Most of us feel that we have ‘grown up’ with Marian Keyes. We’ve been with her since the 1990’s, and she’s never let us down, writing with heart, humour and compassion about heavy subjects such as addiction, abandonment, domestic abuse and bereavement, but always with such a light hand that her books have been dismissed as ‘chick-lit’ by some lazy reviewers; Marian’s legion of fans have always known that they are no such thing - she writes about serious life changing matters like she is our best friend bravely trying to make a joke out of her own personal tragedy.

Ms Keyes’s last two books have brought her into the bloom of middle-age – her heroines are reaching their glorious sexual prime, they have complicated partners and quirky grown-up children; it is a rich vein of life for her to mine.

‘The Break’ concerns itself with classic mid-life crisis. Amy’s husband, the hitherto lovable Hugh, decides that he needs to go and 'find himself' in the flesh-pots of South East Asia and that he will be spending the next six months living as a single man. We are naturally outraged for lovely Amy and hate Hugh for the selfish way he is treating her, but as Ms Keyes skilfully leads us into the narrative by way of gentle flashbacks we find out that Hugh is not the only one in the marriage who is going through an identity crisis, and perhaps he is not the only one to ‘blame’ for the unseen cracks in their relationship.

Ms Keyes originally planned this book for her most popular characters, the Walsh family, who have appeared in her best loved books including Watermelon, Rachel’s Holiday and Angels. From what she has said in her online vlogs, I don’t think she felt she could inflict such an emotional trauma on the Walshes and so instead she has invented Amy and her extended family. They are all a delight and I would love to meet them again, especially her feisty daughter, Neeve, and her brilliant mother, Caroline, who would make an excellent double-act with Mammy Walsh, should they by chance meet up at some point at a church social or whatever.

An excellent read from an author at the peak of her powers.

A Marian Keyes book is the written equivalent of a big hug, or a lovely afternoon chatting with your dearest friend. There's just something about her style of writing that draws you in and cocoons you from the outside world. For a couple of days I was part of Amy's family and an honorary member of her circle of friends and I now that I have finished the book I feel a little bereft.

The book itself is laugh out loud funny in parts (Neeve's vlogging with her Granny) as well as an astute and wonderful reflection of the times we live in (particularly for women over 40 re-entering the dating world). However, it also has a rather melancholy thread running through it; as the blurb says
"Because falling in love is easy. The hard part - the painful, joyous, maddening, beautiful part - is staying in love"
Marian Keyes expertly identifies how difficult this can be focussing on money worries, middle age, teenage children, ex-partners, aging parents, busy jobs and the temptations of the grass being greener on the other side.

Thanks go to the publishers Penguin Uk for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Review will be posted to goodreads and amazon on the publication date

Just perfect Marian Keyes. Was sad when I was getting near the end. Hope there are more books to come with this family in.

Some real laughs and situations in life you can relate to.
Loved it.

As a huge fan of Marian Keyes novels, I feel incredibly lucky to have received an advance copy of her newest novel, 'The Break.' Our heroine, Amy is left devastated and incredibly confused when her beloved husband Hugh decides that he needs to take a break from their life and marriage for six months. Through flashbacks, we see that this isn´t the first time Amy has been left behind and we are able to witness the origins of her relationship with Hugh through all its wonderful moments, allowing us to fully understand Hugh´s crushing decision.

The other characters are wonderfully drawn and never one-dimensional, from the difficult but brilliant eldest daughter Neeve, to the hopeless romantic/yuppy coworker Alistair. What gives the novel its depth is the fact that Amy isn´t the only person who is given character development. Without spilling any major plot details, certain major events occur which involve the entire family which make you realise that the heart of this novel is love, imperfection and the art of forgiveness and redemption.

Glamour is added through Amy´s high-stress, nonstop adventures in the PR world and are left cheering for her when she manages to pull of yet another coup for her firm. I also found her love of makeup and vintage clothes incredibly endearing, fully understanding her need to go online shopping when in the pits of despair.

