Another Kristan Higgins book that is a stand alone and I typically love her books that are stand alones, but for me this one as was just ok. The Frost family contains mother, father, and two daughters. When the story begins, the father has had a heart attack and the daughter that lived far away has come home to help nurse him back to health, but also to rethink what she wants her future to look like.

With each of the family members taking turns to tell their side of the story, the book started with presenting each member and the drama they were dealing with. I think for me this is didn't work for me and it was hard to start sort of down in the dumps from the beginning. The first few chapters and so many odd pages were just filled with drama drama and more drama and I was worried that was how the whole book was going to feel like. Thankfully once the story started moving forward it got better, but not enough for me to fall in love with it.

Being in a family with two daughters, I related a lot to this book and maybe for me I laughed at things that felt familiar and cringed at things that felt too close! I love picturing these two daughters and their parents and it was easy to see the reflections in my family. Kristan Higgins builds great characters.

Out of her stand alones, this wasn't one of my favorites, but it isn't a book that I despised or didn't even finish.

“Count your blessings before the shit hits the fan.”

After her dad has a stroke, NYC art teacher Sadie moves back home to small town Connecticut to help care for him. Her sister, Juliet, is pushed getting pushed to her breaking point after the stress of her dad’s condition, and Barb, her mom, is facing the truth about her and John’s crumbling marriage. Oh, and of course, can’t forget to toss Sadie’s ex-boyfriend who she thought she would marry into the mix! The Frost family has a lot going on, and the story unfolds as they navigate through this rollercoaster season of life.

While it started out a little slow, I ended up really enjoying this book! I felt the characters were really relatable and the author’s voice added to that. I connected with the themes of not being good enough, but also unconditional friendship. I’ll definitely be looking up more books by Kristan Higgins!

Read if you enjoy
🏡Family drama
🏡Hometown vibes
🏡Varying POV
🏡Old flames

Wow, another Women’s Fiction winner for Kristan Higgins!

I wait every year for Kristan Higgins's new book. I even delay reading them because I want to savor the moment and that way, it is less time for me to wait for her next release.

It’s always a real pleasure immersing in her stories. There is always something that clicks with me.

Always the Last to Know, wasn't an exception. It made me laugh and it made me cry.

Once I read the first few pages, I knew the next few hours would be centered around one family: The Frost Family.

There is John, the patriarch who has been a good provider but not a very good father to his first child or a good husband to Barb, his wife. The day he has a massive brain bleed, Barbara finds out something he has been hiding from her.

Barbara, the wife and mother, who has never been truly happy in her marriage despite trying to do things she assumed were expected of her as a "wife". She has a great relationship with her daughter Juliet but the same couldn't be said about her youngest daughter, Sadie. Sadie has always been John's favorite.

Juliet is a successful architect but lately, she has noticed she has competition at work from someone she brought in and tried to mentor. She also worries about her own marriage and her two girls especially the one who's becoming a typical teenager.

Lastly, we meet Sadie. A New Yorker by heart. Someone who didn’t want to stay and live in a small town. Her dream was to be discovered as an artist and become a famous painter. In the present, she's almost engaged to Alexander Mitchum, who’s a yacht salesman but her main love has been always been Jon snow, I mean scratch that, Noah Pelletier. Noah had a different dream than hers. He wanted to stay in town, marry Saddie and form a family together.

The trials and tribulations of these characters were perfectly described by Kristan Higgins. She humanized them and gave them meaning. I ended up liking all three women in a very different way. Of course, I love Noah and Sadie together and I laughed every single time Mickey spoked. She had me in stitches. Barbara and Caro's friendship was a refreshing change. I also love how awesome Juliet's husband, Oliver really was.

I'm sad to say goodbye to this family but I'm sure next year, I'll meet some awesome new ones.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs


A complimentary copy was provided by Berkley via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of the Frost family. It is probably more true than you think. Barb and John have been married for nearly 50 years. When he has a stroke riding his bike, Barb answers his phone and discovers he is having an affair. Sadie leaves her teaching position to come home to take care of her father, clueless about her parents life. Julie has always been a mama's girl and is having a crisis of her own so she lets sister Sadie handle her parents. Many thoughts are revealed and this family has to come to grips with their reality. Great story with wonderful characters. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Frost family is experiencing issues with health, career, and personal issues. I struggled a little with the characters and their back stories, but eventually the story clenched my heart as only Kristin Hannah books can. ARC from NetGalley.

