I thoroughly enjoyed this book, full of many interesting and annoying characters and with plenty of drama, it was very easy to read and I was quickly immersed in it. When I'm into a great book I don't want to put it down and do anything else, so this was me, late into the night. As much as I enjoyed it, the reason I never gave it full stars is because too many of the characters really annoyed me, they were hateful people and I didn't always enjoy reading about them.

I really disliked Anna, she meets James and after a short time they move in together and that means blending their families, Anna's two kids, Jack who is nine and Grace who is fifteen and James's fifteen year old daughter Bella. It's a recipe for disaster. The problem lies in the age old hurdle of trying to discipline your partners child, when really you don't have the right, or do you! Then there's parents different sets of rules and how they bring up their kids.
Yes James does indulge his daughter and she wasn't always the nicest to Anna, being fifteen she should know better, but he did have words with her and didn't always let her away with things. Whereas, Anna let Jack away with EVERYTHING, he was a nasty spoilt little brat and he may only have been nine/ten, but he knew right from wrong. She indulged and petted him and excused his behaviour. Letting a nine year old sleep in your bed every night so your partner has to sleep on the sofa is just ridiculous. All of Anna's family could see how Jack was behaving and pulled him up on it, but Anna kept on making excuses for him. She drove me insane and I really hated her. Her attitude towards Bella was so two faced, she was nasty to that girl at times, all because she was older than Jack and should know better. According to Anna that is!

Anna's ex Conor was another ar**ole, a really nasty childish one. His attitude towards James made everything worse and didn't help Jacks opinion of him. Conor was so self centred and blamed everyone else for everything that happened in his life. I rejoiced when Grace stood up to him near the end and really let him have it. He had that coming to him long ago.

Actually, on reflection I only disliked Anna and Conor! I wasn't overly fussed with Jack, yes he's only a child, but he was a spoilt brat. He did redeem himself at times though, whereas his parents never really did in my opinion.

Overall, it was entertaining and full of the drama that comes with trying to blend families together, the many battles and uphill struggles to be encountered. Perhaps if the parents had been a bit more willing to actually discipline their children, many of the pitfalls could have been avoided.
Oh and what really confused me for a while and then irritated me every time it was used, was the calling of them step mother/father and step brother/sister. I was unsure where I'd missed them getting married, but they weren't. So why were they referring to each other as step parent and step siblings???? Everyone said they had jumped into it all a bit too soon and I think they were right. They weren't a step family yet and putting all that pressure on themselves, especially the kids, was insane and ridiculous.

Anna and James meet over an injured foot and love blossoms. Though they each have a child/children, in their naivety they are sure things can work out and that they will all become one, big, happy family.

This book deals with the complexities of a blended family and the worries and conflicts such an arrangement can bring. Whilst it does highlight such circumstances, I’m not sure that this is the right platform, as, even if Anna and James hadn’t moved in together so quickly, the absolute awfulness of all the characters, with the possible exception of Milly and Grace who are too goody, goody, would have made everyone’s life a misery. The characters were domineering, spiteful, rude and downright obnoxious, and this really spoilt the story for me. It was also written in childish language at times, and not always for the children!

Not one for me, with apologies to the author.

2.5*

Thank you NetGalley.

This is quite possibly the best book I have read so far this year! I finished it in a day.

It is a breath of fresh air - a completely unique and original look into the lives of modern day families and the struggles that are faced through divorce, step-parenting and just parenthood in general. Though slow moving plot-wise in some places, the characters were strong enough to keep my interest throughout and I was rooting for a good outcome at the end for all.

I enjoyed each of the characters equally and loved watching their development as the book progressed. A definite must-read!

Anna has left her husband Conor for her new love James. She and James decide to move in together and set up a blended family with her two children, Grace and Jack and his daughter, Bella. Unsurprisingly it is a disaster. Both adults find it difficult to cope with their new step-child(ren) and the children don't get on together either. With Conor in the background calling James a home wrecker, it seems to be a doomed relationship.

This is a difficult book to review. The subjects dealt with are important and I think the problems raised are realistic ones. However most of the characters are extremely irritating. It's hard to say who's the worst. Anna spoils Jack completely, helping to turn him into rather a horrid young boy. She allows him to sleep with her and excuses his
bad behaviour every time, failing to discipline him. Bella is obnoxious and don't get me started on Conor, the man child. Not all the characters are horrible, but both Milly (Conor's new girlfriend) and Grace are too good to be true. But the main problem is the way the story is told. It's almost all expositionary dialogue which is stilted and not how people talk. There is very little description in the book so that you don't get a sense of place at all. It was only when euros were mentioned that I realised it was set in Ireland and not the UK.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I’m a great fan of this author and read many of her books. This one centred around a realistic portrayal of the difficulties of second marriage with children and bringing together a blended family. Stunning… Loved the story and the pacing and just everything about it… A great story that I couldn't put down! Can’t wait to see what she brings out next!

I did enjoy this read and getting to know the characters was delightful. There are moments of hilarity and others of real despair. However, I thought the writing style was quite childish. I enjoy Moriarty's books and have not noticed this with others and can only think Moriarty was trying to capture the children's thoughts but it did not really come across like this and stunted the enjoyment for me. Overall this was a nice, family read.

