I love a good dysfunctional family saga but this one missed the mark for me a bit. The plot was strong but the characters fell flat. That being said, we did give the book some "on our radar" love in our Instagram feed.

Just when you think your family is messed up, in comes the Brennans! Typical blue collar family from the suburbs with you quite a few fast paced plot changes (some predictable) but still had me reading and wanting more.

Sunday is your typical girl just trying to make her way in the world when an accident leaves her hospital bound. Little did she know that would take her right back to her hometown and high school sweetheart Kale. Her and Kale’s relationship is one readers dream of. Lange did an excellent job weaving their love story into all the other action in this book.

*I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Perfect for lovers of family sagas with endearing and complex characters. Lange uses a unique writing style to link multiple character POVs to one flowing plot, all revolving around the family-owned pub Brennan's (which felt like a character unto itself). Though the drama and secrets kept by the Brennans were certainly engrossing, what I'll remember about this story is the charming and realistic portrayals of family relationships. By the end of this book, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the Brennan family and would gladly read additional stories centered on these characters.

A family saga, it seems each member of this Irish Catholic family is harboring their own secrets. 29 year old Sunday returns home to her family after an impaired driving accident and is left with no choice but to confront all that she escaped from in her NY town 5 years prior. Sunday, along with her 3 brothers and her father all have their own secrets they would like to remain buried, but now that she has returned home, choices finally need to be made. Will each of the Brennans choose to face their mistakes from the past? Will Sunday mend ties with her family and her former boyfriend/family business partner? Or will she return to the West Coast and abandon them once again?

We Are The Brennans sees high school sweethearts reunited, families deep in financial debt, failing marriages, and flailing family businesses. It seems every Brennan member is deceiving the other, and this novel is full of toxic family drama!

I gave this debut novel from Tracey Lange 3.5⭐️. I do love a family drama, and this one was multilayered and suspenseful!

This was different from my usual read. I also received the audiobook. Both are excellent. Family dramas normally aren't my thing unless it involves the paranormal or something like that. This, was well done. I may actually considering reading more of this type in the future. I have recommended this book in my book club and purchased it for both libraries I had purchasing power for this summer. I'm hoping others will like this as much as I did!

This book was hard to put down. A story of family and how deep they love each other while holding on to pain and secrets. I loved the way Lange wrote and how the chapters turned from one POV to another.

Thanks to Book of the Month club for sending this book to me in August! It was a one day read for me-- I got sucked into the story of the Brennan family as it switched between characters and brought new secrets and old drama into the light. It wasn't necessarily a dramatic read, but it had a pretty steady pace and was character-driven in a way I really enjoyed. (okay, side note though, it bugged me that there were characters named both Kale and Grail... like, why...)

Dysfunction, yes, drama, yes, secrets and shame, yes, but overall, it felt like it was missing something to make it truly great for me.

tw: miscarriage, drunk driving accident, dementia

I absolutely loved this book. I was so connected to the Brennan Family. I wanted to get a big, soft blanket and wrap it around them to ease the hard edges of life and make them all safe again. They manage to do this for themselves. It’s a long journey, but one where their love for each other wins against all the pain and dysfunction that has intruded into their lives.

The story begins with Sunday Brennan. She left home five years ago to live in LA. Apparently, no one really knows why. Sunday lives with pain, shame, and sorrow. She is a big keeper of secrets, lies, and deception. It ends up all the Brennan Sibling are doing the same. There is Denny, Jackie, Sunday, and Shane. Kale, a troubled friend becomes a 5th family member.

Her brother, Denny is contacted when Sunday gets very drunk and is in a terrible car accident. He convinces Sunday to come back to Weschester, NY, their home since childhood. To me, Sunday is the soul of this family. With her home, the family secrets start coming out. Sunday also had a deep love affair with Kale when she left. He never understood why she left and much is left unfinished.

So, lies, deception, and secrets never set you free. You can’t run away from them, as they find you always. So, the family is finally done with this. Loved the line, ‘That is what family did. They all screwed up, made mistakes, and hurt one another. But in the end they came together’. The hard part is knowing how much to give. Yes, family can be an incredibly tie that binds and helps you heal, but it can also bind so tightly that it chokes you. Sunday, finally understands this. She must decide how much of herself to devote to her family and how much she needs to have a piece of herself, just for herself. She can decide. I think that probably defines the essence of what it really means to be an adult.

The Brennans will capture your Spirit. They will persevere because they chose to get through life together. Life is a lot easier this way and simpler when everyone is being honest with each other. Captivating!

I was given a copy of both the book and the audio 🎧. I love this combination.

Thank you NetGalley, Tracey Lange, and Celadon Books for a copy of this book.

I am obsessed with Tracey Lange's writing! The way she set up the transition to the next chapter is so unique and it made it hard to put the book down between chapters!

We Are the Brennans is a family drama that will most likely make you feel good about your own family! Sunday Brennan the sister of the family was drinking and driving and caused her to get into a car crash in LA. Her brother talks her into returning home and the family craziness, complexities, and dysfunction unravel from there.

