Grown Ups is a big book. There were so many characters and so many storylines! It took me quite a few chapters to really get into the story and know how everyone was related. Honestly there were some characters that confused me every time I saw their name. But overall I loved the main characters and their quirky lives. Cara and Nell were my favorites (with Bridey a best supporting role) These women really grew and became better people but always stayed true to themselves. I loved the ending but really wish it could have kept on going. A sequel please?

It's been some time since I've read a book by Marian Keyes, and I've been missing her! This story of the Casey brothers and their families is definitely a character-driven novel. And, there are a lot of characters in this 600+ page book! Even with the page count, it's a quick and immersive read that explores secrets and their role in families.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I will admit I have never read a Marian Keyes book before and it wouldn't be something I would naturally be attracted to. However, after finishing the book, I am glad I was able to have the opportunity. The beginning feels tightly coiled together and the plot slowly explains itself as the book unwinds. The characters are realistic and believable and face issues which are not uncommon in day-to-day life. Jessie and Johnny's life might not be everyone's day-to-day experience but their struggle with communication in their marriage and ability to be honest about financial matters is relatable. The moral questions surrounding age gaps in relationships is raised along with the social economic climate of a modern day Ireland. It is not hard to imagine the struggles of immigrants in Ireland or anywhere else in the world. What this book excels at is covering a wide range of topics and whilst you might not be able to relate to all of them, Marian really captures what it is like to be a grown up. It is anything but simple.

Messy and complicated and wonderfully fun to read! This book was such a different road than I expected to go on while reading. It was so intriguing and I recommend this to all. This was such a perfect light hearted read after reading horror so much lately. Who can't relate to a such a dysfunctional family?

I've never read a Marian Keyes book. I will be reading her from now on. This is just the sort of family drama/domestic novel that I love to sink into. Rich characters who have lots going on. Reminds me of Liane Moriarty's better books, i.e. The Husband's Secret or Big Little Lies.

Irish fiction has been missing something since Maeve Binchy left us. Marian Keyes may be her predecessor.

I can always rely on Marian Keyes for a sharp yet touching family drama, and her latest, "Grown Ups" certainly does not disappoint. The story centres on an extended family, made up of three brothers along with their various spouses, partners and children, and the reader is certainly thrown in at the deep end when we are introduced to all of them in the opening chapters. The book opens at a fiftieth birthday party where all of the characters are assembled, and the cat is launched among the pigeons with all the force of a grenade when one of the family members starts to let slip a few family secrets. Dinner soon turns into a shouting match, and the reader is then whisked back through time to six months before the night in question. Each chapter in the book reveals more about the characters , their feelings and why they behaved the way they did while moving gradually back to the night that opened the book, taking the reader full circle and allowing them time to grow to care about and empathise with the characters. Keyes creates fabulously believable characters and is not afraid to skewer them at times , paying as much attention to their faults as their good points. They feel like a real family, and their interactions are pure gold. The most interesting of the bunch are those who show the most changes over the book, like Nell, Ferdia and even Cara. While the book is light and entertaining, the author does not shy away from including issues like eating disorders, direct provision and refugees , and these are well and sensitively handled in a way that makes the reader think .
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This review will be published on the below-mentioned blog and other social media on June 12.

Book Title: Grown-ups

Author: Marian Keyes

Genre: Fiction / Family Drama

Publishing Date: 30 June 2020


My Review:

I am a big fan of Marian Keyes and was excited to receive this ARC . It is such a big book and took more than my normal time to finish it! It’s a big Irish family drama! Seriously a lot of characters to remember, itched me to draw a connection diagram of all the names mentioned! It took a while to remember all the characters and their connections! And so many POVs! I was amazed by how depth each character is! But didn’t able to connect with any of the single characters. The narration is slow but not boring! Appreciate the way it talked about the important issues like “ period poverty” and “bulimia”! Seriously the entire story is like watching some serious family drama series on TV! It’s entertaining so we can watch it with some amusement but didn’t make an impact! I recommend it if you are enjoying big family drama books! I did enjoy it!

Thoughts While Reading:

This section has subtle spoilers,

The initial chapters were chaos. So many characters (25 main characters alone ) to remember and their connection between them. It took almost 20% of the book to grip on a story with proper character understanding!!
I was amazed by the characterization !! Each character is perfectly portrayed! The little details of them were never missed anywhere! It’s such a huge thing to write little things about the characters without missing them and connect them well with the situations! I wonder about the author’s ability!
And the story narration never missed a bit! The drama flows properly and connects logically well! There is no single quibble in that which is amazing given by the number of characters and incidents happening in the story!!!
The family drama is not felt too much but it really felt like a drama! There is no connection between readers and the characters, their emotions at all!
Nothing could be felt from the story no humor, no sentiment not even felt the love! Nothing at all! Just like watching some entertaining show without getting into it! Such a lake off emotional depth!
I appreciate the Jessie character! The way she gathered the whole family which is a psychological balance off act for the hate from her ex-in-laws.I really want to ask the author from where she found her characters ?? From her life by seeing so many people or just design it in her head ?? Either way, it's amazing!
As I mentioned above the way she portrayed the "bulimia" and "period poverty" issues were highly appreciable. I wish more books should come in addictions like bulimia to understand better as its an illness rather than a lack of discipline.
The romance between Ferdia and Nell is my least favorite part of the entire story! Nell should have left it after her confession of need time to make her head sort out! The getaway and romance scenes were not enjoyable !! Is it added to have some romantic scenes in the story ???!!! If so it didn’t do any justice.
Even though it lacks in the connection between the readers, I did enjoy the story and huge kudos to the author for its wonderful execution of storytelling!

This book follows the stories of the Casey brothers and their respective partners and families.

I really enjoyed this book and was not expecting the ending! the authors characters were well thought out and easy to engage with. I must admit though it took me awhile to get my head around the family tree, which made it difficult to fully engage with the book for a few chapters. Thankfully the author has included a family tree diagram so that helped.

Keyes also ensures that the main character developed throughout the story and you eventually got to know each of them on a more personal level. The book moves back and forth over a 6 month period which all leads to the main event, which cleverly starts in the first few pages of the book. The ending was perfectly executed with all storylines nicely tied up!

This is a perfect Sunday afternoon or before bed read (which is what I did).

I have never read any other Marian Keyes books, but I would pick up another one now.

#GrownUps #NetGalley

I was really looking forward to reading this, however there were too many typos in this copy to be able to fully understand the story, so it was a DNF for me. It’s a shame, as this was my first by this author and it seemed to have potential. But I will definitely read a copy when it’s out. This is the only reason for me giving it one star.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Love all of Marian Keyes books and this was no exception... this book was a mammoth undertaking at over 600 pages but in her typical humor it told the story of a family full of dysfunction. This book was graciously provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Grown Ups is a book following the three Casey brothers, who live in Dublin and their families. It's a pretty quick, fun read despite the 650 pages or so. Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC.

The typos in this edition made it so difficult to read. Additionally, I found the characters to be boring and one-dimensional.

This book is about the glamorous Casey family who spend far too much time together. They seem like the perfect family until one member gets a concussion and starts telling everyone how she really feels. This book was a little long for my taste but it is worth the read. I do enjoy books by Marian Keyes.

I loved this book! It was a lot a fun and very relatable to me as a middle aged woman. Definitely a book I will be able to recommend and sell to my customers :)

I am a huge fan of Marian Keyes. She writes about families with such humor and love. This story is about three brothers and their families. It is told mostly though from the point of view of their wives. As expected (and wanted) there is drama. The first chapter, which is a flash forward, completely confused me because it introduced the characters all at once but don’t worry, it moves on from there on a more individual basis with more explanation of who everybody is. Unfortunately, I didn’t love them as much as I wanted to this time around. That being said, I was still totally invested in all of their happy (or not so happy) endings.

GROWN UPS by Marian Keyes is a complex and intriguing family drama that kept me engaged from beginning to end which is not easy when the book is well over six hundred pages long. I have long been a big Marian Keyes fan and was thrilled to have the chance to read her latest. This is the story of the extended Casey family, including charismatic brothers, Johnny, Ed and Liam along with their wives, children and their parents. The story is told from several perspectives moving back and forth over a six-month period leading up to a dramatic fall-out at Johnny’s birthday party when Ed’s wife, Cara, inadvertently winds up spilling a lifetime of the family’s deeply held secrets with all members present. Each character must face their lies, regrets, insecurities and poor choices as their relationships unravel before their eyes. There are some serious and insightful topics addressed, but the book had many funny and tender moments that touched my heart. I truly enjoyed this witty, thought-provoking and emotional novel and highly recommend it. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.

Grown Ups by Marian Keyes is about both family in general and one family in particular. Brothers Johnny, Ed and Liam Casey and their respective wives, Jessie, Cara and Nell seem to be doing pretty well: stable marriages, interesting careers and plenty of spirited family get-togethers and vacations, despite the different paths the Casey brothers have taken. The shiny veneer of their lives, however, only covers old wounds and current desires, making their lives much more complicated than they seem. These wounds and desires are slowly revealed during the course of a few months in chapters narrated by the brothers, wives and one of their children. When everything comes into the open during one family dinner, the Casey family will never be the same. I'm a huge Marian Keyes fan-- I've read almost all of her other books. Her signature humor and insight are present throughout Grown Ups but its pace is slower and its mood more somber than her previous novels (at least the ones I've read), both of which accurately convey the bittersweet essence of being a grown up. If you're looking for an escapist but contemplative book for your summer reading, you should definitely add Grown Ups to your TBR pile.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. Sadly, this was a did not finish book for me. From the description of a family who plays nice but has secrets, I thought I would enjoy it. But once I started reading it, every character is unlikable and that combined with the fact that the copy I got wasn’t edited well (many misspellings and missing words), made me put this book down. I might come back to it and will update my review if I do, but for now this is a did not finish for me.

I absolutely adore Marian Keyes. I read her first novel when I was 17, and here I am, at 42, still reading and loving her work. She has an amazing way of developing wonderful characters, and brilliant comedic timing. And of course, her stories are always relatable, hilarious, but also very true to life. In life there are good people and there are terrible people, but for the most part there are those in between, erring somewhere along the bad to good spectrum, and Marian Keyes does so well at creating these real people who could be you, or me, or anyone we know.

Grown Ups is a family saga that starts in the middle of a dinner party kind of out of nowhere, and then leads us backwards, untangling the intricate knots of the Casey family along the way, before ending up right back at the dinner party again. There are the three brothers, Johnny, Ed, and Liam, and their wives, Jessie, Cara, and Nell, as well as their children. While the novel kind of revolves around Jessie, who has put herself in a type of matriarchal position, corralling everyone into partaking in all-expenses paid family weekends away, we get to know all of the others well enough. And everyone seems to have something to hide, or something they are ashamed of, something they just can’t keep hidden forever.

I personally didn’t have much time for Jessie or Johnny. I am very much like Nell and it would have driven me insane to feel forced to attend over the top holidays away from my own life all of the time. But I did understand why Jessie was the way she was, and by the end she had grown on me. I loved Nell, and I also loved Ed and Cara. And even Ferdia, who grows up a lot through the narrative. But what I loved most of all was how the story just worked. I thoroughly enjoyed becoming an invisible part of the family through the glimpses that Keyes gives us, glimpses that become a puzzle that you slowly put together in your mind.

I had been holding out on this one for a few months, knowing that I was in for a treat, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love Marian Keyes. Sort of conflicted on how to rate this book. I would probably give it 3.5 stars. I enjoyed it but not as much as the author's previous books. The Casey families are definitely not the Walshes. I was so confused at the beginning of the book at the dinner party. I had a hard time keeping track of who everyone was and how they were related. There were so many characters. Ed was definitely my favorite, followed by Nell. Cara married the best Casey brother. He was so sweet and truly loved his wife. Ferdia completely changed and was no longer a complete douche by the end of the book. He treated his mom and Johnny horrible. They provided everything for him. I loved how Jessie called all the children bunnies. It was so cute. Not sure how Jessie afforded all those vacations. She definitely spent more than they earned. Not sure how Jessie afforded all those vacations. She definitely spent more than they earned. Liam was the worst person throughout the whole book. I kept forgetting he was a forty year old man. He acted more like he was twenty. He was useless and a complete waste. He valued a free apartment more than being a father to his children. I felt bad for Nell. She pretty much jumped into a marriage with a man she barely knew. Everything she thought she knew about Liam wasn't even how he truly was. The whole Sammie and Robyn thing was disgusting. He was a grown man. I wish Johnny and Ed would have challenged him more on his actions.

I enjoyed the story, characters and writing style. I liked getting to know all the Caseys (some more than others.) The murder mystery birthday party was quite funny. The "hotel" rooms and the "yurt"were not what the guests were expecting. Jessie's diva ways definitely showed through. She should have appreciated the effort her husband made, not be mad that he didn't spend the thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars that she expected. The ending was a bit of a disappointment. I wanted to know what happened to everyone. I wouldn't mind reading more about the Caseys and find out what happened to everyone. The book could be about when all the bunnies are older.

Definitely recommend the book. The Caseys are a CRAZY family. Something is always happening. I look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Penguin Random House Canada through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.