Honestly, 'People Person' was just 'ok' for me. I read and enjoyed Candice Carty-Williams' previous book, 'Queenie' a few years ago, however, while this book deals with similar themes, such as inter-generational trauma, I personally found it to be weaker in general.

I think my issue was that I never really connected with Dimple as a character. She's definitely a bit of an anti-heroine, and is purposely not very likeable, but I found it difficult to empathise with her, and spent most of the book extremely frustrated with her actions. She was quite passive throughout (which I guess was the point of her character), but this also made her a relatively boring narrator.

Another issue I had was that the siblings' relationship felt extremely forced, and I didn't feel like their characters were very well-fleshed out. In the opening chapters, all the dialogue between the siblings came across as very unnatural, and I'm not sure if this was the author trying to emphasise the 'forced' nature of these very different people's connection to each other, or if it was just the author's writing style, but either way it made the first few chapters a slog to get through.

However, as the book went on, I found myself enjoying it more. I also really liked Carty-Williams' exploration of the different pressures that many Black British people find themselves facing.

Overall, if you're looking for an engaging, but not necessarily life-changing book with a flawed (but realistic) protagonist, then I would recommend 'People Person'.

I struggled to get into this book so I left it for a while before I went back to it. I’m so pleased I did go back because what followed was the mos heart gripping story.

Cyril Pennington has 5 children, and other than Nikisha and Prynce, who have the same mum, they don't know each other. Until one day when Cyril decides to take them all out together in his gold jeep. Years later, one of his daughters, Dimple, has a problem which needs immediate attention. The siblings gather together and come up with a plan. And now they're in each other's lives whether they like it or not.

The first part of this book had Dial A For Aunties vibes, it was funny and crazy and walked the line between believable and unbelievable.
The dialogue and places were familiar and authentic and I related, being from South London. The characters were all so different from each other, despite being related, and the sibling relationships they formed, some closer than others, felt real.
I got deep and invested in the story just a couple of pages in, which is rare. Overall, I can safely say that People Person is one of my favourite books of the year so far!

I really enjoyed Queenie, so I was really excited when I got the opportunity to read an advanced copy of 'People Person.'

It didn't let me down. The sibling cast is compelling, their descriptions rich in detail and humour. I felt a warmth towards most if not all of the characters at points throughout, rooting for them even when they were doing wrong.

I could absolutely picture this as a Netflix series and would read more by this author.

Cyril Pennington thinks of himself as a people person – he’s certainly a ladies’ man and he’s spread five (that he knows) children around a fairly small area of South London. Introducing them to each other when he feels they’re old enough to need warning off accidental incest, he then retreats to being very much the hands-off father, as his various exes are left raising the children.

Fast forward until Dimple, 30, the middle one, unable to control her leaking emotions, trying to be an influencer from her mum’s bedroom and taking all her self-worth from the men and audience she tries to attract, has a crisis on her hands in the form of an accident that’s happened to her boyfriend. She calls her oldest sister, Nikisha, the one who can cope with anything, and who is slightly scary with it, and Nikisha calls in (over-)chilled mixed-heritage Danny, uptight medical student Lizzie (almost Dimple’s exact contemporary and twitchy about that, too) and cheeky Prynce, Nikisha’s younger brother. Together they deal with the situation in their own ways, and the on-going chaos it releases.

I love the way all the characters relate to each other and their mums, staying in character and on-brand but revealing different sides of them as they go. Lizzie just wants to protect her girlfriend from getting sucked into it all (and her career), Danny has a murky past down to pure loyalty, Nikisha is a bit of a mystery still and Prynce looks like he might be going to follow in their father’s footsteps but does look up to Danny. I would have liked a bit more of Danny and Nikisha but that’s a small note, as I so enjoyed following the chaotic events in the novel, brought back together by set pieces at parties and funerals, the set of unlikely siblings with their little similarities having each other’s backs all the way through.

We finish with a satisfying epilogue. Characters have learned, points from current events are woven in and reacted to, but lives are messy and not everything is a learning point. Carty-Williams is a strong and very able writer, and I will read everything she writes, even though this veers on being a thriller / caper at points. An excellent novel and well worth the hype!

