After a near-stranger dies in their small town, a tightknit group of friends can no longer ignore their long-dormant desires and unfulfilled dreams—a moving debut about the complicated joys of chosen family.

“Like Family is so warm, joyful, smart, and nuanced. Its depictions of friendship and middle age and marriage and the beautiful messiness of life feel familiar in the best ways, but also fresh in the best ways. I absolutely love this novel and can’t wait to share it with everyone I know.”—Curtis Sittenfeld, bestselling author of Show Don’t Tell

It was too much to ask. But sometimes too much is what we ask of the people we love most.

Radclyffe, New York, is an idyllic upstate town, nestled in the hills and complete with artisanal bakeries, pottery studios, and hidden swimming holes. Ruth and her wife, Wyn, are living the dream (or Wyn’s dream, at least) with their four children on their small farm, which is also the bucolic gathering place for their circle of friends. It’s a sweet life, but there’s a secret at its center, one that not even Ruth’s best friend, Caroline, knows.

What Caroline does know is that she loves and depends on Ruth, and on the bond between their families. More than anything, she wants her tender-hearted son not to grow up lonely the way she did. Unfortunately, no one can assure her of that, especially not her husband. He just wants things to be easy, drama-free—which is impossible, as he has donated his sperm to his cousin Tobi and her wife so that they could have kids of their own. Now those children are asking unanswerable questions.

After an unexpected death in their community, all three couples are forced to confront the tensions that have long been buried beneath the surfaces of their lives. Richly textured and big-hearted, this exhilarating debut is an unforgettable story of the alchemy of love and loyalty that makes friends Like Family.

This was an enjoyable slice-of-life novel about found family and friendships. I enjoyed it as a whole, but I gotta admit, I felt like there was a gap between what the synopsis promised and what the book actually delivered.

We’re in Radclyffe, a charming upstate New York town tucked into the Hudson Valley. It’s got a small town vibe but very liberal and open. It’s rife with artisanal bakeries, hidden swimming holes, and pottery studio. Basically right up my alley.

Ruth and her wife Wyn live on a small farm with their four kids, and the farm has become a hub where they and their whole friend group gathers. Ruth’s best friend Caroline is part of that circle, along with her husband and their son. Caroline grew up lonely and is determined that her tender-hearted kid won’t go through the same thing, which puts a lot of pressure on the network of people around them. There’s also a third couple in the mix, Tobi and her wife, who had their children with the help of Caroline’s husband, who happens to be Tobi’s cousin. Those kids are getting old enough to start asking real questions about where they came from, and the answers aren’t tidy. The synopsis also mentions a death in the community that leads to something big. There is a death, and while it did have an impact on one of the families, it wasn’t this huge bombshell that I thought it was going to be.

On the plus side, the characters are well drawn and going through some realistic life changes and issues. Most of these people are just past middle aged so they were easy to relate to. The struggles this little found family faces are realistic, the kind of small, slow-burning issues that build up over years of being in each other’s lives. There’s a warmth to the whole book that made it easy to get close to these people and root for them, even when their lives were taking complicated turns.

The setting is idyllic and honestly somewhere I’d love to live. The Hudson Valley comes to life on the page in a way that had me looking up property listings I cannot afford. The farm, the seasons, the friends drifting in and out of each other’s kitchens, all of it has a real texture.

As I mentioned before, my biggest issue was that I went in expecting one thing and not exactly getting that. This isn’t a huge issue, but the book wasn’t what I was expecting. The synopsis really plays up the buried secrets and the unexpected death. I was bracing for emotional fallout that would crack these families open, but that isn’t quite what happens. The drama I expected to be a five never quite climbs past a three. I want to be clear that this is a me problem, not a book problem. The book is a quiet, observational novel about how people who love each other navigate the messy parts of being in each other’s lives and how things change over the years.

If I’d known going in that this is a slower, gentler look at family dynamics rather than a big-emotion gut punch, I would have settled in differently and probably enjoyed it more. So consider this a heads up. Adjust your expectations and you’ll likely better see what the book has to offer.

The Hudson Valley setting alone is worth the price of admission, and the characters are easy to spend time with. If you like quiet, character-driven novels about chosen family and the slow work of staying in people’s lives, this is one to pick up. Just don’t go in expecting fireworks. Go in expecting a nice, late middle-age slice of life, and you’ll be in the right mood.