Thanks to Atria and Netgalley for an advanced copy of Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman.

If you're a fan of slightly disfunctional families then this is a book for you! Especially if your like slapstick drama and Irish humor. There were some pretty funny scenes especially with Millie the 80 year old grandmother.

When Millie shoplifts from the local shops, it forces Kevin Gogarty to hire a caretaker to keep an eye on her, since he's busy with running the household after being laid off and his wife Grace works long hours away from home. While Sylvie, the caretaker hits it off with Millie we later learn that she isn't quite what she seems. At the same time Kevin's two teenage twin daughters hate each other and they decide to send Aideen to a local boarding school against her wishes for some time away from her sister. So between a mom who is shoplifting and a daughter who is getting in trouble at school there is a lot going on.

The first half of this book was slow. I'm not the biggest fan of character driven books, so I wasn't sure where this was going but the second half when Millie and Aideen go on their adventure had me laughing and I wanted to know what happened. I love their relationship and how Millie didn't give up.

I like how this book humorously tackles dysfunctional families. The characters are likable and relatable. I adored Millie! The story is engaging and charming. There are many laughable moments, and those that I was like, whoa, that's so familiar. Lol.. Overall, I enjoyed it. Thanks Atria!

Three generations of the Gogarty family of Dun Laoghaire, Ireland go through all manner of upheavals in Good Eggs. Millie Gogarty, the matriarch of the family, has been widowed for a long time. Boredom and some unknown drive causes her to indulge in the occasional minor bout of shoplifting. Unfortunately, this has not gone unnoticed in the small family-owned shop that is her usual target, so when her latest excursion results in a call to the police, her only child, Kevin, is called to collect her from the police station. Kevin has recently turned 50 and experienced another personal setback: he's lost his longtime job at a magazine that focused on celebrity gossip. Now he has to compete with younger, tech-savvy applicants for positions covering celebrities he's never heard of. His wife Grace has a high-paying job that requires her to work long hours away from the family. Three of Kevin's four children are still at home, but teenaged twins Nuala and Aideen seem to always be at each other's throats. Sixteen year old Aideen, in particular, is moody and uncooperative. Kevin is left to try to keep his mother out of jail, find a new job, and keep Aideen from getting into trouble herself.

Kevin tells his mother that the police have agreed not to charge her with any crimes, as long as she agrees to have a home health aide check up on her a few hours each day. Millie is appalled, but soon begins to appreciate the cheerful, take-charge young American woman Sylvia, who is hired to look after her (and report any misdeed to Kevin). Is Sylvia too good to be true?

Aideen, much to her horror, is soon packed off to a boarding school across town in order to separate her from her sister and also give her a chance to get her grades up during her last few years of school. While Aideen didn't really have friends in her old school, physical proximity soon means she has a new friend in the rebellious and angry Brigid. If Aideen couldn't stay out of trouble on her own, how much hope is there once she has a willing accomplice?

Aideen and Millie have a bond based on their shared feelings of anger at being threated with being sent away. Kevin continually suggests to Millie that she might be better off in a nursing home where she can be looked after, but of course she wants no part of that. Aideen is sent to the boarding school against her will, so she can fully understand her grandmother's concerns.

As more and more problems build for the Gogarty family, can they all navigate their current problems and the new ones that are constantly cropping up? The book was very entertaining and I really enjoyed seeing what was going to happen next. Millie, especially, is a character and her constant escapades would make for an interesting series!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this debut novel by Rebecca Hardiman - 4 stars for a redeeming family tale!

Living in Ireland, the Gogarty family are basically all "good eggs" - doing their best, not always succeeding, but trying again to set things right. There's Millie, the octogenarian mom of Kevin. Millie is caught shoplifting again and Kevin insists on bringing in a home aide to assist Millie and keep an eye on her. Kevin is married to Grace and father of 4 kids. He's unemployed and trying to keep the family going while Grace works long hours and is away from the home frequently. One of his twin daughters, Aideen, gets into trouble at school and they send her to a girls boarding school where she finds even more trouble.

The story of this family was cute and I fell in love with both Millie and Aideen - both spunky characters with good hearts. There are lots of fun moments in this book. I especially enjoyed the Irish take on Americans and their lifestyles. A great debut that at its heart shows how families come together to love and support each other.

When I read the synopsis of this book I had so many high hopes that I would read this delightful story that would have me smiling and laughing the entire time. While the author gave us these moments they were so far and between that you had to learn to savor them.

Millie is eighty-three and her family is starting to question whether she can stay by herself any longer. When she is caught shoplifting her son Kevin is forced to get her home help. Kevin is out of work and caring for his four children including Aideen who is having major behavioral issues. This starts the premise for this story.

