A Very Typical Family

by Sierra Godfrey, Gail Shalan (Narrator)

10 hours, 20 minutes

A propulsive contemporary women’s fiction debut with dark humor and messy yet warm-hearted family dynamics, perfect for fans of Claire Lombardo’s The Most Fun We Ever Had and Emma Straub’s All Adults Here

All families are messy. Some are disasters.

Natalie Walker is the reason her older brother and sister went to prison over fifteen years ago. She fled California shortly after that fateful night and hasn’t spoken to anyone in her family since. Now, on the same day her boyfriend steals her dream job out from under her, Natalie receives a letter from a lawyer saying her estranged mother has died and left the family’s historic Santa Cruz house to her. Sort of. The only way for Natalie and her siblings to inherit is for all three adult children to come back and claim it―together.

Natalie drives cross-country to Santa Cruz with her willful cat in tow expecting to sign some papers, see siblings Lynn and Jake briefly, and get back to sorting out her life in Boston. But Jake, now an award-winning ornithologist, is missing. And Lynn, working as an undertaker in New York City, shows up with a teenage son. While Natalie and her nephew look for Jake―meeting a very handsome marine biologist who immediately captures her heart―she unpacks the guilt she has held onto for so many years, wondering how (or if) she can salvage a relationship with her siblings after all this time.

A Very Typical Family navigates the messy yet warm-hearted journey of family members struggling to find each other again. Written with delightfully dark humor and characters you can't help but cheer for, this debut from Sierra Godfrey will have you reveling in the power of family and second chances.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Contemporary, Romance, Family, Adult, Mystery

Audible Audio

First published September 13, 2022

About the author

I am the author of A Very Typical Family (commercial fiction, Sourcebooks 2022), The Second Chance Hotel (romance, Sourcebooks 2023), and the forthcoming THE ENIGMA CHALLENGE (Viking Penguin 2026).

I'm mostly on Instagram, where I am delighted to talk books with you. Connect with me there @sierragodfrey.

Like the setting in A Very Typical Family, I was born in Santa Cruz, California and now reside in the San Francisco Bay Area with my family, which includes way too many animals. I love tea, crows, paper planners, reading--SO MUCH READING--and am a quiet introvert.

For regular updates and reading recs, sign up for my newsletter at sierragodfrey.com/signup

Reviews

[Sierra]

Hi everyone and thank you for reading my debut!

I want to take a moment to list the content considerations so you can make informed choices about reading. A Very Typical Family features:

- Scenes of domestic violence
- Substance abuse including death from overdose
- Strained family relationships between siblings and parents
- Grief

Thank you for reading!

Please note: Previously, this note had me giving my book 5 stars and saying "I am the author of this book, so I'm giving it 5 stars!" which was meant in fun -- certainly I thought it was -- but I can certainly see why some reviewers think giving oneself 5 stars is some kind of attempt at rating skewing (comments below reflect it). It wasn't, but I am updating with no ratings to correct.

[Cassidy Dellemonache · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't get over the line (repeated over and over again) that Natalie, the main character, is the "reason her siblings went to prison." Never did anyone acknowledge that her siblings' illegal behaviors were the reason they went to prison. Well, I guess Natalie's therapist did, but everyone else put the blame on her.

[delani · Rating 2 out of 5]

the best friend's name is teensy and i think that is a crime worse than the contents of the book

[Zsa Zsa · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s been a while since I gave a one star review but i am still not sure how this book ended up being a VPL big library read!
It was unpleasantly long, the dialogue was awkward and embarrassing. The characters did NOT make any sense! Everything was TOLD, nothing was shown 🙄

[Gabrielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book I’ve read this year. The heroine is an idiot (you can’t just enroll someone else’s kid in school). Every character is stupid (you can’t just leave an abusive asshole knocked out and not, like, tied up??). The last 10% runs around tying every little shred of story up in a happy little bow (even the stupid cat). Skip this. #biglibraryread

[Tanya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea why I finished this book.

