Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins

One step forward. Two steps back. The Tufts scholarship that put Nora Stuart on the path to becoming a Boston medical specialist was a step forward. Being hit by a car and then overhearing her boyfriend hit on another doctor when she thought she was dying? Two major steps back.

Injured in more ways than one, Nora feels her carefully built life cracking at the edges. There’s only one place to land: home. But the tiny Maine community she left fifteen years ago doesn’t necessarily want her. At every turn, someone holds the prodigal daughter of Scupper Island responsible for small-town drama and big-time disappointments.

With a tough islander mother who’s always been distant, a wild-child sister in jail and a withdrawn teenage niece as eager to ditch the island as Nora once was, Nora has her work cut out for her if she’s going to take what might be her last chance to mend the family. Balancing loss and opportunity, dark events from her past with hope for the future, Nora will discover that tackling old pain makes room for promise…and the chance to begin again.

REVIEW:
My sister recommended Now That You Mention It and I too found it to be a solid good read though not really what I expected from Kristan Higgins. It took a bit of time to feel invested in the main character who at first I found a bit cold. As Nora's backstory unfolded, however, I found myself cheering for her and so her troubled family. I did find it a bit unrealistic that everyone in town maintained such hostility toward her for winning that scholarship - since she went on to be a doctor while the so-called "golden boy" Luke wrecked his car days later while drunk and high (also causing a permanent disability in his brother), it seems like people should have figured out she was always the better candidate! Overall the storyline was much darker than I expected, and I found the final resolution with Luke to be over the top. Nevertheless, a decent read - 4 stars.