Great family story of 3 sisters and what they discover after their mom passes away. Interestingly, what they discover about their mother becomes far less significant than what they discover about themselves and each other.
The women range in age from mid 30’s to mid 40’s so they are still young women embroiled in the most lengthy and challenging time of life - middle age. It is that time in life when all the responsibilities, obligations, and expectations of adulthood must be faced. It can also be the time when a person comes to understand who they are, where they are, who they want to become and where they want to go. Their mother’s death is the catalyst for the momentous changes in their lives.
Wonderful, relatable characters. Very fluid and well woven. Only one caveat and that is an event at the end of the novel where a rather contrived surprise reunion occurs. I was able to accept this only because in my life I actually experienced a similar situation several thousand miles from home on another continent. Who knew?
In short, it can be a revelation when you are no longer any one’s child.

Well, this was fine. It wasn't amazing and it wasn't bad. I don't know what happened but the last 20% fell flat to me. Before that I was pretty hooked. I still recommend it but it didn't blow me away.

This book was so different from what I was expecting. The three sisters all have issues along with several other characters. I can’t say I liked them very much in the beginning. They were all so wrapped up in themselves.
I think the last several chapters were the most interesting.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

The tree Geller sisters have reunited to settle their mother's estate . Buried family secrets and tension between the sisters are the themes in this book. I have read other books by this author and enjoyed. However, this one could not keep me interested at all, so disappointing. I will not be recommending.

Having read Therese Anne Fowler’s last novel “A Good Neighborhood”, I was looking forward to reading her new novel “It All Comes Down To This”.

Fowler writes a story about three sisters each at a crossroad in their lives, sparked by the death of their mother. The disclosure of their mother’s secret learned after her passing propels this family drama as each sister reveals secrets of their own.

While the writing was good, I found the characters a bit shallow and the story too contrived for my liking. I've liked this author in the past and will still look out for her next book. I thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Marti’s three daughters with three different lives come together after their mother dies. Beck is the eldest, a freelance journalist, and married to Paul. Claire, the middle daughter, is a pediatric cardiologist and in love with Paul. The youngest is Sophie, who drifts about, house-sitting for a wealthy entertainer friend currently, in reality, she is cash strapped and surviving the best she can.
Marti had specified in her will that the vacation home would be sold then divided between the three in the event of her death. Marti had secrets in her past and wasn't attached to the vacation home her husband had insisted on having. Beck had designs on using it to write the novel that had been developing in her head for year's. Claire and Sophie wanted to sell as soon as possible. Beck had come up with a plan to buy out her sisters. All was going according to plan until Paul decided he needed a life change.
The sisters have to then work it out between them.

What I enjoyed most about It All Comes Down to This is the sisters succeeding in growing and coming to an awakening after going in directions they settled with for year's.

There was nothing I disliked about the book. A previous review I read said the politics threw them off and I was concerned it would be saturated with it. There was a brief mention that only served to give a better understanding of the character.

I rate this 5 stars and would recommend it to women who enjoy a story of growth and acceptance.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinions. I enjoyed the book however I felt it moved a bit slowly as it describes all the characters. I felt she held my interest throughout the book and I enjoyed the ending. I will for sure continue to read more books by this author as she doesn't disappoint.

Review posted to blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

It All Comes Down to This: Unfortunately, this Book Was a Let Down for me. And I had VERY High Hopes.

I SIMPLY adored Therese Anne Fowler’s prior book A Good Neighborhood. It was in fact one of my favorite reads of 2019. I, therefore, couldn’t wait to get my hands on her next release..and then I did.

This is the story of three sisters, Beck, Claire, and Sophia, who are more or less estranged when their mother passes away after an illness and what happens thereafter.

Perhaps if I had liked one of the characters, I would have felt that “pull” - but sadly I did not. Perhaps if something happened to capture my attention, I would have liked it, but it did not.

Perhaps.

