Author: Therese Anne Fowler
Genre: Literary Fiction | Women’s Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press | Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: June 7, 2022
Book Description: Meet the Geller sisters: Beck, Claire, and Sophie, a trio of strong-minded women whose pragmatic, widowed mother, Marti, will be dying soon and taking her secrets with her. Marti has ensured that her modest estate is easy for her family to deal with once she’s gone––including a provision that the family’s summer cottage on Mount Desert Island, Maine, must be sold, the proceeds split equally between the three girls.
Beck, the eldest, is a freelance journalist whose marriage looks more like a sibling bond than a passionate partnership. In fact, her husband Paul is hiding a troubling truth about his love life. For Beck, the Maine cottage has been essential to her secret wish to write a novel––and to remake the terms of her relationship.
Despite her accomplishments as a pediatric cardiologist, Claire, the middle daughter, has always felt like the Geller misfit. Recently divorced, Claire’s secret unrequited love for the wrong man is slowly destroying her, and she’s finding that her expertise on matters of the heart unfortunately doesn’t extend to her own.
Youngest daughter Sophie appears to live an Instagram-ready life, filled with glamorous work and travel, celebrities, fashion, art, and sex. In reality, her existence is a cash-strapped house of cards that may crash at any moment.
Enter C.J. Reynolds, an enigmatic southerner ex-con with his own hidden past, who complicates the situation. All is not what it seems, and everything is about to change.
Rating: 3 Stars
Review: I will start by saying I have very mixed feeling about this messy complicated family novel. Marti the matriarch of the Geller family dies somewhat unexpectedly, bringing together her three daughters to deal with the aftermath.
Beck is a journalist working on her first novel. She is married to Paul who Beck believes is really gay. Claire, is a pediatric heart surgeon, who is recently divorced and has been in love with Paul since she was a kid. Last but not least Sophie who is a 30 something social influencer who is completely broke.
Marti, made very clear how she wanted everything to be dealt with in her will bringing upsome issues with the sisters, especially of what to do with Marti’s house in Maine. Beck wants to keep it and buy her sisters out of it, but can’t afford it. Sophie you can imagine eagerly wants the money.
Through this story we me CJ, who has a shady past, but is ready to settle down in this particular area and really wants this house, but not all the Geller’s think he should get this house.
I do love a complicated family story but somehow this one did not sit well with me. When it comes down to it, I am not sure I liked any of the Geller sisters. They appeared so selfish at times, but something made me keep going. The author does a good job of recognizing the messiness of this family and that actually helped it sit better for me. This is a juicy and at time salacious book and would be perfect for the beach.
Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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