Just Last Night

December 1, 2020

In the New York Times best-selling Henry's People We Meet on Vacation, vivacious travel writer Poppy once vacationed yearly with straight-and-narrow best friend Alex, but their last vacation left their relationship in shreds, and Poppy must talk him into one last trip so they can right the balance. In Jenoff's The Woman with the Blue Star, 18-year-old Sadie Gault is hiding in the sewers after the liquidation of the Krak�w ghetto when she forms a tentative friendship with wealthy Polish girl Ella Stepanek (500,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Just Last Night, the latest from the internationally best-selling McFarlane (If I Never Met You), Eve is still crushing on Ed, among their group of four forever best friends, but her questions about what might have been are interrupted by a catastrophe upending all their lives (50,000-copy first printing). Best-selling novelist/memoirist Maynard returns with Count the Ways, which tracks the fate of a family when the parents break up after an accident that permanently injures the youngest child (50,000-copy first printing). Oakley follows up You Were There Too, a LibraryReads pick whose film rights have been sold, with The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, featuring an ambitious young journalist disgruntled about having to cover a fundraiser on Chesapeake Bay's Frick Island until he discovers the townsfolk pretending to hear and see a man who's not there--all for the sake of his widow. Inspired by a real-life individual, Phillips's The Family Law stars a crusading young family lawyer in early 1980s Alabama whose efforts to help women escape abusive marriages brings death threats that eventually endanger a teenager she has befriended. In Shipman's latest, terminally ill Emily wants the lifelong friends she made at summer camp in 1985 to scatter her ashes at the camp, and The Clover Girls find another life-affirming request from her when they oblige (100,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing). No plot details yet on Weiner's That Summer, but the setting is sunstruck Cape Cod, and there's a 350,000-copy first printing. Weir's Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife, tells the story of twice-widowed Katharine, cornered into marriage with Henry VIII and shamelessly used by an old lover after Henry's death.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 22, 2021
A woman’s rose-colored view of her tight circle of friends is shattered in this heartfelt and funny story of loss and recovery from McFarlane (If I Never Met You). Thirty-something Eve Harris’s life is turned upside down after the death of her best friend, Susie Hart. As Eve struggles to adapt to life without Susie—and contends with the sudden presence of Susie’s estranged brother, the gorgeous but gloomy Finlay, in her life—she discovers that Susie and their dear friend Ed Cooper were keeping a secret from her. Eve has always secretly loved Ed and believed they had a special connection, so the betrayal is doubly difficult. Now a reeling Eve must reevaluate their relationship and what she wants for her life. McFarlane balances sensitive observations on love, death, and friendship with an intoxicating sense of humor as Eve imagines Susie’s witty asides in her head. Eve has a way with words and her ebullient narration delights, but the extensive dialogue threads between Eve and her friends can become over-the-top and unbelievable. Still, Eve is an engaging protagonist whose complex emotions keep the pages turning. This dynamic story of friendship, forgiveness, and finding love where it’s least expected is perfect for Sara Desai fans and lovers of chick lit.

Starred review from March 15, 2021
Eve has a comfortable, if predictable, life in Nottingham: a deadly boring job and weekly pub quizzes with her best friends Ed, Justin, and Susie. Her biggest problem is her mostly unrequited love for Ed, who, unfortunately, just got engaged to his nightmare girlfriend, Hester. Then the unimaginable happens: Susie is killed in a car accident. Eve can't quite come to terms with the Susie-shaped hole in her life, made worse by visits to Susie's father, who has Alzheimer's and does not know Susie is dead. Then Finlay, Susie's brother, shows up with, despite years of estrangement, strong opinions about Susie's funeral and possessions, especially her diaries. Eve knows Susie was not totally forthcoming about Finlay, but after a devastating secret is revealed, Eve and Finlay end up on a rescue mission in Edinburgh. McFarlane (If I Never Met You, 2020) deftly balances the weight of grief and secrets with the lighthearted banter of both long friendships and surprising new connections. There is a romantic plot line, but the real love story will be between readers and Eve as she tries to figure out how to put her life back together, or if she even wants to. Charming, emotionally satisfying, and unforgettable.

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