
Family Reservations
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Stevi Incremona
-
By:
-
Liza Palmer
About this listen
A powerful mother. Three daughters. And a fast-paced, cutthroat culinary legacy up for grabs in a darkly witty novel about a family on the edge by the bestselling author of The Nobodies and The F Word.
Maren Winter is a world-renowned restaurateur who has built an empire. No one heeds the whispers of her retirement more closely than her three daughters, all in service to their mother’s legacy.
On the night of Maren’s annual New Year’s Eve party, a line is crossed, and word of a humiliating family meltdown spreads like a Northern California wildfire through the culinary elite. It’s a golden opportunity for one of them to step into power—and a trigger for a spiraling descent into paranoia and blind ambition.
As the Winter family’s dissolution begins, so does a journey of competition, love, loyalty, self-preservation, and the need for three women to forge a path of their own.
©2024 Liza Palmer (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Promise of Tomorrow
- By: Mary Ellen Taylor
- Narrated by: Cortney Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Olympia leaves her small Virginia town, she doesn’t expect to look back, much less ever come home. But after a year on the road, her sister’s engagement pulls Olympia into everything she left behind: her family, her husband, and the grief she’s been trying to forget. She’s determined to stay a few days, maybe a week—just enough time to visit gravestones and sign off on the divorce her husband, Spencer, asked for. But he’s reeling from their shared loss, as well as complications with his aging parents, leaving his heart just as fragile as Olympia’s.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Teacher on 02-16-25
-
Mean Moms
- A Novel
- By: Emma Rosenblum
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Frost, Morgan, and Belle—a wealthy, gorgeous group of New York City moms, the queen bees of downtown Manhattan. Their children attend Atherton Academy, the top private school in the city, and their social lives revolve around elaborate themed parties. On the first day of school, the arrival of a new mom and mysterious beauty from Miami, Sofia shakes up their world. When Sofia quickly integrates herself into their clique, inexplicably bad things start to happen to the women. Is someone at school out to get them?
By: Emma Rosenblum
-
The Summer We Ran
- A Novel
- By: Audrey Ingram
- Narrated by: Anna Caputo, Andrew Gibson
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1996, teenage Tess Murphy’s mom gave her two rules to abide by: keep quiet and stay out of trouble. Her mother landed a new job as a cook at an affluent Virginia estate and didn’t want anything to risk the opportunity, least of all her outspoken daughter. What no one saw coming was Tess falling deeply in love with the boy next door, high-society Grant Alexander.
-
-
Meh
- By Jennifer Burrows on 06-06-25
By: Audrey Ingram
-
Divorce Towers
- A Novel
- By: Ellen Meister
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Addison Torres has nothing left to lose in New York: no job, no fiancé, no parents to lean on. So when Uncle Arnie offers her a concierge gig in sunny California, she hops on a plane without looking back. Before it all came crashing down, Addison had a matchmaking career and handsome partner—then she got a little too cozy with a client. Digging her way out of the wreckage, she’s taken a strict vow of celibacy. Unfortunately, Addison’s new home is where such promises go to die.
-
-
Meh.
- By V. Davis-Showell on 10-28-24
By: Ellen Meister
-
Food Person
- A Novel
- By: Adam Roberts
- Narrated by: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isabella Pasternack is a food person. She revels in the beauty of a perfectly cooked egg, she daydreams about her first meal at Chez Panisse, and every inch of her tiny apartment teems with cookbooks, from Prune to Cooking by Hand to Roast Chicken and Other Stories. What Isabella is not, unfortunately, is a gainfully employed person. In the wake of a disastrous live-streamed soufflé demonstration, Isabella is summarily fired from her job at a digital food magazine and must quickly find a way to keep herself in buckwheat and anchovy paste.
-
-
Foodie Fun
- By JKB on 05-22-25
By: Adam Roberts
-
Friends in Napa
- A Novel
- By: Sheila Yasmin Marikar, Mindy Kaling - introduction
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raj and Rachel Ranjani have invited a small group of their “ride or dies” from college for a celebratory weekend in Napa Valley. On the agenda: three nights in the couple’s vineyard mansion, a lavish dinner at Napa’s hottest new restaurant, exclusive tastings, and the grand opening of the Ranjanis’ ultra-high-end winery. It’s a reunion of six friends who haven’t seen each other in years. What could go wrong?
