Oh, Terry McMillan, I wish I could say that I absolutely loved this novel. However, it felt like a broken record, same theme, just a different age group of women, all looking for love and stronger friendships. It focuses on the opposite end of the age spectrum than that in Waiting to Exhale. The women in this latest novel are in their late sixties. They are Black women who wonder if they’ve “still got it” among other issues. Their children are grown, their long-lasting relationships are severed either by death or drugs or negligence, and some of their bodies are trying to withstand the test of time and neglect. The novel is a bit tedious and could have been shortened by fewer characters so that others’ lives could have been more fleshed out. It took me forever to read this book because, quite frankly, it was monotonous. I’m ready for a new slant from Ms. McMillan. 
Sincere thanks to the publisher Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this novel for an honest review.

This is an absorbing story about the way one woman finds a new life for herself after a tragedy turns everything upside down. It is in line with McMillan's other novels and shows how powerful women's friendship can be in supporting one another.

Terry McMillans’s books are nice because they are always a reminder that women are all in this together. Its Not All Downhill From Here beautifully depicts motherhood, sisterhood, partnership, friendship, and aging -- and the love for oneself and others, that we may lose sight of sometimes.

This wasn’t her best work for me, but it was still a funny and nice story. I feel like I would’ve enjoyed this book a lot more if I was older. The main character is 68, so the 40-year age difference made it difficult for me to really connect with the story. I’m probably just not the target audience for this one. But I’d recommend it as a gift to a mom or grandmother figures since centered on the lives of more mature women. 

This book is for Black women dealing with the highs and lows of aging, motherhood, being grandparents, relationships, sex, and illness. McMillan did an excellent job focusing on mental health from the Black woman’s perspective, as well.

I will say that it was a very slow read that took a while to get interesting. But overall, I enjoyed it.

Once again, Terry McMillan has written a book that will resonate with all women, particularly black older women. The characters are fun, and although the book has sad moments, it's inspirational to see women of a certain age still living life to the fullest.

Terry McMillan's books are hit or miss for me. I liked Waiting to Exhale well enough but it wasn't exactly momentous.
I can say the same about It's Not All Downhill From Here.
What I would have loved is the opportunity to see perspective from all the characters and not just one.. This book feels redundant, it's been done again and again and honestly I'm tired. I'm bored. I think Terry McMillan is a great author and she writes what she knows but it is okay to expand outside of that sometimes. I'm awaiting to see if she has any new new adventures for us.

I've long been a fan of Terry McMillan, so I was thrilled to see a new title by her! I love McMillan's work because her characters, although completely different in every novel, have a familiar feeling as soon as you start reading. You find yourself feeling as if you're in the company of old friends again. This story is no different. The stories and experiences that the characters encounter together remind us why McMillan is such a strong and important voice in the literary world. I'm happy to share that this story features characters in their senior years of life and in new chapters of their lives too. It's been my experience that there aren't too many characters in that particular genre. It was refreshing to hear about the aches and pains (literally and figuratively) experienced by the characters. The scenarios served laughter as well as a doses of reality too. As a parent of adult children, I found myself identifying with the issues faced by the characters that have also arisen in my own life. I was quickly comforted by McMillan's wisdom and wit and was reminded that through it all, the central theme of her characters is always love, friendship, grace and forgiveness. Overall I am thrilled that Terry McMillan brought us a new set of strong female characters to love and cheer for. The book is a reminder that while friendships come and go, family is forever.

Loretha Curry  was a black woman happily married to her third husband Carl for more than 25 years. However when he died on a trip for her 68th birthday, her life changed dramatically. It took awhile for her to get out of bed and resume her life but her small group of life land friends were there to help her.

Even though she was overweight, she had not been concerned about her health until she learned that she was a diabetic. She was estranged from both  twin sister and her daughter but met a young man who claimed to her her late husband’s son. 

As Loretha embarked on her life as a single woman , she realized that there were many things in her life that needed changing.

This book will appeal to fans of Terry Macmillan who have enjoyed her stories of contemporary black women and the challenges that they face.

I received this ARC from the publisher and Nat Galley in exchange for am honest review.

This was a great book centered around aging yet still having a seal for life. 

I appreciated that it wasnt significantly centered around Black pain yet still has a heavy dose of cultural relevance. 

There was a lot of familial drama which I found to be very relatelable.

*Given an advanced reading copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

It’s Not All Downhill From Here by Terry McMillan is a true-to-life story about a black woman in her late 60s dealing with tragedy after tragedy and trying to find the good although she feels society telling her she’s too old to improve her life.

Loretha Curry is turning 68. She’s happily married to her third husband and owns a beauty store in Los Angeles. Her birthday is on New Year’s Eve while her twin sister was born the next day. On top of having different fathers, they never really got along. Loretha has a 40-something daughter who’s an alcoholic and a son she never gets to see because he lives in Japan with his family. Her granddaughter can’t keep a job and is pregnant by her live-in boyfriend. Her mother is in a nursing facility and won’t stop talking about dying soon. On the health side, Loretha can’t stop eating fast food and sweets that have led to obesity and diabetes. Though her life seems relatively charmed, she shares everything with her four lifelong girlfriends: Korynthia, Poochie, Sadie, and Lucky. But when tragedy strikes on her birthday, Loretha wonders if she can ever pick up the pieces since she feels she’s in advanced age. Looking for a transformation, Loretha makes little steps as she tries to fix the issues within her family and find her happiness again. She encourages her girlfriends to do the same though tragedy strikes them in different ways as well.

