What would you do if you were a 34 year old billionaire dying of cancer? Robbie decides he's going to spend one last wonderful weekend at the beach with friends from high school. He was the smartest kid at school but Wade was a talented auth0r, Blair an amazing artist, and Cat a ball of fire. Their lives have not turned out the way they might have hoped and Robbie knows the truth about all of it. Blair's now married to Martin, the mother is twins and not paining at all; Wade's unable to sell his latest novel and has been evicted from his apartment; and Cat, a lesbian, has invested $100k she doesn't have in IVF and has lost her job because her female boss/lover wants to stay in the closet. And Robbie has a secret of his own. The Delaware beach setting is great (the drive from DC, the mini-golf, the ice cream!) The thing is- this has a wonderful heart. The characters are relatable and you'll find yourself rooting for them. Robbie's collection of info might be a bit creepy but it's fitting and key to the story. THanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read. And about that cow.....

I was provided a free copy of this book by @netgalley in exchange for my honest review!
When thirty-five year old reclusive billionaire Robbie, gets the final "second opinion" and realizes he doesn't know how much longer he has to live, he decides to get his best friends from high school together one last time. Each of the friends comes to their beloved Fenwick Island with their own hangups, secrets, dreams, disappointments, and expectations of what the weekend will hold. Thus begins the fun crazy few days where the four friends will realize how far they have drifted from each other and the bonds that held them together from the beginning of their friendship. This was a great story about human nature, how we change as we age, how we remain the same, and those few great relationships that are possible despite all of our messy humanness!
I would definitely recommend this book when it comes out Tuesday (15 Jun)!

This is a fun, deep, thought provoking story about four high school friends who reunite years later under unusual circumstances. Each of the friends is fully captured in their various talents and struggles, the plot speeds along and kept me turning pages, and by the end, I wished they were my friends, too. All Together Now is a perfect read for fans of Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler or Jonathan Tropper’s Plan B., and a great pick to take with you on vacation. Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books/Random House for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest book by Matthew Norman. I was a huge fan of Last Couple Standing and his latest is another 5 star read!

Robbie, Wade, Blaire and Cat make up the Baltimore Prep Rejects - a group of high school friends whose bond was cemented when they took risks for what they believed and stood by each other no matter the consequences. Fast forward to the present, the group is now 35 and in various stages in life. Robbie is a billionaire who has learned he has a fatal illness; Wade is a not too successful author facing moving back to his parents' basement; Blaire is married with twins and missing the spark in life; and Cat is fresh off a bad breakup. Robbie gathers them all together at a coastal Delaware beach home to try and right all the wrongs in their lives.

Such a wonderful character study - even though each of the characters may make questionable decisions, you feel such empathy for them. This group of friends learns the important lessons - money can't fix everything nor does it buy happiness or ensure a long life. Life is a journey - we do better as we go along and hopefully we have friends to keep us company. Norman's writing makes you think without being preachy, makes you laugh and cry. Highly recommended!

I really, really loved this book. This is the first book I’ve read by Matthew Norman. I will definitely add more of his books to my reading list. I liked his writing style, impressed with the way he included humor in a story that is very bittersweet. It was very well done and had me chuckling many times while it also brought tears to my eyes. This is a book about true friendship and how being there for one another no matter what can have such an impact in a friend’s life. Each of these characters had their flaws but I loved them all. I liked how we got each character’s point of view in different chapters. It was a great way to get to know them all. And I really liked that one of the main characters was a huge Beatles fans. Hence the title of the book. Big Beatles fan right here! Overall, this was just a fantastic read for me and enjoyed it so much. It is one to take with you to the beach this summer. Heck, any place you read it will be enjoyable! I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the review copy

Matthew is really so great at just capturing real life and humanity and the every day experiences that we go through and I really enjoy that. As people, we are not perfect and I think he really writes that so well. Every character in this book was flawed, but loveable. I felt that I could connect to each one in some way. This book was definitely bittersweet, but left me feeling hopeful as well. Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

Four friends from Baltimore. At the crossroads of life as they age firmly into adulthood. A radical idea about how to solve their individual and collective problems. Snappy dialogue, amiable characters. Maybe it sounds familiar -- if you read Matthew Norman's last book, Last Couple Standing, you'd find it more than familiar, you might even call it formulaic.

But when it's done this well, well, what's not to like?

This time, four high school friends, who all got expelled over an unfortunate incident just prior to graduation, reunite for a "living" wake -- one of them, Robbie, who became a young billionaire financier, finds out in the prologue that he has terminal cancer and decides to throw himself a final fling while he's still alive.

