This was a great novel with interesting, flawed characters. The storylines felt compelling and I liked how they intertwined without feeling forced. Even the secondary characters felt fully fleshed out and like they had lives continuing on when they weren't on the page.

You Only Call When You're in Trouble is a breezy look at society and the intertwining lives of a brother and sister who are each floundering in their own ways. The sister, normally the free spirit and dependent one, is enmeshed in a scandal from a student who wanted to be too familiar; while the brother, normally the rock, has some troubles with investors on a house remodel. It's a peek behind the society curtain, with colorful characters playing each other until it all somehow comes together.
It's a fun beach-type read.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of You Only Call When You're in Trouble by Stephen McCauley.

When Cecily receives an odd phone call from her semi-estranged mother, she calls the first person she things of, her uncle, or her mother's brother. Stephen, being attached to his niece, does everything he can to bridge the gap between mother and daughter, while sorting out his own crisis.

I really wanted to like this book. It has dysfunctional family, it has old gay men, it has a redemptive arc, but I just couldn't get into it. It all felt a bit too messy, and I found myself floating in and out of it, without ever really able to sink my teeth into it. I don't want to discourage readers from trying it though, it's very likely that this book just didn't hit at the right time for me.

A great contemporary read about family drama and the ties that bind, full of comedy and heart. It is entertaining and intriguing to read how Tom, his sister .Dorothy, and his niece Cecily navigate the struggles of their lives. This book provoked a lot of emotions reading it and the author did a super job developing each of the characters.

A book full of drama, twists and turns and interesting plots on how all the characters are connected through life. This mainly focuses on Tom, his relationship with his niece, Cecily and his sister, Dorothy.
Dorothy has her own issues especially health issues which she keeps ignoring.
Cecily is in the middle of a Title IX case after a student of hers kissed her.
Tom is on the brink of losing his career.

All of them have messy lives and secrets that they’ve kept to themselves and they finally come to the surface. This focuses on how they all deal with the secrets and the fall out.

I appreciate NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the chance to listen to this before it’s release date. Was a messy family story that somehow messily tied the loose ends up.

I often find contemporary novels about family life to be kind of depressing. and this is no exception. There are three main characters: a flighty woman who raises a child, telling her that she doesn't know who her father is when she does know; the child, who is a grown woman experiencing her own problems and insecurities; and the brother/uncle who has provided the biggest sense of security to the family.
I did really enjoy the people, though, especially the uncle and the daughter/niece. It was so realistic how they were afraid to say what they were really feeling and meet conflict head-on, leading to hurt feelings and the potential loss of important relationships.
The ending was bittersweet, but realistic. These are people who are going to keep being themselves, and some of them have learned something along the way. I felt optimistic at the end, though.
The narrator did a great job. It was one male voice, but the amount of emotion was just right.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I am really thankful to Macmillan Audio, Netgalley, and Stephen McCauley for granting me advanced audio access to this one, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I'm still very thankful for the opportunity before this one hits shelves on January 9, 2024.

A heartfelt family drama with realistic, flawed, lovable characters it’s easy to feel for. The book touches on the complexities of parenthood and alloparents, the politics of academia, the dangers of obedience (and disobedience), and more.

It’s definitely a character driven story and I didn’t find the plot overly compelling, but it was exactly what these characters needed to explore themselves. That said, know you’re in for a slower moving, introspective story when you pick this up.

Fans of thoughtful family dramas and realistic characters with rich inner worlds will enjoy this!

Thanks, NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful novel about family and choices we make.

Following three people, Cecily, her mother Dorothy and Dorothy’s brother Tom, we get this truly tenderly woven story that I absolutely fell in love with.

Tom, an architect fearing his best days are behind him, is dealing with the emotional aftermath of his boyfriend moving out. His younger sister Dorothy is an eccentric woman who has never been shy about that attribute. One thing the two share is the unwavering love of Dorothy’s daughter Cecily, a strong and always independent woman.

Cecily is struggling though. Dealing with the stark and brutal notion that her teaching career could be over due to a mismanaged inappropriate student teacher relationship, she calls her uncle for help. She wants to visit him, put some distance between her and the investigation, and the possible strain it could put on her relationship with a boyfriend she loves dearly.

While the two of them join Dorothy for another in the long line of her extravagant projects, Dorothy hints at finally telling Cecily about who her father is… creating a great upheaval in their incredibly loving, albeit dysfunctional family.

The bonds they all share was something I could really relate to. They love each other fiercely, through good and bad. This was a touching, funny and poignant novel, taking a really good look at the paths we take and how those paths affect us and those around us. This was such a wonderful story and I loved it!