Fascinating read, great holiday novel. Some very poignant statements relating to family life.
Love this author, this did not disappoint.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
This book centres around a celebration of Delphine and Tony's 40th wedding anniversary against a background of family relationships. Each of the siblings and their parents have secrets about what is going on in their lives and I found it a well-written novel with lots of subplots. I had no idea how most of them were going to turn out, there were surprises galore amongst the clever twists. There were lots of insightful comments such as how people hold on to comments and behaviours that upset them when those who caused the upset have long forgotten what they caused.
A brilliant observation of human behaviours within a clever narrative style and plot made this book a winner for me.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

Great book, really enjoyed it.

A lovely, light read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

The vibrant cover is what first caught my eye! Overall it was an enjoyable read. I became invested in the characters and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen.


Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book! Great story and I really hope this isn’t the last time we meet these characters. Funny, entertaining and heart warming. I couldn’t ask for more. The different layers of the family relationships and the discoveries made during one weekend were completely engaging. A must read!

Thank you Netgalley

Carmen Reid delights yet again with a fun, relatable and immensely enjoyable new novel, New Family Required.

Sasha Greenhope has got a lot to be thankful for. Like most people, her life has got its fair share of ups and downs, but she has a rock-solid marriage, a lovely daughter and a thriving family business. Everything seems to be going reasonably well – with the only blip on the horizon being a family reunion for her parents’ 40th wedding anniversary at Chadwell House – the family pile – which she is simply dreading.

When it comes to her family, Sasha has always felt like a square peg in a round hole. Her rich parents – particularly her French mother, Delphine – have always regarded her as an oddity and it’s quite clear that her two siblings are her parents’ favourites. Sasha just wants this family reunion to be over and done with, however, she hadn’t counted on her husband Ben making things a million times worse by choosing to blurt out to her family that they are about to go bankrupt!

Sasha just wants to disappear into the ground, but with her family’s livelihood at stake, she decides to swallow her pride and ask her filthy rich parents for financial assistance. Only, it soon transpires that Sasha is not the only one with secrets and that her family have got skeletons in their closets they are all desperate to keep hidden!

Caught between a rock and hard place, what on earth is Sasha going to do next?

Readers everywhere will laugh, cry and cringle along with Sasha and the rest of her clan in Carmen Reid’s latest novel, New Family Required. Carmen Reid explores with great humour and depth the complexities, tensions and intricacies of family life and has created a feel-good and uplifting read that I couldn’t read quickly enough.

New Family Required cleverly blends wit, warmth and drama in an irresistible and realistic page-turner from Carmen Reid.

Thrilling read! I was able to connect with all of the characters and throughly enjoyed the story the author painted.

For a change I thought I might start by talking about what I didn’t like about this book – but then that would make for a very short review, because I loved everything about this story of family and mystery.

Sasha was a great multi-faceted heroine and I loved everything about her and little family. On a wider level, her family history was utterly compelling.

Sasha’s wider family is however a little more complicated. Why has Sasha always felt like the odd one out amongst her siblings?

This book provided me with a whole different outlook on life – Sasha being an ’ordinary’ woman with an extraordinary upbringing – by a posh family in ancestral type mansion.

Sasha has a wonderful sense of family, albeit a frustrated sense at times.

The book is full of mystery:

Why does Sasha feel like the odd one out amongst her siblings?
What has Ben been up to?
What is Loulou’s secret?
What are Sasha’s parents hiding?
What have Sasha’s siblings been up to without Sasha knowing?

I really liked my other read from this author and went into this book with high optimism. However, although it started well, it began to fall flat and my attention wandered.

Set over an eventful weekend, readers follow middle child, Sasha, as she and her family attend her parents’ 40th wedding anniversary celebrations. But, Sasha’s relationship with her family is strained, to say the least, and I think she would rather launch hot pokers into her eyeballs, rather than spend time with them! Thanks to Reid’s flashbacks, we get an understanding of the causes of this troubled family, and I like how this fed into the narrative.

Meeting the rest of the family, I found I did not like them very much. There was no sense of a united team and too much blame was passed on without taking any responsibility. I could understand Sasha’s feelings towards her family, but did not believe she was as perfect as she claimed, making herself a victim too often for my liking. One thing is for sure however, you cannot choose your family and I did enjoy seeing how the relationships eventually changed.