At times, I found the flashbacks difficult to follow and felt like they were more important than the present. However, overall 'The Break' was an enjoyable read and I would love to hear more about some of the minor characters of the book in the future.

I so loved this book, I feel as if I’ve really, got to know Amy, the dysfunctional O’Connell family and friends. Her life is turned upside down by her husband, Hugh, announcing he is taking 6 months out to go travelling. We find out the details about every aspect of her life and the incidents that led up to this event. There are winding stories within stories giving us insight into her relationships and family. We are drawn into her anguish and how she manages to survive from day to day during Hugh’s absence. I loved the Irishness of it, where people get scuttered, stotious or someone can be described as ridey. There are certain events that really made me feel for Amy and I felt as if I wanted to cheer her on or encourage her at certain parts of the book. Going to feel a bit lost without updates from Dundrum.
Marian is genius.

Marian Keyes is an author on my auto buy list. I love her style and have been a huge fan of her for many years now! So when I was approved a copy of her new book to review, i was like an embarrassing fan girl whooping away like a mad 'un.

What I love about Marian is her writing really makes you feel like she's one of your mates. Her books are funny, heart warming, down to earth, wise, full of the dramas of families, never fail to make you fall in love with her characters, witty yet also touching on some serious subjects. It's the characters that make every book she writes feel as if she's writing about one of your close friends. The quick quips and insightful remarks, balanced by the overwhelming importance of family and touching moments. Other authors may try to imitate her style, but in my opinion, can't come close.

So I'll try to write an impartial review, but as I've adored everything she's written so far, unless she's written a book about watching 10 layers of paint dry, I'm practically guaranteed to be enthralled.

The Break is about trying to stay in love. Even with all that life has to throw at a marriage - death, sorrow, step families, illness, temptation, ageing parents, money struggles - it is a book about how many hurdles and trials and tribulations marriages and partnerships have to overcome to stay strong and together.

When Amy's husband Hugh announces he is off travelling around South East Asia and wants "a break" for six months, Amy is naturally devastated. As if she hasn't enough to juggle - work, home, her three girls, ageing parents, troublesome siblings, finances and an obsession with online shopping - she now has to cope with everything by herself. Including all of the gossiping locals. Hugh is adamant he still loves her and doesn't want a divorce and will return. But Amy thinks he's going to meet some young carefree backpacker and not want to come back to her and their hectic, and at times, monotonous life. What follows is the six months leading up to the end of Hugh's "break" but also the months leading up to his shock announcement.

Staying true to her typical style, Marian Keyes writes in her usually witty and insightful way, yet also touches some deeper topics. Such as pregnancy and abortion still being illegal in Ireland and many women having to travel to the U.K. Although this is a serious subject, and she treats it as such, the writing is still fabulously Marion. This is one of the reason Marion Keyes is the Queen of "chick lit, "women's fiction" "drama". She's hilarious, yet also introduces topics such as depression, suicide, addiction, dementia etc into her books and manages to get the balance perfect between wit and serious.

Would i recommend this book? Oh yes! Would I reread it again? Yes! I just loved the characters as a reader we grew to "know", and can only hope that we revisit the O'Connell family in future books. When this book is published I will be purchasing it to proudly add to my collection of Marion Keyes books. She's still in a class of her own with her own unique spot on blend of chick lit, humour, warmth, wit and seriousness. If her books were a recipe on Masterchef, she would win with the prize for the perfect blend.

Huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Penguin U.K - Michael Joseph and Marian Keyes for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book, in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were all interesting and really likeable, so you cared what happened to them.
I liked the way the book was written with the sections looking back to a few years ago, but also glimpses of what is to come.
Overall, a great story, which was humerous, but als o quite emotional at times as well. This is definitely a book I will be re-reading!

I 've enjoyed all Marian Keyes' books and this one is no exception.It has all her trademark features - characters you can relate to,humour and sadness in equal measure,and a plot that moves along at good pace.
Definitely one to recommend to her fans and a good start for anyone who hasn't read her books!

