JoAnn/QuAppelle's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 24 Apr 2025 17:41:55 -0700 60 JoAnn/QuAppelle's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg My Friends 217163697 #1ĚýNew York TimesĚýbestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a stranger’s life twenty-five years later.

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.]]>
448 Fredrik Backman 1982112824 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 to-read 4.58 2025 My Friends
author: Fredrik Backman
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
review:

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We All Live Here 213244534 The #1 New York Times bestselling author, whose books so many love, brings us a fresh, contemporary story of a woman and her unruly blended family

Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is... complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach about love, and what it actually means to be family.]]>
460 Jojo Moyes 1984879332 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 4.19 2025 We All Live Here
author: Jojo Moyes
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves:
review:
Liked this book a lot. The odd family was endearing, even Gene at his most annoying. Good character development and a story that pulled me in.
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America Fantastica 90588971 464 Tim O'Brien 0063318504 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 to-read 3.36 2023 America Fantastica
author: Tim O'Brien
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Sober Diaries, Let's Do This!, The Headspace Guide to Mindfulness & Meditation 3 Books Collection Set]]> 105217970 Please Note That The Following Individual Books As Per Original ISBN and Cover Image In this Listing shall be Dispatched The Sober Diaries, Let's Do This!, The Headspace Guide to Mindfulness & Meditation 3 Books Collection The Sober A bravely honest and brilliantly comic account of how one mother gave up drinking and started living. This is Bridget Jones Dries Out.Clare Pooley is a Cambridge graduate and was a Managing Partner at one of the world's biggest advertising agencies, and yet by eighteen months ago she'd become an overweight, depressed, middle-aged mother of three who was drinking more than a bottle of wine a day, and spending her evenings Googling 'Am I an alcoholic?' Let's Do This! Let's Do This! .is the motivation playbook for any type of personal change, from losing 10lbs to stepping up in your career to running a half-marathon. The difference between succeeding and giving up comes down to your level of motivation in other words how much it really matters to you. The Headspace Guide to Mindfulness & Demystifying meditation for the modern an accessible and practical route to improved health, happiness and well being, in as little as 10 minutes.Andy Puddicombe, founder of the celebrated Headspace, is on a to get people to take 10 minutes out of their day to sit in the now. Here he shares his simple to learn, but highly effective techniques of meditation.]]> 0 Clare Pooley 9123964553 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 to-read 4.00 The Sober Diaries, Let's Do This!, The Headspace Guide to Mindfulness & Meditation 3 Books Collection Set
author: Clare Pooley
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

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Margo's Got Money Troubles 199534613
“[An] enormously entertaining and lovable book.� —Nick Hornby, New York Times Book Review

A bold, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming story about one young woman’s attempt to navigate adulthood, new motherhood, and her meager bank account in our increasingly online world—from the PEN/Faulkner finalist and critically acclaimed author of The Knockout Queen.

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet's always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.

“A wholly original novel. . . . Thorpe is both poetic and profound in the way she brings her remarkable story to an end.� —The Associated Press]]>
304 Rufi Thorpe 0063356589 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 3.86 2024 Margo's Got Money Troubles
author: Rufi Thorpe
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:
I liked this but did not love it. Was not as funny as the reviews said it was or maybe something is wrong with my sense of humor. First half was good but it kind of went downhill from there, especially the parts that involved the tech stuff, the filming, the scripts Margo was writing.
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<![CDATA[Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine]]> 49788058
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

The only way to survive is to open your heart.]]>
331 Gail Honeyman JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 great 4.35 2017 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
author: Gail Honeyman
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: great
review:

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A Spot of Bother 4701
At 61, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels and listening to a bit of light jazz. Then his tempestuous daughter, Katie, announces that she is getting re-married, to the deeply inappropriate Ray. Her family is not pleased � as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has “strangler’s hands.� Katie can’t decide if she loves Ray, or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husband’s ex-colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials.

Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind.

The way these damaged people fall apart � and come together � as a family is the true subject of Haddon’s disturbing yet amusing portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.

A SPOT OF BOTHER is Mark Haddon’s unforgettable follow-up to the internationally beloved bestseller THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME. Here the madness � literally � of family life proves rich comic fodder for Haddon’s crackling prose and bittersweet insights into misdirected love.]]>
354 Mark Haddon 0385520514 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned, no-connection 3.50 2006 A Spot of Bother
author: Mark Haddon
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: abandoned, no-connection
review:

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The Life Impossible 198281740
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…�

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.]]>
324 Matt Haig 0593489276 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 3.45 2024 The Life Impossible
author: Matt Haig
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: abandoned, just-not-of-interest
review:

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Eleven Numbers 222163948 An American mathematician’s assignment in Russia spirals into a high-stakes maze of shifting loyalties and intrigue in a propulsive short thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child.

Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics—in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever. All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it. But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the odds against him suddenly look a lot steeper.]]>
50 Lee Child 1662526202 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 4.09 2025 Eleven Numbers
author: Lee Child
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
review:

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Here One Moment 208516656 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.�

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]>
512 Liane Moriarty 0593798600 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 to-read 3.98 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Exception to the Rule (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #1)]]> 200033357 New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners.

One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates� are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask�what if we actually met?

Christina Lauren’s The Exception to the Rule is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.]]>
101 Christina Lauren 1662519893 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 4.21 2024 The Exception to the Rule (The Improbable Meet-Cute, #1)
author: Christina Lauren
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: abandoned
review:

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The Good Left Undone 58583090 447 Adriana Trigiani 0593183339 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 4.21 2022 The Good Left Undone
author: Adriana Trigiani
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: abandoned
review:

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The Car Share 57446216
When Alex pulls up to meet "Max", he expects everything but a ninety-year-old lady who has her heart set on getting to Brussels by carpool.
As for 'Max', who is actually called Maxine, she could not be more ill at ease when settling into the seat next to this young man with bloodshot eyes. God help her if he turned out to be a drug addict who hasn't slept in days!
When it becomes clear that Maxine is suffering from Alzheimer's and wants to take matters in her own hands while she still can, and that Alex battles severe depression, a wonderful friendship starts to form between the unlikely pair. Before long, their travel plans take an unexpected turn...]]>
322 Zoe Brisby 1529366615 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 to-read 3.95 2017 The Car Share
author: Zoe Brisby
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Giver (The Giver, #1) 42844108 239 Lois Lowry JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 4.35 1993 The Giver (The Giver, #1)
author: Lois Lowry
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:

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This Tender Land 26473300 Before We Were Yours and Where the Crawdads Sing, a magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression, from the New York Times bestselling author of Ordinary Grace.

1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en­thralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.]]>
465 William Kent Krueger JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 4.51 2019 This Tender Land
author: William Kent Krueger
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: abandoned
review:

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Unleashed (Sydney Rye #1) 42847039 That was before I found a corpse, before my dog saved my life...before I killed in cold blood.

I’d just swapped my loser boyfriend for a giant mutt and picked up a dog walking gig on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Things were looking up until I stumbled onto a dead body. Not only is the guy dead, he’s my client. The police started looking at me like I had something to do with this mess. I’m just a dog walker.

But now I'm going to risk everything to bring a killer to justice.

Because the world needs saving, and sometimes it takes a girl and her dog to do it.

Librarian's note: Alternative cover editions for this ASIN can be found here and here.]]>
316 Emily Kimelman JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 4.02 2011 Unleashed (Sydney Rye #1)
author: Emily Kimelman
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: abandoned
review:

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Teenage Wasteland 55378629 First appearing in the pages ofĚýSeventeen Magazine, “Teenage Wastelandâ€� has become one of Anne Tyler’s most widely beloved short stories—an affecting and masterful portrait of a life interrupted and a family come undone.ĚýDaisy Coble had been a good mother, and so she was ashamed to find out from Donny’s teacher that he had been misbehaving. He was noisy, lazy, disruptive, and he was caught smoking. At night, she lay awake wondering where she had gone wrong, and how she could have failed as a parent. Unsure of herself, Daisy follows the advice of professionals, and hires Donny a tutor with some unusual ideas to set the boy straight. But, has the gap between them grown too wide to bridge? A Vintage Short.]]> 20 Anne Tyler 059331395X JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 3.36 Teenage Wasteland
author: Anne Tyler
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.36
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
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The Old Girls' Network 53152527 Is it ever too late to change�

After a health scare, 77 year-old spinster Barbara goes to convalesce in the sleepy Somerset village of Winsleigh Green with her sister Pauline, who is now a widow. The sisters are like chalk and cheese - Barbara, outspoken and aloof and Pauline, good natured and homely � so it’s not long before the tension starts to rise.

But when Pauline accidentally knocks down a vagrant who goes by the name of Bisto Mulligan, the ladies find themselves with another houseguest. As he recovers, it becomes clear that Bisto is not who he first seemed, and as the sisters get to know the kind and courageous man he really is, it’s clear Bisto has the potential to change both of their lives.

As the spring turns to summer, and Winsleigh Green comes to life, can the three friends make the changes they need to, to embrace fresh starts, new loves, new lives and new horizons. Or do old habits die too hard?

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340 Judy Leigh JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 to-read 3.96 2020 The Old Girls' Network
author: Judy Leigh
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Nantucket White Christmas (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove, #3)]]> 52718380
Born on Christmas, Angela Stark has always hated the holiday. Bad things always seem to happen and this year is no exception when she is fired and evicted on the first day of December.

She was living and working as a maid in San Francisco. Who will hire her at this time of year, especially if they learn why she was fired?

Her only family is Sam, an elderly, and quite vocal orange cat. Her only option is to stay temporarily with her best friend Jane, but she is extremely allergic to cats. It’s not ideal, but it doesn’t look like she has a choice, until a certified letter arrives that changes everything.

The next thing she knows, she and Sam are flying to Nantucket, a place they’ve never been before.

It’s meant to be a temporary visit. But then Angela meets the Hodges family and friends and begins to question where home really is.]]>
244 Pamela M. Kelley JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 4.21 Nantucket White Christmas (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove, #3)
author: Pamela M. Kelley
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:

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Ghosted 38601377 Six perfect days. Then he disappeared. A love story with a secret at its heart.

When Sarah meets Eddie, they connect instantly and fall in love. To Sarah, it seems as though her life has finally begun. And it's mutual: It's as though Eddie has been waiting for her, too. Sarah has never been so certain of anything. So when Eddie leaves for a long-booked vacation and promises to call from the airport, she has no cause to doubt him. But he doesn't call.

Sarah's friends tell her to forget about him, but she can't. She knows something's happened--there must be an explanation.

Minutes, days, weeks go by as Sarah becomes increasingly worried. But then she discovers she's right. There is a reason for Eddie's disappearance, and it's the one thing they didn't share with each other: the truth.]]>
356 Rosie Walsh 0525522786 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 3.91 2018 Ghosted
author: Rosie Walsh
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: abandoned
review:

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Rabbit Cake 33009976 338 Annie Hartnett JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 4.14 2017 Rabbit Cake
author: Annie Hartnett
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: abandoned
review:

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<![CDATA[Everything We Keep (Everything, #1)]]> 29639736 A Wall Street Journal bestseller.

A luminous debut with unexpected twists, Everything We Keep explores the devastation of loss, the euphoria of finding love again, and the pulse-racing repercussions of discovering the truth about the ones we hold dear and the lengths they will go to protect us.

Sous chef Aimee Tierney has the perfect recipe for the perfect marry her childhood sweetheart, raise a family, and buy out her parents� restaurant. But when her fiancé, James Donato, vanishes in a boating accident, her well-baked future is swept out to sea. Instead of walking down the aisle on their wedding day, Aimee is at James’s funeral—a funeral that leaves her more unsettled than at peace.

As Aimee struggles to reconstruct her life, she delves deeper into James’s disappearance. What she uncovers is an ocean of secrets that make her question everything about the life they built together. And just below the surface is a truth that may set Aimee free…or shatter her forever.

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306 Kerry Lonsdale 1503990338 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 3.88 2016 Everything We Keep (Everything, #1)
author: Kerry Lonsdale
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: abandoned
review:

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Old Baggage 29440173 370 Toni Kief JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 4.33 2016 Old Baggage
author: Toni Kief
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: abandoned
review:

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<![CDATA[Aftertaste: A Novel in Five Courses]]> 10622660
Everything changes the night she catches her husband, Jake, "wielding his whisk" with Grappa's new Mâitress d'. Mira's fiery response earns her a court-ordered stint in anger management and the beginning of legal and personal predicaments as she battles to save her restaurant and pick up the pieces of her life.

