Grown Ups

Absolutely, totally amazing.

A character led book which is utterly mesmerising - one I will definitely read again. Full of heart and humour and pain - Keyes has definitely gone back to her best style. Blown away.

Marian Keyes is on top form with her latest, a gorgeously sprawling character-driven feast of a book following the fortunes of the Casey family - brothers Johnny, Ed and Liam , their respective wives Jessie, Cara and Nell, plus assorted children. Businesswoman Jessie is the one who holds it together, gathering the family at regular intervals for various iterations of A Bit of a Do. Safe to say all the characters have their ups and downs, relationships change, develop and disintegrate, there are challenges with work, illness and murder mystery weekends, some people grow and develop into pretty great people and others turn out to be disappointing jerks.

Marian Keyes always excels at hilarious dialogue and Grown Ups is no exception, seems everyone in Ireland has a degree level qualification in Witty Banter. But deeper issues are touched upon, too.

A cracking read with its heart firmly in the right place.

Ahhhh opening a Marian Keyes is like stepping into a warm, cosy bath. This one didn't disappoint - full of her usual wit and warmth. I both loved, and was infuriated by, the characters and I could have carried on reading about their lives for pages and pages more. Keyes writes so well that I always get the feeling I've just eavesdropped on the lives of real people for a time, then quietly taken my leave.

Wow, just wow - this book was one of my favourite reads of 2019. It was meant to be read at the start of 2020 because I had other books to read and review first - however once I had read the opening chapters, I couldn't put this down.

It is a long book, with lots of great characters from the Casey family, which goes backwards and forwards in time and it definitely isn't a light and fluffy read, covering topics such as eating disorders, death of a spouse, teenage angst. However I found myself struggling to put this down, I was so eager to know what was going to happen next.

The main female characters, Jessie, Cara and Nell faced numerous challenges and I would like to thank Marian Keyes for such wonderful storytelling. I will be recommending this book to friends and family.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for my digital review copy - my thoughts are my own.

What a fantastic book; Marian is writing at her very best in Grown Ups.

I loved the wide mix of characters and how they interact with each other throughout the story.

Marian Keyes is excellent at drawing you in; I was 'in' from chapter 1. I stayed up far too late, 3 nights in a row to find out what would happen next to Jessie, Johnny and the entire Casey/ Kinsella clan.

A fantastic read, packed full of 'real' characters. Marian makes you care about the people you are reading about, she full develops each character, so much so that you feel as though you know them personally at the end of the tale.

Marian does not shy away from relevant, real life news stories. She shines a light on important issues within the book (no spoilers) and makes the reader consider things from different angles. This is a real quality and it adds so much depth to the novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; I know Marian Keyes fans will adore it and I am sure that readers, who are new to Marian Keyes, will love it.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this advanced copy, it is much appreciated.