Better Luck Next Time was a super quick, quirky, fun book! Told from different family members' perspectives, we got to touch on a plethora of issues including marriage, divorce, dating, and family dynamics. I recommend this book because of it's wonderfully sweet, funny, and a feel-good vibe. 4 stars.

Better Luck Next Time by Kate Hilton is a light-hearted novel about a family on the cusp of a number of life changes. At the start of the story, you’re brought right into the action and family dynamics. It kind of reminded me of Emma Straub’s style of illustrating characters and relationships within families. I found the characters fascinating to follow and I became invested in their lives and what would happen. I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Rachel Fulginiti, who was able to deftly keep up with the swift dialogue. I would recommended this if you like Gilmore Girls as it has a similar frenetic style and humor.

Thank you Harper Audio and NetGalley for this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

listened to this book while commuting back and forth to work, and I wonder if I might have liked it more if I'd read it. Kate Hilton packs her story with a LOT of characters, and sometimes I wished I'd had a flowchart so I could keep track of them.

Two people are going through divorces, one has returned after years with Doctors Without Borders and holds a secret tragedy close to her heart, another one is dealing with her curious son as he tries to track down his sperm donor father, and then there is the lone boy whose TV series based on his family has left more than one person feeling a little upset. Over all of this sits Lydia, the renowned feminist set to be honored for her achievements.

Rachel Fulginiti narrates the audiobook and does a fantastic job with the different characters, making you feel as if you are right there with these people and their crazy lives. You will laugh at some lines and your heart will tug at others. With all these people and their complicated lives, the drama in this family is unending.

No entanglement is too small for Kate Hilton, and sometimes it feels as if she's delighting in forcing her characters to confront all manner of conflict. She maintains an even pace, though, which is commendable considering the different perspectives she juggles.

I enjoyed the book and think it would be fun to discuss with a book club. If nothing else, you could spend two hours dissecting which character has--deserves--your sympathy.

I love a novel that explores the world of powerful female characters, and this one did just that. This book explores the world, drama, and life of the Hennessy family and takes you through their struggles and successes. Really great narration and writing. All together a wonderful audiobook that I recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.

This one was cute. Definitely not what I expected but good none the less. It made me emotional while also keeping me wanting to read more.

This was such an enjoyable and unique book filled with interesting characters.
The Hennessy family is dysfunctional for sure, unlikable at times- but never dull .
This is a very fresh and modern books about the adult daughter of a feminist icon struggling to find themselves in her shadow. There's a lot of things explored in this character-driven novel though I do wish the points of vew were a little more distinct and developed.
The narration for this book was excellent and I highly recommend the audiobook format for Better Luck Next Time.
Many thanks to HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for the advance copy.

The Hennessy family is having quite a dramatic year. Divorces, career changes, new romances, dramatic teenagers, and resentments pepper one year in the life of this extended family of siblings and cousins. It doesn’t help that the mother of one set of siblings is a feminist icon, and that the whole family is at the center of a massive women’s march.

It’s all a bit of a mess, but it’s actually an enjoyable one. If you can sort out the many characters and go along for their one-year ride, this family drama is an entertaining listen. It doesn’t have the depth of many of the family stories told over decades that I enjoy, but it’s billed as a comedy and is a good lighter choice.

I listened to Better Luck Next Time on audio and while I found it fairly enjoyable, it didn't really wow me in any way or leave me thinking about it once I was finished. I'm a huge fan of family sagas and this one didn't deliver quite as much as others have for me.

First of all, there are a lot of characters and the book jumps around a lot and I initially had a bit of trouble keeping track of everyone. This would likely have been a bit easier if I read the actual book instead of listening to it, but I almost wanted to create a chart of everyone (I think the physical book actually comes with one). There are several female siblings and cousins, along with children. And man, oh man, everyone seems to be going through some problems... Mainly marital related, but also some career and some child-related. It has the kind of drama I generally love, but maybe a bit too much of it for one family? Or maybe I just could have connected more if the novel focused on just a couple characters. It felt hard to connect to any of them when the book bounced around so much.

I've seen comparisons to shows like This is Us and I do kind of get that. I feel like this is the type of book that would work better as a show, especially one that could go on for many seasons and allow us to get to know the characters more and more and to connect with them.

Though this wasn't my favorite family drama, I would certainly check out another book from Kate Hilton as I enjoy her style of writing!