I love moriarty’s style of writing and how she makes the relationships in her stories so believable. I enjoyed this and seeing how a blended family struggled to adjust to the new norm, it gave me a different perspective on how tricky this must be for 2 families to come together. I did feel that Connor’s unlikeability could have been scaled back a little as I found his sections and interactions difficult to read as I disliked him so much. However I did like this book and would recommend to others. Thank you for the arc

I'm finding it difficult to review this book as I did enjoy the premise and I did keep reading to know what happened, but almost every character is so unlikeable. They all say absolutely horrible things. Jack in particular is atrocious and it's quite unbelievable that he would get away with his behaviour.. Anna isn't even a particularly nice character. The problem then is that the "good" characters, such as Milly come across as a bit too good to be true. I found it really hard to read all the awful things people kept saying., particularly as it was for the whole book. I completely see what the author was doing and what her intent was but you shouldn't really see the seams of a story. I'm probably in the minority and I imagine a lot of people will enjoy it it as a quick light read, ideal for the summer.

A great domestic drama. James and Anna have found happiness after bad marriages. Both have children and decide to move in together blending two families. Whilst the parents are excited about the new life the children have different opinions and different parenting styles. A book that brings you into the relationship and frustrates you in a good way as it is well written. Humour, tears, love and loss read as a real life story.

Honest, warm and touching - everything you would expect and hope for from a Sinead Moriarty novel. I loved it.

I simply love Sinead Moriarty and was thrilled to be approved her latest book to review, this is another brilliant read from Sinead, she keeps getting better. This one is based around blended families and the difficulties often faced when two families try and live together. Anna moves in with James and his teenage daughter Bella. Anna herself is a mother to teenage daughter Grace and often boisterous nine year old Jack who she co parents with her ex husband Connor. .unfortunately Jack doesn't take to James and Bella isn't too fond of Anna's house rules. All too soon their first flush of romance is wearing off quick and
fast as they try and navigate ways to be a new family. I found some of the characters quite annoying but that actually added to the charm of the book as ex husband Connor enraged me with his behaviour, I rooted for Anna and James to find a way to solve their problems even more. I did wish Anna would discipline Jack more throughout the book but overall I loved it. Anna's siblings were a great sub character development, so funny and added flesh to the book. I recommend this one to Sinead's loyal fans and for new readers of her work, a thoroughly enjoyable, relatable book.

It's a long time since I've read anything by Sinead Moriarty and I did have my doubts about this at the beginning, as it was written in quite a prosaic style. However as the story developed it did start to take hold of me.

It's a story about the pitfalls that can occur with blended families, and certainly doesn't gloss over the difficulties when kids are not on board with what the parents want. Anna, finally free of her terrible toxic ex Conor, has fallen in love with James and they want nothing more than to be together. But while Anna's teenager Grace is relatively chill about the whole thing, ten year old Jack and James's teenage daughter Bella are much less so (not helped by bitter, angry Conor constantly dripping poison into his son's ear).

I did feel for Anna's situation, desperately trying to make things work for everyone, even if she was her own worst enemy at times (that children's party.... oof.) There are some fun side characters, particularly Milly, and Bella's work-obsessed mother and stepfather.

A good read which makes it clear there are no easy answers to some situations. I guarantee that most readers will want to punch Conor in the face on occasion - I don't know how Anna managed not to. (However, the "child goes missing" - not a major spoiler as it's not a huge part of the story - has really become a cliché of family drama type stories.)

Many thanks for the opportunity to read an advance copy - I enjoyed it a lot.

This took me a short while to get into it, but once I did, I was fully immersed and really enjoyed. Puts a spotlight on complicated family relationships and handles the subject with a certain amount of diplomacy. Complex characters which make for more interesting reading.
Good read.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this advanced copy as i love sinead moriarty. I must admit at the beginning i was annoyed by Anna, she left her husband felt a total victim and couldn’t control her children. As the story enfolded you get to know more about her and the other characters. I enjoyed this book and would highly recommend. Looking forward to the next book

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC - I have loved all of Sinead Morairty's previous books and this one was no exception, super easy to read and a lovely story.

This was a great read and I couldn’t leave it down at all once I started it, a story of a more or less blended family involving step parents and ex’s and ex’s new partners and most of all one’s children, ups and downs but so enjoyable a book x

I always enjoy reading this author’s books and this one definitely lived up to expectations.

Anna and James are in love. Moving in together with Anna’s two children and James’ daughter seems like the next step. While Anna didn’t expect the families to instantly bond, she could never have envisaged what an uphill battle it would become. With her ex Conor constantly causing trouble, things deteriorate even further. Can Anna somehow pull her blended family together or will the tears and tantrums rip this fledgling family apart?

Enjoyable and entertaining. This is well worth a read.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I have loved everything this author has written and this was a great read, great characters and a great storyline. I loved it.

Thank you to Sinéad Moriarty and NetGalley for a free copy of the book for an honest review.

I was excited about reading Yours,Mine,Ours even before reading the blurb as I've read About Us by Sinéad previously and absolutely loved it. I'm pleased to say Yours, Mine, Ours did not disappoint and I devoured it within 24 hours.

I loved all of the characters, and felt like I got to know them all including the side characters. My favourite characters were Grace and Bella who's development we really got to see and I felt their stories were wonderfully captured.

Yours, Mine, Ours made me cry, laugh, feel frustrated, hopeful, excited and it felt almost as if I was with them throughout all of the events.

Sinéad wrote an AMAZING book which was so easy to get lost in!

I enjoyed this book even though I found some of the characters really irritating. Anna's ex Conor need someone to kick him into the middle of next week but it was actually Anna herself who annoyed me the most. She allowed Conor to behave childishly and never really took him to task about the rubbish he was filling their son's head with. On the other hand poor James never got a chance, he wasn't even 2nd best he came about 6th in her priorities. She also let Jack away with too much and babied him terribly.. I really liked both Bella and Grace and Milly was brilliant.. I thought the book was saved though by Anna's sisters Angela and Anita. Their dry humour and caustic put downs, especially where Conor was concerned were inspired. I'd love to see them feature in other stories.