Trigger Warning: Suicide

"She'd been doing the same things for so long: auditioning, seducing, preening. What if she turned it around, and let the world try to win her for a change?"

SYNOPSIS | Seventy year old Charlotte Perkins submits a scandalous essay from her youth as her entry for the "Become a Jetsetter" contest. The prize is an all expenses paid European cruise and Charlotte dreams of using this time away from everyday life to reunite her estranged children. She wins the cruise so her family packs up their baggage (literal and figurative) and heads for a sunnier climate.

MY THOUGHTS | Sadly there wasn't a lot about this book that I actually liked. The story is told from multiple POVs but I found each character to be pretty self-absorbed and unlikeable. I am not sure if that was the intent, or if I just didn't connect or root for any of the characters. I picked this up mainly because it was the Reese Witherspoon choice for March & I am finding it difficult to think who I would actually recommend this too. It was fine.

I've been excited about this book since I first heard about it, and it did not disappoint. The characters sucked you into the story and the story kept you turning pages as fast as you could. I devoured it in a day. I loved it.

Charlotte and her family are estranged, however does a chance to cruise Italy give them the opportunity to come together. I enjoyed the character and setting development that Amanda Eyre Ward wrote into the story. I have always wanted to travel to Europe and now Italy is on my list. While I did not find personal connections with the characters, I found myself wanting to keep reading to see how they made out in the story. It also makes me long for a family vacation with my parents and sister.

Didn't love this one... couldn't connect to the story. Thank you very much for the galley but would not recommend.

To be honest, I am just not sure how to feel about this book. The story idea was good and drew me in to read it - troubled mother of three troubled children wins Mediterranean cruise. We follow them on the trip as many of their past issues come to a head. I definitely struggled with connecting to any of these characters. I tried to understand that they all had a terrible life experience and childhood, but I still find myself frustrated with them. The writing was also choppy to me - the chapters were short and I felt like someone's POV always ended just as they were getting into something honest. There are a lot of real problems addressed in this book, but I didn't feel like any of them were explored with depth. Maybe the book should have been a bit longer in order to give time for the characters to really delve into the real issues. This book had more of a light beach read feel when the tone should have been much more solemn given the problems the characters had. 2.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC of this book!

I was hoping for something a little lighter, a little fluffier.... maybe some madcap adventures in Europe with a wacky mom, a broken hearted starlet, and a mom finding her own voice. Yeah, no.

Its way darker and deeper than that. Which isn't to say it isn't good, just not what I needed right now

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward was ReeseWithedspoon’s March Book Club pick and I was fortunate enough to be gifted a copy from Netgalley!!
This is a story about an older widow named Charlotte and her three grown children. Charlotte writes an essay and wins a European cruise. Together, they all set sail with the hope of not only repairing and finding meaning to their own lives, but their family’s as well.
Each of these characters have their own story.
Charlotte- widowed mom who continues to look back at her past marriage and the mistakes she’s made along the way. She is desperate to put her family back together and thinks this cruise will be the answer.
Lee- the oldest daughter, an out of work actress. She’s broke, both financially and emotionally.
Cord- the gay son who still has not told his family and his boyfriend who is tired of him keeping their relationship a secret.
Reagan- the youngest daughter who’s husband cheats on her and is just in an all around bad marriage and situation.
While each of these characters had interesting stories and I wanted to find out what would happen with each one of them, the overall book was just kind of boring to me. A fairly quick, mindless read, but not necessarily one I would recommend.
⭐️⭐️

Charlotte, a widowed 70 year old woman, has wants and desires in her life that she does not feel have been fulfilled. Her three children are not close to each other or particularly close to her and they lead their own lives without needing anything from Charlotte. When Charlotte hears about a contest to become a Jetsetter, she writes a an essay with sexy undertones. She wins and takes her three children on a European cruise with her in order to bring her dysfunctional family back together.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was a quick read for me because the chapters were very short. The first half of the book was much more intriguing to me than the second half. I found that there were parts of the second half of the novel where the plot wasn't as linear and I would find myself slightly confused ow what exactly was going on, or rather, I felt that the plot occasionally jumped around more than I would have liked.