Always the Last to Know is the story of the evolution of a family. The family members have arrived at a crossroads. The status quo can no longer be maintained. As the story opens, John has just sustained a catastrophic injury. He suffered a stroke while riding his bicycle, struck his head when he fell, lost consciousness, and some time elapsed before he was discovered by a passerby. If not for that fact, his prognosis might be better. But at first, the physicians are not sure John will even survive. His family gathers around him, awaiting the outcome and pondering how it will impact their own lives.

Higgins employs both first and third-person narratives to reveal her characters' histories and emotions. Now 70 years old, Barb stays busy as the first selectman of Stoningham, Connecticut, a picturesque little town. Barb was a thrifty, stalwart Norwegian girl from Minnesota when she married into the wealthy, influential Frost family. She shares her perspective on her marriage to John, including their fertility struggles, the joy of finally having Juliet, and how she managed their home so that John could enjoy a successful career as a lawyer. She unabashedly acknowledges that Juliet has always been her favorite child, and the two of them remain extremely close, especially with Sadie off in New York still attempting to forge a career as an artist. After so many years, so many disappointments, and much consideration, Barb had decided to tell John, on their fiftieth wedding anniversary, that she planned to divorce him. They stopped doing things as a couple long ago and, Barb observes, John "didn't seem to care. We stopped talking almost completely. It was better than forcing a meaningless conversation." Now she finds herself at his bedside, shocked by the depth of her own grief, and struck for the first time by the fact that he has "old man hands" but on his finger remains "the ring I'd put on it fifty years ago." Barb doesn't know how long John's hands have looked old because she can't "remember the last time I'd noticed. We weren't the hand-holding type of couple." As she grips the bag she was handed containing John's belongings, including his telephone, a series of texts reveal the secret John has been keeping from her.

Juliet's story is presented in the third person. She has been experiencing panic attacks in recent weeks, brought on largely because of Arwen, the young architect she hired who is now attempting to usurp both her authority and acclaim. Juliet had never questioned her life choices, but now she's no longer sure she's on the right path and has an overwhelming urge to run away. Her knowledge of her parents' strained relationship adds to her consternation.

Sadie has been dating Alexander, a yacht salesman, for a couple of years and at the age of thirty-two is ready to take what seems to be the next logical step to formalize their relationship. Alexander is not as enthusiastic. Sadie has been supplementing her teaching income by creating couch paintings commissioned by an interior designer to complement the furnishing selections. Sadie knows that the paintings do not reflect her passion for art and are not representative of her true style, but they will generate income while Sadie puts her life on hold to return to Stoningham and care for the man who "had been my idol growing up -- always encouraging, upbeat and fun . . . not to mention the parent who actually liked me." Sadie has always known that her mother viewed her as "the lesser child in just about every measurable aspect except artistic ability . . ." While Juliet was her mother's child, Sadie has always been her dad's. And she is determined to help him recover, even when the doctors declare that various therapies have yielded as much improvement as can reasonably be anticipated. Her father can dress and feed himself, and ambulate, but he does not speak. Higgins includes glimpses into John's inner dialogue in his compromised condition -- his confusion, dismay, and urgent need to communicate important information to his family members are palpable and heart-breakingly effective.

Barb receives support and encouragement from her neighbor and true friend, Caro, a woman who has been "privy to just about all the issues and troubles and joys" Barb has ever experienced. Sadie's return to Stoningham means an inevitable reunion with Noah, the one great love of her life. But they never wanted the same things -- Sadie needed to leave home and seek to establish herself as an artist, while Noah was happy remaining in Stoningham, working as a carpenter. But she is not prepared for the myriad emotions she experiences not just at seeing Noah again, but learning that he has an adorable infant son that he co-parents with Mickey Watkins, their lesbian former classmate.

