I finished SANDWICH over the weekend and my oh my is it a *perfect* nostalgic story for me.

Set in an unnamed Cape Cod town where a family spends a week at the same beach house each summer, the story spans one of those weeks with flashbacks to previous summers.

For 18ish summers of my life, my family spent the first week (two if we were lucky!) of August at the same beach house in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. The house wasn’t fancy or special except in location and memories made. We’d anticipate those weeks with great fervor and when they’d come upon us, they’d pass at the speed of light - filled with sandy toes, outdoor showers, ice cream cones, pond swims, and fried seafood.

SANDWICH bundles up all my nostalgia into a compelling family story. The setting is brought to life in a way only a true Cape Cod lover can pull off. Newman’s writing is impossibly warm and funny and relatable; the way she writes a family makes me want to BE in her family. It is no surprise she writes often for @cupofjo, a site defined by the same qualities.

All in all: I loved SANDWICH. I may read it again with my toes in the sand and New England breeze in my hair in a few short months 🥰

If you love Cape Cod or family dynamics or WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS or Cup of Jo, this is for you 🫶

I loved this book so much. I laughed, I cried, I saw what the future might look like. Catherine Newman writes about the complications of being a woman, a mother, and a wife with lightness and depth it’s magical. If you haven’t read We All Want Impossible Things - read that first until Sandwich comes out!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Coming in at a tight 240 pages, SANDWICH is a week-in-the-life glimpse of a family vacation on Cape Cod, centered on menopausal mom Rocky, as she is "sandwiched" between her two almost adult children and her aging parents. She reminisces about past vacations with the children as the current vacation reveals family secrets and surprises. Some of the things Rocky says and thinks really resonated with me, as someone of the same age and in a similar place in life. Newman's writing style is very conversational and the plot moves quickly.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher HarperCollins for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I heard Sandwich described as a story about a family on a summer vacation that they go on every year to the same location in the same rental house, and I was instantly interested - this is something that my family does, and I was looking forward to seeing a similar experience on the page in all of its messy, memorable, sometimes crazy and dramatic family vacation entirety. While I really enjoyed the writing style and structure, I ultimately found it really difficult to connect to the characters and couldn’t help a constant feeling that I was just the wrong audience for this story.

This book follows main character Rocky, a 54-year-old woman “sandwiched” between caring for her new adult children and aging parents during their annual family vacation to Cape Cod. Each chapter details a day, following Rocky, her husband Nick, and her two children Jamie and Maya during their vacation week. Over the course of the trip, relationships are tested, secrets are revealed, and a little drama ensues, but at the end of the day, family is family.

I’ve really struggled with my feelings about this book, because although there were definitely some nuggets of humor and enjoyment, I simply could not relate at all to Rocky or her family dynamics. Rocky is a perimenopausal mom, which we come to learn early in the story and are reminded of often as the author waxes poetic about menopause in all of its forms every couple pages. While the menopause jokes probably landed well with readers in the same stage of life, they got to the point of being obnoxious to this slightly younger reader who doesn’t yet have children. Rocky’s adult children (in their early 20s) were also a little disappointingly difficult for this reader to relate to in the way that they were incredibly open with their parents about their sex lives, to the point that Rocky and her daughter Maya go skinny-dipping together. I completely understand that every family is different, and to each their own with no judgment whatsoever, but that piece just felt unrealistic to me personally. The characters overall felt more like caricatures to me in the way that all of their emotions seemed a little exaggerated and how far removed they felt from the family that I am accustomed to.

The writing style was snappy and entertaining, and I’d be interested in reading more of Newman’s work that had a little broader appeal! I also enjoyed the concept of dividing the story into chapters with each chapter being a full day, but at the same time, the structure almost made it feel like vignettes rather than one cohesive story. Each day brought new drama or secrets revealed, but once the day was over some of those ‘big secrets’ were never really revisited.

