Three woman who lost a mutual friend to cancer find themselves following her last wishes...for the three of them to have brunch together once a month for a year. The characters find themselves tolerating each other for the sake of their friend's memory, while trying to cope with their grief and deal with some major things happening in their personal lives.
This story is a look at what friendship is and how sometimes our friends know what we need more than we know ourselves. It's a look at how we learn and grow and have to make changes in our lives.
I felt like the author did a great job at making the characters believable and endearing. I also really enjoyed the small bits of humor dispersed throughout the novel. It was a good reminder that even during serious matters we need some humor to see us through.
I liked Maeve and the storyline with Christina and her mother. When we got a bit of Maeve's backstory I almost felt like the author maybe had another whole story buried that she could unearth.
The only complaint I had at all was that the ending was mostly predictable. It would have been nice for maybe one or two little surprises to pop up.

An excellent look at female friendship. Such a fun read!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Great light(ish) read! The story follows three non-friends has their common friend dies and makes them meet up once a month. Life crises and revelations follow. It started off so cliche, but I got quite attached to the characters. Even though they are all frustrating in different ways, they all share a lack of communications ability that makes them bond in a special way through the year. There's no real conclusion to the story, but I liked it as it was about the girls all along.

I really enjoyed this story about 3 women who knew each other because of their one shared friend, Molly. When Molly dies, the women gather for one last time as they are to receive what Molly has left for each of them. Molly has also left a request that the women continue to get together for Brunch once a moth for a year. I enjoyed getting to know each of the different women and I found their interactions with each other quite amusing. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Basically any book that seems like it’s going to be all about brunch is a must read, don’t you think?

Everything about this book - the focus on female growth, friendship and reconnecting had me all in the feels. Once in a lifetime friendships, are such a rare gift, and the way this book took Molly’s death and created a renewed bond between Leanne, Nora & Christina was a wonderfully written, witty story - even among frenemies!

Finding exactly what you need from the friendships forced upon you are a great way to get past your grief, and this debut novel was an absolute treasure! 4.5 stars from me, and I highly recommend this title, especially for ANY female who’s ever lost a friend, or grown apart from one!

Thanks to Netgalley & She Writes Press for giving me an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review, I was thrilled to receive this highly anticipated title!

If you have ever had an obligation that throughout your old routine only to find joy and delight in the outcome this is the book for you. Molly has died and her request that these friends gather annually opens each to a discovery locked within themselves. It is a celebration of those moments too precious for words and so insightful they bring you to tears. Happy reading

Molly dies and has asked that her 3 best friends take a stab at friendship. She has asked that they meet for brunch once each month for a year. This journey into friendship will make you laugh and will make you cry and feel lots of their emotions in between. Loved it! Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity.

Found this book very confusing and hard to follow - the start itself was a jumble and the fact that it jumped from POV to POV didn't make it easier. Ended up DNF-ing because it was just too confusing to follow

Brunch and Other Obligations by Suzanne Nugent is a novel revolving around three 30-something women who have nothing in common except for one friend, Molly. The novel commences at Molly’s funeral, and starts with a weird request: the other three frenemies must have brunch together once a month for a year. These three women live completely different lives but grow together and the book highlights that you never really know everything about someone.
I loved this book. The writing is very smart and actually quite funny for dealing with some difficult topics including aging parents, death of young friends, and more. The characters were all endearing in their own way, and while I didn’t agree with nor relate to many of the decisions made, I still related to them. The characters aren’t perfect people, but neither is anyone I’ve ever met. The best part of this entire book is the voice given to Fred, Molly’s dog who she leaves to one of her friends. Fred is hilarious, and as a dog owner I *know* what Fred says is what my dogs would be thinking.
The title and description of this book made me think it would be a breezy, 3.5 star that I’d enjoy but wouldn’t remember. I was wrong. This book is so much more. It is snarky and the writing is superior. I laughed many times and highlighted a few passages that I wanted to remember. The book moved along at the perfect pace, switching point-of-view frequently but not too often. Even though it’s under 300 pages, I wasn’t longing for more. I felt as if it began and ended perfectly.
I would recommend this book to some of my friends, but I know it won’t be for everyone. I’d recommend it to my reader friends who are looking for something easy to read with smart writing, but ideally women in this age range. Even though it is only written for a certain generation essentially, I give this book 5 stars. It was perfect for me at this time in my life and exactly what I didn’t realize I was looking for.

Really good read. Would recommend to friends and family. I could sympathise with characters (important for any fiction novel!) and looked forward to picking it up and reading the next few chapters! Interesting plot line and a good ending. Will look out for more novels by the author. Thank you.

Really enjoyed this one. It felt like classic women's finest, especially with the way it handled the female friendships between the women. This was exactly the right type of book to read while at home during quarantine.

When Molly passes away it's like the glue is gone from the friendship group she shared with Nora, Christina, and Leanne. They don't get along, they're nothing alike, and they don't like one another. Molly knew something they didn't though and she hopes they figure it out by using the inexplicable gifts she left them each and her request that they brunch together once a month for a year.

Like many other readers, I struggled getting into this book. The writing style is unique, I instantly disliked the characters, and I couldn't feel a hint of the charm that I first felt when reading the blurb. I told a friend I'd push onto 25%, that I'd make my decision then, but as I'm not one to quit in the middle of a chapter I continued on and somewhere around 30% things took a turn. I soon understood that the laissez-faire attitude of Leanne, the brashness of Christina, and the extreme introversion of Nora were the first signs of their grief and I found I wanted to hang around to see them work through the next, to discover the purpose of each gift left behind by Molly. Plus, how could all these women who were so very different consider one single woman their best friend? How is it that they put up with one another as a group up until now? I had to know, so I kept reading and soon I was hooked on this cute, charming read.

This book overcomes its initial impression as being very similar to other chick lit books/movies with its dead friend wants to get the group back together premise, but from there the book takes off. Nugent does a great job of individualizing the characters, and making them very relatable, and we're soon swirling in a captivating storyline that hits all the right notes for women's fiction. I loved the voices. I loved the unspoken simmerings. I loved being in that world, and wish only that there was a different reason for getting them all there. Well worth your time. You'll speed through this.

This was a great women's fiction novel. It was heartfelt, witty, and adorable all at once. It was a great change from what I usually read, and I couldn't get enough of it!

I definitely recommend this one.

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review B&OO I’m exchange for this honest review. Unfortunately this book really lagged for me. I thought the premise sounded great, but the character development fell short and some of the secondary characters could’ve been explored further. I didn’t hate the book by any means but it really didn’t hold my attention much.

Thank you to Netgalley and She Writes Press for the ARC.

I liked the premise of this book, but it ultimately fell a little flat. It was better by the end. A woman makes her three friends commit to a brunch once a month after she passes away. The only thing is that they don’t really like each other. It was predictable that in the end, they do become friends.

A nice (if not predictable) lil' tale about three women -finding themselves- while coming to terms with the death of their best pal.

Whitty, sad, fun, true and enlightening. I loved everything about this book! The trio of "frenemies" was dynamic. Nugents writing was compelling and refreshing. This is a book I could reread several times!

This book was just okay. I liked the concept but never really connected with the characters or the storyline.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50767962

This was a cute and quick read. I found myself getting confused a bit with all the going back and forth between characters and found myself wanting to skim certain chapters.