[scthoughts · Rating 2 out of 5]

It could have benefited from trimming down on subplots that didn’t add on or further the plot along in a substantial way. Honestly, the romance could’ve been cut out completely and got the same book. The reveal behind the siblings rift wasn’t that realistic due to how quick things escalated. If you were to blink too fast then you missed it. It’s the only time the main character wasn’t making one of their daily painfully dumb decisions. Even though the characters are all in their thirties, quite a bit of the story felt like a mellow filler episode of a teen drama show. What intrigued me the most was the story behind why Lynn chose her job. It sent me into a wikipedia rabbit hole that was...fascinating. lol



Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for providing a copy for an honest review.

[Joyeux Noelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Books about messy family dynamics can be dramatic or comedic…messy. But in this book, the whole premise of the inciting incident that started the family estrangement was so badly mangled and presented that I had hard time not wondering if every character had lost their mind.
Yes, if you’re doing drugs you don’t want to be caught. But that does NOT mean that the person reporting you has betrayed you in ANY way.
The way every single main character just went ahead and either straight out blamed Natalie for her decision or at least acknowledged that she had made a mistake waivers between ridiculous and infuriating. It seemed like the only character in the book who had the sense to tell Natalie that she had not made a mistake in reporting her brother and sister (who were adults and had needed to be held accountable for their own bad choices) was her therapist who was basically a non-entity to the story.
I get that the conversation around drugs, addiction, and proper sentencing can be fraught with tension, but if you don’t like a law, try to change it. Don’t blame someone else for reporting something illegal. Natalie made the *right* choice. Jake and Lynn’s attitude about it was incredibly poor, especially at the end when they “forgave” her. Ummm…sure if that’s what they need to do to get past it, but I kept waiting for one of them to say, “we were wrong. We were breaking the law and you did the right thing. Prison was rough, but if we hadn’t been caught then our actions would have caught up with us sooner or later and the consequences could have been much more severe. You calling the police that night saved us.”
That’s the conversation that *should* have happened, but didn’t. Instead it was basically, “I was doing something illegal and since you turned me in and I was forced to go to prison for breaking the law my life was ruined and it was all the result of your actions none of mine.”
Okay…so that was my problem with the main inciting incident. Outside of that one good decision at the beginning turning in her siblings, I found Natalie to just be a weak character all around who really did struggle with good decision. She was such a problematic character that it seemed like the author had to work double-time to make Paul a terrible person in order to justify how poorly Natalie seemed to be handling everything (I honestly agreed with the conversation between Ann and Paul).
Women have worked hard to be treated equally in the workplace. I get that it’s upsetting to not get a promotion you wanted and your partner gets it instead. Should Paul have told Natalie he was up for it, too? Yes. But did he steal it? No, it wasn’t his or Natalie’s position to give or take. Can you imagine if a male character had refused to come into work and then went across the country for three weeks because their girlfriend got the promotion they wanted? The outrage! People would be dumping on him for being a poor sport, bad boyfriend, anti-feminist etc, but when Natalie didn’t get what she wanted she just didn’t show up for work, claimed she needed space and boundaries and then took off for over a month. I would have respected her more if she’d just quit her job before leaving for California and moved on to bigger and better things instead of basically proving that she didn’t have what it takes to actually be a manager.
The book also had issues with pacing and repetitiveness. Outside of the main characters (who were pretty problematic in their own right), the side characters were all rather one dimensional or had motivations that didn’t make sense.
So…kind of entertaining if you like watching a train wreck, but incredibly difficult logic leaps to get over.

[johnny ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

july 2023's big library read was a huge disappointment. this was poorly written, childish, silly, and... it made no sense. natalie is so damn boring. paper plate personality, no real ambition, no discernible intelligent thought. boring as fuck.

[Katlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly got to about 75% and skipped to the end. What a horrible book. I have never in my life read a more terrible book. Like who wrote this? WHY is this the big library read? I could write something better.

I rate this book .25 stars besides obvious pacing, length and plot issues here are my problems:

1. The fucking cat. Honestly this book would have been so much better without the damn cat horrible cat ownership. How do you lose an animal so much and not care about them. This was just painful to read.

2. Natalie is a moron. Every choice she makes is dumb and poorly educated when she's supposed to be educated.....again who wrote this? Did they do any amount of research.

3. Tried to make Paul look horrible when he's just doing his best. Idk I didn't think he was awful at all. He could do better

4. Lynn and Jake are horrible siblings and just people in general. I have never disliked two characters more. The fact they never really APOLOGIZED for exploding the family and still blames Natalie really showed that the writer did NO research. None. This is the worst case of drug use incarnation in a book to date.

5. The AUTHOR even blames Natalie when she calls the police during the event..... Someone was bleeding out the head and a guy was dying. Yes the EMTs were needed.

6. Fuck the mother.

7. Fuck the side lust story and teenage porn.

All in all I hope the next big library read is at least a 2 star. people who rated this higher.... who paid you or are we reading different books?

[Jayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I selected this book because I was intrigued by the book's "A woman's journey to rebuild her life and reconnect with her family" premise.

The fact that the book's main protagonist hadn't spoken to the brother and sister she was responsible for sending to prison over 15 years ago. also piqued my interest.

I usually enjoy dysFUNctional family books but this book simply lacked the "FUN" that I was seeking.

The writing was neither engrossing nor engaging and, at times, I felt like I was listening to a YA novel. (I am not a fan of YA novels).

I listened to the audiobook and the narration was good but not great.

2 stars rounded up.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admittedly I don’t get the title or cover here, they seem to be unrelated to the story. Overall this was a decent family drama filled read but the main character was a total idiot. What kind of person has their cat go missing in a new area and just runs about mooning over a man and doing mundane chores? I would be a total mess until my cat was found. It’s worth noting too that she took her cat on a cross country road trip and lost him in the woods for hours in national parks as she couldn’t be bothered to put a harness or leash on the poor cat. A simple harness would have saved a lot of trouble. I feel like this says a lot about Natalie as a character, just a terrible person. The choices she makes throughout her life are all bad starting with the police call.

The writing flowed well here and seemed natural. Except for the problems with Natalie the story was good.

[Chaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

No clue how to rate this. On the one hand, it was terrible. On the other hand, it was a lot of fun to hate-listen to this.

Some of the best gems:
Complex, spaghetti-like emotions
Boiled potato of man
A mouth full of truly shocking teeth (with no further explanations given)
Anything the narrator read in Ashier’s voice
Ashier’s burning hands

[MicheleReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natalie Walker is estranged from her family. Fifteen years ago, her actions resulted in older brother Jake and her sister Lynn being sent to jail. She left Santa Cruz and made a life in Boston working for an architectural firm. When she is notified that her mother has died, Natalie learns that the inheritance of the family's historic Victorian mansion has a stipulation. All three siblings have to reunite in their former home to claim it. With recent job and romance disappointments, Natalie heads to California assuming her siblings still hate her for being the one responsible for their incarceration. Lynn, escaping an abusive husband, has also headed to the family home with her teenage son. But brother Jake, who is a scientist at the University of California Santa Cruz's Long Marine Lab, has disappeared. The Walkers are certainly not a typical family.

I fully enjoyed author Sierra Godfrey's impressive debut. Natalie is such an appealing character. She is someone who has lived with an incredible amount of guilt and sadness. So, when she finally has the chance to reconnect with the siblings she loves and misses, it is impossible not to root for her happiness. And while this is a family drama, it is often very witty and upbeat. I enjoy books about forgiveness and second chances. This one was very well done. And be sure to read the interview with the author at the end.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read A Very Typical Family in advance of its publication.

