This is such a moving story about a family trying to hold it together, each with their own problems, before they lose each other altogether. The story line is engaging and hooks the reader from the beginning. Its a family drama but its full of themes - loyalty, sacrifice, and forgiveness. Lange does a great job of giving the characters backstory and encouraging readers to empathize with the characters.

I really enjoyed Tracy Lange's first novel so I was looking forward to this one!

I enjoyed it but it felt a little slow to me and a bit too character driven for my taste maybe! I just felt like nothing actually happened and the characters were just okay! Maybe I was in a bit of a reading slump but this wasn't the one for me!

This is only TL's second book, but she has already proven that shorter stories can pack a big punch. This sophomore novel also shows just how well TL can articulate family dynamics.

Objectively, the writing is succinct, the ebb and flow between the family members is realistic, and each page feels purposeful - making the story feel full in its limited amount of pages.

Subjectively, the only thing keeping me from appreciating this more is my lack of connection to any of the characters. I didn't really like any of them. They were fine, but no one I seriously cared reading about.

So all in all, while this story has some really great selling points, I didn't quite enjoy this as much as ‘We Are The Brennans,’ which I thought had better characters.

This was a highly character driven family drama of a novel! Which I highly enjoyed. It's always nice reading about flawed characters because it makes it easier to connect with them and you're rooting for them. I was immersed in their lives the whole time and was really rooting for Tara. This would definitely make a good fall read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

I feel like I’m the minority here but I wasn’t a fan of this book.

It was a slow burn, character driven plot filled with family drama. The Connelly’s, Tara, Geraldine, and Eddie, are siblings and they are all going through their own struggles. I loved the strong bond the siblings had and the way they supported each other but that’s about it. I didn’t like any of the characters (especially Geraldine) and I thought that Tara’s love interest and their relationship was unrealistic. I also felt like the pacing was too slow and nothing was really happening. I enjoyed the authors first book “We Are the Brennan’s” but unfortunately this one wasn’t for me.

Tara Connelly is released from prison after serving eighteen months on a drug charge. Trying to rebuild her life, she moves in with her siblings who are struggling with their own issues. Her brother Eddie is a single dad raising his son while also dealing with the effects of a brain injury he acquired some time ago and her sister Geraldine who is hiding secrets of her own. Picking up the pieces, Tara re connects with her nephew, starts anew job and in a twist of fate, finds romance in with someone she never would have imagined. Things are starting to look up until the family’s secrets begin to emerge threating to ruin everything Tara has built.


I really enjoyed the author’s previous book “We are the Brennans” and really enjoyed this one as well. Similar to her previous book, the author shines a light on family as the strong theme in this story. Tara is our MC who struggles to get back on her feet after being released from prison. I enjoyed all the characters I this one despite growing extremely frustrated with Tara’s siblings particularly Geraldine. But I have such a great admiration and respect for Tara’s character as she fights to protect with her family even if that means sacrificing her own happiness. I also adored her nephew Conor and his cute little jokes that he tells to diffuse tension or just to give the adults a good laugh when they are feeling down. This was a heartwarming story about family and the lengths we go to in order to protect them. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this novel.

I knew Tracy Lange’s The Connellys of County Down would be a winner because she does family drama SO well. This is a quiet character study of the three Connelly children, who all end up living together as adults. The book starts with the youngest sister, Tara, being released from jail after serving 18 months for a drug sentence. I was literally on the edge of my seat with anticipation during the later part of the book. I loved Tara as a character and the depiction of a complicated sibling relationship.

I love a good family drama, and Tracey Lange has proven (again) that she knows how to write messy family stories that hook the reader with the first several pages.

I was captivated by the Connelly family. I loved the loyalty of the siblings and felt for all of them (although Tara was definitely my favorite).

The writing was lovely, the characters flawed but likable, and the story propulsive. Yet, it felt oddly similar to the authors debut, We Are the Brennans. I was late to the party with The Brennans and read it this year, so perhaps had it not been so fresh in my mind I would have felt differently. The plot of the story was definitely different but the theme almost felt like she was following a formula from the success of Brennans and the similarities kept distracting me from reading the actual story.

If you’ve had some time since you read Brennans, or if you haven’t read that one yet, this is sure to be an enjoyable read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 for The Connellys of County Down. Thank you to @netgalley and @celadonbooks for the digital ARC.

I'm SO glad to have read this novel! Literary fiction with a touch of romance and suspense - what more could a reader ask for?

I must admit, when I first saw the title and cover of this novel I assumed it would be a family saga set in Ireland. Yes, it was a story about the Connelly family, but they lived in Westchester County, New York. And it wasn't a saga as such, but a brilliant depiction of a family who faced adversity throughout their lives and how they coped. How their family loyalty and deep-seated sibling affection got them through some desperate situations.

The characters were engaging and easy to care for.

Tara Connelly - a thirty year old who has just been released from prison. She is the youngest Connelly sibling and is a survivor who is courageous, artistic, and loyal to a fault. Tara finds love in the most unlikely of places, the logistics of which seem insurmountable. Tara adores her nephew, Conor.

