A little slow to get into, this book picks up and becomes an emotional family drama written in Higgins' fantastic writing. Filled with some laughs and a lot of tears, I would recommend this book to anyone.

Ever have one of those weeks where you know you need your next book to be a guaranteed 5 star? Well, given the current international pandemic, this was definitely one of those weeks and for me, Kristan Higgins is ALWAYS a 5 star read for me - Always the Last to Know was certainly no exception.

Higgins is at her best here in what she does best - family drama, enough to pull at our heartstrings while also restoring our faith in humanity simultaneously. Juliet and Sadie are two sisters who couldn't be more different and have quite different relationships with their parents as well, however, everything they know will be tested when their father John Frost suffers a stroke - but no one is more shocked than John's wife Barb who quickly discovers text messages from John's mistress while he is in the hospital!

With a lot of laughs, some crying and a whole lot of heart, Always the Last to Know is a wonderful book that truly makes me appreciate writers and their words more than ever during stressful times.

I am a fan of Higgins, but I have to admit that this book was a little slow to get started. This reader only really liked one of the main characters, Sadie. Barb and Juliet have a beyond complex and co-dependent relationship. I did stick with it and the ending was worth it, but WOW, throw in a terrible 50 year marriage, a perfect wife scenario, and a flighty, but healthier than the others artist, you have Always the Last to Know. The book tried to take on too much, but in true Higgins fashion, she pulls it off. Readers will like the return to the small Connecticut town that Life and Other Inconveniences was set as some characters are referenced.

<i>Always the Last to Know</i> relates the lives of a mother (Barbara Frost) and her two daughters (Juliet and Sadie), from Stoningham, CT (also featured in <i>Life and Other Inconveniences</i>. On the eve her 50th Wedding Anniversary, Barb recieves the news that her husband, John, as had an accident while riding his bicycle. By the time she reaches the hospital, it has been determined that his fall was caused by a stroke, and he is wisked into surger. Told in alternating narration by the three women, the novel examines the familyr elationships, the loves and the losses of the women, all while showing their misconceptions of their family and of each other. A quick and enjoyable read, especially if you like light family dramas by authors such as Susan Mallery, Nora Roberts and Jennifer Crusie.

Another wonderful book by Kristan Higgins! This story, set in the same setting as "Life and other Inconveniences", brings us a whole new set of unexpected family dynamics. Kristan is always able to show that what we see in people isn't always what they see in themselves, making me always consider how this affects my own worldview. I loved the characters, as always. But, more, I really enjoyed the complexity of their relationships with each other. Kristan's books are never just about a romantic relationship but so much more. I look to her books for her relationships between women. I always want to be friends with her characters and I can never hate her villains as they have their own backstory. Others can tell you more about the plot, I will just let you know that Kristan's books get better and better, and she never leaves an emotional stone unturned. Highly recommended!

Higgins includes in her stories great characters with insecurities. A mother who is no longer (after 50 years) in love with her husband. The favorite daughter who has always tried to be Perfect and is now having meltdowns in the closet. The youngest daughter, an artist, who is always trying to prove to herself that she is an artist. These insecurities are what all of us feel at some time in our lives. The support of friends and family get us through these rough times as it did the Frost women.

Small town in Connecticut...
Terrible phone call interrupts a meeting.

Stopping to look around, --- is this MY life??

After years of marriage, everything is routine and comfortable -- good- right?!

Sisters envy the other, until they get to see the other side.

After time passes, love can grow and flourish
growing stronger and more beautiful with each year together.

Always the Last to Know
by Kristan Higgins
Berkley Publishing Group
You Like Them
Berkley
Women's Fiction

Kristan Higgins is an author I look forward to reading. Sadly, to say this book was not one of my favorites. I will not be rating it high or recommending it to our library patrons.

I am sorry to say that this isn't one of my favorite books by Kristan Higgins. I did have a hard time connecting with the characters. While I found that I was able to relate to some of the circumstances, I just didn't love how the women were portrayed if I am being completely honest.

After reading the synopsis I thought that I would be experiencing a tidal wave of feelings, but it just didn't happen.

