is quite a feat when you have a rambunctious three year old son. Reading this book took me back to my early twenties when I was fresh out of college and navigating the impossible job market of the late aughts and early 2010s.

This gave me Sally Rooney vibes, and not because both authors are Irish. The protagonist. Rachel, is in her early 20s and harboring a crush on her attractive English professor. When things don’t go exactly as planned, Rachel is left to pick up the pieces after a massive misunderstanding.

5/5 stars

Look for a Books Are Magical podcast episode featuring this novel on its publication date.

This book is love personified. Get ready to fall in deep. A story about a young woman who is finding her way, in life, in love, in her world that has been tilted in unexpected ways.

I’m telling you this one is so spectacular, such a brilliant, funny, warm, love on love story that you’re going to appreciate everything about it. We meet lovable Rachel from Cork who is finishing up University while crushing hard on her literature professor who isn’t the least bit focused on her. She dreams of becoming a writer while working in a bookshop where she meets her best friend, James, and we have the privilege of watching as their lives gain momentum the moment, they come up with a clever idea involving pre-orders of a book to, well, game the system. Their minds, so much alike. What follows is often fun, frequent miscommunication, heartache, and certainly love underneath it all.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I’ve got the sweetest hangover, I don’t wanna get over, ‘cause if there’s a cure for this, I don’t want it. I can’t wait to read everything Ms. O’Donoghue has written and writes in the future.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, and the author for an ARC of this lovely book in exchange for my honest review.

Rachel works at a bookstore and quickly becomes best friends with her coworker, James. They move in together and are navigating through the perils of their twenties. She develops a crush on a married professor from school, Dr. Byrne, and that is most certainly a complication she’s not sure how to work through. She also starts dating someone (also named James). You can definitely feel the chaos of this decade of life and can empathize with Rachel. It reads from a very real place and I enjoyed the writing style of the author. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.

The Rachel Incident is a book about transitioning from young adult life as a student in your twenties to full fledged adulthood. Rachel, James, and Carey were all sympathetic characters whom you root for as they navigate the pitfalls of life in your early twenties. You want to see them figure things out and make it in the adult world. The story starts in Ireland in 2010. There is an abortion side story which was interesting as it was still illegal in Ireland at that time. All in all, it was a good read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. This review appears immediately on Goodreads.
Not a normal grab for me, as I don't tend to reach for coming of age stories. Rachel recounts her end-of-college, early adulthood years - one that we are all grateful we got through without social media, cell phones, and cameras everywhere. I remember the uncertainty, the co-dependency with gay friends, and certainly the poor job market and financial insecurity of my own coming of age.
The writing is funny and clever and well paced. Its easy to see how readers would laugh, cry, and cringe through the antics and decisions of these players.
While its not my personal style of the book, I could very well appreciate it and would recommend it to certain readers. Not a book club book.
TW's - gay relationships, affairs, abortion, lots of language and graphic imagery, sexual content. You know, most everything that comes with your 20's.
3*

I really enjoyed this book, though it's outside of my normal genre. It manages to be both a light and a deep read, with real emotion and tough situations mixed with some laughs and an overall likeable protagonist. The story centers on Rachel and dives into her relationship with her roommate, her boyfriend, her unrequited love interest, and others around her.

Rachel felt very real, as did the dynamics between characters. I felt like I knew her and was part of her life. Her relationship with James also hit just the right note. She experiences real growth throughout the book but in a realistic and often humorous way.

I am going back to my regular psychological thriller reads now, but glad that I added this one in and will definitely read other books by this author. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The cover is amazing and caught my eye.
I started reading this ad the Pump Rules scandal took over the internet so I started a little irked by the early the storyline. But about 20 percent in, the actual story comes through and rescued my attention. Over all the story is well written and in a voice that you feel like a friend is actually telling you her life story. Even though the book is slow moving, I am enjoying the story.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House!

