Two women go on a road trip together at the request of their mutual best friend. Despite not speaking for years, the women force themselves to work together for their friend’s sake. Along the way, they run into D-list celebrities, meet new pets, and old memories. Author Ann Garvin returns with her best work yet in the touching, well-rounded novel I Thought You Said This Would Work.

Samantha Arias would do anything for her friend, Katie. Absolutely anything. The two have survived life challenges together—the death of Sam’s husband; Katie’s infertility and divorce. Sam stood by Katie through her first cancer diagnosis and treatment; Katie made sure Sam remembered to eat when she was newly widowed and a new mother all at the same time.

The one problem the two haven’t cracked is what happened with their other best friend, Holly. Well, former best friend, for Sam at least. Inseparable in college, the three balanced one another like a tripod. When graduation came and went, though, so did Holly. Sam knows Holly was mad at her about something, but she has no idea what.

Katie has stayed in touch with both friends independently, and she’s tried broaching the topic with Holly. In typical Holly fashion, she cut off Katie’s attempts. Sam agonizes over the loss of her friend, but she can’t do much about it.

Until now. Katie’s cancer is back, and she needs everything good in her life from the first time she fought the disease. That includes her dog, Peanut, a Great Pyrenees that her ex-husband, Tom, took to California when they divorced. After Sam, Peanut was Katie’s closest companion. It might seem silly to non-pet people like Holly, but Katie can’t get through this latest round of cancer without Peanut.

Sam volunteers to bring Peanut home, but Peanut’s size and his diabetes make it impossible to fly him back. The only option is to drive. In fact, back when Katie and Tom were together, they’d bought a camper to drive Peanut around. It would be ideal if someone could bring back the camper with Peanut in it.

Holly points out that Sam won’t be able to make the trip. Sam suffers from a sleep disorder that forces her to nap at the most inconvenient times; there’s no way, Holly says, that Sam will survive a trip from California back to their native Wisconsin—about 2000 miles—all by herself while also managing Peanut’s condition.

Holly may be right, but for Sam not helping Katie isn’t an option. When Katie begs her to take Holly with her—Holly’s driving Katie and her hospital healthcare team nuts—Sam knows there’s no other way to do this. Because it’s for Katie, she agrees.

On the way to California, Sam meets minor celebrity Summer. Before anyone knows how, Summer invites herself along for the road trip. Between an unexpected detour to Utah, Summer insisting that Sam get her aura checked out, and Holly’s outright hostility toward Sam, the entire trip seems doomed. Yet along the way, Sam discovers things about herself that were hidden below the surface. She also figures out that getting back to a good place with Holly means getting back to a good place with herself first.

Author Ann Garvin’s strengths in writing are obvious from the opening pages of the book. Sam’s compassion and deep love for Katie are at odds with her confusion about what happened with Holly. Garvin doesn’t shy away from conflicted feelings. Sam wants Holly back in her life, but she also feels like Holly should have trusted their friendship enough to tell her.

Garvin makes what could be characterized as an off-the-wall premise feel organic. Early on, Summer becomes the mouthpiece for Sam’s hidden feelings. Readers will cheer her on, even as they urge Sam to find her own voice.

If the book can be faulted anywhere, it’s in Holly’s willfulness to stay blind to Sam’s friendship. While time and physical distance make it easy to hold onto grudges, Holly continues to do so when she, Sam, and Summer are together. At some point, members of the target audience might feel like telling Holly to grow up already. Sam clearly wants to work things out. Holly comes across as a high school “mean girl” stuck in an adult’s body. Her change in character, then, isn’t quite as turnkey as the rest of the novel.

Overall, the book is funny and sweet without being saccharine. Fans of road trip books and stories about friendships will definitely enjoy this one. I recommend readers Bookmark I Thought You Said This Would Work.

This book has been hyped up so much. Yeah this book lives up to it. These 3 women are the type that you wish you were friends with. I Thought This Would Work is a sweet story of friendship and forgiveness. It's smartly written and so witty. This is my first book by Ann Garvin, such a good book to start with. I wonder if her other books are this good. I recommend this book, it's great.

What a great book. I enjoyed every word, every page, every chapter. With each word I read I found myself looking for more time to read, more time to enjoy Samantha and Holly’s adventure, and more time to lose myself in this wonderful story. The story of three friends, where two have a falling out and the third stays friend with them both is not a new concept but this one is fun and unique. The story has its serious side, with Katie being sick and needing both her friends for different reasons. The fun side, with Samantha and Holly’s road trip adventure had me laughing out loud.

The friendship was life long between Holly, Samantha, and Katie. I liked how even with two of them were not getting along they came together when the third one was in need. The third friend knew that they would all need each other in the future and had hopes that they would come to be friends again. I loved how she shoved them together using her own needs to make them spend time together. Add in their surprise guest and they had no hope in staying mad at each other.

Ann Wertz Gavin wrote a fun, unique, and equally heartwarming and heartbreaking book. I loved the friendships, the drama, and the tidge of romance.

Thank you NetGalley, Ann Garvin and Lake Union Publishing.
What a lovely, heartfelt story. A great story of friendship with comical interludes. I love the characters and the growth within them and the story. We need a Summer in our lives!

Estranged friends Sam and Holly go on a road trip to rescue their sick friend's dog from her ex-husband across the country. Ann Garvin's writing feels as though she's telling you the story right there in person, with all the animation and emotion pouring forth as you sit rapt, laughing out loud, sighing, and crying along with her. Although the humor often feels deflective, it's generally always relatable, since we all do it. The emotions can be a bit overwhelming if you don't like to cry. The carefree Summer character comes off as a plot device to move the story forward, which makes her feel a bit ethereal, actually sort of suiting her character ironically, as though she might be Sam's alter ego. Maybe she was! In any case, I will read anything by Ann Garvin, because she is a fabulous storyteller. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy from the publisher Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley.

This is a story of hope, friendship, and surprises. Katie is the center of a friendship between Samantha and Holly. Sam and Holly don’t really get along but they are both best friends with Katie. Katie calls them for help when her cancer comes out of remission. All she wants is her dog that her ex took in the divorce. Sam and Holly have to drive cross country to bring her dog to her before it’s too late.

This is a fun book to read. Early on in the book Sam and Holly pick up and 3rd member for their trip and this leads to some very interesting adventures. This is a great escape book to take your mind off everything and get lost in the story of friends and the great dog rescue.

‘I Thought You Said This Would Work’ is Ann Garvin’s Comical and Perceptive Exploration of the Dynamics of Friendships'

When we first enter Ann Garvin’s I Thought You Said This Would Work, Samantha Arias’ best friend, Katie, is at the hospital getting blood work done, and it’s not looking good. Without missing a beat, Samantha runs to her friend’s side, but when she arrives there she has a most unpleasant surprise: her ex-best friend, Holly Dunfee, is already there. In spite of the gravity of Katie’s situation, Samantha can’t help but wonder whom she called first. After all, she was the one who was at her side tending to her every need the first time Katie was diagnosed with cancer. Holly, though a hard-ass lawyer, loses her edge when encountered with needles, tubes, heart monitors, blood, and most hospital situations in general.

Which friend Katie called first becomes the least of Samantha’s problems when Katie makes one impossible request of her two friends. The last time she battled cancer she had her faithful dog, Peanut, at her side – a senior Great Pyrenees rescue, who suffers from diabetes and severe anxiety. This time, he’s not at her side after her cheating ex-husband, Tom, took him and their camper in the divorce. Katie insists that she cannot go through the process again without Peanut and begs Samantha and Holly to travel from Wisconsin to California to bring him back.

Holly and Samantha are reluctant. They haven’t been in each other’s presence in nearly 15 years, since Holly left without goodbyes or explanations the morning after their college graduation, then never kept in touch. But Peanut’s anxiety would never allow him to travel in any mode of transportation other than the camper, so the two ex-friends would be forced to spend several days in very close proximity driving back from California. However, they’re both eager to prove their loyalty to Katie in her time of need. So Holly, the high-strung, control freak, and Samantha, the pushover with hypersomnia that’s triggered by stress, hop aboard a plane to retrieve Peanut and the camper.

As if the idea of going on a road trip with someone they’ve both written off wasn’t enough to test Holly and Samantha, madness ensues when Summer Silva, a washed-up, ex-TV star who now hosts a YouTube show, latches on to them and their “purpose” after sitting next to Samantha on the flight to California, Samantha revealing her whole life to her while talking in her sleep. A flaky, impulsive, modern hippie, Summer marches to the beat of her own drum, insisting that their journey isn’t over, often complicating already complicated situations – she steals the camper from Tom’s wife right under her nose – then finding clever ways to get them out of the messes she’s made.

Even though one of the main arcs of the narrative follows Katie’s disease, I Thought You Said This Would Work is a light read that centers on the theme of healing, not just in a physical sense. Though Holly and Samantha go on their road trip to bring back that which will hopefully help Katie heal, they both go through their own healing process themselves, as spending time with each other’s clashing personalities forces them to do – Samantha must learn to assert herself while Holly needs to lighten up. In the process, their relationship with each other also goes through a transformation as they learn more about themselves, each other, and the past miscommunications that ended their friendship.

Garvin handles the topics, human at their core, with the utmost tact, presenting a story of loss and trauma, revealing the ways in which everyone we meet is dealing with some form of past hurt, pulling apart the veils of the stereotypes and superficialities that we hang over people when we refuse to take the time to understand why they react the way they do.

This is cleverly represented in Samantha’s flight response when she chooses silence, her hypersomnia taking the reigns of stressful situations, versus Holly’s dominant fight response, her willingness to pounce and attack anything that seems even slightly confrontational. At every moment, in spite of Holly’s cutthroat personality, we see Samantha’s wishes to understand Holly’s hostility toward her – unsure, after all these years, of what she did to push her away, wondering why her once dear friend turned so stone cold. We are also given insight, through Samantha’s first-person narration, into the conditioning that shaped her submissiveness. Garvin’s fast-paced but perceptive narrative reveals the hurt that people carry, and the ways these manifest themselves, not just in our bodies but in the ways it filters through in our everyday actions.

