Meant to Be

Books | Fiction / Women

4.1

(368)

Emily Giffin

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • He’s American royalty. She comes from a troubled past. Is their love story meant to be? This “lively page-turner” (The New York Times) offers a nostalgic, hopelessly romantic escape—from the author of Something Borrowed and The Lies That Bind.“I’m a sucker for an iconic, against-all-odds love story, and Meant to Be truly delivers.”—Tia Williams, author of Seven Days in June “A chic, history-inspired summer read [that] strikes a careful balance between simply retelling the true story of JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and crafting an entirely new one.”—BookreporterThe Kingsley family is American royalty, beloved for their military heroics, political service, and unmatched elegance. In 1967, after Joseph S. Kingsley, Jr. is killed in a tragic accident, his charismatic son inherits the weight of that legacy. But Joe III is a free spirit—and a little bit reckless. Despite his best intentions, he has trouble meeting the expectations of a nation, as well as those of his exacting mother, Dottie.Meanwhile, no one ever expected anything of Cate Cooper. She, too, grew up fatherless—and after her mother marries an abusive man, she is forced to fend for herself. After being discovered by a model scout at age sixteen, Cate decides that her looks may be her only ticket out of the cycle of disappointment that her mother has always inhabited. Before too long, Cate’s face is in magazines and on billboards. Yet she feels like a fraud, faking it in a world to which she’s never truly belonged.When Joe and Cate unexpectedly cross paths one afternoon, their connection is instant and intense. But can their relationship survive the glare of the spotlight and the so-called Kingsley curse? In a beautifully written novel that captures a gilded moment in American history, Emily Giffin tells the story of two people searching for belonging and identity, as well as the answer to the question: Are certain love stories meant to be?

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More Details:

Author

Emily Giffin

Pages

384

Publisher

Random House Publishing Group

Published Date

2022-05-31

ISBN

0425286657 9780425286654

Community ReviewsSee all

"It was good, not my favorite."

Courtney W

"everyone needs a joe kingsley :)"

Haley Nash-Thompson

"4.5 ⭐️"

C White

"Love love loved this book!!! "

Janell Ristow

"Hooks you, lots of angst, great redemptive love story "

Kyle Shults

"Wonderful romance. "

K g

Kara garrett

"4.5 ⭐️"

C W

Carly White

"2.5 Stars This had a lot of potential. I even really enjoyed it up until 3/4ths of a way in. I liked Denise and her backstory and I liked Liam. But then little thoughts kept creeping up. Like, for instance, why would the club use an unwilling person to run drugs? The club delivered a car, with the "package" to her house. Someone followed her to make sure she made the delivery and picked her up. Why go through all the trouble when they could have done all that without forcing an unwilling person into doing the dirty work, who might end up going to the police about what they are being forced into? It made no sense to me whatsoever. For people who don't want to go to prison, this seemed like the worst idea ever. I've done property research for several years. The part in here, where Denise is forced to pretend to be a temp and steal public tax records is laughable. It's public record. The deeds to the land, taxes, name of who holds the property are all public record, meaning, you can go online (if your courthouse has their records set up to be viewed online) or go to the courthouse and request copies. Having to lie and steal these records isn't plausable. I really have no idea if the author had failed to research what it would take to get these kinds of records or if she needed something else to put Denise in the accomplice role. Towards the end is where I finally decided I wasn't liking this book so much anymore. There were too many parallels to the show, Sons of Anarchy. At first it didn't bug me. I was more intrigued with the idea of a book SOA. But the more that happened that reminded me of certain scenes from SOA, the more I started to get upset. I'm not sure if this was the authors intention, to borrow from the show or just by coincidence, but the more that I read that screamed SOA, the more I wanted to distance myself from the book. Also, the issue Liam had with his mother seemed to be resolved way to fast. For a guy who wants nothing to do with his mother at all, he sure does flip a switch and decides its time to put the past behind them. This was too fast and unrealistic. There is a lot I'm willing to overlook, as far as timing goes for development, but this was too much too fast. Liam has refused to even speak to his mother for years. Decades. But all of a sudden he wants a relationship with her. I'm a bit sad this didn't work out for me. I liked it at first. If I had stopped reading little over half way, I would have been much happier with the book."