A love story about siblings - but not in a weird way! This is not the first sibling drama I’ve read this year, but it is definitely the best. This author really nails the idea that nobody can ever truly know and understand your life experience the way your siblings do. Great characters, really great settings, and enough plot to keep things moving along. Be ready to laugh/cry a whole lot!

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC!

This is a well written and thought provoking family drama filled with love, hurt, tears, adventure and a number of secrets. I enjoyed the way the chapters swapped between the past and present, the past explaining so much of the present. The author takes you from of a tightknit family that has unraveled and knits it back together with understanding and forgiveness.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books for providing a digital review copy in exchange for my review.

Beautifully written family drama. I so enjoyed the dialogue, the descriptions and the sibling dynamic.The secrets weren’t too hard to decipher but it didn’t detract from how the weekend unfolded. Each sibling has their own demons and dysfunctions given to them from their childhood. When Jude the younger sister reaches out to her three siblings and suggests a weekend in North Dakota, they all agree. Even though they haven’t spoken in three years. Jude has secrets she needs to disclose and in a snowy cabin, the siblings reunion starts to unfold.
Definitely worth a read and I look forward to reading Jennifer Smith’s other novels.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

The perfect family drama — 4 estranged siblings (3 of whom are famous: an actress, soccer player, and novelist) meet for a weekend trip in North Dakota. With short flashbacks to their youth interspersed between the current-day chapters, we see how their past shaped their future and the secrets that they still hold close. While I predicted one of the secrets early on, that didn’t diminish the story for me at all. Each sibling is compulsively lovable, and it takes a special writer to make a North Dakota setting seem so wonderful. This is such an unsuspecting book and I feel fortunate to have read it early — I hope this takes the book world by storm next year!

I LOVED this book! I typically don’t love books with alternating timelines but the pacing of the story was perfect.

Family drama is one of my most favorite things to read about and this book really scratched that itch. Our four siblings were so captivating and I was absolutely hooked by them and their stories.

This is the story of 4 siblings who experienced a childhood of road trips, crossing states off of their list, and soaking up their bond once their mother left their day-to-day lives. The siblings have come back together in North Dakota after years of not being in contact. Each has had success in their own careers and families, and the time together appears to be the perfect time to share some secrets that haven't yet been shared.

Fun for the Whole Family is a story about four siblings who grew up in a not so stable home. Because of the oldest sister, they were nurtured and cared for. As adults they have all started separate lives and unfortunately something happens that caused an estrangement.
After years of minimal communication an unexpected summons to meet occurs from one sister. This sister, who is famous and successful, somehow manages to kick starts a family reunion. Once they are all together nothing goes as planned. A major family secret is revealed and the adult children are now dealing with another possible family crisis, just as they had begun to reconcile.
Coming from a large family myself, I was drawn to the story and it made me recall the very many wonderful childhood memories that I possess and it also made me grateful for all of my six siblings. This was a nostalgic and delightful story.

I was desperately needing a palate cleanser and thought this would be a light, fluffy feel good book but it was anything but.

Fun for the Whole Family is told through the perspectives of siblings: Jude, Gemma, Roddy and Connor as they reunite after not speaking for years. We get flash backs of their roadtrips throughout their childhood spliced between chapters.

I loved the road trip chapters as we got little glimpses into their lives with their wild artist mother. I loved Gemma and Jude but Roddy and Connor seemed like bland characters. I just ended up not feeling connected to the story half way through. And the ending was just upsetting to me. I enjoyed the writing though so I will be reading something else from Jennifer E. Smith.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Fun for the Whole Family was a book that really had me turning the pages getting attached to this family. There was so much in this story that had me rethinking about siblings and how they connect as they get older. Everything about the characters felt real. I want to share this book with everyone because I think we can all find parts of it that feel like we have all lived it. Family means everything and this family was written to put things out there and make the reader appreciate their siblings
Thank you NetGalley, Jennifer E. Smith and Random House Publishing Group for the copy of Fun for the Whole Family.
This is my personal review.

This book was the perfect blend of family saga and light-hearted coming of age, focusing on the four children of the Endicott family. Their unconventional childhood has forced them to grow up more or less on their own, forming close-knit bonds and their own family community.

The adult sibling dynamic was so interesting to witness, as each member followed their own disparate path and their close relationships began to dwindle. Deep themes are explored and emotions are uncovered in a vulnerable way. Jude unexpectedly calls them all together for a trip to North Dakota, for the purpose of revealing three secrets that has the potential to change everything.

