I received a free copy of, Greenwich, by Kate Broad, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Rachel Flaske goes to spend the summer with her injured aunt in Greenwich, Connecticut. I could not get into this book at all. I did not care for any of the characters at all, especially Rachel.

Greenwich by Kate Broad is an impressive debut novel. This book took me on quite the journey. For the first 30%, I wasn’t optimistic—I was honestly bored. But my patience paid off. By the time I finished, this book had rightfully earned its 4-star rating. It’s complex and nuanced in its exploration of race, class, regret, grief, and the human experience. Broad’s talent is undeniable, and I’m so glad I stuck with it, even when I didn’t agree with the characters’ choices.

I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a fast, fun read. The story moves backward as you watch all the pieces fall into place and learn more about the rich family’s secrets.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Greenwich, by Kate Broad, from St. Martin’s Press/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Gonna be mighty interesting to see how this book hits given today’s political climate….it reeks of the sort of thing that the publishing-industrial complex will get behind and push….

That said, my Book Report is not about the politics of this book. Nope, it’s about how foreshadowing as a literary technique is something best used sparingly. Kate Broad, however, didn’t ever seem to have been on the receiving end of that particular message. Doom, doom, DOOM! DOOM IS COMING! DOOM IS COMING!

OK, yeah, got that picture early on. (FTR, the “tragedy” is what I thought it was going to be, but did not happen the way I feel like we as readers were set up to believe it would. I dunno, having typed that just now maybe it’s a 50-50 sort of thing about the how?)

Let’s see, what else. Umm, hell hath no fury like a lover scorned? Yeah, that’s critical.

Also, it is my opinion that most people are thoroughly clueless in ways that they can’t even begin to understand when they are 17 (yours most truly included). The main character in this book was some sort of weird combination of that sort of clueless and politically savvy beyond her years. Not to mention just a really unlikeable person. As was pretty much everyone else.

Once again I find myself thinking that I have aged out of certain types of books, not the least of which is the coming of age genre. Am sure plenty of people love/will love this book, and good for them! Isn’t that part of what makes living in the United States of America great? You can choose your books, none are banned!

Oh, wait….

DESCRIPTION
"A stunning debut...Fast-paced, beautifully written, vividly peopled, Greenwich is impossible to put down.” — Adrienne Brodeur, bestselling author of Little Monsters

Summer, 1999. Rachel Fiske is almost eighteen when she arrives at her aunt and uncle’s mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. Her glamorous aunt is struggling to heal from an injury, and Rachel wants to help—and escape her own troubles back home. But her aunt is oddly spacey and her uncle is consumed with business, and Rachel feels lonely and adrift, excluded from the world of adults and their secrets. The only bright spot is Claudia, a recent college graduate, aspiring artist, and the live-in babysitter for Rachel’s cousin. As summer deepens, Rachel eagerly hopes their friendship might grow into more.

But when a tragic accident occurs, Rachel must make a pivotal choice. Caught between her desire to do the right thing and to protect her future, she’s the only one who knows what really happened—and her decision has consequences far beyond what she could have predicted.

A riveting debut novel for readers of Celeste Ng and Liane Moriarty, Greenwich explores the nature of desire and complicity against the backdrop of immense wealth and privilege, the ways that whiteness and power protect their own, and the uneasy moral ambiguity of redemption.

Mindfully balancing so many aspects of privilege and wealth, the reader is pulled into the web of how all of it interconnects and gets tangled.

Greenwich is a compelling coming-of-age story with a sharp look at privilege, power, and the weight of secrets. Rachel is a fascinating narrator, caught in a web of desire, loneliness, and moral dilemmas. The setting is lush, the tension builds beautifully, and the story leaves plenty to unpack. A perfect pick for book clubs—there’s so much to discuss about privilege, complicity, and the choices that define us.

DNF @ 32%

I agree with the reviews saying this feels like a beach read. To me, it’s a book I might’ve been able to get through, and even enjoyed, if I was reading it during a lazy day with nothing else to read.

I usually really like LitFic with insufferable main characters but I think where this fell flat for me was that I found the main character’s life boring. I know that LitFic is usually driven by characters rather than plot but I still usually find their lives interesting or, at least, their internal commentary on their experiences interesting. Unfortunately, I did not find that here.

I really do think this book has a really interesting idea but it just fell flat in execution for me.

The first 60% of this book is extremely slow, and nothing really happens, then you understand what is going on afterwards. I really liked the tail end of this book. I am glad I powered through. I feel like the initial writing was a bit dull, and there could have been way more lead up to the ending. Giving this a 3.5 out of 5.

Thanks NetGalley for an arc. So I went into reading this with no expectations. While Rachel is somewhat unlikeable, th extort was captivating and had me breezing through it quickly. While some parts dragged on, the disparity of the criminal justice system is something that is evident daily. Claudia, while not necessarily innocent was made the scapegoat. Without giving away spoilers I was disappointed in the ending.

I kept going back and forth with this. I liked the second half a lot more than the first, but overall this was solid.

Greenwich was a different genre than I usually read, but I liked it. I was expecting more of that CT vibe drama, but I am not sure if that was just my own imagination thinking it would be in this book prior to reading. There wasn’t much character development in the main Rachel. Overall a good read, might be good for warmer weather this summer.