Mira falls back on family and friends in Pittsburgh as she struggles to find a recipe for happiness. But the heat is really on when some surprising developments in New York present her with a high stakes opportunity to win back what she thought she had lost forever. For Mira, cooking isn't just about delicious flavors and textures, but about the pleasure found in filling others' needs. And the time has come to decide where her own fulfillment lies--even if the answers are unexpected.

Keenly observed and deeply satisfying, Aftertaste is a novel about rebuilding and rediscovery, about food passionately prepared and unapologetically savored, and about the singular contentment that comes with living--and loving--with gusto.

"A delicious debut." --Jamie Cat Callan, author of French Women Don't Sleep Alone

Meredith Mileti lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their three, mostly grown children. She is a graduate of Hamilton College and the University of Pittsburgh where she earned a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, and subsequently served on the faculty. Since taking her first home economics course in junior high, Meredith has loved to cook. An adventurous and eclectic diner, she appreciates any well-cooked meal, whether from a lobster shack in Bar Harbor, Maine, a friggitorie in Naples, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris or a Deluxe Double Egg & Cheese at Primanti's in Pittsburgh. Aftertaste is her first novel.]]>
384 Meredith Mileti 0758259913 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 to-read 3.79 2011 Aftertaste: A Novel in Five Courses
author: Meredith Mileti
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/02/14
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:
Really liked this foodie book... Especially liked the part in Pittsburgh, a real foodie city. Kept me reading late a couple of nights.
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Julia's Child 11847171 A delectable comedy for every woman who's ever wondered if buying that six-dollar box of organic crackers makes her a hero or a sucker. Julia Bailey is a mompreneur with too many principles and too little time. Her fledgling company, Julia's Child, makes organic toddler meals like Gentle Lentil and Give Peas a Chance. But turning a profit while saving the world proves tricky as Julia must face a ninety-two-pound TV diva, an ill-timed protest rally, and a room full of one hundred lactating breasts. Will she get her big break before her family reaches the breaking point? In the end, it is a story about motherhood's choices: organic versus local, paper versus plastic, staying at home versus risking it all.

A cookbook author's hilarious fiction debut, Julia's Child will have foodies and all-natural mamas alike laughing, cheering, and asking for more.]]>
279 Sarah Pinneo 0452297311 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 abandoned 3.20 2012 Julia's Child
author: Sarah Pinneo
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.20
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2012/03/09
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: abandoned
review:
What a clever title! Book was an entertaining diversion, about a young mom who starts a toddler-food company. The trials and tribulations of such a venture seem pretty authentic. Hard work, for sure.
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Restoration 11687869
But away from her family and the ease of life to which she was accustomed, Alice begins to slip into a vast and encompassing loneliness. She stumbles into an ill-advised affair with a childhood sweetheart that increasingly takes her away from San Martino and into the social swirl of wartime Rome. She is with her lover when her young son dies from meningitis…and her unbearable sorrow is compounded by terrible guilt. Her indiscretion is noticed by a careful pair of eyes–those of Robert Marshall, the master restorer and dealer of renaissance art. In exchange for his silence, he demands Alice hide a priceless Caravaggio at San Martino, a national treasure that he has sold to the Germans. Neither knows, however, that the Caravaggio is, in fact, a fake, painted by Marshall’s assistant as revenge for Marshall’s scorning her as a lover and returning to his pregnant wife. Kristin had merely hoped to privately humiliate Marshall. But his sale of the forgery has placed him in far greater danger than she anticipated. Compelled to make things right, she travels to San Martino in an attempt to destroy the painting. Meanwhile, inconsolable at the death of his son and at his wife’s betrayal, Claudio retreats first into silence, and then into an actual absence. He has left, without saying good-bye, without offering the grieving Alice a chance to redeem herself for her ghastly sin. As WWII moves towards its inexorable conclusion, as the front lines sweeps closer and closer to San Martino, Alice and Kristin not only have to confront the onslaught of soldiers and the destruction of everything they hold dear, but also the consequences of their past mistakes.]]>
336 Olaf Olafsson 0062065653 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 to-read
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3.57 1994 Restoration
author: Olaf Olafsson
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2012/03/17
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:
Well-done book about art restoration in Italy while World War II is raging. An interesting and unusual look at the war in Italy. Good, concise writing and descriptions.


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Life and Other Inconveniences 42755366 From the New York Times bestselling author of Good Luck with That comes a new novel about a blue-blood grandmother and her black-sheep granddaughter who discover they are truly two sides of the same coin.

Emma London never thought she had anything in common with her grandmother Genevieve London. The regal old woman came from wealthy and bluest-blood New England stock, but that didn’t protect her from life’s cruelest the disappearance of Genevieve’s young son, followed by the premature death of her husband. But Genevieve rose from those ashes of grief and built a fashion empire that was respected the world over, even when it meant neglecting her other son.

When Emma’s own mother died, her father abandoned her on his mother’s doorstep. Genevieve took Emma in and reluctantly raised her–until Emma got pregnant her senior year of high school. Genevieve kicked her out with nothing but the clothes on her back…but Emma took with her the most important London the strength not just to survive but to thrive. And indeed, Emma has built a wonderful life for herself and her teenage daughter, Riley.

So what is Emma to do when Genevieve does the one thing Emma never expected of her and, after not speaking to her for nearly two decades, calls and asks for help?]]>
445 Kristan Higgins 0451489438 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 to-read 4.40 2019 Life and Other Inconveniences
author: Kristan Higgins
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2021/03/12
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
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The Kitchen Front 55431517
Two years into WW2, Britain is feeling her losses; the Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is putting on a cooking contest--and the grand prize is a job as the program's first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the contest presents a crucial chance to change their lives.

For a young widow, it's a chance to pay off her husband's debts and keep a roof over her children's heads. For a kitchen maid, it's a chance to leave servitude and find freedom. For the lady of the manor, it's a chance to escape her wealthy husband's increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it's a chance to challenge the men at the top of her profession.

These four women are giving the competition their all--even if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together serve only to break it apart?]]>
416 Jennifer Ryan 0593158822 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 4.14 2021 The Kitchen Front
author: Jennifer Ryan
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/04/14
date added: 2025/01/02
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The Sheep Queen 19027830 An epic family saga set on the sprawling, beautiful ranches of the American West, from the author of The Power of the Dog,Ěý"a masterful novelist working at the peak of his form" (Washington Post).ĚýA Western family story at once intimate and epic, this rich, compelling, emotionally charged novel tells the story of the Sweringen family of Emma, the matriarch, known as the Sheep Queen ("surely one of the most fascinating characters in current fiction"Ěý—Publishers Weekly); the daughter who disappoints her; the grandson who adores her; and the granddaughter, given up for adoption, who spends nearly half her life finding her way back to her family."The Sheep Queen is marvelous...Her reign has a mythic grandeur."Ěý—New York Times Book Review"A fine novel...A sense of family as anchor and root and self-definition [gives] the book its considerable strength...Savage is a writer of the first order, and he possesses in abundance the novelist's highest artĚýâ€� the ability to illuminate and move."Ěý—The New Yorker]]> 260 Thomas Savage JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 4.20 1977 The Sheep Queen
author: Thomas Savage
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1977
rating: 3
read at: 2021/05/16
date added: 2025/01/02
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<![CDATA[The Consequences of Fear (Maisie Dobbs, #16)]]> 54389664
As Europe buckles under Nazi occupation, Maisie Dobbs investigates a possible murder that threatens devastating repercussions for Britain's war efforts in this latest installment in theĚýNew York TimesĚýbestselling mystery series.

October 1941. While on a delivery, young Freddie Hackett, a message runner for a government office, witnesses an argument that ends in murder. Crouching in the doorway of a bombed-out house, Freddie waits until the coast is clear. But when he arrives at the delivery address, he’s shocked to come face to face with the killer.

Dismissed by the police when he attempts to report the crime, Freddie goes in search of a woman he once met when delivering a Maisie Dobbs. While Maisie believes the boy and wants to help, she must maintain extreme she’s working secretly for the Special Operations Executive, assessing candidates for crucial work with the French resistance. Her two worlds collide when she spots the killer in a place she least expects. She soon realizes she’s been pulled into the orbit of a man who has his own reasons to kill—reasons that go back to the last war.

As Maisie becomes entangled in a power struggle between Britain’s intelligence efforts in France and the work of Free French agents operating across Europe, she must also contend with the lingering question of Freddie Hackett’s state of mind. What she uncovers could hold disastrous consequences for all involved in this compelling chapter of the “series that seems to get better with every entry� (Wall Street Journal).]]>
352 Jacqueline Winspear JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 4.55 2021 The Consequences of Fear (Maisie Dobbs, #16)
author: Jacqueline Winspear
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/05
date added: 2025/01/02
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The Hotel 55666586
A new, dramatic family saga series from the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller author of The Nantucket Inn and The Restaurant.

The Whitley was Nantucket's most exclusive hotel. It was a sprawling collection of pristine white cottages and an elegant main building on a long stretch of private, white sandy beach. The list of famous celebrity guests that had visited over the years was top secret and a matter of pride to the Whitley family. If you worked in the hospitality industry, landing a job at The Whitley was the ultimate goal. Many of the staff had lived and worked there for years. There were strict rules about the staff keeping their distance from both the guests and the family. But sometimes, rules were broken.

No one is more surprised than Paula Whitley when her grandfather, Wynn Whitley, the founder of the hotel and many other business holdings, makes two big announcements. He is promoting Paula from her quiet behind the scenes role handling the accounting, to being in charge of everything. The rest of the family, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and parents, are stunned and not everyone is happy about it.

And the second big announcement--she's expected to work closely with a newly-hired consultant, a turnaround expert in luxury hotels. Paula dislikes David Connolly immediately. He's arrogant and bossy and annoyingly right most of the time. She'd be loving her new role, if it wasn't for him. And everyone, family and staff are wondering--what is grandfather's goal? Is he looking to sell The Whitley?]]>
270 Pamela M. Kelley 1953060102 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 4.22 2021 The Hotel
author: Pamela M. Kelley
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/25
date added: 2025/01/02
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<![CDATA[The Sins of the Mother (Miller & Stevens, #1)]]> 42386800 -- Publisher's WeeklyA killer is putting the mangled, lifeless bodies of prostitutes on display in sleepy Northeast Tennessee.The murderous spree is accelerating.Two detectives, Lukas Miller from Johnson City and Brooke Stevens from Kingsport, have been assigned to hunt the killer down and stop him. Miller and Stevens are considered the best in their respective departments, and although they've never met, their superiors order them to work together in a coordinated effort to put an end to the violence as quickly as possible. Their reputations, and perhaps their careers, are on the line. As the body count grows, Lukas and Brooke find themselves growing more and more desperate to catch a cunning psychopath who delights in painting their terrified towns red with blood. Will Lukas and Brooke finally end the nightmare? Or will the hunters become the hunted?]]> 317 Scott Pratt JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 4.41 2018 The Sins of the Mother (Miller & Stevens, #1)
author: Scott Pratt
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/28
date added: 2025/01/02
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<![CDATA[Everything My Mother Taught Me]]> 48617752
For fatefully observant Adeline, growing up carries an ominous warning from her adulterous mother: don’t say a word. Adeline vows to never speak again. But that’s not her only secret. After her mother takes a housekeeping job at a lighthouse off the tip of Cape Ann, a local woman vanishes. The key to the mystery lies with Adeline, the silent witness. New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman crafts a beautiful, heart-wrenching short story.

Alice Hoffman’s Everything My Mother Taught Me is part of Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single setting. By yourself, behind closed doors, or shared with someone you trust.]]>
28 Alice Hoffman 1542091454 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 3.99 2019 Everything My Mother Taught Me
author: Alice Hoffman
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/03
date added: 2025/01/02
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The Great Gatsby 365984
Gatsby, surrounded by riches, yearns for the love of a woman who chose another man. He waits for her every night, using a green light at the end of his dock to call out to her from across the water. Daisy, stuck in a loveless marriage, dreams of what could have been—and gets a taste for it after she is re-acquainted with Gatsby through Nick.