Family Drama Year

Audiobook Review:
Listening to this as an audiobook, at times—especially at the beginning—it was hard to keep the cast of characters straight. The story revolves around siblings and cousins, with the mother of the siblings being a feminist icon. Unfortunately, I did not feel like the matriarch was as fleshed out as the younger generation. There weren’t any chapters from her viewpoint, if I recall correctly, so we only saw her through the eyes of her children, niece, and nephew. The book charts what happens to this family over the course of a year, from one Christmas to the next, month by month. And, my, what a year it was for the family! Two divorces, new romances, an old family secret unearthed, betrayal, death, new jobs, a teenager discovering his father, etc. I'll admit I thought it was perhaps a little unimaginative to have two divorces happen right off the bat. Surely, the author could have come up with another issue for one of the women to grapple with. And the two women who divorced... do actual women get involved in new relationships so soon after or during a divorce? Still, I actually enjoyed listening to this book and the piling-on of family drama. The narrator did a fantastic job voicing all the characters differently. I wonder if I would have enjoyed the story less had I read it as an eBook because I think the narrator added that much to my enjoyment of the story.

Better Luck Next Time: A Novel by Kate Hilton
Narrated by Rachel Fulginiti
Publiher: Harper Audio
Genre: General Fiction (Adult)
Release Date: November 24, 2020

Better Luck Next Time is a standalone novel by Kate Hilton and I loved it.

Better Luck Next Time tells a story of a family over the course of the worst and best year of their lives. It was incredible how real and relatable this felt. The characters draw you into their stories and you can't help but want the best for them. I found this book to be fascinating and I truly felt like I was peeking into the lives of people who could be my neighbors.

This book made no topic taboo. So many life issues were discussed, including infidelity, divorce, online dating apps, single parenting, and marriage and actually normalized the human struggles we all experience.

I really enjoyed the narration by Rachel Fulginiti. She really brought the characters to life!

This book is filled with so much heart and I definitely recommend reading it!

I'm so grateful to Kate Hilton, Harper Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

For a book about divorce and family disfunction, this was a surprisingly upbeat and effervescent read. .With witty banter and fast paced dialogue, this was a fun read. While the characters were vibrant, the storyline felt trite at times. Perfect for a light beach read or if you are in a reading rut.

Synopsis: The story revolves around the Hennessey-Goldstein family, led by the matriarch Lydia, along with her husband and three adult children. The family, along with their close cousins and children, weave a complicated web of relationships. As their lives become more entwined, some relationships flourish, while others fall apart. Divorce and dating in the age of social media are reoccurring themes.

3.5/5

This was my introduction to this author. I found Better Luck next time to be well written, but at times overwhelmingly laden with unlikable people. There is no such thing as a normal family. Normal is fluid and subjective so what we all perceive as normal can vary, but hopefully is filled with love and support. This is not that family, though in ways they try to be the, but fail again and again. The story allows you to be a fly on the wall of a family that hopefully is so incredibly different than your own. We meet Lydia, the family matriarch. She is a feminist icon who is the living embodiment of a narcissist. It was all about Lydia all the time. How or why she married and had children a mystery to me. She is in a word in my opinion, awful. She may have been a beacon of light to women everywhere, but no one asked her children about her as a mother and if they did no one would dare step out of line they’re all so emotionally beaten down by her overwhelming invasive and uncaring shadow. I found her to be both emotionally absent and abusive. Everyone around her was merely a prop in the show of her life. It was much more important to her for the public to perceive her as perfect than do actually ever once listen and hear her children thoughts, opinions and emotional needs and wants. It never once entered her mind to care about anyone except herself. Not a surprise that they are all emotionally damaged. Each of them is at a crossroads and for them home is not where the heart is, but where judgment and meanness live. Hiding and or denying their feelings, lying, keeping secrets are the norm for them. I found only two likable people in the entire story. Oscar, Beatas son, the youngest character discussed at length was the most mature of all. Interesting amongst a book laden with adults. I did find that even when people were able to get out of their own way Lydia still took over and tried to run the show. An interesting read and I am glad that I listened to it, but it wasn’t a favorite.

A funny and heartwarming take on family dynamics. Of being who you are and being part of a family with expectations. I'd recommend it as a book club read - lots to talk about!

Dynamic, biting and funny with a feminist twist. Family, dating, political, and feminist humor abounds, and a fantastic audio narrator brings it all to life. In other words, this book felt made especially for me!

The book is about the three children of Lydia Hennessey, a famous feminist along the lines of Gloria Steinem. While Lydia is steadfast in her feminist ideals, her children are struggling in her shadow with divorce, infidelity, mental health and other issues that sometimes make a perfect feminist life hard to lead. All while preparing for a massive women's march, while the family is very much in the public eye.

This book is very modern and cool without trying too hard (a pet peeve of mine in this genre) and reflects perfectly the real-life struggles of the third-wave feminist generation. I loved the well-drawn and funny characters, particularly Lydia's daughter Mariana, who was funny and so relatable to me. The time flies while listening to this book, which is at once a fun, easy listen and also very thoughtful and deeper than you'd expect. Though it centers on a high-profile feminist family, their problems are very much like all of ours, and not easily resolved (which is a fun and interesting statement in itself). I LOVED the narrator of this audiobook - she really brought the characters to life with a witty, slightly caustic, and always fun tone. This book perfectly conveys the atmosphere of both the urgency and the ridiculousness of the crazy times in which we are living - from feminism to kids to dating to mothers who are a little bit (or a lot) overbearing.

