Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This story revolves around the lives of 3 sisters - Beck, Claire, and Sophie - whose mother is dying. Marti leaves behind their Maine home to be sold and the proceeds to be split between the 3 girls.

Enter a man with a hidden past that wants to buy their home, and drama ensues.

This was just an okay read - it took me some time to get interested in it.

I love a good dysfunctional family drama. I love a good setting. I love characters that seem like they could be real life people with real life problems. This book had all of that. I was reading in every minute I could find to find out how it all turned out for these sisters!

Thank you to st. Martins press for letting me read an arc copy of It All Comes Down To this by Therese Anne Fowler. I liked the beginning of the book it was enough to continue reading some everyday but, I got bored in the middle and the ending I had to push myself to finish this book.

A short summary a mom was dying the three girls has to share the inheritance and the son in law was the excutor of the will. I wasn't fond of any of the characters.

✨ Review ✨ It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler; Narrated by Barrie Kreinik

Wow - I love a messy, multiple POV family story with some love plotlines thrown in and this hit just the spot. It's definitely a read that takes some thought as you shift around between POVs but it's written just so beautifully.

Three sisters - Beck, Claire, and Sophie - return to NYC for their mother Marti's funeral. While the sisters see each other as so put together and successful, each of them is struggling with their identity and trajectory. Marti knew they were struggling and tries to set the scene for them to come back together by forcing them to confront some of their issues. Each of the sisters takes a journey throughout this book and it's often slow and messy and really complicated, and I loved it for that.

Maybe it's my own mid-30s lifepoint that's talking but this really resonated in the character's struggles and experiences as they hit (or miss) a variety of midlife milestones.

The audio was gorgeous - I switched between the ebook and the audio; although there are a lot of POVs to track -- the three sisters and, less frequently, the POVs of several other peripheral characters. It was doable but I could see where it would throw a more casual or distracted listener.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Literary fiction
Location: NYC and Mount Desert Island, Maine mostly
Reminds me of: One Italian Summer without the weird mother-daughter relationship; Half-Blown Rose maybe too?
Pub Date: Out now!

Read this if you like:
⭕️ Messy explorations of love and sisterhood
⭕️ Multiple POV stories
⭕️ Raw emotion

Thanks to St. Martins Press, MacMillan Audio and #netgalley for digital and audio copies of this book!

5 Lots to Consider Stars
* * * * * Spoiler Free-A Quick Review
It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler is perfectly titled. It takes the reader on a journey of what it means to lose a mother who understands her daughters and what they may need. It is a story of how things will eventually be worked out and family can be the support to work through it all.

🛶 Book Review 🛶

#itallcomedowntothis
#thereseannefowler
#literaryfiction
#NetGalley published 6/7/2022
#stmartinspress

🛶🛶🛶🛶🚣‍♀️/5 (rounding up for ratings)

If you like messy (familial) relationships, this book is for you. It is not a romance. Though there are couples that do manage to get together. This is the story of 3 sisters who bc of their age differences have never seemed to manage to grow together over the years. Each broken in their own way. And yes, I'll spoil it, not really a spoiler, manage to be OK in the end with themselves and each other thanks to a request in their mom's will.

I took off a half point bc my mind kept wandering as to where the heck was this book going? In a bad way. Like, how can it possibly finish up the story from here? Kind of like a TV show where you swear that it's going to be continued. But then it all gets wrapped up quicker than you ever could have imagined.

I would definitely choose another book by this author. I loved her voice.

#womansfiction
#messyrelationships
#bookstagram #booknerds #bookworm #booklover #bookdragon #readalot #ilovereading #inkdrinker #librarymouse #booknerdbookreviews #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookrecommendation #bookreview

Marti Geller knows she’s dying and it’s coming soon. She gathers strength to get ready, including selling her summer cottage. After her death, we follow her three daughters Beck, Claire, and Sophia and the burdens they struggle with after her death.

This book touched me emotionally as I have three daughters. This book felt more soap opera than a moving story, so in a way it fell a bit flat for me.

I have never been disappointed in this author’s ability to tell a terrific story and this one is no exception. I loved this book! In the same style as her previous novel, A Good Neighborhood, Fowler creates a family saga that is gripping and heartwarming throughout. This story begins with the matriarch, Marti, who is the mother to 3 grown daughters. She comes to find out that her battle with cancer has reached the extent of medical intervention and she is placed on at home hospice care. She has already decided that she will tell the daughters, but insists that she does not want the hovering that occurs towards the end of life in these situations to be part of her dying process. She spends her time laying out her wishes once she passes with incredible detail. She plans her funeral and lays out very specific wishes within her will.
She feels strongly about specific aspects of her eventual passing, including forcing the family to work together to close the estate. One of the main aspects of her will states that the family “summer camp”, a rustic house in Maine should be sold and the profits split between the daughters. Between the apartment in NYC and this camp, there are a lot of memories that have been forgotten in the business of daily lives.
The character development is wonderful. The reader can predict how each daughter will handle a given situation. I love this style of writing and flew through this story. I personally connected with some characters better than others, and frankly found one to be annoying when we first meet her. Over the course of the novel, it is easy to develop an understanding of the motivations and the growth of each character. I appreciated every character and their story.
My only “negative” is that I was able to predict part of the plot about halfway through the story. I generally do not enjoy it when this happens, but I think it was because the characters were fleshed out brilliantly and each storyline was told well enough to allow this to happen and my enjoyment of the story and investment in the characters remained high.
Highly recommend!

