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confessions_of_a_bookaholic's review against another edition
5.0
Rachel Walsh knows all about rehab and recovery. Having been through the process herself in her twenties, she is now the head counseller at the very same facility that helped her. With life on track Rachel finally feels like things are coming together, but when her ex husband suddenly re-appears in Ireland old feelings and memories get stirred up. Is Rachel strong enough to stick to her recovery?
Marian Keyes definitely knows how to write a family drama, so I went in to this pretty confident that I was going to enjoy it, and I wasn't wrong. It was the perfect book to be reading whilst off work sick for a few days, like a warm comfy blanket and cup of tea.
It's a few years since I first read about Rachel and her struggles, so not all of the details were fresh in my mind. This book gives you enough of a back story that it refreshes your memory, but doesn't spend too long going over old ground. I think you'd be fine diving in without having read any of the previous Walsh family books if you wanted to, but they do add extra depth to the family and characters.
I was fascinated by this book. When we join Rachel at the start she seems so steady, with her life really going well. When Luke reappears it's obvious that it will have an impact, but I was on tenterhooks trying to figure out just how much or how badly it was going to affect her (and hoping against hope that she wasn't going to blow up her life!) You don't know until the very end of the book how things are going to work out, and honestly I was fully invested the whole way through, even when I didn't like the way events were turning.
There are some very sensitive topics broached over the course of this book, so I strongly suggest looking at trigger warnings before reading if there are things that you find difficult to read about. As is usually the case with Keyes, these topics were handled with care. I thought she did a fantastic job of helping to show the trauma and long lasting effects that some of these tragedies can have on people.
I loved this, and certainly won't be waiting so long to read the next installment of the Walsh family.
Trigger Warnings: Miscarriage, death of a child, addiction, alcoholism, drug abuse
Marian Keyes definitely knows how to write a family drama, so I went in to this pretty confident that I was going to enjoy it, and I wasn't wrong. It was the perfect book to be reading whilst off work sick for a few days, like a warm comfy blanket and cup of tea.
It's a few years since I first read about Rachel and her struggles, so not all of the details were fresh in my mind. This book gives you enough of a back story that it refreshes your memory, but doesn't spend too long going over old ground. I think you'd be fine diving in without having read any of the previous Walsh family books if you wanted to, but they do add extra depth to the family and characters.
I was fascinated by this book. When we join Rachel at the start she seems so steady, with her life really going well. When Luke reappears it's obvious that it will have an impact, but I was on tenterhooks trying to figure out just how much or how badly it was going to affect her (and hoping against hope that she wasn't going to blow up her life!) You don't know until the very end of the book how things are going to work out, and honestly I was fully invested the whole way through, even when I didn't like the way events were turning.
There are some very sensitive topics broached over the course of this book, so I strongly suggest looking at trigger warnings before reading if there are things that you find difficult to read about. As is usually the case with Keyes, these topics were handled with care. I thought she did a fantastic job of helping to show the trauma and long lasting effects that some of these tragedies can have on people.
I loved this, and certainly won't be waiting so long to read the next installment of the Walsh family.
Trigger Warnings: Miscarriage, death of a child, addiction, alcoholism, drug abuse
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Child death
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse
etty_m's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
zzaakkiiyyaa's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Addiction
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Miscarriage
joolio's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
hanrutous's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Eating disorder and Drug use
geminireader's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
So, I did pick up this book not realizing it was technically a sequel. However, I kinda enjoy having read it ‘backwards’ so now Rachel’s Holiday will seem like a backstory. But to this actual story — sheesh, Keyes does it again. I don’t think she’s ever written a subpar book in her life. Even though this book contained very dark and troubling themes, it still remained so fun and interesting to read. The mixture of depth was also being something I don’t have to power through.. truly incredible. As I say with every Keyes book: read it; you won’t regret it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, and Miscarriage
jeanettegtf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book felt disjointed and like it didn't quite come together. The tension felt like it came in strange places. It was a book that couldn't decide if it wanted to be a comedy, a romance, commentary on addiction and grief or a family drama. And this meant some of the characters felt like they lacked depth and it was difficult to understand their motivations.
As always with Marian Keyes, the vignettes and some of the scenes are absolutely brilliant and both poignant and hilarious. For me, the overall structure and lack of character depth left this as an average read for me.
As always with Marian Keyes, the vignettes and some of the scenes are absolutely brilliant and both poignant and hilarious. For me, the overall structure and lack of character depth left this as an average read for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Miscarriage, Addiction, Infertility, and Infidelity
jenny_readss's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pregnancy, Grief, and Addiction
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Car accident, and Cancer
newtonkatie's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, and Addiction
Minor: Infertility and Infidelity
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Thank you, Michael Joseph Penguin Publishing, for sending this book in exchange for an honest review.
We first met Rachel in the second book in this series which is called Rachel’s holiday, this is her journey with addiction when she was twenty-years old. Twenty-five years later, we are back with Rachel, she has love, her family, a great job at the place where she went for rehab, she even gardens. Her only bad habit is a fondness for expensive trainers. But with the sudden reappearance of Luke, the man she loved twenty-five years ago, her life wobbles. She’d thought she was settled and fixed forever. Does she about discover that no matter what age she is, everything can change? Is it time to think again, Rachel?
Before I fully get into this review, please make sure to check trigger warnings on this book due to the heavy context that is discussed and will be discussed within this review. I liked Rachel’s personal growth in the first book and how she seemed to get over the addiction. During this book, I loved her growth, and I liked seeing the reality of addiction. I liked how she went back to the Closters for work after that place helped her so much. I liked the storyline, the only thing that was a weakness is the love triangle. I just wanted Rachel and Crunchie to garden and buy all the shoes and enjoy herself. Instead the last part of the book was just Rachel deciding should she go back to safe with Quin or back to the thing of the past with Luke. I just think that both Luke and Quin were massive pain in the ass and I believe Rachel was better on her own.
I can’t wait to read the first book in the series as I skipped that one and read the second one first and I can’t wait to hear the adventures of the other Walsh siblings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Addiction, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Incest and Child abuse