Considered by critics to be one of the greatest novels ever written, this 1925 masterpiece is a portrait of the Roaring Twenties that’s full of literary intrigue, resounding metaphors, and decadent glimpses into the glitz and glam of early twentieth-century America. As relevant today as ever, it offers a cautionary tale of the American Dream, warning against the temptation to believe that enough money paired with equal desire can achieve anything—even reverse the deepest regrets."]]>
F. Scott Fitzgerald 0060743387 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 ]]> 4.50 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1925
rating: 5
read at: 2011/04/12
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:
This audio, of a book I have read several times, was excellent and well-done (by my former neighbor, the late Alexander Scourby). What a voice he had! What a story FitzGerald wrote! It is no wonder that this is considered one of the best American novels of all time.

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Meet Me at the Museum 36237290 Please be aware I am writing to you to make sense of myself ...

When the curator of a Danish museum responds to a query about ancient exhibits, he doesn’t expect a reply.

When Tina Hopgood first wrote it, nor did she �

Professor Anders Larsen, an urbane man of facts, has lost his wife, along with his hopes and dreams for the future. He does not know that a query from a Mrs Tina Hopgood about a world-famous antiquity in his museum is about to alter the course of his life.

Oceans apart, an unexpected correspondence flourishes as they discover shared passions: for history and nature; for useless objects left behind by loved ones; for the ancient and modern world, what is lost in time, what is gained and what has stayed the same. Through intimate stories of joy, anguish, and discovery, each one bares their soul to the other. But when Tina's letters suddenly cease, Anders is thrown into despair. Can this unlikely friendship survive?]]>
224 Anne Youngson 0857525522 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 to-read 3.89 2018 Meet Me at the Museum
author: Anne Youngson
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Real Thing (Kick Keswick, #5)]]> 18590454
Kick is retired and settled into her comfortable Provencal life on her farm, La Petite Pomme. But when one of Paris’s most exclusive jewelry stores is robbed for several million dollars worth of jewels and two security guards are killed in the heist, Kick’s husband, Sir Thomas Curtis, head of the International Security Task Force, asks her to help.

Kick soon finds herself on a high-speed train ride to the Côte d’Azur tracking the ringleader of one of Europe’s most dangerous gangs.

THE REAL THING is what happens just when you think you have everything in its perfect place and God steps in and clears the table.
Kick Keswick and her adventures

"Addictive"
—The Hollywood Reporter

"As delightful as a chocolate souffle."
—B´Ç´Ç°ě±ôľ±˛őłŮ

"Delicious."
—Janet Evanovich


About the Marne Davis Kellogg is the international, best-selling author of 11 mysteries, including the highly popular series of capers featuring Kick Keswick, the world’s greatest jewel thief. In addition to her writing life, she is Executive Vice President of The Kellogg Organization, Inc. Marne and her husband, Peter, live in Denver and on their Colorado ranch in the summertime where she cooks the decadent meals found in her books. Marne and Peter visit England, France and Italy at least once a year where they research Kick and Thomas's environs to make certain they're as accurately portrayed as possible.]]>
216 Marne Davis Kellogg 1475602855 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 3.98 2013 The Real Thing (Kick Keswick, #5)
author: Marne Davis Kellogg
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/02
date added: 2024/09/28
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<![CDATA[Once Upon a Time, There Was You]]> 11048991 Alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here

BONUS: This edition contains a Once Upon a Time, There Was You discussion guide.

Even on their wedding day, John and Irene sensed that they were about to make a mistake. Years later, divorced, dating other people, and living in different parts of the country, they seem to have nothing in common—nothing except the most important person in each of their lives: Sadie, their spirited eighteen-year-old daughter. Feeling smothered by Irene and distanced from John, Sadie is growing more and more attached to her new boyfriend, Ron. When tragedy strikes, Irene and John come together to support the daughter they love so dearly. What takes longer is to remember how they really feel about each other. Elizabeth Berg’s immense talent shines in this unforgettable novel about the power of love, the unshakeable bonds of family, and the beauty of second chances.]]>
306 Elizabeth Berg 1588368939 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 3.73 2011 Once Upon a Time, There Was You
author: Elizabeth Berg
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2011/04/10
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:
I wanted to love this book since I like Berg so much, but, alas, I only liked the book. The writing was fine, the character development was good, settings were okay. But somehow it seemed disjointed at times, as if the author felt that it was time to move on to another topic or character or issue.
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<![CDATA[Hostage Zero (Jonathan Grave, #2)]]> 8605724 448 John Gilstrap 078602514X JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 4.02 2010 Hostage Zero (Jonathan Grave, #2)
author: John Gilstrap
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/01/21
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
Somewhat improbable thriller, but fast-paced and a book that kept my interest. If the parts about Columbia are accurate, I am horrified.
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Tin Badges (Tank Rizzo, #1) 30367814 As one of the NYPD’s most trusted “tin badges”—retired detectives brought in to solve cases that are beyond the reach of the everyday force—Tank Rizzo has faced off against some of the city’s toughest criminals without breaking a sweat. To tackle a case involving a dangerous kingpin known as Gonzo, Tank turns to his best friend and ex-partner, Pearl; a former mobster living out a seemingly quiet retirement as the owner of Tank’s favorite Italian restaurant; and a team of expert misfits he would trust with his life. But Gonzo will stop at nothing to defend the empire he's built, and won't hesitate to make it personal.]]> 27 Lorenzo Carcaterra 0316361291 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 4.31 2016 Tin Badges (Tank Rizzo, #1)
author: Lorenzo Carcaterra
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/22
date added: 2024/07/22
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Evidence of the Affair 41715227 The repercussions of an illicit affair unfold in this short story by bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Dear stranger�

A desperate young woman in Southern California sits down to write a letter to a man she’s never met—a choice that will forever change both their lives.

My heart goes out to you, David. Even though I do not know you�

The correspondence between Carrie Allsop and David Mayer reveals, piece by piece, the painful details of a devastating affair between their spouses. With each commiserating scratch of the pen, they confess their fears and bare their souls. They share the bewilderment over how things went so wrong and come to wonder where to go from here.

Told entirely through the letters of two comforting strangers and those of two illicit lovers, Evidence of the Affair explores the complex nature of the heart. And ultimately, for one woman, how liberating it can be when it’s broken.]]>
88 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1542044510 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 3.86 2018 Evidence of the Affair
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/03
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<![CDATA[The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright]]> 199451007
The correspondence is decades old, between agony aunt Evelyn and those in need of solace. Intrigued as to why the letters have been kept safe all these years, Beth can’t resist reading them, and as the wisdom and kindness of Evelyn falls off the pages, so Beth starts to feel she has a friend and champion in this woman she has never met.

Good advice doesn’t age, and as life starts to look brighter, Beth begins to wonder if she could track down Evelyn and thank her for her help. But as Beth uncovers more about Evelyn’s story, it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. And now Beth is determined to bring peace to Evelyn as she has to her.

A spell-binding, heart-warming story of friendship, love and being brave enough to be yourself.

Praise for Clare

'A sensitive, touching story with emotional depth and page-turning quality' Helen Rolfe

'I loved The Night We First Met by Clare Swatman. Warm, romantic and wonderfully written, it's an emotional and thought-provoking read with such relatable characters.' Debbie Howells

'The Night We First Met is a beautiful love story that vividly evokes time and place, transporting the reader� and leaves you rooting for everyone who is brave enough to follow their heart and not their head.' Victoria Scott

'Heart-breaking and life-affirming in equal measures, Before We Grow Old is the tender story of a chance meeting between former childhood sweethearts Fran and Will, and is packed with secrets and revelations. Through her beautiful writing, Clare Swatman delivers a powerful lesson in learning to love with your whole heart and accepting the same, no matter what life throws at you.' Sarah Bennett

'Irresistible... A delightfully bittersweet story that will appeal to fans of One Day' - Sunday Mirror

'The Night We First Met is a breathless story of enduring love that will fill your heart and give you hope.' Laura Kemp

'The Night We First Met is such a special book, filled with broken and relatable characters, who you can't help but love. Just Gorgeous!' Emma Cooper

'The Night We First Met is a gorgeously romantic, sliding doors love story about how The One will find you in the end.' Katy Regan

Readers love Clare

â€I’ve enjoyed all of Clare’s books, but this one I just couldn’t put down. I was hooked from the first page.â€�

â€Another amazing read from Clare x another must read from her! You can’t wait to get to the bed.â€�

â€I really enjoyed this book, a real page turner. Great characters in a brilliant mystery story. Worthy of a book club, I wish I had someone to discuss it with!!â€�

â€Clare Swatman weaves a beautiful tale that grips you from the first page, leaves you wanting to travel on this journey and ultimately tells a beautiful story.]]>
357 Clare Swatman 1785130552 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 3.87 The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright
author: Clare Swatman
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/12
date added: 2024/05/12
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The Girls We Sent Away 175379580 A searing book club read for fans of Ellen Marie Wiseman and The Girls with No Names set in the Baby Scoop Era of 1960s and the women of a certain condition swept up in a dark history.

It's the 1960s and Lorraine Delford has it all â€� an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and a white picket fence home in North Carolina. Yet every time she looks through her father's telescope, she dreams of the stars. It's ambitious, but Lorraine has always been exceptional.Ěý

But when this darling girl-next-door gets pregnant, she's forced to learn firsthand the realities that keep women grounded.Ěý

To hide their daughter's secret shame, the Delfords send Lorraine to a maternity home for wayward girls. But this is no safe haven � it's a house with dark secrets and suffocating rules. And as Lorraine begins to piece together a new vision for her life, she must decide if she can fight against the powers that aim to take her child or submit to the rules of a society she once admired.

Powerful and affecting, The Girls We Sent Away is a timely novel that explores autonomy, belonging, and a quest for agency when the illusions of life-as-you-know-it fall away.]]>
300 Meagan Church 1728257204 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 4.05 2024 The Girls We Sent Away
author: Meagan Church
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/08
date added: 2024/05/08
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Big Summer 49078967
Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.

A sparkling novel about the complexities of female friendship, the pitfalls of living out loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart, Big Summer is a witty, moving story about family, friendship, and figuring out what matters most.]]>
364 Jennifer Weiner 1501133535 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 3.78 2020 Big Summer
author: Jennifer Weiner
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/18
date added: 2024/04/18
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Perfect (Kick Keswick, #3) 384554 It should have been the start of a perfect sojourn in Provence. Kick Keswick had just settled down to warm chocolate soufflé with a decadently rich Grand Marnier sauce and a small glass of Armagnac when she receives startling the personal jewels of the Queen of England herself have gone missing, and she wants Kick to get them back. Most of the world knows Kick as an expert in jewels and antiquities, having been the right hand at Ballantine & Company Auctioneers in London, but others know Kick as the world's finest jewel thief, a woman who can stand out in a crowd at will, but who can also blend in when she wants to. So the chase is on, in a race that takes her from Provence to Paris, London, St. Moritz, and Milan--and puts all her wiles and talents to the test as she faces a thief whose skills match her own. And with Kick Keswick on the case, there will be trouble afoot--of the multifaceted kind.
With sophistication, wit, and insider details, Perfect is a madcap adventure that takes you on a quest for the things that make life worth living…or at least worth talking about.]]>
352 Marne Davis Kellogg 0312337337 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 4.13 2005 Perfect (Kick Keswick, #3)
author: Marne Davis Kellogg
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2009/11/24
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves:
review:
Another great Kick Keswick adventure. I could read about her forever! These books are so clever and intelligent and elegant. Love them.
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Priceless (Kick Keswick, #2) 384558 324 Marne Davis Kellogg 0312932952 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 4.06 2004 Priceless (Kick Keswick, #2)
author: Marne Davis Kellogg
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2009/11/06
date added: 2024/03/23
shelves:
review:
A fast clever read, even better than the first Kick Keswick book. I loved the setting on the Italian Riviera, in Portofino, and enjoyed learning about that area. The descriptions of the jewelry, the food, the clothes, the locale were amazing. I was stumped right up to the delightful ending.
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Brilliant (Kick Keswick, #1) 384555
In fact, Kick rarely lets anyone into her private world. She prefers it that way. Kick doesn't need a man in her life, messing things up. But when American industrialist, scoundrel, and womanizer Owen Brace grabs the faltering Ballantine & Company in a corporate takeover, he turns Kick's world upside down, opening her eyes to large-scale love, romance, and sensuous pleasure. But something tells Kick that Brace's motives are anything but sincere. And when he gets near enough to threaten Kick's closely guarded life, Brace learns the dangers of underestimating this woman.

From sophisticated London to cozy Provence, France, Brilliant is a playfully delicious novel of suspense, masterful revenge, and secrets of the multi-faceted kind...]]>
352 Marne Davis Kellogg 0312991436 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5
This book instantly drew me into the story, mainly because of the intriguing main character, Kick Keswick. I just love it when a book "hooks" me on the first page!

