This one did not hit for me. Confusing at the outset. The plot was campy in parts and outright cringeworthy in others.

I struggled with a rating for this book. Although it kept my interest, some parts were not lacking substance to me.
I give this book 3.75 stars.

The Last Couple standing is about Jessica and Mitch who decide to loosen their marriage in order to remain alive and save their marriage. They are the only couple of their closest friends who are not divorced.

Part One: The Divorces was very confusing to me. This is the part of the book where the author introduces the characters and explains how they met and how their marriages ended. With four couples, I found it hard to keep up with who was married to who. I think the author could have separated the introductions better to lessen the confusion.

After the introductions are made, the plot does evolve and keep the readers' interest! There are parts of the book that are definitely page turners where you are eager to see how things unfold.

However, the ending of the book was a little rushed to me. I think there should have be more dialogue with Jessica and Mitch when her love lover was exposed.

While reading this book, the old saying " the grass may look greener on the other side" is definitely displayed.

It is a good story that explains " the grass may look greener on the other side but it isn't"

Oh, this was lots of fun. I really enjoyed the relationships between all the various characters--Norman has done an excellent job of giving each of the Core Four distinct personalities, and while I still couldn't remember their names, it was fun to match. Even a scene involving four younger girls felt well thought out due to the traits that each character had previously displayed.

I'm a proponent of the importance this book placed communication. Though unconventional, Norma examined marriage, what it really takes to make one successful, and what successful even means in a deft and thoughtful fashion, though the book was still lots of fun and lighthearted all the way through.

And ET!!! ET was such a delightful recurring theme.

I found the premise of this book to be both different and interesting.
This story begins with a group of friend who pair into couples and call themselves the "Core Four". Four couples, friends since college, who have all divorced save one.
Jessica and Mitch, who are the last couple standing, watch as their friends marriages fall apart and decide to do something drastic to make sure that it doesn't happen to them. The path they choose is not a choice that I would make, and in the long run, after some unfortunate choices, they realize it's not the correct path for them either.
Follow Jessica and Mitch as they start their journey into saving a marriage before it needs saving.
I laughed, I cried, I loved it!
I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a story that explores alternative viewpoints and choices.

Four couples pair up in their college days, move on to get married and start families, but after about 15 years or so, only Mitch and Jessica are still together. When they see how their friends have all split up, and how “couple’s night” has turned into single’s nights for most of them, they start to wonder if they need to be more proactive in keeping their marriage together. In comes a little experiment – not quite an open marriage, but maybe a relaxed one. At least, relaxed in thought and action, but how much so in reality? This is the first book I’ve read by Matthew Norman, but I really enjoyed it. I think there was a lot of humor in this book – a fast read with likeable characters. Is it realistic? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s definitely enjoyable!

NOTE: Special thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a fun read, and the writing was really funny, but the whole time I was reading it, I was thinking, this was definitely written by a man! I’m not sure if I would categorize it as women’s fiction.

Mitch and Jessica, the last remaining married couple out of a friend group of four couples, decide to put some “fun” into their marriage in order to stay together. Jessica, who was the character I found most unbelievable, saw her husband looking at a lingerie ad at a mall and decided “hey, let’s sleep with other people!” Lots of feelings ensue.

Mitch and Jessica are the last couple standing. When the other three couples in their set all divorce within a couple of years, suddenly their own previously happy marriage seems almost up for grabs. With infidelity at the root of most of their friend’s problems, they decide to experiment with a temporarily open marriage to see if they can forestall what feels like the inevitable. Jessica — a therapist — points out “Love is a feeling. Monogamy is a rule. One we came up with twelve-thousand years ago when we started worrying about property rights.”

While the first chapter is a kind of leaden background — explaining how all four couples got together and what went wrong in the other three — both writing and content picked up after that. Lots of humorous and interesting dialogue and plenty of non-gender conforming behavior. In fact, I really appreciated the fact that each character was an individual with his/her own ideas and standards — none of which felt stereotypical to me. Scarlett — one of Mitch’s wilder students (and simultaneously Jessica’s client — they work out of the same high school) — really throws some good curveballs at them both with her own ideas about sex, love, and the #metoo movement.

I found the book increasingly insightful and relevant and enjoyed how it portrayed a wide variety of viewpoints.

Some good quotes:
“Like we used to before the kids sucked the life out of us like vampires.”

“For Mitch, being married to a therapist had some advantages and some disadvantages. She was unfailingly reasonable. She was incredibly smart. But sometimes it felt like he was talking to a robot that had programmed to read WebMD pages aloud to him.”

“I haven’t had sex with a guy once since my divorce who hasn’t tried to come all over me.” “Same,” said Sarah. “Which is such a delight, because God knows that’s exactly what we’re hoping for.”

“How much easier would life be if, the moment you get married, you take a pill, and everyone else in the world turns plain and boring?”

The premise of the book challenges and explores one of the many “what if’s” in long lasting marriages and giving in to temptation. I love that we got to see polarizing experiences from both parties, and thought the book was very clever! I really enjoyed this book! I totally related to the characters, their dynamic reminded me of my own core group of friends, and thought they were hilarious. This was a quick read for me and I laughed a lot, felt for Mitch, and overall I really enjoyed it!

The Last Couple Standing was so good. Funny and heartwarming at the same time - my jam.

In order to avoid divorce (unlike their friends), Jessica and Mitch take on some drastic (or not?) measures to save their marriage and might have found the secret sauce!

While ultimately divorce is no laughing matter, this is one funny book. The core four, a group of 4 couples that met in college and married shortly after graduating, have wound their lives around one another so much so they continue to live near each other and celebrate all holidays together and basic moments in life. Twenty years later, three of the four couples divorce in quick succession. What ensues is the sad and absurd antics of the divorced as followed by the remaining married couple, Jessica, a therapist, and Mitch, an English teacher.
The impact of Mitch & Jessica's friends' choices lead to some introspective moments between the couple and perhaps bad choices in the search for the answer to "is this all there is?"
Last couple standing also pokes around the devastation of the children and spouses left behind in the wake of divorce. Interestingly enough, a fifth couple's divorce is featured. Mitch and Jessica's next door neighbors are also divorcing with the father moving out while questioning his right to be happy. Their teenage son, Luke, is in the throws of awkward pubescence and happens to also be a student of Mitch and their family babysitter. The idea that the teenagers are more able to process what's happening, is somewhat debunked when Luke stumbles upon parental activities both with his neighbor and his mother.
Last Couple Standing had me laughing out loud a few times and smiling often. Quite a feat given the subject matter.
Copy provided by Netgalley for review

Last Couple Standing
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I usually read historical fiction, WWII novels, etc., so this novel was definitely a change from my usual genre and a welcome, refreshing, laugh aloud story. Although, in a literary sense, it is nothing special, it was entertaining, even with the very predictable ending. Overall 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

The book was cute and a quick read, but I really was hoping for something more from it. There wasn't enough of a storyline - they each only went on one date... the premise, in my opinion, called for much more content in that direction, and less time spent on the kids in the story. The ET thing was way overkill. It's an easy beach read, but I wouldnt recommend it as much as I had hoped.

What an absolutely delightful guilty read! If you are married or in a long term relationship...get on this book.
It indulges the reader of the 'what if?' scenarios you've certainly had.

Jessica and Mitch. married for 15 years, are the last of their circle of friends not yet divorced, and they want to keep it that way. They devise a plan called the 'relaxed marriage' which explores a taboo boundaries of an open marriage. I couldn't put this book down - I needed to know how it all played out!

Often, the romance I read are written by female authors so I liked that it was written from a male author perspective, it added a new layer of interest especially on this concept. The writing was humorous, interesting and fast paced. I wish it was a bit longer to flush out the details but overall, enjoyable read and recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This a delicious and delightful book, written with a light yet vibrant style, about a serious subject.

The Core Four, as they call each other, are four couples who met in college at Johns Hopkins. Originally the core eight, four woman friends and four men friends, when they all eventually meet, as they say, worlds collide, they pair up and eventually marry, and at the time of the story, all live in Maryland.

That’s the backstory. Moving forward about 20 years, they’re all still living in Baltimore. Two of the couples have children. Everyone has a good job. But as paint wears thin over twenty years, cracks start to appear in three of the marriages, and three couples rapidly divorce, leaving Mitch and Jessica Butler wondering if the grass is greener outside the constraints of life, and if their friends appear to be having a great time solo, what’s wrong with them if they are not?

Thus the Relaxed Marriage for Mitch and Jessica. Just as their divorced friends seem to having fun, both Mitch and Jessica think their partner is having fun. But of course, not even a river always flows smoothly.

I’ve purposely omitted the details to avoid spoilers. There’s a lot to like about Mitch and Jessica, and their two children, Jude and Emily, are possibly the most hilarious children I’ve ever read about, including their mutual and fear of ET and their ability to be in the right place at the wrong time and vice versa. The two young people who play solid roles in dramas of their own, Scarlett and Luke, are also terrific. To add to the deliciousness of this story of relationships and their inevitable bumps in the road, both Scarlett and Luke are students in Mitch’s English class, and Scarlett is in therapy with Jessica. One of the most memorable moments of the story is when Jessica and Scarlett are in the same place, in a compromising position.

I liked this book a lot, and look forward to reading more by this author. She’s very talented.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

Last Couple Standing: A Novel

Very funny, very well written. Recommended.



Review copy provided by publisher.

Jessica and Mitch, and their cadre of friends, have been married for 15 years. While Jessica and Mitch are still a close-knit couple with kids, all around them the marriages of their closest friends are failing. so Jessica decides that to keep their marriage fresh, she and Mitch should have sex with other people. Hilarity and heartbreak ensue. Good, quick read, but not particularly memorable.

I found this to be not as enjoyable as I thought. Life happens and people change and borrowing trouble is one way to cause sure disaster. (That's just my personal opinion!) It wasn't what I was expecting at all...

Thank you to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of Last Couple Standing.

Mitch and Jessica have been together since college, the last couple out of their Core Four of friends to remain married.

As a way to prevent their marriage from going stagnant, they embark on a not so original, radical experiment to 'sow' their oats without consequences.

Yeah, like that ever works in books and real life.

I did enjoy the writing, there was some jokes and humor, and I found myself drawn into Mitch and Jessica's life.

But, the character development was poor, especially in regards to Jessica.

Mitch wasn't a bad guy, but as I kept reading, it felt like the author was not so subtly making Jessica the bad guy here.

There are a few subplots, including one that involves a client of Jessica's, rom-com tropes, constant reminders about how stacked Jessica is (as if I needed more reminders that the author is male), and some family humor.

This wasn't a bad read, but it could have been better if the characters had been fleshed out.

This book started out pretty interesting especially the Baltimore part- being born and raised there I could relate to all the locations and it was nice to be brought back. However, diving into the rest of the story the characters fell flat and I needed more from them. The storyline itself appeared juvenile to me as well. Maybe this just wasn’t the story for me although I finished it and it was enjoyable at times.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A couple who doesn’t want to get divorced tries a radical experiment to maintain their marriage.
Four couples have known each other from college days, and now 15 years later, find them in the process of getting a divorce.
They band together to try and save their marriages
A very poignant and heartfelt book