All in all, while I enjoyed my reading experience well enough, I was left at the end wanting more. I wanted more depth in characters, more dimension to the story and more relatability (and less menopause). I think my experience with it ultimately came down to me not being part of the somewhat narrow target audience of perimenopausal mothers, and that’s ok! There are also trigger warnings for miscarriage and abortion for readers to take note of. Reader know thyself.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Loved this book! So laugh-out-loud funny one moment and poignant the next, with many truthful observations about aging and raising children. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

3.5⭐️ I loved this author’s last book so was excited for this one. While I enjoyed it and there was some great banter, not much happened. It was more a slice of one close family’s life — their annual vacation — and their occasional sandwich preferences. All through the lens of menopausal mother of adult kids. I look forward to this author’s next one and hope it has a little more oomph.

The writing in this book, wow. It makes you feel like you’re there, hearing and seeing it all. It sometimes makes you ache. This book makes you think, especially if you’re in that sandwich part of life.

Thanks to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is about so much more than a family vacation. I laughed and cried and read a lot of relatable lines. Rocky is a 54 year old mother of 2 adult children who is now an empty nester with her husband Nick. She is also dealing with menopause and all the fun that that entails. She and her family have been visiting the same house on the cape for many years. Rocky is dealing with all kinds of emotions and trying to keep it all together and failing miserably. It was an unputdownable book for me.
Thank you Netgalley and Harper books for the digital ARC.

I couldn't stop reading this and fell in love with every single character. Rocky's voice is so real, so honest. Like Rocky, dreading the end of the vacation, I dreaded the last page.

I greatly enjoyed this book, in large part because I, like Rocky, am at that "sandwich" point of life (with an 80-something parent and 20-something kids). This novel also transported me back to the yearly family OBX vacations we took over 10 years, in all their messy and memorable glory. But I don't think you have to be in the menopausal mom or beachgoer demographic to appreciate this well-written inter-generational novel, which is by turns both moving and funny. 4 stars for me, with many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow I loved this book! My first book my Catherine Newman and it won’t be my last. Now I want to go back and read her debut! This is such a lovely book filled with emotion and humor. It touches on phases in the life of a family. I found it so touching and profound at times. I loved the banter of the family in this book and thought they were charming and sharp.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for the gifted eARC in exchange for my feedback!

It's official - Catherine Newman is an auto-buy author for me, going forward. I loved her debut novel, We All Want Impossible Things. Her new novel, Sandwich, delivers more of the same heart, humor, and wisdom touched with a swirl of darkness. I loved everything this novel had to say about motherhood, marriage, empty nests, our love for our children, the passing of time, what we don't know about our aging parents, the importance of tradition, the power of nostalgia, and the hard truths of living an open-hearted life. I found myself highlighting (in my Kindle) so many passages that I want to remember and reflect on later.

This particular family's culture really came to life for me. Their conversations were so witty and warm and incisive. They don't really beat around the bush, even though there certainly are some secrets being kept. I can't wait to see what Newman writes and publishes next!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper for the gifted eARC in exchange for my honest feedback. I'm excited for the rest of the world to get their hands on this book next month!

I highlighted so many passages of this novel and loved it so much! This is a great slice-of-life novel which is both gentle and complex with some fantastic moments of wisdom and humor. Catherine Newman perfectly tackles marriage, menopause, and adult children with acerbic wit. Rocky’s children are on the precipice of big changes as young adults and both of her parents are aging and fragile. Newman pairs the bitter sweetness of these family dynamics with some pretty big secrets for an unputdownable read. Full 5 stars.
Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

What I've come to expect from Catherine Newman, in the best way: laughter and tears and characters so deeply human you forget they're made up.

Like We All Want Impossible Things, this slim little novel punches well above its emotional weight. I read it in one sitting, but it's lingering with me far longer. It's a perfect beach read, but a deceptively deep one! I think fans of Hello, Beautiful by Ann Napolitano and The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller will really enjoy it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper for an ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Catherine Newman's new novel, Sandwich, chronicles a week-long Cape Cod vacation of parents Rocky and Nick, their three newly adult children, one girlfriend, their cat, Chicken, and, for a few days, Rocky''s elderly parents. The book sets the pace for a fast read with its irreverent one-liners and comical misadventures, like Rocky's hilarious and horrid mind-body meltdowns. It also touches on some very deep topics, like repressed trauma and grief, the emotional toll of long-held secrets and letting go of loved ones, young and old. The cast of characters show us that, as flawed humans, our relationships with those we love may be deep, but they're never perfect. We all misstep sometime, and love can be expressed in different ways. For some of us, it's being the one who makes the sandwiches.