Told in multiple points of view this debut author weaves together a tale that at times was fresh, but also felt had been done before in the overall arc. We have fallibility in all three characters, which I found redeeming, and the author gives us a solid ending that will leave you at peace with this family story.

The book is fine, but with so many similar titles out in the last few years, I am not sure this will be a standout in this canon of books.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one is a fun intergenerational book set in a suburb of Dublin. An extremely dysfunctional family that you feel almost immediately emotionally invested in all the characters especially shoplifting grandma. This is a simple read that is just a period of time in this family, no grand schemes, just meet the family, it's a relaxing good old time.

Millie Gogarty is not willing to be stopped by aging, by her son or by anything else getting in her way. At least, that is her plan. Until, one day, her sticky fingers get her into trouble. She just has this itch to steal... what can she do but give into it? This last time, she is caught and brought to the police station and her son Kevin informs her of the deal he has struck, to get her off. She has to cancel a trip she has planned with her friend to go to America and has to have a part time helper... or else she will be going to jail. Millie is mortified and takes the deal. In walks Sylvia, a lovely American , who ultimately wins Millie's trust. Sylvia has a nephew she cares for, who wins the heart of Millie's granddaughter, Aiden, who is one to get into trouble herself, and this time it is a doozy. This story, set in Dublin, Ireland, unfolds as the antics of these two women get them into new and different trouble, but somehow, they are able to join forces to help each other through.

This is a cute novel. a fun story, but one that I struggled to stay connected to. I am not sure why, as the characters are lovely, and the story engaging, but I could not connect to it, and thus it took me a long time to get through. I would like to give you more, but that is all I have in review of this novel. If you like Sophie Kinsella's work, this is likely a book up your alley.

3.5 stars

Sometimes you find yourself drawn to certain characters and that's my experience with the Gogarty family. I can't say I loved them, nor do I hate them, but I instantly felt invested enough to want to see what was going on in their lives. Perhaps I just needed to be reminded that each family has good, bad, ugly, and crazy moments and well, we are all just trying to get by, aren't we?

Kevin Gogarty is dealing with a few problems. He's unemployed, his 80 something year old mother, Millie, has been caught shoplifting again and will need supervision, and his teenage daughter, Aideen, is struggling and might need to transfer to a boarding school. The story is basically a snapshot of their lives at the moment and will bounce back and forth between Kevin, Millie, and Aideen's perspectives.

So right off the bat I will say Kevin is not exactly a likeable character and I was more interested in Millie and Aideen. After some thought though, I do think his role as husband, father, and son centered the story. You don't have to share much in common with a character to find them realistic.

If you are looking for a story with a little bit of heart mixed with some shenanigans, this is a decent pick.

Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman is a fun intergenerational book set in a suburb of Dublin. This book tells the stories of the Gogarty family from three points of view: Millie the family matriarch who enjoys a five finger discount, Kevin a dad desperate for a job and Aideen a sullen high schooler navigating boarding school. I enjoyed stepping into each character's shoes and seeing how family drama would play out from different points of view.

Meaning of the idiom 'a good egg': "Good egg is a friendly, old-fashioned way to talk about a good guy or a kind person. The expression originally came from its opposite, bad egg, British public school slang from the 1800's for someone who was not nice.”

Rebecca Hardiman's debut novel is about an Irish family in the midst of dysfunction. This is a character-driven story in which she has created some remarkable personalities. I consider the father, Kevin Gogarty, to be the hub of this family. He's a stay-at-home day since he lost his high-level position with a celebrity magazine and at 50, he's caught in the middle between his fractious children and his elderly and somewhat demented mother. His wife Grace has a high-profile job of her own and, to Kevin's mind, is rarely home, so he's forced to deal with all the everyday problems that crop up. And boy, do they crop up!

They have four children: Gerard, their oldest child, is off to college; Ciaran, the youngest child, is still at that sweet little boy stage, but in the middle are two teenaged twins, Aideen and Nuala, who don't get along at all. Nuala is Miss Perfect--beautiful, talented, well-behaved--while sullen Aideen struggles with her self-esteem and her position in the family. Maybe acting out is her way of being noticed but it's gotten so bad that Kevin and his wife decide she should be sent to a boarding school and only come home on weekends--which only proves to Aideen that she is not really wanted.

And then there's Kevin's 83-year-old mother Millie who still lives on her own but is not doing well--having auto accidents, forgetting things. And now she's been arrested for shoplifting! What's a son to do? He convinces his mother she must have a caretaker if she's to avoid jail and hires an American named Sylvia Phenning to come in a few days a week to help out. Soon Sylvia is indispensable to Millie but she's no Mary Poppins!