Review posted on MicheleReader.com.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big library read—I definitely enjoyed the story and don’t understand all the low ratings. Characters were well written, developed with depth and the relationships were intertwined nicely. Unfolding of family secrets was also well written. Also nice that there was healing of a dysfunctional family and to bring to light that every family has secrets, dysfunction and things to work through. Contains love, loss, dealing with emotions you weren’t aware someone else was dealing with, secrets, getting away from an abusive relationship and family dramas. Didn’t read YA to me at all……. I’d definitely recommend you listen for yourself before trusting all these low star reviews. Narration was great and enjoyed the inflections for different characters.

[Caitlin Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cringey and juvenile. This is young-adult smut.

The main character fulfills the clumsy, “quirky,” trope and is deeply unlikeable. I can deal with a stupid main character, but she is so, SO idiotic. I don’t understand how this is an adult — the way she is written makes me feel like I’m reading a story about a teenager.

Overall:
• Terrible characters with no development
• The author clearly has no experience with those involved in substance abuse
• Boring, aimless subplots
• Painful, poorly written dialogue

[Allie · Rating 1 out of 5]

(may contain spoilers, depends on your definition)

I felt like this book had so much potential, which is maybe why I held out for so long. The psychology of forgiveness and why all these messed up people do the things they do! Complicated relationships and fascinating career choices! Yet everything felt two-dimensional and unrealistic to me.

To start, it's unforgivable to me that everyone claimed it's Natalie's fault her siblings went to jail. How can an entire cast of adults, including their mother, fail to see this? It's been said in other reviews but it deserves repeating. If people are in danger, the right thing to do is call the police. Always. Period. And maybe I misunderstood something because I was listening to the audiobook instead of reading it, but didn't a guy literally die because of the siblings' actions? Like if Natalie didn't call the police how exactly would they have gotten away with it anyway???

I already mentioned the mom and I think she's the best example of my next point: I want to better understand other characters' perspectives! Her mom's actions in particular made no sense to me. She was someone who must've been a complex person with lots of issues to have completely cut herself off from her children even on her deathbed, but we're never given a convincing look into her psyche. Which is really a lost opportunity and a shame when you think of how her actions influenced the main character and the rest of the story. But I was also interested in other characters -- Buck, for instance, and her missing brother and the love interests. Everyone felt flat to me, limited to whatever their role was supposed to be in Natalie's life.

Speaking of Natalie, her perspective frequently didn't make sense to me. I laughed OUT LOUD every time she wondered if Asier was acting interested in her and kissing her because he wanted access to a microscope. Seriously? I would've appreciated a more believable thing for her to overthink about. And what about her career? Why is she acting like her only option is to stay at the only job she's been at for 10 years and also how is she as broke as she claims? I liked that she was considering a job in a different field but I thought the opportunities that arose on that front were really unrealistic. And also she's kind of a terrible friend--her friendship with Teensy relying on her marrying Teensy's brother is super weird, and also she was constantly making everything in all her relationships about her. Remember the engagement brunch, for instance? Like ok it's a book about Natalie but for us to like her or find her world believable, there have to be relationships we care about and believe could happen.

Usually I don't give 1-star reviews or rant about the books I read (maybe because I usually don't finish the ones I think so poorly of) but I'm a little confused about the rest of the ratings I'm seeing and frustrated about the lost potential I see in really exploring important topics and developing complex characters.

I'm trying to think of things I liked from the novel to end on a more positive note, so here's what I've come up with: the setting, the side characters that I wanted to know more about (including Kit), and her tension of feeling-at-home-but-not. I'm confused about this being the book club book through Libby (which is what led me to read this in the first place) but I do feel like I've come out having learned something about illustration and being a mortician (oddly.) And the romance was kinda fun.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The romance was very cheesy, but I have a weakness for Latin men too, so it was east for me to get over. The rest of it was a feel good Hallmark movie waiting to happen, and today, that’s just what I needed (minus some of the darker themes supporting the plot), which is why I’m rounding up to a four.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ This was an entertaining story. it dealt with some pretty serious issues without seeming so heavy. A snap decision was made in teenage years that had life long effects on entire family can your adult self forgive your teenage self for decisions made?
can your family forgive you?
would your adult self make the same decision that your teenage self made?
I listened to it and enjoyed the audio!!