At once hilarious and heartbreaking! I absolutely loved this character-driven tale of a family’s vacation week at a Cape Cod cottage. Protagonist Rocky, a purveyor of sandwiches and other sustenance, is herself “sandwiched” between her mostly grown children and her aging parents, as she faces the wonders of her own body advancing in years. Rocky and her whole tribe are vividly drawn, imperfect and relatable. As I devoured this book in a single day, I laughed. Frequently. I guffawed at many of Newman’s oh, so realistic and insightful depictions of menopause and of family dynamics. I cried. Several times. And I promised myself I will reread Newman’s novel in very short order after it is published on June 18, 2024.

Highly recommended! Especially to “women of a certain age” and those who love them. Extra credit to the publisher for the just right cover.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to Harper for the privilege of a complimentary ARC. Opinions are my own.

If there was ever a one-word book title that would stand out to me, it’s this one.

Sandwich follows main character Rocky while she’s on a week-long beach house vacation with her husband, 2 adult kids, and her aging mom and dad. Rocky is very much “sandwiched” between the generations for part of the week and this story is a compilation of her internal thoughts, memories, and interactions with her family members.

My thoughts: Rocky’s internal monologue is fantastic and witty and feels like I’m sitting right next to her in the beach house. The story felt very slow to me - I just didn’t have that ‘I have to keep reading’ feeling. The book took me a couple months to get through. Overall I did really like this story - a slow, cozy, character-driven plot, and a family just doing their best to be good.

4.5 stars.

✨WOW! I was not prepared for how much this book would resonate with me – an empty nest mother in her mid-fifties in the throes of menopause. (Sorry not sorry if that’s TMI. It’s a natural part of a woman’s life.) This was a truly authentic portrayal, and I highly recommend it.

✨The title aptly refers to the sandwich generation the main character finds herself in – that time when a middle-aged person finds themselves sandwiched between raising children or supporting grown children and caring for aging parents. And also, the main character really likes making sandwiches for her family, so…🥪

✨The hilarious and earnest musings of main character Rocky are written with such depth and emotion, that I was in a constant rotation of laughter and tears. Her experiences of the joy and beauty and heartbreak and utter bittersweetness of loving children who have left the nest had me with my head in my hands, swiping tears and feeling every word.

✨The author writes of motherhood with such raw authenticity and doesn’t shy away from the desperate moments of motherhood that all mothers experience – the fear, anxiety and constant worry. But she is generous with the pure joy and bliss of being a mother as well , and I am in awe of her ability to write these contradictions with such honesty, vulnerability and heart. The way that the author is able to master a character who feels too much, loves too much and feels all the splendid agony of loving people so much you’re willing to let them go is truly an art. I felt this book in all the deep places.

🌿Read if you like:
✨Female main character over 50
✨Stories of empty nest motherhood
✨Long marriage stories
✨Cape Cod settings
✨Authentic portrayals of women in menopause
✨Laughter through tears

My thanks to @harperbooks and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book before its publication date.

This was a beautiful book about motherhood. I reccomebd that any one who enjoys Debbie Macomber, Nancy Thayer or Elin Hilderbrand read this book. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review!

So, Sandwich is very well written. The story is about a family's Cape Cod vacation, on the surface a typical family story, but deceptively complicated. While not a lot happens during the week, there's a lot going on under the surface. It addresses many of the challenges of modern life, especially for women in their 50's and 60's, the sandwich generation. The lead character, Rachel or Rocky for short, takes tender care of her family and yes, also makes good sandwiches. My problem with the book is I didn't really like the lead character. This book would be a great book club book, lots to discuss.