(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Letting go of her ex-husband is harder than wedding-dress designer Jenny Tate expected…especially since his new wife wants to be Jenny’s new best friend. Sensing this isn’t exactly helping her achieve closure, Jenny trades the Manhattan skyline for her hometown up the Hudson, where she’ll start her own business and bask in her sister Rachel’s picture-perfect family life…and maybe even find a little romance of her own with Leo, her downstairs neighbour, a guy who’s utterly irresistible and annoyingly distant at the same time.
Rachel’s idyllic marriage, however, is imploding after she discovers her husband sexting with a colleague. She always thought she’d walk away in this situation, but her triplet daughters have her reconsidering her stance on adultery, much to Jenny’s surprise. Rachel points to their parents’ perfect marriage as a shining example of patience and forgiveness; but to protect her sister, Jenny may have to tarnish that memory — and their relationship — and reveal a family secret she’s been keeping since childhood.
Both Rachel and Jenny will have to come to terms with the past and the present, and find a way to get what they want most of all.

If I had to give this a label, it would be more towards "Women's Fiction" than "Romance" - not to say that it doesn't have romantic tendencies, but it is more about the lives of two sisters and the challenges they face in their relationships.

The thrust of this novel is how lives can be changed by cheating - either physically or emotionally. What we don't get from this novel are strong female characters - and that is something that bothered me about this book. Jenny's husband tells her he doesn't want a family and leaves her - to immediately shack up with a new woman and START A FAMILY. And Jenny remains best friends with them both. What does it take for her to be ticked off about someone? And Rachel, well, she forgives her husband for physically cheating, takes some of the blame, and then has this whole anger/hurt/suspicion thing going on that made me wonder why she just didn't turf the guy out onto the pavement.

Aside from that, the lack of character from her two characters, Higgins has created a telling story about domestic life and the choices we make when things become hard.

I do recommend it as a story - but in this time of #TimesUp and #metoo, these lead characters seem to fall into a terrible stereotype.


Paul
ARH