The four of them and spouses, children, reporters, bodyguards, corgis, mini-golfers, and what have you come together at a fancy Delaware beach house for Robbie's farewell blow-out. There's plenty of acting out and introspection as we delve into each of the four friends' troubled past, present, and prospects for the future.

Like Last Couple Standing, and also very much Norman's We're All Damaged (although that was more focused on a single central character), a familiar formula (cf. The Big Chill) becomes quite an entertaining experience.

I've said it before and I have to say it again, at the risk of overstating it, but Norman is (or should be if he was more widely known, and he should be) the deserving heir to the dormant Jonathan Tropper in writing whatever you call the male version of chick lit -- Tropper in fact built one of his better books on a similar concept, a shiva for a departed dad.

One can only hope that (unlike Tropper) Norman continues to regale us with these funny, literary novels.

This one didn’t quite work for me. While the premise seemed interesting, and the writing was full of wit, I could not get on board with the direction the storyline took or how things turned out. The ideas just didn’t add up, and I was left feeling underwhelmed. Disappointed, but will continue reading future books by this author.

I love this premise of bringing old friends together again! It is never how you plan it to be but there are always stories that come from it. I loved Norman's previous novel and this one did not disappoint!

What a sweet book. I am sucker for stories of longtime friendships and how they evolve with age. Norman does a fantastic job with this subject and All Together Now did not disappoint. Money does not buy happiness, especially when you are near death. Does bringing your friends back together like old times buy happiness? Probably not but it is a fun and entertaining time anyway. This is an amazing vacation book.

Overall, I felt kinda meh about this book. Not necessarily bad, but not particularly memorable either. Giving it 2.5/5 Stars.

I want to hug this book. What a warm, realistic, and beautiful story; one we wish we could be a part of. The characters come alive with their attitudes, flaws, and strengths. Each is uniquely different, just as they were in school.
They call themselves “The Baltimore Prep Rejects”, a well-earned moniker with a tough life lesson about standing by your beliefs and your friends. After six years of separation, they’re invited to an all-expenses-paid Memorial Day weekend at Fenwick Island, a favorite old stomping ground from their youth. The host is Robbie, the whiz kid of the group, who has used his intelligence to amass millions. He’s just learned that he’s dying, and he has a little something he wants to get off his chest before he goes.
This story is a welcome break from everyday real life. It doesn’t condemn, or preach, or pass judgment. It takes place in a beautiful setting, and it provides some interesting insights, most of which are at the reader’s discretion to interpret. This was simply a pleasure to read.
Sincere thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is June 15, 2021.

Robbie is a dying billionaire who invites his long time friends Cat, Blair and Wade to spend the weekend at his beach house. They all met in college but have moved off and done their own things. Now, they're back together again like old times. But it's not old times.

I’ve read Matthew Norman’s books before and they all have a humorous side to them. This one was no different.

I really enjoyed getting to know the four friends. We got a pretty nice picture of their lives and I felt drawn in. Billionaire friend Robbie gathers the friends for one last time in one of their favorite childhood places. Robbie wants to help the other three but his way of helping was a bit too intrusive and his friends inform him. Sometimes we think we have the answer to other’s lives but of course it’s not that easy to tell without actually walking in the other’s shoes.

This was another great one from this author. Thumbs up! Thanksgiving to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Having read and loved We're All Damaged and Domestic Violets it was a no brainer for me to request Mr. Norman's newest book and I am so glad I did. Like the books I mentioned I ADORED this one. It was so interesting to get caught up in the history and current lives of these four friends. I enjoyed how the author had a chapter from each characters point of view. It really helped me to connect with Robbie, Cat, Blair and Wade. And even the secondary characters were fun to read about.

This book made me feel a lot of different emotions and I loved how character centered it was. These are normal humans with flaws and they make mistakes, some big, some small...but it made them more real to me and it helped my enjoyment of the book. Having such strong feelings about the subject matter and the people in the book is what makes this story great. I applaud Mr. Norman on his ability to write about the human condition so well. The problems the characters are all facing all feel real and true to life. I think we all need friends like the Rejects.

When I read Matthew Norman’s Last Couple Standing early last year, I enjoyed it enough to keep an eye out for more of his work. So, when I saw that he had a new novel coming out, I jumped at the chance to preview it if possible. Like Last Couple Standing, Matthew Norman’s new novel focuses on what time can do to long-lasting relationships – especially friendships – and what it takes to reconnect with our past selves so we can be proud of (and recognize) who we’ve become. In this case, it takes being confronted with the lies you’ve told yourself (and others) as well as the possibility of losing everything.

