{Release Day Review} Always the Last to Know by Kristan Higgins (@Kristan_Higgins @BerkleyRomance)6/9/2020
Sometimes you have to break a family to fix it.
From New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins, a new novel examining a family at the breaking point in all its messy, difficult, wonderful complexity. The Frosts are a typical American family. Barb and John, married almost fifty years, are testy and bored with each other...who could blame them after all this time? At least they have their daughters-- Barb's favorite, the perfect, brilliant Juliet; and John's darling, the free-spirited Sadie. The girls themselves couldn't be more different, but at least they got along, more or less. It was fine. It was enough. Until the day John had a stroke, and their house of cards came tumbling down. Now Sadie has to put her career as a teacher and struggling artist in New York on hold to come back and care for her beloved dad--and face the love of her life, whose heart she broke, and who broke hers. Now Juliet has to wonder if people will notice that despite her perfect career as a successful architect, her perfect marriage to a charming Brit, and her two perfect daughters, she's spending an increasing amount of time in the closet having panic attacks. And now Barb and John will finally have to face what's been going on in their marriage all along. From the author of Good Luck with That and Life and Other Inconveniences comes a new novel of heartbreaking truths and hilarious honesty about what family really means.
Barbara Frost knew that her marriage was over long ago. Ever since the birth of their daughters, an invisible wall has been erected between them. They’ve been existing in the same house and living different lives. But within hours of making up her mind to finally tell John that it's over, he suffers a debilitating stroke. What she then discovers about the man she thought she knew will change the course of the lives of each of the Frost women – for better or for worse.
And meanwhile, John just wouldn’t die. No sir. He kept on keeping on, leaving his daughters in misery, leaving me to stare at him as he slept in the hospital bed. For fifty years, I’d accepted his flaws. I knew I wasn’t perfect. I knew I had to work at life, not one of those people like Sadie, who seemed to have people falling into her lap. Yes, I wanted to divorce him. I deserved a divorce.
Even though they grew up in the same family, Juliet and Sadie Frost couldn’t be more different.
Juliet is truly her mother’s daughter. She seems to effortlessly balance her career as a successful architect with her picture-perfect family. But at forty-three, she hides in her closet and is terrified that she’ll never be good enough. Sadie’s dream of being an artist was always nurtured by her father. She left her quaint hometown for the big lights of New York City as soon as she was old enough. Now at thirty-two, she’s still searching – searching for affirmation and for a connection to someone special like one she had so long ago. We. A person forgot what a beautiful word that was when it had been you for so long.
I can always count on Kristan Higgins to create stories where the characters somehow become a part of me and Always the Last to Know is yet another extraordinary example.
She masterfully captures every nuance of love – for friends, family and that one-of-a-kind soul deep devotion - in a way that makes my heart ache in the best of ways. Her characters are equally inspiring in both their strength and their fragility. I understood each of them on every level. They made me laugh. They made me cry and they made me proud. But for me, it was Sadie and Noah that really made this book so remarkable for me. What can I say? I’m a sucker for wild boys with Heathcliff hair. This is a story for every woman who has ever doubted herself. Remember that you deserve the world and a friend just like Caro… Life partner. Longtime companion. Cherished friend.
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