-
-
Not the mystery I was looking for
- By Kelly Thompson on 04-08-24
By: Sheila Yasmin Marikar, and others
-
The Promise of Tomorrow
- By: Mary Ellen Taylor
- Narrated by: Cortney Wright
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Olympia leaves her small Virginia town, she doesn’t expect to look back, much less ever come home. But after a year on the road, her sister’s engagement pulls Olympia into everything she left behind: her family, her husband, and the grief she’s been trying to forget. She’s determined to stay a few days, maybe a week—just enough time to visit gravestones and sign off on the divorce her husband, Spencer, asked for. But he’s reeling from their shared loss, as well as complications with his aging parents, leaving his heart just as fragile as Olympia’s.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Teacher on 02-16-25
-
Mean Moms
- A Novel
- By: Emma Rosenblum
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Frost, Morgan, and Belle—a wealthy, gorgeous group of New York City moms, the queen bees of downtown Manhattan. Their children attend Atherton Academy, the top private school in the city, and their social lives revolve around elaborate themed parties. On the first day of school, the arrival of a new mom and mysterious beauty from Miami, Sofia shakes up their world. When Sofia quickly integrates herself into their clique, inexplicably bad things start to happen to the women. Is someone at school out to get them?
By: Emma Rosenblum
-
The Summer We Ran
- A Novel
- By: Audrey Ingram
- Narrated by: Anna Caputo, Andrew Gibson
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1996, teenage Tess Murphy’s mom gave her two rules to abide by: keep quiet and stay out of trouble. Her mother landed a new job as a cook at an affluent Virginia estate and didn’t want anything to risk the opportunity, least of all her outspoken daughter. What no one saw coming was Tess falling deeply in love with the boy next door, high-society Grant Alexander.
-
-
Meh
- By Jennifer Burrows on 06-06-25
By: Audrey Ingram
-
Divorce Towers
- A Novel
- By: Ellen Meister
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Addison Torres has nothing left to lose in New York: no job, no fiancé, no parents to lean on. So when Uncle Arnie offers her a concierge gig in sunny California, she hops on a plane without looking back. Before it all came crashing down, Addison had a matchmaking career and handsome partner—then she got a little too cozy with a client. Digging her way out of the wreckage, she’s taken a strict vow of celibacy. Unfortunately, Addison’s new home is where such promises go to die.
-
-
Meh.
- By V. Davis-Showell on 10-28-24
By: Ellen Meister
-
Food Person
- A Novel
- By: Adam Roberts
- Narrated by: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isabella Pasternack is a food person. She revels in the beauty of a perfectly cooked egg, she daydreams about her first meal at Chez Panisse, and every inch of her tiny apartment teems with cookbooks, from Prune to Cooking by Hand to Roast Chicken and Other Stories. What Isabella is not, unfortunately, is a gainfully employed person. In the wake of a disastrous live-streamed soufflé demonstration, Isabella is summarily fired from her job at a digital food magazine and must quickly find a way to keep herself in buckwheat and anchovy paste.
-
-
Foodie Fun
- By JKB on 05-22-25
By: Adam Roberts
-
Friends in Napa
- A Novel
- By: Sheila Yasmin Marikar, Mindy Kaling - introduction
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raj and Rachel Ranjani have invited a small group of their “ride or dies” from college for a celebratory weekend in Napa Valley. On the agenda: three nights in the couple’s vineyard mansion, a lavish dinner at Napa’s hottest new restaurant, exclusive tastings, and the grand opening of the Ranjanis’ ultra-high-end winery. It’s a reunion of six friends who haven’t seen each other in years. What could go wrong?
-
-
Not the mystery I was looking for
- By Kelly Thompson on 04-08-24
By: Sheila Yasmin Marikar, and others
-
Fun for the Whole Family
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer E. Smith
- Narrated by: Lauren Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The four Endicott siblings—Gemma, Connor, Roddy, and Jude—were once inseparable, a bond created by the absence of their dazzling, mercurial mother, who would return for a few weeks each summer to whisk them off on sprawling road trips around the country. Decades later, the unthinkable has happened: the Endicotts haven’t spoken in years . . . until an out-of-the-blue text arrives from Jude, now a famous actress, summoning them to a small town in North Dakota.
