This is hands down the best eARC I've had the pleasure of reading this year!
2022 better watch out because this book is going to be lit!

I loved Fowler's book A Good Neighbor!
So I was super pumped to receive the email about It All Comes Down to This widget!
Therese Anne Fowler has a way with words that simply are astonishing.

Meet the Geller sisters: Beck, Claire, and Sophie, a trio of determined ladies whose practical widowed mother, Marti, who is sadly dying and will take her secrets to the grave.
Marti has taken great care of everything and making sure everything is done simple with her estate after she is gone. Which also includes a provision that the family’s summer cottage on Mount Desert Island, Maine, must be sold, the proceeds split equally between the three girls.
The older Beck is a freelance journalist whose marriage is slowly looking more like roommates than an actual marriage!
Claire, who is a pediatric cardiologist, and the middle daughter, has always felt like the Geller misfit. Who is recently divorced.
And the youngest daughter Sophie who is living the Instagram-ready life, filled with glamorous work and travel, celebrities, fashion, art, and sex.
But truth be told her world is about to fall all around her!
And we add CJ who is an ex-con with a past of his own. And comes to town who complicate the situation.
All is not what it seems, and everything is about to change.
A story of sisterhood, heartbreak, home, and what it takes to remake a life!

A heartbreaking, compelling, and thought-provoking story with many well-developed characters.
This story deals with many important issues. Many of the conversations and situations in this novel will stay with me for a long time.
Such a emotionally powerful read I felt this was a very quick read.
A powerhouse of A story. I couldn't stop. Actually I didn't want to.
And that is worth every damn star!
The writing is just beyond phenomenal..... All to say about that. Phenomenal!
This heartbreaking story is timely and and all too plausible and the only thing that kept me going was a great
What's really exciting about this book is that my feelings were all over the damn place. In such a good way!
I could not be more thankful for the reading experience that was this book. It was such a moving experience and does all the things a true, 5 star read should.
A gorgeous book from cover to end!

Thank you so much St. Martin's Press, for this eARC!
And a thank you to NetGalley!

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy.

I am a fan of Fowlers writing and was happy to get an early copy of her new novel. This book follows 3 girls who mother just died, leaving them some surprises along the way. This book took me awhile to get into until I was able to navigate the key players. We get the perspectives from Marti, the mother, three daughters, Paul (spouse of daughter) and CJ a man from the past. The group is all intertwined and come full circle after the death of Marti and visiting Camp, their cabin on the water. Each person has their own secrets and Marti's death helps unite them all together and encourages them to be honest with each other.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS is a lovely family drama sure to delight fans of Emma Straub, J. Courtney Sullivan, & Lianne Moriarty. The characters' voices won me over from the beginning and I couldn't wait to see what would happy next for Marti (alas...), Beck, Claire, Sophie, and CJ.

Fowler keeps the plot moving at a nice brisk pace, which keeps the reader turning the pages. I particularly appreciated how she kept the story feeling realistic, giving each character believable aspects to their personalities.

The ending is satisfying without being artificial or forced.

I'm a longtime fan of Fowler's work and her latest certainly does not disappoint.

I’m a little perplexed about my feelings for “It All Comes Down To This”…..
but, I really like *Therese Ann Fowler*.
I gave five stars to four other books she wrote—enjoyed them immensely:
….”A Good Neighborhood”,
….”Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald”,
….”A Well-Behaved Women: A Novel of the Vanderbilts”,
and
….”Exposed”.
….with other un-read Fowler novels, I still want to read.
So, clearly I like Therese Ann Fowler.

So….I’m puzzled by my own mixed feelings.
I had expected ‘messy-family-dramedy’…..(complicated relationships, marriages, divorce, parenting, career’s, difficulties, lies, secrets, betrayals, unfaithfulness, mistakes, unfairness, vulnerabilities, regret, loss, questions of thyself, lessons learned of thyself, A Great Undoing”, etc.)…
along with joy, humor, and a pleasurable reading experience.
Mostly, this novel was all those things. It’s a character driven (soap opera-ish novel). And although it moves unsteadily at times - I was involved right up to the conclusion.

I felt Therese captured all the qualities I had anticipated—yet, the plot was spinning in so many directions, no one thing ever happened that became the ‘main’ focus of the book.

The idiosyncratic authenticity of the ensemble cast of characters felt pretty real. Messy-but real.
Fowler is excellent at describing her characters- their personalities, their strengths and flaws…..delivering engrossing contemporary stories.

At the center of this novel are three sisters — The Geller Sisters: Beck, Claire, and Sophie….a journalist, a pediatric cardiologist, and an assistant gallerist—
Their jobs are the least of what’s interesting about any of the sisters…
Their conundrums—[their intricate particulars]—are much more mystifying.

It’s a book to have a little fun with — not to take seriously — even though serious issues are examined —
It could have been tighter — but if you go with the flow — there are plenty of micro tales to enjoy.

…A character who called herself “The Resident” (real name was Tabitha), was hilarious.
…A couple of the children ( Arlo and David) were both adorable.

This novel is a great tribute to the theme “life is messy”.
We grow, we change, life happens!

3.5 stars —