Title: Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins
Publisher: HQN Books
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 416 pages
Book Rating: A
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins welcomes you home in this witty, emotionally charged novel about the complications of life, love and family
One step forward. Two steps back. The Tufts scholarship that put Nora Stuart on the path to becoming a Boston medical specialist was a step forward. Being hit by a car and then overhearing her boyfriend hit on another doctor when she thought she was dying? Two major steps back.
Injured in more ways than one, Nora feels her carefully built life cracking at the edges. There’s only one place to land: home. But the tiny Maine community she left fifteen years ago doesn’t necessarily want her. At every turn, someone holds the prodigal daughter of Scupper Island responsible for small-town drama and big-time disappointments.
With a tough islander mother who’s always been distant, a wild-child sister in jail and a withdrawn teenage niece as eager to ditch the island as Nora once was, Nora has her work cut out for her if she’s going to take what might be her last chance to mend the family. Balancing loss and opportunity, dark events from her past with hope for the future, Nora will discover that tackling old pain makes room for promise…and the chance to begin again.
Review:
Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins is a laugh out loud, tear inducing journey of healing and redemption.
Needing a place to recover after an accident, Dr. Nora Stuart heads back to Scupper Island, Maine where she hopes to salvage her distant relationship with her mother, Sharon and niece, Poe. Since she left the island fifteen years earlier under a cloud of controversy, not many of the residents are happy to see her. Even worse, many of them do not even know who she is since apparently her mom talks only mentions her younger sister, Lily. Once she is well enough to live on her own, Nora moves onto a beautiful houseboat which puts in her close proximity to Sullivan “Sully” Fletcher, his lovely teenage daughter Audrey and Sully’s twin brother Luke, who is still holding onto a long term resentment towards Nora. With her return to Boston fast approaching, will Nora remain on the island where she has unexpectedly found peace, healing and possibly love?
Nora and Lily were never quite the same after their father unexpectedly abandoned them when they were kids. Lily turned her back on her sister and became a part of the popular crowd where she turned into a mean girl who ran wild. Nora comforted herself with food and after becoming an overweight social outcast, she concentrated on academic achievements in hopes of receiving a coveted scholarship.
Reinventing herself after entering college, Nora has rarely returned to Scupper Island over the intervening years which results in a distant and unemotional relationship with her pragmatic Maine mother. She also mourns the lack of any connection with Lily but Nora refuses to give up trying to reach salvage their fractured relationship. She is determined to forge a bond with her niece Poe but Poe is not exactly willing to forgive and forget her aunt’s protracted absence from her life.
Nora is a wonderful protagonist who has endured more than her fair share of tragedy and adversity yet she remains upbeat and positive. She has not fully resolved her guilt from winning the scholarship that changed her life but she is proud of her successes. Nora is a survivor who does not let life defeat her and she is tenacious as she tries to repair her familial relationships. She has a snarky sense of humor and her zingy one-lines and inner monologue are often laugh out loud funny.
With several memorable scenes that are absolutely hilarious, a heartwarming yet understated romance and a sweet reconnection with Nora’s estranged family, Now That You Mention It is a truly captivating story of healing and reconciliation. Kristan Higgins brings the characters and settings vibrantly to life through descriptive prose and an incredibly engaging storyline. Readers will savor every word of this humorous and poignant novel.
