The Next Best Thing

By Kristan Higgins

Lucy Lang isn't looking for fireworks...

She's looking for a nice, decent man. Someone who'll mow the lawn, flip chicken on the barbecue, teach their future children to play soccer. But most important: someone who won't inspire the slightest stirring in her heart…or anywhere else. A young widow, Lucy can't risk that kind of loss again. But sharing her life with a cat named Fat Mikey and the Black Widows at the family bakery isn't enough either. So it's goodbye to Ethan, her hot but entirely inappropriate "friend with privileges", and hello to a man she can marry.

Too bad Ethan Mirabelli isn't going anywhere. As far as he's concerned, what she needs might be right under her nose. But can he convince her that the next best thing can really be forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781488741708

Kristan Higgins

Kristan Higgins is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly and USA TODAY bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than twenty languages. She has received dozens of awards and accolades, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, The New York Journal of Books and Kirkus. Kristan lives in Connecticut with her heroic firefighter husband, two atypically affectionate children, a neurotic rescue mutt and an occasionally friendly cat.

Reviews for The Next Best Thing

[krisinkw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

LOVE Kristan Higgins!

[rezeda-10 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Loved the story, but not the ending. It's a bit too sweet and improbable, even for a romance novel.

[rdh123 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I truely enjoyed this book. a slight twist with Lucy, a widow, having an inappropriate "privilages" with her deceased husband brother. The mom and aunts, "the widows" own a bakery. Ethan's parents an Italian restaurant. She finally decided to start dating again. Poor Ethan introduced her to his brother but he's loved her since they met in college. Good story. would enjoy re-reading

[cyncie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another winner for this author, with a poignant story,funny takes on the best and worst life can dish out, and a lovely ending after some quirky detours.

[vanyadrum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

NOTE: I received the eARC via Netgalley. Thanks!

The moment I saw this novel on Netgalley I just had to have it! I loved "Someone to Love", which was a companion novel and thought that I'd like this one too. One thing I had overlooked though is that The Next Best Thing is actually written before Someone to Love. Frankly, I had no idea they were connected until I actually sat down and came across a character called Parker. That woman is unforgettable it seems.

To tell you the truth, back in the day (last year) when I read Someone to Love and was told to check out The Next Best Thing featuring Ethan and Lucy's story, I thought "What? Why? Those two didn't really catch my attention." I seriously couldn't care less about them. But now that I've actually gotten to know them on a more personal level, along with their hardships and feelings... let's just say that they were totally worth their own novel.

The Next Best Thing is your typical romance, full of passion, secrets and lots of drama. THere's also a tragedy, which both separates and brings together Lucy and Ethan. This tragedy is the loss of Lucy's husband, Jimmy, who also happened to be Ethan's brother. This is why the barrier between those two was so enormous, so tough to shatter.

Of course, there are a bunch of other events involved adding even more drama.

So, onto the characters. They were well developed, and I mean ALL of them, not just Lucy and Ethan. The Black Widows, Lucy's sister, Ethan's parents... everyone.

I loved Lucy, even though she seemed a bit too absorbed with the past, with the perfect memory of Jimmy that she'd built up in her mind. She was sharing a bed with Ethan on a regular basis, but she was so sure he wasn't the right guy for her. Sure, what with the Black Widows' fate and so on, I understand why she wouldn't want to fall in love again, but still... running away is never the right option, is it?

And Ethan? He was so sweet all the time. Lucy continued hurting him again and again, but he kept on loving her. I was hurting for him, hurting that he had to go into self-preservation mode because he was sick of being Lucy's plaything. He was sick and tired of being the next best to Jimmy. Even his parents saw him as merely the second son. He wanted to be loved and cherished. He wanted to be appreciated. And he wanted a serious relationship with the woman he loved. Was that too much to ask?

Sweet, full of passion, pain and the aftereffects of immense tragedy, The Next Best Thing is a great light relaxing read.

[reneebooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lucy had only been married 8 months when she lost her husband over 5 years ago and she still has not gotten over it, to put it mildly. In fact, in my opinion the girl could use some serious grief counseling. But as the story begins her sister has just had a baby and that starts her thinking and she has convinced herself she is ready to move on - she wants to meet someone and start her own family. Ethan is her dead husband's brother with whom she enjoys "friends with benefits". This news was a bit of a shocker to me even though I had read it in the blurb. The story is told in a first person narrative and has the usual disadvantage of never knowing what Ethan is thinking or feeling. Lucy is one messed up person who seems to spend too much time playing the video of her wedding and crying. Normally I would be totally irritated with this type of heroine but I found myself very sympathetic towards her. Lucy works in the family-owned bakery with her mother and two aunts (called the Black Widows) who were also widowed at a fairly young age. These women seem to be content in their widowhood and cannot understand why Lucy wants to marry again. Why take the risk since all the men in the family die young. This is why I was so sympathetic of Lucy - working with these three was not a healthy situation. But there was lots of humor and some touching moments in this book which really balanced out the sadness. I cried along with Lucy and laughed too. But sometimes I wanted to shake her in her treatment of Ethan who was a wonderful guy.The characterizations of the widows and Lucy's sister were well drawn. The sister is deathly afraid her husband will die young too like her mother, sister and aunt's husbands and has become quite neurotic. Just when I was starting to lose patience with Lucy she makes an amazing discovery about Ethan and my heart just melts. I loved the ending. I couldn't make up my mind on the grade for the longest time. But it's still so memorable after a couple months that I had to rate it pretty high.

[myab-3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! This book was good. I totally enjoyed it. At first it was a bit hard for me to get into as it is written in first person, but after finishing the book.. I think that was the best way TO write this story. I am left with my mouth agape (figuratively speaking). Lucy and Ethan, I loved them from the beginning. At times I thought for sure Lucy was going to make some really bad choices and I was thinking NO! Why does she have to do this.. but Higgins surprised me and made it work out well! I think with this story Higgins has fully become one of my "Must Buy" authors.

[pennykaplan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Young widow Lucy Lang has decided it's time to date again in search of a man and kids....no fireworks please, and she finds fireworks and the man very close at hand.

[bette_hansen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

First let me say I am a huge Kristan Higgins fan but this book...not so much. The story itself is great but the pages of the book are filled with too much stuff... more than 5 years after her husband dies Lucy is still moping and crying...REALLY?

[kanwrites · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

LOVE Kristan Higgins!

[treehorse-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely unsympathetic heroine with a hero that she doesn't deserve. Higgins is a decent writer, so I bumped up the testing a star.