If you are a mid-thirty something, have extended family and a few idiosyncrasies yourself, this book is EXTREMELY relatable. Full disclosure, I've never read a Marian Keyes I didn't like, but I LOVED this one. As this book takes you behind the scenes into three brothers' families' lives, you get to know all of the issues - money, eating disorders, infidelity, kids, in-laws, etc - that they're dealing with, and how they interact together. It is a very entertaining, very real depiction of life in a family today. A longer book, but I wish it were longer. So rich, there's just so MUCH, and you find yourself rooting for (almost) every character. LOVED IT!

This isn't my go-to genre, but so many people mentioned this book and author on GoodReads, that I read the description and it intrigued me. I don't have anything against big books but had I looked closer at the page count, I might have decided that 656 pages are a lot when you aren't sure if you will enjoy the read. Honestly, I probably would have passed on this one if I had known.
There are a lot of characters in this book, not surprising considering the length. It opens with Johnny Casey's 50th birthday party, but this will end differently than the family may have imagined. Cara, Johnny's sister in law has suffered a blow to her head, one that leaves her without filters, saying just what she feels. Her truths are going to rock this family to its foundation.
I did enjoy the family dynamics, but the overall storyline never grabbed me. I will admit to putting this one aside, reading another book, then coming back to this over a half dozen times. It just felt too long to me, but if you like to emerge yourself in family drama with a large dysfunctional family, you may like Grown Ups more than I did.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say that I’ve been wanting to read one of Marian Keyes’ books for a while and I was really excited to see this available in the Read Now section. This is a very big book and I also have to admit that I hadn’t realized that before going in and obviously the ebook format didn’t really show how big it was compared to a physical copy.

I really struggled to get into this book, especially because it has a very big cast of characters and I didn’t feel a connection to any of them. Keeping up with all of these characters, especially considering that the format of the family tree at the beginning wasn’t showing it clearly in the ebook, was hard and in turn made it hard to focus on the story.

Overall I enjoyed the story even though I wasn’t as invested in it as I thought I would be, I usually really like long family stories with secrets and a lot to uncover. I particularly enjoyed the story structure and the writing style, which definitely convinced me in giving a chance to other books by this author.

The dinner celebrating Johnny Casey’s 50th birthday takes a turn when his sister-in-law, Cara, unaware that she sustained a concussion fleeing from all she witnessed at his pied-a-terre earlier in the day, starts saying what’s on her mind. And the revelations show what’s been simmering below the surface of all their family gatherings the past several months.

Told in flashback, the novel focuses on Johnny, his two brothers, Ed and Liam, and their wives and families. Johnny is married to Jessie, a successful business owner whose earnings can’t stay apace with her spending, Estranged from her in-laws from her first marriage, she compensates by planning and bankrolling extravagant holidays and weekends with the Caseys, her new in-laws.

As much as I love Marian Keyes, the novel daunted me at first. Over 600 pages, it started with a huge character dump and I was sure I lacked the patience to keep it all straight. But after the prologue, the characters are reintroduced more slowly, and immediately become engaging. There are some cringey moments, some hilarious moments, and some that are heartbreakingly beautiful. Once I got into this book, I couldn’t put it down (a problem due to its volume). It made me homesick for Dublin and my extended family, which suddenly seems sane (if bougie) in comparison. GROWN UPS may be Marian Keyes’ best work. #GrownUps #NetGalley

Marian Keyes’s newest book Grown Ups is the perfect summer read for those craving a fun, enjoyable chick-lit to keep them company while lounging poolside. But unlike so many other books in its genre, Grown Ups sets itself apart in a few key ways.

At first glance I was excited but slightly nervous to read this novel; it’s long and involves many different characters, two ingredients that could lead to trouble. Nevertheless, don’t let these facts turn you off it; Grown Ups is well-written prose that manages to keep you engaged throughout the entire read, and offers such individual, yet familiarly true-to-life, characters that you can easily recognize each one of them (and empathize with most) – even the children! Cara and Ed were by far my favorite of the bunch, but Jessie, Johnny, Nell and Ferdia managed to win me over too.

Throughout the entire story I kept internally shouting at the characters to ‘make better choices!‘ It was so antagonizing I couldn’t put the book down until I knew exactly what happened. These characters aren’t perfect – in fact, they’re anything but – they’re realistic. Overall the character development displayed throughout this tale is extremely well done. It felt so natural of a progression that I didn’t even realize until it had already taken place that half of my opinions about characters had drastically changed from my initial impressions when first picking up the book to when I put it down at the end.

However, it is important to note that Grown Ups isn’t all fun and games. Within it’s page-turning plot lies some dark twists and turns, and serious topics such as mental health concerns, eating disorders and dealing with loss are discussed. While the majority of the book involves hilarious situations, scandalous affairs and witty dialogue, there are moments in between where serious topics are brought to light, woven expertly throughout the story at hand. In every instance of this more serious side to the Casey family, Keyes handles it with extreme adept for the concerns it may bring forth for her readers; and offers very realistic, but overall positive, outcomes for the characters going through these tough situations.

Hidden at the heart of this light, fun summer romp is the lesson that life will throw you some curve balls you never could have predicted, but you’ll eventually gain the confidence to trust that when these things do happen, you’ll be able to handle them, and come out stronger in the end. Loss, grief and challenges are a part of life – but so is love, growth and happiness. And yes, learning that comes with growing up.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada/Doubleday Canada, and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I've always been interested in reading something by Keyes - I go out of my way to order books from the UK/Ireland and Keyes is often on the lists of suggestions of books similar to those I buy. I hoped this would be a great way to start with Keyes, and I was actually looking forward to a long, immersive book. However, it quickly went south for me - not funny to me as I've always expected from Keyes, too many characters I couldn't keep straight, and what I anticipated as a long, settling in became a looooong, I'm-not-invested-in-the-characters situation to which I don't have the desire to devote that amount of time.

I still hope to try Keyes again; this just clearly wasn't the right one for me. I am not posting a review online because I didn't read nearly enough to justify doing so.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I am a huge fan of British books and have had Marian Keyes on my radar for a long while now. I jumped at the opportunity to review Grown Ups when it became available. However, I must admit that I could not finish this book. It is, perhaps, not the problem of the content, but of the Kindle version. There are no "ff"s at all, plus other missing letters as well. It was just too darn distracting! Also, maybe if I had been grabbed by the story I would have pressed on. But, at a third of the way in, everyone is just too unlikable to me to fight the typos,.

I look forward to reading another title by Marian Keyes in the future.

Grown Ups just didn't grab me. I guess the point was that the characters needed to start acting like grown ups, but it took a loooooong time for them to get there and it wasn't fun reading in the meantime. Most of them came across as spoiled, privileged, and self-absorbed, and much of he plot could have been cleared up with an honest conversation or two. I've enjoyed other books by Marian Keyes much more than this one.

A dysfunctional family drama that is full of all the usual suspects and Marian Keyes' unmatched wit. Grown Ups makes or a lighthearted read that will keep you laughing out loud from time to time while looking closely at your own family and imaging how many of you did actually grow up over the years.

Johnny Casey, his two brothers Ed and Liam, their beautiful, talented wives and all their kids spend a lot of time together - birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, weekends away. And they're a happy family. Johnny's wife, Jessie - who has the most money - insists on it. Everything stays under control until Ed's wife Cara, gets concussion and can't keep her thoughts to herself. One careless remark at Johnny's birthday party, with the entire family present, starts Cara spilling out all their secrets. In the subsequent unravelling, every one of the adults finds themselves wondering if it's time - finally - to grow up?

Keyes writes with a certain sincerity and it comes across via the characters who are might capture your heart with their innocence and intrigue. The book might take some getting used to as in the beginning I found it hard to figure out what was actually happening with whom thanks to a large set of characters and their quirks. A huge book at 600 plus pages Grown Ups really isn't the easiest book to read unless you do have the time and patience for it but having said that, if you do enjoy family dramas, this might be the book for you.

The Kindle version of this book had a ton of errors. Multiple words per page were missing half the word or more and I couldn't even figure out what they were supposed to be. In some instances there were no "f"s. I tried to read it (and totally understand this was an uncorrected proof!), but I was having so much trouble understanding what was going on that it was effecting my enjoyment of the book so I stopped. I'm excited to try it again when the book is out. I think I'll really like it.

I am a huge Keyes fan and have been for years. I was so excited for this book. Unfortunately, I am sad to say, I couldn’t get into it. Too many characters and back stories; it started off well but then I struggled to engage because it began to drag. I may give this another chance at a later date and maybe I will enjoy it then.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

If you like reading about rich people with messed up lives, well, here’s your book. (While the Casey family isn’t RICH rich, they’re very comfortably well off and well known).
Jessie owns a niche grocery chain and has a shopping addiction, while her husband Johnny doesn’t really know how he fits into her empire. Cara is a hotel receptionist hiding a pretty severe case of bulimia from her husband Ed. Newlywed Nell is a kind of outlier, better suited to a bohemian and activist lifestyle, while her husband Liam is ... well, he’s a jerk.
Everybody’s hiding something and there’s a lot of just-under-the-surface resentment that boils up when Cara gets a concussion and starts spilling secrets.
For me, a big challenge was that I didn’t really like any of the characters. It’s okay to have unlikable characters, but it would be nice to have a rest from machinations and barely-contained anger. The writing is compelling though, and I couldn’t put the book down.

I've been a big Marian Keyes fan for years but I have to admit, this book did not do it for me. I was completely lost by 1/4 of the way in and almost did not continue. It did start to pick up and come together about 1/2 way through but if I had not known the work of this author before I would have DNF. I enjoyed the drama and romance but overall I felt it lacked the proper conclusion for some of the characters and ending was a little lackluster. I was so looking forward to this book so it saddens me to not have enjoyed it more.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for an e-ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Getting to know the Casey family was so much fun. I love a family story and this was a drama filled realistic look at the connection and closeness a family can have even while battling their individual weaknesses. The ending did feel a bit rushed, but not enough to ruin the book.

I love Marian Keyes and was excited to see she had a new book out. This book is about three brothers and their families. An event with a big family confrontation starts the story off, and then Marian takes us back in time to reveal how the characters got to their boiling point. I struggled with the pacing of the book at times, but Marian’s insight into family struggles and dramas kept me reading. Major trigger warning for eating disorders.

I have read a lot of Marian's books mainly from her early days, Lucy Sullivan was one of the first books I read.

I haven't picked up a Marian books for about 5 years so was excited to get stuck into this after a long absence.

Unfortunately this didn't work for me, it was very slow, there were too many people in the Casey family, too much going on too much jumping time frames which got me completely lost, it was hard to keep track. I didn't feel connected with any of the characters.

I struggled to be engaged for 600 odd pages took me a while to finish very unlike me.

The Walsh family from a previous series I loved, each book would focus on a family member. This one just seemed messy and all over the place, I am really gutted.

Marian is much more talented than this.

Marian Keyes writes engulfing, thoughtful, very Irish books about family and all it's joy. and it's troubles and everything that comes in between. I dive in to each new story ready to fall in love with husbands, wives, children, lovers, and dogs. Grown Ups is Marian Keyes at her best.

I’ve been a Marian Keyes fan for many years! She has written a bunch of fantastic novels (you can’t go wrong with any of them) that I highly recommend. Her latest is titled Grown Ups and I can relate to the person on the cover of the book, can’t you?

I always want to read stories about dysfunctional families and this one offers just that. Plus Marian’s writing is just so good and she’s witty and funny and I love it. On the surface, this family has it all together, but there’s more to the Casey family than what you see.

Check it out:

They’re a glamorous family, the Caseys. Johnny Casey, his two brothers Ed and Liam, their beautiful, talented wives and all their kids spend a lot of time together–birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, weekends away. And they’re a happy family. Johnny’s wife, Jessie–who has the most money–insists on it.

Under the surface, though, conditions are murkier. While some people clash, other people like each other far too much . . .

Still, everything manages to stay under control–that is, until Ed’s wife, Cara, gets a concussion and can’t keep her thoughts or opinions to herself. One careless remark at Johnny’s birthday party, with the entire family present, and Cara starts spilling all their secrets.

As everything unravels, each of the adults finds themselves wondering if it’s–finally–the time to grow up.

If you are seeking a big book (this isn’t short) about grudges and secrets and a clash of personalities, this is one that you won’t want to miss. Yes, there are lots of characters to keep track of but you can do it!

With Marian’s trademark style of wit, clever writing, and humor, this is a must-read summer novel.

This will be out on June 30, you can pre-order it by going here.

I LOVE Marian Keyes. She presents another crazy, complex, dysfunctional family drama. This is a long, witty, dramatic, hilarious story about three charming brothers and their wives and their children. The Casey Brothers, Johnny, Ed and Liam, victims of cold hearted and authoritative parents, trying to shape their lives by having their own big families.This book is entertaining, powerful, laugh-out-loud, feel-good reading with tragic and tear jerking elements. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the growing number of characters. But at least we have still memorable ones.

DNFing this one at the 30% mark. I'm usually not opposed to ~women's fiction~ but this one just wasn't really hitting the mark for me! That being said, there was nothing I actively disliked about this book, I just didn't care to read the next 450ish pages. The cast of characters was a bit too big for me to care about anyone in particular and this book is trying to tackle so many issues that every character's storyline just felt predictable. I might check out other Marian Keyes in the future, but this one was just not the one for me.