Member Reviews
Life after divorce is hard. With kids? Even harder!
So when Anna starts dating James it should be a happy and loved-up cuddle fest, but with his kids and her kids not seeing eye-to-eye it might take a little getting used to. Clashing personalities and settling into new routines and new branches on the family tree, things will always be a little tough. But love gets us through, right?
As a huge fan of Sinéad Moriarty, I had high hopes for this and it did not disappoint me. The writing is always engaging and the story flowed really well
A great read about blended families and how the dynamics can sometimes work and sometimes not.Very enjoyable read. Sineads writing is relatable and even sometimes in sad situations she uses humour with great effect.
I hope I never get divorced because if this is what happens when two families try to blend it us the stuff of nightmares. But fair play to Sinead Moriarty, she writes brilliantly and truthfully about how difficult life post divorce must be. This is so we'll written, with complex characters. Even we'll intentioned actions cause ructions among the new blended family and their extended families. Really good, highly recommend.
This is perfect for fans of domestic dramas and, of course, fans of the work of Dubliner Sinéad Moriarty. James and Anna have found happiness together after their first marriages. They move in together, along with their children, and begin their blended family journey. Whilst the parents are excited about their new life together, the children have their concerns, mostly their different parenting styles. This book was a really engaging and enjoyable easy-read, and is written in a way that really brings you into the family dynamic. There's some humour, sad moments, love and loss within the story, and it felt quite true to life.
Anna and James are in love and happy to move into their new four-bedroom house with their two families, but their kids are less keen. While Anna's older child Grace borders on saintly, her new sushi-eating, designer-clad stepdaughter Bella is making trouble - and younger son Jack is confused and acting out all the time. Anna and James don't always handle things correctly, and Anna's guilt about Jack's upset over her leaving his dad causes her to give the little boy far too much leeway. I found the secondary characters more interesting, particularly Anna's ex Conor (a self-pitying alpha male who gets it together when he meets no-nonsense Milly) and Bella's accounting-whizz mum Ingrid, who neglects her daughter while trying to provide the material security she lacked in her own childhood. Will Anna and James manage to keep their love alive, or does their extended family have to Parent-Trap them? A sweet, solid read.
Sinead Moriarty gives us loads of twists and turns and a real look at the problems facing blended families. Believable, warm, full of hope and love. Fabulous.
Anna splits from her husband Connor after 17 long years of marriage and is finally ready to live life on her own terms and put her needs first for the first time in a long time. She quickly meets the handsome James who has also separated from high flying wife Ingrid and they begin a serious relationship and progress quickly to moving in together. The only problem is that their children (Anna's 2 and James' 1) are not quite as keen on a blended family life as Anna and James are.
The author covers a whole spectrum of issues that many of us will be aware of when creating blended families - boundaries, discipline issues, differing parenting styles and beliefs - and most importantly, children who have seen their families split up and are 'forced' into embracing a new 'family'.
Overall this was a fairly enjoyable read although it was honestly quite difficult to sympathise with either Anna or James who seemed to do everything completely wrong and in my opinion caused most of the issues. I imagine that getting everything right with little drama and upset would not result in a very entertaining read however!
3.5 stars and my take away from this read was how much better behaved the children were than the adults in this book!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
Great read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access this book in exchange for my honest feedback.
A wonderful portrayal of the perils of blended families. When Anna's marriage to man child Conor ends, she begins a new relationship with a lecturer James. The antics begin when the two decide to move in together and battle the minefield of step-parent, step-child and step-sibling relationships. The consequences of coming together under the same roof produces some frustrating, hilarious and challenging times. James' daughter is highly spoiled and a undisciplined, Anna's 10year old son is rude and allowed to get away with poor behaviour, whilst Anna's studious daughter is torn between them all. Anna's ex continues to make circumstances worse by speaking out of turn about his ex and her new partner in front of the children. It is a constant battle that threatens to tear them all apart. It is a heart-in-mouth read as we wait with bated breath to see if they all come through it unscathed and together. #YoursMineOurs #SineadMoriarty #Netgalley #Irishwriters #blendedfamily #divorce #separation #stepparenting #stepchildren #stepsiblings #domesticchaos #eatingdisorder #stress #anxiety #familypressure #tension #karla_bookishlife
Unfolding from multiple perspectives Yours, Mine, Ours by Sinead Moriarty explores the complications of blending families, especially when navigating step-parenting, and co-parenting.
There aren’t really any surprises in this book. Having fallen deeply in love, Anna and James are excited to be starting a new life together, and are sure that their respective children, 15 year-old Grace, 9 year-old Jack, and 14 year-old Bella will quickly embrace the merging of their lives. Neither are prepared when their dream of a happy family rapidly becomes a nightmare.
There’s plenty of drama as the children make life hard for Anna and James, putting a dent in their bubble of bliss. While Grace, a science geek, is willing to give the situation a chance, James’s spoilt daughter Bella doesn’t like sharing her father, and refuses to give Anna an inch. Jack, egged on by his immature father, Conor, is absolutely awful to James, and because of her guilt, Anna excuses his bad behaviour, which becomes a wedge between the couple.
I wasn’t very fond of Anna, though I had some sympathy for her, I found her lack of self awareness in several situations is irritating. James, a university professor, is a fairly bland character, though I admired his patience with Jack, and Anna. Conor, Anna’s ex, is an absolute douche who embraced every stereotype of toxic masculinity, while Bella’s mother, an ambitious career woman remarried to a wealthy hotelier, is focused on the wrong things when it comes to her daughter.
As you would predict, after tantrums, tears, break-ups and make-ups, it all works out in the end.
Moriarty writes well, there is genuine warmth, angst and humour in the story, but there was just not anything unique or particularly memorable about it for me.
Another great book by a brilliant author. The main characters are Anna, James & Connor. Anna leaves Connor after 17 years of marriage. She meets James and they move in together. Anna has 2 children teenage girl Grace and a 9 year old boy. James has a teenage girl Bella who separates her time living between her mum and dad. Anna and James are very much in love, but livibg in a blended family is harder than they thought. It is a lovely book.
Another brilliant family saga from Sinead Moriarty.
This author has the power and the capability to see deep into family life, and write about it accurately.
This book was absolutely amazing, I loved it and the characters are so real.
Jack, Bella, and Grace are dismayed at first when their parents split up and find other partners, and the children find themselves living together in one household. But surprisingly when things start to unravel, it’s the children who want to pull it all back together.
If you haven’t read Sinead Moriarty before, this is a brilliant book to start with! And if you have, you’ll love it anyway.
After 17 years of an unhappy marriage, Anna finally leaves husband Conor and moves in with James, but both have “baggage” - Anna has two children, Jack and Grace and James has a teenage daughter called Bella.
The “blended” family isn’t exactly the Brady Bunch that Anna and James had hoped for - the kids hate living in their new set up but just how do they all live together in harmony?
I absolutely loved this book but I think it resonated with me, because I am a Step Mum, and when I first met my partner’s daughter she was a teenager and my own son was Jack’s age so there were a few similarities, but not that many and my son certainly didn’t share our bed!!
Anna’s ex husband Conor was an absolute idiot, a man-child and I hated him from day one as he used his children to get back at Anna, and his behaviour at Jack’s birthday part was just unforgivable.
Anna;s character also annoyed me at times as she was constantly making excuses for her sons behaviour and I felt she should have put him in his place from day one and set the boundaries. However, Anna’s sisters were great at telling her a few home truths and making her see reality.
I couldn’t put this book down and I didn’t want it to finish, I want all the characters to be in my life forever…their stories rolled off the pages and into my heart!
A perfect book to read on the beach, or a long flight and just sitting on the sofa.
This book followed Anna and her family through the break of her marriage with Connor and her new blossoming relationship with James. In the haze of being loved up Anna and James decide to move in together straight away and with both their own kids in tow. Whats obvious to most but not to them with their honeymoon love filtering their view is that blended families are not easy. Especially when the relationship is brand new and you move them all in together.
I really enjoyed this book and found myself really thinking about it and looking forward to picking it up each night. The book was great, this is the second Sinead Moriarty book I have read and I will definitely pick up more from her. I really get the vibe that her books are based on families, marriage and self discovery just based off the two I have read.
This book was an easy read although at times frustrating due to the naivete of some of the characters and the toxicity of some of the characters. As some one who fell in love with a person who had a child I can totally understand a lot of the plot of this book and that was without me even having my own kids at that point.
The ending was a little bit cheesy but i wont minus points for that because it is what was deserved. My only thing I would bring up that i wish was added was more plot to Anna's and Jame's relationship as whole on its own. We don't know a lot and from what little we know it doesn't seem enough to want to uproot your family to blend them together. Regardless of that it was a good read.
Anna, married to ‘good for nothing’ lazy Connor for seventeen years, most of which was torture. Connor being disinterested in working and lacking any ambition meant that Anna was working a lot harder to support their family. They have two children together Grace and Jack. Grace being a teenager and a head full of sense can see that her Mum needed to get out of the toxic environment with her Dad. Anna makes the tough decision to leave.
Having met the most wonderful man James and promptly fallen in love she decides to take a leap of faith and move in together. Along with Grace, Jack and every second week James’ daughter Bella.
Can they overcome all the fighting and obstacles and make their new family work?
The most wonderful story told about the amalgamation of two families and their respective lives.
Told from the perspective of the whole family at one point or another. A highly emotive read that captures the complex nature of families very well. I didn’t always like all the characters especially the children.
Bella, a confused teenager was actually quite pleasant and underneath it all very well mannered. As was Grace, however Jack was completely obstinate for a ten year old. I realise this was his Dad, Connor projecting his feelings and ten year old Jack didn’t understand why his parents had split in the first place.
Moriarty never fails me to capture the raw and real side of family life in all her books, most of which I have read. Another fabulous book to be added to everybody’s tbr.
Always enjoy Sinead Moriarty's books. The story is set around 2 families where the parents have separated and found new partners. The children move in with Anna and Frank. And the story follows the blending of the families. I enjoyed the storyline which is very relevant to modern life . I thought Anna's approach to her sons behaviour was a bit far fetched but otherwise an great book
Firstly a big thank you to the publishers for my copy to review. I have read some of her books previously and this reminding me how great a author she is.
I loved this!
Funny,realistic ,packed with drama and mishaps .Packed with wit and warmth.
Really relatable and interesting characters . The children definitely reminded me of mine at some points .
A close examination of blended families and all what comes with them.
Published 7th July
Chock full of drama, Sinéad Moriarty's Yours, Mine, Ours is a truly terrific read. Anna, who is one of seven siblings, has been married to Conor for seventeen years but a change is long overdue. When they separate and she moves in with lecturer, James, whose ex-wife is Ingrid, the children - Anna's teenager, Grace and ten-year-old Jack as well as James's teenage daughter, Bella are far from happy...
In this tale about blended families, the characters are well crafted. They are not necessarily likeable and are frequently annoying but they are realistic. Yours, Mine, Ours made me sad, laugh, and stirred up feelings of frustration, hope and excitement and I felt as though I was in the pockets of the families throughout all of the occurrences. Though occasionally slow-moving plot-wise the characters were strong enough to hold my interest and I was rooting for a good outcome for everyone involved. Well worth a look.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Penguin General UK, Sandycove via NetGalley at my request and this review is my own unbiased opinion.
I really enjoyed this novel and it is my favourite Sinead Moriarty novel so far. I found the characterisations to be very well drawn. My only problem was frustration with the way that the main character, Anna, handled the disciplining of her son. This led to me not as engaged with the character as I would have liked. Overall I thought the plot was well thought out and the book well written. I'm sure Moriarty's many fans will enjoy this book. I look forward to her next one. Thanks to Penguin General UK and Netgalley for an arc of this novel