3.5
Take What You Can: A GMA Book Club Pick
ByPublisher Description
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
**Most Anticipated Book of Summer: The New York Times, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Town & Country, Time Magazine, Electric Literature, Sass Magazine
**Most Anticipated Book of 2026: People, LitHub, ScaryMommy
From the New York Times bestselling author of What’s Mine and Yours, a rich, panoramic exploration of friendship, class, new motherhood, and independence
Val and Milly fell in love with France at the same time they fell in love with each other and became immediate best friends. Then, they bonded as the only Black students on a study-abroad trip. Now they are in their thirties, each married and with a baby girl on the way. When Milly suggests Val move to New York so they can raise their daughters together after a decade apart, it’s a resounding yes.
Despite their excitement, the pair secretly wonders if their friendship has always worked best as a trio. On that first trip to France, these two motherless daughters were taken under the wing of an older woman named Helene. She showered them with money, love, and attention and showed them the possibilities of an independent and abundant future. But now, without Helene and her guidance, who are Milly and Val?
Milly, a successful influencer married to restaurant royalty, is occupied with her desire for freedom. Val, a brilliant journalist, is unsure whether she fits into Milly’s new world. The realities of class and social capital, of strained marriages and the demands of motherhood, serve as constant reminders of how far apart they’ve grown. And no matter how much they try to avoid it, everything comes back to the rift that began all those years ago in France. What they’ve long tried to bury may finally destroy their sisterhood.
Weaving between Brooklyn brownstones and the glittering beaches of southern France, Take What You Can is a dazzling novel exploring what it means to be a mother when you have none, a sister without blood ties, and a woman in pursuit of the life she wants. With her signature sharply observed prose, Naima Coster illustrates how to be—and to stay—someone’s person through all phases of life.
**Most Anticipated Book of Summer: The New York Times, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Town & Country, Time Magazine, Electric Literature, Sass Magazine
**Most Anticipated Book of 2026: People, LitHub, ScaryMommy
From the New York Times bestselling author of What’s Mine and Yours, a rich, panoramic exploration of friendship, class, new motherhood, and independence
Val and Milly fell in love with France at the same time they fell in love with each other and became immediate best friends. Then, they bonded as the only Black students on a study-abroad trip. Now they are in their thirties, each married and with a baby girl on the way. When Milly suggests Val move to New York so they can raise their daughters together after a decade apart, it’s a resounding yes.
Despite their excitement, the pair secretly wonders if their friendship has always worked best as a trio. On that first trip to France, these two motherless daughters were taken under the wing of an older woman named Helene. She showered them with money, love, and attention and showed them the possibilities of an independent and abundant future. But now, without Helene and her guidance, who are Milly and Val?
Milly, a successful influencer married to restaurant royalty, is occupied with her desire for freedom. Val, a brilliant journalist, is unsure whether she fits into Milly’s new world. The realities of class and social capital, of strained marriages and the demands of motherhood, serve as constant reminders of how far apart they’ve grown. And no matter how much they try to avoid it, everything comes back to the rift that began all those years ago in France. What they’ve long tried to bury may finally destroy their sisterhood.
Weaving between Brooklyn brownstones and the glittering beaches of southern France, Take What You Can is a dazzling novel exploring what it means to be a mother when you have none, a sister without blood ties, and a woman in pursuit of the life she wants. With her signature sharply observed prose, Naima Coster illustrates how to be—and to stay—someone’s person through all phases of life.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesTake What You Can: A GMA Book Club Pick Reviews
3.5
“I both love how this book allows women to be human and messy, and cringe at a lot of the decisions that were being made. Made me both never want to get married and never have children. Overall I really enjoyed it, and somehow found myself actually like jaw-droppingly shocked at something that happened, that in retrospect I really should’ve seen coming lolol. I for sure related more to Milly than Val and not gonna lie it made Val a little insufferable to read about sometimes but I think that was part of the point.
I enjoyed the writing style and I felt like it was the perfect length for the story that it was telling. I could see this being a good intro into literary fiction because of how intriguing the story and the dynamic between all of the characters are, very page-turny.”
“Take What You Can by Naima Coster 👩🏽🤝👩🏾 Pub Date 8/4
Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced electronic copy.
Val and Milly were the only two Black students on a study abroad trip and immediately became best friends. Now in their thirties their friendship has evolved after marriage, new motherhood, cycles of grief, and unaddressed resentments.
Wow wow wow. I am speechless after reading this book and so this review is mostly an expression of the emotions I felt. That alone is enough to read this book. It will make you feel. A story of the ebbs and flows of girlhood and friendship over the years as the women experience their own individual changes, is so close to home. While reading this I could only think of my own best friend, a chosen sisterhood that has lasted and thrived for over 20 years. I wanted immediately to buy this book for her and make her read it, because it made me feel so seen. A wholly intimate, evolving, imperfectly beautiful friendship that cannot be described easily with words. The fact that this story captured all those intricacies while keeping the reader engaged through captivating prose and thrilling twists, I am in LOVE with this. I appreciated the representation of Afrolatinidad without it feeling like a token side story.
I will be thinking about Valeria and Milena for long time and will be re-reading and making my friends read it!”
About Naima Coster
Naima Coster is a New York Times bestselling author and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. Her novel What’s Mine and Yours was a Read with Jenna pick and named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, Esquire, Marie Claire, and more. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, Time, and The Cut. Her first novel, Halsey Street, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Other books by Naima Coster
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