Review for Always the Last to Know by Kristan Higgins

Always the Last to Know

by 

Kristan Higgins 

 publication: June 9th 2020 by Berkley Books

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.

Kristan Higgins is at her best writing family dramas.   While the family has drama, the characters learn a lot about themselves, their dreams, and how what they perceive to be is not always the whole truth.    The two daughters, Sadie and Juliet, are as different as can be.   Sadie is the youngest, free-spirited, and a daddy’s girl.   Juliet is the oldest, always perfect, and mommy’s girl.   As they both come home after their father has a stroke, they start to see that all is not what they thought.   Their parent’s perfect marriage is not so perfect, their own lives are not quite as wonderful as they let the other think, and that as different as they are families stick together.   

 

Noah and Sadie are wonderful.  I love second-chance romances and they so deserve their second chance.  They’ve both grown up, they’ve both had life experiences, yet from the minute they see each other again there is no denying that the love that was between them when they were younger is still there and just as strong.    Juliet’s husband Oliver is so patient, so kind, and so loving to Juliet that I never questioned his love for her.   I enjoyed getting to know both couples and seeing how their relationships played into their family dynamics.

 

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Meet Kristan Higgins

Kristan Higgins is the New York Times, USA TODAY, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of 19 novels, which have been translated into more than two dozen languages and sold millions of copies worldwide. Her books have received dozens of awards and accolades, including starred reviews from Kirkus, The New York Journal of Books, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal , People and Booklist. Her books regularly appear on the lists for best novels of the year. Kristan is also a cohost of the Crappy Friends podcast, which discusses the often complex dynamics of female friendships, with her friend and fellow writer, Joss Dey.

 

The proud descendant of a butcher and a laundress, Kristan lives in Connecticut with her heroic firefighter husband. They own several badly behaved pets and are often visited by their entertaining and long-lashed children.