I absolutely adore Marian Keyes and was delighted to receive this book as an arc from Netgalley! She just cannot write a bad book and this one was just as wonderful as all the others.
It is the story of Amy, whose husband and love of her life Hugh, decides he needs a 'break'. Having lost his father and close friend, he wants to experience travel and all it entails before it is too late. Amy is left heartbroken, and is left to cope with her family, including teenage daughters, by herself. Hugh only intends his break to last 6 months, but is he fair to expect things not to have changed in his absence?
I loved Amy's extended Irish family, especially her mother who becomes an unlikely Youtube sensation, and her father who is suffering from dementia is at times both funny and heartbreaking. I feel Marian has really put a lot of herself into this book with the family situations she portrays, I can just see Mammy Keyes on the Youtubes! In fact I would say that this book is one of the most personal she has ever written. There is also a lot of riding in this book as Marian herself would call it which is always good fun!
This is just a wonderful book, it made me laugh and cry and was very 'real'. Just brilliant, as a huge fan of Marian Keyes I was certainly not disappointed.

I. really enjoyed this book. The family set up reminded me of the famous 'walsh' family, I could imagine a swries of book focussing on eah family member, just like those in Racehl's Holiday, Watermelon etc, all of which I loved years ago. A great story, throughly enjoyable, a definitelp sun lounger read.

I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I found the main character in this novel to be irritating, to say the least. She spends 90% of the book obsessing about clothes, and does little in the titular six month break but online shop and fret about other peripheral characters views of her. It is only upon seeing photographs of her husband with another woman that she decides to embark upon her own affair, however, whilst bed husbands break is described as being to assess his mental health, hers comes across as being a form of petty revenge.


The background subplots, especially regarding her mother and eldest daughter, wet by and large the most enjoyable parts of this novel, in my opinion

I enjoyed parts of this novel, but as a whole, I found it difficult to finish.

Marian Keyes has always been the queen of writing a book which, on the surface, is the lightest, easiest read - fast-paced, relatable characters, romance, lots of proper laugh-out-load moments - but which actually explore some very difficult issues; bereavement, domestic abuse, coming to terms with childlessness, divorce, addiction, severe depression. Her narrators can be incredibly unreliable (hello Rachel Walsh) dragging the reader right into the heart of the story with them, each revelation breaking all our preconceptions.

The Break is a perfect example of a Marian Keyes book. It is incredibly funny, incredibly sharp and incredibly poignant. If you follow Marian on Twitter (and if you don't, do) then a lot of the background will feel incredibly familiar. There's a huge family who have Friday night get togethers, a father cruelly afflicted with dementia, references to Strictly, lovely Scandi-men, make-up, internet shopping, but Amy is very much her own character, Marian Keyes is far too talented and experienced an author to write a thinly-disguised autobiography.

Mother-of-three (two her own, one the niece she's raised) Amy works in PR, worries about money, middle-aged spread, her children, her career, her family - to be honest at times (although my job is a lot less glamorous), it was like looking in the mirror, a spot-on examination of the forty-something woman. The one thing she doesn't worry about is her marriage, although her husband has been down lately, hit by a devastating double-bereavement. So when Hugh tells her he is taking A Break - from his job, his life, his marriage - and going travelling for six months she's completely unprepared. Especially when she realises that the break from his marriage means exactly that. He is not ruling out the possibility of meeting and sleeping with other women.

There is such a lot to unpick in this book. Amy's own culpability in the breakdown of her marriage, Hugh's actions (at times I wanted to throw things at him), his utter selfishness. And yet... don't we all sometimes harbour dreams of running away? Of taking time out from lives which are too busy, too pressured, not how we thought they would be? Of realising that if we're not careful it will be too late and we'll never get a chance to be the person we dreamed we'd be?