I love Higgins books, they are always so relatable, fun, humorous and full of all the feels. It's with little trepidation that I pick one up, even ones that seem different from her happily ever after norms.
Which is why I didn't even hesitate to pick this up and give it a go and while I did like it, I sadly didn't connect with it in my usual way.

Was it the characters that were a little harder to love than usual? Was it the different POVs? I'm honestly not sure because why I could relate on some levels to what some of these women were going through, I found them very hard to love and sometimes even like and I'm not going to lie, that threw me. I always love her characters so I wasn't expecting to not fall immediately in love with all these characters but I guess, it happens right?

This isn't a bad book and it isn't even a bad story about three very different women and one very broken man but..it lacked something. Feeling. A connection that we all crave with stories like this one and so, it wasn't a favorite, it was still good though and one that I think others may connect more with and love than I did.

I read almost all of Higgins' books this year, and I really liked most of them! There's something enjoyable and relaxing to reading about normal everywomen finding themselves and love. Some I liked more than others, but they were mostly easy to fall into, with charming settings and relatable, yet imperfect characters.

This was fine, but it was not one of my favorites. I really disliked Sadie. Obviously there's a place for an unlikable woman and unlikable characters, but this style of book doesn't work if you dislike the protagonist. I thought she was boring and oblivious and uninteresting. In contrast, I found Barb and Juliet's stories much more interesting and my enjoyment of the book suffered from not caring about a third of it.

Still, this was competently executed and I enjoyed the themes and some of the plot.

3.5 stars. I thought this was going to be standard, cliched Women's Fiction for the first half of the book. I was certain that the two slightly estranged sisters would bond when their father suffers a traumatic brain injury, while the sister who is married with children and a successful job realizes you can't Have It All, and the sister who is trying to make it as an artist in New York City returns home and realizes that she can only be happy in small town Connecticut (with her high school sweetheart of course). And the father and mother finally realize what is really important after the accident, and save their dying marriage.

Well, some of that happens. But a lot of it doesn't. Without getting too spoilery, I will just say that Higgins takes the story in a few surprising directions, and while the ending is happy and hopeful, not everyone ends up in the exact place you would have predicted. The message is that even if love is "what sneaks into the in-between spaces" and not the thing that fills up your heart it's still worthwhile. Along the way we get lots of trademark Higgins humor, a few too many sentient body parts ("The baby smiled at me and my ovaries spontaneously frothed over with eggs"), and a s0-ugly-it's-cute dog. I've had my ups and downs with the author over the years but she appears to have moved past her earlier heroines who were desperate to find a man to ones who are searching for multiple things, true love just being one of them. While I didn't enjoy Always the Last to Know as much as her previous effort, Life and Other Inconveniences, I would still recommend it as a solid summer read.

A unique heart warming story by Kristan Higgins. I enjoyed the complex family relationships in this book. It was fun, funny , and easy to read.

I love the way this author writes. You want to keep reading and see where her characters will go. There wasn't a heck of a lot of plot here but the character development was excellent as it usually is for Higgins. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Another winning family drama from Kristan Higgins. A good book club pick; discussion questions are even included!

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I never miss a Kristan Higgins book and never fail to laugh and cry while reading, sometimes simultaneously. Barb and John do not have a great relationship. If asked, and forced to be brutally honest, they would both pinpoint when it all began to fall apart. It has been easier to just remain with the status quo and live separate lives in the same home. Barb find a job and newfound independence she never expected. Their very different daughters, Juliet and Sadie, are grown and settled into their own careers and lives.

All of this changes in an instant, and not at all in the manner Barb has in her mind. What unfolds is a tale of family, tragedy, betrayal, and soul searching for all. The book and the very well developed characters engage you and make you laugh hysterically and shed tears for almost everyone involved. An excellent story of life and family.

Another feel good book by Kristan Higgins — full of her trademark humor, smart, snappy prose, likable characters, and uplifting endings. A good palate cleanser from all the serious reading I’ve been doing. I love the way she has continued to embed love in all forms — in this book, along with the requisite rediscovered lost true love, we add a lesbian and a single hetero man co-parenting and two hetero women who who choose each other as life partners. Higgins does a fantastic job of making love in any form seem obvious and natural.

