WE ARE THE BRENNANS by Tracey Lange - Review & Giveaway

Tracey Lange's debut novel, WE ARE THE BRENNANS (Celedon) features the fallout from an American Irish Catholic family hiding shameful secrets from those who matter most. Five years ago, twenty-nine year old, Sunday Brennan abruptly left her family in upstate New York for Los Angeles. Since then she's been struggling, but making her family think all is well on the coast. One night she gets drunk, totals her car and ends up in Cedars Sinai Hospital. The police officer finds a card in her wallet showing her brother Denny is her emergency contact. 

When Denny gets the call, he's thrown for a loop. He hasn't been in touch with Sunday for five years and now the police officer is telling him she needs help and is seriously suggesting he hop on a flight and meet her in the hospital. When Denny arrives, Sunday has a broken arm and her face is a mess. It's going to take some time for her to get well. Denny takes Sunday's keys to her apartment to freshen up and realizes that Sunday lives in a tiny one room in a sketchy neighborhood, and her life is far from going well. He talks her into returning with him to New York.

Her brothers Jackie and Shane and her father welcome her with open arms. She also meets up with old boyfriend of eight years, Kale. When she left New York, she never explained why she was leaving and why they were over. There's still a strong connection between them that they can't ignore. But he's now in an unhappy marriage with a son, Luke.

Shame and guilt have been festering in the Brennan family and comes to head. They've all screwed up, made mistakes and hurt one another. But in the end, after a lot of discussions and digging up the truth, they come together, no longer hiding the hard stuff from each other, but facing it together and forgiving one another.

WE ARE THE BRENNANS is like watching and listening in on a family meeting at their kitchen table from just outside the window. In many ways, the Brennans are your typical Irish Catholic family with all its pluses and flaws.

It's interesting to note that the ending was left open for a sequel. I wonder if  Lange plans on visiting the Brennans again.

Born in the Bronx and raised in Manhattan, Tracey Lange comes from a large Irish family with a few secrets of its own. She headed west and graduated from the University of New Mexico before owning and operating a behavioral healthcare company with her husband for fifteen years. While writing her debut novel, We Are the Brennans, she completed the Stanford University online novel writing program. Tracey currently lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, two sons and their German Shepherd.

www.traceylange.com

We have one copy to giveaway. Just tell us if you've ever discovered a secret in your family? We'll announce a winner soon. Good luck.

GIVEAWAY: USA only please

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