Cover Image: It All Comes Down to This

It All Comes Down to This

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

Thank you @netgalley for a couple of this book for my review. I loved this book! I enjoyed all the characters. The storyline was great. I love a story about a family and this book delivered. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a family drama and fun characters to read.

Was this review helpful?

This story is reminiscent of stories already told involving a dying parent with plans to reunite their children with plans in the will to sell a jointly owned inherited home. The story is different yet the same anticipated plot. The cast of characters here has the matriarch, Marti planning her funeral after her death from stage 4 lung cancer. Her husband Leo had already passed away at 66 years old. She has a secret, of course, which will only be disclosed after her death and the reunion of her 3 daughters.

Beck is an unhappily married freelance journalist married to Paul, an editor for 25 yrs with 2 adult children and a granddaughter. She has aspirations of writing a novel in the scenic Maine cottage. Claire is a pediatric cardiologist who is recently divorced but still holds a torch for an unrequited crush for years. Sophie is living the Instagram-ready life spending more money than she has to fit in with the glamorous, fashionable celebrities. She struggles to keep her IRS "irregularities" a secret. The Geller sister all seem to have drifted apart from each other and this reunion just adds stress to their already chaotic lives. They each have "secrets" or situations for which they feel embarrassed and try to present themselves as successful adults.

The façade is soon exposed when CJ Reynolds, a southern with a hidden past of his own, appears as the buyer of their family Mount Desert Island, Maine cottage. The sisters never expected their mother would want them to sell it when she died. It becomes more complicated when his relationship with one of the sisters is exposed. Again, the family need to share their secrets and lives in order to move forward and possibly reunite the family again.

Was this review helpful?

The Geller sisters Beck, Claire, and Sophie are facing significant life challenges in their personal lives when they must come together upon the death of their mother, Marti. Marti's will stipulates that they must sell the family's summer cottage in Maine, with the proceeds divided among the sisters.

What follows: family drama! sisters with secrets! a man with secrets! sisterhood!

It's all very complicated. But as the sisters confront their problems, the reader also gains insight into how all the pieces fit together by the conclusion. This wasn't my favorite Therese Anne Fowler book, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to read her next book.

Was this review helpful?

I attempted this book but did not finish. I just could not attach myself to any of the characters, could not develop empathy for any of them. Very boring.

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD by Therese Anne Fowler, so I had high hopes for IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS. It’s such a different story than AGN and while I can’t say I loved it quite as much, I had a good time reading it. It follows 3 sisters, which is enough for me to really enjoy it already, as I am one of three sisters myself. It’s a very entertaining sibling group, let me tell you. The three sisters in this novel are no different. We follow them as they grapple with their messy lives and learn important lessons along the way. Highly recommend! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

Was this review helpful?

i found myself flipping through to get this book done. unfortunately there was just so much going on and i found it difficult to follow. not every storyline was interesting to me, and it seemed like the author tried to fit in too much.

Was this review helpful?

I have enjoyed other books by Fowler so I thought I would like this one. It was decent. Thanks for the review copy

Was this review helpful?

Another gem from this author. A slow burn, character driven family saga that I loved every page of. All three sisters: Beck, Claire, and Sophie all pulled me in and I liked each of them differently and for different reasons. Beck, the oldest, felt to me like the main character and as such I was most invested in her story. I felt so much like her - middle aged, feeling like you're so close to your dreams but constantly having to be the one to give it up for the benefit of everyone else, feeling suck, feeling like the universe is laughing at you ...
I oscillated between listening and reading this book and find myself preferring to read vs listen in the second half to give my full focus to the story and savor it as much as possible. I very much enjoyed this and would recommend for readers who enjoy slow burn character driven family drama novels and authors like Mary Beth Keane or Celeste Ng

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review another beautiful novel by this author. She's becoming an automatic read for me!

Was this review helpful?

This book started great but boy was it a slow burn. The storyline was okay. Overall it didn't hold my attention very well.

Was this review helpful?

Highly recommend this novel - with a fun surprising twist !will be recommending to others ! A new author to me - will def be planning to read more books by her .

Was this review helpful?

A mom is sick and has 3 daughters. This is their story. We get to know each daughter pretty well. I have daughters and wonder what their relationship will be when they are older so this book definitely spoke to me. Overall, I liked it but not as much as I had hoped.

Was this review helpful?

It All Comes Down to This takes place after the death of matriarch Marti Geller. The Geller sisters are directed to sell their “camp” in Maine. Beck Geller wants to keep the camp in the midst of her changing midlife. Dr. Claire Geller is fine with selling, she’s overwhelmed after her recent divorce. And Sophie Geller just needs the money.

Enter CJ Reynolds, looking for a fresh start, who is willing to buy the house and free the women from their ties to Maine.

