I have read all of this authors books and they are all quite entertaining.
This is like a small version of The Big Chill, each characters life is a mess and they all gather for a weekend at the beach. Predictable? Sure, but still an enjoyable book. ( )

I liked this book. Not for serious readers but a good story with interesting twists ( )

The thing about old friends: they're really more like siblings.

You can be pissed at your siblings. They can betray you in untold ways, hurt, offend, and infuriate you. You can briefly hate them to their damaged cores. But they’ll always be your brother or your sister, right? Whether you like it or not.

WHAT'S ALL TOGETHER NOW ABOUT?
It bugs me when this happens, but every attempt I've made at this part ended up convoluted, inadvertently snarky, or like a watered-down version of the publisher's description. (which, I should add, is why this is so belated) So, let me just borrow theirs:

At just thirty-five, reclusive billionaire Robbie Malcolm is a renowned financial prognosticator, a celebrated philanthropist, and a mathematical genius. Also, he’s dying, which is a fact he’s carefully concealing from the world.

As he takes stock, Robbie realizes that his wealth means nothing if he can’t help the people who matter most. So he invites his oldest friends—Blair, Cat, and Wade—to their beloved Fenwick Island on the coast of Delaware to share his secret and to reveal plans for each of them that he believes will change their lives forever.

However, Robbie isn’t the only one with secrets. The bonds the friends formed as teenagers still exist, but adulthood has brought a whole new set of complications, like unrequited loves, marriages on the brink, and so much unfulfilled potential. Robbie’s plans may look good on paper, but are they any match for the utter disaster that is real life?

As everything comes to light over a wild weekend full of surprises, Robbie learns there are still some things money can’t buy, and a group of friends who thought their best years were behind them realize just how much they have to look forward to.

I'd considered spending time talking about the four primary characters, their circumstances, the pluses and minuses of the characters and plot, and so on—the stuff I typically talk about. But that's really best experienced for yourself, you need to let the novel introduce them, or it'd ruin the whole thing. With this book, it's not about spoiling the plot, it's about spoiling the characters, and I don't want to do that.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT ALL TOGETHER NOW?
There's a lot of funny and/or thoughtful material about writing, maturing, parenting and whatnot. There's some great stuff—pro and con*—about The Beatles. But the heart of this novel is friendship—especially the kind that starts pre-adulthood and follows you all your life in one form or another. And when the focus is on friendship—the ups and downs, the betrayals (intentional or inadvertent), the forgiveness, the loyalty, the love—it's great.

* Yes, con. Some people just want to watch the world burn.

When the focus is on the other stuff? It's pretty good.

Overall, this felt like a fun daydream of a novel—what if I had a mega-rich friend who wanted to help me fix my life (whether I wanted them to or not)? But I wanted something more out of Norman, I expected something meatier, something more substantial—neither of those adjectives are adequate, but it felt like something was missing.

I enjoyed it and appreciated it, but not as much as I felt like I should. And then I read the penultimate chapter. I distinctly remember sitting in my car before work, trying to finish the book and hitting that chapter—and being on the verge of tears for most of it (maybe teetering over the edge). Slyly, sneakily, Norman had wormed these characters into my heart—whatever I thought I was missing was there without me noticing.

And then I had to go into work, leaving the last chapter for 8 hours and a commute home later. Then again, when I read the final chapter (which is sort of an epilogue), there I was again—on the verge. Had my timing been better and I'd read the two chapters together, I'd have been a real mess.

A fun, breezy read with an emotional ending—Norman delivered just what the premise promised. You'll wish you had these people as friends, and you'll be glad for the time you had with them. ( )

Matthew Norman's new novel, All Together Now is a story of friendship. Four friends who were kicked out of their private Baltimore High School years ago reunite after the most successful of the group, hedge fund billionaire Robbie, invites them for a weekend at a Rehoboth Beach mansion. Wade is about to get evicted from his New York City apartment after his second novel fails to attract attention from publishers. The woman he loved in school, Blair, is a mom of two young children with a marriage on the rocks who gave up her artistic endeavors. Cat is a morning television show assistant producer in Los Angeles who doesn't know her clandestine relationship with the married female host of the show is about to blow up. The world knows Robbie as a math genius, philanthropist, and astute businessman but they don't know that he is dying, and neither do his friends. What else is Robbie hiding from them? I'm a big Matthew Norman fan, (Domestic Violets, We're All Damaged, Last Couple Standing) he puts his characters in interesting situations, and he writes some pointedly funny stuff, and although this one is more serious, it's still a great book. It's got a Big Chill vibe. (80's movie reference there). ( )

The Baltimore Prep Rejects are four adults who have been friends since high school. They are Robbie, a billionaire, Wade, a has been novelist, Blair, an artist, and Cat, a media production person.
Robbie calls the friends together for a weekend in Fenwick Island to tell them he is dying. He has planned his own wake/party. He also tells them some other things about their lives which cause them pause.
Over the course of the weekend, the friends come to face some important decisions about their lives and their future. I loved the setting, everything was familiar to me- all the places in Fenwick Island and Baltimore that were mentioned.
I enjoyed this book and I plan to read more by this author. ( )