Higgins charts the developments in the Frost family as the months pass, with each of them striving to find equilibrium and balance both in their own life, as well as within their deeply dysfunctional family unit. With Caro's unwavering support, Barb reconciles the past with her current circumstances, and boldly confronts the secret John was keeping from her. Juliet strives to understand her own self-worth and strength, and Sadie is confronted with choices that will determine the course of her future. At long last, she must assess her values and desires, and determine what matters most to her, even as she has no choice but to accept John's circumstances. In order to move forward, both Sadie and Juliet must establish themselves as independent, empowered women who are comfortable in their own skin. And Barb must forgive herself, as well as John.

Higgins deftly and believably conveys her characters' circumstances and struggles. Each is flawed, all are relatable, and readers will no doubt glimpse themselves and their own family dynamics in their emotionally-charged interactions. Higgins' dialogue is snappy, authentic, and sometimes hilarious, especially where Barb's Minnesota upbringing informs her viewpoint and values, and as Sadie attempts to establish her own home in Stoningham rather than continue living in her childhood home with her parents.

Always the Last to Know provides a glimpse into one family's challenges in their relationships and dissatisfaction with the state of their individual lives. Higgins' convincingly demonstrates that families sometimes fall apart, especially in the aftermath of a serious injury or illness that forces a recalibration of each members' role and responsibilities. But families can be resilient, and with enough love, empathy, and forgiveness, can withstand unbelievably difficult times, emerging stronger and with the members more devoted to each other than ever before. Always the Last to Know is ultimately an uplifting exploration of that process -- a story fueled by hope, revelations, forgiveness, and empowerment.

This book took me awhile to get through. Partly because of how busy I've been with work lately, but also partly because I felt like the beginning was really slow. This was one of those books where I didn't necessarily enjoy every page, but by the time I finished the last one I was thinking, "Man, that was a good book!"
The characters were a slow, slow burn for me. There were many moments I actively disliked each character, and then tons of moments I was cheering them on, laughing and crying with them, and really enjoying their stories.
As a speech pathologist, there were very specific parts I was very frustrated and upset with, but I won't get into all that specifically. If you happen to be an SLP and have read this book, maybe you understand too.
I know this review may be a little all over the place, but I truly ended up feeling like this book did a great job of showing all sides of the people in the book. The likeable and not so likeable. Which really, isn't that what life is really like?
All in all, I enjoyed it!
A huge thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Kristan Higgins always makes me happy! Her stories hit just the right tone, it's almost creepy how she seems to give me what i need to read, exactly when I need it. I can always count on her!

I interviewed Kristan and Milla over on Frolic, link attached below.

This bittersweet family story from longtime favorite author Kristan Higgins was a real joy to read. While we are told the story from the perspectives of Barb, who is confronted with how out of touch she has become with her husband after a stroke leaves him unable to speak, and her daughters, overachieving but struggling Juliet and happy enough art teacher and artist Sadie who comes home to help. Sadie's story was easily the most compelling, just because she is having big realizations and a lot of really great moments throughout the story, but I enjoyed getting to see Barb and Juliet's perspectives and how they all came together in a time of crisis. The only bad thing about reading a Kristan Higgins book is knowing there's a wait ahead for the next one, but I'm never patient enough to space them out.

It’s a feel-good emotional read that you won’t want to miss out on! Such a wonderful, heartfelt story. Thanks for letting me be apart of the title release blog tour!

4.5

Fans of Kristan Higgins are already familiar with her heartwarming, insightful and funny novels. And for anyone who has not read her books, this is an excellent one to start with. I like the way she delves into the realities of life. In this book, her characters compare the family life that existed in the early years to the actuality of what it really is as adults. Each of them has to deal with disappointments and try to find a way to a new normal. Isn't this something we all face at one point or another? I think this is why her stories feel so relatable.

ARC from Berkeley Publishing Group and Netgalley.

I wanted to badly so love this one; I'm not super familiar with Kristan's other novels, but her contemporary romances are such a delight, so when I was approached to review her latest book, I pounced.

