3.5 Stars

Overall I really enjoyed this, it was an easy listen and I felt invested in the sisters' lives and seeing how the story unfolds. The narration was smooth and engaging, I think this also enhanced the book for me.

In a story of the Geller sisters, each one unique in their own way and struggling to find their path after the loss of their mother, Marti. In Marti's will and in her infinite wisdom, she leaves behind their family cottage in Maine to fix up and sell. It's as if she knew each of her girls: Beck, Claire, and Sophie, needed this each in their own way. Enter C.J. Reynolds, just released from prison and looking for a fresh start, to come and mix things up.

I appreciated the character development, and could truly see the personalities of the sisters come out in the story. I felt invested in what happened to them, and hopeful to see them succeed in whatever way they needed. There were a lot of story lines and things happening between Marti, the three sisters, Paul, and C.J., that at times it was a little difficult to keep it straight as well as decipher the connections amongst them all.

In the end, I felt that the most attention went to Beck, which may be how it was intended, but I would have liked to see a bit more of how the other sisters fared as well. But all in all I would definitely read other works from Therese Anne Fowler, as this was a great read to get connected with your inner self.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio/St. Martin's Press for an Advanced Listener Review in exchange for an honest review. Full review to be posted on my IG @manis.and.manuscripts during pub week!

3.5 🌟


Three sisters, Beck, Claire, and Sophie, inherit a summer cottage in Maine when their mother, Marti, dies. But Marti leaves instructions that the cottage should be sold and the money split between the girls. This simple act allows Marti to still be in control, at least in some manner.

It causes the now-adult sisters to work together. Beck wants to write a novel and doesn’t want to sell the cottage. Claire, a doctor, is divorced but is in love, and the man she’s in love with complicates things. And Sophie is living the glamorous life, but is it all for real?

There is this parallel storyline of C.J. who is recently out of prison and becoming attached to a young boy named Arlo. At first, I wasn't sure how this part even fit into the overall story, but when C.J. takes an interest in buying the cottage, his past clashes with one of the sisters.

As much as I’m a fan of messy family stories, I struggled with this one a bit. The writing is good, which I expected from this author, but the story doesn’t develop into much and feels a bit scattered at times. The ending felt a bit too transactional to me. I did, however, enjoy the sisters and their relationships, and I look forward to reading what Therese Anne Fowler writes next.

Thank you to @stmartinspress for the gifted ebook and @macmillan.audio for the audiobook.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio as well as Therese Anne Fowler for the opportunity to experience this audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #MacmillanAudio #ThereseAnneFowler

This can best be described as a light-hearted family drama. I had some very mixed reactions to it. I very much enjoyed the distinctive characters and the way they related to each other. Each sister was different and relatable in her own way. I found Beck, the eldest sister, the most relatable in that she has dreams that have been set aside due to her being a homemaker and mother. The three sisters are, more or less, estranged until a blast from the past, a man named C.J., returns and expresses interest in buying their family cabin. Predictably, this leads to the three sisters baring their souls and being faced with individual truths. I felt that the story lacked…something. I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it was focus….
The characters were what carried this story. The story itself was adequate. I didn’t have any trouble getting through it. I didn’t find myself desperate to keep listening. My overall opinion was that the book was fine. I’m still looking forward to reading the other books by this author as she’s clearly a talented writer. This book didn’t blow my socks off. I hope my next one will.

I have to say, I struggled finishing this book. I found a few pages interesting and was hoping that's where it would start to pick up, then it switched to one of the other sisters, and I lost interest again. All of the sisters seemed selfish, didn't communicate, and didn't have anything to pull me in and keep my attention. I was really hoping for more, but it didn't happen. Perhaps someone strictly looking for a story of three sisters and their twisted messy lives would enjoy it, but unfortunately that was not what I was looking for.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillon Audio for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

I enjoyed this enough that I also listened to the audiobook version after I read it. It's the classic telling of a family's reckoning with their lives after a loved one passes away, with a modern edge to it. Yes, it is a bunch of white people with resources/privilege to take the time to re-evaluate their lives, but still well done.

ARC from publisher via NetGalley, but the opinions are my own.

Thanks #netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. Excellent story about family, relationships and starting over. Highly recommended

It All Comes Down To This by Therese Anne Fowler is the exhausted story plot you hoped to never read again.

Three sisters must comes together to sell their mothers Maine home after she passes away from cancer. The sisters aren’t particularly close so when they come together to get the house ready for the market a lot of skeletons come out of the closet. The problem is the sisters are written as stereotypical one dimensional characters. The Type A oldest sister who leads everyone to believe her life is picture perfect though her marriage is failing. The doctor middle sister who tries way too hard to stand out and seek acceptance. The wayward younger sister who never grows up and is perpetually broke and/or homeless despite her influencer lifestyle.

The biggest issue with the book, beyond its unoriginal plot, is that the characters are lackluster and boring. I couldn’t connect to them which meant I didn’t care where they landed at the end.

Also, the idea that the 14 year old middle sister pines for her older sisters husbands so much that it not only ruined her marriages, but that she ended up with him, was creepy.

Overall this story fell flat for me. It was too long, too much of a stereotype and too boring.

I appreciate the access to the eARC so I could give an honest review. Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio & the author.

I really hate to say it, but I had to DNF this one for now. It was a little slow and boring, but I kept getting lost in who was narrating that chapter and what was actually happening, which for the most part, was nothing. The narrator was great, and I’ve loved her other narrations, but I just can’t follow this story well on audio. I requested the galley so hoping it translates better that way so I can finish the story.

I am usually a fan of messy family drama and character driven stories, and I feel like this one is really well written, but for whatever reason, this one is just not doing it for me.

Thank you so much for the advanced copy.

I have such mixed feelings on this one. I think the author does a great job of creating characters that are distinct from one another but I personally found their problems very unrelatable. The plot kind of felt all over the place although I will say my attention was held pretty well. I think the narrator of the audiobook was great!

Overall, I think this book is fine. I have not read anything else by this author but I would definitely give another book a try.

The matriarch of the Geller family, Marti, is dying of cancer. She has some explicit posthumous instructions written in her will for her three daughters Beck, Claire, and Sophie, the most odd and contentious request instructing them to sell their Maine cottage on MDI where their family history begins.

Told in alternating points of view between the three sisters, their issues are laid plain for the reader to judge. Each sister is dealing with differing levels of crisis, stuck in a temporary stasis after the death of their mother. It All Comes Down to This has all the key components for a good family drama—lies, unrequited love, money issues, and of course bickering. That being said, the novel doesn’t come off as petty, instead each sister’s problems become relatable.

I liked each of the sisters as they were authentic, with messy every day issues that most any reader can relate to. I personally related to Beck the most, perhaps because I too am a fellow first born overachiever?!? It’s fun as the reader to see the choices each sister makes and how they affect each other and themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and of course Therese Anne Fowler for the advanced copy. It All Comes Down to This comes out on June 7th and would be a great add to your summer reading pile. Barrie Kreinik does an excellent job of narrating this tale of sisterhood if audiobooks are more your thing. All opinions are my own

Marti is dying of cancer. She is going to leave behind her three daughters whom she knows are struggling. Beck is unhappy in her marriage and suspects her husband to be gay. Claire is recently divorced. Sophie is in a serious amount of debt. The three girls must come together at their family camp where they will reveal themselves and their secrets to each other in the wake of their grief.

I really liked the three sister protagonists. They were all really fully-developed characters and I liked how there were chapters from all of their POVs. The exploration of the dynamics of the relationships between all of the family members was also well done. However, there were subplots that were just unnecessary in my opinion and took away from the main story. Some minor characters were irrelevant (although Arlo was cute) and I kept waiting for some of it to be connected to the main plot. While the beginning is interesting with the setup of the family and their issues, it does slow right down. Thank you to @netgalley, @macmillan.audio and @stmartinspress for the review copies.

This was my first of Fowler's and I went in a little hesitant, knowing some of her prior books have received mixed reviews. The setting and the subject of this one made me eager to dive in, but unfortunately it didn't quite live up to what I wanted from it. As much as I wanted to, I could not get invested in the characters. They all fell flat, and while I'm normally one who loves character-driven stories, I was bored and unengaged. This might work for some but it wasn't for me.

I enjoyed this book as it could be a story of any family - very relatable. The struggle between keeping up an appearance of happiness and the level of suffering is something every person can relate to.

t All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler could have been titled Life is Messy. The author has the ability to draw one into a story, yet some of the characters seemed disengaged from each other. I have loved other books by this author and jumped at the chance for a pre-release copy of this one. Thank you #NetGalley and #Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this pre-release audiobook. Barrie Kreinik was amazing bringing the characters to life with her voice and having appropriate emotions. There are a range of emotions in this story, along with hope, healing, and moving on. Some aspects of this book were very realistic and gave me good perspective. I recommend this book.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book in advance!

It All Comes Down to This tells the story of three adult sisters, whose lives are in turmoil for various reasons. Their mother dies after a battle with cancer, forcing them to come together.

I really enjoyed this story and how it focused on more adult situations than the average novel. Descriptions of Maine were also enjoyable to read, and really set the stage for me.

