Sometimes getting lost is the only way to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Also by Lisa Verge Higgins
The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship
One Good Friend Deserves Another
*
“Do not miss this rich celebration of friendship—its power to heal, to fulfill, and to put life’s adventures into perspective. This book is as comforting as a cup of tea with your best friend.”
—Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling
author of Return to Willow Lake
*
Praise for the Novels of Lisa Verge Higgins
One Good Friend Deserves Another
“Engaging…Higgins scores with a richly told story of what every girl wants, and the friends who’d sacrifice everything to help her get it.”
—Publishers Weekly
“4½ stars! Higgins doesn’t use flowery verse; she presents hard realities, dysfunction, and, best of all, possibilities and hope. Her research shines through with brilliant factual narrative in a novel that you won’t soon forget.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Characters that could have been stock (the rich girl, the Trekkie programmer) have a depth that is strengthened by relationships with family, boyfriends, the past, and, most important, friends.”
—Booklist
“Reminiscent of the Sex and the City TV series…easy and fun, chock-full of humor and entertainment…relays the necessity of taking risks and the power of friendship to pick you up when you fall.”
—Norfolk Daily News (NE)
The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship
“A life-affirming novel…A happy reminder that life is all about taking risks.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This well-written contemporary buddy book contains plenty of depth…the premise of friends knowing you at times better than you want to admit makes for a strong tale.”
—Midwest Book Review
—TheReviewBroads.com
“A lovely novel with moments of deeply moving insight into what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a friend. Read it and share it with your own friends—you’ll be glad you did!”
—Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of The Hot Flash Club and Beachcombers
“Offering words of wisdom from a dying friend, The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship inspires us to focus on what’s really important in our lives.”
—Liza Palmer, international bestselling author
of Conversations with the Fat Girl and
A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents
“An amazing novel of love, friendship, and community. A truly joyous read that marks an impressive debut.”
—Jane Porter, author of Flirting with Forty
and She’s Gone Country
“Poignant, romantic, and funny…about the need for our closest friends to occasionally give us a shove in the right direction when we’ve lost our way. You’ll recognize yourself in these women. I loved it.”
—Claire LaZebnik, author of Knitting Under the Influence and If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home Now
“Expertly woven together by Lisa Verge Higgins…simply but beautifully written…the common thread is Rachel, who has given the best gift a friend can give—a second chance.”
—RomanceJunkies.com
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Contents
Welcome
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Reading Group Guide
A Note from the Author
Also by Lisa Verge Higgins
Newsletters
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Lisa Verge Higgins
Reading Group Guide copyright © 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First e-book Edition: March 2013
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
ISBN 978-1-4555-1775-6 (ebook)