I enjoyed this book, which covers difficult topics (abortion, inability to come out publicly as gay) sensitively and astutely.

EVERY WORD IS PERFECTION.

I dare not say anymore as nothing will do this justice, but safe to say I loved it

I really wanted to love this book, sticking with it despite wanting to give up several times....I can see the attraction, I sensed the nostalgia for those the strange 2009/2010 years, but I just couldn't get into it. Dare I say it, maybe I'm a good 10 years too old 🤦🏼‍♀️

I was utterly thrilled to read The Rachel Incident before it's released to the world in June. If you were a young person growing into adulthood in the 2010s (in the depths of the recession and questionable indie music), then this is an absolite must-read for you.

For fans of Caroline O' Donoghue's Sentimental Garbage/Sentimental in the City podcast, you'll be heartened to know that her familiar wit/outlook permeates each and every page and, most importantly, 'very a play' is featured within the first few chapters.

An ode to falling in love with your very best mates, doing hard things, and frankly, being a bit grubby in your twenties.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I loved the two main characters. Funny and charming, with a very satisfying ending,

A smart, funny, and sometimes heartbreaking story about love and friendship, told with insight and honesty.

I loved this book! A young couple are sharing a house - so you think you know where the story is going? Well no, there are lots of unexpected twists and unintended consequences, all the sort of things that can happen in the hot mess of youth. This is delightful tale brings to life the confusion of being young in an adult world where the rules have as yet to be explained.

There is humour, desperation, tragedy and a thoroughly satisfying ending.

I enjoyed this book. I’ve read other books by the same author so knew that I would enjoy this one. I always love Irish writers and know I will enjoy their books.
Rachel was a great character and I could really relate to how she felt and the things she went through. I loved James and Carey and how the story developed.
The book made me laugh and cry - and I thought the ending was really great.

"Perhaps it's because so many people claim Irishness that we keep putting our private jokes on higher and higher shelves."

Our story opens with a woman in the present, Rachel, referencing the Late Late Toy Show. I mean, if that doesn't pull you in...

Rachel hears that her former professor, Dr. Byrne, is in a coma. Rachel once had a huge crush on Dr. Byrne, back in 2009 when she shared a small, cold flat in Cork with her best friend James. As Rachel reminisces back on the affair that almost destroyed them all, we learn about the events of that year and the challenges of finding out who you are and what you want to do with your life.

It's not what I was expecting at all - it's a stunning portrayal of friendship and how your soulmate doesn't have to be a romantic one. It's nostalgic, it's messy, it's funny, but above all else, it's hopeful.

A beautiful book, one to watch out for. Fans of Dolly Alderton (especially Irish ones) would like this a lot, I think.

Thank you to @littlebrownbookgroup_uk for the ARC via @netgalley. This is one to keep an eye on.

Charming! Delightful! Delicious! I had the best time with this, inhaled it across two evenings, laughing out loud more times than I could count. Reading this felt like listening to a long voice note from a beloved friend—I kept wanting to reply to Rachel and tell her how much I loved hearing about her day. Just an absolute joy, so glad I read it!

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue is a compelling and incisive read about realistically flawed people and the complications of their relationships. One of the best I've read this year.

I love Caroline and I LOVED this book. In the words of Caroline - I read this book and its a banger. Top job

I am always going to lose the head over Caroline O’Donoghue’s writing - the honesty, grit and hilarity with which she explains Irish life never lets me down, and this novel is probably her best yet.

The Rachel Incident is set in the present day but sees Rachel, the narrator, looking back over her late college years back in 2009. She meets James while working in a bookshop, and the two fall instantly in love, moving into a crappy cottage together and generally causing messy drama wherever they land. Rachel and James devise a plan to seduce Rachel’s vaguely sexy lecturer, Dr Fred Byrne, and from there, things escalate - and quickly. It does NOT, however, escalate in the ways you would expect - there’s a moment about 20% in that made me go “right, well, this book is my priority for the next 48 hours”.

I got wholly addicted to The Rachel Incident, then. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about when I could get back to reading it. It’s funny, honest and gritty and completely captures what it’s like to live in a shitty house with your best friend in your twenties. Rachel is a wholly captivating main character, messy and stupid and so, so loveable. She captures the sheer idiocy of your early twenties perfectly, down to the strange things we tell ourselves to justify our actions.