My review, out 4 May: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2022/05/04/book-review-candice-carty-williams-people-person/

I didn't read Queenie and had no expectations. I loved People Person since the first pages, it was one of those book that are high on sleep-deprivation-due-to-reading chart.
I found it entertaining, compelling, riveting. Great characters, storytelling and lovely humour.
It's strongly recommended.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

People Person exudes a sense of reality, defining each protagonist with a natural sense of individuality. Carty-Williams' prose resonating with the chatter of South-East London. Central to the story is the concept of what makes a family. Is it blood, shared experience or loyalty? The five siblings/half siblings resulting from the promiscuity of their ever absent father Cyril, are bought together in extreme circumstances, from which an eventually unbreakable bond is formed.

Questions of racial attitudes and assumptions thread through the narrative, the street smart Nikisha, Danny the mixed race strong man, curvaceous and sexy Dimple, the uptight Lizzie a cut above the rest and Prynce the young player. All are so much more than their stereotypes, but this is only revealed as the five take time to actually get to know each other.

Be prepared to experience a rollercoaster of emotions before the conclusion is read.

I adored Queenie and admit my expectations were sky-high for People Person. Unfortunately I DNFed halfway through - it was fun but it's not my sort of story. It was a bit silly (and reminded me heavily of Dial A for Aunties which I did love! But I was prepared for silliness with that one). I found it was pages and pages of dialogue and I just didn't understand what the point of anything was. The character-building was great, each of the siblings had a unique voice and personality. It's just a shame that the main character Dimple is supposed to be 30 (as a 32-year-old, yay!) but she really did seem more like a teenager. Very immature and irritating.

I really enjoyed "Queenie" and was delighted to find this was equally good. The plot centres around the coming together of a family of half siblings following a traumatic incident in the life of Dimple, one of the sisters. However, the author's writing style manages to create a book full of heart and love in very different guises and what a family can be.
thank you to netgalley and orion for an advance copy of this book

"Dimple Pennington knew of her half siblings, but she didn't really know them. Five people who don't have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad's gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about. She's thirty, and her life isn't really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a terrible and wayward boyfriend, Dimple's life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she's never felt more alone in her life. That is, until a dramatic event brings her half siblings Nikisha, Danny, Lizzie and Prynce crashing back into her life. And when they're all forced to reconnect with Cyril Pennington, the absent father they never really knew, things get even more complicated."

Thanks to NetGalley for this arc. I enjoyed this from the minute I was introduced to Nakisha Pennington and her brother and half sisters. The story had a good flow to it and I didn't want to stop reading

Another of Candice’s books that made me smile and was so relatable.
So personable, each character likeable in their own way.
The dynamics of the family show well and it is very reflective read. It shows the family set up, the relationships and challenges between siblings as well.
It was easy for me to read, it made me laugh and I could picture this story perfectly while reading.

Many Thanks to Candice, the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read this.
Definitely a book that I will re read :)

Sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious, always touching.

On the surface, the only thing the Pennington siblings have in common is their useless father. Abandoned by him at birth, they are all brought up very differently, with mothers from different races, beliefs and social backgrounds, and minimum contact with each other. However, when brought together as adults by an unusual situation, they learn much about themselves from each other and discover that blood can indeed be thicker than water and that sometimes the best family you can have is the one you chose for yourself.

I loved each of the siblings, and how they weren’t afraid to call each out on their flaws, while remaining staunchly protective in the face of indifference and even adversity. The book was intensely real with its depictions of how family trauma can be carried down through generations, and how hard it is to break a cycle, but with enough of a comical plot to stop it becoming too serious or heavy.

I couldn’t put it down and didn’t want to go to work as I wanted to stay at home and devour it!

I absolutely loved Queenie so I was so excited to be given an advance copy of this book and had quite high expectations and it did not disappoint.

The book begins by meeting Cyril who is father to 5 kids with 4 different women, all have never met before. When an incident brings them all together we really get to know the different characters as individuals and find out about their lives before. I really liked all of them although I did have a soft spot for Dimple whos point of view we heard from the most and a good insight into the others.

This is a story of family and complex relationships between your not the average extended family. I think Candice really got this right and laughed out loud at some of the relatable mannerisms.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I was really looking forward to reading this, as I absolutely loved Queenie. I didn't think People Person was quite as good, but it was still an enjoyable read exploring family relationships within the black British community through a slightly zany plot. Carty-Williams explores stereotypes such as the absent father and domestic abuse with a sensitive eye, and Cyril in particular is an interesting and ultimately sympathetic character. I look forward to the next book!

