I am so amazed by this authors incredible writing. This book was phenomenal. So well done. Such a beautiful story and just out of this world!

This is a deeply sad and moving look at generational trauma in a family.

Bunny and Jayne are sisters raised in a wealthy family. Their older brothers run off to the west coast and while Jayne is at school Bunny runs off to live “in a hippy compound”. I felt the stilted way this way addressed was a good reflection of the time period and social attitudes of the 1950s. Jayne is focused on graduating college and getting married. She doesn’t outright say that her child hood was abusive. She uses words like “hard to get to know” or “cold” or “hard working” when talking about her father. He was down right abusive to his family and it was never openly discussed.

After Bunny runs off as a teenager she resurfaces in the 1970s with 3 children that she is emotionally and physically unable to take care of. It’s up to Jayne and her husband Rodger to raise the kids as their own. Tilts clear that Bunny is suffering some sort of mental breakdown.

This story focuses on Jayne and Bunny and then later on their 5 children. Til thought the plot was well orchestrated to cover decades of family life. It follows their daughter Lindon that is reeling from her complicated and traumatic childhood. I think a lot of millennials will relate to the characters in this book. There are so many secrets in this family that no one talks about and so much trauma that is never talked about or dealt with. This book tackles the reality of motherhood. A broken person makes choices and those choices and decisions become their life. If you don’t heal and deal with the pain and trauma that you experience it will manifest in your actions and affect the next generation.

I recommend this book to anyone that like a family drama.

Thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Best We Could Hope For is a dramatic telling of two sisters - Jayne and Bunny - who grow up with their parents and a decent amount of wealth. Bunny is unsatisfied and leaves home early, not to be heard from again until she shows up on married Jayne's doorstep, years later, with three children, all from different fathers. Bunny needs to "find herself" and leaves Jayne and her husband in charge of the kids. The story follows the two sisters lives - their relationships and the children growing up. A slower read but worth reading.

I am a fan for novels that focus on multi-generations of a family (especially a dysfunctional one) so was excited to read this novel based on its premise. While “Best We Could Hope For” was not an easy read, it was certainly a poignant one about how the choices we make can impact loved ones in ways we cannot imagine.

We start with two sisters—Jayne and Bunny. Jayne keeps her feet on the ground while Bunny’s head remains in the clouds. Hence, when Bunny brings her three girls to Jayne’s doorstep, Jayne has no choice to agree to care for them. Years later, after Jayne has her own daughter, Lin, Bunny returns, impacting the family (especially Lin) for years to come.

The author does an excellent job grappling with some difficult topics but still moving the story forward. I admit there were parts I skimmed because they made me uncomfortable, but overall, I felt sad when I finished the book, but I think that was the point.

Four out of five stars.

Thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for a chance to read and review this memorable book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy in return for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. What a haunting but also real book. This book was darker than I thought it was going to be but I really enjoyed it.

I generally liked this multi-generational family saga. The plot was engaging, although there should have been some trigger warnings about abuse, as others have pointed out. Unfortunately, there were some holes that never got filled and some details that felt glossed over, leaving me with questions that never got answered.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC

Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Giving this one a 3.5/5. Surprisingly dark story about family trauma told in a relatively quick pace across generations. Some parts were good, some parts less. Felt I didn’t really like Jayne from the start which made me struggle to get into this book. But I did end up liking it and it surprised me to see this was written by the same author as the Nanny Diaries.

Interesting novel that was more literary than I would expect from the auto of The Nanny Diaries.. Bunny abandons her three young children with her older sister, Frances. When she returns and takes up. with Frances's husband, chaos ensues. An epic novel that deals with issues of abandonment, substance abuse and parental abuse. I liked it but I cannot say it was uplifting

This book begins with two characters, Bunny and Jayne, who are sisters. Bunny runs away from home as a teenager and leaves Jayne to grow up on her own. Bunny eventually reappears in Jaynes life and drops her 3 kids with her, and disappears. Jayne is left to raise Bunny’s children with her husband, Rodger. Jayne and Rodger eventually have a child of their own, Linden. We have a time jump and then we follow Lindens story, where she tries to find out why her family is so dysfunctional. The story delves into family secrets and trying to figure out what truly happened that caused their family to separate.

The first half of this book definitely had my full attention. After finishing the book, I don’t think I really understood what was happening with Jayne and why she was pursuing this trial against Rodger while I was reading that section of the book. I guess I like that the clarification eventually did come at the end of the book, but I almost wish there would have been more character and story development surrounding the reasons why Jayne did what she did while we were in the midst of getting to know Jayne and Bunny.

I think the description of the book itself is misleading, I didn’t feel that I was trying to figure out this “mystery” of why Jayne and Bunny were estranged sisters. That seemed pretty clear to me in the middle of the book. I thought the mystery was going to be figuring out who Bunny’s baby daddy’s were.

This author has a very unique writing style that I enjoyed and I think that is what kept me going through this book. Overall, I rated this book 3/5. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. Personally, I don’t think I would recommend this book. I didn’t know what to expect with this book, but the “mystery” behind why this family is the way it is.. was not it.

Thank you NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.

Wow. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reading copy of this book. I write my own opinion of this book- which is summed up as wow.

For those that need a trigger warning- there is child abuse in this novel. It gets dark at times, fortunately not graphic but dark.