Eddie Connelly - the middle Connelly child. He is a single Dad to Conor and the ex-husband of a drug addict. When he was just a teen, Eddie suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident. Now he works in construction and suffers migraines and seizures.

Geraldine Connelly - the eldest Connelly sibling. She brought up her two younger siblings when her Mum died and her father deserted the family. She is governed by self-imposed rules and routine, which has helped her to get through an arduous life. She relinquished her own childhood to keep the family together and her siblings out of foster care.

"When parents die so early they take too much with them - their children's security, their strongest guiding light and biggest cheering section. It was like being left to free-fall through life with no safe place to land."

This well crafted story was told with compassion, empathy, and a sense of justice. I was very invested in the lives of all three Connelly siblings, especially that of Tara. All three siblings were underdogs whom you couldn't help but root for.

If you admire character-driven literary fiction with an engaging plot and characters, then you should definitely read "The Connellys of County Down".

This will likely be on my year's best list. Highly recommended!

I am not one for family saga's, at least not often but this book!!

I couldn't put it down from the first page. I loved the characters, the pacing, the writing style, and well I loved everything!! It felt real and I felt connected to not only the characters but also the plot. It played out as a movie in my head as I read late into the night.

I love the themes of family obligation, second chances, and fresh starts!

This is a must read, even if you're a thriller fan like me.

Thank you so much to Celedon for my eARC of this book.

I'm not normally a contemporary fiction reader, let alone one with family drama. So color me pleasantly surprised when I read this book. I enjoyed the relationship with Conor, Tara, and Eddie and was so excited by the growth in all of them. I felt a lot of sorrow for Tara, Eddie, and Geraldine at all the trauma they experienced in their young lives. I thought the author did an interesting job highlighting the results of that trauma and how sometimes people society sees as "troubled" are just dealing with the cards they have been dealt.

I really did hope that Geraldine went to jail after what she did to Tara. I also felt a little icky with the relationship that developed between Tara and the officer who arrested her.
Despite those hiccups, this was a solid book that highlighted sibling loyalty and love.

What a great book! A lot of family dynamics are explored in this story. I admire the fight of each of the siblings as they have done the best three know how with their lives. It is a great read!

Title: The Connellys of County Down
Author: Tracey Lange
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: August 1, 2023

I received complimentary eARC and ALC copies of this book from Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted #Ad

T H R E E • W O R D S

Mysterious • Relatable • Reflective

📖 S Y N O P S I S

When Tara Connelly is released from prison after serving eighteen months on a drug charge, she knows rebuilding her life at thirty years old won’t be easy. With no money and no prospects, she returns home to live with her siblings, who are both busy with their own problems. Her brother, a single dad, struggles with the ongoing effects of a brain injury he sustained years ago, and her sister’s fragile façade of calm and order is cracking under the burden of big secrets. Life becomes even more complicated when the cop who put her in prison keeps showing up unannounced, leaving Tara to wonder what he wants from her now.

💭 T H O U G H T S

After absolutely loving Tracey Lange's debut, We Are the Brennans, I was super excited to see she was releasing a new novel in 2023. One of my most anticipated releases, I picked The Connellys of County Down as my August pick for my personal book of the month project, and when Celadon offered me an advanced copy I wouldn't click 'yes' fast enough.

Centered around three siblings, the pacing keep me wanting more. The story unraveled slowly with each chapter offering new tidbits of information as to how everything would connect. From the very start, there was an underlying mysterious tone. The siblings were each flawed and relatable in their own way, and their relationships with one another were layered and complex. At various points it was hard to figure out whether to feel sorry for them or to empathize with them. It is clear Lange's background in behavioural science and psychology helped shape the narrative surrounding Eddie's traumatic brain injury, and Geraldine's hoarding. Both of these aspects were handled with care and realistically.

The novel is on the shorter side, and I just couldn't put it down. However, it was the ending that left me slightly dissatisfied. Not only did it end abruptly, but after so much conflict everything ended tied up with a pretty little bow, which just felt unrealistic. There were several other possible endings that made more sense in my head.

I tandem read the digital and audio versions, and I must say the audio narration by Barrie Kreinik really brought the family to life. Each character had a distinct voice, which made following along easy. Pacing was very well done and accents were done with excellent intonation.

Overall, I appreciated the themes of family obligation and starting anew, making The Connellys of County Down a satisfying read. I just would have preferred a different ending. After reading her sophomore novel, it really cements Tracey Lange as an auto-buy author for me, and I will eagerly be awaiting whatever she writes next.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• lovers of the family saga
• readers who like character driven stories
• fans of messy sibling relationships

⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, drug trafficking, overdose, incarceration, car accident, injury/injury detail, medical trauma, mental illness, abandonment, cursing, addiction, drug use, drug abuse

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"I don’t think you do the rest of us any favors when you don’t let us carry our own burdens."

