Life and Other Inconveniences

Kristan Higgins always takes her readers on an emotional journey, and this book is no exception, but I’ve never fallen quite so hard for a cast of her characters before. If you’re a fan of Gilmore Girls, you’ll LOVE this book. Emma and Riley are the Lorelai and Rory of Stoningham. The bond they share is so precious and rock-solid.

‘That instant love I felt for her wasn’t pretty or besotted; it was primal and fierce. I’d die for her. I’d kill for her. Later, it would gentle into the gift it was—the shimmering wonder-filled love for my favorite person, my daughter, my treasure…my reason for being.’

But, perhaps the greatest scene-stealer of all, is the regal Genevieve London, Emma’s grandmother and Riley’s great-grandmother. I truly enjoyed the varying points of view and getting to know these characters on a more intimate level. They each carry grief with them, but it’s how they respond to that grief that makes them unique and shapes their personal journey. This story is captivating in its complexity and sheds light on so many important subjects, such as death, abandonment, forgiveness, and survival.

The romance that develops along the way between Emma and Miller is delicious and exactly what they both deserve.

‘He wasn’t boyishly good-looking, the way Jason was. He was a man, and his battles showed on his face—the grief, the responsibility, the weariness. But there was intelligence there, too, and when he smiled, it felt…profound. Not just a knee-jerk reaction, but an affirmation that life still held beautiful things.’

I laughed out loud a few times, and I cried, and I felt SO MUCH for these people, this place, this world Kristan created. I have to give a shout-out to Helga the terrible, Donelle of the infected toe, Mac the super-swimmer dog, and dear, sweet Paul.

Honestly, I wish the story never ended. Thanks for pouring so much love into this book, KH!

Life can be difficult sometimes, throwing away dreams and pushing too hard. There's always that sentiment... Why me? But then, sometimes... Why not? Genevieve is a strong woman, she faced the worst and had endured more than most people would have. Always going through the difficulties with flair. Emma suffered a tragedy in her childhood. But she kept going no matter what. And life had a surprise for her. Riley is a great child, but struggling, as any girl at her age. Three generations. Three women to be tested. And love. This is one of the greatest books I've ever read. Having read more from this author previously, it doesn't come as a surprise. I love the characters, and the bonds between them. Beautifully written. Pure joy to read. Thanks to the author and if you're thinking about getting this book, go ahead and read it. You won't be disappointed.

I’m sitting here at 3:57 am with tears running down my face trying to figure out what to put in my review to convey my feelings. For me, if a writer can bring me to true tears, it’s a sign of a fantastic book. I loved this book! It takes the reader through every gamut of emotion. I felt sympathy for the young girl (Emma) who lost her mother & then was dumped on a stern grandmother by her immature father. I admired the mother Emma became for for sticking to her principles instead of doing the “easy” thing. Genevieve is the one I couldn’t put a lock on. I admired her courage in going on after losing one son & her husband. I sympathized with her grief but yet was appalled by her treatment of Clark & Emma. These characters were all so well developed, it felt like I was living their story along with them. The descriptions & dialogue bring you right into the scenes with them. I had planned to start reading this book as soon as I received it but decided to hold off until the weekend. I wanted to be able to lose myself in it. Once I opened the cover, I didn’t put the book down until I was finished. I’ve read everything Ms. Higgins has published & this isn’t one of her typical romances but it’s so much more! I don’t feel that I’ve done this book justice but suffice it to say, I loved it & in a week or two will be rereading it to capture anything I missed the first time.

I read this book in two days...and it only took that long because other things got in the way: sleeping, errands, family, etc! But was truly an interesting plot. Other reviews have outlined the basics. Emma and Riley are such great characters. ..and following them through their challenging summer was emotional. Tess, was a wonderful distraction from the daily drama. And I would love to read about adult Tess in another book!

4.5 stars

Kristan Higgins chooses unexpected family relationships as her focus for this book, and she captivates you in the process.

Emma London, the daughter of a feckless man and an emotionally ill mother who took her life, is the single mother of sixteen-year-old Riley, a precocious child currently being bullied by her so-called friends. Emma and Riley live with Emma’s maternal grandfather, a crusty widower whose love for his girls is deep and unquestioning.

After her paternal grandmother, renowned handbag designer Genevieve London, kicked her out upon her announcement at eighteen of her pregnancy, Emma has done whatever needed to provide for Riley. She had to live with her grandmother because her feckless father didn’t want the burden of caring for her. What Genevieve fails to see is that Emma may have been smart enough to know that getting pregnant in high school may not be the best move, but she’s also a girl desperate to love and be loved. She falls for a rather feckless boy, and she falls harder for her daughter.