I really wanted to love this as I did Queenie, but it didn't quite hit that mark for me. A tad chaotic and I could not warm to Dimple sadly.

Five siblings with a feckless father who drifts in and out of their lives are brought together, when thirty year old would-be influencer thinks she has killed her ex boyfriend after an argument. The characters of Dimple, Nikisha, Danny, Lizzie and Pryce are all superb, all different and with different experiences and values and only loosely connected by their father, who has little impact on their lives. It’s really properly laugh out loud funny as well, even when the five are trying to dispose of a body, share their various grievances or put each other in their place. The central premise and how it draws together the five siblings and their various mothers as well is really clever and there’s no cliches, just real and relatable adult characters who don’t always make the best decisions. Really excellent read

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.

I went into this book blind and I really think that is the best way to approach this title.
It is a family drama type of book with a twist and that's all I'm going to revel. Were following multiple POVs but mainly; Dimple Pennington.
Her father Cyril has multiple children by multiple different women and this book follows the reason why all the children have been reunited after a brief initial meeting when they were children.

This book is very entertaining, going into it blind meant that the series of events that unfolded were a complete shock to me, in the best way.
A pretty fast paced read that touches on aspects of class and race.
The characters for the most part are quite likeable, but towards the last 25% of this book they started to get on my nerves, if this book had of been much longer or we were exposed more to Lizzie's character I think it would have changed my opinion of the book. Our MC, Dimple is VERY naive, passive and sensitive to the point that it starts to get irritating that she, at her big age of 30 is still getting into very sticky situations that anyone with an ounce of wit wouldn't land themselves in.

The book was entertaining and I would recommend it.
I should add; the chapters are VERY long (30-50pgs!) and I know the girlies don't love that, so bare that in mind going into this book.

This book was not quite what I expected but I liked it. I wasn't expecting the dramatic event that the synopsis mentions to be quite so dramatic and I was invested because of how ?ludicrous, ?unrealistic, ?crazy it was - I'm really not sure how to describe it.

I was committed to the plot and enjoyed looking into the dynamics of half sibling relationships. Whilst the book focuses on Dimple, who I found to be problematic and a challenge to engage with, I appreciated getting to learn more about the experiences and feelings of the other siblings and how they interacted with each other. I'd actually love to know more about them - like a whole book with a good plot for each of them because they are complex characters and I couldn't quite understand all of the choices they made in the story. Like if I was to find out today I had a half sibling, would I conduct myself in a similar manner to each of these character siblings? I'm leaning heavily towards no but its interesting to think about - everyone is different.

Running alongside this is the exploration of the siblings' relationship with their father. As bad a father as he may have been, I enjoyed the parts of the story where he featured because he was honest (when he wasn't lying), true to himself and I wanted to try and reason why he was the way he was. Whilst his behaviour may be entertaining to the reader, as a spectator, its actually very sad when you think about it deeper.

There are more characters and relationships to explore, like the maternal and romantic relationships that also feature, so if character driven plots are your thing, this is definitely a book for you. The story overall has a good balance of deeper subject matter and entertainment. Though I wasn't crazy about how things ended and didn't enjoy the last quarter of the book as much as the rest, I would recommend you have a read!

Just putting it out there again that I would like spin-off books for each of the other siblings (in case the author or publishers are reading this - though they might be thinking "way ahead of you love!")

Another amazing book by Candice Carty-Williams! It starts with 5 kids being picked up by their estranged dad for a random day out. This is where they’re first introduced to each other as 4 of them have different mums. Fast forward a few years, and one of the kids, Dimple, finds herself in trouble. She feels as though there’s no one else to turn to apart from her big sister Nikisha, and from there all of the siblings are reunited. The characters are so well developed, the family story has great depth and humour, and it feels like the London version of ‘How to Get Away With Murder’. I loved Queenie so this was a real treat, and I can’t wait to read what Candice writes next.

I read this book having already loved Queenie and now I have a new favourite! I rarely give books 5 stars but I loved this book a lot! I felt genuinely anxious for the characters and how they grew and changed. Would recommend!
Read through netgalley but would have bought it (it was on my preorder list)