Don’t let the fact that this novel deals with illness and heavy topics of trauma dissuade you from reading it. Though the topic remains present as Samantha and Holly constantly check in on Katie, the story is not triggering or depressing. I Thought You Said This Would Work exudes positivity and hope from every page, reminding us that there is something good to be found in every situation, no matter how small. Even when that something is a raggedy, old dog worth crossing the country for with someone you think you hate.

Originally posted on Paperback Paris.

Cute. quirky. Quick witted. I loved the dynamics of the characters. I am a fan of Ann and love her book getting attention!!

You know those books that make you laugh out loud one minute, get teary eyed the next minute, and that after a bit just feels like you are looking in on your friends when you open the book? That’s how this book read for me.

Samantha, Holly, and Katie did everything together in college until a miscommunication happened between Holly and Samantha right before graduation. Ever since, Katie has been the middle man, while Holly and Sam’s relationship has become non-existent. When Katie starts to worry about a possible cancer relapse, Holly and Sam are thrown together again. Katie learns that her jerk ex-husband, who took their dog in the divorce, has abandoned him to the humane society, and Katie wants her dog back!

What follows is an oftentimes ridiculous road trip involving sneaky capers in ‘stealing’ back Katie’s dog. With Katie too sick to handle the job, Holly and Sam make the cross country trek together to reunite dog and owner.

This quick witted, often outrageous, and touchingly poignant novel touches on the true bonds of womens’ friendship, while taking us through each character’s journey of self-discovery. I enjoyed it so much, and related to the characters on so many different levels.

There is something for everyone in this book, and I’m beyond happy that I was given the opportunity to read an advanced copy by Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

A book that will make you laugh, cry, then laugh again.

Samantha is a fascinating and endearing character. Still grieving her husband, losing a college friendship with Holly, and so much more. She sleeps through stress—a great metaphor for avoiding the harder moments in life--and keeps telling herself everything is just fine, even if she’s about to become an empty nester and lose having the daughter she loves in her life, and she just found out her best friend Katie’s cancer has returned.

When Katie asks Sam to take a trip across the country to save her diabetic dog Peanut from a shelter where her ex has dumped him, it sounds like a simple enough mission. Except that it also involves “borrowing” a VW camper bus, they are making the trip with a reality star they just met, and Holly barely says two words to Sam any more. The latter is a sore subject as she still does not know why her bestie ditched her after college.

A fun, easy read–I finished in in 24 hours- but the themes run deeper. This is a road trip romp with deeper poignancy. It’s about friendship, secrets and unfinished business and being honest with those we love.

Perfect for animal lovers who will especially adore the scenes set at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.

Funny and heart-felt, with snappy inner dialog, “I Thought You Said This Would Work” will have you alternately embarrassed at how hard you’re laughing (if you’re reading in public) and reaching for the tissues.

A road trip with 2 former best friends to steal back their other friend's VW camper and get her dog back from a rescue, what could go wrong? Samantha, Holly, and Katie were college roomies and best friends. Holly and Samantha are the complete opposite and quit talking to each other years ago. Katie is in the hospital with cancer and asks Samantha and Holly for a favor. Can they put their issues aside and be there for Katie? This was an amazing book of friendship. There were so many hysterical parts and then so many emotional parts. This book shows what is best about girlfriends! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

What a road trip! Two women who used to be best friends and a free spirited woman that they meet in California -- all headed from Wisconsin to California to rescue a dog. And YES - there are lots of problems on this road trip - both emotional issues and problems that made me laugh out loud. This new book by Ann Garvin will make you laugh and make you realize the importance of female friendship. It has characters that we all know in our personal lives and that make us root for the success of their rescue. I'd love to be on a road trip with these ladies - but probably not in a Prius with two dogs!

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to laugh and cry during this book. It was so good!
Katie, Sam and Holly have been friends for a long time. Among the three there’s been joy and sadness.
Sam and Holly are brought back together by Katie in order to make a road trip to get her dog,Peanut. The road trip has some unexpected surprises which has a way of bringing everything out in the open.
This book will have you staying up late turning the pages.
I loved it!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

What a wonderful, funny, touching, loving, heartfelt book! I started this book and was like this is funny and half way into it when I least expected it sucker punched me in the gut in just the right spots. Ann takes you on a road trip not just about going to pick up your best friends dog....she takes you on a road trip to find yourself a real soul searching trip and to reevaluate the true meaning of your friendships.

When rating this book, I wish I could give it extra stars for the times I laughed out loud, for the times I beamed with joy, and for the times I wept. I was so enthralled, entertained, and moved by this story and its wonderful characters, that I didn’t want it to end....ever. If I could, I’d still be with Samantha, Holly, Katie, and the new friends they met along the way on their oftentimes hilarious but always poignant journey. There were adventures and worries and forgiveness and courage and discomfort and comedy and wisdom and always, above all else, love. Ann Garvin has given us a gift with a witty and warm, relatable and captivating novel that I want to wrap up and share with everyone I love. Right now, I want to get back in the van with those women and start all over again. I’m going to miss them all, but I have no doubt that I will never forget them.