Hugh and Amy's marriage, although at the heart of the book, isn't the only plot line. The harshness of Ireland's abortion laws, the after-effects of irresponsible or neglectful parenting, the frustratingly awful sadness of losing someone to dementia, the terrifyingness of being at the heart of a twitter-storm all add a richness to this exploration of middle-age and marriage. Which makes The Break sound heavy and issue driven - and of course it's not. As I said at the beginning of this review, Marian Keyes books feel effortlessly light as you read them. I raced through this in two days...

Every character is a delight and perfectly drawn. I loved all three of Amy's kids; prickly Neeve the media star, sweet Keira and fey Sofia. I adored watching Amy's mother try and discover who she was while coping with a husband with dementia. Amy's colleagues, Tim and Alastair are a complete joy - and much as I hated myself for it, I couldn't help having a slight crush on playboy Alastair with his new-age retreats and addiction to romance. The scenes between him and Amy were hilarious. We all need an Alastair in our lives!

I'm working very hard not to give any spoilers out here, the joy of a Marian Keyes book is in the reading, in the revealing, being caught up in the moment. It wasn't always an easy read (especially for a forty-something woman with no time, money and beginning to realise she's going to be matronly if she's not careful, thanks middle-aged spread) but it's a really satisfying, intelligent, emotional and real read. Thank you very much Penguin Random House for approving me for a Netgalley ARC of this book. I can promise you that this review is completely honest.

Yes! Thank God for that! Marian Keyes is back with a bang! After a few lack lustre books Marian nails this story of a husband who decides to take a six month marriage break, not quite realising that this means his wife is on a break too.

This book will give you the squid gees, make you laugh and break your heart - but maybe not in that order! But above all you're going to be asking if you were Amy what would you have done?! Read it and ask yourself.

It needs to come with a warning - don't read in public esp on the train! One minute I was laughing out loud and the next a tear was winding its way down my cheek. A totally gorgeous read.

Marian Keyes is one of my favourite authors and I was eagerly awaiting her new book 'The Break'. You can guess how happy I was to receive an ARC copy.
Amy's husband has announced that he is taking a six month break for his job, his marriage and his children. How will she cope without him? I loved this book about a dysfunctional family and how they cope with what life throws at them. There was plenty of laugh out loud moments too. This book reminded me of her earlier books Watermelon and Rachel's Holiday. A book I will want to read again and again.
I would like to that NetGalley and Penguin UK for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm no stranger to Marian Keyes, she's fabulous, I love her, I remember seeing her on TV talk shows when I was little and wanting to be her, I think Watermelon coincided with my first forays out of kids books and snooping into my mum's books. I think she's great all round, is what I'm saying.

Having said this, I had recently sworn off all Keyes' books. She's never been less than an engaging, skilled writer who creates lovable characters but Christ above, they were grim. This Charming Man? God above, that was a rough read. The Brightest Star in the Sky? Just as tough. So The Break was a punt, and I was genuinely worried that I would end up needing to watch Beauty & The Beast as a palette cleanser afterwards. Happily, I was wrong. This is a great book. Keyes' tackles heartbreak, relationships, the concept of monogamy, political topics like abortion (and she's right again!), and it's all very well portrayed. It's all believable and a compulsive read. I was genuinely invested in the characters (bloody Neeve and her rubbish bio-dad). It's strange to read Keyes' talking about a youtube star but it's great that she's a contemporary author moving with the times.

It's a surprisingly quick read but very worthwhile. Beachy and fun but without taking away from the seriousness of her subject matter. Thanks to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Absolutely adored the Break, Marian is back on form with new funny, quirky, modern and yet real characters. When Amy's husband Hugh decides he needs a break from their marriage,Amy feels deja vu, is her second marraige breaking up, is her loyal Hugh now eho he said he was or could it be related to what happened last year, read it and see.

Four and a half, might even be five stars!

Marian Keyes was the writer of my thirties. Books like Watermelon and Rachel's Holiday created a whole new genre for me, Irish chicklit with a twist. When I saw this on NetGalley I had to request it, for the sake of my thirties but I had this little pit of dread in my stomach, what if it was the same as the stuff I read 20 years ago? I needn't have worried, this is still my Marian Keyes, just her heroines have a whole load more baggage and years.

Amy (44) has been married to Hugh (46) for a long time. A modern family they both work, they have three 'daughters': Neeve is Amy's from a short-lived previous marriage; Kiara is their daughter; and Sofie, who is actually Amy's brother's daughter but Amy and Hugh unofficially adopted her after his relationship with her mother imploded and poor Sofie fell through the cracks. Amy spends two days a week in London in her PR job, the rest of the time she is in Dublin with four siblings and a father with Alzheimer's. This is modern living: complicated relationships; remarriages; aged parents; twenty-something children living at home; two adults with good jobs and yet money problems; sibling rivalries; and professional angst. But overall, Amy and Hugh are happy, they are each other's best friends, they complete each other's sentences, until Hugh announces he wants a six month break in South East Asia to 'find himself'. Trouble is, no matter what her friends and family want her to, Amy doesn't hate Hugh, heck she even sympathises with him (when she isn't swearing at him or begging him to stay).

When stalking Hugh on Facebook, Amy finds incriminating photos of him with a young woman and suddenly all bets are off.

This is hallmark Marian Keyes full of "rides" and wacky family members, yet it also spoke to me personally on a deeper level about the doldrums we fall into in long marriages, how we swap romantic love for a kind of best friends love and the lies we tell ourselves about our feelings and our actions. It made me want to go home (I was working abroad at the time) and make mad passionate love to my husband and tell him how much I do love him and appreciate him.

Just like the other Marian Keyes books I've read no-one is entirely good or bad and people aren't always what they seem.

Absolutely loved it!

Marian Keyes is back with another hilarious, touching and heat warming tale straight from Dublin.

Amy has a wonderful life. An ordinary life but it's one she appreciates. She has a job doing what she loves (even if it doesn't always pay great), 2 and a bit daughters and a lovely husband Hugh who saved her from the crap she had put up with in her first marriage. Everything's going just great, until Hugh decides he wants to go on a break. Alone. For 6 months, to sleep with other women and go on a mission of 'self discovery'. Amy is devastated as her life is turned upside down in a heartbeat and she has to begin making a self discovery of her own.


As I've come to expect from Marian's novels, the story is told in a humorous way but the subject matter is serious and covers topics from mid life crisis', to Alzheimer's and even vlogging. In typical Marian style, the family unit while full of problems have a strong bond and it's easy to relate to the squabbles and difficulties of an ordinary family. I think this is the thing I like about Marian's novels the most, that she can make the ordinary seem extraordinary.


And sometimes, like with this one she makes you question if the happy ending was the happy ending you wanted after all!

This book was spot on the mark in feeling and emotion, I felt so caught up in this book. Just amazing. It's a first read of Marian's for me, definitely off to look at more.

The Break, Marian Keyes

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Women's Fiction, romance.

Its years since I read a Marion Keyes novel. Looking back on my reading history for me it seems to go through cycles, and its been a while since I was attracted to this type of novel.
Something about it called to me though and I am so glad, its an incredible, moving, thoughtful novel, not all doom and gloom and sad broken relationships but sharp, witty humour, a wry look at the realities of modern day family life, a look at how our pasts can affect the now and how even the most content seeming people can crack. 

I'm blaming Marion for the fact that today I'm feeling - as my dad would have said "like a wet weekend". I'd just finished the fabulous Clara Coulson novella Dream Snatcher at about 8.30 last night and decided to start this.

I knew it was long, I love long novels so planned on reading to maybe half way, but time ticked on, midnight came and went and finally about 2 am I finished....
I just couldn't stop, I had to know what would happen next, how Neeve's vlog was doing, what Sofia was planning, how Keira was coping, Hugh leaving affected so many people.
Amy's work partners, they're supportive and yet there's a job to be done, and who can really understand what's happening on someone else life.
Amy's friends all have different views, coloured by their own experiences, and then there's her extended family, sisters and brothers, children, partners, and her parents, dad with dementia who scares off all but the most hardy of carers, and mum, well, she was a terrific lady, finally seemed to have found life after years of ill health that left her children to really bring up themsleves. I loved her in Neeve's vlog, her way of saying what she wanted, what wasn't really quite acceptable but with a charm and sparkle that negated any possible offence. 

Then there's Hugh and Amy. Amy had been through a husband leaving her already, divorced at 22 with a young child her husband had never helped since, despite his fame as a footballer, and all his money. She was determined to never rely on a man again, and she'd picked herself up, finagled the balance of work, home, childcare somehow, all the while helping her extended family.
Then Hugh came along....he's a charmer, wears her down and is just truly adorable. He treats Neeve as his own, adores Kiera when she comes along just months into their dating, and when Amy's irresponsible brother and his weird partner finally - well, dump I guess - their daughter Sofia on her Hugh just accepts her as part of the brood, and life expands to fit in yet another member. 

They really seem to have a perfect marriage, money's tight, but then so it is for most people, and finally they have a tiny nest egg after Hugh's father dies and leaves them some money.
His death affects Hugh badly though, and a close friend dying soon after tips him into, not really depression but a sort of discontent with his life.  Amy thinks later Could she have seen this coming? I don't think so, its easy to use hindsight but at the time we're immersed in the eternal struggle of home, kids, family, work and sometimes it takes away moments when we could have spotted an issue. Or not. who knows? 

When Hugh drops his bombshell, he's done the figures, he's spending some of the nest egg on six months away, backpacking in Asia. He's not leaving her he says, he just won't be married for that time.
Wham, poor Amy, she's gutted and who wouldn't be? Lets be clear, he's planning to act as a single guy, tells Amy she has the same freedon and that he'll be back to pick up things in six months. 

I was so angry and yet like Amy so confused. How on earth did he think they could just pick up the reins again after that?
She tries all sorts of arguments, she reasons, offers other suggestions, cries, tries persuasion, guilt, everything she has. She loves him, he's been her other half, her help-meet for so long and she can't imagine life without him.
She could have ranted, run him down to freinds and family and yet, he's still her Hugh, still the man she loves. That doesn't sit well with everyone, and no-one really knows what to say or do.
The final day comes though, Hugh is off and the family have to learn to live without him. I was thinking "what happens now? What if he meets someone, what if Amy meets someone, and if they don't, how can they pick up life without resentment?"
I really wanted to hate him, call him all sorts of names, and yet I couldn't because I knew he wasn't a selfish man, he'd just reached the point of no return, knew if he didn't do something drastic he'd crack and they'd all fall. This way, well - if he's very, very lucky maybe, just maybe they can get their lives back.
I don't think he'd really though beyond that “must get away” issue he had, in theory it all worked because he wanted it to work but life isn't that easy. Its a huge gamble, and I just had to see how it played out, hence the 2 am finish....

It could be a novel full of doom and gloom, bitterness, sadness, fractured families, but its not. We see just how families can pull together while also being a huge source of friction, see how we do cope when we think all is lost, life does go on, work has to be done, food has to be bought, bills to be paid. That drudgery, that slog provides the reason to keep going. And the humour. Surprisingly there's a lot of really sharp, funny humour, moments and phrases that had me sniggering. I'm a bit of a face-book addict, have to have a sneak each morning to see what friends have been doing, have posted, and this gem really rang a chord
"Instagram is the worst for that inspirational crap. Nothing is too banal or too obvious that it can't be posted"
Oh yes, I've seen so so many of those!!

I'll stop now, I've rambled far too much but it really is a fantastic read, sharp and observant, full of pathos, sadness and yet hope, looking at families, at modern issues, at falling in love, and very importantly, staying in love, and just how far a marriage can stretch before it fractures.  
It made me think "what would I do" and to be truthful, I don't know, any more than Amy did. 


Stars: Five, terrific read, hard to put down, so just leave yourself time so you're not reading into early hours as I did!

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers