cover image On Second Thought

On Second Thought

Kristan Higgins. HQN, $15.99 trade paper (480p) ISBN 978-0-373-78925-2

Higgins examines the ties that bind family as two sisters grieve their losses and provide support to one another. Kate O’Leary is a successful photographer and loves her life with her new husband, Nathan, in suburban Cambry-on-Hudson, N.Y. But when Nathan dies in an accident, she is devastated by his loss. Kate’s half-sister, Ainsley, talented and ever-cheerful, supported her longtime boyfriend, Eric, through cancer, and believes that he is finally going to propose to her. But shortly after Ainsley finds the ring, he publicly breaks up with her via his blog. After Ainsley moves in with Kate, the two women become closer than they had ever been. Each draws on the strength of the other to move forward in her life and begin the healing process. Kate tries to continue with her work as a photographer and enjoys her friendship with Daniel, the “Hot Firefighter,” and Ainsley enjoys a love/hate relationship with her job as an editor at Hudson Lifestyle, where she always seems to attract the displeasure of her boss, Jonathan. Higgins’s page-turner highlights both the complexity of family relationships and the intense power of love. (Feb.)