If You Only Knew by Kristan Higgins

• Title:  If You Only Knew
• Author:  Kristan Higgins
• Genre:  Women’s Fiction
• Pages:  416
• Published:  August 2015 – HQN Books
• Source:  Publisher; NetGalley

Description:  Letting go of her ex-husband is harder than wedding-dress designer Jenny Tate expected…especially since his new wife wants to be Jenny’s new best friend. Sensing this isn’t exactly helping her achieve closure, Jenny trades the Manhattan skyline for her hometown up the Hudson, where she’ll start her own business and bask in her sister Rachel’s picture-perfect family life…and maybe even find a little romance of her own with Leo, her downstairs neighbor, a guy who’s utterly irresistible and annoyingly distant at the same time. 

Rachel’s idyllic marriage, however, is imploding after she discovers her husband sexting with a colleague. She always thought she’d walk away in this situation, but her triplet daughters have her reconsidering her stance on adultery, much to Jenny’s surprise. Rachel points to their parents’ perfect marriage as a shining example of patience and forgiveness; but to protect her sister, Jenny may have to tarnish that memory—and their relationship­—and reveal a family secret she’s been keeping since childhood. 

Both Rachel and Jenny will have to come to terms with the past and the present and find a way to get what they want most of all.  (publisher)

My take:  Kristan Higgins’ novel about sisters who face challenges and choices will be on my 2015 Favorites list. I loved how real the challenges were that faced Jenny and Rachel and how they met those challenges. Jenny, the strong and outgoing sister, is starting over in her hometown after her husband told her he didn’t want to be married to her anymore. She’s an optimist though and is determined to move forward. Rachel, the introvert who takes pride in her orderly house and life, thought she could keep her family safe and happy by spending every moment trying to keep them insulated from anything bad. I was pulling for them both and was so pleased with how Higgins brought them both through at the end.

The support characters are pretty wonderful too. A few are as well-developed as the primary characters and had a hold on my heart through the entire novel – I’m looking at you Leo and Evander and… well, you get the idea. Even though I wanted to throttle Leo a couple of times everything became clear in the end.

If You Only Knew is a book I’d recommend to book clubs whose members (adults) are of varied ages. I think that would bring a lot to the discussion because of the different perspectives. If you’re like me and aren’t a book club member I’d recommend it to fans of Kristan Higgins and women’s fiction.

Note:  I read most of this book while on the treadmill but I knew when I had about 100 pages left I would need to find a quiet room (and a box of tissues). So that’s my heads-up.