Genre: Coming of Age
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub. Date: July 22, 2025

In the summer of 1999, we meet 17-year-old Rachel, about to graduate in her senior year of high school. We learn that she has lost all her friends due to typical teenage drama, and her parents are confused about why she will not be attending graduation parties. At the story’s beginning, Rachel has the reader’s sympathy, but not so much at the end. Kate Broad does a good job of showing us teenage naivety vs. teenage selfishness. Rachel is glad to be leaving town to help her aunt recover from an accident. Her aunt and uncle’s lavish estate exposes her to a world of privilege and the abuse of power that can come with extreme wealth. She connects with her aunt’s Afro-American nanny, Claudia, who watches over her two-year-old cousin. Claudia is only a few years older than Rachel is. They develop a friendship and more. A tragic accident forces Rachel to make a tough decision about her loyalty between Claudia and her aunt. The author explores the inequality of race, class, privilege, and sexuality. I enjoyed this novel but was disappointed that Claudia did not receive as much detail as Rachel. In addition, the end part of the book dragged a bit. However, it is fair to say that none of the characters were innocent about the tragedy, which makes this an interesting and complex read.

read if you like:
💰 wealth and privilege
📍 Greenwich, CT
🤷🏻‍♀️ have and have nots

summary:
This book was really hard for me to get into. It follows Rachel Fiske in the summer of 1999, who heads to her aunt and uncles house in Greenwich, CT to help out her aunt after an injury. While there, she meets Claudia, an aspiring artist and nanny for Rachel’s cousin, Sabine. As their relationship intensifies, a tragic accident occurs, and suddenly all eyes are on Claudia to blame. Rachel is stuck in the middle, and has to decide — which side will she take, and why?

The first half of the book sets the scene for the second, and I’ll be honest, it goes on for a little too long. The author does a great job of building the landscape, describing the characters and giving us a general sense of the dynamics between them, but it drags on much longer than it needs to. Part 2, which happens post-accident, almost feels like a completely different story. It becomes more of a detective procedural and follows through the court case foreshadowed in the first part. This part is much more straightforward with a clear outcome, but it feels a little out of place juxtaposed against the first half. It then returns to Rachel in college, before wrapping up with a Part 3 sixteen years later.

I found Rachel pretty unlikeable, given her decisions, her shallowness and her lack of ownership of her decisions. Her extended family was cold and hard to get attached to, which made it hard to get into the book. This all being said — after the first part, it was a quick read, and while predictable, was an interesting expose on wealth and privilege.

Thanks to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy. This book will release on July 22.

This wasn't a book I enjoyed. It was about rich people and what they get away with and it just bothered me until the very end. I found myself angry during most of this read and it just wasn't something I wanted to finish, but did. The story line was interesting and well written.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this ARC.

While the story line, in my opinion, dragged on to the climax of the story, I would be lying if I said it didn’t hook me. It took about 1/4 of the book to get me but once the characters were outlined I was intrigued. Once the pivotal point of the story occurred, the narrator/ main character took a turn for the worse. I can appreciate the storyline of where priviledge and money overrule the justice system. It was infuriating to read how the story turned and yet it is something faced in America everyday. It was an important message to illustrate. I enjoyed the story however, was hoping for more of murder mystery.

3.5

a fast, pulpy beach read. It’s the type of story where you can already see ahead of time the broad strokes of the plot but it’s entertaining to the point where it doesn’t matter that you know where things are going. I love these types of stories where you're kind of moving backward in knowing the ending but getting to watch how everything falls in line, and mix in a rich family with secrets… very up my alley lol.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style, sometimes it veered into the territory of young adult (no shade, there’s just an ism a lot of those books have that flashed through the writing every so often here). And I think the themes of race and class were honestly quite hamfisted so I wouldn’t go into this expecting any grappling with those topics further than what you’d see in like.. an infographic off instagram. There was one scene specifically in this book that in hindsight after finishing was so… random to throw in there? I have more thoughts on this but I think it would veer into spoiler territory so I’ll hold off lol.

Despite that it was still compulsively readable, I found myself annihilating the first half of this book in one night. Fair warning though I can see people finding the perspective you have to read from very grating. It’s reminiscent of Yellowface and despite both of those books intentionally writing their mcs that way I know some people don’t jive with it so I’d keep that in mind. Good book to get you out of a reading slump though. Thanks NetGalley for the arc!

I picked this up thinking it would be just another popcorn mystery-thriller, and BOY was I wrong. This gave off White Lotus, Big Little Lies, and Little Fires Everywhere vibes and I enjoyed it so much. It was a little slow in the beginning, but I was fully hooked by the halfway mark. I was so surprised that this was a debut novel because the writing was so strong and the characters so deeply unlikeable in the best way!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me this book!

Unfortunately I could not get myself to finish this book. The cadence in the prose was off, I was confused about who was talking and what we as the reader were supposed to understand. The premise was enticing but it just didn’t pull me in or make any sense to me. I made it about 40 pages in and still wasn’t sure, so I decided to stop.

Thank you to @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is Kate Broad’s debut novel about Rachel a 17yr old who goes to stay with her aunt for the summer. In the fall Rachel has plans to go to college and then medical school. In the meantime, she is surprised about just how rich her aunt is and what it affords her. Such as the pain meds she is never questioned about, or that her husband seems to only live for work, the nanny who is more involved with cousin than either parent.
Rachel is also lonely and curious and that has her making one bad decision after another. She has a lot of firsts, and at first is seems small and painless until a tragedy occurs that will change her forever.
If you enjoy family drama with coming of age this is a good one.

Not a favorite of mine. I found the book to drag along, and had considered not finishing, but something kept pulling be back. I gave this 3 stars, because it did get a little better as the book went on, but not something I would read again