Up until the morning after the party, I found the novel really interesting. It felt like the characters were moving from one disaster to the next and I could not foresee how they would be resolved. But when Sasha and her family are forced to extend their stay at the family home, this was where I thought the story went ‘off boil’. I recognised the symbol of forcing the family to acknowledge their differences but felt frustrated at how slowly the story suddenly moved. Loulou’s accident also felt prolonged and I had guessed some of the plot developments too. In this case, I was quite glad when I finished the story.

This is a family drama in two halves: destruction followed by reformation. I appreciated the characters’ eventual honesty towards one another but thought it could have been done in a more engrossing way. I don’t think this was as light-hearted as my previous read from Reid, consequently making it far less entertaining too.

With thanks to Boldwood books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After feeling like the odd one out in her family growing up, Sasha is content with the life she leads with her husband Ben and daughter LouLou. That is until a major client refuses to pay their bill, she discovers her husband has been investing in companies secretly and her credit cards get rejected buying groceries all int he lead up to her parents 40th anniversary weekend at the family estate. During that weekend, grudges are aired, secrets are revealed and lives are endangered. Will Sasha end up requiring a new family or will she find happiness in the one she has? I really enjoyed this story, at times thought provoking and a little heartbreaking and at times it left me wondering how Sasha would cope. A great read with some very likable characters.

This book has it all and is a great read. All emotions and well worth reading this 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

Sasha have a lovely marriage life.. she thought she have it all until the day that her husband Ben told her that they are about to go bankrupt. That is just a few days away from her upcoming family reunion for her parent’s 40th wedding anniversary. She threaded this occasion when her siblings, Adele and Beau are attending too.

It is a story of family, relationship and secret where communication is so powerful that it can hold or break a relationship. There are many conflict that is being revealed and as a reader I was surprise and shock by the revelation.Overall, it is an enjoyable read for me.

* review post scheduled to be published on my blog on 20/8/22*

Sasha is dreading her parents 40th wedding anniversary party. She can’t bring herself to ask them for a desperately needed loan to help her business; and her siblings, Adele and Beau have always been her parents favourite. As the weekend develops family secrets unravel to help them all understand each other a bit more.

New Family Required by Carmen Reid
Sasha Greenhope has a charming life. Her marriage is solid, her only daughter is delightful, and the family business is full steam ahead.
The only blip on the horizon is the upcoming family reunion for her parent's 40th wedding anniversary at Chadwell House – the family pile. Sasha just does not fit with her wealthy family. Her French mother, Delphine, thinks everything Sasha does is a faux pas... And siblings, Adele and Beau, are the favourites, leaving Sasha surplus to requirements.
Family secrets, warring siblings, what could go right?!
New Family Required' is a light-hearted, easy-going, well-written story.
Family secrets are disclosed during the reunion, which makes Sasha reevaluate her long-held opinion of her kin.
Carmen writes clearly, and descriptively and her characters are expressive and realistic. With just the right mix of drama and humour, this story has a perfect balance.
I am happy to recommend this book.
I want to thank publishers Boldwood Books, author Carmen Reid and Rachel's Random Resources for a copy to read and review and for the tour invitation.

All families have secrets and this one does too. When the family gardening business is in dire straits, should you ask the family for a loan?
No. When they were starting the business Dad refused them a small loan. Mum and Dad live in a large estate and both siblings are successful.
So off to the family gathering for the 40th wedding anniversary. But nothing goes to plan and lots of secrets come out.
Do you need a new family or to work with the one you have?

After reading the Annie Valentine books I was looking forward to getting stuck into another Carmen Reid book.

Sasha is the black sheep of the family. She feels like she never fit in. But why?!. Maybe a new family is required.

Enjoyable read. Not quite Annie Valentine standard but it was a good read all the same

Another brilliant laugh out loud emotional read,. Gold-plated romantic escapism at its finest! . . . A fun, flirty and feel-good romantic read that is simply delightful. An irresistible page-turner sprinkled with humour, warmth, wit and a whole lot of heart . . . pure magic from start to finish.

I would firstly just like to say a big thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources who very kindly forwarded me an arc copy of this book, for my Kindle, in return for my honest review…

I have previously read a few books from this author and always loved them and honestly this one was no exception, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This book is full of family secrets, warring siblings and a disastrous reunion and it is a wonderfully emotional, laugh out loud read that made me giggle throughout!!
New Family Required is set around a wonderful group of characters - some very likeable and some not so much - but all of whom add that certain something to the story!
This was a lovely, feel good story that I thoroughly enjoyed…..

I struggled to get into this book at first but I was so glad I persevered as by the time I was around 30% in I was totally hooked. There are lots of storyline twists which I did not expect and you really feel invested in the lives of the characters. I would definitely recommend this as a summer read.