Oh yes I DID binge this in 1 day! Let me tell you about this juicy read...😳

This was my first binge read of 2020. I may have neglected some household tasks the day I read it, and I may have ignored my kids just a smidge, and hey, I might have even closed my office door at lunch so I could sneak in a couple pages without someone coming in and asking me stuff about “Patient Care” and “Medical Education” but NO REGRETS (I am joking. I do not ignore my patients or trainees to read. Very often). This story is about four couples who have been friends since college. They are now hitting 40, and three of the four couples have divorced. The last couple standing, Mitch and Jessica, decide to try something unique to keep their marriage fresh: they’ll relax some rules about fidelity—but they set boundaries! They discuss expectations honestly! They agree there will be NO emotional entanglements. What could go wrong?

I’ve read other books with a similar premise, but where this one shines is the storytelling and voice. I was hooked in the first chapter; I knew I was in for an irreverent, funny, and (I hoped) thoughtful and heartfelt ride. It delivered! It’s also pretty sexy, so that was nice. 😳 😂 What I liked best is that these characters felt like people I know; they are exactly my age, married professionals with kids, and I saw so much of my life reflected in the book. I highly recommend it to anyone else in this stage of life, or those who love books about marriage and sex and the ways we humans like to mess it all up. I think it would make a fantastic book club selection.

Thanks @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. This releases 3/17 so mark your calendars!

This was a delightful, quick read and I am grateful to Ballentine Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in advance of publication.

Humorous and well-written, I enjoyed this story of a 40-ish couple, whose best friends of 20 years have all recently divorced and the crazy plan they come up with to avoid the same fate.

The premise sounds very cliché - experimenting with an 'open' marriage - but the ensuing story is anything but. Jessica and Mitch are fully-fleshed-out real people, as are their children, their friends and the students/patients that also tie into the plot. Yes, this is a rather 'light' read, but it touches on deeper aspects of marriage and parenthood as well.

I wasn't expecting the hilarious and startling jumble of a crash-ending and I was delighted. I did feel that there was a bit of a lack of nuance and development of Jessica's character, and I was a bit annoyed by some of her choices, so it didn't quite reach 5 stars for me.

Overall, this is a fun and very well-written book and I'm delighted to have discovered a new author. I now anticipate reading his previous two novels and look forward to whatever he produces in the future.

So, from the first sentence you know to expect this story to be a train wreck. Yet, from the first sentence, it’s so engaging, you steal yourself for the heartaches you expect to come and you read anyway. The characters who make up the story are so engaging, and so well formed, you are immediately engaged in the story and begin hoping the train wreck won’t really be so bad.
As you read, the train wreck in the making is softened from time to time with some off-beat humor as well as some passages that smack of total reality about couples who fall in love, marry, and well into the marriage struggle to stay married for no apparent reason. It’s all highly plausible for anyone who has been married and gotten beyond the first years of a romantic love.
In this book, there are eight people who meet in college and eventually marry, forming a four couple unit. They are close knit in every way, socializing together, living close to one another, and being actively involved in one another’s lives. The story begins with flashbacks to how they all became a group, and essentially starts with where there are now, almost two decades into marriage and cracks starting to show. Without highlighting those cracks or recriminations on the part of splitting spouses, three of the couples break apart. This brings the story to the main focus of the story, the forth couple, Jessica and Mitch. Suddenly they find themselves as the last couple standing, and begin to question the energy in their marriage.
Most readers will find themselves rooting for Jessica and Mitch. They seem to be a perfectly suited, lovely couple and the desire is to see them succeed in maintaining their relationship. Perhaps the truth is, most readers also see Jessica and Mitch as the embodiment of what people want a “good marriage” to be. They want to see it succeed as it gives hope to those who want to have a successful marriage of their own.
There are plenty of “oh, no’s” in this book, as well as, “well, that’s just funny” moments. There are times when the reader may find themselves wanting to scream at the book “Don’t do that! Don’t you know that’s a huge mistake?” The characters and situations are real enough you want to reach into the pages of the book and grab them by the arm to pull them back from the precipice. Of course, it’s a book. You can’t. All you can do is read on and hope things turn out like you want.
I won’t give away the ending of the book. That’s something every reader should discover for themselves. I will say there are some truths uttered here, amongst the fiction, the angst, and the humor, that might be beneficial for couples to read before walking down the aisle. Or, barring that, when years after saying their "I do's"; that famous “seven year itch” hits, whether it happens at seven months, seven years, or even seventeen years. What I will say is, this is a book not to be missed. It is filled with human emotions and situations without taking the reader to an emotional brink. I might almost make it required reading for anyone contemplating marriage or divorce.
My thanks to Ballentine Books with Random House Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an advance digital reader copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

The premise of this book definitely felt controversial, but I think it is probably more realistic than I would have originally thought. This book felt really thoughtfully and honestly written and I feel that it really reflected the ups and downs throughout a marriage and how you can feel impacted when close friends go through divorces. It just felt very honest and real and raw. The ending may have been a bit overdone, but overall I really enjoyed this. Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

I was so excited to read this book because of the preview. I liked how this was an easy read. We follow four couples who are all friends but 3 of the couples are divorced. It was interesting but wasn’t my favorite read. Thank you though for this opportunity.

I loved this book. I wasn’t too sure about it in the middle but the author made me fall in love with all of the characters. I wanted to stay up reading just to see how it all turned out. It reminded me a whole lot of the movie “Crazy, Stupid Love”

Last Couple Standing was a refreshing breath of fresh air. The characters were all relatable and realistic. I can’t relate to the situation or even the concept that Jessica and Mitch use to try to save their marriage, but I thought that the way that the author wrote about it was entertaining and engaging. Divorce isn’t easy to deal with and is so common, and to write about it as Matthew Norman does takes skill. Also, his descriptions of life with small children are spot on! That was very refreshing to see.

I’ll definitely be grabbing Matthew Norman’s other books in the future. His writing is hilarious, but also down to earth.

I really enjoyed this book! Okay, it might have been a little predictable, but I still couldn't put it down. I love the relationship between Jessica and Mitch, and where their deal takes them. The characters were well developed, and I read it quickly because I just couldn't stop. Would definitely recommend!

A well written interesting story that had potential, but just didn’t hit the mark for me. Divorce is like a virus in crowds. Often when one couple in a group falls apart it is just the beginning. Like dominos, the first one goes down and so go the rest. And so starts this book. Friends since college and all coupled off life is good. Hectic and a little crazy, but working. Until it isn’t and suddenly Mitch and Jessica are the last ones of their “Core of Four” that are still married. They decide that as sex seems to be the major downfall of their friends marriages they decide to take the bull by the horns and redefine the rules of their marriage. Um, it just didn’t work for me. Contrived, false and somewhat ridiculous. Im not uptight nor do I have a problem with people who make and or change the rules together and are open and honest with each other. Kudos to them. I just didn’t seem right for them, all seemed forced, untrue and not interesting to me. I liked Mitch. Everyone should have a teacher, neighbor, uncle or dad like him. Jessica, the instigator of their experiment not as much. She was literally being a pimp for her husband so she could validate wanting to be with other men to prove a point. She came off more as a caricature than actual person. The whole Ryan thing…ewww. So messed up, a little gross and completely wrong, ridiculous and pathetic. That she is a therapist. Seriously?? I cannot imagine why Mitch would ever want to be with her anymore. Though I did finish I did struggle to do so.

4 couple friends are going through challenges in their marriages. 3 are divorced and one is left standing until the decide to evolution marriage. I liked the concept of this book but found myself really disliking the character of Jessica.

Matthew Norman’s previous novels, Domestic Violets and We’re All Damaged deal with men who are having difficult times in work and marriage. In his latest novel, Last Couple Standing, we get both the husband and wife’s stories.







Mitch and Jessica met at college, and became one of the Core Four- four men and four women who were friends, and then all paired up and married. The group did everything together- got married, had children, lived in the same city. For nearly twenty years they were inseparable.



And then one of the couples got a divorce. It wasn’t a complete surprise, if they were all to be honest, they knew that Terry and Megan loved each other the least. Terry was cheating on his wife, so divorce was inevitable.



After the first, came the second, which was more shocking because Sarah and Doug seemed the most in love- until Sarah reconnected with an old boyfriend on Instagram, and Doug became involved with his “work wife.”



Four months later, Amber and Alan got divorced after realizing they were never in love. All this shook Jessica and Mitch to the core. They became afraid that they would catch divorce from their friends, and wanted to find a way to avoid that disease.



Since most of the breakups seemed to be related to infidelity, Jessica and Mitch came up with a plan. They would each have sex with someone else, and get it out of their system to save their marriage. They came up with a set of strict rules, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot it seems.



Norman writes characters that are so relatable, you feel like they are people you know. His dialogue seems like he has eavesdropped on people at the table next to him in a restaurant. He had me laughing out loud at some of his lines, and then in the next paragraph you feel sorry for the characters. Last Couple Standing is a cautionary tale for married adults, where you find that the grass isn’t always greener. I recommend

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC! This book was really good. Definitely a different concept for a romance than I’ve ever read. I didn’t realize this was written by a male until halfway through. I feel like there were a few instances that you could tell, but most of it was really easy to relate to and on par with most of the romances I typically read.