Going in, I knew it would be tough, stories involving dads and illness are hard reads for me, and this one was no different. I would have pushed through though, if it wasn't for Barb. She - and Juliet for that matter - completely ruined the book for me. Barb is so full of spite and hate toward her husband and younger daughter when she herself admitted multiple times her greatly preferred her elder child. That she "...hadn't wanted another child. I was too old. My husband and I were both too old to have another child. It was absurd. We had one, and she was - forgive me - perfect." She then spends Sadie's entire childhood spewing over the fact that Sadie's closer to her father. Nevermind the fact that Barb's other daughter, Juliet, is Barb's very best friend. Barb didn't even bother calling Sadie when she learned John had a stroke and was being sent to the hospital..

I could go on and on about what an awful character Barb was (she wants nothing to do with caring for her husband once he's home from the hospital and so Sadie quits her job and moves back home to care for him. Bathing him, feeding him, talking to him, Sadie does it all and Barb actually has the gall to ask "Do you think you'll get a job?"). I normally am fine with unpleasant characters, but she was SO bad that I truly couldn't continue.

I know I'm very clearly in the minority here.

Kristan Higgins is always an auto read author for me! While this wasn't my favorite of her books (my favorite was Good Luck With That) this was definitely a solid, four star read. The characters were complex and interesting, and the writing style and pace of the book made it hard to put down. What I liked about this book was that I aw a bit of myself in each character. I particularly related to Juliet, as I too struggle with wanting to be perfect and also have a close relationship with my mom. This is a great read to add to your summer reading list!

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

This might be one of my favorite Kristan Higgins books ever. The reason why is that it is so real. I kept seeing myself in a number of characters at different times. And I love that kind of story.

I want to tell you that I connected more with one character but I didn’t. I connected with all of them. I guess because the family dynamic can be really anyone’s family. We all have ups and downs in our life and this story shows that we are not alone.

Higgins has really grown as an author since I have been reading her books. And I can’t wait until her next book and every one after that.

This is a great beach read. Just fall into the story and relax.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Frost family appears normal on the outside, but trouble brews beneath the surface for each of its members. When the father, John, has a stroke, it brings many unpleasantries to a head including a secret affair. The way the author portrays a stroke victim who struggles to communicate is eye opening and very profound. Daughter Sadie must face the possibility of losing the only parent who truly loved her, reuniting with an ex lover, getting closer to her “perfect” sister and dealing with her opinionated mother. How will the family survive this tragedy and will they all survive?

This is about Barb and her two daughters and her husband had a medical emergency and we learn about Barbs marriage, also the relationship with Barb and her two daughters Juliet and Sadie unfortunately I did DNF this one at about the 50% percent mark I don’t usually like to DNF a book and I can’t really write a full review on it.

Always the Last to Know is the story of the Frost family. Parents Barb and John are unhappy and not thinking about celebrating their upcoming 50th anniversary. Older daughter Juliet lives what most would consider a perfect life so what’s with the frequent panic attacks? Younger daughter Sadie chases her dream of being an artist but pays the bills by teaching art at a grade school and taking orders for sofa paintings. She’s committed to living in New York for her art and that has impacted her personal life more than once. When John suffers a stroke the family is forced to decide what is truly important in their lives. I didn’t think this family seemed typical at all. Most of the time I was annoyed and frustrated by the Frosts and the other characters. It could be where I am in my life – who knows. I’ve enjoyed many of Higgins’ books but something seemed missing in this one.

Always the Last to Know by Kristan Higgins is a highly recommended family drama.

Barb Frost, a selectman in the small town of Stonington, Connecticut, is preparing to divorce her husband, John, after fifty years of marriage. She has been unhappy and they have been emotionally miles apart for years. Then John suffers a stroke. Barb and their two daughters rush to the hospital. Juliet, 42, is a successful architect, married, the mother of two, and Barb's favorite. Younger daughter Sadie, 31, is a struggling artist in NYC and has always been John's favorite daughter. At the hospital Barb learns from messages on his phone that John had a mistress. John is sent home and must have in home care. Sadie moves back to Stonington to help care for him.

