A Lot to Love in Susan Mallery’s A Million Little Things

What Susan does best is create memorable, relatable characters like the ones we first met in The Girls of Mischief Bay; in A Million Little Things, one of them returns for a new chapter in their story. Pam lost her husband when she least expected it, but despite the heartbreak, she has found healing and a fresh start…by giving the home she shared with her husband to her daughter’s growing family, and living alone in a condo. But her friends, also widows, are starting to find love, which makes Pam wonder whether she will ever have room for it in her life, or if the life she shared with her husband was her last chance at true happiness.
Jen, Pam’s daughter, may seem to have the perfect life on paper: a beautiful baby, a husband in an honorable position on the police force…but inside, she is unraveling. Her son has hit all of his major milestones except for speaking, she is constantly afraid that her husband will stray (thanks to the influence of his partner, a ladies’ man) or worse, die on the job, and she has lost her connection to her best friend, Zoe.

Zoe misses Jen, too— especially since she just made a terrible mistake by sleeping with her (married) ex-boyfriend and has never felt more alone. But falling for Jen’s brother is definitely not part of the plan…and neither is Jen’s mom falling for her father, Miguel! Then again, without a little mischief, Susan Mallery would not be the writer she is, and her stories the ones we return to again and again.
A Million Little Things is full of a million things to love: Zoe, Jen, and Pam feel not only like friends you’ve known for years, but like looking in the mirror. Mallery’s defined, nuanced characters are beloved for their quirks and flaws, which are only magnified by the men who confuse and allure them: Miguel, Zoe’s father, who falls for Pam; Stephen, Jen’s brother, who loves Zoe until a shocking revelation may rip them apart; and Lucas, Jen’s husband’s partner…could he be the cure for her anxiety, as well as the cause?
It’s a read that hits all the right emotional notes, as well as the romantic ones.
A Million Little Things is on B&N bookshelves now.