Emerson, Marley, and Georgia met at a camp as kids. When they were 18 the three girls wrote a list of things they wanted to do once they finally “lost all their weight”. The list reappears sixteen years later when Emerson leaves it for Marley and Georgia when she dies. That’s where the story starts. Romance and women’s fiction author Kristan Higgins brings us back to Cambry-on-Hudson, where Marley and Georgia live. The usual Higgins details show up in Good Luck with That, the bad dates, dogs, brave firefighters and her trademark humor. Higgins brings back characters from her other books which makes for nice continuity between stories. I liked knowing how Rachel and her triplets were doing.

Marley and Georgia slowly, reluctantly tackle the list. It’s not easy and each woman tackles the list in her own way. The story unfolds, layer by delicious layer, in alternating voices. Actually, Emerson tells her story throughout the book in diary format.

Emerson's chapters got a little personal for me and I found them the hardest to read. My not-a-cousin (El, not her real name is my cousin’s half sister) died from complications of being morbidly obese in 2013. El and I were born the same year, she was the one cousin who was closest in age to me. For a brief moment went to school together. She had the biggest, kindest heart of anyone I’ve ever known and I loved sitting on the bus with her. El made her living as a chat-room moderator in the early years of the Internet and created her own community in that venue. Four years after her death her Facebook feed still has friends and family posting about memories they have of her. That’s a life well lived.

Marley and Georgia come to similar conclusions about the list three teenagers created at the beginning of their adult lives: it’s not about losing weight. It’s about accepting who you are, as you are. A good lesson worth hearing over and over.

In the interest of full disclosure, Kristan Higgins is my favorite author. I would have a hard time not liking one of her books but I think this one is special. HIghly recommended. Probably her best book.