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Marie Bostwick weaves the unforgettable story of four very different women whose paths cross, changing their lives forever. It’s a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only takes a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realize she’s found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn’s wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop. Finding a storefront is easy enough; starting a new life isn’t....
Welcome to Too Much - where the women are strong-willed and the men are handsome yet shiftless. Ever since Mary Dell Templeton and her twin sister, Lydia Dale, were children, their Aunt Velvet has warned them away from local boys. But it’s well known that the females in Mary Dell’s family have two traits in common - superior sewing skills and a fatal weakness for men. While Lydia Dale grows up petite and pretty, Mary Dell just keeps growing. Tall, smart, and sassy, she is determined to one day turn her love of sewing into a business.
Years of long workdays and little sleep as a political campaigner are about to pay off now that Lucy Toomey's boss is entering the White House. But when her estranged older sister, Alice, unexpectedly dies, Lucy is drawn back to Nilson's Bay, her small, close-knit Wisconsin hometown.
Every child prodigy grows up eventually. For the Promise sisters, escaping their mother's narcissism and the notoriety that came with her best-selling book hasn't been easy. Minerva Promise claimed that her three test-tube daughters - gifted pianist Joanie, artistic Meg, and storyteller Avery - were engineered and molded to be geniuses. In adulthood, their modest lives fall far short of her grand ambitions.
Jennifer Chiaverini's New York Times best-selling Elm Creek Quilt novels, with their irresistible blend of storytelling magic and quilting lore, have captured the hearts of countless fans. In this moving novel about morality, freedom, and the power of human courage, Chiaverini whisks listeners back to antebellum America.
When Grace Saunders vowed to take her husband for better or worse, she meant every word. She and Jamie are solid, mutually supportive, and certain of their future together. And then, on a hiking trip for their 15th anniversary, an accident leaves Jamie in a coma, unable to move or communicate. As months pass, Grace is in limbo - still married, yet utterly alone and burdened with responsibilities that threaten to sink her. Meeting Nan and Monica, unlikely friends who need Grace almost as much as she needs them, makes life bearable, if not quite happy.
Marie Bostwick weaves the unforgettable story of four very different women whose paths cross, changing their lives forever. It’s a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only takes a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realize she’s found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn’s wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop. Finding a storefront is easy enough; starting a new life isn’t....
Welcome to Too Much - where the women are strong-willed and the men are handsome yet shiftless. Ever since Mary Dell Templeton and her twin sister, Lydia Dale, were children, their Aunt Velvet has warned them away from local boys. But it’s well known that the females in Mary Dell’s family have two traits in common - superior sewing skills and a fatal weakness for men. While Lydia Dale grows up petite and pretty, Mary Dell just keeps growing. Tall, smart, and sassy, she is determined to one day turn her love of sewing into a business.
Years of long workdays and little sleep as a political campaigner are about to pay off now that Lucy Toomey's boss is entering the White House. But when her estranged older sister, Alice, unexpectedly dies, Lucy is drawn back to Nilson's Bay, her small, close-knit Wisconsin hometown.
Every child prodigy grows up eventually. For the Promise sisters, escaping their mother's narcissism and the notoriety that came with her best-selling book hasn't been easy. Minerva Promise claimed that her three test-tube daughters - gifted pianist Joanie, artistic Meg, and storyteller Avery - were engineered and molded to be geniuses. In adulthood, their modest lives fall far short of her grand ambitions.
Jennifer Chiaverini's New York Times best-selling Elm Creek Quilt novels, with their irresistible blend of storytelling magic and quilting lore, have captured the hearts of countless fans. In this moving novel about morality, freedom, and the power of human courage, Chiaverini whisks listeners back to antebellum America.
When Grace Saunders vowed to take her husband for better or worse, she meant every word. She and Jamie are solid, mutually supportive, and certain of their future together. And then, on a hiking trip for their 15th anniversary, an accident leaves Jamie in a coma, unable to move or communicate. As months pass, Grace is in limbo - still married, yet utterly alone and burdened with responsibilities that threaten to sink her. Meeting Nan and Monica, unlikely friends who need Grace almost as much as she needs them, makes life bearable, if not quite happy.
When they were growing up, Dana, Harper, and Tawny thought of themselves as “sometimes sisters.” They connected only during the summer month they’d all spend at their grandmother’s rustic lakeside resort in north Texas. But secrets started building, and ten years have passed since they’ve all been together—in fact, they’ve rarely spoken, and it broke their grandmother’s heart.
Secrets told in the church ladies' room are supposed to stay in the ladies' room. But that doesn't mean that what Trudy overhears there during her great-aunt Gertrude's funeral won't change the rest of her life. Trudy has a daughter in the middle of a major rebellion; a two-timing husband who has been cheating for their entire married life; and a mother with Alzheimer's residing in the local nursing home.
Come hell or high water, Emmy Jo Massey will have a wedding. After three generations of Massey women with children out of wedlock, she wants the whole town of Hickory, Texas, to witness the legitimacy of her union with Logan Grady. But dream weddings aren't cheap. So she accepts a highly lucrative stint as a home health assistant to retired realtor, and town recluse, Seth Thomas - a decision her great-grandmother Tandy is dead-set against.
In the aftermath of her financier husband's suicide, Emma Shay Compton's dream life is shattered. Richard Compton stole his clients' life savings to fund a lavish life in New York City, and, although she was never involved in the business, Emma bears the burden of her husband's crimes. She is left with nothing. Only one friend stands by her, a friend she's known since high school, who encourages her to come home to Sonoma County. But starting over isn't easy, and Sonoma is full of unhappy memories, too.
Maddie McLendon hasn't had a new relationship since the loss of her beloved husband two years ago. Broken by grief and desperate for a new start, Maddie moves to Bitterroot Valley, Montana with her adult son and her grandson. But despite the natural beauty of her new town, not every change in her life is a welcome one. Maddie's new next-door neighbor, Sam Conacher, used to be a pillar of the community, but he has driven old friends and new acquaintances away due to a recent heartbreak of his own. He seems to intrude on her life at every turn.
As children in foster care, Cecilia and Robin vowed they would be the sisters they had never had. Cecelia, now a superstar singer-songwriter, is living life on the edge. Robin set aside her career as a successful photojournalist to create the loving family she always yearned for. But gazing through a wide-angle lens at both past and future, she sees that her marriage is disintegrating. Her attorney husband is rarely home. She and the children need Kris' love and attention, but does Kris need them?
In the gentle coastal town of South Cove, California, all Jill Gardner wants is to keep her store - Coffee, Books, and More - open and running. So why is she caught up in the business of murder? When Jill's elderly friend Miss Emily calls in a fit of pique, she already knows that the city council is trying to force Emily to sell her dilapidated old house. But Emily's gumption goes for naught when she dies unexpectedly and leaves the house to Jill, along with all of her problems...and her enemies.
The morning of her niece's wedding, Margo Just drinks a double martini and contemplates the many mistakes she's made in her fifty-odd years of life. Spending three decades in love with a wonderful but unattainable man is pretty high up on her list of missteps, as is a long line of unsuccessful love affairs accompanied by a seemingly endless supply of delicious cocktails.
Like many small towns, Buffalo Valley is dying. Stores are boarded up, sidewalks are cracked, houses are in need of coats of paint. But despite all that, there's a spirit of hope here, of defiance. The few people still left here are fighting for their town. Lindsay Snyder is a newcomer. She's an outsider even though she spent childhood vacations here. Now she returns to see the family house again, to explore family secrets, and to reevaluate her life. And soon after she arrives, she meets a local farmer named Gage Sinclair....
Between the urban bustle of Denver and the high-stress environment of a career in neurosurgery, Maggie Sullivan has hit a wall. When an emergency high-risk procedure results in the death of a teenager, Maggie finds herself in the middle of a lawsuit - and experiencing levels of anxiety she's never faced before. She knows she needs to slow down before she burns out completely, and the best place she can think to do that is Sullivan's Crossing.
Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they've just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There's a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation...
A television talk show host returns to her childhood summer home to rebuild her life after she's fired for falling ratings. The return is bittersweet as the house has been neglected for years. She's flooded with memories of the wonderful summers she spent with her sisters and cousins before a tragic event changed everything. Working to uncover what really happened the last summer they were all together, she reaches out to her family and the women all gather for an uneasy family reunion.
In her compelling, beautifully crafted novel, New York Times best-selling author Marie Bostwick celebrates friendships old and new - and the unlikely threads that sometimes lead us exactly where we need to go.
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 matchmake, 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, but she never thought she’d still be single on her fortieth birthday.
It’s a shock to the entire town when Philip 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.
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
No. The combination of the heavy Christian slant and the voice of one of the narrators spoiled this experience for me. I might listen to another Marie Bostwick book, now that I know it's Christian fiction--I'd just tune out the heavy-handed parts, just as I do with overdone sex scenes--but I won't listen to another book from this narrator.
What other book might you compare Ties That Bind to and why?
Debbie Macomber's Blossom Street books.
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Xe Sands sounds tired, bored and condescending, which results in the narrator coming across as passive and tired. If I'd noticed she was one of the narrators I would not have purchased the book.
Do you think Ties That Bind needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
I liked the characters and the story. Regular church-going choir member that I am, the heavy-handed Christian elements were quite a bit too much for me.
Any additional comments?
If a book is Christian (or any other heavy-handed religious) fiction, please state that up front so customers are not unpleasantly surprised.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful
I really enjoy this series about women quilting together, sharing their faith, their joys and their sorrows . . . I am not a huge fan of narrator, Xe Sands, whose voice tends to be whiny at times, but this book, it wasn't as grating . . . the family dynamics of Mari and Margot with their parents was gut wrenching BEFORE Mari's untimely death, and even more so afterward, when Margot's father took it upon himself to fight for custody of young Olivia, despite the fact that Mari clearly left instructions that she wanted her sister, Margot to raise her little girl . . . many ethical dilemmas were presented as the family visited little Olivia in the hospital following the accident, and prepared for the legal battle over custody . . . including an unscrupulous social worker and lazy court system . . . and in the midst of the fight comes a lady pastor, as precious as can be, and a nice, nice man who catches the eye of 40-year-old Margot . . . who has recently sworn off romantic relationships entirely . . . this is a clean, Christian story . . . with a wonderful circle of quilting friends . . . and plenty of wonderful surprises along the way . . . God is good . . . all the time . . .
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
What did you love best about Ties That Bind?
Even though life has given you lemons, the reciept for lemonaide varies from person to person.
It's a great listen, I really enjoyed the series and was sorry that this is the last book.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Where does Ties That Bind rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This book would rank in the top 10% of the books I have listened to. It is a great story, and the narrators did an excellent job.
Which character – as performed by Bahni Turpin and Xe Sands – was your favorite?
Phillipa was my favorite character. I loved her honesty, sense of humor and spunk!
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Yes, when Phillipa told her "story".
Any additional comments?
I wish there was a sequel!!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
When I started to listen to this book it was a sad time for me personally and the story started out sad so I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed at first. But I have enjoyed all of the other books in this series by Marie Bostwick so I didn't give up. It turned out to be a much different story than I had anticipated and am not disappointed at the end. I am a quilter and I love stories that I can relate to like the ones by this author. Makes me feel like I could be one of the characters in the story!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
If you could sum up Ties That Bind in three words, what would they be?
Sad, happy and exhilarated.
Any additional comments?
When I read Marie's first book, A Single Thread, I was hooked. The ladies touched my very soul, because I could relate so closely with each one. A master quilter, breast cancer survivor, and peoples struggles in relationships..past and present. This time I felt really depressed at the beginning. Not sure if I was struggling in my own life with situations I had no control over and as both Philippa and Margot had to do, I had to turn them over to God. It had a great and happy ending which I think all books should have, thanks Marie!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Loved the story, cried in at least 3 different places. A wonderful story about love, loss, family, friends, and faith.
Narrators were excellent.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
What did you love best about Ties That Bind?
Well written with believable characters who live, love and touch each others' lives in what only appears to be random events. One can definitely envision the Father's hand 'working all things for the good for those that love Him'.
What about Bahni Turpin and Xe Sands ’s performance did you like?
It enhanced the listener's understanding to have these two talented performers 'voice' the very individual thoughts and experiences of the two main characters.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
Have you listened to any of Bahni Turpin and Xe Sands ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Dual readers made the story richer. Both brought warmth and humanity to Margot and Philipa.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
Where does Ties That Bind rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
The story was good but the two narrators were terrible. I thought the story was really good though.
How could the performance have been better?
The performance was terrible. One narrator that played Margo was depressing. She always sounded like she was almost in tears. Even when something good was happening, she was morose. The other narrator was even worse. Her New York accent was atrocious. She never heard of words that end in "er". Everything was the letter "a". Annoying beyond belief to hear motha, fatha, leccha (lecture), eitha (either),, told a (told her). She ruined what was a very good character and made her sound like a street hard kid from the Bronx.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
The story yes, the narrators no.
Any additional comments?
The story was very good, liked following the Cobble Court characters. It was like visiting with old friends but was very disappointed that the experience of the story was greatly reduced but the narrators.