If You Only Knew

June 15, 2015
A divorced wedding-dress designer tries to extricate herself from her ex-husband's new life by moving from Manhattan to her suburban hometown, just in time to see her sister's marriage rocked by a sexually graphic text. Ever since Jenny's husband, Owen, suddenly decided he didn't love her anymore, she's felt a little unmoored, especially since he hasn't actually walked out of her life but only moved her to the best friend column. Confusingly, he's also acquired a new wife who adores Jenny, and they're having a baby, which Jenny desperately wanted to do but Owen was never ready for. Moving back to her hometown, the charming New York suburb of Cambry-on-Hudson, takes her back to her roots and closer to her family, since her mother and sister still live there. She's excited to start her new life, separate from Owen and with an elegant storefront and workshop where she can design and create her signature wedding dresses. But as soon as she arrives, her sister, Rachel, discovers a sext on her husband's phone, which puts her previously idyllic marriage in jeopardy. Rachel has never wanted anything but to be married with children, and her beautiful triplets, handsome husband, and stay-at-home life are the culmination of her lifelong dreams. But when it looks like Adam is cheating, her world is rocked. At first invested in saving the marriage, Rachel begins to resent Adam's long-suffering attitude when she doesn't forgive him-and get over it-right away, especially when it becomes clear that she can't trust him anymore. Jenny and Rachel must navigate their conflicted emotions and search their hearts to decide what they really want when their expected futures go off the rails. Romance star Higgins shifts smoothly and poignantly into women's fiction with this emotionally compelling story, and she brings her ability to create affecting heroines to this new genre. With a secondary cast of characters who buoy an already perceptive study of love, marriage, sisterhood, and loyalty, Higgins delivers. A powerful, emotionally textured winner.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2015

Jenny Tate's life was perfect: she was a sought-after wedding dress designer with a cute doctor husband and a nice Manhattan apartment. However, when her husband decides he doesn't have feelings for her anymore, Jenny moves back to her small hometown on the Hudson River to start life anew. She opens her own wedding dress boutique and rents a fabulous apartment that comes with a scruffy, handsome super named Leo. As Jenny watches her ex-husband, who never wanted kids, remarry and have a child with the perfect woman, she consoles herself by spending time with her triplet nieces and sister, Rachel. Meanwhile, Jenny's relationship with Leo begins to move forward and Rachel's perfect marriage begins to fall apart. Her husband has been sexting a partner in his law firm, and Rachel must decide whether the marriage can, and should, be saved for the sake of their children. VERDICT Higgins (Somebody To Love) is the queen of the summertime read with a little something more. Her witty characters who find, and sometimes lose, love will keep readers glued to her books for hours. This one is no exception. Witnessing Jenny grow closer to the troubled but charming Leo, while Rachel's world falls spectacularly to pieces shows us just how much effort relationships require while being extremely entertaining.--Brooke Bolton, North Manchester P.L., IN

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2015
Wedding dress designer Jenny Tate has moved back to her hometown, Cambry-on-Hudson, a Manhattan suburb. Back in their Central Park apartment, her ex-husband Owen lives the life she thought they'd have with his perfect new wife and baby. Here, it's Jenny's sister, Rachel, who seems to have it all: handsome, devoted attorney husband, perfect home, and adorable triplet toddler daughters. Then Rachel discovers her husband is having an affair, and her idyll shatters; and Jenny meets Leo, a grouchy but strangely magnetic neighbor. As Jenny and Leo's relationship deepens from initial lust, she lets go of her dream life with Owen. Meanwhile, Rachel realizes she's more than a wife and mother. The relationship at the heart of this engaging novel is between the sisters themselves as they offer each other encouragement and advice, solicited and not. Higgins' (In Your Dreams, 2014) trademark humor and charm are at full strength in her latest effort.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)