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In On Second Thought Kristan Higgins returns to the fictional town of Cambry-on-Hudson, the setting of her recent book If You Only Knew, to tell the story of two half-sisters. I tend to shy away from women’s fiction, preferring more traditional romances, and was nervous when I learned this book leans heavily in that direction. While each sister eventually gets a happy ending, they go through a lot of sorrow along the way and it wasn’t immediately apparent who their heroes would be. But none of that mattered, because from the opening pages I was completely captivated.
Kate and Ainsley’s lives are quite different. Kate – a photographer — recently married Nathan, a successful architect. For Kate, who is 39, meeting and then marrying Nathan after twenty years of being single was completely unexpected. Before they married, Kate had been happy with the life and friends she had in Brooklyn, and her new married life living in Cambry-on-Hudson seems almost surreal. But with the exception of her struggles to get pregnant, everything else about her life seems ideal.
Ainsley’s life is a different story. She had a successful career in television until a scandal left her unemployed. She now works for a regional magazine in Cambry, a real come-down from her previous work, and to top things off, her grumpy boss seems determined to fire her.
Ainsley has been in love and lived with her boyfriend Eric since college, and has ordered her life around him. Recently she nursed him through his cancer treatments and set up a blog for him through her magazine so that he could share his experiences with others. It’s not quite so obvious what – if anything – Eric does for Ainsley. He’s been promising for years they would get married, but he never actually proposes. When Ainsley finds an engagement ring hidden in their home she’s positive he’s finally going to ask her to marry him.
Ms. Higgins opens her book with Kate describing a specific day and, by the end of the first chapter, the reader knows knows Nathan is going to die that night. It’s heartbreaking to see how Kate might have done things differently if only she’d known what was going to happen. And one thing she definitely wouldn’t have done was go to the party Eric is throwing for himself that evening to celebrate his cancer-free state.
Both Kate and Ainsley’s lives change forever after the party. Kate is suddenly a widow, and Ainsley isn’t engaged. In fact, Eric dumps her soon afterwards. I know, this all sounds depressing, and yes, parts of it are very sad. But Kate and Ainsley grow and change as a result of their losses in ways that are uplifting, and, at times, very funny.
This is a rich book. Kate and Ainsley are fully-developed, complex characters, although I’ll admit I initially liked Kate more than I liked her sister. I questioned Ainsley’s love for Eric because he was so obviously self-centered, but as Ainsley stepped up for Kate and did so much to help Kate get through the loss of her husband, I came to admire Ainsley equally. The use of alternating PoVs between the sisters is particularly effective, especially when it reveals that each sister was jealous of the other for reasons that often proved not to be true, their perceptions of each other often distorted.
Normally I would mention the hero – or in this case heroes – early on in the review. But this isn’t that type of book. We meet each sister’s eventual new love interest relatively early, but it isn’t clear for quite some time that they will even become involved, and if they do, which sister will get which man.
And as to the men, it’s fair to say that neither Daniel the Hot Firefighter from Brooklyn nor Jonathan Kent, the wealthy magazine publisher is initially what he seems. Just as the sisters had misunderstood each other, both sisters also misunderstand these men.
While this should work well as a standalone, fans of If You Only Knew will be happy to learn that Leo and Jenny make brief appearances. As for me, I’ve read and liked many of Ms. Higgins’ previous books so asking to review this seemed like a safe bet. What I didn’t expect was that I would love – yes love – this book!
Buy it on Amazon/iBooks/Barnes & Noble/Kobo
Grade: A-
Book Type: Women's Fiction
Sensuality: Subtle
Review Date: 31/01/17
Publication Date: 01/2017
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
My first memory is sitting with my mother on a blanket in our backyard surrounded by books and she is reading one of them to me. My love of reading was encouraged by my parents and it continues to today. I’ve gone through a lot of different genres over the years, but I currently primarily read mysteries (historical mysteries are my favorites) and romances (focusing on contemporaries, categories, and steampunk). When I’m not reading or working, I love to travel, knit, and work on various community projects.
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Like it. Is there a second book
This is a stand-alone. She has a new book set in the same place, however, coming out later this year.
Confession – I did not finish If You Only Knew. It could have been the timing. 2016 was a pretty rough year for me. However, when I read your review of On Second Thought, I thought I should give it a try. (I’m pretty sure it was you who mentioned liking Karen Templeton’s, Santa’s Playbook which I also really liked.) In any case, once I started reading On Second Thought, I couldn’t put it down. I kept thinking, just one more chapter. I did that until the wee hours of the morning. (So if I am dragging all day today, a little of the blame will go to you.) I really enjoyed the book. Upon finishing it, I had one of those – Ah moments. You know the ones where all is right with the world, and you know it will be some time before you can sink your teeth into another book, because you want to stay with these characters and this story for a little while longer.
Glad to hear you liked it. I am always struck by Ms. Higgins’ compassion for her characters. In this book, her encompassing joy in life really shone through for me.
WOW! I did not like this at all. I thought everything about ON SECOND THOUGHT was shoddy. The premise, the characterizations (especially the writing) and the outcome, all shoddy. The thing with Kate was truly awful.