Meant to Be: A Novel

Emily Giffin

May 2022 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • He’s American royalty. She comes from a troubled past. Is their love story meant to be? This “lively page-turner” (The New York Times) offers a nostalgic, hopelessly romantic escape—from the author of Something Borrowed and The Lies That Bind.

“I’m a sucker for an iconic, against-all-odds love story, and Meant to Be truly delivers.”—Tia Williams, author of Seven Days in June

“A chic, history-inspired summer read [that] strikes a careful balance between simply retelling the true story of JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and crafting an entirely new one.”—Bookreporter

The Kingsley family is American royalty, beloved for their military heroics, political service, and unmatched elegance. In 1967, after Joseph S. Kingsley, Jr. is killed in a tragic accident, his charismatic son inherits the weight of that legacy. But Joe III is a free spirit—and a little bit reckless. Despite his best intentions, he has trouble meeting the expectations of a nation, as well as those of his exacting mother, Dottie.

Meanwhile, no one ever expected anything of Cate Cooper. She, too, grew up fatherless—and after her mother marries an abusive man, she is forced to fend for herself. After being discovered by a model scout at age sixteen, Cate decides that her looks may be her only ticket out of the cycle of disappointment that her mother has always inhabited. Before too long, Cate’s face is in magazines and on billboards. Yet she feels like a fraud, faking it in a world to which she’s never truly belonged.

When Joe and Cate unexpectedly cross paths one afternoon, their connection is instant and intense. But can their relationship survive the glare of the spotlight and the so-called Kingsley curse? In a beautifully written novel that captures a gilded moment in American history, Emily Giffin tells the story of two people searching for belonging and identity, as well as the answer to the question: Are certain love stories meant to be?

Ratings and reviews

Meant to Be by Emily Giffin is about a restless guy named Joseph Kingsley III and the woman he fell in love with, Cate Cooper. Cate grew up with her mom and was told that her father died in an automobile accident. Her mother re-married, and she had gotten into modeling to escape her abusive stepfather. The Kingsleys are practically American royalty; his father and grandfather were military heroes, and Joseph is expected to follow in his prestigious footsteps since his father's passing. "People e

Meant to Be by Emily Giffin. It was only a okay book for me. I went into reading the book after having read some of the pre-reviews and I think that ruined it for me. I think I would have given it a better rating not having known some of the storyline. But I did think it the author gave you a well written book and will read more by author.

This is a book based very loosely on the story of the Kennedy family and the expectations that surround those with power and wealth. Joe Kingsley is the heir to the crown of an American empire with all of the trappings that come with it. He does not necessarily fall into the stereotype of rich and famous, but almost. He becomes a sympathetic characters because of his childhood in which he was mostly put on a back burner and raised by his grandmother instead of his absentee parents. Cate is from

About the author

Emily Giffin is the author of ten internationally bestselling novels: Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love the One You’re With, Heart of the Matter, Where We Belong, The One & Only, First Comes Love, All We Ever Wanted, and The Lies That Bind. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and three children.