This story reminded me of my mother and her friends, who are in the same age group. They’ve seen a lot of setbacks in their lives, but now they’re seeing more tragedy as they enter old age and the growing pains that come along with it, especially as a black woman trying to keep the family and friend circle together. The book follows Terry McMillan’s style of piling so many issues on the main black female character which results in numerous situations and numerous characters, but it all worked well this time unlike in her last book I Almost Forgot About You.

Overall, it’s a good read that becomes thought-provoking of what we endure by a certain age and how we let age define what’s next for us with forgetting to live in the present.

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! I highly recommend this book and author to all!

This book was funny, wise, and full of rich character development. It was such a pleasure to see Black women in their 60s portrayed in all of their personhood. I highly recommend this book to all fans of Black women's stories!

I highly recommend this book. It is a great read for all, but especially women 60+ who are young at heart. The dialogue is clever and the story explores relationships between women - friendships and also mother-daughter- granddaughter.

I've always been a fan of Terry McMillan's books. I was in high school when I got my copy of Waiting to Exhale and I was smitten. I just wanted a group of girlfriends like the ones in her books that would see me through everything and tell me when I was being an ass.

I finally found those girls in college and still love my Terry McMillan books. "Its Not All Downhill From Here" was a little tough for me at first (I'm still a few decades behind her characters and haven't lost my night vision - yet) - who wants to read about seniors???? But it turns out I did - now I have goals for how I want to live my retirement (when I get there). I want to be as generous as Loretha with both my words, my money and my time. I want to bring new family into my heart no matter how different that may be,. I want to build a lasting bond with my own daughter and then her kids when that day come (but please not for at least 10 years - please let her get through college first). I want to find the good tasting recipes in the healthy cookbooks.....

And thank you for the shout out for the Oakwood Apartments - loved working for that company for almost 15 years back in the day and still miss it....

Enjoyable but a little disappointing.  I wanted to get caught up in the characters and their lives but they never fully engaged me.  I did, however,  persist in reading the entire book. Could be a good beach read this summer.

It's not all down hill from here is the story of friends who are older in life. This was a great book for me to read as I am approaching the same age as the ladies in this book. As you read the story you get the point of views of these ladies as they get to retirement, deal with death and family issues and memories. This book made me laugh, and it made me cry.

The story line is this. You have Loretha who is trying to deal with losing her husband, he had a heart attack on her 69th birthday. Understandably after Carl's death Loretha is a little lost. And if losing her husband isn't enough she has to deal with her sister Odessa, who's jealous of her success, and her then sadly there is her daughter Jalecia, who happens to be addicted to drugs and an alcoholic. You also get to meet her best friends. Sadie who has issues all her own. She is having an affair with ... (I'm not telling you). Korynthia who's problem is her son who is having problems with the law, you also have Poochie who is having some health problems and last but not least is Lucky. She is having issues with her weight and is not in a good marriage.

This book has a lot going on. But I could not put it down. I think I couldn't because I I related to the ladies in this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. I definately recommended it to my friends to read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine books for the eARC.  “That it is still important to keep improving our lives, even at our age, and we should treat ourselves better and stop acting like our best years are behind us." Very well written and emotionally expressive .. I am annoyed that Loretha's family took an advantage of her. The conclusion was rushed. The main lesson is that everyone deserves to be happy and loved. The book deals with issues such mental health and addiction. It beautifully depicts sisterhood, aging, friendship, motherhood, life's unexpected trials and family. All the time, women often put others needs before our own. As a result, we neglect to take care of ourselves and focus on our goals.  There were times in this book,  I wanted to yell at one of the characters and tell them to you can't solve every problem, it's ok to accept help from others. It's a real reflection of life. Life is best spend with the people we love.

I received a digital ARC on this from NetGalley and I just could not get into this book. I tried many times. I like Terry McMillan but this one didnt float my boat

Love love love! Terry McMillan has such a distinct, strong voice that reading her books is more like eavesdropping on the characters lives. I feel like I know these women, I can picture them in my mind, and would know them if I saw them on the street. Another fantastic story from the divine Ms. M! #stayathome #keepreading

This was a bit of a departure from my usual fare of dark crime fiction, but it felt like a needed break. I enjoyed the story and the characters especially, which were memorable and entertaining. Recommended!

I love Terry McMillan’s books, maybe because her books mirror her age and so she knows firsthand what she is talking about. I just turned 70 and I understand everyone of these problems Loretha and her friends are dealing with. They’re serious problems like death of a loved one, the heartbreak grown children can cause, the unfettered love of a parent, the joy of grandchildren and great grands. These tough single women, divorced women, widowed women work toward solving the problems and never lose their sense of humor or the importance of friends. Getting older can be a joy despite the many losses experienced on the way to the downhill side.