This book was just okay. I was hoping for a little more depth to this story, but I didn’t realize this author is known for humor! There were definitely moments of humor, along with a lot of insightful things about marriage in this stage of life—at or nearing forty, married for a decade or more, young children demanding your time.

Despite the positives of this book some of the plot was just not ringing true for me, but needed to happen for the story to move along: namely Jessica being a therapist. Her actions and approach just didn’t make sense when you took her occupation into account, but a lot of other things couldn’t have happened for the final culmination of the book if she wasn’t. I have to be vague as I don’t want to spoil anything (although I figured out the “twist” fairly easily which was a letdown for me).

Negatives: how surface this book was; we don’t get into any character deeply or even the whole premise of the book itself.

Positives: the characters were often funny, it was written very well, and this was a fun palate cleanser type of book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Last Couple Standing is the upcoming novel by author Matthew Norman about a couple, Jessica (a therapist) and Mitch (a high-school English teacher), who out of their best friends, ‘The Core Four,’ they are the last couple still married. The four couples met about the same time in college, got married at about the same time, had kids, and so on. But at the start of the novel, the third couple in their group has just finalized their divorce, leaving Jessica and Mitch as the last couple still together. So what does an otherwise happily married couple decide to do? They decide to “evolve” in hopes of saving their marriage. They have a few conversations about it, establish some ground rules, and then they are free to be with other people.

First, let me rant about other reviews I’ve seen saying that they just couldn’t enjoy this book because of the subject matter… Hello people! Did you read the blurb? That drives me absolutely crazy when people write poor reviews for a book because they didn’t agree with the subject matter. When the blurb explains what’s going to happen, don’t read it if it’s something you don’t like and/or agree with!

Moving on from that, I am so glad to have discovered this author. Matthew Norman’s witty banter and portrayal of married life with small children is fabulous! Very early on in the story, the reader learns that Mitch has traumatized his small children after taking them to a free showing of E.T. at the theater. What parent hasn’t sat down with their kids to watch a “kid movie,” only to learn that it’s much more frightening than you remembered or frightening when you weren’t expecting it??? I think I did that to my daughter with the animated movie Iron Giant.

The bulk of the novel, of course, focuses on Jessica and Mitch’s marriage, adjustments to their friends’ divorces, and adjustments to their new lifestyle and marital rules. But there are several subplots which at first glance, may seem a little bit much for one book, but ended up making it that much more lovable. There is teenager Luke next door who is a student of Mitch’s, their babysitter, his parents are divorcing, and he’s developed a crush on bad-girl Scarlet. Then there is Scarlet who is also Mitch’s student and is a patient of Jessica’s due to her impulsive, dangerous, and sometimes illegal choices. I was rooting for them both the entire time and loved the amazing connection between the two seemingly different characters.

Another huge part of the novel was Mitch and Jessica adjusting to their friendships with the split-up ‘Core Four’ members. Jessica was coming to terms with her three female friends out partying, on the prowl for men, and discussing the frequency of dick pics texted to them by potential dates/hook-ups. Mitch had one friend dating a much younger woman who had started leaving extra buttons undone on his shirt and wearing cologne, another killing himself in Crossfit, and one trying to establish a new norm for his children post-divorce.

Jessica and Mitch try their new rules and “evolving,” but coupled with their divorced friends’ slow realizations that the grass is not always greener, they start to wonder if what they really want in life is what they have had all along.

Last Couple Standing is a hilarious novel that certainly has a unique storyline regarding marriage, relationships, parenting, and friendship. I enjoyed all of the characters, although, surprisingly, Jessica was my least favorite of them all. Mitch stole my heart from the beginning and I honestly felt as if I related to his character more than Jessica’s. I feel almost anti-feminist saying this, but her desire to try new rules in their marriage seemed selfish, as to where Mitch’s agreement to the new rules felt like something he was doing simply to appease his wife.

This book is a quick and fun read despite the heavy topics included in the plot and subplots. It made me laugh out loud several times and as I said before, I fell in love with almost all of the characters. I definitely recommend this one to readers who want a funny and unique take on growing up and growing apart from one another. Most of all, I’m so happy to have discovered Matthew Norman and can’t wait to read more from him in the future!

*Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The description for Matthew Norman’s upcoming, Last Couple Standing, was too entertaining not to try and get my hands on a copy. While I was pretty sure it would be one of those ‘just plain fun’ reads, I was pleasantly surprised by just how deep it went. I was also surprised by some of the secondary characters that weren’t alluded to in the description and the roles they ultimately played (surprised in a good way, to be clear). Last Couple Standing takes a look at how the two people who built a marriage and family together, thoroughly test both together as well.

Mitch and Jessica Butler have been friends with three other couples since college. The ‘Core Four’ spent almost twenty years going through all of life’s milestones together from dating and marriage to kids and moving to the suburbs. But one by one, the ‘Core Four’ couples have been splitting up until only Mitch and Jessica are left together. Beginning to wonder if their marriage might be next, they decide to get ahead of things and save their marriage before it can fall apart. By going to couple’s counseling? Nope. By creating a few new rules about what they’re each allowed to do with other people outside the marriage bed. And, as their newly-divorced friends are discovering, a lot about dating has changed since any of them were last single.

I was a little surprised there wasn’t more done early in the novel to establish the ‘Core Four’ and their relationships with each other, both as individual couples and as a group of friends. Not knowing the others better at the start makes the introductory scenes with them in the wake of the latest breakup more awkward. But it’s actually brilliantly reflective of the situation Mitch and Jessica are in themselves — they no longer completely recognize their friends or know how they should behave around them because now they’re the ones in the minority as the only ones not single. As happens with tight knit family and friends, the experiences of those around them begin to impact their perception of their own situation. Would they have begun to question their own relationship if not for their friends’ marriages falling apart?

When I began reading, I was not expecting the characters of Luke and Scarlett to figure so prominently. Two of the high school students in one of Mitch’s English class, Luke lives next door and babysits the Butler kids while Scarlett also happens to be one of Jessica’s therapy patients. The two teens help provide each of the adults with some perspective, serving as a different kind of mirror than their longtime friends. It is only when Mitch and Jessica can really examine themselves apart from what they’d once been (the ‘Core Four’) and as individuals in their marriage that they can see what they want.

There is a lot of humor throughout Last Couple Standing, including some delightfully obvious symbolism in the Butler’s broken bed and the joys and frustrations of young children afraid of E.T. At the same time, there are some moments that threaten to go to unexpectedly difficult emotional places. I’m pleased that the ride wasn’t entirely what I expected.

Last Couple Standing will be available starting March 17, 2020.

Anyone who has weathered the breakup of close friends knows the trauma it inflicts. So, I loved the premise of this book. Four couples, known as The Core Four, have been friends since college. In the space of one year, three of the four couples get divorced. And with all that carnage, the fourth couple find themselves questioning their own marriage.

I immediately appreciated Norman’s writing style. It’s basic but it just rings true. “They were solid. They were dependable. Stable. Safe. They were the Subaru Outback of married people.” There are numerous of these comparisons that I found myself highlighting, one after another.

This book has a sly, dry humor to it. Not the laugh out loud kind, but the nodding, yes, I get it kind. Well, except for the ending. The ending is laugh out loud, tears rolling down your face funny.

And you can tell Norman definitely comes from Baltimore, or Smalltimore, as he knows it’s called. Hell, I could even tell which private school he used as the basis for where Mitch teached.

I loved the characters, all of them. I loved their foibles. I really wanted Jessica and Mitch to find a way to keep their marriage together even as I knew their “evolution” plan made no sense. I even wanted Scarlet to get her act together. And poor Luke. What a sweetie. Mitch has a poster with Kurt Vonnegut’s eight rules of writing. Number two - “ give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.” Norman gives you an easy four if not 12.

So, five big stars for this lovely, fun, relatable book.

My thanks to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

I am not one for the rom-com type stories but this one really had me reeling. I am not sure if I liked the characters as much or their witty commentary against each other but i really related to this in a spot a year ago of last ditch effort of trying to save a marriage myself. Anyone who is looking for a laugh whether you are in a marriage or are just dating someone - this is a grab for you. Very relate-able!

4.5 stars!

Full of humor, heart and last ditch efforts to save a marriage - Last Couple Standing is unlike any book I've read before. Norman has a writing style that makes you want to compulsively turn the pages and laugh and cry alongside the characters.

When 3 of 4 couples in a group of friends divorces, the 4th decides that maybe an open marriage is the way to ensure they are not the next to fall. There's a set of rules, but of course, nothing is really ever that simple - or is it?

I was so excited to be able to read this book. I mostly enjoyed this it. There were moments that I struggled to finish reading it, but for the most part, it was a light and easy read.

This book was so addicting. It kept you eager to read through to the end to see how things went for the couple. The plot was so unconventional but so relevant to how things are changing in this day and age of relationships.