Now That you Mention It by Kristan Higgins -a Review

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Description:
One step forward. Two steps back. The Tufts scholarship that put Nora Stuart on the path to becoming a Boston medical specialist was a step forward. Being hit by a car and then overhearing her boyfriend hit on another doctor when she thought she was dying? Two major steps back.

Injured in more ways than one, Nora feels her carefully built life cracking at the edges. There’s only one place to land: home. But the tiny Maine community she left fifteen years ago doesn’t necessarily want her. At every turn, someone holds the prodigal daughter of Scupper Island responsible for small-town drama and big-time disappointments.

With a tough islander mother who’s always been distant and a wild-child sister in jail, unable to raise her daughter–a withdrawn teen as eager to ditch the island as Nora once was–Nora has her work cut out for her if she’s going to take what might be her last chance to mend the family.

But as some relationships crumble around her, others unexpectedly strengthen. Balancing loss and opportunity, a dark event from her past with hope for the future, Nora will discover that tackling old pain makes room for promise…and the chance to begin again.

Review:

Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins is a heartwarming story of a woman’s journey through her ups and downs in life, bringing her back to her roots.  We meet our heroine, Nora Stuart, at the start, where she is a doctor at a hospital.  Nora seems happy, as she loves her job and her doctor boyfriend, Bobby. Things will quickly change when Nora is hit by a car, and while in the hospital recovering, she overhears her boyfriend flirting with a nurse.  Unable to get around easily, she decides to take a leave to recover and go home to Scupper Island, Maine, where she hasn’t been for 15 years.

She returns home with her dog, Boomer, to  live with her mother, who is somewhat distant.  Also, living in the house is Poe, her niece, whose mother Lily (Nora’s sister) is in jail; neither one of them is happy to see Nora, which just adds to everything around her falling apart, including many townsfolk’s who have not forgotten that she won a scholarship in high school, beating out the most  popular boy in town, Luke Fletcher.   When Nora runs into Luke, he is nasty and still harbors resentments; but Luke is also now a drunkard, which makes him dangerous.

We begin learn more about Nora, her younger days and seeing how she excelled in school to win the scholarship, and how Luke and the kids taunted her.  We also learn that she was beaten and managed to escape a rapist, which still gives her nightmares.  Coming home slowly begins to change Nora, as she remembers some of the good in her life, and tries become closer to her niece and mother, as well as make friends, some of whom treated her badly during those school days.  Poe, her niece, was at first very negative, but in time Nora will express her love, and bring her out of her shell, and together they will become close.   Much of the story also revolved around Nora’s memories of the good days, when her and Lily were close; with little hope of Lily ever changing.  When Nora moves to a houseboat to get away from the negativity, everything begins to change for the better.

What follows is an emotional heartfelt story that follows Nora becoming stronger with each passing day, and her attempts to rise above her fears.  It is a beautiful story, where she will open herself to love and happiness with Sully (Luke’s brother), Poe, her mom, and old friends from the past.  The issue with Luke remains, and does cause some hardships, but Nora’s new found strength will her help her resolve this issue, as well as with her ex boyfriend.  

I thought that Higgins created some great characters, especially Sully, who was so good with Nora, and their slow built romance was very nicely done.  Her old classmate and now friend Xiaowen was fun, and I ended up liking Poe and Sully’s daughter Audrey.  There was also some humor, as Nora worked at the local clinic, and some of those cases were funny.  

Now That You Mention It was a very well written story by Higgins, and though at times a bit slow, it really was very heartwarming to see Nora rebuilt her life. It had a bit of everything, family, tragedy, fears, romance, friendship and some excitement.  I fully recommend that you read this book. 

Reviewed by Barb

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