I love a family drama. But this one just wasn’t working for me. Sophie and Claire were not in Maine and I think that’s why I didn’t connect with this family. It was so disconnected.

And there were secrets that, honestly, just did not interest me.

I did love the Maine setting. I loved the second chance, mid-life, renewal stories. But overall, I just wasn’t connected much to this story and found myself skimming towards the end.

Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for tgecafbaced e-ARC of #itallcomesdowntothis..

Was this review helpful?

Family drama and a setting in Maine - two of my favorite things in a novel! In It All Comes Down to This, we meet Marti and her three daughters: Beck, Claire, and Sophie. As the book opens, Marti is dying. She’s been. sick for a while and has had time to fully arrange her affairs. Your heart will be sad as she goes through this transition.
Marti’s death and subsequent revelations push the sisters together and forces them to face their own personal challenges.
There were many emotional and relationship issues floating around in addition to what you might expect after the death of a parent. They weren’t all fully developed and doing so might have added to the depth of the book. Each of the sisters did have an interesting life on their own, but my favorite character was CJ Reynolds. He played the role of interloper - a Southerner who returns to Maine to settle down and rebuke his life. The relationship I found most genuine and fully portrayed was between CJ and Arlo.
Ms. Fowler always does a good job with developing interesting stories and characters and I look forward to her next novel. Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s press for the opportunity to read It All Comes Down to This in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Marti Geller is dying. Her three daughters have all chosen wildly different paths, but Marti hopes her final wishes as outlined in her will brings them together. I liked Fowler’s previous book, A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD, and expected this to be a story about family dysfunction. It was that, but I have to say it packed very little punch. There were secrets revealed, but the stakes felt so low and the plot moved so slowly that would-be dramatic revelations felt tepid at best. Simply put: this wasn’t emotionally messy enough to be interesting even though it really should have been since it’s ultimately about righting wrong decisions and creating the life you want.

Thanks to @stmartinspress for this ARC. Out now (and for the past year lol 🥴😆).

Was this review helpful?

Marti Geller is dying, and one of the provisions in her will is for the family’s beach house to be sold and profits split equally between her three daughters, who gather at the beach house one last time. Beck, the oldest, is a journalist who secretly wishes to live at the beach house and write a novel. Her marriage is platonic these days, and she knows her husband is hiding a secret. Claire, the middle daughter, is a cardiologist who recently divorced her husband after he found out she is in love with another man. Sophie, the youngest, is an Insta-celebrity whose life isn’t what it looks like on the outside. When C.J. Reynolds shows up with an interest in the beach house, secrets will be revealed.

This is one of those books where if people would just tell the truth, most of the problems could be immediately resolved. Instead, we just keep hearing about the same issues over and over. Unfortunately, I did not click with any of the characters, which made it hard to get into the story. If you are into family dramas with unlikeable characters, this book might be for you; it just wasn’t for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

Was this review helpful?

Family sagas always work well for me, and the story of these sisters is no exception. The complexities of family, of sisterhood shines well throughout this story. A solid read.

Was this review helpful?

The cancer part in this hit too close to home so I just couldn’t read it. Nothing to do with the writing style or author. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this copy for review

Was this review helpful?

Hmmm. I listened to the audio and was interested in the story but at some point it just fell flat for me. I wanted more from the last third. I love drama & messy family dynamics but I was just left feeling meh. It was okay! I enjoyed the writing.

Was this review helpful?

A family drama about three sisters who recently lost their mother. I thought there was going to be more. I didn’t feel very interested by the mothers secret or C.J. And Becks teenage romance- it seemed way blown out of proportion for what it was, whereas a sister and brother in law dating was normal??? Couldn’t get past that!

Was this review helpful?

Sisters Beck, Claire and Sophie aren't close, which each leading very different lives. Beck is a journalist hoping to become a novelist, Claire a pediatric surgeon, and Sohpie an art dealer and Instagram influencer. When their mother dies suddenly, they are forced back together to deal with her estate. They soon become aware of all that they've missed in each others' lives, and each is facing a turning point in their life. Additionally, they learn that their mother died without revealing a dramatic secret and parts of their parents' idyllic romance were tainted with secrecy.

It All Comes Down to This started out strong, and I was intrigued by the hints of each character's past. However, as the story unfolded I began to strongly dislike the sisters and their drama didn't resonate with me. Toward the end, Beck became whiny and entitled. I didn't really understand the need for the storyline with C.J. and his reason for imprisonment kind of baffled me. Additionally, Marti's deep dark secret didn't land well; the only daughter that seemed to care at all about it was Beck - Sophie and Claire seemed unaffected. All in all, the book was fine but I grew bored with first-world problems. And Beck's pivot on the subject matter for her first book made me roll my eyes.

Was this review helpful?