#ItAllComesDownToThis #Netgalley #StMartinsPress

I liked this messy family drama just fine but I was never totally engrossed. I enjoyed it enough to finish it so I could recommend it to the right reader.

It All Comes Down to This is a very character driven novel. It is about the Gellers. The three Geller Sisters are not very tight. They all try to look better than their siblings. There is an invisible competition between them. Beck (44), Claire (40) and Sophie (36) are in very different places in life. Their mom Marti dies. She reveals a big secret to them on her deathbed. And she also instructs them to sell the camp, their summer cottage in Maine. Beck is "happily" married to Paul. They are more like friends than partners after over 20years of marriage. She is content with not having any sex in her marriage, she thinks Paul is gay, and she is okay with it. She just wants to stay in the cottage and write the novel she'd been planning for years. Her sister's though could use the money that would come from the sale especially Sophie, who has a lavish lifestyle and is drowning in debt. There is also tension between Claire and Beck. Claire avoids her sister because she's been desperately in love with Beck's husband for a long time. This infatuation has cost Claire her marriage and Beck has no idea. There also another character back in Maine, CJ, their prospective house buyer.

Each character has a unique voice. Fowler's writing makes them come alive. The Geller's are not one of these fictional families you would kill to be part of. They are distant. Each sister is a little bit selfish.

The older sister-husband-younger sister love triangle is not as icky as it sounds. When I first read the synopsis I wasn't sure about whether it would bother me but it didn't. The youngest sister Sophie was my least favorite character because I found her very superficial.

I expected more of a The Paper Palace feel from the camp/cabin setting but I was disappointed in that aspect. The scene that the three sisters had the big talk and got every secret off their chest was intense but satisfying. The ending was a bit too neat but it worked.

I have a feeling an older audience would enjoy this novel more.

I liked the following quote though "You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find you get what you need.

Unfortunately, this one did not work for me. I read until the halfway point and then decided to move on.

This had the potential to be a really great character driven story. The sisters are all unique and well developed by the author. The issue was that there didn't really seem to be a plot. Nothing had really happened in the first half of the book, the sisters had just come together for the first time at that point.

The writing was well done, it just didn't have enough plot to keep me reading.

This story hooked me immediately. I have several special women in my life who are part of 3-girl families so it’s fun for me to read about that dynamic. I really enjoyed Beck and Claire, although Sophie was the least believable and/or likable to me. I loved getting the glimpse’s of Marti’s past and how Fowler interwove the stories. C.J. was also an interesting character and I particularly liked his ending. This was an absorbing family drama with great characters. I enjoyed Fowler’s writing and would read more by her.

Three sisters lose their mother and because of the terms of the will they are forced to be to work together to sort out the details of the estate. At one time they were close but time has passed and their lives have diverged. From New York, Minneapolis and Mount Desert Island, Maine all come together to tell the story of a family. A story of love & forgiveness; of secrets kept and secrets learned. A tale of growth, love and finding what truly matters.
A great summer read for men and women alike.

It All Comes Down to This, by Therese Anne Fowler, is an absorbing read. The four main characters are very different, fully developed, and compelling, each in her own way. None are totally likable although their individual conflicts and demons become clear as the story progresses. At any stage of life, we are all making choices. Reality and change may require new choices if we are to be happy.

Other reviewers have noted that the pacing of this novel is awkward. I agree. The wrap-up was hurried and unsatisfying. Imagine expecting a full-course Thanksgiving dinner and getting a cold turkey TV plate. All the elements are there, but it lacks the essential experience. Nonetheless, this book does raise issues with which many of us grapple.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Publishing for the opportunity to read a digital ARC.

I adored Fowler's previous novel A Good Neighborhood. Strong characters, compelling themes, and good plotting all came together to make a memorable novel with a really tangible setting and a credibility to it; the characters felt like MY neighbors.

I got this book on the strength of that one, as well as its 3 adult sisters motif, and it didn't work for me. I can see that other reviewers loved it so maybe it's me?

I didn't find the characters thoroughly drawn; they felt more like pawns that were useful for the plot but did not feel like real people to me. And the plot! Full of implausibilities (Sophie's whole life, a certain chance meeting late in the novel), and it had a really big hole concerning the mother's motivation in a certain decision about property disposition in her will (trying to avoid a spoiler here!).