This would be classified as "reading lite", I suppose, but it was smart, interesting, entertaining, and what more could I ask for than a book about a high-end auction house, jewelry, antiques, wine, and food - and set in London and Provence?

Kick is a not-young American, elegant and refined, who has worked at the renowned and reputable Ballentine auction house in London for 30+ years. Her expertise encompasses art, antiques, and especially jewelry. She prefers to lead a very private life which protects her illegal secret activities and her distant past as a juvenile offender in Oklahoma.

The best part about this book is that Kellogg has written three more Kick Keswick books which I intend to read ASAP. The next one takes place in Provence and I cannot wait to "visit".
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4.02 2003 Brilliant (Kick Keswick, #1)
author: Marne Davis Kellogg
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2009/10/22
date added: 2024/03/13
shelves:
review:
Just plain fun to read!

This book instantly drew me into the story, mainly because of the intriguing main character, Kick Keswick. I just love it when a book "hooks" me on the first page!

This would be classified as "reading lite", I suppose, but it was smart, interesting, entertaining, and what more could I ask for than a book about a high-end auction house, jewelry, antiques, wine, and food - and set in London and Provence?

Kick is a not-young American, elegant and refined, who has worked at the renowned and reputable Ballentine auction house in London for 30+ years. Her expertise encompasses art, antiques, and especially jewelry. She prefers to lead a very private life which protects her illegal secret activities and her distant past as a juvenile offender in Oklahoma.

The best part about this book is that Kellogg has written three more Kick Keswick books which I intend to read ASAP. The next one takes place in Provence and I cannot wait to "visit".

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Go as a River 63922271 A sweeping, heart-stopping epic of a young woman's journey to becoming, set against the harsh beauty of mid-century Colorado

On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family's farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado. As she heads into her village, a disheveled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives.

So begins the mesmerizing story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life forever.

Go as a River is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting, it is a sweeping story of survival and becoming, of the deepest mysteries of love, truth and fate.]]>
299 Shelley Read 1954118244 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 4.47 2023 Go as a River
author: Shelley Read
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/26
date added: 2024/01/26
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Last List of Mabel Beaumont]]> 148516779 The list he left had just one item on it. Or, at least, it did at first�

Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. â€Remember: eggs, butter, sugarâ€�. â€I love you: today, tomorrow, alwaysâ€�.

But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one item on it though: â€Find Dâ€�.

Mabel feels sure she knows what it means. She must track down her best friend Dot, who she hasn’t seen since the fateful day she left more than sixty years ago.

It seems impossible. She doesn’t even know if Dot’s still alive. Also, every person Mabel talks to seems to need help first, with missing husbands, daughters, parents. Mabel finds her list is just getting longer, and she’s still no closer to finding Dot.

What she doesn’t know is that her list isn’t just about finding her old friend. And that if she can admit the secrets of the past, maybe she could even find happiness again�

A completely heartbreaking, beautiful, uplifting story, guaranteed to make you smile but also make you cry. Perfect for fans of My Name is Ove, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and The Keeper of Stories.]]>
314 Laura Pearson 1785136054 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 4.03 2023 The Last List of Mabel Beaumont
author: Laura Pearson
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/12
date added: 2023/12/12
shelves:
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Once More We Saw Stars 42190527 “A gripping and beautiful book about the power of love in the face of unimaginable loss.�
Ěý--Cheryl Strayed

For readers of The Bright Hour and When Breath Becomes Air, a moving, transcendent memoir of loss and a stunning exploration of marriage in the wake of unimaginable grief.

As the book opens: two-year-old Greta Greene is sitting with her grandmother on a park bench on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. A brick crumbles from a windowsill overhead, striking her unconscious, and she is immediately rushed to the hospital. But although it begins with this event and with the anguish Jayson and his wife, Stacy, confront in the wake of their daughter's trauma and the hours leading up to her death, Once More We Saw Stars quickly becomes a narrative that is as much about hope and healing as it is about grief and loss. Jayson recognizes, even in the midst of his ordeal, that there will be a life for him beyond it--that if only he can continue moving forward, from one moment to the next, he will survive what seems unsurvivable. With raw honesty, deep emotion, and exquisite tenderness, he captures both the fragility of life and absoluteness of death, and most important of all, the unconquerable power of love. This is an unforgettable memoir of courage and transformation--and a book that will change the way you look at the world.]]>
239 Jayson Greene 1524733547 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 4.30 2019 Once More We Saw Stars
author: Jayson Greene
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/29
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves:
review:

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Lily and the Octopus 29965072 The Art of Racing in the Rain with the magical spirit of The Life of Pi, Lily and the Octopus is an epic adventure of the heart.

When you sit down with Lily and the Octopus, you will be taken on an unforgettable ride.

The magic of this novel is in the read, and we don’t want to spoil it by giving away too many details.

We can tell you that this is a story about that special someone: the one you trust, the one you can’t live without.

For Ted Flask, that someone special is his aging companion Lily, who happens to be a dog.

Lily and the Octopus reminds us how it feels to love fiercely, how difficult it can be to let go, and how the fight for those we love is the greatest fight of all.

Remember the last book you told someone they had to read?

Lily and the Octopus is the next one.]]>
321 Steven Rowley 1501126245 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 3.92 2016 Lily and the Octopus
author: Steven Rowley
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/26
date added: 2023/10/26
shelves:
review:

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The Last Thing He Told Me 56169546
As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a U.S. marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.]]>
316 Laura Dave 1501171364 JoAnn/QuAppelle 2 4.08 2021 The Last Thing He Told Me
author: Laura Dave
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2022/12/26
date added: 2022/12/26
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food]]> 40501294 Kitchen Yarns, pairing her signature humor and tenderness with simple, comforting recipes, Hood spins tales of loss and starting from scratch, family love and feasts with friends, and how the perfect meal is one that tastes like home.


Ěý±Ő±Ő>
247 Ann Hood 0393249514 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 4.10 2018 Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food
author: Ann Hood
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/04
date added: 2022/11/10
shelves:
review:
Loved this, as I have loved all of Ann Hood's books. So delightful and insightful. She is wonderful
]]>
The Little Paris Bookshop 23278537 “There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only…A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.�

Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.

After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people's lives.]]>
392 Nina George 0553418777 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 to-read 3.46 2013 The Little Paris Bookshop
author: Nina George
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/07
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Bookstore Sisters 62337113 From New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman comes a heartfelt short story about family, independence, and finding your place in the world.

Isabel Gibson has all but perfected the art of forgetting. She’s a New Yorker now, with nothing left to tie her to Brinkley’s Island, Maine. Her parents are gone, the family bookstore is all but bankrupt, and her sister, Sophie, will probably never speak to her again.

But when a mysterious letter arrives in her mailbox, Isabel feels herself drawn to the past. After years of fighting for her independence, she dreads the thought of going back to the island. What she finds there may forever alter her path—and change everything she thought she knew about her family, her home, and herself.]]>
36 Alice Hoffman 1662510500 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 4.00 2022 The Bookstore Sisters
author: Alice Hoffman
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/04
date added: 2022/11/04
shelves:
review:

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We Were the Lucky Ones 59046537 The New York Times bestseller with more than 1 million copies sold worldwide | Now a Hulu limited series starring Joey King and Logan Lerman

Inspired by the incredible true story of one Jewish family separated at the start of World War II, determined to survive—and to reunite—We Were the Lucky Ones is a tribute to the triumph of hope and love against all odds

“Love in the face of global adversity? It couldn't be more timely.� —Glamour

It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety.

As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death, either by working grueling hours on empty stomachs in the factories of the ghetto or by hiding as gentiles in plain sight. Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere.

An extraordinary, propulsive novel, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can endure and even thrive.]]>
414 Georgia Hunter JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 4.56 2017 We Were the Lucky Ones
author: Georgia Hunter
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/01
date added: 2022/04/01
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Buzz Books 2022: Spring/Summer]]> 60233070 Buzz Books has had a particularly stellar track record with highlighting the most talented, exciting and diverse debut authors, and this edition is no exception. Co-creator of the Emmy-winning series How I Met Your Mother, Carter Bays� first novel is featured, along with Nishant Batsha, Jumi Bello, Melissa Chadburn, and Sopan Deb, and 13 other debut writers.
Our nonfiction selections cover such fascinating subjects as a symbolic World War 11 Marine Corps football game by Pulitzer-Prize winner Buzz Bissinger; a literary memoir of recovery from opioid addiction; a true crime story; and a primer on brain health.
Be sure to look out for Buzz Books 2022: Fall/Winter, coming in May.]]>
1132 Publishers Lunch 1948586479 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 4.28 Buzz Books 2022: Spring/Summer
author: Publishers Lunch
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.28
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/14
shelves: abandoned
review:

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<![CDATA[A Nantucket Affair (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove, #4)]]> 48898997
But things are sometimes not what they seem.

Lisa Hodges has always thought her best friend Sue had a dream marriage. She'd married Curt, her high school sweetheart and current business partner. After thirty-five years of marriage, she never doubted him once--until Brandi Morgan joined their thriving insurance company. Brandi is fifteen years younger, blonde and beautiful and is also excellent at her account manager job. All the clients love her and business is up. Sue liked her quite a bit too--until the rumors started swirling.

And it all began with A Nantucket Affair, the island's biggest charity gathering with a catered dinner and dancing on the beach. As usual, Curt is the chairman for the gala, and this year, he has a new second in command, Brandi. Sue didn't give it a second thought, until Curt suddenly dropped the fifteen pounds he'd been whining about wanting to lose and a few well meaning friends started asking her what was going on.

Meanwhile, Kristen's boyfriend, Tyler is dealing with a devastating loss and Kristen wants to be there for him, but isn't sure how best to support him, especially when she discovers a secret he's been keeping, one that could have devastating consequences for both of them.

Abby is busy learning how to be a new mother, and Lisa is madly in love with her first grandchild. And Chase and Beth have discovered a new passion project--flipping houses. Beth does the research to find the undervalued homes and Chase works his magic to renovate them. But then they get in over their heads when a project requires more than they could ever have imagined.]]>
228 Pamela M. Kelley JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 4.10 A Nantucket Affair (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove, #4)
author: Pamela M. Kelley
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/31
date added: 2022/01/03
shelves:
review:

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Stuck in Manistique 42402495
Days after graduating medical school, Dr. Emily Davis drives north, struggling with her illicit rendezvous on Mackinac Island. She never makes it—on the highway near Manistique, her car collides with a deer, shattering the car’s windshield. Stranded for the night, Emily is directed to a nearby bed and breakfast.

Maybe it’s a heady reaction, the revelation that his aunt, an international aid doctor, ran a bed and breakfast in retirement. Or perhaps he plainly feels pity for the young, helpless doctor. Regardless, Mark decides to play host for one night, telling Emily that he’s merely stepping in temporarily while his aunt is away.

As a one-night stay turns into another and more guests arrive, the ersatz innkeeper steadily loses control of his story. And though Emily opens up to Mark, she has trouble explaining the middle-aged man who unexpectedly arrives at the doorstep looking for her.

Will these two strangers, holding on to unraveling secrets, remain in town long enough to discover the connection between them?]]>
335 Dennis Cuesta 1732410925 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 3.98 Stuck in Manistique
author: Dennis Cuesta
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2021/08/05
date added: 2021/08/05
shelves:
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Monday Mornings 17789701
Monday Mornings, by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, follows the lives of five surgeons at Chelsea General as they push the limits of their abilities and confront their personal and professional failings, often in front of their peers at M & M. It is on Monday mornings that reflection and introspection occurs, usually in private. It is Monday Mornings that provides a unique look at the real method in which surgeons learn - through their mistakes. It is Monday Mornings when, if you're lucky, you have a chance at redemption.]]>
305 Sanjay Gupta JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 3.91 2012 Monday Mornings
author: Sanjay Gupta
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/28
date added: 2021/07/28
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Confessions of a Curious Bookseller]]> 55543206 A heartening and uproariously funny novel of high hopes, bad choices, book love, and one woman’s best—and worst—intentions.

Without question, Fawn Birchill knows that her used bookstore is the heart of West Philadelphia, a cornerstone of culture for a community that, for the past twenty years, has found the quirkiness absolutely charming. When an amicable young indie bookseller invades her block, Fawn is convinced that his cushy couches, impressive selection, coffee bar, and knowledgeable staff are a neighborhood blight. Misguided yet blindly resilient, Fawn readies for battle.