And then there's the Gogarty marriage--can it handle the strain of all these problems and and a bit of mid-life crisis as well? These scenarios all come to a head, about to explore. If all this sounds rather desperate, it's not really. The story is actually quite amusing and heart-warming. I enjoyed meeting the delightful Gogarty family who are all 'good eggs!'

I received an arc of this novel from the author and publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks for the opportunity!
5 likes

The first thing to say about this book is that it is funny and I really loved it. It is told from three points of view and how the author manged these VERY different points of view is beyond me....I believe she did a bang up job though. One is a teenage girl, one is a middle aged man and one is a octogenarian woman. I loved all three characters, faults and all BUT Millie and Aideen really captured my heart.

Millie is quite the character and how she interacts with people is hysterical. She just doesn't care what anyone says, she is going to do what she wants and the way he expresses herself becomes incredibly funny. The author involves the reader in every Gogarty family tribulation. It’s highly enjoyable companionship albeit with three unwilling escorts. The writing captures the reader in its simplicity as it creates a world of complexity that creates havoc to a family and all those they encounter. I predict that you will take this book to your heart and you’ll probably not forget it...This was a treasure to read.

Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman is a highly recommended farcical over-the-top family drama.

The Gogarty family is the manifestation of a real life Irish soap opera. The matriarch, eighty-three -year-old Millie, is a bad driver who has shoplifted one too many times at a local shop. The police are called and Mille is hauled into the station to wait for her fifty-year-old son, Kevin, to come in and talk to the police. The result of her shoplifting is that she must have a caretaker to keep an eye on her. Kevin finds Sylvia, an American, to keep an eye on Millie and take care of her, much to Millie's chagrin.

Kevin has his own issues. Unemployed, he is now the parent in charge of the family of four children, three living at home, while his wife, Grace supports the family and often has to travel for work. Their daughter Aideen, is a moody, recalcitrant teen who is sent off to a boarding school. Once there she befriends the school rebel. Kevin, however, has eyes for the school receptionist and sets out to have an affair. In the meantime, Millie and Sylvia eventually get along enough that Millie lends her a large sum of money.

That is just part of the events that make Good Eggs a campy, slapstick drama of preposterous proportions. This is not a novel to take too seriously. If you do, you will be very disappointed in it. Every event is a dramatic ordeal while the dialogue, especially anything Millie says, is exaggerated and melodramatic. Kevin is whiny and always feels beleaguered upon as he has to be the one to care for the family. You won't actually hear about him doing much caring or cleaning, however, but you will hear him complain, deal with Aideen and Millie, and lust over the young receptionist. Ultimately, Hardiman does demonstrate how much her characters care for one another.

The only characters that really have any development are Millie, Kevin, and Aideen. Millie and Aideen are the best developed of the three, but since the plot is decidedly comedic and even ludicrous at times, I didn't expect a whole lot of serious character development, especially after I started the novel and realized that the characters are presented more as caricatures. Millie's actions and words are often so absurd that they border on the ludicrous. Good Eggs is a comical, entertaining novel with some small serious keen insights, but mostly it is just a diverting lively romp with three generations of an Irish family.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Atria Books
After publication the review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Set in Ireland, "Good Eggs" is the story of Gogarty family -all of whom are really Good Eggs, but just going through some rough patches. Millie is living out her senior years after the death of her beloved husband. She is bored and lonely, watching all her friends and acquaintances die. Her son thinks dementia is setting in, and while she has become quite forgetful and not able to care for her home as she once has, she is still more mentally cognizant than he thinks. She does have one bad habit that will be the spark to set off a chain of events that rips apart the bad patch they are muddling through.

After Millie is caught in petty theft at a local convenience store, her son, Kevin, uses the opportunity to force her to get a caretaker. As Millie begins to accept Sylvia's help, Kevin's home life begins to split. At odds as to what to do with his surly, angry daughter Aideen, he enrolls her in a boarding school and tries to look for a job to take the pressure off Grace, his wife who has become the family's breadwinner. Aideen is furious at being forced into a boarding school and continues to get in trouble - not purposely, but through a series of bad choices.

Everything comes to a head when Sylvia absconds with Millie's savings, Kevin almost cheats on Grace, Millie sets her kitchen on fire and Aideen poisons her headmistress.

I loved the setting for the book; and I loved the characters. It was a little slow for me to get into, but as one thing after another kept happening to this family (as it tends to do!) it picked up the pace. I would recommend to "youngish" middle-agers who are dealing with teenagers and senior parents.

You'll like this if you liked:
"Better Choices" by Rod Pennington,
"We're All Adults Here" by Emma Straub,
"The Floating Feldmans" by Elyssa Friedland

Pros: This book is for readers who like to read about dysfunctional families. The official publisher description will catch the attention of and appeal to many readers.

Cons: I’m burned out on dysfunctional family books, and I did not like or care about the characters in this book.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 on the NetGalley scale.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book!

This book deals with family drama in the most comedic yet at times poignant way. For the most part, I’m banging my hand against my head being grateful that I’m not having to deal with the ridiculous situations of this book. It’s this perfect train wreck that you cannot not watch. And then you wonder, how the author is going to sort this all out. Of course, there were “contrived” moments, at least I felt that. There were situations where the author moved the story forward through just, I guess, suspension of disbelief, or was it humor that we were laughing and forgot that the story moved forward with a micro glitch. Real life doesn’t work that way, but that’s why this is a fun and crazy story. It’s a perfect palette cleanser if you are looking for a lighter read.

What a fun book this was, a perfect read to lift your spirits up! I absolutely love quirky and zany Millie and was chuckling out loud in every scene she was in. I adore her and her crazy antics! I would love to have a grandmother or relative like her, as much as she would keep me on my toes! All of the characters in this book were unique and compelling, I could not get enough of them. I can completely see this turning into a TV series such as Schitt’s Creek for sure. How awesome would that be? I was surprised and disappointed to see that this was the author’s first novel. Surprised because it was so good, and demonstrates such talent, that I thought for sure she had a handful of previous published works already! Disappointed because I went to add her other books to my TBR list and was saddened to see that there aren’t any to add! Hopefully that will change one day as I am now a fan of Rebecca Hardiman and am eagerly waiting for her next book!

I was excited to read this book based on the description and the posted reviews, but quickly realized this was not the book for me. For whatever reason, I struggled to connect with the narrative and wasn't engaging with the characters as much as I could be. It's well written, but I wasn't in the headspace to finish past the 30% mark.

I absolutely adored Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman. It’s a family drama with a bit of light-hearted, laugh-out-loud scenes that are sure to put a smile on your face. The story follows an Irish family, The Gogarty’s, who are in the midst of several life changes when an American is hired to help care for the matriarch, Millie, and chaos ensures. The story is told from multiple perspectives, all from different family members of various generations. Kevin, who is currently navigating the rocky landscape of a troubled marriage while raising teenagers and caring for his aging mother. Millie, the matriarch and Kevin's mother, seems to be having trouble remembering the simplest things while in the throws of mourning the passing of her husband and feeling like she is being pushed out of her house. Finally, there is Aideen, Kevin's teenage daughter, who has been sent to boarding school and forms a bond with her grandmother in the midst of family drama. The story is light-hearted, sweet, and humorous with undertones addressing more serious topics - the stress of the "sandwich generation", the loneliness the comes with aging, and the loss of loved ones. Millie was my favorite character. Her character development was really well fleshed-out and I found myself tearing up at some points of her narrative. She is relatable, quirky, and has a great spirit to her. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read filled with some laughs and some pensive thoughts.

It has been the perfect quick, light read that I needed. I would highly recommend pairing with your favorite tea and finding a cozy spot to read this in.

The Gogarty Family is a mess and it is not a laughing matter. Living in Dun Laoghaire on the Irish coast, Millie, the octogenarian matriarch is out of control, smashing up her Renault, shoplifting, distracted and lonely. A few miles away in Dalkey a pretty seaside village, her married son Kevin is out of work, and the carer of his four children. Grace, the mother is the breadwinner, not around much and not a very effective parent. Gerard the oldest child is out of the house and managing nicely. His teenage twin daughters Nuala and Aideen are at each other’s throats and wow, I would have thrown in the towel long ago. They are horrible to each other and maybe just horrible in general. The youngest, Ciaran, by all appearances is a lovely little guy.

So, what’s wrong here? Teenagers acting up and out, constantly in trouble. Senior dumping and abuse. Mid-life crisis described in excruciating detail. The “f” bomb used constantly with the rejoinder that “it is an Irish thing.” Wrong and wrong again and so unnecessary. The hateful, destructive, mean and nasty acts perpetrated on fairly innocent victims are off-putting and again unnecessary. Other than the vision of an 80 year old woman climbing in and out of a bathroom window the humor was lost on me.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy. The opinions expressed in this review are mine.

I was excited to read this book as the description was very interesting and the books it was compared to are ones I love. However I really struggled to get into the book. I did not like some of the strong language in the book. I think the book could have been wonderful without it. That’s my personal opinion and I know from the positive reviews many others loved this book. It just was not a book for me.