It All Comes Down to This was a great read by Therese Anne Fowler. Beck, Claire, and Sophie are three strong-minded women. They are the Geller sisters that find out their mother Marti will be dying soon. Marti has ensured that the modest estate is easy for the family after she passes. The only provision included is that the families summer cottage be sold, and the proceeds split equally between the three girls. Beck is the oldest and he marriage doesn’t look like others. Her husband is hiding a troubling truth about their love lives. Beck feels that the cottage is essential for her secret wish to write a novel. Claire is a pediatric cardiologist that has always felt like the misfit in the family. Her unrequited love or the wrong man has destroyed her and her marriage. Sophie is the youngest daughter who seems to have the perfect life, at least on Instagram. C.J. Reynolds’s is an enigmatic southerner who wants the cottage but is also hiding his own past. I enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more by the author.

Man, I was a bit disappointed in this slow burn of a book. I had high hopes but honestly it fell flat. It took a lot for me to get into it as I really wasn't invested in any of the characters storylines and found them a bit underdeveloped. Overall 2/5 stars from me.

Family drama unfolds as the Geller sisters settle their deceased mother’s estate.
This book is my idea of a perfect summer beach read: love triangles, rekindled old flames, family secrets, and the family vacation home’s fate. I love how different each Geller sister is (instagram influencer, doctor, and a writer). Their wants and needs intersect to heighten the drama. Each sister has a secret and revealing these secrets to each other finally allows them to authentically live. I am not a fan of traditional romance, chick lit books, so I felt that this was a great cross between a literary fiction novel and a romance novel. High brow romance, maybe?

Fowler’s writing is rich and a pleasure to read. I enjoyed this much more than her last novel.

I do love a good story about a modern messy family, and was intrigued by the comparisons to Jane Austen novels. Unfortunately I found this story had more style than substance—but what style! Fowler's prose is completely gorgeous.

This is a family drama about three sisters: Beck, Claire and Sophie. Their mother, Marti leaves strict instructions that upon her passing, the cottage in Maine must be sold and the proceeds must be split equally among the girls. One sister isn't in love with her husband anymore, one is broke, one loves another's husband. And, an ex-con wants to buy the cottage. Everyone becomes entangled in everyone's stories as they work to deal with the death and the sale of the cottage.
This book was just an OK read for me. I didn't dislike it, but I wasn't invested in it either.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Therese Anne Fowler for an ARC of this book!**

What it all comes down to
Is that everything's gonna be fine, fine, fine
'Cause I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is giving a high five

Three sisters perhaps need to feel this sentiment more than ever. Brought together. After their mother Marti passes away, Beck, Claire, and Sophie are drawn back together from their VERY different walks of life to help process the sale of their mother's cottage. However, each sister has a differing perspective on what to do with the property. Sister Beck is the unofficial Jo March of the group, a writer stuck in a passionless marriage for reasons she just can't explain...but her husband probably could. Middle child Claire has a successful career in the medical field, but her lovesick obsession with the 'one that got away' is more complicated than it even sounds. Sophie relies on her looks, her Instagram fame, and the ability to flit from continent to continent, luxury penthouse to B-list celebrity's bedroom, just getting by...but how long can it last?

When blast-from-their-past C.J. Reynolds, a Southerner with secrets of his own, enters the picture as a potential buyer, EVERYTHING gets more complicated. Will this trio be able to reconcile the past, their present, and move toward a united front in the future...however twisted, tangled, and unnerving their new paths may be?

I first stumbled on Fowler's writing in Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald (yes, my obsession with all things Gatsby and the 20s rears its ugly head once again) and I fell in love with her writing and ability to turn a phrase, not to mention fabulous character development. I figured going from historical fiction to more contemporary fiction would be an easy transition for me with this author, and I'd quickly be absorbed by this book.

...Sadly, this was not the case.

This is yet another book that I felt missed a golden opportunity to explore emotional connections on a deep level. And why was that?

Because SO much of this book focused on, well, sex.

Not exactly what I anticipated when I read in a blurb that a mother's death is drawing a family together. But there are mentions of everything from some uh, less mainstream sexual acts, to prostitution, masturbation...and I won't say any more than that because I don't really need to relive it. I suppose in a sense some of this helped to make 'the plot work, but trust me when I say the plot drags on and on for a book that isn't particularly long to begin with and had such a strange ending, I had no idea what the author was getting at in terms of character arcs. I don't consider myself a prude by any stretch, but this was not a romance novel, yet it kept attempting to be one and I just got tired of it.

The dialogue at times also felt very off. I'm not quoting exactly, but there is one point after a big reveal where a character responds not with the expected indignation, sadness, or anger, but with an (almost cheerful) "Wow. You've given me a lot to chew on!" which just felt so insincere and out of place it almost took me into eye-roll territory. I understand these characters needed to be unlikable on some level (and truly, all of them are in one way or another) but I think if they had felt more realistic I could have overlooked some of the frustration with their (very stupid) decisions.

While I still enjoy Fowler overall as an author and would consider another book of hers. perhaps books of hers NOT set in the present era are a better fit for me. (or maybe it's 2022 and I can't let the 20's go...TBD!)

3 stars