In the vein of Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes and Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest, Tracey Lange’s We Are the Brennans explores the staying power of shame―and the redemptive power of love―in an Irish Catholic family torn apart by secrets.” Sunday deeply loves her large family and yet she abruptly left them five years ago. Under the guise of a fictitious job offer in L.A., she also left her fiancé in the middle of finalizing their upcoming wedding plans. As a debut novel, I thought this one was outstanding. Like I mentioned earlier, I won't easily forget the Brennans just like I won't forget the Pines. Highly recommend this debut family saga. I listened to most of it as an audiobook and although there is only one narrator for multiple points of view (kind of a refreshing change from the large cast audiobooks as of late) she does a fantastic job conveying each of the many characters and I never felt lost.

Twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan awakes in an L.A. hospital, covered in bruises from a drunk driving accident, to see her brother Jake beside her bed. With a broken spirit and emotional wounds invisible to the naked eye, she agrees to return to her family in New York City to begin healing. Lange skilfully contrasts the solace of family ties with the paralyzing burden of carrying secrets for too long. Her flawed but big-hearted Brennans will sneak under your skin Although, when I finally found out why Sunday left everyone behind, I thought it was an overreaction to the event that precipitated it, I was rooting for the family to pull together and save the Pub! I love a complicated family story and the more melodramatic the better. It's an emotional journey for this Irish Catholic family and once their secrets begin to spill, they just keep coming!

A very accomplished debut and sublime storytelling. It oozes tension, but has so much warmth and tenderness too. I loved meeting this dysfunctional family. In the vein of Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yesand Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's The Nest,Tracey Lange’s We Are the Brennansexplores the staying power of shame―and the redemptive power of love―in an Irish Catholic family torn apart by secrets. In the vein of Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest, We Are the Brennans explores the redemptive power of love in an Irish Catholic family torn apart by secrets Sunday Brennan is 29 and wakes up in an LA hospital following a drunk driving accident she caused. Fortunately no one else was hurt. Her oldest brother Denny is there and encourages her to return home to New York — It’s been 5 years since she abruptly left her family and her ex-fiancé, with little explanation. Denny tells her they could use her help with things at home, where they own a bar and are about to launch a second location. She reluctantly agrees, as her life in LA is fine, but nothing extraordinary. The novel blended moments of every day life in the family, with life-changing arrests, accidents, and affairs.

oldest son, (who usually could do no wrong), was Sunday’s protector. At times, he could be quite controlling, yet there was no denying that everyone seemed to rely on him. Presently, Denny was in a Financial jam.

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Mr. Brennan, your sister was in a car accident tonight. Looks like she’s gonna be okay, but she’s on her way to Cedars-Sinai.” was the youngest brother. He has always been the family barometer…..kind, helpful, wanted to please, and very lovable. He had learning developmental challenges and was intellectually slower than normal. Who was he trying to kid, he was going to LA. He would get out there, make sure she was okay, maybe learn a little about her life. He was curious, particularly after this call. Perhaps things hadn’t worked out for her quite as well as he’d assumed. Or maybe it was just too much partying. Either way, it seemed Sunday had received some of that comeuppance their mother used to warn them about.

For a debut novel, this was pretty decent. The writing was good, as was characterization - for the most part. There were so many colourful characters springing at you from every corner of the Brennan mansion. There was also your typical Irish bar... (hmm, I worried at one point, were we in for all the usual Irish Family Saga tropes? Not quite, but close...)

When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it’s not easy. She deserted them all—and her high school sweetheart—five years before with little explanation, and they’ve got questions. The plot, although intriguing, pushed a few of my limits. I had a hard time suspending my disbelief regarding the reasons that Sunday left for Los Angeles, especially in this day and age.

In the vein of Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes and Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's The Nest, Tracey Lange’s We Are the Brennans explores the staying power of shame―and the redemptive power of love―in an Irish Catholic family torn apart by secrets. When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk-driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it’s not easy. She deserted them all – and her high school sweetheart – five years before, with little explanation, and they’ve got questions. I thought it was odd that the author gave the eldest brother, Denny, the task of predicting Sunday and Kale's eventual fate - he had gotten his family into such dire financial straits with his poor judgment and had alienated his own loving wife. I never could understand why he never confided in anyone - that was a stretch as well. Told from multiple perspectives, each chapter flowed seamlessly into the next. I never had any issues figuring out who was narrating at that moment. I liked the ending, it was a good one .The book just needed to be sizzled up, not in a porn way but in a emotional grab your readers wayFrom Tracey Lange, the New York Times bestselling author of We Are the Brennans, comes The Connellys of County Down: a story about fierce family loyalty, good intentions gone awry, and the consequences of improbable love. Auntie Angie, Auntie Clare, Cousin Grail, Paul the bartender, Billy Wash > son of Frank and Lynn Wash (a local nearby family), Sharon Martin, (town gossip), Michael Eaton (a lawyer)…… It's the story of a big Irish family of which Sunday is the only girl. Their mother passed away just a couple of years previously, and five years before, Sunday moved away from all of them in New York to head to LA. She left behind a confused boyfriend, Kale, and a fairly dysfunctional, yet close-knit family. Fast forward five years and Sunday is in the hospital after a drunk driving accident, the police call her brother Denny who is listed as her next of kin. She comes home with him to heal and has to deal with the aftermath of what she left behind and finally needs to give an explanation for what happened. Reading this novel I can tell that the author, coming from a large Irish family herself, knows the ins and outs of family dynamics. This was a very enjoyable read that touched upon the complexities of family life, including secrets, trust, love, discovering that even your parents are not perfect, while still holding on to the strong family bonds formed as they were growing up.