Oliver rang a little shallow and Sadie was slightly annoying, but then, people are, sometimes. The story kept me engaged.

On the surface this is a story about family, relationships and the passage of time. Truly enjoyable. Beneath the well written prose, the book delves into how our upbringing shapes the people we become and the labels that acquire can sometimes lead to a lifetime of self-fulfilling prophecies.

John and Barb are a day away from celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary when a tragic turn of events lands John in the hospital. As the days and weeks pass, Barb, John and their adult daughters, Juliet (Barb's clear favorite, perfect in everyway) and Sadie (artistic, carefree and adored by John), come to terms with his accident and the lives they've shared, the roles they've played within the family and how that has shaped their relationships with each other and the decisions that shaped their lives.

This was my first experience with a Kristan Higgins book and it won't be my last!

A testament to the fact that "perfect" lives aren't always that perfect. A wonderful family drama without a ton of melodramatics. Kristan Higgins does a wonderful job of creating complex characters that aren't all good or all bad. Each of the main characters has heart and flaws. I hope Kristan Higgins continues to set stories in this small town.

Families are never perfect, and few authors understand this or depict it as well as Kristan Higgins. Set in the charming coastal Connecticut town of Stoningham, this story explores the relationships among three generations of a family. The older generation is represented by Barb and John, both in their seventies, and mainly in the case of Barb, still vital and vibrant. I mention that because it is rare to find a book that features characters in their seventies who are still part of the action. Barb's two daughters are the middle generation, with the younger daughter, Sadie being the main focus of the novel. We also get the point of view of Barb's 13-year-old granddaughter. The best part of this book is the romance between Sadie and her high school sweetheart -- at its heart, this family story is really all about Sadie's love story. I look forward to recommending this book to all Kristan Higgins readers, as well as readers who enjoy books by Elin Hilderbrand, Sophie Kinsella, Jane Green, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Sarah Morgan.

This is a realistic story about so-called perfect families. After 50 years, the parents are bored with each other, the two sisters are very different and have little in common. When the father has a stroke, they all to deal with the messiness and complications of life. Interesting and fun to read.

I am a huge fan of the author, her Blue Heron series is the best I’ve read in the genre. This book is a delight. It zigs and zags in ways I did not expect. How refreshing that not everyone ends up pregnant! Or wanting to be. The characters are warm and real. I feel like I know these people. They experience disappointment,, success and hard choices. I found this hard to put down. Highly recommended and not just to genre fans.

As a big Kristan Higgins fan, I was thrilled to read her latest! She doesn't disappoint.

We go back to Stoningham, CT, the setting of her last novel (Life and Other Inconveniences). While we run into some characters from that book, this one focuses in on the Frost family as they deal with the stroke and recovery of the father, John. We switch perspectives between the mother, Barb, and her two adult daughters, Sadie and Juliet. Each woman has different obstacles keeping them from being happy, but this tragedy brings them all back together to look at their lives anew.

I always love Higgins's female characters. They are flawed, they are raw, and they draw us right in to the story. This one sucked me right in from the start, and I was glad that Barb got her own story too (so few books let us see the lives of 70-year-old women still living and being awesome).

Overall, this is another highly recommended for Higgins. If you are a fan of hers, you won't be mad about this one. If this is your first Higgins-- you'll be hooked like I am!

Welp, it's the holiday break and that weird in-between time where it's the end of the year/beginning of the next year and you don't really even know what day it is but who cares?! Yes, if you're thinking that it's the perfect time to binge read books, you're correct! Imagine my excitement to gain access to an early copy of Kristan Higgins' upcoming novel. Amazing!

I'll be honest: I gave it a rating of three stars not because it was bad or anything but, well, because it kind of bored me a bit. I love family stories that are dark and full of twisted secrets. If that's not your thing, then this is definitely the book for you. The novel centers around the Frosts, a well-to-do family that live in a lovely sounding small town in Connecticut. There's the husband, John, his wife, Barb and their two daughters, Juliet and Sadie. Each chapter is told in the eyes/voice of each person in the family, which I did like. From the outside looking in, this family is perfect. John is a successful lawyer, Barb is a stay-at-home mom, Juliet goes to Harvard and Yale before landing a top notch job at an architecture firm and marries the perfect husband, and Sadie is an artist living in New York. But, keep reading, and you'll immediately find out they aren't so perfect after all. No one has committed a secret murder or anything like that (darn!), but John is hiding a secret that Barb finds out after he's hospitalized with a stroke. Juliet has the worst panic attacks and Sadie can't seem to gain her footing in the art world.

I can't really reveal more that that without spoiling the entire novel for you, but just know that if you're looking for an easy pool-side/beach-bum read, I highly recommend it. I do like how Higgins deftly goes from one characters' voice to the next so you know what everyone in the family is thinking/feeling/going through. My favorite line from the book is what Higgins writes about love: "Love isn't always the thing that fills up the room, or your heart. Sometimes, it's what sneaks into the in between spaces." If this ain't the truth! Maybe there's not as much drama as I'd like in this novel, but I will give Higgins credit - she seems to know a thing or two about family, love, marriage and all of the nuances that come along with it.