October BFBC Pick . . .

🎃 October Book Pick 🎃

Your @bookfriendsbookclub hosts @mommaleighellensbooknook & @bigskybooks are so excited to announce our October Pick!  We both read this book early and fell in love with this emotional and gripping novel of three adult sisters struggling with their past, reuniting for a Thanksgiving weekend.  Family dramas are like cat-nip to me!

🥁 Drumroll . . .

THE IRISH GOODBYE BY HEATHER AIMEE O’NEILL

Heather is a debut author and @readwithjenna picked this one as well!

✨ Book Summary ✨

It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a fatal accident on their brother Topher’s boat. Now the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, eager to reconnect, but each carries a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush. Middle sister Alice has been thrown a curveball that threatens the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk of bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother.

When Cait invites a guest from their shared past to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive one another—and themselves.

⬇️ WHAT TO JOIN US!?  COMMENT BELOW TO BE ADDED TO OUR GROUPS FOR DISCORD + ZOOM. 

Title: The Irish Goodbye

Author: Heather Aimee O’Neill

Publisher: Henry Holt Books

Genre: Literary Fiction

{Thank you @henryholt + @macmillan.audio for the #gifted copies of the Irish Goodbye by debut author Heather Aimee O’Neil.  The audiobook is narrated by Kristen Sieh who brought to life these characters and a multi POV story so well!  This is a thought provoking and emotional read and I loved it on audio!}

@readwithjenna announced this one early as her October book pick and boy did she pick a winner!  Family dramas are like cat-nip to me and I really liked this story of three sisters who are back together again in their family home after avoiding it for many years.  The big question is immediately—why?  The way the author peels back the heartbreak this family has endured—little by little—through each character was brilliant.  It really shows how different people have a part, feelings, emotions, and processing of the same incidence.  It touches on grief, guilt, and immense feeling of hindsight and what you would have done differently.  Please, tread lightly as this does involve a family friend killed in a boating accident and a suicide. (Not spoiling…it’s in the synopsis.)

This one is full of secrets!  Each sibling has a secret!

—Cast of Characters—

▪️Cait - Oldest sibling who’s guilt has her in a chokehold for the role no one knows she played in the boating accident losing a family friend 

▪️Alice - Middle sibling who has secretly lost her job and is separated from her spouse.  She also invites a guest over from their past.

▪️Maggie - Youngest sibling who decided to for once take a risk in her life and brings her girlfriend home to her devout Catholic family

This is the perfect book club pick with so many things to discuss.  It takes place over Thanksgiving weekend, so perfect for fall!  

Can these sisters forgive themselves and one another!?  Find out this TUESDAY 9/30

For fans of J.Courtney Sullivan and Mary Beth Keane!