The story unfolds through chapters written in the individual points-of-view of Barb, Juliet, Sadie, and brief chapters from John. Everyone in the family is going through an emotional upheaval while caring for John. Barb has felt neglected and ignored for years and those feelings are boiling over. Juliet is stretched thin with her marriage, family, and job. Now she has a young architect that she is mentoring overshadowing her and she is having panic attacks. She spotted her father with his mistress and has kept the secret. Sadie was teaching art while trying to break into the art world, but now she's left her job and boyfriend, moving back to help care for her father because it's obvious her mother and Juliet won't be able to do so. She also is now seemingly seeing her old boyfriend, Noah, at every turn.

There is no doubt that the writing is excellent, especially the character development and dialogue. Higgins also does a wonderful job at creating complex, believable, sympathetic characters. You will swear you know or have met these women. The dialogue is also exceptional and each character has a characteristic, individual voice. Higgins handles the problems each person is going through while integrating it into the plot with skill and finesse. The characters make this novel shine. The plot will hold your attention throughout and you will be anxious to reach the final denouement. John's chapters are especially poignant because he is basically non-verbal and we are just reading his thoughts.

The beginning of Always the Last to Know does start out a little rough and Barb comes off as a cold shrew. There also are a few parts that may make those of us who are occasionally too cynical roll our eyes, and the ending is just too perfectly wrapped up. On the other hand, I was anxious to continue reading Always the Last to Know and discover what happens to each character. It is a feel good story would be an excellent choice for summer reading.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
The review will be posted on Library Thing, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

Family dynamics and upheaval

Wow! This was a much deeper book than I was expecting. Maybe it's the chaotic times we're living in right now, with the political shenanigans and the COVID-19 appearance, but the last couple of books I've read have explored a different, bit darker side of relationships than I expected.

Not to say this is a depressing book. It has sad moments but, overall, it brings a message of overcoming obstacles put in our way during life's journey.

Barb and John Frost have been married almost fifty years and, yes that's an accomplishment, but they haven't all been happy years. Barb is getting ready to file for divorce when their world comes crashing down on them. John has a stroke and gets a traumatic brain injury on top of that and Barb is put in the position of caring for a man she no longer loves - and who she finds no longer loves her.

Juliet is their oldest daughter, her mother's favorite, a successful architect and having panic attacks she tries to hide from everyone around her.

Sadie, the youngest daughter, is her father's favorite and is devastated by his condition. She was always a wild child and left her hometown in Connecticut to move to New York City and aspire to be the artist she has always wanted to be.

There was so much going on in this book and, as with so many of author Higgins' books, I could relate to so much of it. The family relationships between all the different members of the Frost family and also the people closest to them are complex. But it was also comforting to see that another family could be as complicated as mine.

A lot happens in this story to each of these characters and it makes for a very satisfying read to see how each person perseveres and comes out better in the end. And, actually, this story has one of my favorite endings of any book I've read for a long time.

I highly recommend this book. It has romantic aspects but I would say this fits better in the Women's Fiction genre.

I received this book from Berkley Publishing through Net Galley and Edelweiss in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Kristan Higgins is at her best writing family dramas. While the family has drama, the characters learn a lot about themselves, their dreams, and how what they perceive to be is not always the whole truth. The two daughters, Sadie and Juliet, are as different as can be. Sadie is the youngest, free-spirited, and a daddy’s girl. Juliet is the oldest, always perfect, and mommy’s girl. As they both come home after their father has a stroke, they start to see that all is not what they thought. Their parent’s perfect marriage is not so perfect, their own lives are not quite as wonderful as they let the other think, and that as different as they are families stick together.



Noah and Sadie are wonderful. I love second-chance romances and they so deserve their second chance. They’ve both grown up, they’ve both had life experiences, yet from the minute they see each other again there is no denying that the love that was between them when they were younger is still there and just as strong. Juliet’s husband Oliver is so patient, so kind, and so loving to Juliet that I never questioned his love for her. I enjoyed getting to know both couples and seeing how their relationships played into their family dynamics.