But as she wages her war, Fawn is forced to reflect on a few unavoidable truths: the tribulations of online dating, a strained relationship with her family, and a devoted if not always law-abiding intern—not to mention what to do about a pen pal with whom she hasn’t been entirely honest and the litany of repairs her aging store requires.

Through emails, journal entries, combative online reviews, texts, and tweets, Fawn plans her next move. Now it’s time for her to dig deep and use every trick at her disposal if she’s to reclaim her beloved business—and her life.]]>
483 Elizabeth Green 1542025869 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 2.83 2021 Confessions of a Curious Bookseller
author: Elizabeth Green
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 2.83
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/04/26
date added: 2021/05/20
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Nantucket Neighbors (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove, #2)]]> 52765730
Book your visit to the Beach Plum Cove Inn today.....meet widow Lisa Hodges and her four adult children, friends, and visitors to the newly opened waterfront bed and breakfast. In the first book, The Nantucket Inn, Lisa learned that her deceased husband had a hidden gambling addiction and had blown through their retirement savings. Since she'd been raising four children and hadn't worked in years, she had no employable skills. Her only option if she wanted to stay on the island near her loved ones, was to rent out her second floor rooms.

And she's loving it so far. Lisa's first guest, restaurant owner Rhett Byrne quickly became a close friend and then something more. In her early fifties, it sounds strange to her to call him her boyfriend, but that's what he is.

Her daughter Kristen, finally ended things with Sean, the separated man that no one in the family was excited about. It wasn't until she was beginning to move on, that he filed for divorce, and then begged her for another chance. So she gave him one, much to everyone's dismay. But then the cottage next door is sold, and she discovers who her new neighbor is.

Chase, the only boy in the family, has never been serious about anyone before. But he's suddenly withdrawn and has been secretive about who he's seeing, which only makes everyone that much more curious. When they learn who it is, the concern grows as no one wants to see Chase hurt, again.

Lisa's best friend, Paige, has a new neighbor too and it's one she is most decidedly not enthused about. Violet was one of the women who stood up at town meeting and protested against Lisa's inn being approved by the selectman. Because the house is right next door, Paige can't help but notice the steady stream of traffic. Violet seems to be very popular with a lot of people.

The inn is doing well and bookings are up, but then one Friday night, a guest that prepaid for the weekend never shows up. And quite a few people, including the police, come asking questions.
]]>
258 Pamela M. Kelley JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 4.20 2019 Nantucket Neighbors (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove, #2)
author: Pamela M. Kelley
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2021/02/08
date added: 2021/02/08
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant #1)]]> 49221547
Three sisters. An inherited Nantucket restaurant. One year before they can sell.

Mandy, Emma and Jill are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but Mandy is the only one that stayed.

Jill lives a glamorous life in Manhattan as a co-owner of a successful executive search firm. Never married, she is in her mid-thirties and lives in a stunning, corner condo with breathtaking views of the city and Hudson river. Everyone thinks there's something going on with her partner, Nick, because as a workaholic, she spends more time with him than anyone else. But there's never been anything but friendship between them and Nick loves being a bachelor in NYC.

Emma lives in Arizona and is an elementary school teacher and aspiring photographer. She met her college professor husband, Peter, in grad school and they've been married for over fifteen years. In recent years, she's noticed that Peter has grown distant. But when he shares a surprising secret, she doesn't see it coming and her world is turned upside down.

Mandy followed her high school boyfriend, Cory to Boston College, and after graduation, they married and Cory joined a successful hedge fund in Boston, while Mandy stayed home and had two children, Blake and Brooke. They moved home to Nantucket when Cory opened a competing hedge fund. Now that the children are older, Mandy is eager to do more than coordinate local charity events. But Cory doesn't want her to work. He thinks it doesn't reflect well on him and appearances are everything to Cory. Though when Mandy finds a second cell phone in his gym bag, she begins to question what is really going on.

When their beloved grandmother, Ethel Ferguson passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her ninety-ninth birthday, she leaves them quite a surprise. In addition to her Nantucket home, they learn that she was the silent owner of Mimi's Place, one of Nantucket's most popular year-round restaurants.

There is of course, a catch--she left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma, and Jill--and also to Paul, the restaurant chef for the past fifteen years.

And before they can sell, all three girls must work at the restaurant for one year--or their shares of the restaurant will go to Paul.

The same Paul that broke one of their hearts many years ago.]]>
282 Pamela M. Kelley 0991243552 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 3.73 2020 The Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant #1)
author: Pamela M. Kelley
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/08/30
shelves:
review:

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Saints for All Occasions 32335977 A sweeping, unforgettable novel from The New York Times best-selling author of Maine, about the hope, sacrifice, and love between two sisters and the secret that drives them apart.

Nora and Theresa Flynn are twenty-one and seventeen when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America.

Nora is the responsible sister; she’s shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn’t sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan—a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.

Fifty years later, Nora is the matriarch of a big Catholic family with four grown children: John, a successful, if opportunistic, political consultant; Bridget, privately preparing to have a baby with her girlfriend; Brian, at loose ends after a failed baseball career; and Patrick, Nora’s favorite, the beautiful boy who gives her no end of heartache. Estranged from her sister and cut off from the world, Theresa is a cloistered nun, living in an abbey in rural Vermont. Until, after decades of silence, a sudden death forces Nora and Theresa to confront the choices they made so long ago.

A graceful, supremely moving novel from one of our most beloved writers, Saints for All Occasions explores the fascinating, funny, and sometimes achingly sad ways a secret at the heart of one family both breaks them and binds them together.]]>
335 J. Courtney Sullivan 0307959570 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 3.85 2017 Saints for All Occasions
author: J. Courtney Sullivan
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/12/11
shelves:
review:

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The Forbidden Garden 30653962 Every garden is a story, waiting to be told�

At the nursery she runs with her sisters on the New England coast, Sorrel Sparrow has honed her rare gift for nurturing plants and flowers. Now that reputation, and a stroke of good timing, lands Sorrel an unexpected opportunity: reviving a long-dormant Shakespearean garden on an English country estate.

Arriving at Kirkwood Hall, ancestral home of Sir Graham Kirkwood and his wife Stella, Sorrel is shocked by the desolate state of the walled garden. Generations have tried—and failed—to bring it back to glory. Sorrel senses heartbreak and betrayal here, perhaps even enchantment. Intrigued by the house’s history—especially the haunting tapestries that grace its walls—and increasingly drawn to Stella’s enigmatic brother, Sorrel sets to work. And though she knows her true home is across the sea with her sisters, instinct tells her that the English garden’s destiny is entwined with her own, if she can only unravel its secrets…]]>
400 Ellen Herrick 0062499955 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 3.50 2017 The Forbidden Garden
author: Ellen Herrick
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/10/11
shelves:
review:
This was okay. I finished it! I thought there was a bit too much "magic" in it....seemed sort of tacked on rather than incorporated into the story. Characters were interesting and loved the flower and food parts.
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<![CDATA[The English Girl (Gabriel Allon, #13)]]> 16248078
You have seven days, or the girl dies.

Enter Gabriel Allon—master assassin, art restorer and spy—who is no stranger to dangerous assignments or political intrigue. With the clock ticking, Gabriel embarks on a desperate attempt to bring Madeline home safely. His mission takes him from the criminal underworld of Marseilles to an isolated valley in the mountains of Provence to the stately if faded corridors of power in London—and, finally, to a pulse-pounding climax in Moscow, a city of violence and spies where there is a long list of men who wish Gabriel dead.

From the novel’s opening pages until the shocking ending when the true motives behind Madeline’s disappearance are revealed, The English Girl will hold readers spellbound. It is a timely reminder that, in today’s world, money often matters more than ideology. And it proves once again why Daniel Silva has been called his generation’s finest writer of suspense and foreign intrigue.]]>
482 Daniel Silva 0062073168 JoAnn/QuAppelle 2 abandoned 4.10 2013 The English Girl (Gabriel Allon, #13)
author: Daniel Silva
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2017/10/11
shelves: abandoned
review:
first half was okay, then they went to Russia. I could not keep up with all the names on the audio. May have been different if I had had a physical book
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<![CDATA[The Story of Arthur Truluv (Mason, #1)]]> 32918898 A beautiful, life-affirming novel about a remarkably loving man who creates for himself and others second chances at happiness.

A moving novel about three people who find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of happiness. Arthur, a widow, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who is avoiding school by hiding out at the cemetery, where Arthur goes every day for lunch to have imaginary conversations with his late wife, and think about the lives of others. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation. Maddy gives Arthur the name Truluv, for his loving and positive responses to every outrageous thing she says or does. With Arthur’s nosy neighbor Lucille, they create a loving and unconventional family, proving that life’s most precious moments are sweeter when shared.]]>
240 Elizabeth Berg 1400069904 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 4.10 2017 The Story of Arthur Truluv (Mason, #1)
author: Elizabeth Berg
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/10/05
shelves:
review:

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A Cup of Friendship 9019836 In a little coffee shop in one of the most dangerous places on earth, five very different women come together.

SUNNY, the proud proprietor, who needs an ingenious plan - and fast - to keep her café and customers safe.

YAZMINA, a young pregnant woman stolen from her remote village and now abandoned on Kabul's violent streets.

CANDACE, a wealthy American who has finally left her husband for her Afghan lover, the enigmatic Wakil.

ISABEL, a determined journalist with a secret that might keep her from the biggest story of her life.

And HALAJAN, the sixty-year-old den mother, whose long-hidden love affair breaks all the rules.

As these five women discover there's more to one another than meets the eye, they form a unique bond that will for ever change their lives and the lives of many others.

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul is the heart-warming and life-affirming fiction debut from the author of the bestselling memoir The Kabul Beauty School.

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304 Deborah Rodriguez 0345514750 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3
But I enjoyed the story and think it was pretty authentic. The author obviously has deep feelings for the land of Afghanistan, and especially for its women. ]]>
3.62 2011 A Cup of Friendship
author: Deborah Rodriguez
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2011/02/01
date added: 2016/12/28
shelves:
review:
This was an engaging story, just not very well-written or plotted. Too chick-lit for me.

But I enjoyed the story and think it was pretty authentic. The author obviously has deep feelings for the land of Afghanistan, and especially for its women.
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The Gift 3139072
New York Times bestselling author Cecelia Ahern spins a witty, warm, and wise modern-day fable of love, regret, hope, and second chances.

extremely successful executive, Lou Suffern is always overstretched, immune to the holiday spirit that delights everyone around him. The classic workaholic who never has a moment to spare, he is always multitasking while shortchanging his devoted wife and their adorable children. And ever since he started competing for a big promotion, he has barely seen his family at all.

One frigid morning in an uncharacteristic burst of generosity, he buys a cup of coffee for Gabe, a homeless man huddled outside his office building. Inspired by his own unexpected act of kindness, Lou decides to prolong his charitable streak and contrives to get Gabe a job in his company's mailroom. But when Gabe begins to meddle in Lou's life, the helping hand appears to be a serious mistake. Gabe seems to know more about Lou than Lou does about himself, and, perhaps more disturbingly, Gabe always seems to be in two places at once.

With Lou's personal and professional fates at important crossroads and Christmas looming, Gabe resorts to some unorthodox methods to show his stubborn patron what truly matters and how precious the gift of time is. But can he help him fix what's broken before it's too late?]]>
320 Cecelia Ahern 0061706264 JoAnn/QuAppelle 2
Forgettable.]]>
3.54 2008 The Gift
author: Cecelia Ahern
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2009/11/30
date added: 2015/09/11
shelves:
review:
What I learned from this book was....don't read sappy Christmas books. I still cannot believe I finished it (that is why I gave it two stars) but I did a lot of skimming.

Forgettable.
]]>
<![CDATA[Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher, #12)]]> 2211221 It wasn’t the welcome Reacher expected. He was just passing through, minding his own business. But within minutes of his arrival a deputy is in the hospital and Reacher is back in Hope, setting up a base of operations against Despair, where a huge, seething walled-off industrial site does something nobody is supposed to see . . . where a small plane takes off every night and returns seven hours later . . . where a garrison of well-trained and well-armed military cops—the kind of soldiers Reacher once commanded—waits and watches . . . where above all two young men have disappeared and two frightened young women wait and hope for their return.

Joining forces with a beautiful cop who runs Hope with a cool hand, Reacher goes up against Despair—against the deputies who try to break him and the rich man who tries to scare him—and starts to crack open the secrets, starts to expose the terrifying connection to a distant war that’s killing Americans by the thousand.