The writing here is good. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t. The characterizations are fantastic - real, honest, and frankly, ugly at times, but that wasn’t enough to draw me in.

Enough said.

Though this novel wasn’t my favorite by this author, I will still be eagerly awaiting her next book, hoping that it’s more in line with A Good Neighborhood.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc.

Published on Goodreads and Twitter.

My thanks to NetGalley for a free prepub ebook in exchange for an unbiased review.

I have always loved multigeneration family dramas where secrets may be hidden for decades but ultimately come to life. Dramas where love and best intentions frequently come across as jealousy and disappointment. Dramas where each sibling believe the others were favored by parents who never-ever could possibly understand the angst experienced by their children. Fowler's It All Comes Down to This has all these elements and more.

Widowed mother Marti is dying of lung cancer. Her marriage to Leo produced three daughters - Beck, Claire, and Sophie. Beck is a married freelance writer whose marriage is outside perfect and inside dull; Claire is a divorced doctor who hides her true feelings for a married man; Sophie is an Internet influencer living on the edge financially and emotionally. Their mother's death, will and personal confession force them to confront what they really want and need in life.

The only offsetting point for me is the incredible coincidental meeting at the end of the book. Yes, the two characters had unfinished business but the meeting is implausible at best.

Still, I recommend this book highly.
#ItAllComesDowntoThis #NetGalley

This was quite an interwoven story of the Geller sisters. Your birth order and how you are raised definitely has something to do with how you live your life. The family history they find out about their mother is another part of who they are that they didn't even realize. I enjoyed this real life look at how families interact with each other.

This author is fast becoming a favorite. She has wonderful character studies like Patchett and the ability to capture family drama evocatively. It is also set in Maine . Wonderful book !

This is an engaging family story about the bonds between sisters and their mother, and how they evolve in a variety of ways as children leave the nest and return. I look forward to recommending this to readers who enjoy books by Elin Hilderbrand, Emma Staub, and Lian Dolan.

Revelation is risky; suppose it leads to a fall?
Ah, but suppose it leads to flight?
from It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler

Having read Therese Anne Fowler’s last novel A Good Neighborhood, I was eager to read her new novel It All Comes Down To This. It added to my interest to learn it was set in Maine, and when I opened up the book was thrilled to read it’s set on Mount Desert Island. Our first visit there, staying at Acadia National Park, we fell in love and returned year after year.

In her Acknowledgements, Fowler notes that she has written in many genres, but “never this kind of bighearted, upbeat tale,” a story that arose from the “darkness of the world around me” during the pandemic. For readers weary in body and soul, here is a book to raise your spirits.

The story of three sisters coping with the death of their mother may not sound like the premise for a happy ending, and yes, they all are struggling not only with her death but with her videotaped deathbed revelation, a confession that shocks them. Their mother also requests that they sell the family Maine vacation cabin.

Eldest daughter Beck is a mother and homemaker with a comfortable life and grown children. She writes on the side. She loves her husband, but they have never really ‘connected’ in a deep way, or sexually. They are polite and caring, but the distance is growing and their marriage on shaky ground. Her heart was broken as a teen with a summer romance in Maine.

The middle daughter Claire is a doctor who is recently divorced after her husband discovered she ‘settled’ for him. Claire juggles her career and child and dog, adding up to tension and high blood pressure.

Sophie has a glamourous lifestyle and a multimillion following for SimplySophie! on social media. She wines and dines artists and prospective art buyers, but has a massive credit card debt and no permanent home. She is hovering on the edge of disaster.

Meanwhile, a man has returned to the island seeing a home, staying at the home of an old friend. He wants to buy the sister’s family cabin. But he shares a history with one of them, and it won’t be working in his favor.

When the sisters met up at the cabin, they finally have a reckoning, and faced with their truths, must decide where they go from there.

