Finally My Favorite

From author Rue (My Favorite Second Chance, 2015, etc.) comes the third book in a series about the lives of the Hutchinson sisters.

The third installment of the Lake Effect series finds sisters Rachel and Gwenn in turmoil. As Rachel yearns for the return of her currently touring rock-star girlfriend and Gwenn tries to decide between two men vying for her attention, their mother, Shirley, rests in the intensive care unit of St. Luke’s Hospital. The two sisters still cannot escape the scrutiny of their difficult mother, who’s cantankerous even as she nears death: “Where’s the bright light? Why aren’t there any angels guidin’ me into Heaven?” she says during an out-of-body experience. When the doctor explains that Shirley will need a new kidney, Rachel jumps at the opportunity to donate, while Gwenn finds herself much more hesitant. Both, however, find it startling that neither happens to be an acceptable donor. Meanwhile, Steven, who spent years as a POW in Afghanistan, intends on proposing to Gwenn in spite of lingering PTSD and the somewhat limiting circumstances of his father’s will—“you can only inherit the money if you have a ketubah,” a type of Jewish prenup, he’s told. Then there’s Daniel, a successful artist on sabbatical in Mexico who pines for a return to Gwenn; the two are currently, as Daniel dismally explains, “on a break, or whatever you call this.” Fans of the prior books will find more of what they’ve been enjoying: plenty of sexuality longed for and consummated—“She blew hot breath in his ear and whispered her desires in moist, tantalizing syllables” —tender sibling moments, and down-home good sense brought to the surface by foreign travel: while viewing an ancient Greek settlement preserved in volcanic ash, one character remarks, “Makes you think. Every moment matters, ya know.” Some descriptions lack vigor—the Greek settlement is “interesting”—much as certain twists seem too on-the-nose. Still, the Hutchinson sisters are worth rooting for, and readers who do will be happy once again.

A triumphant chapter centered on two sisters and their unbreakable bond.