The Accidental Favorite is a story about family secrets and the issues that happen when they come to the surface. After a incident reveals who the father's "favorite" daughter is during the mother's 70th birthday celebration with all three children and their families present, the whole family must deal with the fallout. I liked the premise of this book a lot, but I just couldn't get hooked.

As the eldest of 4 sisters myself, I do love a good sister story and I love a family saga. I am usually a fan of multiple points of view, but something about the alternating viewpoints and timelines here made it hard for me to get invested or establish an emotional connection to these characters initially.

Five years after seventy-something Tess jetted off to Paris with her best friends, Jen, Rose, Della and Pam - the Five French Hens - for Jen’s hen do, a lot has changed. Prospective groom Eddie has been given the heave-ho, Tess’s husband has been sent packing and the Hens are making the most of their golden years.

But Tess is stuck in a rut. Rather than embrace her independence, she watches on as Rose wows Paris, Jen explores Iceland and Pam heads to Greece. But when tragedy strikes Della, Tess is shaken into action. They both need a change of scenery and longing to see the Northern Lights, they head to the Highlands of Scotland and the magical Isle of Skye. There Tess and Della get more than they bargained for. Along with stunning scenery and breathtaking history, they find new friends, grand adventures and even romance. And when they’re joined by the other Hens, together they start plotting a fabulous new future for them all.

This is a fantastic read about the highs and low, challenges and joys of life. Leigh writes amazingly relatable characters and enviable friendships. It's a truly remarkable writer who can get the reader to relate to someone who is so different from themself. Highly recommended! 5⭐

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Thanks to Net Galley and Henry Holt & Co. for this ARC in exchange for a review. I was hooked pretty immediately when starting this book, but then it honestly seemed to kind of drag on while simultaneously missing imperative details and explanations. I thought it had a great plot, but could use some tweaking. Overall I would give it a 3.5 and I enjoyed reading it.

Alex and Nancy are close in age and Eva was born 6 or so years later. Even with the age gap between the first two and the youngest, they've always been close, especially as they’ve matured. Each is successful in her career with wonderful families and they love and are extremely proud of one other. They are also close to their mother, Vivienne and father, Patrick.

This year is Vivienne’s seventieth birthday. To celebrate Vivienne, Patrick, their 3 daughters and the daughter's families plan a week long celebration - a get away, to a beautiful glass house in the English countryside. When a freak accident happens while they are all out in the woody yard, Patrick’s reaction causes the family to begin to unravel. Typical family beliefs of who, if any one, is the family favorite are cracked open for all to see.

Years of each daughter having felt that she is the most, or the least, liked of the three children are tearing apart this once tight-knit family as secrets are exposed, jealousies rear their ugly heads, and old wounds are reopened. All of this takes place in front of extended family, friends and co-workers.

A deep dive into family, honesty, togetherness and love. Family ties become unfastened and fingers are pointed in every direction. Both compelling and heartbreaking. What is that saying about people who live in glass houses? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Publication date: June 24, 2025. Thank you to Henry Holt and Co, NetGalley, and Fran Littlewood for this advanced copy (ARC) - I loved it.

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Wow, I did not want to love this book, but it hit SO close to home. My sister and I have always wondered which of us was the favorite, but we're still so incredibly close. This book was wonderful, and I so thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope it gets all of the good hype it deserves!

I enjoyed this family saga but the writing was a bit overwrought for me. I enjoyed the initial incident as I often love watching videos about this sort of thing happening or often think this could happen to me at a moment’s notice. I also think this is an important issue that happens in families and appreciated this book for that aspect. However I sometimes found the writing style to be overwrought and hard to get through. I still enjoyed the book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Fishers, Patrick and Vivienne, have raised three daughters and they now have families of their own. In a celebration at an elaborate glass house in the forest for Vivienne's 70th birthday, a tree falls during a photo shoot and the family "accidentally" figures out who is the favorite daughter, when Patrick swoops in to rescue Eva from the falling tree. Here sisters, Alex and Nancy ponder the event while juggling children, spouses and love interests. The Accidental Favorite is entertaining, showing that almost all of us have family issues in our own ways. The ending was a little too sweet for me but sometimes things do turn out ok after all.

The Accidental Favorite by Fran Littlewood is a sharp, tender, and darkly funny family drama that explores the complexities of sibling rivalry, parental favoritism, and the lingering echoes of past slights and secrets. With a keen eye for interpersonal dynamics and a knack for blending humor with emotional depth, Littlewood crafts a story that feels both achingly familiar and refreshingly unpredictable.

