Hi everyone!
I recently read We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange thanks to my friend Lauren’s recommendation, and I loved it so much!
Twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital battered after a drunk driving accident. She swallows her pride and decides to go back home to New York with her brother, but it’s not easy – she left them all, plus her then-fiancé, without an explanation five years ago.
Sunday is ready to rebuild her life back in her hometown, even though that entails dealing with her resentful brothers and ex-fiancé. The longer she stays, the more she realized they all need each other much more than they ever realized.
When a dangerous man, and well-kept secret from Sunday’s past, threatens financial ruin to the family’s pub business, it’s time for Sunday to reveal what happened all those years ago. The secrets that come out have damaged the family for years and will jeopardize everything they have known. The Brennan family will need to confront the mistakes they have made and find a path forward, together.
I absolutely LOVED this novel!! I could not put this down at all – I read this in one day, which is saying something because lately, I have not been able to get into reading. It was that good!
The plot was so interesting. It hooked me right from the beginning and I could not get enough. It was a perfect mix of great characters, an interesting storyline, and superb writing. I would love to read more from Tracey Lange!
I loved the Brennan family. Even though they have their problems, they are very tight-knit and close, and I really liked that aspect. They had each other’s backs no matter what, even Sunday who was away for a while. They had a great dynamic, and as the story progresses, you truly see how much they are willing to go to bat for each other, even if they can be a bit dysfunctional.
The writing was spectacular, especially considering this is Tracey Lange’s debut novel. I was shocked when I found that out, because this novel was fantastic. Her writing style alone enthralled me and I really enjoyed it. Everything flowed well and I feel like the pacing of the novel was great – nothing felt like it happened too slow or too fast, it was just right.
The characterization was done well, too. They felt like their own people within the story – it was like they were real and could exist in our world. I particularly enjoyed Sunday’s chapters the most, but I thought each character had a distinct voice and interesting plotlines. They all had their own things going on that were both separate and intertwined with each other.
The only thing I didn’t like was how it ended. It was an okay ending and I can understand and appreciate why the author chose to finish it this way, but it felt very open-ended and I wish it was more definitive. I would have rather known for sure what had happened to some of the things that occurred in the novel as they were left up in the air, specifically Kale’s and Sunday’s lives. But like I said, I can definitely understand why the author chose this ending. It kind of felt appropriate given the tone of the novel.
I absolutely loved this book and honestly, I am still thinking about it days later. I want to know what the Brennans are doing now, after the ending of the book, haha.
I highly recommend this novel!
I gave this 5 stars.
readbycourt 