Now, between a town and the man who owns it, between Reacher and his conscience, something has to give. And Reacher never gives an inch.

]]>
416 Lee Child 0385340567 JoAnn/QuAppelle 2
Reacher's repeatedly doing the same thing, over and over (returning to a bad place) was tedious and so unlike our hero's usual behavior. The plot wandered all over the place and the book was too long.

I found it impossible to buy into the far-fetched "conspiracy theory" with its pathetic "villains" and was surprised at Child's foray into political opinion (putting his opinions into Reacher's mouth -which completely changed Reacher's character). This was totally out of place, I thought, and awkward at best.

I just hope that Child has not run out of stories and that he will return Reacher to his previous inventive adventures.

I only read the Amazon reviews after finishing the book, and must say I am not surprised that there are 190 reviews and the average is an abyssmal 2.5 stars. Most of his other books have averaged 4 stars.]]>
3.89 2008 Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher, #12)
author: Lee Child
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2008/06/26
date added: 2014/01/04
shelves:
review:
After reading about 8 of Child's Jack Reacher books, I finally found a dud. It started out thrilling, as expected, but quickly became almost boring. I can not believe I am typing those words.

Reacher's repeatedly doing the same thing, over and over (returning to a bad place) was tedious and so unlike our hero's usual behavior. The plot wandered all over the place and the book was too long.

I found it impossible to buy into the far-fetched "conspiracy theory" with its pathetic "villains" and was surprised at Child's foray into political opinion (putting his opinions into Reacher's mouth -which completely changed Reacher's character). This was totally out of place, I thought, and awkward at best.

I just hope that Child has not run out of stories and that he will return Reacher to his previous inventive adventures.

I only read the Amazon reviews after finishing the book, and must say I am not surprised that there are 190 reviews and the average is an abyssmal 2.5 stars. Most of his other books have averaged 4 stars.
]]>
The Little Prince 6735549 Ěý
For over sixty-five years Antoine de Saint-Exupery's classic, The Little Prince, has captured readers' hearts. The whimsical story with a fairy taleĚýfeel has sold over 3 million copies in all formats. This exciting pop-up edition includes theĚýcomplete original text accompanied by Saint-Exupery's beautiful illustrations brought to life through paper engineering. Perfect for longtime fans and those meetingĚýthe little princeĚýfor the first time!Ěý±Ő±Ő>
61 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 0547260695 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5 best-book-ever
This book will be treasured ---and read and re-read.]]>
4.67 1943 The Little Prince
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.67
book published: 1943
rating: 5
read at: 2009/12/15
date added: 2013/07/19
shelves: best-book-ever
review:
I cannot stop raving about the sheer gorgeousness of this wonderful book, a favorite of mine for at least 40 years. This pop-up book is so cleverly and beautifully done, with little panels to open as well as the pop-ups themselves. Even if I had had to pay the full price for it, it would have been worth it....I am actually surprised that the full price was only $35 as the detailing is so extensive.

This book will be treasured ---and read and re-read.
]]>
<![CDATA[Being Elizabeth (Ravenscar, #3)]]> 2957414 416 Barbara Taylor Bradford 0312354630 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 3.20 2008 Being Elizabeth (Ravenscar, #3)
author: Barbara Taylor Bradford
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.20
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2012/04/04
date added: 2013/06/25
shelves: abandoned
review:
dreadful audio/book/story. So repetitive and the author was obviously trying to use British royal history as a blueprint and she failed miserably
]]>
The Girl Next Door 8525045
Meet Eve Gallagher in Apartment 7A, newly moved to New York with her husband. She's lonely and lost...until she meets elderly neighbour Violet, who's concealing a story of her own. The Kramers and the Schulmans in Apartments 6A and 6B are about to find their lives intersecting in a most unfortunate manner when Jason Kramer falls head-over-heels for Rachael Schulman. Jackson Grayling III in Apartment 5A is attracting the attention of a gold-digger in 2B even though he's far more interested in Emily Milanowski in 3B. And finally, self-conscious Charlotte Murphy is crazy about the doorman but too shy to take it any further. No one is left unchanged as the secrets and desires hidden behind closed doors are finally brought into the light.]]>
256 Elizabeth Noble JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 3.21 2009 The Girl Next Door
author: Elizabeth Noble
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2010/08/27
date added: 2012/12/25
shelves:
review:
An enjoyable book, full of characters interacting with each other in a Manhattan apartment building. Some of the plotlines were awkward,but it was an easy read.
]]>
Silver Girl 9503336
Desperate and facing homelessness, Meredith receives a call from her old best friend, Constance Flute. Connie's had recent worries of her own, and the two depart for a summer on Nantucket in an attempt to heal. But the island can't offer complete escape, and they're plagued by new and old troubles alike. When Connie's brother Toby - Meredith's high school boyfriend - arrives, Meredith must reconcile the differences between the life she is leading and the life she could have had.

Set against the backdrop of a Nantucket summer, Elin Hilderbrand delivers a suspenseful story of the power of friendship, the pull of love, and the beauty of forgiveness.]]>
416 Elin Hilderbrand 031609966X JoAnn/QuAppelle 3
I think this author does pretty good research. But after a while, the "girl gets boy/boy gets girl" theme gets a little old and predictable.]]>
3.88 2011 Silver Girl
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2012/07/20
date added: 2012/07/21
shelves:
review:
Not bad. Kept me reading fast!

I think this author does pretty good research. But after a while, the "girl gets boy/boy gets girl" theme gets a little old and predictable.
]]>
The Good Father 12246894 Ěý
As the Chief of Rheumatology at Columbia Presbyterian, Dr. Paul Allen's specialty is diagnosing patients with conflicting symptoms, patients other doctors have given up on. He lives a contented life in Westport with his second wife and their twin sons—hard won after a failed marriage earlier in his career that produced a son named Daniel. In the harrowing opening scene of this provocative and affecting novel, Dr. Allen is home with his family when a televised news report announces that the Democratic candidate for president has been shot at a rally, and Daniel is caught on video as the assassin.Ěý
ĚýĚýĚýĚý
Daniel Allen has always been a good kid—a decent student, popular—but, as a child of divorce, used to shuttling back and forth between parents, he is also something of a drifter. Which may be why, at the age of nineteen, he quietly drops out of Vassar and begins an aimless journey across the United States, during which he sheds his former skin and eventually even changes his name to Carter Allen Cash.
ĚýĚýĚýĚý
Told alternately from the point of view of the guilt-ridden, determined father and his meandering, ruminative son, The Good Father is a powerfully emotional page-turner that keeps one guessing until the very end. This is an absorbing and honest novel about the responsibilities—and limitations—of being a parent and our capacity to provide our children with unconditional love in the face of an unthinkable situation.]]>
320 Noah Hawley 0385535538 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4
I would highly recommend this book, even though it is tough to read.]]>
3.63 2012 The Good Father
author: Noah Hawley
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2012/07/12
date added: 2012/07/14
shelves:
review:
A chilling and well-done exploration of family under the worst possible circumstances. WOW. This author captured emotions so well - it touched me to the core.

I would highly recommend this book, even though it is tough to read.
]]>
Gold 12968662
What would you sacrifice for the people you love?

KATE AND ZOE met at nineteen when they both made the cut for the national training program in track cycling—a sport that demands intense focus, blinding exertion, and unwavering commitment. They are built to exploit the barest physical and psychological edge over equally skilled rivals, all of whom are fighting for the last one tenth of a second that separates triumph from despair.

Now at thirty-two, the women are facing their last and biggest the 2012 Olympics. Each wants desperately to win gold, and each has more than a medal to lose.

Kate is the more naturally gifted, but the demands of her life have a tendency to slow her down. Her eight-year-old daughter Sophie dreams of the Death Star and of battling alongside the Rebels as evil white blood cells ravage her personal galaxy—she is fighting a recurrence of the leukemia that nearly killed her three years ago. Sophie doesn’t want to stand in the way of her mum’s Olympic dreams, but each day the dark forces of the universe seem to be massing against her.

Devoted and self-sacrificing Kate knows her daughter is fragile, but at the height of her last frenzied months of training, might she be blind to the most terrible prognosis?

Intense, aloof Zoe has always hovered on the periphery of real human companionship, and her compulsive need to win at any cost has more than once threatened her friendship with Kate—and her own sanity. Will she allow her obsession, and the advantage she has over a harried, anguished mother, to sever the bond they have shared for more than a decade?

Echoing the adrenaline-fueled rush of a race around the Velodrome track, Gold is a triumph of superbly paced, heart-in-throat storytelling. With great humanity and glorious prose, Chris Cleave examines the values that lie at the heart of our most intimate relationships, and the choices we make when lives are at stake and everything is on the line.]]>
324 Chris Cleave 1451672721 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 3.66 2012 Gold
author: Chris Cleave
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2012/07/13
date added: 2012/07/14
shelves: abandoned
review:
just yuck. I was so excited to read this book with the Olympics coming up....but after reading 50 pages, I remembered why I abandoned 2 of his other books
]]>
The Good Father 13035050
But when Travis loses his construction job and his home, the security he's worked so hard to create for Bella begins to crumble...�.

Then a miracle. A job in Raleigh has the power to turn their fortunes around. It has to. But when Travis arrives in Raleigh, there is no job, only an offer to participate in a onetime criminal act that promises quick money and no repercussions.

With nowhere else to turn, Travis must make another choice for his daughter's sake. Even if it means he might lose her.]]>
368 Diane Chamberlain 0778313468 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 3.94 2012 The Good Father
author: Diane Chamberlain
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/07/14
shelves:
review:

]]>
Spring Fever 13167062 First husbands
Annajane truly believes she is over her ex-husband, Mason. They've been divorced for four years, she's engaged to a terrific new guy, and she's ready to leave the small North Carolina town where she and Mason had so much history. She is so over Mason that she has absolutely no problem attending his wedding. But when fate intervenes and the wedding is called to a halt as the bride is walking down the aisle, Annajane begins to realize that maybe this happened for a reason. And maybe, just maybe, she wants Mason back...
Second chances
But there are secrets afoot in this small Southern town, and soon Annajane discovers that change can bring out the worst in people-even her own friends and neighbors-and uncover family scandals. Happiness could be hers for the taking...and the life she once had with Mason could be in her future. But first Annajane must find out what she's really made of, and what really matters most.

"A winsome love story and compelling family drama; an idyllic small-town setting and surprising twists and turns."-Booklist ]]>
402 Mary Kay Andrews 0312642717 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 3.94 2012 Spring Fever
author: Mary Kay Andrews
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2012/07/08
date added: 2012/07/09
shelves:
review:
Not terrible, not great. A fast summer read. Could have been about 100 pages shorter. Very predictable.
]]>
The Secret Between Us 1268348

Deborah Monroe and her daughter, Grace, are driving home from a party when their car hits a man running in the dark. Grace was at the wheel, but Deborah sends her home before the police arrive, determined to shoulder the blame for the accident. Her decision then turns into a deception that takes on a life of its own and threatens the special bond between mother and daughter.

The Secret Between Us is an unforgettable story about making bad choices for the right reasons and the terrible consequences of a lie gone wrong. Once again, Barbara Delinksy has delivered a riveting study of family and a superbly crafted novel, perfectly targeted to reading groups and fans of provocative fiction.]]>
343 Barbara Delinsky 0385518684 JoAnn/QuAppelle 2 3.72 2008 The Secret Between Us
author: Barbara Delinsky
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2012/07/03
date added: 2012/07/04
shelves:
review:
VERY repetitive. Repetitive angst. Could have been a short story. I did a lot of skimming.
]]>
The Vineyard 278564 The Vineyard, New York Times bestselling author Barbara Delinsky (Lake News, Coast Road, Three Wishes) has written her most complex and emotionally rewarding novel: a story of two women, a generation apart, each of whose dream becomes bound with the other's.

To her family, Natalie Seebring is a woman who prizes appearances. She is exquisitely mannered, socially adept, a supportive wife, and head of a successful wine-producing enterprise. So when she announces plans to marry a vineyard employee mere months after the death of her husband of fifty-eight years, her son and daughter are stunned. Faced with their disapproval, Natalie decides to write a memoir. There is much that her children don't know about her life -- about her love of the vineyard, her role in fighting to build it up, and the sacrifices she made for her family.