The characters in this book are so unbelievably perfectly imperfect. They’re all just putting one foot in front of the other but they are so real. There were so many times I was struck by a sentence or phrase that was so descriptive I had to stop and just mull it over. That’s a rarity for me especially since I usually listen to audiobooks. Instead I found myself procrastinating a bit longer to read another chapter because I didn’t want to leave these characters. I still don’t. I’d happily continue if that was an option.

A gut punch of a story. A heart-wrenching meditation on generational trauma and how failing to heal ourselves can affect our loved ones. It’s a poignant tale with remarkably compelling characters and I was surprised that so much heart could be packed between less than 300 pages. It’s a heavy novel that can be difficult to consume and may cause readers to want to step back but in those instances, I found myself leaning in more.

Thank you Little A Publishing and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 05/06/2025.

4 ⭐️

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley!

Set in New York, we chronologically follow the Linden family through decades of generational secrets and wrongs. This is one of those books that you fall in love with the writing first. It was beautiful and eloquent and painted so many pictures. The plot went at such a nice cadence as the family members navigate betrayals.

I've known Nicola Kraus for her fun, lighthearted novels. I was intrigued when I discovered her new book, that sounded quite different from the others.

I was not disappointed. The Best We Could Hope For is a deeply moving, intimate, unapologetic insight into a family traumatised over generations.

There are no rose-tinted glasses with this story. Every character is flawed, damaged by the past and others and so beautifully and tragically human. Many of them are victims and culprits at the same time. It is impossible not to feel moved by their fates.

Okay, I will preface this by saying I didn't know the author of The Nanny Diaries (which I have never read but was forced to once watch the movie and swiftly forgot it existed) could write something so dark, and poignant, and profound about families and the way trauma is passed down through generations and I know this is because I am a judgmental asshole sometimes so here I am saying, I highly recommend this novel. I want to stay with the characters and could have read about them for way longer and I already miss them.

Cheers to the publishers and netgalley for the arc. Everyone should read this when it comes out next May if you like the aforementioned darkness.

This was heartbreaking to me. As a mom, I feel like I’m biased that anyone can leave their child- however, I do like the characters in search of their past

⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫/5. The Best We Could Hope For by Nicola Kraus. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this advanced reader copy. This novel starts in the 1950s when we meet Jayne. She heads off to Radcliffe, happily leaving her parents and younger sister Bunny behind. Bunny runs away quickly and they chalk it up to her being a Beatnik. Jayne meets a promising young Harvard man, and soon they are living on the Upper West Side while he works at the New York Times. Jayne can’t seem to get pregnant but she concentrates on being a terrific hostess. The early part of the novel gave me Mad Men vibes, and I loved it. Bunny reappears with three children in tow. All the children have different fathers, and Bunny is a mess. She leaves the children with Jayne and her busy husband, promising to return. Years and years go by. Jayne raises these babies with so much love and adds one of her own to the clan. Bunny eventually reappears and the whole family implodes. Horrible accusations are made and the family is permanently divided. As adults, all the children are still floundering and Jayne is still concentrating on dinner parties. Extra points for terrific cover art, however the latter half of the book didn’t thrill me. Dysfunction runs deep with this family. Tough to read at times. Only a 3.5. #bookstagram #nicolakraus #whatiread #bookgram #reading #bookworm #netgalley #arc #goodreads #books #madmen #justok

I wanted to like this novel more than I did. The characters and plot felt a bit too familiar, and the writing was not as fresh and vivid as it could be. I enjoyed the setting and use of place and time.

This was a beautifully written novel with an extremely rough subject matter. Not exactly a feel good novel, but definitely an important novel.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202644784

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC for an unbiased review.

I felt that this book had me on an emotional rollercoaster the whole time I was reading it.

I think this story could have been split into two books to really focus on the two different characters/timeline.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoy immersing themselves in to a family's life and drama.

Whew, this was a sad and depressing novel. I definitely need a palette cleanser after reading it. So much trauma and drama. It left me feeling depressed and so down with very little payoff in the end.

This novel follows a couple of characters - Jayne in the beginning chapters of the book and ending with Lin (her daughter). Jayne has a blended family growing up and this plays a huge role in who she is and the decisions she makes. After she is married, her estranged comes around with her 3 kids and tells her she needs Jayne to take care of them for awhile. Jayne feels obligated and like she owes her sister this favor, so she says yes.

*I really liked this novel up until then, but then once things started falling apart, it was one traumatic thing after another*

I can't really say much more without giving away what happens once her sister "Bunny" arrives back to see her children, but there's ALOT of drama. And this affects Jayne biological daughter Lin in ways that are irreversible. It is quite sad and pathetic. I started hating Jayne once Bunny came back and I basically hated her all the way through until the epilogue.

What I will say is THIS NEEDS MAJOR TRIGGER WARNINGS. Had I known what issues this covers, I probably would have skipped past it. If you have any abuse history or are sensitive to abuse (sexual and within the family), then this will be a very difficult novel to read. I can't believe there isn't a trigger warning anywhere yet.

In conclusion, this book made me mad and depressed. It wasn't necessarily redeeming in any way, which is what I expect from books that cover this sensitive topic. Therefore, I can't recommend this based on that alone. I didn't feel better when I closed the last page. I just felt like I peeked inside a really sad family life. And I wish I hadn't.