Wow what a story! I’m so glad I was approved for this arc! So many blurred lines with relationships. What a read! I was literally blown away and shocked at some points. I truly love when you think a story is going one way and then it just goes so differently.

I have saved this book for months, because I knew how impossibly good it would be. I was right and I already miss it.
Rachel and James meet and it’s platonic love at first sight. They become roommates, best friends and one another’s secret keeper. When James discovers that Rachel has a crush on her professor, they scheme to get the pair together. It is only when all three are in the same room that it’s clear Rachel isn’t who he’s interested in.
A brilliant, reflective coming-of-age that breathes new life into the genre. That made me laugh as much as pause, tear up.
I loved it.

Review: The writing flows well and the story is interesting, but there was an oddness throughout the book. The main character is unreliable in the way where what she says isn’t the truth nor is it a lie. I just wasn’t into that at all. I kept me from feeling connected to the story. Also, in random spots the narrator spoke to the reader and I that through me off.
Recommended For: Those who like a book with lots of drama.

When I was asking if I would like to read The Rachel Incident I was a little nervous. But the minute I read the synopsis I knew it was a book for me. they got me with bookstore and Ireland LOL. I highly recommend this book to everyone and I couldn't put it down the minute I started it. I will be preordering this book cause I need it on my shelf.

Rachel is a large woman in her early 20s, finishing her undergraduate degree in Cork, and lives with her new best friend James, a recently out gay 20-something with aspirations of becoming a writer. Rachel and James have an amazing bond, including sharing a crush on one of Rachel’s professors, Dr Byrne. The Rachel Incident is their story. This young and cash strapped pair see themselves as outsiders and often get caught up in toxic relationships, bad jobs, and a terrible economy. Their individual relationships with Dr Byrne changes them and sets them on a path to their future selves. This was an enjoyable reading experience, I think that the second half was stronger than the first half of the book - and the ending was not how I would have predicted it. Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC.

The Rachel Incident is a book that encapsulates the angst of a person's 20's. It follows Rachel and her exploration of friendship, crappy jobs, dating, sexuality, family relationships, and higher education in the backdrop of Ireland in the late early 2000's. The twenties are hard and this book shows the amount of indecision and turmoil of the time. Although her choices and her lifestyle are not reflective of my own value system, it was easy to get lost in her journey towards full-fledge adulthood.

I loved this book. I loved the new adulthood uncertainty and exploration of boundaries, the moral greyness that you can be sucked into but that doesn't feel quite as black and white as when you get older.

Definitely not a novel with easily lovable characters, but I felt so endeared by the love James and Rachel share. I loved how they met, I loved how we met the other characters, and did I mention already that I love this book?

Pick this up if you love coming-of-age stories, love messy love, or you love Salley Rooney.

TW: infidelity, infertility

Full of hilarious moments, cringe-inducing decisions, and surprises - The Rachel Incident will keep you entertained from the moment you meet the chaotic, entitled undergraduate student Rachel.

This is a smart, tender story of a young woman trying to grow up while the world seems to be crashing down.
We follow Rachel as she meets James, her new colleague and soon to be best friend. They decide to move in together and share stories and secrets as they experience love, heartbreak, loss, and ambition.

Despite her talent for making increasingly poor decisions and selfish behavior, I found Rachel to be endearing and enjoyed following the story as it unfolded and moved in unexpected directions. Recommended to anyone looking for a clever, character-driven novel.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

I love books about the messy uncertainties of our early 20s and The Rachel Incident captures all of that quite well..
Rachel and her friend James are both deeply flawed but also likable, and the book carefully balances its themes of friendship, infidelity, bodily autonomy, class differences, etc, with ease. The incident in question comes a bit late in the book and that's my only real complaint - the story meanders a bit before a big reveal that could have been mined for more drama. Otherwise an immensely enjoyable and relatable book about an adult reflecting on the struggle to find her place in a world felt big and scary and exciting and full of possibilities.