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When the sound of sirens cuts through a cool fall night, the small town of Worthy, Georgia, hurtles from triumph to tragedy. Just hours before, they'd watched the Wildcats score a winning touchdown. Now, they're faced with the deaths of three cheerleaders - their promising lives cut short in a fatal crash. And the boy in the other car - the only one to survive - is believed to be at fault. As rumors begin to fly and accusations spin, allegiances form and long-kept secrets emerge.
Sous chef Aimee Tierney has the perfect recipe for the perfect life: 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 a teenage runaway and child of an addict, Christy-Lynn learned the hard way that no address was permanent, and no promise sacred. For a while, she found a safe haven in her marriage to bestselling crime novelist Stephen Ludlow - until his car skidded into Echo Bay. But Stephen’s wasn’t the only body pulled from the icy waters that night. When details about a mysterious violet-eyed blonde become public, a media circus ensues, and Christy-Lynn runs again.
When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it - until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she's decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls - beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard - has disappeared.
Freya Braithwaite knows she is lucky. Nineteen years of marriage to a man who still warms her soul and two beautiful teenage daughters to show for it: confident Charlotte and thoughtful Lexi. Her home is filled with love and laughter. But when Lexi's struggles with weight take control of her life, everything Freya once took for granted falls apart, leaving the whole family with a sense of helplessness that can only be confronted with understanding, unity and, above all, love.
Evelyn Tester is sleepwalking through her suburban life - until a late-night phone call startles her awake. Her husband, a prestigious psychiatrist, has been in an accident. And he isn't alone. Suddenly Evelyn's world isn't as tidy as she thought. And in the midst of it all is Juliette, not only her husband's secret lover but also his patient. If news of the affair were to get out, it would ruin more than just Evelyn's marriage. Although it's a bitter pill for Evelyn to swallow, protecting her family means staying silent.
When the sound of sirens cuts through a cool fall night, the small town of Worthy, Georgia, hurtles from triumph to tragedy. Just hours before, they'd watched the Wildcats score a winning touchdown. Now, they're faced with the deaths of three cheerleaders - their promising lives cut short in a fatal crash. And the boy in the other car - the only one to survive - is believed to be at fault. As rumors begin to fly and accusations spin, allegiances form and long-kept secrets emerge.
Sous chef Aimee Tierney has the perfect recipe for the perfect life: 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 a teenage runaway and child of an addict, Christy-Lynn learned the hard way that no address was permanent, and no promise sacred. For a while, she found a safe haven in her marriage to bestselling crime novelist Stephen Ludlow - until his car skidded into Echo Bay. But Stephen’s wasn’t the only body pulled from the icy waters that night. When details about a mysterious violet-eyed blonde become public, a media circus ensues, and Christy-Lynn runs again.
When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it - until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she's decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls - beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard - has disappeared.
Freya Braithwaite knows she is lucky. Nineteen years of marriage to a man who still warms her soul and two beautiful teenage daughters to show for it: confident Charlotte and thoughtful Lexi. Her home is filled with love and laughter. But when Lexi's struggles with weight take control of her life, everything Freya once took for granted falls apart, leaving the whole family with a sense of helplessness that can only be confronted with understanding, unity and, above all, love.
Evelyn Tester is sleepwalking through her suburban life - until a late-night phone call startles her awake. Her husband, a prestigious psychiatrist, has been in an accident. And he isn't alone. Suddenly Evelyn's world isn't as tidy as she thought. And in the midst of it all is Juliette, not only her husband's secret lover but also his patient. If news of the affair were to get out, it would ruin more than just Evelyn's marriage. Although it's a bitter pill for Evelyn to swallow, protecting her family means staying silent.
After a tragic accident on Martha's Vineyard, keeping secrets becomes a way of life for the Tangle family. With memories locked away, the sisters take divergent paths. Callie disappears, Mimi keeps so busy she has no time to think, and Ginger develops a lifelong aversion to risk that threatens the relationships she holds most dear. When a whispered comment overheard by her rebellious teenage daughter forces Ginger to reveal a long-held family secret, the Tangles' carefully constructed web of lies begins to unravel.
Dan Cooper has never been the perfect husband to Lisa. He travels for work and plays the carefree bachelor when he can. But now, on a solo business trip, in a remote coastal hotel, he's surprised to find Lisa in his bedroom. She's dead. He has no idea how she got there, but one chilling fact is clear: everything points to Dan having murdered her. Someone is trying to frame him. Someone who might still be watching. In panic, he goes on the run. But even as he flees across Europe, his unknown assailant stacks up the evidence against him.