The Fisher family’s weeklong gathering in the stunning yet fragile "glass house" becomes a perfect metaphor for their unraveling. The idyllic setting is beautiful but brittle, much like the illusion of their perfect family life. When Patrick’s unintended admission about having a "favorite" daughter comes to light, it feels like a seismic event that exposes old insecurities and festering resentments. Littlewood masterfully captures how something as seemingly minor as a parent’s preference can stir up lifelong feelings of inadequacy or superiority.

The three sisters—Alex, Nancy, and Eva—are written with distinct voices and personalities, each carrying their own emotional baggage. Alex, the responsible eldest, feels the pressure of being the de facto caretaker and role model; Nancy, the middle child, is the rebel with something to prove; and Eva, the youngest, is the free spirit whose life choices are often dismissed as impractical. The way their personalities clash and intertwine is both believable and deeply engaging. Littlewood doesn’t rely on broad archetypes—she allows each sister’s vulnerabilities to shine, making it easy to empathize with all of them, even when they’re at their worst.

The heart of the novel lies in its exploration of memory and perception. Each family member recalls past events through a different lens, and as their narratives collide, the truth becomes less about what actually happened and more about how those moments shaped who they became. Littlewood’s writing is particularly deft in these moments, capturing the way family stories morph and calcify over time into emotional truths that are often more painful than factual.

Vivienne and Patrick’s roles as parents are also examined with a delicate balance of humor and poignancy. Vivienne’s milestone birthday, meant to be a celebration of her life and legacy, becomes a backdrop for introspection. As much as the story is about the sisters, it’s also about the complicated act of parenting—how even the best intentions can go astray, leaving wounds that children carry into adulthood.

The humor in the novel is biting and well-placed, preventing the narrative from becoming too heavy despite the emotional weight of the subject matter. Littlewood’s dialogue is witty and sharp, with moments of comic absurdity that feel true to the chaos of a family gathering gone wrong. From passive-aggressive compliments to drunken confessions, the interactions between the Fishers are a masterclass in how family members can simultaneously wound and comfort each other.

If there’s a critique to be made, it’s that the middle portion of the novel can feel a bit meandering as the narrative shifts between various perspectives and subplots. Some readers may find the pacing slows as long-simmering grievances come to a boil. However, the emotional payoff in the final chapters more than makes up for the occasional detour, as Littlewood delivers moments of catharsis, bittersweet reconciliation, and hard-earned self-awareness.

At 4 stars, The Accidental Favorite is an insightful, entertaining, and heartfelt examination of the ties that bind—and sometimes strangle—families. Fran Littlewood’s nuanced portrayal of sisterhood, nostalgia, and the impossibility of true objectivity within a family makes this novel both thought-provoking and deeply relatable. It’s a book that will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt like the "favorite" or the forgotten child, and it reminds us that even the messiest families are often held together by a thread of love, however frayed.

I will read anything she writes. I appreciate that she can balance humor while making you stop and think and even feel. She has lines I had to take a beat to think about which I think is a superpower in writing. To be able to do this while also makingj me laugh??! Yes please!
4/5 stars

I’d like to start out by saying I love a book that explores the messiness of family. No family is perfect and I enjoy finding humanness in the characters I read. So obviously, when I read the description here I was excited to dive in. My excitement quickly turned to dread. I did not look forward to picking this book back up. I feel like a different editor could have made major improvements here. Too many run on sentences, too much jumping around, and too many irrelevant side characters made this a chore to read. I enjoyed Littlewood’s last book so I was expecting family drama with a side of humor but I was very disappointed. I pushed through to finish hoping that the ending would make it worthwhile but ultimately it felt like a waste of time. I understand what the author was trying to do showcasing how a moment in time can be differently remembered by everyone involved, but that got lost in the chaos.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Accidental Favorite is a heartfelt novel following Vivianne and Patrick and their three grown daughters. Following a “freak accident” at a family party, Patrick’s favorite daughter is unexpectedly revealed which leads to a breakdown of decades-old rivalries and secrets.

This book was definitely emotional and dramatic, but having sisters of my own it was very real and bittersweet. I really enjoyed this story and I can’t wait to read more from Fran Littlewood.

The perfect book about sisters. I’m so glad I read this lovely book. It’s filled with emotion and laughter, pain and joy and love. The characters in the story are developed perfectly! What an amazing ride! This really should be developed into a Netflix series. I’ve already done the casting in my head. Pheobe Waller-Bridge as Nancy, Emily Blunt as Alex and Amanda Seyfried as Eva. Yes, please!

A family trip gone horribly, horribly wrong for a seemingly picture-perfect family. When Patrick is forced to pick one daughter to save in a moment of danger, it suddenly becomes clear to everyone that she is his favorite child. Flashbacks are utilized to show that the cracks in the family dynamics have alway been there, but it all comes tumbling down throughout this book.

I had a difficult time fully connecting to this story and felt like the characters’ reactions were unnecessarily extreme and difficult to believe. The imagery and use of mood and setting is a little heavy handed and felt a bit amateurish to me.