I realized half the book had passed and we were still getting to know the Geller girls. They are an interesting bunch! I struggled with 3 or 4 stars as this is a solid 3.5 and worth the read. I thought all the different nuances of the girls and those in their lives made for a very interesting read. That said, while I very much enjoyed the end, it was slightly anticlimactic. Overall it will be well worth your time, S it’s a reminder that when you are younger you might not really know what you want, but that’s okay because life keeps going and you can continue to reinvent yourself. Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

The comparison to Ann Patchett's novels is quite apt! There was a lot going on in this book and a lot of character story lines to keep track of--that was a little difficult on audio. According to the cover and the blurbs, I thought most of the story would take place in Maine but it actually took place mostly in New York, which was fine but I wonder if some readers would be misled by the blurb being about a house in Maine. Overall I found the characters to be complicated and it was definitely a 'messy family drama'. I wish it had been about 50 pages shorter, I felt that the final chapters were a little too long. I can tell that it was carefully plotted and yet was definitely a character-drive book, and I enjoyed it for the most part! The only story that fell a little flat for me was CJ's. I felt that his time in jail just didn't fit into the story and when I learned why he was put in jail I thought it was a little unbelievable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me with an Advanced Listener’s Copy of It All Comes Down To This by Therese Anne Fowler. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

Another messy family drama; this one involving three sisters, a dying mother and a mystery man. Thanks to the outstanding narration by Barrie Kreinik, I was captivated by the storytelling and pushed through a challenging beginning. I think this book could have benefited from tighter editing, however I ultimately enjoyed this contemporary fiction mostly because of the stellar writing.. Parts dragged but overall I became invested in each sister’s predicament and was curious to see how the story would play out. This is a wonderful choice to pick up for a day at the beach, pool or vacation getaway. It’s a great blend of elegant prose, current themes, familiar family quarrels, twisty thrills and satisfying surprises. Definitely add to your summer reading list.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing a free audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Barrie Kreinik: Is there anything she can't do? She's an ace at voice acting and accents, and she's pretty good at creating distinct voices so the listener doesn't get confused in moments of dense dialogue. But even she can't make me feel like these sisters are enjoyable or make me care much about them.

Beck, Claire, and Sophie are each separated by 4 years, and we meet them when their mom, Marti, is about to die of lung cancer. Beck is in a loveless marriage and for some reason assumes her husband is gay (he's not); Claire is a pediatric cardiologist recently divorced from her obnoxious prosecutor husband, and Sophie is staying too long at the NYC Art World life, is now 36, an "influencer," and still bops from one house sitting gig to the next instead of putting down roots and being a grownup.

Marti passes away all by herself but for her hospice care worker (as she wished) and the sisters come together in New York and then Maine, where their family has a summer house. Beck thinks she will hole up in the house, retreat from her marriage, and write the great American novel, but both Claire and Sophie have mountains of debt, and anyway, Marti has stipulated the house be sold and the profits divided.

Complicating matters is the appearance of CJ Reynolds, a Southern gentleman who just got out of prison (but he was railroaded!) and is in Maine looking for a house to buy where he can hole up and paint the great American painting. Back in the day he "broke Beck's heart," and drove her into the arms of her not-gay husband. Gee, guess what happens next?

If you like unnecessarily complicated, soap operatic family dramas in which you'd like to smack every character except for the little orphaned boy (he really is very cute), then this is for you. But the contortions the characters have to go through to make the ending work, and the author's bizarre attempt to make Beck the "touchstone" character at the end (Beck is at best super annoying and self-centered; I didn't give a fig if she achieved her dreams and healed from her mostly self-inflicted pain) make this book a tough one to recommend. Sophie is every irritating millennial you've ever known, except she's 36. Claire is the least offensive, but she is also the most sketchily drawn character (other than knowing she is stressed out by being a doctor and reinvents herself as a quasi-hippie thanks to the left-of-center mother of a patient, she's a bit of a stick figure), and CJ borders on afterthought.

Barrie slays, but I probably will not be seeking out any additional Therese Anne Fowler stories.

“It All Comes Down to This” by Terese A Fowler. I must say that I enjoyed this audio book. I am a reader of this author, and the narrator’s voice was pleasant, and easy to follow, it really pulled me in.
The Geller sisters are three women, living three very different lives, along with Marti their mother, who is dying of lung cancer. So this family is somewhat dysfunctional, their lives are messy. The family was relatable to me, as I too, am one of three sisters. When I listened to this book it was what I needed at the time, coming out of a pandemic, it engaged me, but didn’t overwhelm me.