So yes, I loved this book. Kate Hilton is a worthy heir to Nora Ephron. (I don't say that lightly as Nora is one of my favorites.) Her writing also reminds me a bit of Sue Miller and Meg Wolitzer. I am so looking forward to reading more from her. I could also easily see this book as a successful movie.

Thanks to Harper Collins Audio, NetGalley, and Kate Hilton for the advance copy of this great book. 4.5 and I can't wait to see what Kate Hilton writes next.

Engaging and colorful family drama.

Mariana, Nina and Beata are three adult daughters of Lydia Hennessey - a modern feminist icon living very much in the public eye. The three daughters, as well as cousins Zoe and Zack, live in Nina's shadow - and they didn't have it easy to begin with, with issues related to divorce, relationship issues, mental health, parenthood and secrets. The novel takes place over the course of a year, ahead of the biggest women's march in history. As drama ensues, it's a witty and often funny character study of the family members.

I really loved this audiobook because as someone going through severe relationship problems right now, I just needed to concentrate on someone else's life and drama. This was a major hit. I laughed, almost cried at a few points, and relished the ways in which each character's part evolved. Especially ahead of Christmas!

With the brilliant narration, I was able to "fee'" these characters' issues on a deeper level, so I would definitely recommend the audiobook.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fairly humorous family drama focusing on the dysfunctional lives of the adult children of a feminist icon. I found all of the children likeable and their stories compelling. Where this fell flat for me was with the matriarch herself. She was just petulant and demanding. Her relationship with her husband was forced and her character underdeveloped. She placed great value on herself and daughters being good at domestic skills and regularly kicked the men out of the kitchen. I was hoping for some redeeming warmth that tied all of the better developed pieces of this story together. She seems like an annoying mom and not really a feminist. I enjoyed it, for the most part, but it didn't come together for me in a satisfying way.

I have been slightly obsessed with family stories lately, the kind that tell sweet stories and have amazing characters. With promises of a generational family comedy for fans of Eligible, This Is Where I Leave You, Heartburn and television’s This Is, I thought Better Luck Next Time would be a home run for me. I did enjoy most of the characters and the feelings of girl power however the layout was a bit messy.

We are introduced to the family on during Christmas and then follow them through out the year with big jumps between months/seasons leaving lots of gaps in the story. I found this a little difficult to follow piled on with the large group of family members, siblings, cousins, aunts, mothers, ex's, lots of interlacing in stories and it gets a bit confusing and some of the characters are lost and feel superficial.

I will note that I listened to the audiobook and the narration was wonderful and I did enjoy listening. I have a hard time giving this one a rating, the characters I saw more of were great and I loved the narration. Overall it was an interesting book and I quite liked a lot of story lines but I think the hype had me hoping for a little more. I would read another book by this author hoping for a story that flows a little better.

I did not finish this book. I had a really hard time even getting 20% through this book it was that bad. It was like a soap Opera but instead of TV it was in print. All the characters in this book were dysfunctional, there was a lot of negative drama, and just plain stupidity.
I did listen to this on audio and even that was bad. You are given the choice to change the speed of the audio, but apparently there is only one speed that is decent. I tried to turn up the speed from the original set speed, but when I did that it sounded very distorted and it couldn’t be understood. I had to turn the speed back down to the original speed. Then I tried turning the speed up again and it was still distorted but understandable. This even happened even when I turned the speed down. Apparently there is only one speed that sounds decent but that is awfully slow.

Better Luck Next Time was a fun, thought provoking listen. It felt equal parts The Family Stone and Love Actually. This book follows an extended family over the course of some intense life events. I enjoyed the narrator and did way more chores than normal so I'd have a reason to keep listening.

Thank you to Harper Audio and Harper Collins for my Advance Listeners Copy of Better Luck Next TIme in exchange for my honest opinion.

Better Luck Next Time is a family drama that has a strong soap opera feel to it with the divorces, secret relationships, and hidden truths. There was a messy, tangled web of connections between the characters in the story. It is told over a years time, with monthly snapshots of what is going on in their lives. Each member of this extended family has their own drama and so many secrets. I loved the relationships between the siblings and cousins though, and how they were snarky and supportive of each other when they needed to be, They were one big (sometimes) happy family that I was immediately drawn in by.

I also loved the message of resilience that I picked up from the story. So much can happen in a year.

The story is told from multiple points of view. Rachel Fulginiti did a great job with the narration and changing the tone with each character, It definitely helped to keep up with who was 'speaking' during the story. I will be keeping an eye out for other books that she has narrated in the future. I do listen to audiobooks a lot and was easily able to speed this one up to a faster speed.