I adore Kristan Higgans books. I like the familiarity of her stories, but each one is always so unique. Always the Last to Know follows the Frost women, Sadie and Juliette and their mother Barb, as they deal with their father's stroke and uncover an incredible secret.

It's wild to have such blatant favoritism from parents towards their children, but Barb and John each have chosen their favorite girl. John is Sadie's favorite, who is a typical artist, flighty and carefree. Barb's favorite is Juliette, her perfect first-born that has always needed her and tries so hard to be perfect at everything.

I loved all these characters, and I was very emotionally invested within the first couple of chapters. Fans of Higgins will seriously enjoy this, and if you are not already, just give it a try!

Beautifully drawn characters in this family drama. There was both comedy and tragedy. Both so well written.
The subjects of infidelity, aging, life choices, love and joy are all represented fully and lovingly. I enjoyed every word and will read it again and again.

I love this heart melting, tear jerker, emotional, riveting and realistic family story! You can find a part of yourself written in this story. The dynamics between mothers and daughter, daughter with father are so familiar.
So far I think this is one of my favorite Kristan Higging’s books tells about life, happiness, dreams, realities, betrayal, lies, thin red line between life and death, childhood sweethearts, resentments, infertility, lack of communication.

The story is told by POVS of four different members of the family:

Barb: mother, wants a divorce after living with her husband like two strangers in the same house for last 10 years. She has so many resentments about her marriage, about their shared life and the anger, frustration she has bottled up for years are about to come out with explosive burst out! When she is about to tell her decision, she finds out her husband at the hospital, he had a stroke and he is in critical condition. And the last stab wound comes as she also finds by husband’s text messages that he has a mistress for so long! Dammit! Shame, anger, desperation hit her face! She has to keep it to herself. Her daughters cannot find out!

Juliet: She’s mother’s favorite, successful architect with two daughters, adorable husband. She is responsible, perfectionist, dependable but yes now she’s 42 and competing 10 years younger nemesis colleague who takes entire credit from her own hard work, dealing with animosity of her teenage daughter who hit the puberty, suffering from panic attacks. Yes, she was my less likeable character. I found her parts of the story not so interesting but she has an important part for family dynamics that I have to admit.

Sadie: 31, free spirited, joyful artist, living in big apple, dating with gorgeous rich boyfriend but her dreams become a successful painter slowly fades away and she faces with the reality and gets a teaching job at Bronx. She never gets over her ex Noah, childhood sweetheart, two times proposed her before. Now she proposes her new boyfriend, she gets rejection and after hearing that her father’s stroke, she has to go back to her hometown and face her past, including seeing Noah having a baby.
I have to admit I enjoyed Noah and Sadie’s heartbreaking, emotional love story so much and I wished they had their own book. I felt like their story is told too fast like watching a summary of series’ entire season in 5 minutes. I couldn’t absorb their angst, despair, emotional breakdowns. Two people madly love each other but want different things from life but unfortunately they keep finding each other for breaking hearts. Wow! Yes I rooted for these stubborn, passionate characters!

And John, father of the family, seems like the villain of the story. The cheater and the responsible of his wife’s unhappiness: Some of you may think he got what he deserved!
We got some parts of his story and his thoughts about his loved ones in pieces because the author gives us a tour of a man’s brain suffering from stroke, barely gathering his thoughts, feelings. He barely forms words to communicate with people.
That’s true: he is bad husband and he had soft spot on Sadie, teamed up with her against his wife and Juliet. But as you read more parts about family story you start to understand, there are so many unsaid words, misunderstandings drifted them apart. And you also start to get that each of the parties can make mistakes to ruin a long term commitment and without coming clear about your feelings, you never find your own happiness.

Overall: I wish there were three different books because all those POVS deserved to be told separately. There are so many good three unique stories belong to three women here. But I still loved the author’s way of telling things genuinely from her heart and of course I liked my journey to a family’s impeccably depicted and heartwarming, poignant story. So it deserved my solid 4 stars.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for sharing this meaningful ARC COPY with me in exchange my honest review. It is always pleasure to read Kristan Higgins’ amazing stories.