Genevieve herself is far more complex than Emma wants to give her credit for being. Her oldest son went missing when he was eight, and for the ensuing fifty-five years, Genevieve has not known whether he is dead or alive. She refers to him as The Missing. Kristan Higgins makes you feel Genevieve’s pain, loss, and horror. Grab some tissues because despite her frostiness, Genevieve will bring you to tears.

Another family featured in this book is that of Miller Finlay, whose construction company has made updates to Genevieve’s sprawling Connecticut mansion. Miller happens to be the cousin of Emma’s feckless baby daddy, and he, too, has suffered great loss. His beloved wife died during childbirth, and their baby Tess, now three, is a terror. For real. She’s the kind of child teenagers ought to have to babysit because she is perfect birth control.

These three people–Genevieve, Emma, and Miller–have heartache in common, yet Genevieve refuses to allow it to bring her closer to Emma. (She kind of does with Miller, as much as Genevieve can let anyone in.) There is one moment in this book when Emma quite plainly tells her grandmother that all she ever wanted was to be loved, and it will crack you wide open.

Emma and Riley, along with Emma’s grandfather, come back to Connecticut when Genevieve beckons them. I loved that Emma not only was open to Genevieve having a relationship with Riley, she supported and encouraged it. Seeing her daughter with her grandmother brings Emma joy, which makes you like her all the more. You won’t always like Genevieve, even as you sympathize with her. She’s so determined to stiff-upper-lip everything that she blinds herself to the gift of family she’s been given–for a third time, in fact.

This book feels different from other Kristan Higgins books. Yes, it has her warmth and humor, but there is a sadness in Genevieve, Emma, and Miller that pervades nearly every page. Even Emma’s grandfather has a sadness about him. These people need to heal, and you aren’t always certain that Genevieve’s mansion is where that can happen. Yet this home, so large and stuffed with more rooms than necessary, also proves to have an intimacy that provokes emotional connection.

Dear reader, I cried. Several times, in fact. I always cry in Kristan Higgins’s books, but this one packed a stronger wallop. I absolutely loved it. The only reason I can’t give it five stars is that one plot point is tied up a little too neatly and conveniently at the end of the book, and it feels somewhat false. It feels like a minor quibble in the face of such a tremendous book. And make no mistake, this is a tremendous book.

Emma London would have never categorized her relationship with her grandmother - the famous designer Genevieve London - as loving. After losing her mother at eight years old, and when her father proved a less than willing caregiver, Emma was sent to live with her grandmother. Genevieve coming from an old-school blue-blood time, and suffering her own familial loss, she doesn't know really how to relate to Emma, but she make sure Emma is clothed, fed, schooled, and generally looked after. When Emma gets pregnant right after graduating high school, and wants to keep and raise the baby, Genevieve cannot believe Emma would throw all of her potential away like that. So she kicks her out and lets her make her own way.

Fast forward about seventeen years and Emma is now a, mostly, single mother to Riley. She worked hard to get her degree and works as a counselor. She hasn't spoken to Genevieve in all this time. That is, until Genevieve calls informing Emma that she's dying and she would like to meet Riley. Dangling a huge inheritance - enough to cover Riley's schooling - helps make up Emma's mind and soon they're off back to Connecticut for the summer. But all is not exactly how Genevieve has made it seem. Emma and Genevieve will have to reconcile a lot with the past if they want to make the most of the time they have left.

It took me a while to read and get into this book. Kristan Higgins is typically a read upon release author for me, but something about the tone of Life & Other Inconveniences had me hesitating at first. It's not an easy read for sure. It tackles issues such as death, suicide, child neglect and abandonment, missing children, bullying. It runs the gambit. It's also very generational. There's a lot of backstory that has to be incorporated because it influences where our characters are in the present, where they came from, and in a way, where they need to go. I liked filling in all the pieces and seeing how everything fit together. Seeing the layers pulled back on each character to see what, thus far, has informed their life. Why does Genevieve hold back her affections from Emma? Why is Emma a hypochondriac?

I really thought that the stories Kristan Higgins gave each character were fitting. I liked each time I had formed an opinion about a character just to have it turned around by some new revelation. And the revelations themselves were well done. Slowly unfolding in an organic way to the overall story, never seeming to come out of left field.

The relationship between the three female characters Genevieve, Emma, and Riley was my favorite part of the book. I loved seeing the progression of Genevieve and Emma's relationship contrasted with Emma and Riley's and then Riley and Genevieve's relationship. Then bringing it back around again to healing the fissure between Genevieve and Emma. I also loved seeing a story with a teenage girl and her mother where there wasn't any teenage animosity going on. I know that it's a real thing that sometimes happens in mother-daughter relationships, but it's not always the case, and I liked seeing the closeness of Riley and Emma without so much drama between them. It's also plays a huge contrast to how things stand between Genevieve and Emma.