I went into this book really excited for a family saga book similar to Ann Napolitano's "Hello Beautiful". I was really disappointed. I found it to be slow paced and rambling. The characters were surface level with little development that were dull and flat. The ongoing plotline regarding who subsidized Tara's prison bank account was predictable from the moment we're told that Detective Brian finds Tara attractive. The knowledge is later set it stone when we learn of his guilt as he drives her home from jail. Passages within the book read like a grocery list of information instead of the evolution of a family. Due to my negative feelings about the book I'm refraining from posting a review on GoodReads nor my social media accounts. Thank you very much for a copy of the book. I haven't read We Are the Brennans yet but I'm hoping I'll love that book by Tracey Lange.

Sometimes you need a book that isn’t doing all the things. What I appreciate in Lange’s writing is that she crafts straight-forward family dramas. She isn’t layering in multiple narrators or trying to drown me in exposition. Her books are more ABC vs. HBO.

Meet the Connellys, siblings Tara, Eddie and Geraldine. Let’s be honest, they’ve had a shit go. Their father was a criminal who caused a traumatic brain injury for Eddie. Their mother died while they were young, which forced Geraldine to take on a motherly role too soon, and Tara was busted for drug trafficking.

The book opens the day Tara is released from prison. Geraldine has become a control freak, obsessive hoarder and Eddie is a father to a young son. We follow these three as they try to readjust to their new life together.

This is a “quiet” book. There aren’t any major plot points, suspense or mystery. You would think that it’s a slow moving book, BUT it isn’t. You get sucked into these characters lives and find yourself rooting for them. It’s a nice mental break from thrillerland.

If you enjoyed This Is Us you should pick this up!

The Connellys of County Dwon by Tracey Lange is an enjoyable family drama about the relationship between three adult siblings. I really loved Lange's first book, We Were the Brennans, and her sophomore novel was very good as well!

I think stories about adult siblings are just fascinating! In this story, each character has their own struggle as individual adults. But their struggles and their relationships with each other are also influenced by things that happened in their childhood. The way that all those childhood struggles come into play as adults and affect the interaction between the siblings and their current struggles...it's just so interesting!

Lange writes these characters in a way that feels authentic to real life. Geraldine, Eddie and Tara all have plenty of struggles and insecurities and imperfections. They make mistakes, but they also teach us about the power of the sibling relationships and the love that can be found even in the middle of the mess.

I am looking forward to whatever Tracey Lange writes next!

That reference/Easter Egg about killed me 🥹

Believe me when I say no one writes family sagas like Tracey Lange. We Are the Brennans is one of my favourite books of all time so you can imagine how I excited I was dive into her latest. And guess what? I absolutely loved it.

I flew through this book during a weekend road trip and devoured it in two sittings. It was so readable, so riveting, and I enjoyed every moment. I don't know how the author does it, writing everyday people doing everyday things in everyday situations with so much flair, to the point that you are completely captivated and can't get enough.

The characters are so well-written, perfectly flawed, and had me completely invested. I loved the budding romance, which had a hint of the forbidden (and reminded me of Sunday Brennan x Kale from the author's debut). My only gripe is that the ending felt abrupt, but that's probably just me being greedy and wanting more.

The Connellys didn't hook me quite like the Brennans.
Thank you to Celadon Books and Netgalley for my eARC for review!
The Connellys Of County Down is the story of Tara, newly released from prison after a drug trafficking charge. She moves back in with her siblings Geraldine and Eddie, lands a new job, and takes on a new relationship with an unexpected mate. There's family history and drama bubbling to the surface.
The writing was solid, but my interest came and went throughout. Ultimately this was quite a good book, just not what I needed right now.
Regardless, recommended!
Released on Aug. 1.

I love a good family drama, and this delivered. I couldn't put down We Are The Brennans so when I heard about Lange's next book, I was thrilled.

The Connellys are kind of a mess, but they're trying. I love a family story of survival and healing, and I especially loved watching each Connelly sibling learn to lean on each other and open up.

I do feel like this ended a bit abruptly - I wish I had gotten more closer for Eddie and Geraldine, not just Tara.

3.5 stars - rounded up because I couldn't put this down or stop thinking about it

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me an ARC and audiobook!
——
This is the author’s sophomore novel but the first one that I read, and I can see now why everyone loves her writing! As far as a summary goes, there isn’t much more I can reveal beyond the official synopsis. What I can say is that it’s a story that tests family and sibling bonds, and the amount of sacrifices that you sometimes have to make for your family, even if it’s to your own detriment. The 3 siblings, Tara, Geraldine and Eddie couldn’t be more different from each other and yet couldn’t be apart. They are all imperfect in every way you can imagine yet they form a complete picture as a whole.

What was even more interesting was the ex-convict and law enforcement themes explored throughout the book. Tara’s post-prison journey was a unique and important theme that I don’t see enough in books and I thought that was a refreshing change. I felt the author did a phenomenal job writing the unprecedented hurdle of rebuilding one’s life after a prison time. I also enjoyed the good cop-not so good cop theme and the boundaries they are allowed or not allowed, which was another unique factor to this book.

I oscillated between 4 and 5 stars throughout the book and ended with 5 because I was extremely invested in the siblings’ challenges and was rooting for all the main characters in the book despite their misgivings. I now need to read The Brennans!