Ingrid Winter is desperately trying to hold it all together. A neurotic Norwegian mother of three small children and an overworked literature professor with an overactive imagination, Ingrid feels like her life's always on the brink of chaos.
Lillian Linden is a liar. On the surface, she looks like a brave survivor of a plane crash. But she's been lying to her family, her friends, and the whole world since rescue helicopters scooped her and her fellow survivor, Dave Hall, off a deserted island in the South Pacific. Missing for almost two years, the castaways are thrust into the spotlight after their rescue, becoming media darlings overnight. But they can't tell the real story--so they lie.
It's taken Nora three years. With the help of her best friend, she fled New York City for a small resort town, snagged a job as the advice columnist for the local paper, and is cautiously letting a new man into her life. But when Hugh and his perfect new family move into a house nearby, Nora backslides. Coping with jealousy, humiliation, and resentment again is as hard as she feared. It's harder still when Hugh and his wife are shot to death in their home. If only Nora could account for the night of the murders.
Kat and Scott Hamilton are dealing with the hardest of losses: the death of their only child. While Scott throws himself back into his law practice in Los Angeles, Kat is hesitant to rejoin the workplace and instead spends her days shell-shocked and confused, unable to focus. When an unwelcome face from Kat's past in England emerges - the beautiful and imposing Sarah Cherrington - Kat's marriage is thrown into a tailspin. Now wealthy beyond anything she could have imagined as a girl, Sarah appears to have everything she could need or want.
Zoe knows that it wasn't really her fault. Of course it wasn't. But if she'd just grasped harder, run faster, lunged quicker, she might have saved him. And Edward doesn't really blame her, though his bitter words at the time still haunt her, and he can no more take them back than she can halt the car that killed their son. Two years on, every day is a tragedy. Edward knows they should take healing steps together, but he's tired of being shut out. For Zoe, it just seems easier to let grief lead the way.
After the sudden death of her troubled mother, struggling Harvard grad student Kate Drayton walks out on her lecture - and her entire New England life. Haunted by unanswered questions and her own uncertain future, she flees to Charleston, South Carolina, the place where her parents met, convinced it holds the key to understanding her fractured family and saving her career in academics. Kate is determined to unearth groundbreaking information on a failed 1822 slave revolt - the subject of her mother's own research.
From the outside, the Davenports look like any other family living a completely ordinary life - until that devastating day when five-year-old Jonah is killed, and the family is torn apart. As the fury of guilt engulfs them, the Davenports slowly start to unravel, one by one. Losing her son forces Rachel to withdraw into a frayed, fuzzy reality. Her husband, Sam, tries to remain stoic, but he's consumed by regret with the choices he's made. Eden mourns her brother, while desperately fighting to regain a sense of normalcy.
Megan Mazeros and Lauren Mabrey are complete opposites on paper. Megan is a girl from a modest Midwest background, and Lauren is the daughter of a senator from an esteemed New England family. But in 1999, Megan and Lauren become college roommates and, as two young women struggling to find their place on campus, they forge a strong, albeit unlikely, friendship. The two quickly become inseparable, sharing clothes, advice and their most intimate secrets.
Andy Carter was happy. He had a solid job. He ran 5Ks for charity. He was living a nice, safe Midwestern existence. And then his wife left him for a handsome paramedic down the street. We're All Damaged begins after Andy has lost his job, ruined his best friend's wedding, and moved to New York City, where he lives in a tiny apartment with an angry cat named Jeter that isn't technically his. But before long he needs to go back to Omaha to say good-bye to his dying grandfather.
Luke Richardson has returned home after burying Natalie, his beloved wife of sixteen years, ready to face the hard job of raising their three children alone. But there's something he's not prepared for - a blue envelope with his name scrawled across the front in Natalie's handwriting, waiting for him on the floor of their suburban Michigan home.
In an idyllic small-town neighborhood, a near tragedy triggers a series of dark revelations.
From the outside, Sycamore Glen, North Carolina, might look like the perfect all-American neighborhood. But behind the white picket fences lies a web of secrets that reach from house to house.
Up and down the streets, neighbors quietly bear the weight of their own pasts - until an accident at the community pool upsets the delicate equilibrium. And when tragic circumstances compel a woman to return to Sycamore Glen after years of self-imposed banishment, the tangle of the neighbors' intertwined lives begins to unravel.