Sunday grew up in a tight, strong, Irish family living in NYC. Her future husband, Kyle, grew up as part of her family. Sunday made a mistake and ran off to California to escape with her secret without an explanation to her family or Kyle. After 5 years, and another mistake, she returned to her family home. This family has an unbreakable bond that allows them to face and solve problems regardless of how the severity. This novel is an excellent psychological family drama.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Well, the Irish have a way with family issues if you read We Are The Brennans by debut author Tracey Lange. Here we find a large family of brothers struggling in life and bringing their younger sister (recovering from a DUI) home from California to recover. As the story unfolds, we find guilt, resentment, love, and conflict left when Sunny departed for California to escape the family and a ruined romance. Told from multiple points of view, the reader’s impressions can change accordingly. As I have said often, I appreciate an author who can develop an excellent story with a modest amount of words. It’s not that it’s a small book; the author tells a great story using her words wisely. In the end, this book reinforces the strength of family bonds, both good and bad, and to have a plan…always have a plan. I’ll be thinking of this one for a while. Bravo to Ms. Lange. #wearethebrennans #family #bonds #firstlove #secrets #irish @netgalley @celadonbooks @tracey_lange
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. Thank you Netgalley and Celedon books for the opportunity to read this book which absolutely delighted me.
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. #reading #books #bookstagram #book #booksofinstagram #booklovers #bookish #lindaleereads2021 #mmdbookclub #idratherbereading #readinglife #mmdsummerreading #summerreadingguide @modernmrsdarcy #mmdchallenge #August

It’s been a few months since I’ve read a five-star book but that ends here. I was absolutely enthralled by this story, and the best way to share my thoughts is by sharing exactly what I took note of while reading:

- it’s the little things- starting each POV with the last thing each person said in the previous chapter… love that
- talk about family first OMG. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I desperately want to be a Brennan?
- SUNDAY & KALE 4EVER I DON’T CARE WHAT HAPPENS
- the names? Instantly thought they were whack, now I can’t get them out of my head?
- hey Tracey? If you’re reading this, please write more books. Write ALL the books
- I could watch 100 episodes of ‘We Are The Brennans’, a soap opera

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the eARC of this story!

I've been waiting for this book to come out all summer and was so happy to get a copy from NetGalley and Celadon Books in exchange for a fair and honest review. The book begins when Sunday Brennan wakes up in Los Angeles after a drunk driving accident, then her brother Denny comes to LA to bring her back home to New York and the rest of her Irish family. Denny owns and operates a bar with his best friend, Kale, who is also Sunday’s former fiancé. The book follows Sunday and the rest of the Brennan family as family secrets unfold. The story is told from the point of view of different characters throughout the book. Being 100% Irish myself, I loved this one. Would recommend!

4.5. Great storytelling but a little too neat and tidy and predictable ending. Still kept me really engaged though. If you know any Irish families, they’re both intensely loving and totally toxic, and this book did a good job of painting that picture through a family saga.

I enjoyed this debut novel. Family. Family is everything. Or is it? The Brennans are an Irish family through and through. They love hard and big, even through the worst of times.

Each family member has flaws, some known and some hidden. The family has a whole has flaws and secrets. But as family often does, they come together in times of crisis and support each other. I liked that the flaws in this book are normal, everyday flaws. And this is just a normal family dealing with things we all deal with on a daily basis.

Sunday fled the family home five years ago and really hasn't looked back. A DUI and injuries bring Denny to her and ultimately her return to the family home where she will mend, both physically and mentally. We learn old secrets and new throughout the book. The characters are well written and, for the most part, likeable and relatable.

I will definitely look for more from this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book!! What a wonderful debut novel!
A poignant family novel about the tightly-knit Irish Catholic family, the Brennan's. Sunday, the only daughter in the family flees to California after a traumatic event causing ripples through out the family, only to return 5 years later reopening those old wounds.
Each chapter brings a part of the backstory into play as secrets are slowly revealed. I particularly enjoyed the multiple POV's by the family members per chapter. The characters are well-written, full of life and love for each other. As in life, there are no perfect people portrayed here.
Most of all, the book embodies the strength of family love and loyalty, as well as hope and forgiveness, through the good, bad and ugliness of real life.
Thank you @Celadon books and # net galley for the opportunity to read this galley in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book! It's a family drama about the Brennans, a large Irish family with their fair share of dysfunction and family secrets. The story captivated me from the first page and I quickly grew to love and care about the Brennan family, dysfunction, secrets and all.

The characters in this novel are wonderfully written. They all have flaws and make mistakes, and they felt so real and genuine. I love a story that feels authentic, where characters are not always good or always bad but somewhere in the murky middle.

One of my favorite things about this novel is the way the story is structured. Each chaper comes from a different character perspective. And the final line of each chapter is always a line of dialogue from the next chapter's character, with the new chapter beginning with the same line that the previous chapter ended. It was a clever little gimmick that worked brilliantly to pull this whole story together.

There's a little bit of everything in this story-- mystery, family drama, romance. It's a well-written, thought provoking and captivating debut novel, and I highly recommend it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon books for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Happy to include this debut novel in Novel Encounters for August (my monthly top fiction picks) for Zoomer magazine's Books section. Review at link.

We Are the Brennans explores the staying power of shame—and the redemptive power of love—in an Irish Catholic family torn apart by secrets.

I enjoyed this debut book, it was a quick read and kept my attention but it was a little on the predictable side.

This one did not grab me very much in the beginning, but about a third of the way through, it did. I am glad I kept up with it. It ended up being a pretty quick read and had a decent story and characters. I would recommend it.