Fowler offers wonderful characters, and adeptly reveals backstories and inner lives in a suspenseful way. Readers will be hooked by the story and gratified by the ending. And the message of what’s important in life–“it all comes down to this”–is essential.

I received a free ARC and egalley from the publisher. My review is fair and unbiased.

3.5 stars for It All Comes Down to This
I appreciated this family drama and the examination of how each sister fit into the family but also how each of the sisters had to figure out their own lives and identities. I appreciate a book that examines real feelings of competition, comparison, rivalry within sibling relationships as sibling relationships are so fraught with layers of memories, struggles to be separate, and yet an enduring lifelong feeling that no one will know you like a sibling does (oy). I appreciate the chance to read and comment on this, thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press

For me this book, despite a lot of strengths with themes on sisters and relationships which I love, becomes less engaging when someone with a possible threat to their lives/family enters. I suppose I wanted it to be more about the sisters coming to terms with their lives and relationships without any other stressors beyond the loss of their mother. But on the other hand the outsider (CJ) was likable and did aide in moving the story forward in terms of character development and change. The plot slowed at times and felt a bit predictable but I can also say that formulaic can mean a book is relatable and engaging, not always a bad part of a book!


I appreciate a good family drama and overall this book hit the mark in terms of drama, complicated but realistic feeling characters, and sibling conflict. I think it will be a good read for fans of family drama and particularly fans of sibling relationship themes.

A family drama that weaves together the stories of three sisters (and an outsider) after the death of their mother. The novel was entertaining, but felt formulaic in places and, at one point, took a turn that didn't seem to fit the story to that point.

Ah, what's more enticing than a novel of family secrets? In a novel very different from her heartbreaking previous work, Theresa Anne Fowler delivers a tale of three sisters at a crossroad in their lives, sparked by the death of their mother, who had some secrets of her own to protect. Although the family drama seems a little forced at times, it's hard to resist this story of three women who are forced to take a look at where they've been and where they want to be.

A tale of 3 very different sisters who each find themself at a crossroad after the death of their mother. Although each of their stories /lives are very different , they intersect because they are if nothing else, family. They come together to support each other when it is most needed . Thus causing a return to the closeness that they once shared before the hectic pace of their lives had left no room for each other. There is also a secondary, intersecting story surrounding a neighbor C.J who has also reached a crossroad in his life and is ready for change. The interactions between the sisters was perceptive and quite believable in its telling. The story of CJ was heartwarming but seemed a bit forced at times . In one way ,I see how it is a counterpoint to Beck and the different ways in which people face the past and face the future but I also felt it was slightly contrived to make the point. The writer almost made him too "perfect" and thus not quite real. His interactions with Arlo were beautiful to read but again, although you could predict the outcome , not quite believable in reality. I guess the whole story is a bit of fairy tale with a fairy tale ending . I think after the author's last book which was wonderful but heartbreaking, she wished for this to be a feel good story and happily ever after. If this is the worst that these sisters ever have to handle, their lives were/ are pretty easy. None of their problems were earth shattering or heartbreaking in my opinion . As my mother used to say, if money can solve your problem, it's not much of a problem. This is especially true when you are handed an inheritance to solve them.
I rate it a 3.5. Although I have enjoyed her previous works more, it is worth the read since Ms Fowler is a talented writer and sometimes you just want a feel good tale where everything just magically works out for nice people

An interesting story about three sisters and the effects of their mother’s death on the remainder of their lives. Each sister lives independently of the other, when they do get together it is awkward and infrequent. Neither has much consideration for the others so it is difficult to have any feelings about the characters. It was mildly entertaining, in a soap operatic way. The ending is touching, making it worth the read. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This was better than her last book.Family drama, but a bit boring at times— some forced drama that wasn’t needed. Overall, I am rooting for another book so we can hang out with Beck and CJ again!

Glad I gave this author another chance! Thanks NetGalley!

Loved the characters, loved the storyline, loved absolutely everything about this book! It is interesting and thought provoking-don't miss it!