During the course of a sweltering summer, long-buried secrets are revealed, and the neighbors learn that it's impossible to really know those closest to us. But is it impossible to love and forgive them?
The terrible attempt by narrator to talk southern made this almost unbearable to listen to.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
This is just a story. The story of several people and their lives over one summer. They each tell their own story. I thought the performance was wonderful, the writing very good and character development perfect. It shows that our lives are not perfect, but they're better than we think they are more often than not.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
a good read to pass the time with. not very heavy or suspenseful, but charming in its own right. like small town gossip that everyone wants to know about.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
I couldn't finish this book. I wanted to like it but the narration was terrible. if there needs to be a southern accent, please use a narrator that actually has one! the narrator's fake southern accent was too distracting to the story. perhaps I'll try reading it instead.
14 of 17 people found this review helpful
Very slow moving story. Once the plot got thicker, it was predictable and anticlimactic. Once I start a book, it pains me not to finish. When I did finish, I wished I had that wasted time back! Don't waste your money!!
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I'm on my 61st book of the year and this is only the 3rd I've felt compelled to stop and review. I LOVED this book!!! The story was great, the characters were so complex and relatable, the performance was spot on, the emotions were so real. Thank you to the author! Do yourself a favor and read this book!
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Somewhat of an OK book. By the time you start getting into the plot, it all of a sudden is over. I would have liked more details about the interesting parts of the characters lives instead of 75% of it just building to the end. Kind of felt like a show that got cancelled mid season and the writers have to wrap everything up in one episode. I guess if you're looking for a super easy-to-follow book that doesn't require you to pay close attention, this one works.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I wasn't sure going into this book what it was gonna be like, but I was pleasantly surprised! I found my self really liking the characters and wanting to know more about each of them. They each had their own secrets they were hiding, but after an accident they all come out in one way or another. The author did a fantastic job tying all the stories together and tying up all the loose ends! The narrator did a great job with all the characters! I really enjoyed this book and I will be recommending it to my friends! It would be nice if there were more communities like this where neighbors cared about each other and helped each other!!
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
"And yet, Jencey understood, there were the things she wished were true, and there was what was actually true. She was learning that there was usually a great distance between the two."
Sycamore Glen, North Carolina is a small town and as in every small town, everyone thinks they know everyone else’s business. The book opens as the citizens of the town are lined up outside the city pool waiting for the gate to open for the first swimming day of the year. The entrance is covered by a giant spider web, which is symbolic of the web of lies that are woven throughout the community. And just as the spider web is torn apart and swept away, by the end of the summer, every character’s secrets will be destroyed and exposed.
As this book is full of secrets, I am not going to touch on the plot much, so as to avoid spoilers. This book was enjoyable, but it was nothing spectacular. My main complaint was probably the names of the characters. They were just a little too “soap opera” for me: Jencey, Bryte, Zell, Cailey, Lane, etc. The fact that nearly every single person in the book had some “boutique” name made the whole book less believable in my opinion.
The other main complaint I had involved one of the subplots, involving a creepy old man who lived in the neighborhood. In the end, his role in the book was actually a pretty major thing, but this entire subplot was not given near the attention I think it should have been.
During this opening day at the pool, an accident happens that pulls all the main characters together. This was done much like an ensemble cast movie, such as Magnolia, Love, Actually, Crash, 21 Grams, or Playing by Heart, where multiple seemingly unconncected storylines converge. This is my favorite type of movie, and although I normally love books like this, too, this one just didn’t do it for me. Maybe the author tried too hard to pull it off, and made a few too many storylines to deal with, I’m just not sure.
I would recommend this to readers of chick-lit, and to those who love multiple storylines. In a review on Goodreads, a reviewer said this book reminded her of books written by Catherine Ryan Hyde, and I agree wholeheartedly, though I tend to think Hyde’s books are a little stronger than this novel.
⚔️ KNIVES’ RATING REPORT
Plot ♥♥♥
Characters ♥♥♥
Writing ♥♥♥
Pacing ♥♥
Cover ♥♥♥
Overall ♥♥♥
As I agree this book reads like a Catherine Ryan Hyde book, here are a few of my favorites by her:
Pay it Forward
When I Found You
Take Me With You
Walk Me Home
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Would you try another book from Marybeth Mayhew Whalen and/or Taylor Ann Krahn?
No, neither
What three words best describe Taylor Ann Krahn’s voice?
Youthful. Slow. Ragged.
Was The Things We Wish Were True worth the listening time?
Not really, the book was just okay, and not very engaging.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful