The Gogartys are a madcap family living just outside Dublin. Irish granny, mid life crisis son and rebellious teenager, this book certainly covers a decent spectrum! The book is a good read and in the main enjoyable. The story was a little cliched and over long, but gathered pace after a slow start. Having visited Dun,Laoghaire, I have a soft spot for this book’s setting, and thoroughly recommend a visit to Teddy’s ice cream parlour should you get the chance! Happy days!
Thank you NetGalley.

I found this book hilarious, I’m not sure if I should have, but I did. In a time (lockdown 2021) where there is very little to laugh at, I really enjoyed escaping in to this book. As a socially deprived individual, right now, I needed this glimpse in to another home. I needed to read about others outside my bubble, living their lives normally. Well, as normally as dysfunctional families do. This book was so well written. I definitely feel like I’ve got a bigger family now as I fell in love with all of the characters.
Perfect book- just what I needed.

Thanks so much fir the chance to read this great book. I am Irish and was excited to read a fun Irish family. The characters are engaging and funny, and so relatable! If you are looking to escape from the constant doom and gloom this is the perfect choice.

This book focuses on three members of the Gogarty family - grandma, dad and teenage daughters. Each are struggling as individuals and their struggles affect the family dynamics. As their stories unfold you empathise with them and hope that a resolution can be found which will bring the family back together and give each some meaning.

It does and it can!

A interesting read which grabbed me more as I read it. Poignant and mildly amusing.

The Gogarty’s are a typical Irish family.

Millie, gran of the family lives alone in the home she’s been in all her married life, looking out onto the sea. She gets into a few scrapes but nothing too major, not really.

Kevin, Millie’s son, house husband after being made redundant is married to Grace and together they have four children, Gerard, Ciaran and twins Nuala and Aideen. A happy family, well mostly anyway.

Aideen is 16 and feels like she’s living in her twins shadow. Unfortunately this brings out an attitude that seems to be getting her into trouble. Her father thinks sending her to boarding school will be the making of her. She’s not so sure.

The story is told from Kevin, Millie and Aideen’s points of view. I immediately liked Millie, getting into mischief and acting like an innocent old lady was so funny. I felt sorry for Aideen and enjoyed her part of the story. Kevin, he annoyed me in places, always thinking he was right all the time and not listening to people really bugged me although I did warm to him more by the end and liked how he discovered himself over the duration of the book.

The book felt like it started slowly for me but as I kept reading I enjoyed it more. In all a great read.

This is your ideal “pandemic read”. It’s funny and not too taxing. It actually handles some quite heavy themes in a lighthearted way and there are some likeable and well drawn characters (perhaps slightly overdone at points, but it’s easy to overlook).

I’d say it might be slightly overlong, but other than that it’s an easy enjoyable read in the same vein as Marian Keyes.

Many thanks to the publisher for my review copy in return to this honest review.

I wanted something warm and cheering and this book fit the bill. While there are disagreements and catastrophes you have the sense, throughout, that everything will turn out ok.

I particularly enjoyed the madcap exploits of grandmother Millie, and the bond she had with her sullen, unhappy granddaughter Aideen. Maybe Millie can be a little too outrageous but I was happy to go with this flow. I felt themes around ageing and loneliness were tackled well without being heavy handed.

Rebecca Hardiman's debut novel revolves around a multigenerational Irish family living in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, a small gossipy place where everyone knows everyone. Feisty gran, 83 year old Millie is a real live wire, with her dangerous driving, penchant for shoplifting and plans to grow old disgracefully. Her middle aged son is the put upon and exhausted Kevin, a stay at home father to four children, an out of work journalist in an occupation that has been turned upside down. However, it is his troubled, misunderstood, rebellious, hormonal and angst ridden 16 year old twin daughter, Aideen, that is making him want to tear his hair out, along with Aideen's ill feelings directed towards her twin, Nuala.

Kevin's wife is out at work, trying to financially support the family and barely there as a presence. It is all too much for him, and matters come to a head with him bringing in a home aide, the American Sylvia, to keep an eye on Millie, fearful of the prospect of ending up in a nursing home. He puts Aideen into a boarding school for girls, where she promptly becomes friends with another troublemaker. Under the mistaken misapprehension that his problems are mostly resolved, he is looking forward to finding a job, getting waylaid by a romantic interest, little does he know that more chaos is to ensue. Whilst Sylvia initially seems to settle in well, issues arise that have Millie and Aideen join forces.

There is much to enjoy in the capers and in dysfunctional Gocarty's off the wall family dynamics, but the humour in it was a hit and miss affair for me and the narrative often ventured into what for me was much too ridiculous territory. Nevertheless, this is an entertaining and engaging family drama, an emotional roller coaster of a book that will appeal to many readers seeking a light hearted, escapist contemporary Irish novel. The star and highlight for me the gran, the vibrant Millie, seeking to live her life to the full. Many thanks to Atlantic Books for an ARC.

If you’re in the mood for some good ole Irish craic allow me to point you in the direction of Good Eggs, a gloriously comic debut novel featuring the Gogarty family, three generations of whom will entertain you with their lives in which mishaps, wayward adventures and crackpot schemes are the order of the day. Naughtiness and irreverence abounds in this cracking good yarn that you’d be foolish to miss out on.

I knew there was going to be something very special about this novel the minute 83 year old Millie Gogarty of Dun Laoghaire Dublin enters the frame, embarking on another one of her shoplifting sprees. In a place where everyone knows your business and gossip spreads like wildfire,Millie makes her mark immediately as a much loved reprobate, a character whose cantankerous, wily ways and death defying driving skills will have you howling with laughter from beginning to end. I couldn’t help applauding the author for the hilarious way she introduces the first member of this madcap family to her readers, kickstarting what promises to be a raucous, riotous affair. Buckle up for some hair raising jollity as this family’s foibles are laid bare, giving you the opportunity to select the good eggs from the bad ones as the author treats you to an eclectic batch of characters, all designed to thwart Millie and Aideen’s thirst for freedom and adventure.

Kevin, Millie’s only son has enough trouble to contend with without his mother’s latest pilfering expedition adding to his woes. An unemployed father of four, it is sixteen year old Aideen who is severely testing the boundaries of parental tolerance; her moodiness and ill disguised hatred for twin sister Nuala aka the Nemesis is proving too much to handle given wife Grace is a mostly absent parent, her work seemingly taking priority over their less than blissful home life. With patience wearing thin exactly what is Kevin to do with his clever, limerick writing, wayward daughter and his equally wayward mother??? His cunning plans to keep these two in line form the basis of this storyline, which ricochets off the scale in terms of laughter and mayhem. Grandmother and granddaughter, peas in a pod when it comes to their high spirited and rebellious natures won’t accept these dramatic changes to their lives without putting up a good fight. Whilst Millie is resigned to part time carer Sylvia keeping a beady eye over her miscreant behaviour and obstreperous Aideen is whisked off to Millburn boarding school for girls, expect an escalation in naughtiness and hijinks as this pair continue to break the rules in the most hilarious ways ever. Partners in crime they most definitely are so it’s no wonder Kevin ends up experiencing a midlife crisis of his own!

Told from the perspective of Millie, Kevin and granddaughter Aideen, tears of laughter streamed down my face as this comedic trio continue to amuse with their antics, shenanigans and escapades alleviating my weekend boredom. Rebecca Hardiman has hit the comedy gold jackpot with her creation of this family and indeed the rest of the supporting cast which include the alluring school administrator Rose Byrd and the formidable mint crunching house mistress Miss Bleekland. There’s something about the Irish vernacular that automatically gives it a comic air (that’s not meant to be offensive!) lighting up these scenes like a 100 watt bulb and although I admit some verge on the ridiculous I loved them all the more for their absurdity. Rebecca Hardiman ups the ante in terms of the comedy element as accidents and disaster befall both Millie and Aideen setting in motion what has to be the piece de resistance, the icing on the cake of this highly recommended piece of feel good fiction. I couldn’t have anticipated where the author would eventually lead our dynamic duo but it’s a finale guaranteed to bring the house down.

As this tremendously comic caper drew to a close I was reluctant to bid farewell to the Gogartys. I wanted MORE!! Whether or not the author chooses to revisit this eccentric, highly entertaining family in the future remains to be seen but I for one will be right here waiting for whatever this talented author decides to delight her readers with next. ABSOLUTELY EGGS-CELLENT!!! My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

I really struggled with Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman. The opening exchanges left me hopeful as we meet the Gogarty family. This includes eccentric grandmother Millie, stepson Kevin and teenager Aideen. Each one of the characters goes on an interesting journey throughout the novel but not one was able to really pull any emotional punches and left me feeling a bit empty. The over the top grandmas story, perhaps went that little far, was to far-fetched and boarding on ridiculous. Each characters mannerisms and behaviour irked me as a reader and at points left me disillusioned. Kevin in particular became more unpleasant as the book went on.

I wanted to enjoy my time with this family but I was quite happy to be rid of them. There was no warmth as expected. There is shoplifting, rebellion and nothing goes to plan but either way it was not a fun ride.

Featuring three generations of a slightly unconventional Irish family this lighthearted story about 50 year old Kevin who lost his identity when he lost his job, his shoplifting mother Millie whose eccentricities drive him to distraction and his troubled teenage daughter Aideen provides great escapism. I loved Millie and her unconventional ways and desperation to keep her independence and felt for Aideen who was really just fed up of feeling like the inferior twin. This simple but at times far fetched plot has some great chunks of humour and a great mish mash of family life 7/10

Good Eggs is the story of the Gogarty’s. Told from three different members each a different generation all of them coming apart at the seams for one reason or another. Millie is 83 bored, lonely and shop lifting for attention. Kevin, Millie’s son, recently fired, submerged in family life and in full on midlife crisis mode and his daughter Aideen constantly eclipsed by her perfect twin, always overlooked and never understood, Aideen is classic surly teen. Kevin decides something must be done! A carer is found for his mother and Aideen is sent to boarding school in an attempt to straighten her out.
Good Eggs is entertaining enough, the writing is fun, chatty and breezy and the pace of the novel cracks along. It coasts along on its charm. Hardiman does tend to get caught up in the descriptive detail rather her characters. They all fit classic archetypes Millie is the “kooky” octogenarian who gets away with terrible behaviour (she basically abducts her granddaughter) because she is old. You can’t be angry with her she’s 83!
Kevin is classic midlife crisis man. Almost but not quite committing full on adultery (maybe 40% tops and only stopping because his ego is dented at the crucial moment) because he’s feeling a bit low while his wife (who is barely written) is working all the hours god sends to support her family. He sends his troubled daughter away rather than actually talk to her. Aideen is probably the most sympathetic of the three, all she can do is capitulate to the will of others, she has no say in the decision making process, while Kevin and Millie continually make terrible decisions.
The characters never actually have any meaningful conversations, the plot takes over and while the characters individually decide to improve themselves it’s not particularly by connecting with each other which makes the three person perspective a bit redundant. At the end I never felt air was really cleared, Aideen snogs a boy and she’s cured of her surliness and insecurity, Kevin decides to write serious literature (while his saintly wife continues to work herself into the ground I presume) and Millie flirts with a nice American man. PROBLEMS SOLVED!
Good Eggs is fun but a little bit thin too much white not enough yolk.

What a great book!
I really liked that it’s a story told from multiple perspectives as it gives an added dimension. It’s funny and tugs at your heartstrings in a way you wouldn’t expect.
I loved the character of Millie, she’s just so outrageous!