DNF @ 35%

Hmmm. I really tried with this book, but it was just so cookie-cutter and too melodramatic for my taste. Usually I like reading about dysfunctional families, but this one read so Lifetime movie to me. Even though many of the characters, including the protagonist were written in a cliche way. No one felt unique or well fleshed-out.

This book has been getting SOO much love and I have only good things to say about it too. If you enjoy a good family drama full of secrets and complicated relationships this is definitely the book for you. The Brennans are a big Irish Catholic New York family who own a bar and are all struggling in their own ways. When the only daughter Sunday gets a DUI in LA and ends up coming home after a five year absence, long buried secrets and resentments get brought to the surface. The Brennans kept me entertained and I was really rooting for Sunday and her childhood sweetheart/family friend Cale. I also appreciated that the character of Shane, the youngest Brennan with a intellectual disability, was treated so sensitively and well-loved by most of the family (his mother struggles with his diagnosis and accepting his limitations). Highly recommended for fans of books like Ask again, yes, The nest or The most fun we ever had. Much thanks to NetGalley and Celedon Books for my advance review copy.

CW: miscarriage, alcohol abuse, sexual assault

Holy Moly! What a debut! A riveting story of family secrets and lies.

Sunday Brennan, the golden child, has a bad night and in an error in judgment, gets behind the wheel while intoxicated. This precipitates a landslide of secrets she and her family have been keeping from each other. There were so many secrets, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and I couldn’t put the book down.

The characters are so well developed with a lot of backstory and so so flawed. One has to wonder what the heck they were thinking! The story is masterfully told from differing points of view, which I enjoyed very much. It’s complex and full of poor decisions made in desperate situations. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC.

Sunday Brennan wakes up in a hospital bed after being involved in a drunk driving accident that she caused. Her family lives on the east coast and she lives in Los Angeles so she is surprised when her brother is at her bedside. He convinces her to come home to recover. Sunday left five years ago and isn't sure how she is going to fit back into her family and the fiancé she left behind...especially when both she and her family are carrying around a boatload of secrets.

I really wanted to like this book. After reading the First Look I was instantly drawn into the world of the Brennans. I wanted to know their secrets and their stories. Unfortunately this book didn't deliver. First of all, there were far too many characters and the switching of POVs got confusing. I felt like I never really got to know any one character very well. Second, much of this story revolves around events in the past...so much so that I would have rather read a book about what happened in the past then to keep skipping back and forth between timelines. And finally there are some big reveals in the last sixty pages of the book that are very rushed. I think the novel could have used some better pacing. (And this is just a pet peeve of mine, but the chapters were WAY too long.) But that being said I did like the way the Brennans were there for each other and came together as a family.

I was given this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC.

What a wonderful debut novel this was. An Irish Catholic Family shows strength and support for one another as many family secrets unfold.

Five years after fleeing her hometown and practically cutting off contact with everybody in it, Sunday Brennan returns to heal from a drunk driving accident and deal with a DUI charge. Unfortunately, going home means confronting the family members and first love she left behind, and the reason for her hasty initial departure.

Her family has grown and changed in her absence, but everybody (maybe aside from her high school sweetheart's wife...) is happy to have her back.

But Sunday's not the only one with secrets.

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I got interested in the characters and plot I was absolutely hooked. We Are the Brennans is a well-paced and well-developed family drama with distinct and loveable characters, told from multiple perspectives.

I was super impressed by this debut novel, and I can't really find any faults with it. I recommend it, for sure!

The power of the family structure comes to life in this book with an Irish Catholic family living in a suburb of NYC. The book makes you feel the love, pain and strong ties that can be unbreakable within the bloodlines.

There are unsaid rules from the church and community especially with women. So it's no surprise that the author chose a woman - Sunday - to be her main character who in her 20s, can't fix what she's done. With her mother's blessing, she leaves without an explanation after a long and deep romance with her brother's best friend, Kale, to take a job in LA as a writer. She cannot stay and disrupt the family in any way with her deep secrets. Yet, she can't get rid of the overwhelming thoughts of her past. She wants peace but she's not sure how to get it. After an evening of too much to drink and a shattering accident, it's her brother from NY that shows up to help her in the hospital. He is there to take her back to NY where he feels she belongs.

It's beautifully written with suspense along the way. It captures the power of the family when one cannot escape -- even 3,000 miles away. Every character comes to life as they try to find their way. The father has dementia after their mom died of cancer. The oldest brother is trying desperately to open a second restaurant with severe financial hardships along with a wife that is not sure about their marriage. The youngest brother was arrested in the past and on probation. And one other brother has what's called an intellectual disability. Finally, the one she loved, Kale, is now married to a beauty. It won't be easy for Sunday to return.

This book captured my heart in so many ways with the strong family that was glued together with the challenges they faced. Each word was devoured in the process. It was said, "If you can be happy, do it. If you know what you want in life, don't wait for someone else to give it to you. Go after it, and don't let anything stand in your way."

My thanks to Tracey Lange, Celadon Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read this copy.

Sunday Brennan, a twenty-nine year old woman, abandons her friends and family in New York and runs away from her problems to California. Once she wakes up in a hospital after a car accident, her brother convinces her to move back home. Will the demons of her past still haunt her or will she learn how to work through it all with the help of her family?

Coming from a big Irish Catholic family myself (I know I’m American, but Irish because of our last name and, hey, we like to drink), I honestly was a bit hesitant to read this one 😅. But all worries quickly dissipated once I was drawn into the story. I ended up adoring the Brennan family, they all seemed pretty headstrong but so lovable. There were a lot of secrets, lots of drama, and even some thrills towards the end. It’s true what you’ll hear about this one: you’ll miss the characters. And the way Tracey Lange weaved the chapters from one to the next was captivating and fun. Such a great debut from her.

I switched from the book to audiobook throughout and loved the narrator on audio too! Don’t forget to get this one when it comes out on Aug. 3rd. Thank you to @celadonbooks @macmillan.audio for the eARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I just finished We are the Brennans, a wonderful debut by Tracey Lange! I was absolutely thrilled to be given an early digital copy from Netgalley!!

This book is about a close-knit Irish family that consists of a father, his four adult children and a fifth sort of adopted adult son. It opens with the only daughter, Sunday, getting involved in a car accident while living in LA, having left their home in New York five years earlier after a life changing incident occurs. She returns home to NY to recover from the accident and we learn so much about this family that you grow to love them and all of their goodness as well as all of their foibles. Sunday's secret is at the heart of the story and we are allowed to gradually understand how this impacted every family member. Themes of family bonds, sibling rivalry, parental disengagement, disability, and class are wound into this story.

The chapters are written by different family members. The transition between chapters is so cleverly done when one chapter ends with a line of dialogue that also starts the next chapter as the new family member's perspective begins. Because of the different perspectives with each chapter, there is some repetition of history which I found so compelling because it showed how events and situations are processed differently by each person.

I read this very quickly picking it up whenever I could during a busy day and getting up very early to finish the next morning. The writing style is so propulsive. It is a mix of character and plot driven writing which is a sweet spot for me. There is enough action and conversation to keep it moving and enough character development that you feel you know each of them intimately. The family home is a character too! You can see it in your mind and feel the history, love and stability it gives to each family member. I loved this book! Thank you to Celadon Books and Netgalley!!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have been trying to get my hands on this book since I first heard about it months ago. Something about it was just calling to me and man, this book did not disappoint. Sunday Brennan moved to LA 5 years ago with no explanation, leaving her family and boyfriend behind. She wakes up in the hospital after a drunk driving accident she caused and her brother convinces her to move back home to New York. This book had everything: love stories, family drama and secrets, mystery. I found myself putting the book down just so I wouldn't finish it too fast because I didn't want it to end. The characters are well developed and believable. I could easily picture everything that was happening because the writing was just so good. I can't say enough great things about this story. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I actually enjoyed We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange way more than I thought. It's a book about complicated family dynamics, secrets, feelings, and life. Of course, there is a bit of fanciful stuff thrown in, but overall, it's actually very relatable. You don't hate any of the characters, with the exception of the long-deceased mother Maura, but you can see bits and pieces of your own family members and even yourself in each of the characters.

This ended up being a one-sitting read for me. It really did keep my attention from beginning to end and had me invested in seeing the outcome and learning all the ins and outs of the Brennan family.

This would make a GREAT MOVIE. I love a dysfunctional family, multiple narrators, and stories told in different timelines. This was all of that. I really liked the last sentence of one chapter leading the next from another character.

I felt like some parts reiterated plot, feelings or scenarios just to make the book longer, which was distracting.

I loved WE ARE THE BRENNANS! Lange skillfully explores the fraught and tender relationships between siblings, parents and lost loves. She shows us how the stories we tell ourselves about situations and people are rarely the truth, .and how the sins of the fathers continue to be visited on the children. Thoroughly engrossing; I was sad when it ended.