Her love life is chaotic - besotted with the world’s least reliable man - and her unflinching commitment to melodrama and Main Character Syndrome is equal parts hilarious and vaguely embarrassing in my recognition of it. She made me absolutely cringe with recognition but I also wanted to wrap her up in a big hug - she’s got a sweetness to her that is all too lacking in many stony-faced messy women of the genre that makes her all the more engaging.

Her friendship with James was also one to be swept up in - as someone who lived with a gay best friend in my early twenties, so many of their late-night conversations resonated with me. It’s about two little guys trying to find their way in a very adult world, at its core, and so I was a sucker for it.

O’Donoghue isn’t afraid of shying away from the tough stuff, and here she sheds light on a pre-Repeal Ireland in a way that still feels necessary, 5 years after the referendum to legalise abortion here. Rachel has to grapple with the moral, emotional and economic reality of abortion and it is enough to send a chill down the spine of anyone who came of age in that time. This plotline served as a welcome reminder of how fortunate we are to live in a post-Repeal society.

The Rachel Incident deserves to be lauded as one of the books of the year. I have a quote from Dylan Moran's Black Books that I think of when I've been really touched by a novel - he delivers it with intense sarcasm, but I am 100% sincere when I say "you'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll change your life". A triumph of a novel.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the earc.
The Rachel Incident is an extremely witty, charming and humorous tale about Rachel Murray and her best friend, James Devlin. I found it quite funny and cynical at times. As a woman in her 20s, I found it very much relatable. Will definitely suggest if you're looking for a light hearted book that deals with a few serious topics.

Wow I loved this. Even more than I expected!

I love Caroline O Donoghue’s podcast and quite enjoyed her last 2 adult books but this one I couldn’t put down.

The plot was so morally interesting, the characters so realistic and I love love love that as Caroline and I are a similar age it took me back so much to my university years.

I was genuinely bereft when this was over and the final line of the acknowledgments punched me in the gut.

Her best book yet - this is going to be huge.

5 stars

I loved everything about this. The cover, the writing, the plot. Perfection. I want to delete it from my brain so I can read it for the first time again

GOD. This book. Absolutely no notes.

Caroline O'Donoghue smashed it out of the park with this one. I can't write a review that would do it justice.
Absolutely one to read if you love books set in Ireland, messy people in their early 20s, ever-consuming friendship, first loves and homesickness for the Toy Show when you live abroad as an Irish adult.

I started this book on Saturday and had finished it by Sunday night, I was hooked!
The book begins during the university years of Rachel Murray and the different men she becomes entangled with; James her best friend and a closeted gay man, Dr Byrne, her college professor and James Carey (I loved their moments together)
I thought this was a really nostalgic and heartwarming read but most importantly it had substance about it. There are some really important topics observed in the novel which were very relevant in Ireland at the time, such as anti-abortion laws and the 2008 financial recession.
All in all a really good read, definitely pick up if you like enjoyed novels by Sally Rooney, Dolly Alderton etc.

The Rachel Incident is Caroline O’Donoghue’s third adult novel. It follows Rachel Murray and is told in first person from her POV. She is 21 years old and the story follows her best friend James and the English professor Dr Byrne. We follow Rachel and James over a year as their lives become more and more entwined with Dr Byrne and his wife Deenie. This is a literary fiction novel with an Irish heroine and it deals with some contemporary Irish Issues. It was written well and I easily read it and I would recommend this if you liked O’Donoghue’s other adult novels and if you like Irish fiction. This was my final chance with the author and I am glad I got the chance to read this. However, I do feel a bit misled by the synopsis. From the synopsis I thought it was going to be some sort of love triangle situation between Rachel, James and Dr Byrne and it wasn’t that. The main story is really between James who is gay and his relationship with married professor Dr Byrne. Rachel’s main story is around something that could be a trigger/spoiler for many people.
SPOILER/TRIGGER WARNING – the story deals with abortion and the lack of rights for women in Ireland which is even more poignant considering the situation in America. Like I said I would recommend this but I am giving it three stars because I did feel uncomfortable with the way James was described as a gay man, it felt offensive. Also, It wasn’t the story I was expecting and therefore my expectations were wrong going into this novel.

This will definitely appeal to fans of Sally Rooney and it is very well written and heartwarming. It's a book many can relate to and It is witty. The Rachel Incident explores friendship, love, loss and sexuality and I am sure it will appeal to many when it is published.