Robbie Malcolm is a thirty-five-year-old math genius who’s turned his gift for numbers and prediction into a billion-dollar business. But no amount of money can buy Robbie more time. He has late stage pancreatic cancer and only months to live. So, Robbie decides to go out with a bang and fix for his best friends what he can’t fix for himself – their futures. Getting television producer Cat, freelance artist and suburban mom Blair, and failed novelist Wade to travel out to Fenwick Island (one of their favorite summertime getaways from their high school days) Robbie reunites the Baltimore Prep Rejects for a weekend they won’t forget. It’s the first time they’ve been in the same place in six years and the survival of their friendship (as well as their personal lives) is at stake. But confronting the truth can be painful, even when you have your best friends at your side.

As is to be expected, grief is a heavy theme in this book, but it probably isn’t the grief most would expect to feature most prominently. While the friends – and Robbie – must come to terms with the news of his illness and what it means, the four Baltimore Prep Rejects spend most of the novel facing the fact that the dreams they had when they were in high school aren’t going to come true – or if they do, not in the ways they imagined them. What’s more, the newer “dreams” they have for themselves – and, in some cases, lie about to each other – also need to be faced and grieved. It’s only when they let those illusions go that they are truly able to look to the future and build themselves into the people they want to be.

One thing Matthew Norman does so well is on full display in All Together Now – he builds truly believable friendships, complete with deep history and connection. The story of how these four came to be friends and the circumstances of how they then became the Baltimore Prep Rejects is thoroughly and genuinely relatable, it’ll make you want to break out the yearbook (and then Facebook) to catch up with how your own high school friends are doing. The four have drifted a bit and aren’t in regular contact anymore but their old ways of communicating and being together come back so quickly. And like the deepest of friendships, they fight and hold each other to account while also completely supporting one another in the ways that they need – not always the ways that they want.

Though it follows some predictable patterns, All Together Now has a solid foundation that reinforces the idea that no one is perfect but it’s never too late to try and do better, and that having the right people in your life can make all the difference.

All Together Now will be available June 15, 2021.

Matthew Norman perfectly captures the human experience with just a short turn of a phrase. “This couldn’t be less helpful, but she says it anyway, because, well, marriage.” In this story, billionaire wunderkind Robbie Malcolm has been told he has end stage cancer. He decides to gather his old high school friends together for a final Memorial Day weekend at his Fenwick Island beach home. The friends have all gone on to vastly different lives - associate tv producer, unsuccessful writer, mother. And all are having issues with their current lives. Robbie seems to think he can fix everything for them. But money doesn’t solve all problems and it isn’t always easy to see exactly what someone else really needs.
This is an interesting character rich story. This group is 35, but they aren’t all that grown up. But I felt for each of the characters, even with all their foibles. It was wonderful to watch the characters realize how much their friendship has and does mean to them. You know it’s a good book and a wonderful ending if it finds me crying happy tears.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an advance opt of this book.

My rating: 5 stars

I absolutely loved this latest novel by Matthew Norman, whose previous books I have enjoyed tremendously.

This story of a group of friends whose lives have gone in different directions getting back together for a wild weekend, at the behest of one who is both wealthy and dying (which the others find out during the weekend) was a fantastic ride. Encompassing friendship and loss, making amends, and the revelation of important truths, I loved getting to know these people and going on this journey with them.

They have several fun and crazy adventures and all learn much about love and having the courage to start over. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free eARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review. All Together Now will be released on June 15, 2021.

Some of this story was relatable, wanting to find love and fit in with friends. Plus I liked the cover because it led me to believe it would be a summery read. THIS IS NOT WHAT GOT.... AT ALL. The characters are immature. Swear too much. Are selfish and really into themselves. It was hard to get past this and enjoy any of the actual story. A no for me and cannot recommend. Hopefully the author's next book is better than this.

Thanks to Netgalley, Matthew Norman and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 6/15/21

I wish to thank NetGalley and Random House – Ballantine Books Publishers for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

There are friends and there are friends and in this book you discover that these four characters are the very best of friends. They meet in high school and form a group they name the Baltimore Prep Rejects and their antics prove the name to be accurate.

Later life takes them in different directions but they remain supportive when they can. Matthew Norman creates characters that are funny, caring, confused and human and you cannot help but like them. Robbie has become a billionaire; Cat is in television production; Blair is a would-be artist and mother of twins; Wade is a one book author struggling to write another book. When one of the group gets bad news from the doctor, Robbie decides to plan a special weekend for all of them. They have no idea what is about to happen.

This is a book I did not want to put down. I will leave it to you to discover how very important your friends can be as you struggle down life’s pathway. I think you will enjoy it. I sure did and look forward to reading more from this author.