Olivia Jones is a dreamer, living vicariously through the old photographs she restores. She and her daughter, Tess, have no one but themselves, so they cling to the fantasy that a big, happy family is out there somewhere, just waiting to welcome them home. When Olivia is hired by Natalie to help with her memoir, a summer at Natalie's beautiful vineyard by the sea seems the perfect opportunity to live out that fantasy -- an elegant home by the shore, a salary that allows her to hire a tutor for her dyslexic daughter, a job that is creative, hours spent with a woman who has led a charmed life.

But all is not as it seems, Olivia and Tess discover when they arrive at Asquonset, the vineyard in Rhode Island. While welcoming, Natalie is not quite the mothering type, as is quickly evident in the hostility her daughter and son have toward her -- it's a hostility that Olivia must buffer. Another dose of stark reality comes in the form of Simon Burke, who runs the vineyard's day-to-day operation and sees in Olivia and Tess an unwelcome reminder of the wife and daughter he tragically lost. And then there is the cruel reality of Olivia's own life -- the mother who never wanted her, and a career that has floundered.

Natalie's story, intended for her own children, enlightens Olivia as well. The lives of these two women of different generations, parallel in so many ways, become, in The Vineyard, a powerful and moving story as the fantasy of an idealized life, complete with perfect romance, crashes headlong into reality.]]>
488 Barbara Delinsky 0671036505 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 3.81 2001 The Vineyard
author: Barbara Delinsky
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2012/07/02
date added: 2012/07/04
shelves:
review:
Pretty good story and I liked learning more about wine production in, of all places, Rhode Island. The book's format was clever.....it was a fictional memoir within a novel.
]]>
Invitation to Provence 735965 389 Elizabeth Alder 1594130949 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 3.12 2004 Invitation to Provence
author: Elizabeth Alder
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.12
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2011/05/02
date added: 2012/07/03
shelves:
review:
An entertaining romance-y type of book with a predictable storyline....but I always enjoy the settings where Adler takes her readers.
]]>
Summerland 12799058
As summer unfolds, startling truths are revealed about the survivors and their parents--secrets kept, promises broken, hearts betrayed. Elin Hilderbrand explores the power of community, family, and honesty, and proves that even from the ashes of sorrow new love can take flight.]]>
400 Elin Hilderbrand JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 3.86 2012 Summerland
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2012/06/29
date added: 2012/06/30
shelves:
review:
EXCELLENT story. Well-written - just pulled me in and kept me stuck to the book - I finished it in 24 hours. Lots of lessons to be learned, and sadness to endure.
]]>
The Good Wife 217319 On a clear winter night in upstate New York, two young men break in to a house. Within minutes, an old woman is dead and the house is in flames. Across the country, Patty Dickerson's phone rings. It's her husband. He wants her to know that he and his friend have gotten themselves into a little trouble. So Patty's old life ends and a strange new one begins. For the next twenty-eight years, she must live with the absence caused by her husband's incarceration, attempt to raise her son, and brave the scorn of her community. As unflinching as it is heartrending, The Good Wife confirms O'Nan's place as one of our country's most wide-ranging and empathetic masters.

(back cover)]]>
312 Stewart O'Nan 0312425015 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4
It's funny about his books...I either love them, like the two mentioned above, or hate them, like "The Odds" and "Last Night at the Lobster".]]>
3.60 2005 The Good Wife
author: Stewart O'Nan
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2012/06/30
date added: 2012/06/30
shelves:
review:
WOW, what a raw, unadorned, fairly depressing book that I absolutely could not put down. O'Nan's character development was brilliant and his ability to make us FEEL what Patty felt was amazing, as he did in "Emily, Alone".

It's funny about his books...I either love them, like the two mentioned above, or hate them, like "The Odds" and "Last Night at the Lobster".
]]>
<![CDATA[Those in Peril (Hector Cross, #1)]]> 10139008 With growing evidence of the horrific torture to which Cayla is being subjected, Hazel calls on Hector Cross to help her rescue her daughter. Hector is the man behind Cross Bow Security, the company contracted to Bannock Oil Corporation to provide all their protection. He is a formidable fighting man. Between them, Hazel and Hector are determined to take the law into their own hands.

]]>
386 Wilbur Smith 0312567251 JoAnn/QuAppelle 2 3.42 2011 Those in Peril (Hector Cross, #1)
author: Wilbur Smith
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2012/06/25
date added: 2012/06/25
shelves:
review:
Decent story - a big book that I finished in one day! The scenes involving sex, torture and death though, were so overdone and titillating...... way too detailed. Poor writing and dialogue. It could have been a good book. Not what I expect of Wilbur Smith.
]]>
<![CDATA[Ties That Bind (Cobbled Court Quilts, #5)]]> 12667937
In her compelling, beautifully crafted novel, New York Times bestselling author Marie Bostwick celebrates friendships old and new--and the unlikely threads that sometimes lead us exactly where we need to be. . .

Christmas is fast approaching, and New Bern, Connecticut, is about to receive the gift of a new pastor, hired sight unseen to fill in while Reverend Tucker is on sabbatical. Meanwhile, Margot Matthews' friend, Abigail, is trying to match-make even though Margot has all but given up on romance. She loves her job at the Cobbled Court Quilt Shop and the life and friendships she's made in New Bern; she just never thought she'd still be single on her fortieth birthday.

It's a shock to the entire town when Phillip A. Clarkson turns out to be Philippa. Truth be told, not everyone is happy about having a female pastor. Yet despite a rocky start, Philippa begins to settle in--finding ways to ease the townspeople's burdens, joining the quilting circle, and forging a fast friendship with Margot. When tragedy threatens to tear Margot's family apart, that bond--and the help of her quilting sisterhood--will prove a saving grace. And as she untangles her feelings for another new arrival in town, Margot begins to realize that it is the surprising detours woven into life's fabric that provide its richest hues and deepest meaning. . .

"This is one very talented writer...watch her star rise!" --Debbie Macomber]]>
368 Marie Bostwick 0758269285 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 4.15 2012 Ties That Bind (Cobbled Court Quilts, #5)
author: Marie Bostwick
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2012/06/23
date added: 2012/06/23
shelves: abandoned
review:
I could tell within the first few pages that there was going to be too much "faith" in this book for me. I enjoyed the author's other books, but do not like books with a lot of religion in them.
]]>
High Crimes 527094
Tom Chapman has been arrested for an atrocious crime he swears he did not commit. Claire is desperate to believe him—and prove his innocence—even when she learns that Tom once had a different name. And a different face. Now, in a top-secret court-martial conducted by the Pentagon, Claire will put everything on the line to defend the man she loves. But as the evidence keeps piling up, the less she knows who her husband really is…and the more he appears to be a cold-blooded murderer...]]>
400 Joseph Finder JoAnn/QuAppelle 4
This was clever and kept me guessing until the last page. Well done!]]>
3.91 1998 High Crimes
author: Joseph Finder
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2012/06/23
date added: 2012/06/23
shelves:
review:
Another great Finder thriller. I cannot believe I missed this book so many years ago! Now I wonder what others of his I missed.

This was clever and kept me guessing until the last page. Well done!
]]>
Escape 9593833 In her luminous new novel, Barbara Delinsky explores every woman’s desire to abandon the endless obligations of work and marriage—and the idea that the most passionate romance can be found with the person you know best.

Emily Aulenbach is thirty-two, a lawyer married to a lawyer, working in Manhattan. An idealist, she had once dreamed of representing victims of corporate abuse, but she spends her days in a cubicle talking on the phone with vic­tims of tainted bottled water—and she is on the bottler’s side.

And it isn’t only work. It’s her sister, her friends, even her husband, James, with whom she doesn’t connect the way she used to. She doesn’t connect to much in her life, period, with the exception of three things—her computer, her BlackBerry, and her watch.

Acting on impulse, Emily leaves work early one day, goes home, packs her bag, and takes off. Groping toward the future, uncharacteristically following her gut rather than her mind, she heads north toward a New Hampshire town tucked between mountains. She knows this town. During her college years, she spent a watershed summer here. Painful as it is to return, she knows that if she is to right her life, she has to start here.]]>
320 Barbara Delinsky 0385532725 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned Deadly dull. 3.55 2011 Escape
author: Barbara Delinsky
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2012/06/21
date added: 2012/06/23
shelves: abandoned
review:
Deadly dull.
]]>
Liberating Paris 202836 341 Linda Bloodworth Thomason 0060596732 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 3.54 2004 Liberating Paris
author: Linda Bloodworth Thomason
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at: 2012/06/21
date added: 2012/06/23
shelves: abandoned
review:
this just dragged on and on......too much time given to irrelevant details
]]>
The Wide Smiles of Girls 6323183 320 Jennifer Manske Fenske 0312379919 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3
But I did read it in a little more than a day, so I would say it held my interest.

Not a bad story, interesting locale. Good character development.

]]>
3.11 2009 The Wide Smiles of Girls
author: Jennifer Manske Fenske
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.11
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2012/06/19
date added: 2012/06/20
shelves:
review:
At first this was a 4 then a 3, then a 4 again. Now I am giving it a 3+. Indecisive.

But I did read it in a little more than a day, so I would say it held my interest.

Not a bad story, interesting locale. Good character development.


]]>
French Lessons 9554832
Josie, Riley, and Jeremy have come to the City of Light for different Josie, a young high school teacher, arrives in hopes of healing a broken heart. Riley, a spirited but lonely expat housewife, struggles to feel connected to her husband and her new country. And Jeremy, the reserved husband of a renowned actress, is accompanying his wife on a film shoot, yet he feels distant from her world.

As they meet with their tutors—Josie with Nico, a sensitive poet; Riley with Phillippe, a shameless flirt; and Jeremy with the consummately beautiful Chantal—each succumbs to unexpected passion and unpredictable adventures. Yet as they traverse Paris’s grand boulevards and intimate, winding streets, they uncover surprising secrets about one another—and come to understand long-buried truths about themselves.]]>
256 Ellen Sussman 034552277X JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 3.09 2011 French Lessons
author: Ellen Sussman
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.09
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2012/06/19
date added: 2012/06/18
shelves: abandoned
review:
I skimmed 100 pages then escaped. I get tired of reading about self-indulgent people.......
]]>
<![CDATA[The Winter Palace (Catherine #1)]]> 11149173 The Winter Palace tells the epic story of Catherine the Great’s improbable rise to power—as seen through the ever-watchful eyes of an all-but-invisible servant close to the throne.

Her name is Barbara—in Russian, Varvara. Nimble-witted and attentive, she’s allowed into the employ of the Empress Elizabeth, amid the glitter and cruelty of the world’s most eminent court. Under the tutelage of Count Bestuzhev, Chancellor and spymaster, Varvara will be educated in skills from lock picking to lovemaking, learning above all else to listen—and to wait for opportunity. That opportunity arrives in a slender young princess from Zerbst named Sophie, a playful teenager destined to become the indomitable Catherine the Great. Sophie’s destiny at court is to marry the Empress’s nephew, but she has other, loftier, more dangerous ambitions, and she proves to be more guileful than she first appears.

What Sophie needs is an insider at court, a loyal pair of eyes and ears who knows the traps, the conspiracies, and the treacheries that surround her. Varvara will become Sophie’s confidante—and together the two young women will rise to the pinnacle of absolute power.

With dazzling details and intense drama, Eva Stachniak depicts Varvara’s secret alliance with Catherine as the princess grows into a legend—through an enforced marriage, illicit seductions, and, at last, the shocking coup to assume the throne of all of Russia.

Impeccably researched and magnificently written, The Winter Palace is an irresistible peek through the keyhole of one of history’s grandest tales.]]>
444 Eva Stachniak 0553808125 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned ]]> 3.56 2012 The Winter Palace (Catherine #1)
author: Eva Stachniak
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2012/06/19
date added: 2012/06/18
shelves: abandoned
review:
Too much palace intrigue for me. I like reading about Catherine but not this book.

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<![CDATA[Big Stone Gap (Big Stone Gap, #1)]]> 58822 Big Stone Gap is home to some of the most charming eccentrics in the state. Ave Maria Mulligan is the town's self-proclaimed spinster, a thirty-five year old pharmacist with a "mountain girl's body and a flat behind." She lives an amiable life with good friends and lots of hobbies until the fateful day in 1978 when she suddenly discovers that she's not who she always thought she was. Before she can blink, Ave's fielding marriage proposals, fighting off greedy family members, organizing a celebration for visiting celebrities, and planning the trip of a lifetime-a trip that could change her view of the world and her own place in it forever.

