Book Summary and Reviews of We Might Just Make It After All by Elyce Arons

We Might Just Make It After All by Elyce Arons

We Might Just Make It After All

My Best Friendship with Kate Spade

by Elyce Arons

  • Published:
  • Jun 2025, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A moving portrait of friendship by Elyce Arons as she reflects on her long relationship with Kate Spade, whom she met in college and with whom she cofounded the multi-billion-dollar fashion company as they came of age in 1990s New York.

When Elyce Arons first met Katy Brosnahan in a University of Kansas dorm room, she had no idea that this polo shirt–wearing Missouri girl would not only become her best friend but also change the course of her life. Back then, Katy and Elyce were preoccupied with frat parties and The Mary Tyler Moore Show; within a decade, they'd be scraping by in New York City, working day jobs to spend nights building a new line of handbags that would one day revolutionize the accessories industry.

We Might Just Make It After All brings us on the rollercoaster of adventures (and misadventures) that the best friends embarked on, from transferring colleges on a whim, to falling in and out of love with suitors, cramming into roach-infested Hell's Kitchen apartments, and eventually designing the chic, simple bag that would launch the pair to global fame. Through it all, Katy and Elyce's friendship remained unshakeable. This powerful friendship lasted nearly forty years, until Katy's tragic suicide in 2018. We Might Just Make It After All celebrates her legacy as a cultural icon and loyal friend.

Set against the glitzy and gritty backdrop of downtown New York at the turn of the century, We Might Just Make It After All lovingly and candidly explores the power of a friendship as close as sisterhood, the challenges facing women entrepreneurs in the 1990s, and the timeless elegance of a generation-defining brand.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"[Readers] will adore this memoir .... The loving essence of friendship reverberates throughout." —Booklist

"Moving, insightful, and bursting with love, this ode to female friendship resonates far beyond the retail racks." —Publishers Weekly

"This book is not only a deep dive into what it really takes to persevere and achieve hard-earned success as female entrepreneurs, but it is also a beautiful portrayal of the complexities of female friendship and the joy, the struggle and power of a deep connection between two unique women. Elyce's storytelling and relatable characters made me laugh, cry, and reflect on my own friendships. At its core, the book explores profound love and loss, and the story will stay with you long after you turn the last page. I could not put it down." —Brooke Shields, New York Times bestselling author of Down Came the Rain, There Was a Little Girl, and Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old

This information about We Might Just Make It After All was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Elyce Arons

Elyce Arons is the cofounder of Kate Spade and cofounder and CEO of Frances Valentine. Arons began her career in publicity and marketing before starting the multi-billion-dollar bag company Kate Spade alongside Katy, Katy's husband, Andy, and Pamela Bell out of a downtown New York City apartment. Arons lives in New York with her husband and three daughters.

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