For fans of Mary Beth Keane and Tracey Lange, a family-centred character-driven story of what happens when secrets are revealed. Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy

If We’re Being Honest is the debut novel by Georgia born author Cat Shook, and what a debut it is! The family of Gerry and Ellen Williams has gathered in small town Eulalia, GA, to celebrate the life of their beloved patriarch, Gerry, who suddenly succumbed to a massive heart attack. Gerry Jr, or JJ, and his wife of 30 years, Jennifer, live just across the street from his parents, but their two grown sons, Grant, who is a personal trainer fresh off a stint from the Bachelorette, and Jerry III, who goes by Red, is a youth pastor currently living in Nashville, are back in their childhood home. JJ’s sister Wilma, always his favorite, does photography and documentary work in Atlanta and her two grown daughters, Delia and Alice, both live and work in NYC. There is also youngest sister Carol Ann who strives to make it big as an actress but still has her day job as a middle school drama teacher and is accompanied by her much younger boyfriend, Robert, who teaches math in the same school.

Together with the Williams family are neighbors and friends Dr. And Mrs. Bell and their two grown children, Peter, an oncologist, and Rebecca, who is soon to graduate as a doctor and to marry her colleague. There is also Gerry’s best friend and business partner Fred, who the family has asked to deliver the eulogy. And what a eulogy it is!!

Arriving at the funeral inebriated, Fred rants on revealing secrets that startle the family, the town, and anyone who hears the story. And this is not the only secret that will be revealed in the week between the funeral and Rebecca’s wedding.

This is such a good story!! It is difficult to believe this is Ms. Shook’s first novel. Her richly drawn characters are expertly presented. The many threads that intertwine just waiting to be pulled are masterfully developed. I very much enjoyed this book and do wholeheartedly recommend it!

When the patriarch of the Williams family passes away, members of the family come to Eulalia, a small town in Georgia, to pay their respects to Jerry. Little do they know some big secrets are about to be revealed, the first coming to light when Jerry’s best friend, Fred, stands up to give the eulogy. The effects and repercussions of this secret are far reaching, leading Jerry’s children and grandchildren to think about their own secrets and life choices, and whether or not it is worth hanging onto those secrets. Can they find happiness and acceptance in the one place it should be found, family? 

This novel has a lot going on; there are so many smaller narratives that make up If We’re Being Honest. This allowed for a lot of different themes and character types to exist within the bigger picture and message of the novel. At times it felt like things dragged, but I absolutely loved the ending as well as the lead-up to it. I adored Ellen, as well as Red. They, along with the other characters, are well developed and I liked the way some overcame the obstacles they faced. If We’re Being Honest is well written and–no pun intended–honest.

McInerney brought life to Shook’s characters. I enjoyed the inflection (although the pace was a little too slow) as well as the emotions I could feel coming from many of the characters. It was an enjoyable listen that I could fall into while immersing myself in the story.

In the end, I did somewhat enjoy this story. I felt like the concept of the story was great-- a family coming together for a funeral, and finding out a HUGE secret there-- was great plot points, and should have made for an exceptional story. This one just fell flat for me.

First, there were too many characters. I'm not great at plotting family trees, so I was basically confused for half the book on which characters belonged to who, and what plot lines they were involved in. Considering there were parents, three children, plus grandchildren included in the plot, I was confused for half the book on who was who.

Overall, this story just fell flat. I couldn't get engaged in many of the story lines. Every character had their "big" secrets-- pregnant, gay, wanting a divorce, etc. and so it just seemed a little unrealistic and made for a long story. I struggled through this one, and many times contemplated not finishing. I just didn't care about the characters enough, but in the end I did finish.

A book about family and lots of secrets. I enjoyed the book, but did not love it. I did love the ending though. There were a lot of characters so it was a little hard to keep everyone straight, to be honest. Thank you to Netgalley for the early read.

I loved this audiobook. The narrator was pleasing to listen to and the story although a little confusing my at times was well thought out and very good. I loved all the characters and loved that all of them had their own faults.