Brimming with humor and wise notions of small-town life, Big Stone Gap is a gem of a book with a giant heart. . . .]]>
320 Adriana Trigiani 0345459202 JoAnn/QuAppelle 2 3.86 2000 Big Stone Gap (Big Stone Gap, #1)
author: Adriana Trigiani
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2000
rating: 2
read at: 2012/06/17
date added: 2012/06/17
shelves:
review:
Nothing special. So-so story.
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The Zero Hour 137000 Joseph Finder 0752826506 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4 3.65 1996 The Zero Hour
author: Joseph Finder
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2012/06/14
date added: 2012/06/17
shelves:
review:
I love Finder's books and somehow missed this one way back when. It was a little too technical and descriptive for me, and I think his later books are less so. But it was a good and exciting story.
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Maine 9923372
For the Kellehers, Maine is a place where children run in packs, showers are taken outdoors, and old Irish songs are sung around a piano. Their beachfront property, won on a barroom bet after the war, sits on three acres of sand and pine nestled between stretches of rocky coast, with one tree bearing the initials “A.H.� At the cottage, built by Kelleher hands, cocktail hour follows morning mass, nosy grandchildren snoop in drawers, and decades-old grudges simmer beneath the surface.

As three generations of Kelleher women descend on the property one summer, each brings her own hopes and fears. Maggie is thirty-two and pregnant, waiting for the perfect moment to tell her imperfect boyfriend the news; Ann Marie, a Kelleher by marriage, is channeling her domestic frustration into a dollhouse obsession and an ill-advised crush; Kathleen, the black sheep, never wanted to set foot in the cottage again; and Alice, the matriarch at the center of it all, would trade every floorboard for a chance to undo the events of one night, long ago.

By turns wickedly funny and achingly sad, Maine unveils the sibling rivalry, alcoholism, social climbing, and Catholic guilt at the center of one family, along with the abiding, often irrational love that keeps them coming back, every summer, to Maine and to each other.]]>
388 J. Courtney Sullivan 0307595129 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 3.36 2011 Maine
author: J. Courtney Sullivan
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2012/06/12
date added: 2012/06/17
shelves: abandoned
review:
This book seemed to be unedited. Also, there was waaaay too much back-and-forthing. Unlikeable characters. Too much build up to the gathering....
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Benny and Shrimp 8580345 250 Katarina Mazetti 1907595074 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3 3.50 1998 Benny and Shrimp
author: Katarina Mazetti
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2012/05/02
shelves:
review:

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Calico Joe 13154952 A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball.

Whatever happened to Calico Joe?

When he arrived in Philadelphia, a cab delivered him to Veterans Stadium, where he was quickly fixed for a uniform, given Number 42, and hustled onto the field. The Cubs were already taking batting practice. Understandably, he was nervous, thrilled, almost bewildered, and when the manager, Whitey Lockman, said, "Get loose. You're starting at first and hitting seventh," Joe Castle had trouble gripping his brand-new bat. In his first round of major-league batting practice, he swung at the first two pitches and missed.

He would not miss again for a long time.


In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen. The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas, dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.

Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever.

In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes Calico Joe a classic.]]>
198 John Grisham 0385536070 JoAnn/QuAppelle 3
okay character development, okay story, but I expect more from Grisham in the way of a story. This could have been a short story if he had left out all of the boring baseball statistics.]]>
3.81 2012 Calico Joe
author: John Grisham
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2012/04/14
date added: 2012/05/02
shelves:
review:
really is 2 plus stars (or 3 minus!)

okay character development, okay story, but I expect more from Grisham in the way of a story. This could have been a short story if he had left out all of the boring baseball statistics.
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<![CDATA[House Divided (Joe DeMarco, #6)]]> 10169090 When the National Security Agency was caught wiretapping U.S. citizens without warrants, a political scandal erupted and the secret program came to a screeching halt. But the senior man at the NSA who spearheaded the most sophisticated eavesdropping operation in history wasn't about to sit by while spineless politicians sleepwalked his country into another 9/11. Instead, he moved the program into the shadows. But being in the shadows can cause complications.

When the NSA illegally records a rogue military group murdering two American civilians, they can't exactly walk over to the Pentagon and demand to know what's going on. That doesn't mean the NSA's hands are tied, however. As the largest intelligence service in the country, both in money and manpower, they have plenty of options - mostly illegitimate.

DeMarco learns all too well just what the NSA is capable of. They bug him, threaten him, and use him to draw out their opponent. But DeMarco doesn't like being used. A strong addition to this celebrated series, House Divided continues Mike Lawson's impressive run of inspired, compelling thrillers.

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340 Mike Lawson 0802119786 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4
Then I read it within 48 hours!

What a great story! A bit confusing at first until I became familiar with all the characters and what they did,

So glad I found this challenging and interesting book

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3.89 2011 House Divided (Joe DeMarco, #6)
author: Mike Lawson
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/04/22
date added: 2012/05/02
shelves:
review:
I just got a copy of the upcoming Joe DeMarco book and I realized that I had not read House Divided. How could that have happened?!?!?! So I rushed to my library to get it.

Then I read it within 48 hours!

What a great story! A bit confusing at first until I became familiar with all the characters and what they did,

So glad I found this challenging and interesting book


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<![CDATA[The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love]]> 7841677 "This book is the story of the two love affairs that interrupted the trajectory of my life: one with farming—that dirty, concupiscent art—and the other with a complicated and exasperating farmer."

Single, thirtysomething, working as a writer in New York City, Kristin Kimball was living life as an adventure. But she was beginning to feel a sense of longing for a family and for home. When she interviewed a dynamic young farmer, her world changed. Kristin knew nothing about growing vegetables, let alone raising pigs and cattle and driving horses. But on an impulse, smitten, if not yet in love, she shed her city self and moved to five hundred acres near Lake Champlain to start a new farm with him. The Dirty Life is the captivating chronicle of their first year on Essex Farm, from the cold North Country winter through the following harvest season—complete with their wedding in the loft of the barn.

Kimball and her husband had a plan: to grow everything needed to feed a community. It was an ambitious idea, a bit romantic, and it worked. Every Friday evening, all year round, a hundred people travel to Essex Farm to pick up their weekly share of the "whole diet"—beef, pork, chicken, milk, eggs, maple syrup, grains, flours, dried beans, herbs, fruits, and forty different vegetables—produced by the farm. The work is done by draft horses instead of tractors, and the fertility comes from compost. Kimball’s vivid descriptions of landscape, food, cooking—and marriage—are irresistible.

"As much as you transform the land by farming," she writes, "farming transforms you." In her old life, Kimball would stay out until four a.m., wear heels, and carry a handbag. Now she wakes up at four, wears Carhartts, and carries a pocket knife. At Essex Farm, she discovers the wrenching pleasures of physical work, learns that good food is at the center of a good life, falls deeply in love, and finally finds the engagement and commitment she craved in the form of a man, a small town, and a beautiful piece of land.]]>
276 Kristin Kimball 1416551603 JoAnn/QuAppelle 4
Kimball writes about her decision to chuck a freelance writing career in NYC and start a sustainable agricultural venture with her fiance in very rural upstate New York (they later marry and have two daughters). He has a vision of having a CSA farm that provides year-round groceries to its members. If the reader did not already know what a hard life farming is, you will know it after reading this book. Yet Kimball never whines.

With what seemed to be a random choice, they settle in a caring farm community - for example, the night they arrive they cannot find a place to eat and some locals rescue them and take them to a church supper.

The book is divided by seasons, detailing (but not too much) the daily farm operations, crises, drudgery, and accomplishments.

Well worth reading.]]>
4.07 2010 The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love
author: Kristin Kimball
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2012/04/19
date added: 2012/04/22
shelves:
review:
I really liked this book and raced through it as if it were fiction. I am no fan of memoirs and usually avoid them, but this was different. And it definitely was NOT the whiny "pity me" memoir that is so common today.

Kimball writes about her decision to chuck a freelance writing career in NYC and start a sustainable agricultural venture with her fiance in very rural upstate New York (they later marry and have two daughters). He has a vision of having a CSA farm that provides year-round groceries to its members. If the reader did not already know what a hard life farming is, you will know it after reading this book. Yet Kimball never whines.

With what seemed to be a random choice, they settle in a caring farm community - for example, the night they arrive they cannot find a place to eat and some locals rescue them and take them to a church supper.

The book is divided by seasons, detailing (but not too much) the daily farm operations, crises, drudgery, and accomplishments.

Well worth reading.
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Mothers and Other Liars 7818120
Ten years ago, Ruby Leander was a drifting nineteen-year-old who made a split-second decision at an Oklahoma rest stop. Fast forward nine years: Ruby and her daughter Lark live in New Mexico. Lark is a precocious, animal loving imp, and Ruby has built a family for them with a wonderful community of friends and her boyfriend of three years. Life is good. Until the day Ruby reads a magazine article about parents searching for an infant kidnapped by car-jackers. Then Ruby faces a choice no mother should have to make. A choice that will change both her and Lark's lives forever.]]>
298 Amy Bourret 0312586582 JoAnn/QuAppelle 2
But there was so much repetition. I felt like the author was getting paid by the word. A shame a decent editor did not whittle it down.

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3.49 2010 Mothers and Other Liars
author: Amy Bourret
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2012/04/08
date added: 2012/04/09
shelves:
review:
This was not a bad story, although Ruby's "solution" to her problem was ludicrous.

But there was so much repetition. I felt like the author was getting paid by the word. A shame a decent editor did not whittle it down.


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<![CDATA[One Good Turn (Jackson Brodie, #2)]]> 501124
The event thrusts Jackson into the orbit of the wife of an unscrupulous real estate tycoon, a washed-up comedian, a successful crime novelist, a mysterious Russian woman, and a female police detective. Each of them hiding a secret, each looking for love or money or redemption or escape, they all play a role in driving Jackson out of retirement and into the middle of several mysteries that intersect in one sinister scheme.

Kate Atkinson "writes such fluid, sparkling prose that an ingenious plot almost seems too much to ask, but we get it anyway," writes Laura Miller for Salon. With a keen eye for the excesses of modern life, a warm understanding of the frailties of the human heart, and a genius for plots that turn and twist, Atkinson has written a novel that delights and surprises from the first page to the last.]]>
418 Kate Atkinson 0316012823 JoAnn/QuAppelle 0 abandoned 3.78 2006 One Good Turn (Jackson Brodie, #2)
author: Kate Atkinson
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at: 2012/03/18
date added: 2012/03/29
shelves: abandoned
review:
This was so boring and mundane. I am almost finished the second dick and she is STILL introducing characters. I am not going to waste any more time on it.
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The Beginner's Goodbye 12482658 Ěý
Crippled in his right arm and leg, Aaron spent his childhood fending off a sister who wants to manage him. So when he meets Dorothy, a plain, outspoken, self-dependent young woman, she is like a breath of fresh air. Unhesitatingly he marries her, and they have a relatively happy, unremarkable marriage. But when a tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed, Aaron feels as though he has been erased forever. Only Dorothy’s unexpected appearances from the dead help him to live in the moment and to find some peace.
Ěý
Gradually he discovers, as he works in the family’s vanity-publishing business, turning out titles that presume to guide beginners through the trials of life, that maybe for this beginner there is a way of saying goodbye.
Ěý
A beautiful, subtle exploration of loss and recovery, pierced throughout with Anne Tyler’s humor, wisdom, and always penetrating look at human foibles.]]>
198 Anne Tyler 0307957276 JoAnn/QuAppelle 5
The characters in this book are simple, flawed people just working their way through life. They have loves, losses, weaknesses and strengths. The main character, Aaron, was so well-crafted that I felt like I had known him forever. At the beginning of the book he is a widower, running his family's vanity publishing firm which also publishes "The Beginner's....." series. Thus the title. He is also being visited by his dead wife with whom he had an odd relationship.

Although this was not my favorite book by Tyler (A Patchwork Planet holds that honor), it is better than almost anything out there! ]]>
3.59 2012 The Beginner's Goodbye
author: Anne Tyler
name: JoAnn/QuAppelle
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2012/03/23
date added: 2012/03/28
shelves:
review:
There is no better writer, no one who chronicles the human condition like Anne Tyler does.

The characters in this book are simple, flawed people just working their way through life. They have loves, losses, weaknesses and strengths. The main character, Aaron, was so well-crafted that I felt like I had known him forever. At the beginning of the book he is a widower, running his family's vanity publishing firm which also publishes "The Beginner's....." series. Thus the title. He is also being visited by his dead wife with whom he had an odd relationship.

Although this was not my favorite book by Tyler (A Patchwork Planet holds that honor), it is better than almost anything out there!
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