This was an emotional, funny, creative, and deeply caring story. I felt that it was a bit long but I loved it anyway.
Many thanks to Signet and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Note: clearing old books from before 2019

Did not have time to read this book - still on my TBR. Thank you for the opportunity and my apologies for not getting to it.

I loved the premise of this book. It was very heart-warming and a beautiful story of family and what they do to rally around one another. Very easy to read!

Magical and poignant, a story well worth reading and rereading. I decided to go through my version again, since my original feedback didn't go through, and instead of just perusing the book to refresh my mind, I found myself dragged right back into the thick of it.

This book started off well, but less than halfway through it, I found myself bored and not really caring how it would go on or end. I think part of it was that it was just too long.

Ah, yes the annual Christmas letter that we have all sent and/or received. Filled with news of how lovely our year has been, focusing and, often, exaggerating on the positive bits. For the past thirty-three years, Angela Gillespie has done just that. Until this year, after a conversation with her best friend, Joan, Angela unloads her thoughts and feelings about her family, marriage, life, everything into this letter. The good, the bad, and the ugly all go in, like an episode of Jerry Springer. Angela has no intention of sending it, but it feels so good to get it off her chest. In a way, it’s therapeutic. Without judgment, Angela can vent her fears and frustrations. Angela doesn’t count on her son having an accident and rushing him to the hospital, where she forgets about the letter sitting on her computer. Her husband, trying to be helpful and thinking he is doing a good thing, clicks send for her and Angela’s moment of truth goes out to over 150 recipients.

What ensues is a story of a family trying to come to terms with what has been revealed about them and the fallout they fear will happen as a result. It’s also a story about forgiveness and healing, making mistakes and being human and living life the best way we can with what we know and how we feel.

I really enjoyed this story. Ms. McInerney writes a story that flows smoothly with characters that are vibrant in their different personalities and lives. I was very curious for what would happen next and hoping for a happily ever after for all of them. Every single member of this family experiences a loss and I enjoyed how they each overcome it and grow from it.

My Final Verdict: I highly recommend this book to readers who like stories of imperfect people living their best lives, the best they can, holding on to love and hope.

Have you ever written an email expressing your true feelings, knowing it won't ever be sent. And then it is sent? Annie didn't mean for that to happen, but it did and it is sent to all her contacts - even close family members. When individual family members read what she wishes they would do or what she thinks of them, they bgin to change, but where is Annie?. After a serious car accident she has no idea who they are when they visit her in the hospital When she finally comes home, she is more or less considered and treated as an honored guest. Eventually Annie remembers and all is forgiven, forgotten and healed. A really good book.

A pleasant read with well developed characters, a good story & enough twists & turns to keep you going. A believable look at life in the outback & it's affect on people, both good & bad. Not super special, but a worthwhile & enjoyable read regardless.

There’s a well-known piece of advice about how to handle anger or other negative emotions: Write a letter to the person you’re in conflict with, pouring out everything you’re feeling and holding nothing back. And then rip up the letter. This advice assumes that there’s no way you or someone else could accidentally hit the “send” button rather than the delete key. What a disaster if that were to happen!

This book was such a fun read. Definitely what I would call a beach read, because there wasn't a ton of substance and the writing wasn't terribly impressive, but it was FUN - much like the experience of watching a blockbuster movie. The characters really distinguished themselves; I still recall most of them, even having read the book months ago. The Gillespie family had such personality, especially the matriarch! They were often at odds, but clearly loved the heck out of each other at the same time. It was so interesting to watch Angela's gradual recovery from memory loss (that spider would have done me in, too! yuck!), and how her family rallied around her during this time, learning about themselves and their own strengths in the process.

What made me pick the book up was how much I despise those "look! our family is perfect in every way" newsletters that arrive around the holidays, and I looked forward to the schadenfreude that this book would offer. It did not disappoint.

A fun twist on the usual Christmas letter - Angela Gillespie is known for her cheery Christmas epistles, but one year she cannot help herself and tells it like it really is... much to everyone's delight but her family. This is a neat twist on the usual family in crisis novel, and a solid read, even if it did drag a bit at the end. Angela is a great protagonist, and it was reassuring to see her children actually step up in the end.

I loved this book. A sprawling epic of life in the Australian Outback. Not my usual read, but it made me a believer!

I enjoyed parts of this story and struggled through other parts. It is fairly well written but some parts felt too drawn out to hold my interest

I was enjoying this book so much for the first half, not wanting to put it down - and then bam! Soap opera intrusion. The events the author chose to fix the problems that began with the first chapter are straight out of a soap opera and just tired. I was so disappointed and had a difficult time finishing it. What could have - and should have - been a 4.5 or even 5 star book quickly became average. That's really a shame because it was so much fun at first.