The Snag List

Three friends. Three strained marriages. One very intrusive luxurious gated community.

Ailbhe: She’s beautiful, married with a four month old daughter. Her husband is ten years younger and a generous tech zillionaire but she’s not happy. And the reason why is not going away anytime soon.

Lindy: She’s the producer of Maxxed Out, a wildly successful YouTube show. The stars are her husband and her eleven year old son Max. She has to pretend that she’s part of a perfect family. She’s not.

Roe: She’s always wanted to be a star in musical theater. Her husband Eddie has always wanted to be a father. This may not end well.

“We build your bespoke life according to your personal needs.” So promises Monteray Valley, an ultra exclusive community where personal needs and problems are anticipated by an over involved staff. Ailbhe, Lindy and Roe become fast friends, sharing secrets and supporting each other as the Valley concierges try to direct their lives. When their secrets are dramatically revealed, the women have to make life changing decisions.

While The Snag List (Americans, it’s The Punch List) is a bit too long, it is both laugh-out-loud funny and tragic. I loved the three women, especially Roe with her dreams and insecurities. Her speech about weight is memorable. Sophie White is an author to watch! 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGally, Hachette Books Ireland and Sophie White for this ARC.

I read this book quickly, it was a fun, engaging and at times heartwrenching read that I couldn't put down. It was well written with a compelling narrative and well developed characters that were relatable and real. I enjoyed it.

I love, love, love Sophie White's writing - she's one of the few writers I can think of who manages to be fearless, vulnerable and hilarious, sometimes all within the same paragraph. The Snag List delivers this unique blend in spades - it's a contemporary women's fiction book with a horror-soaked shadow lurking just out of sight. The Snag List follows three women - Lindy, Ailbhe and Roe - who are all faced with different, thoroughly modern problems. The women are all living in Monteray Valley, a Pleasantville-esque community that has an absolute bang of Black Mirror off it. I almost wanted this to be amped up a bit, having read White's last book, Corpsing, I know she's an incredible horror writer and I wanted The Snag List to slide into this because Monteray Valley was just so creepy!
"Wanting a horror story", aside, I loved this book. The trio of protagonists are all equally fascinating in their own way - Lindy, the modern businesswoman who is internally flailing, Ailbhe, who may or may not be drinking too much to cover up a dark secret, and Roe. Poor, sweet Roe, who I connected with straight away. Her struggles are perhaps the most compelling, as she struggles with her identity and how it pushes against her relationship. All three are so compelling and f-ed up and once you get the hang of the three seperate narrative voices, it's impossible not to fall for them. I will say the male characters in this book blended together a little for me, but I didn't really care - I didn't pick it up to read about the lives of men! White has crafted 3 compelling, complex women and it's their story, and she never loses sight of that.
The plot of The Snag List isn't quite as straightforward as Unfiltered, White's wonderful, snarky social media novels, but once you get your head around the different pieces, it's a very readable story that's bouyed by loveable characters. It also deals with the pandemic head-on in a way that I really enjoyed - everyone in the book is still reeling from the impact of COVID-19 on their personal and professional lives, but it never gets too heavy or painful to read about. thanks to White's black sense of humour and light touch.

This book is awesome and really easy to relate to. Really easy to read and really enjoyable with plenty of laugh out loud moments.

I blitzed through this book over the weekend as I just could not get enough. Light and witty I enjoyed every second. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great characters, great storyline. I kept turning the pages instead of turning off the light! Definitely recommend the snag list!

This is compelling read. Sophie has, once again, found a plot that will impress and still make you question your own relationship with having so much to hand. Lindy, Roe and Ailbhe are three women at different stages of their lives: Lindy is heavily involved in a business where her son is at the forefront, but learns something devastating for their family (and their YouTube empire); Roe’s husband wants them to try for a baby but is she trying to fulfil a dream, and on paper, Ailbhe has it all. A handsome husband, a new baby, an upcoming life away from Ireland… but does she? The three become friends when moving into Monteray Valley, a hyper efficient, modern development where your every (and we do mean, every) whim is catered for. A casual chat about what’s missing in their homes leads to unprecedented action – and you’ll be here for all of it. Wickedly funny and astute, I can picture this as a Netflix series.

Thank you NetGalley, Sophie White and Hachette Books Ireland for the ARC of The Snag List. This is my personal review.
This is the first book I have read by this author. As I was reading about the three women in the story- Lindy, Ailbhe and Roe I was taken into their lives. It was about what each woman wanted- what each woman had and what each woman was unsure of what was next for them in their lives.
I grew to like each of them in their own way. The story had me filled with so many emotions as I turned each page.

This was gripping, surreal at points, and White's wit and verve sings through on every page. It reminded me of Lucy Vine and Alyssa Cole, in terms of the characterisation, world-building and the flair for exploration of the unexpected. Hard to put down.

I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and the lives of each of the women Roe, Lindy and Ailbhe are very interesting and relatable. The storyline of each of the women are credible and funny. A fantastic read from a brilliant writer.

The Snag List by Sophie White.

I have read Sophie White’s other books and I am always impressed by how she can write with such flair and authenticity across genres, reading this book cemented my opinion. The Snag List is a wildly outlandish yet realistic, funny, original book brimming with warmth and wit.

Ailbhe, Roe and Lindy are three women in their 30's who become friends quickly when they become neighbours in a brand new luxury development, Monteray Valley. At Monteray Valley, the residents' every wish is catered for ,perfect homes in a private community to live a social media friendly luxury lifestyle.
Ailbhe has an established business, a new baby and a new wealthy husband, on paper she has it all but she is also living with a huge secret. Roe is trying for a baby with her long term partner, however, she isn't sure if she actually wants to have a baby and she is harbouring a strong secret ambition that does not include a baby. Lindy is also realising that her own ambitions have been completely overshadowed by her sons career, he's eleven and a successful YouTube star. The friendship between the women helps to spark the changes they need to make in their lives and life in Monteray Valley becomes more than the sedate curated life they first found themselves living.

This is a perfect summer read, one to pick up at the airport or to savour in the garden. I read the entire book in a day, once I got to the half-way point, I knew I wasn't going to be able to put it down until I finished it. It made me laugh out loud several times,there are some cracking lines within. I had to explain to my husband what I was snorting laughing at ( that's a clue if you have read the book) at one point. It was the characters that kept me reading though. Sophie White writes Irish women so well . I saw so many traits in the characters I recognised from my own friends. I was fully invested in and rooting for these three women.

A funny, warm, entertaining read and a delightful distraction from reality.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Snag List will be published on April 25th. I read an ARC with thanks to @netgalley and the publishers @hachetteireland . As always, this is an honest review.

A light, easy to read book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book.

If your life was "perfect", what would you still want to change? That's the question Sophie White poses in her fantastic new novel about three women who move to Monteray Valley, a gated community where their every need and whim is catered to - from basics like laundry and food shopping, to having a hangover helper, this community advertises that they have thought of everything. However, as with any new build, there's always a snag list, and with that in mind, the three ladies, Roe, Ailbhe and Lindy, draw up some snag lists of their own of their lives. From the family life of a youtube family, to a long distance relationship with a "tiny phone husband", to a fertility journey which isn't exactly straight forward, each of them has something going on that not even this paradise can fix... The characters aren't always likeable, and there's some decisions that you'll definitely want to put the book down and scream into a pillow for them making them, but they are compelling.

Fantastic premise and really funny book from Sophie White, who has great form for this - I devoured Filter This and Unfiltered, and I couldn't put this one down.

An utterly delectable comic novel telling the story of three women reevaluating their lives and the choices they have made in their careers and personal lives. Social satire at its finest!