I really enjoyed The Accidental Favorite! I tend to like very dramatic family stories, and this was no exception. It reminded me a lot of Fun For The Whole Family by Jennifer E Smith. Despite the laughable scenario that launches the family into wrestling with idea of the titular "favorite" daughter, I felt like Littlewood wrote with seriousness where it was needed. Alex, Nancy, and Eva were all intriguing protagonists, and while I can't relate to their sister dynamic, I felt like the portrayal of their fighting and love for each other was realistic. Their mother Vivienne's chapters, meanwhile, clearly showed her declining mental state, while maintaining her voice, surprised at how her age is catching up with her. I felt at some points like it would be beneficial to have a perspective from the women's' father, but since his past actions make up the climax of revealed secrets, it makes sense to keep his viewpoint from the reader. I will say that being thrown into the family and characters at the beginning is a bit jarring, I had to keep reminding myself whose husbands were whose, whose kids were whose, etc. But I felt immersed by the end. The VERY chaotic end, which had me locked in and reading quickly. I think this book poses a lot of interesting questions, one of course being how parents should behave towards their children, in order to hide their true feelings towards their children as people. One other theme I noticed is how insistent all three sisters were in their perspectives that they had great childhood, despite sharing numerous occasions of the classic 1970s-1980s childhood neglect and their parents arguing. As grown adults, all of the women maintain that their parent's marriage is ideal. I also enjoyed the romantic/marriage focused plots in this as well. It seemed like Alex was going through a postpartum mental struggle, and I like how her story ended up playing out. I found myself rooting for Nancy especially; she's the sister that I feel went through the most character growth by the end. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this, I'd definitely recommend this to someone who sounds intrigued by the "messy family drama" genre!

I was excited to see another book by Fran Littlewood, author of Amazing Grace Adams. This books focuses on 3 adult sisters, their parents, relationships, and all the complications of life. It has everything I’m looking for in a story- some drama, some laughs, and lots of love.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Heartfelt and Unforgettable. Fran Littlewood’s The Accidental Favorite is a beautifully written exploration of family, love and loss. With razor-sharp wit and heartfelt emotion, this captures the messy beauty of life and the complexities of sibling relationships. The characters are flawed yet deeply relatable and their journey will make you laugh, cry and reflect. Both tender and poignant, this novel is a masterclass in storytelling—intimate, raw and unforgettable. A must-read!

A novel about a complicated family? Sign me up! This book follows Vivienne and Patrick, and their three adult daughters, Alex, Nancy, and Eva, along with grandchildren and in-laws. Told primarily from the daughters’ point of view, the story begins at a vacation home (made almost entirely of glass) where there’s an almost-accident that seems to reveal who Patrick’s favorite daughter is. The book switches between the current timeline and the girls’ childhood. As one of the characters notes, there’s no escape from a glass house, and it seems as though all of the cracks in the family’s foundation are coming into view throughout the vacation. There’s a sense of foreboding throughout; the atmosphere in the vacation home after the accident is tense, and the flashbacks hint that all wasn’t always well during the girls’ childhood, either. The reader sees the cracks throughout, building up to the reveal of what happened when Alex, Nancy, and Eva were just children, which also informs why Patrick made the choice he did during the accident.

I love a good family drama, and this one definitely lived up to my expectations. Four stars for this interrogation into a family that seeks to move forward even as the past is weighing them down. For fans of Claire Lombardo and Tracey Lange.

3 sisters come up to celebrate their mom's 70's birthday. every thing goes wrong and their dad saves a daughter. Everyone has secrets and they all come out this week. This book is told by the different girls and their mom. This book also has different time periods .

What a disappointment after Littlewood's first novel, Saving Grace Adams. This one was very annoying in skipping from present to previous timelines. The three sisters, Alex, Nancy and Eva were difficult to keep straight, as were their spouses and/or children. The entire premise of the book hinges on what actually happened when a tree fell during a baby naming/mother's birthday celebration. After the rain loosened the soil and a tree began to fall, did the father try to save Eva, the youngest? And does that mean she is his favorite? And who cares? Obviously, everyone but the reader. So much is made of the fire that injured Alex's feet. What's missing here is anything interesting about the third generation, the sisters' children. We learn their names, but not much about them (or their father).

Is Vivienne, the mother (grandmother) developing dementia? Who is Eva's real father? Who cares? If the theme was how birth order and beauty (or lack of same) influences the lives of children, the book doesn't do a convincing job of determining anything. The only thing we learn, is that sisters form a powerful bond with each other. It's not necessary to read so many pages to find that out. Perhaps this book just never touched me emotionally, but I did not enjoy it.

Thanks to Henry Holt and Net Galley for the ARC copy.