Overall, I enjoyed the plot and thought that it was an interesting way to present a struggling family dynamic. I like how the story was told from the viewpoint of all three children and from Charlotte. I often find if there are too many viewpoints it can be distracting, but I didn't feel that way with this book. I think if all viewpoints weren't included you would have missed part of the story.

Funny, cute, charming, and sexy.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

This is a fun novel about a family trapped on a cruise trying desperately to reconnect with each other. I enjoyed it greatly. Also, a reminder that I don't want to go on a cruise.

A unique family dynamic of three siblings and their mother. Their mother, Charlotte, is widowed and he best friend recently passed away. She decides to enter a contest to win a family trip for four. Charlotte is very aware that no one in her family is close and doesn't know if she should fix it or not. The children's relationships with each other were almost heartbreaking. Some scenes left me cringing that families really interact this way with no resolution.

I have to admit this probably was not my favorite book, but it also was not my least favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and Author Amanda Eyre Ward for this copy of The Jetsetters.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I felt like I was on a twisted vacation! I love to cruise. I understand the feeling of being a new person or the best version of yourself when on a cruise. This family needed that SO BADLY!

I absolutely loved watching each family member unfold and develop into who they truly wanted to be. Watching the realizations take place amongst the beautiful cities was actually a bittersweet delight.

Loved this book so much!

This book was all over the place for me. It appeared on the surface to be a light read, but had a lot of heavy moment. The characters weren’t like able, partly because they weren’t fully fleshed out. I expected to like this book a lot more than I did.

This book felt very disjointed to me. It was written as if it were a light read, but had a lot of heavy moments. The characters weren’t fully developed and the story was all over the place. I liked the book overall, but it wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be.

Thanks to #NetGalley & #Ballentinebooks for allowing me access to this book on publishing day. I really enjoyed this family saga. Charlotte, mom, is a hoot. From her outfits to her fantasies, I just loved her! Her children; Lee, Cord and Regan do not have the spunk of their mom so I figured they got their genes from their deceased Dad. All I can say is the writer had the family on an European cruise and I felt like I was on it with the family. Italy and Greece were so well described with the history of the landscapes. It was just beautiful. The family drama that ensues throughout the book keeps you turning the pages. I would definitely recommend this book, it made me feel like a "jetsetter".

The Jetsetters is an entertaining look at a crazy, dysfunctional family. Lots of emotion when reading from laughing out loud to feeling heart broken. While this was not my favorite of Reese's picks, it was worth the read!

This book is just a delight. I devoured it. I truly felt like I was right there traveling with them. Great story and characters. Highly recommend.

After a little bit of a slow start, I was hooked by the intricate relationships in this story! Besides the incredible wanderlust vibes, I instantly wanted to go on a cruise!! The family disfunction theme was so realistic and genuine; and each character had a little something I could relate to. Overall, I was very pleased with this book!!

I really enjoyed this book! The writing style was great. I really liked the colorful cover too! I enjoyed reading about their travels. Additionally, the character development was great. This story had multiple point of views. The matriarch of the family and her 3 adult children. Each person has their own problems. Some can be traced back to their dysfunctional family and upbringing. It has a mix of different things including a son who feels like he cannot come out of the closet to his mother, a daughter dealing with trying to save her marriage, and a daughter who just is not able to start her career, and a mother who has a long list of regrets. Each story weaves together nicely. I wish the ending was a lot better though. I also wish their was more humor in the novel to offset the serious tone of the book at times. Overall, I will recommend this novel.

In the novel “The Jetsetters”, a dysfunctional family embarks on a family cruise from Greece to Spain. Charlotte Perkins, the matriarch of the family, has been feeling estranged from her children, so she enters a contest to win this cruise and a chance to reconnect with her family. Obviously, she wins the contest, and is reunited with her adults children, Lee, Cord, and Regan. Charlotte and each of her children have their own problems and secrets, and it will take this time together for secrets to come out and issues to be confronted.

I was enticed by the bright, cheerful cover, the description of the novel, and the family drama it promised. After reading, I found this book to be just “okay”, and would rate it 2.5 Stars. I did not love the writing, and honestly, I found this family to be annoying and lacking depth. I think the novel had a lot of potential with some of the storylines and backgrounds of the various family members, but for me, personally, I did not feel the execution was there. It’s a quick and easy read, and while it was not the book for me, I have seen plenty of positive reviews and people that enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.