Overall, it's a more somber read than what I'm used to with Kristan Higgins. I liked what the story says about the circumstances that change our lives and how we deal with them. It's at times hopeful and heartbreaking, but it definitely leaves you with a sense of lightness at the end.

Emma London never thought she had anything in common with her grandmother Genevieve London. The regal old woman came from wealthy and bluest-blood New England stock, but that didn’t protect her from life’s cruelest blows: the disappearance of Genevieve’s young son, followed by the premature death of her husband. But Genevieve rose from those ashes of grief and built a fashion empire that was respected the world over, even when it meant neglecting her other son.

When Emma’s own mother died, her father abandoned her on his mother’s doorstep. Genevieve took Emma in and reluctantly raised her—until Emma got pregnant her senior year of high school. Genevieve kicked her out with nothing but the clothes on her back…but Emma took with her the most important London possession: the strength not just to survive but to thrive. And indeed, Emma has built a wonderful life for herself and her teenage daughter, Riley.

So what is Emma to do when Genevieve does the one thing Emma never expected of her and, after not speaking to her for nearly two decades, calls and asks for help?l

My Thoughts:

From the very first page of Life and Other Inconveniences, I was immersed in the family dynamics and the intriguing characters. They felt so real, and they kept me smiling, laughing, and sometimes crying.

Emma was my favorite character, along with her daughter Riley. Genevieve, whom we came to know a little better when her alternating narrative took over, kept me intrigued. She was a mixed bag of sadness, loss, and the kind of staunch grit that comes with her background and experiences.

There were times that I could almost empathize with Clark, Emma’s father, but he was such a weak imitation of the life he could have had.

So many troubled characters who could have had more, but who sank to the lowest of lows when confronted with difficulty. Or those little inconveniences that life throws at us. These were the characters against whom we cast the truly great ones, like Emma and Riley.

Then we meet Miller, and watch him deal with his challenging daughter Tess, and the combination of Emma and Miller made my heart soar. A lovely 4.5 star read.

Kristan Higgins is my favorite author. I own all of her books in digital, paperback and hardcover forms. I think she's an amazing writer and she seems to be an awesome human being too.

When I received a copy of Life and Other Inconveniences, I was ecstatic! As a book lover, nothing feels as great as getting a book by your favorite author. Then, something happened. I didn't want to read it. Why? because she writes a book a year and if I started it too soon, I was going to have to wait a long time for her next one. Finally, this weekend, I couldn't postpone it any longer. So I prepared for my weekend. I asked my husband to take care of the puppies, breakfast and household chores while I took the morning off to read. No interruptions, no breaks.

Life and Other Inconveniences is narrated in multiple points of views. The main three characters are:

Emma, a single mother who has abandonment issues. When she was very little, her mother committed suicide and her father Clark, left her with her grandmother and never looked back. When Emma meets the first boy/man who shows her some love, she dates him for three years and just before she graduates high school, she learns she's pregnant. Her grandmother, Genevieve is not happy and pretty much kicks her out. Emma goes to live with her maternal grandfather. Years later, she's starting her career as a psychologist and her daughter, Riley is a teenager.

Genevieve London had a perfect marriage. She loved her husband, Garrison with all of her heart. She also had two boys, Sheppard and Clark. She loved Sheppard, her oldest and when he goes missing at a very young age, she loses part of her heart. Then, Garrison dies too and when he dies, Genevieve loses the ability to love. She's never the mother that she should be to Clark (her youngest son) and when years later, he delivers his daughter, Emma to her doorstep, she thinks this is her chance to make amends. Yet, When Emma gets pregnant, she can't be flexible.

Last, we have Riley. Emma's daughter and Genevieve's granddaughter. A smart young woman with a good heart. Riley's having problems at school and when Genevieve's invitation to spend the summer with her is given, Emma and Riley agree it could be a good time to leave town.

Life and Other Inconveniences felt different than her prior novels. I had a hard time concentrating on the story. I felt there was too much inner dialogue by Emma and Genevieve. I missed the humor I've come to expect from KH. I missed the embarrassing moments, I've come to feel for the characters. I missed the romance, I've come to adore.

I like to clarify that ANY time there was a dialogue, I was 100% immersed in it. Even though, the dialogue was so scattered, when it was there, I craved it.

These are my opinions but I hope this doesn't deter you from reading this book.

Cliffhanger: No

3.5/5Fangs