[Taury · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey was anything but a typical family. What was a childhood tragedy pulled a family apart for 15 years. In the end it glued them back together stronger than ever. I must say I loved this book!!! The romance isn’t even cheesy. I can’t wait to read her other book!

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to quit 30% of the way through but I kept going, hoping it would get better. The protagonist is not endearing. She just comes off as unworldly and foolish. A stunted shell of a woman. Her childhood doesn’t make you feel sorry for her at all and isn’t an excuse for the sad person she is as an adult. This story attempts to build depth and connection between characters like her friends and her love interest but it just comes off half-assed and fake. She tried to write deep chemistry between the main character and her “crush” and failed. No chemistry. It seemed weird and out of place for one chapter to begin with a sex dream and then is so cringey when refers back to it when she notices her crush’s face or hair. Natalie is such a weird character. She likes to draw, okay. She’s interested in scientific drawing, okay. But she’s messy and keeps a room full of jars of insects? Dead and alive for her to sketch? It just seems weird. I didn’t find it quirky or charming. And then she finds her passion when she begins sketching dead, mutilated, and decomposing sea lions at her brother’s lab?? Speaking of her brother, she builds a mystery the entire story about where he has disappeared to. No one can get in touch with him. He’s missing for weeks and his colleagues just shake it off because that’s how he is? And then he’s literally down the street at their stepdad’s house when the story seems to be leading up to some messed up family mystery. Nope. Just her brother hiding from the world and no one seems to be alarmed he disappeared like that at all. Halfway through I just decided to continue hate-reading (listening) to this book. The audiobook narrator didn’t help this book any. Her voice for male characters sound like a little girl voicing her Ken doll when he talks to Barbie. Natalie’s love interest is from Spain and I hated it her accent. I just really disliked this story. Don’t waste your time. I wasted mine for you!

[Theresa Apple · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version, and the reader had exactly 2 voices in her repertoire: male, and female. No matter that there were several characters of each sex, they all sound the same, whether they were from Spain, Boston, or California.
As for the story, it was a light read just to pass the time while I was driving, but I found myself frustrated, as I often do, with the female characters, lack of ability to speak up for themselves, to always blame themselves for everybody's troubles, and have self-esteem that is in the basement. Male characters never seem to have those afflictions. I think you could still write a good story without having such helpless female characters.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was decent but quite long, given the plot. I also wish I hadn't gone into this blindly, as my expectations somewhat diminished my enjoyment of the book. While the storyline was decent, I kept wanting more. A significant portion felt like it dragged on and was ultimately anticlimactic. Not awful but not my cup of tea, either.

[Stephanie Le · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure how this ended up as the pick for Libbys Global Book Club…

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf @40%
there’s a decent storyline in here about a young woman who has to meet up with her resentful estranged siblings but i couldn’t get past the stilted, emotionless dialogue.

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

i’m so proud to have the same first name as this author

[Fran Hawthorne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this novel because of its theme of family estrangement; I didn't realize it was chick-lit. Since that's not one of my usual genres, I will try to be more attuned to what this genre is (and shouldn't be expected to be) as I write this review.

As the story begins, the main character, Natalie Walker, hasn't seen her family in 15 years-- not since she called the cops on her older brother and sister, who subsequently were sent to prison. But now their mother has died, and her will decrees that in order to inherit the family's historic Victorian mansion in Santa Cruz, California, the three siblings must show up there together within two months.

After a brief inner debate, Natalie packs up her cat and her insect collection and drives the 3100 miles to Santa Cruz from her home in Boston. She leaves behind a halfway interesting job writing historic-house reports for an engineering firm and an apparently devoted boyfriend. (Never mind that the boyfriend was secretly vying for the promotion at work that Natalie thought she was getting.)