The chapters that were named after states were a bit of a misnomer because they were typically very short and seldom had much to do about the state itself but rather what was going on in that particular family member's life at that time.

The writing in this book is far superior to her previous work, The Unsinkable Greta James, and I'm hoping her work continues on this positive trajectory.

Wow - this was one of the best family drama books I’ve read - and that’s saying a lot since it’s one of my favorite genres. I really enjoyed learning the layers of each character, and the author really cleverly wove in their storylines. This was much more of a page-turner than I imagined - and that ending - WOW! 5 stars!

Fun For the Whole Family was fun and easy and yet heavy and emotional at the same time. I tore through this story and love that it was written from multiple perspectives and that it bounced around chronologically.

This was my first book about siblings and their relationships. The author does a fantastic job with giving them real life characteristics. I felt like I knew of them.

The absent mother Frankie was a sort of back story I would have liked to read more how she came to a decision to be less involved with her family and leave. The father I don’t remember being a part of the story but the four siblings were so well written that this was their story.

Oldest Gemma ,who is flying to North Dakota at the request of her younger sister, Jude . The twins, Jude and Roddy, are the two who are famous celebrities in acting and sports, and the best selling author, Connor, who has written a story how the grew up and which was one the Endicotts wanted written.

Jude had lived with a lie for years and this is a chance to reunite the family after three years and all meet in North Dakota for a vacation and to catch up on the current and confess things from the past.

Heartwarming and bittersweet. 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed reading what it must be like to have siblings. The closeness shows in the story that even with separation they are still close and forever connected
Thank you for the arc.

I really enjoyed the multiple POVs in this story. I read this so fast, unable to put it down. My only criticism is the title - I am not sure why it's "Fun for the Whole Family'

A story of four siblings whose mother leaves them when they are young, only returning once a year to take them on vacations to different states until something happens to separate everyone. Told in the present from all four siblings' perspectives as they try to reunite as a family and flipping to various points in the past, offering insights into childhood issues and what really happened with their mom. This was good, kind of a melancholy book overall though. The blurb says it's "joy-filled," which I disagree with. 3 stars.

I enjoyed this book and think a wide variety of people would enjoy it. This book has a little bit of everything. I always enjoy stories that involve complicated family dynamics, and this was no different. The book was so immersive that it made me want to read Conners book. I instantly became invested in "The Extraordinary Endicotts".

“Fun For the Whole Family,” by Jennifer E. Smith, is a book about four siblings over the years. The siblings had a absent mother, except when she took them on road trips over each summer. Their father worked a lot - leaving the raising of the kids mainly to the eldest child. This book explores the complicated relationship between siblings, but also threw in grief, guilt, parenting, and love. As odd as this sounds, I’m not a fan of the title of this book - it doesn’t quite fit the book - at least for me. I felt sympathy for the eldest daughter - she was a mini-adult, which probably wasn’t easy. I cannot say that I’ll remember this book - some of it was predictable, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the ride and watching the puzzle pieces slide into place along the way. I think many people will enjoy this book - especially for book club discussions.

Four siblings with a dysfunctional upbringing. Their mom wanted to be an actress and left ... except to show up once a year to take the children on a road trip.

Read this book if you like to read about family dynamics; don't read the book because you like road trips. (Although every state is mentioned, Vermont, for example, is mentioned twice ... once because a sibling couldn't remember if the milkshake was in New Hampshire or Vermont and another as the location of a B&B. I love road trips and notice how much each state has its own personality and beauty; I didn't feel that come across well in the book.)

That said ... I did really enjoy the family dynamics. Gemma stepped up to be the "mom" and is now contemplating motherhood. Jude is a huge movie star with some secrets, Roddy is a soccer star with an opportunity to play again if he moves to Florida (although it is causing ruffled feathers with his partner), and Connor (with two great kids) is an author who wrote a book ("fictionally" based on said family dynamics).

Between 4 and 5 stars. 5 stars for the family dynamics, 4 stars for the states.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for approving my request to read the advance read copy of Fun for the Whole Family in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is April 15, 2025. Approx 368 pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for the ARC of Fun for the Whole Family!

This book ended up being so good! There was a chunk in the beginning that seemed to take forever to get through, but I flew through the second half. As a ND native, I felt I could totally picture the exact scenes Smith was writing, which was so fun! And by the end I was even shedding some tears.

Sibling drama, messy relationships, finding joy within yourself, this book had it all! I’d add this to your TBR!