Well now, that was a surprise. This one drew me in from the get go. I stayed up til 2am to finish the thing!

At first, I’ll admit that I thought I’d never get the characters straight. Which brother was that? Who’s that one? Yikes! But then I found myself really getting to know these flawed people. I really like how the author ends and opens each chapter with diff POV. Very effective and helps you keep characters in order, particularly at the beginning. It played out in my brain like an enthralling movie, so vivid. Hmm, who would play the leads?

So many times, I found myself thinking, “how could they do that?” or “That’s so wrong, why am I rooting for this one?” I liked that the story is untidy and imperfect, just like real families are.

Well done and I’ll be certain to recommend this one to my patrons!
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved this book! I was hooked from the start and read it in one day. I felt the ending came to fast. Felt a little rushed. Is there gonna be a sequel? But it was amazing. Perfect family drama with secrets and struggles. I also love how the last sentence of the chapter started the next one. Five stars and recommending to everyone.

I’ve been eager to read We Are the Brennans for months now and happily, it didn’t disappoint. I really enjoyed the close family dynamic between the adult siblings, the humanity that the parents are allowed, and the complexity of all of the relationships that the book explores. I feel like all of the characters had enough back story to be complex and I really enjoyed the alternating points of view. I think it could have been told just from the points of view of the siblings and not those few chapters from secondary characters, but that’s just a small thing. I did predict part of one of the plot twists, but wasn’t too annoyed by that. The ending felt abrupt, I think it would benefit from some closure but at the same time, I kind of like how open and unsure everything is. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a family drama. I think it will have broad appeal.

My thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an advance reader’s copy.

Great story, creative naming of characters. Does a good job of describing childhood from many angles. Will definitely look for more books from this author.

Sunday Brennan picked up and left New York for California five years ago, but when a drunk driving accident lands her in the hospital, she faces the music and heads home to spend time with her family.

Everyone has questions, but the reader quickly learns Sunday is not the only one with secrets from her past.

Multiple characters and points of view, but the author writes in a way that welcomes you into the Brennan family and makes you feel like you’ve known them all along.

Loved the slow build and well defined character development. Found the ending very fitting. Well worth a read!

I will leave a review on Amazon or B&N on August 3rd

We Are the Brennans is a book full of drama, secrets, an a large dysfunctional family. I loved this book I wasn't really sure what to expect but this book just pulled me right in and kept be turning the pages. The family is Irish and Catholic, a common occurence in Irish families, they are close knit and don't always make the wisest decisions. This was a hard book to put down, I feel this is a book that I could read over and over again. I definitely would recommend this book to all my friends.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, but I was also blessed to received a print copy from Celadon as a book club read. I reviewed this book voluntarily and all opinions expressed here are my own, and am under no obligation to leave a favorable review.

“Family didn’t mean hiding the hard stuff from each other, it meant facing it together. And it meant forgiving each other.”

Twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in an LA hospital after a drunk-driving accident and needs to move back home to New York. Five years ago, one night changed her life and she left the Brennan home, her brothers, father and high-school sweetheart to never look back. On coming back, she is face to face with the secrets she is keeping as she tries hard to fall back into familiarity with her brothers and most of all, the fiance she left heartbroken.

I love family dramas and @traceylange’s debut is engaging, engrossing and evocative in all the right places. It's been a while since I read a book where each of the characters are so well-rounded and relatable. The Brennan family is much like any of ours - flawed, human and trying to do their best with the hand life has dealt them.

The Brennans are forced to come together and confront the decisions they’ve made, the people they’ve loved and all that they’ve left behind. In saving their family business together, they find their way back to what makes them stick, what makes them special and discover how the family you are born into, also comprises the family you choose.
Sunday and her ex-fiance Kale’s story will stay with you long after you’ve finished with the book. It is tender, heartfelt and the deja vu will certainly leave you misty-eyed.


This is a beautifully human book -- about forgiveness and second chances, of finding your way home and realising how sometimes everything needs to change, for it to stay the same. Wholesome, bittersweet and sensitive, We are The Brennans is definitely going to be one of my favourites for the year.

A big thank you to @traceylange and @celadonbooks for the review copy. If you’re listening, this is exactly the kind of book that makes for a great show\screen adaptation and I’m already casting for this, in my head.
We are The Brennans is out on 3rd August 2021. Get your copy, curl up and enjoy !