The answers to most of the plot questions are quickly revealed -- for instance, why Natalie called the police 15 years ago-- or are immediately obvious to any reader, if not to Natalie. (Will she dump the overbearing boyfriend in Boston for the sexy marine scientist in Santa Cruz?) Happily, the mysterious disappearance of Natalie's brother remains compelling through most of the book.

Natalie is likable enough, as any chick-lit heroine must be; her cluelessness and habit of always making bad choices are more unbelievable than annoying. (The scientist, alas, is a too-perfect romantic hero, brainy as well as sexy.) Other characters, such as Natalie's sister Lynn and her best friend Teensy back in Boston, offer a more complex mix of admirable and off-putting qualities.

To the author's credit, the book tackles some serious topics in addition to estrangement. Most important is domestic abuse in a range of forms -- perhaps more than the author realized -- starting with the "benign" version where a partner smothers you with controlling love. As the plot unspools, the danger Lynn faces from her abusive husband becomes deeper and scarier. There's also a lot of interesting information about the art of scientific illustration.

Unfortunately, the book skates far too lightly over the issue that originally drew me in -- the unbearable pain of estrangement. Millions of people across the planet are estranged from family members for reasons far less serious or obvious than having a sibling send them to prison, and their reconciliations, if they happen at all, do not happen cute.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m surprised that this book was chosen to be a Big Library Read. It seemed so, well, juvenile. I wouldn’t have read it if it wasn’t a BLR, and I wasn’t impressed. The writing was quite simplistic, the plot was incredibly contrived, and the character development was pretty non-existent. The three sibs have to all show up to the dead mom’s house to receive their inheritance? Really?

In the end, it was a quick read at least, but essentially I felt like I was reading a Hallmark movie script. And I’d like a little more info about who chooses big library reads and what the criteria is.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A VERY TYPICAL FAMILY
Sierra Godfrey

So, if this is a typical family, ok. While most families don't have the extreme issues that this one seemed to have, I know that my dysfunctional group isn't really that far off. So, for that reason, I laughed about the title and thought it was brilliant!

Natalie, and her older sibs, a brother and sister must meet to claim their inheritance, a huge mansion in Santa Cruz CA. So she car trips there with her cat (a super character) and starts the search for her brother, Jake. What she finds is her sister, Lynn, and her son, Kit (another cool character) living in the house. Nat moves in with this sister and her son and tries to put their relationship back together. They have not spoken in 15 years!

Yep, 15 years mostly because Natalie called the police and testified against them about killing a guy with drugs. So you can see that the level of dysfunction is pretty high. What I did notice is that despite Lynn and Jake being sent to prison for Manslaughter, they both were able to educate themselves and get amazing, but weirdly unique jobs.

Natalie was also able to go to college, in BOSTON. She has a college degree and a job researching homes for an architectural firm where she and her boyfriend both work. He wants to marry her, she wants a break, but nobody really listens to her. I love how Nat worms her way into the labs where Jake works, meets his peers, and has a relationship with them.

BUT Natalie is a hot mess! She is always overthinking what she shouldn't and not thinking about what she should know. Many of these are humous and stupid. I often felt like I was watching a wreck right in front of me.

I really enjoyed the story, the characters were great despite not always being totally believable. I liked the family tie theme that flowed through the book which indicates that forgiveness, kindness, and bravery are important to family. Godfrey lasers in on the idea that communication is required to bring about forgiveness, but forgiveness is required to maintain a family.

4 stars

Happy Reading!

[Jaclyn Ekhoff · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started out liking this and being very invested/hopeful. But it fell apart really quickly. Shitty side-stories and way too many sub-plots that were completely unnecessary to the story. What started out as a unique and interesting plot, quickly turned into predictable, cheesy, crappy dialogue. I would only recommend this to people whom I don’t like and want them to waste hours of their life.

Edited to add: I see the author has rated her own book on here as 5 stars, because she’s the author. That should have told me everything I needed to know.