Thank you, Celadon Books, for the gifted copy of If We’re Being Honest {partner}

Genre: Fiction
Trope: Family Drama
Format: 🎧
Audiobook Narration: ☆☆☆☆
Pub Date: 4.18.2023
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆

What a fun book this was to read! I needed something light, and If We’re Being Honest delivered that and some! The book is told over one week (between a funeral and a wedding), and a lot of drama ensues, but the ending had me feeling all the feels.

To begin with, I loved all the characters. I even found myself loving the complicated ones because, at the end of it all, there was a reason why they were acting the way they were. Several times throughout the book, I thought, ‘Wow, I wish I had a family like the Williams do,’; especially the cousins. They were the ones who were the closest to the group, and they were all there for one another.

The author covers A LOT through the book (and in one week), but it never seemed like too much. I enjoyed navigating through the drama with the different family members and getting insight into they each handled the situations. Nothing was off the table with this group, making it a refreshing read.

🗣️ Character-driven
🎭 Family drama
⏰ Set over one week
🏘️ Small southern town

I recommend reading If We’re Being Honest for a lighter read that gives you characters to love!

This endearing story explores how frustrating, yet valuable, family is. As this family gathers to mourn the loss of the family patriarch, relationships are explored as curveballs come their way. I could see this on the big screen, reminding me of other family dramas, like The Family Stone, but with a twist. I do recommend the print book over the audio. I really struggled with the narrator's voices. The book also jumps a lot, and there was no pause to indicate this. I kept thinking the book jumped!

This is one of those books I will have completely forgotten in a month. But I did like some of the characters (NOT YOU, CAROL ANNE) and family dramas are my jam, so I did enjoy it. Just don’t ask me about it four weeks from now, because I won’t be able to tell you one thing.

Thanks to Celadon for the ebook and audiobook widgets.

I really didn't like this book. I couldn't make it through it. I DNF'd at 82% and honestly I only made it that far because i fell asleep. I have no idea where i fell asleep at.

A family saga over the course of a week.

If We're Being Honest opens with the Williams family together for the funeral of their patriarch, Gerry - husband to Ellen; father to Wilma, JJ, JJ's wife Jennifer, and Carol Anne; and grandfather to Alice, Delia, Grant, and Red. The book bounces from character to character; each of these family members has their own little story arc.

I found Ellen's story particularly meaningful, though I also personally felt for Wilma, Jennifer, Delia, and Red. I would have liked another 50 pages or so - debut author Cat Shook does a lot here, but I think a bit more room would have helped some of the individual storylines land better.

It felt like what Shook got most right is that feeling of grief that hits so hard, it takes your breath away. Not to mention what we accept from those we love, and how it is we convey that love in ways subtle and not. Certainly a good read for those who like family stories, such as All Adults Here by Emma Straub, and I'll be interested in whatever she writes next.

I alternated between the text and audio and didn't really have a preference between the two. I did like the narration by Kathleen McInerney.

If We’re Being Honest
By: Cat Shook

No fancy photo today because this was a @netgalley audiobook that kinda fell flat. It was an #bookstagrammademedoit kinda situation and I was really looking forward to it.

The story opens with a somber occasion of a beloved grandfather’s funeral, when the cat is let out of the bag that he has a secret gay lover. After that we get into many side stories of a plethora of characters. For me I found it hard to follow with so many characters. A few of them I enjoyed and was rooting for them. Others I found annoying. I love family drama and there was a lot of it here, mainly a lot of secrets that people needed to talk about.

I don’t normally give a low review to a family drama, but this one only get 3 ⭐️ from me. I hope that others read it and really love it though.

Cute family drama with idealized modern southern families - no homophobes or racists - yay! I spent the first third of the novel trying to get the characters straight. Some were over developed and others barely there. I see so much potential here. I will say the audio reader was wonderful. Probably better than the text!

A touching look at family dynamics and relationships, If We're Being Honest grasps its audience from moment one. There are a lot of characters to follow in this story, but it's easy to keep track. The set of cousins' tales particularly resonated with me as a reader. I highly recommend!

IF WE'RE BEING HONEST
Cat Shook


If we’re being honest, I think you will have readers respond to this book in one of two ways. One will DNF and the other will wish they did.

I am of the latter.

At some point, it became a standoff between my reading stamina and this author's writing.

I really wanted to win yet somehow I feel like a loser for finishing.

Either way, I do not know of a reader I could recommend this book to and found nothing here for me to warrant reading another Shook book.

The characters are problematic. They do not have arcs. They are so bad you have to suspend disbelief to make sense of it.

The chapters felt torturous. They are erroneously longer than necessary.

The writing is blunt, which felt intentionally hostile.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy!

IF WE’RE BEING HONEST…⭐️

I have attempted to listen to If We’re Being Hinest three times and I can’t get past 10%. This is a book I should love and I’m sure it is my own fault, but it is a DNF for me. I will not be sharing this feedback on NetGalley. I will try again in the future. Thank you Celadon Books for inviting me to listen to provide feedback

I really enjoyed this story so much more than I expected to. The story of a family that comes together for a funeral and stays together for a week leading up to a friend's wedding the following weekend is fun and funny, but also sad and thoughtful. The aspect of the grown cousins hanging out together and chatting about life, not always liking each other, but always loving each other despite their age gaps is very relatable to me. The whole book felt very normal even when the circumstances were decidedly abnormal.

The book has a sort of Steel Magnolias vibe. There were several time when I could have imagined one of the characters breaking out into Sally Field's "I'm just so mad" speech. It encompasses grief and humour and stress and uncertainty. I really liked the way that faith was explored by several different characters. Again, those discussions and musings felt very real. It felt like I was reading the thoughts of people who had real experiences in church and with personal faith, and not just the memories of someone who had never really believed or attended services since childhood. It's a soft and enjoyable read about a subject that could have been much more difficult to read about.

The family has gathered for the funeral of Gerry, the patriarch of the family. Children and grandchildren alike, come under one roof to mourn his loss. While at the funeral, Gerry's best friend delivers a message that no one has ever heard and just can't believe. They are left trying to deal with this new information, and try to reconcile their split apart family unit.

Families are not always the safest and most loving environment for people. This story shows this, but that they can come together and reunite once again.

This family drama is full of drama and starts off with a good twist to the story, shocking the whole family, and you dear reader get to watch the fall out. I'm hit or miss on family dramas and I haven't been able to decipher when they do and don't work for me until I'm in the thick of the story. I had one main problem with this book though, that really detracted from the story line in general...

It was WORK to pay attention to and attempt and try to keep all of the names straight, who they were, which generation, who's child, sibling or parent they were. I literally wrote up a family tree at the beginning of the book and was constantly referencing back to it and writing down all the little details like jobs and relationships etc!

Luckily I had a print copy that I paired with the audio because I needed both to help me stay connected. It was just too much work that took away from the enjoyment of simply reading a fictional story. I really enjoyed listening to Julia Whelan narrating the book which was a total perk! She always does a great job!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook.

When Gerry, a sprawling family’s patriarch, passes suddenly, the family all flock home to be there for the funeral. Since the funeral ends up scheduled exactly one week before a family friend’s wedding, also kn Eulalia, Georgia, the whole family gets to spend a whole week together. With lots of long grown resentment and strong personalities this already has the potential for stirring up problems and old conflict. But then Gerry's best friend Fred stands up to give the eulogy and ends up dropping a bomb nobody expected. Now the family has a week to regroup and make sense of this unexpected news about their beloved patriarch, father, grandfather, husband …

This book had loads of people and personalities to keep track of but since they were distinct enough I was able to keep everyone straight even on audio.
This was a well written, hilarious, raw and emotional family drama- and the grief was portrayed well for this type of grief - a sudden death at a very advanced age - not unexpected, still unexpected. And the wrestling with discussions that will never happen because the person to have them with is gone - shadowboxing in your head… If you enjoyed We Are the Brennans I think you will like this one!
Thank you to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for my opportunity to listen to an advance audio of this book!