Claire, the middle child, is recently divorced from her husband, Chad. Although she is an accomplished and highly regarded pediatric cardiologist --- every parent’s dream! --- she thinks that her boring life can’t hold a candle to those of her sisters’. Her achievements, while hard-won and impressive, are not written up in magazines and journals like theirs are, and now that her marriage has unraveled, she doesn’t even have a stable relationship to brag about. What she does have, though, is a terrible secret: for years she has been hopelessly, desperately in love with a completely unattainable man. With her keen eye for human foibles and emotional truth, humor and deep feeling, acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Therese Anne Fowler's It All Comes Down to This delivers a stylish, insightful take on the dysfunctional family dramedy. Notice, that verse 17 says those present worshiped Jesus. They recognized that He had divine authority. They knew Him to be the Son of God. They knew Him to be Lord. If these Jewish people had worshiped Jesus, and He wasn’t really God the Son, what they were doing would have been an abomination; it would have been blasphemy. But He is God and He is worthy of our worship and obedience. I had both the Kindle book and the Audio book. I really like reading this way. The narration by Barrie Kreinik was done very well. Reading the book allows me to absorb all the writing and highlight passages that I thought presented the book’s message. Rather than confess on her death bed, she is hoping the three daughters and grandchildren will stay away and let her die in peace with Delia, her hospice nurse by her side who knows the drill, and then make a video to confess her past and let her will speak for her.

But Marti’s will surprises them with its provision that the family’s summer cottage in Maine must be sold, the proceeds split equally between the three sisters. While there’s a ready buyer in C.J. Reynolds, he’s an ex-con with a complicated past and a tangled history with one of the women. After considering the mission, if you really are committed to the Bible and obedience to God, I believe you will realize the mission is for you. Romantic and other dilemmas reach flagged-up conclusions in a novel whose destination is gratification. God is with us. Jesus is with us. As our lives are changed, and we go out on His mission, His power and authority are with us. The middle daughter Claire is a doctor who is recently divorced after her husband discovered she ‘settled’ for him. Claire juggles her career and child and dog, adding up to tension and high blood pressure.I selected this book knowing only that it was a piece of historical fiction at a high school library. The books were wrapped in grocery bag paper, which was a fun way to experience a new book. There’s not really much going on in the terms of plot. It’s more of a domestic slice-of-life story.

Sophie, the youngest, seems to be living a carefree lifestyle, living well beyond her means, hob-nobbing with the rich and famous, with clothes and accessories to impress. Jesus doesn’t say that we are to make converts. Jesus doesn’t say for us to simply try to fill the pews. Jesus doesn’t say for us to be a mile wide and an inch deep. All went well until early 2021, when I developed some troubling and mysterious health issues. From January through May, I was in and out of doctor’s offices and imaging centers in search of answers and solutions. Amid that, I returned to the story whenever I could, distracting myself in this playground I’d made. I can see now that my anxieties and intentions about making the most of life, about making meaning, got distilled into each of my characters’ journeys as well. A compulsively readable, thoroughly enjoyable tale of three sisters, their histories, their problems, and their unraveling secrets. Contemporary, but with a delightfully Austenish tone, I read it in a single gulp." — Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

It All Comes Down To This is a light, enjoyable family drama where no one's life is as it seems. The lies are not malicious, more of a "what you don't know won't hurt me" variety. The three Geller sisters are distinctly different, likeable but flawed characters who are consistently portrayed throughout this evenly paced story. Fowler is particularly adept at conveying both what is thought and what is said. When their mother dies leaving behind the family vacation home, the sisters face a common family conundrum, how do you decide what to do when everyone's needs are different. Add to the mix a little romance and a loveable young orphan boy and you have a story that provides a pleasant way to spend a couple of evenings. This book is really good historically, too. Outside of the racism, it mentions the negro owned signs, "I am a blood brother" sign, Vietnam, riots in LA, and Spelman College. Although this book was at a high school, the reading level is 680 (lexile), which is aimed at 4th graders. That tells you that the content is PG and suitable for all ages. As an adult I liked the book, so it won't bore an older student who struggles with reading. I'm not sure if the author intended this story to pull on the heartstrings, but I couldn't help but have a little cry at the end of it. Possibly it is a cry for having to leave Sophie to continue her life and not know what happens to her next , or maybe its a cry for Sophie, knowing I leave her to continue her struggles with the prejudice she receives. Who knows, but I'm crying just the same, which is wonderful! I love a book that makes me cry..

Dr. Tony Evans says this concerning the command to make disciples: “The effectiveness of a church is therefore evaluated—not in the number of its members—but by its disciple-making. It’s the absence of discipleship that keeps a church impotent and ineffective, because by not taking up Christ’s mission of discipleship, its people cannot draw on Christ’s authority.” Well said, Dr. Evans. Church, let us not be impotent and ineffective! Let us develop disciples! Therese Anne Fowler is a “new to me” author whose books I’ve heard good things about but never got a chance to read. When I heard she had a new book out and I happened to get approved for an ARC, I figured now would be as good a time as any to acquaint myself with Fowler’s works. Now having finished this book, I’m thinking I probably should’ve started with a different book of hers, as this one turned out to be a huge disappointment. Topics of change, fear of the unknown, and family support are central and common themes for all three sisters while handled in three completely different ways. I loved how each sister's life played out and I loved this well-written story! An emotionally powerful and evocative tale of family, exploring the lives and relationships of three sisters as they come to terms with their mother’s death and her last request to sell the family’s holiday cottage on Mount Desert Island.I had expected ‘messy-family-dramedy’…..(complicated relationships, marriages, divorce, parenting, career’s, difficulties, lies, secrets, betrayals, unfaithfulness, mistakes, unfairness, vulnerabilities, regret, loss, questions of thyself, lessons learned of thyself, A Great Undoing”, etc.)… These three sisters have very complicated relationships with one another. Each sister has painted a slightly skewed picture of their life to the other two. There are hidden truths, deceptions, and secrets, but each one remains hopeful for change in their future. I felt Therese captured all the qualities I had anticipated—yet, the plot was spinning in so many directions, no one thing ever happened that became the ‘main’ focus of the book.

The idiosyncratic authenticity of the ensemble cast of characters felt pretty real. Messy-but real. I SIMPLY adored Therese Anne Fowler’s prior book A Good Neighborhood. It was in fact one of my favorite reads of 2019. I, therefore, couldn’t wait to get my hands on her next release..and then I did.

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I designed It All Comes Down to This to be a big-hearted tale that utilizes dramatic irony, one of my favorite story forms. Everyone’s got a secret, and the reader is in on all of it while the characters are not. The result, I hope, is a smart, entertaining, compelling, even endearing story that in its slightly subversive way also takes on issues of class and feminism and identity. It’s a story about fate and coincidence and choice, about how we can remake ourselves in the face of adversity. It’s about Art. And family. And love.