-
-
Great story telling
- By CAMT on 06-07-25
-
The Anti-Heroes
- A Novel
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani, Amanda Leigh Cobb
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once upon a time, Dr. Emily Nichols—the academic kind, not the physician kind—was an eco-crusader who was shot with water cannons, hunted by poachers, and chased by a bulldozer. Now? Action Emily lives in a bland condo with gray walls and teaches disengaged students at a university alongside a risk-allergic boyfriend, asking herself every day: How did I get here?
-
-
The characters were very whiney and too formulated
- By gisele Pope on 05-07-25
By: Jen Lancaster
-
Park Avenue
- A Novel
- By: Renée Ahdieh
- Narrated by: Michelle H. Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jia Song has always been destined for greatness. As the daughter of Korean bodega owners, she promised herself that she would have every Fifth Avenue luxury when she grew up, and it is all finally within reach. She has just made junior partner at her prestigious Manhattan law firm, she can count on her two best friends to have her back, and she is about to score the ultraluxe gold-on-gold Birkin bag of her dreams. So when her boss asks her to sit in on the hush-hush family implosion of a high-level client, she accepts without hesitation.
By: Renée Ahdieh
-
Too Old for This
- By: Samantha Downing
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lottie Jones thought her crimes were behind her. Decades earlier, she changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small town. Her most exciting nights are the weekly bingo games at the local church and gossiping with her friends. When investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie’s past and specifically her involvement with numerous unsolved cases, well, Lottie just can’t have that. But getting away with murder is hard enough when you’re young.
By: Samantha Downing
-
Let's Pretend This Will Work
- A Novel
- By: Maddie Dawson
- Narrated by: Helen Laser
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After too many dates, thirtysomething Mimi Perkins is still single, unmoored, and longing for love. So when Ren Yardley—a handsome, divorced fellow drama teacher and single father—falls in love with her and proposes, she’s sure this is at last the good news her psychic predicted. Soon after proposing, Ren receives the devastating news that his ex-wife has been in a debilitating car accident, prompting him to temporarily move back into his former home to care for her and his daughters.
-
-
Excellent narration
- By D. N. Fox on 07-16-24
By: Maddie Dawson
-
Songs of Summer
- By: Jane L. Rosen
- Narrated by: Sarah Naughton
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maggie Mae Wheeler is content with her life. At 30, she has grand plans for her vintage record shop in the charming Midwestern town where she grew up, and is soon to be engaged to her childhood best friend. But when she discovers a letter she wrote to herself at thirteen, being content doesn’t feel like enough anymore—Maggie needs answers to figure out who she is and where she belongs. Since losing her parents, the only family she has ever known, Maggie decides that finding her birth mother is the best place to start.
-
-
A beautiful love story!
- By jodi on 05-27-25
By: Jane L. Rosen
-
All the Other Mothers Hate Me
- By: Sarah Harman
- Narrated by: Georgina Sadler
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Florence Grimes is a thirty-one-year-old party girl who always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her ten-year-old son Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son’s bully and the heir to a vast frozen food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect. Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can’t quit: She’s got to find Alfie and clear her son’s name, or risk losing Dylan forever.
-
-
Good book!
- By Amanda Corkum on 03-13-25
By: Sarah Harman
-
Unlikely Story
- By: Ali Rosen
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a relationship therapist, Nora helps patients explore their feelings honestly. But she’s hiding an embarrassing relationship secret of her own: she’s in love with someone she’s never even met. J edits the advice column Nora’s been writing anonymously for the last seven years. He’s in London, she’s in New York, and they communicate solely through shared files. When he confides that his girlfriend’s out of the picture, and her boss asks her to come to London, Nora takes both as a sign.
-
-
Such a cute story
- By Lori on 06-05-25
By: Ali Rosen
-
Bummer Camp
- A Novel
- By: Ann Garvin
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cat McCarthy has spent years extricating herself from the family business—an increasingly run-down theater camp—and all the drama contained within it. At thirty-seven, she’s putting the final touches on a new life as she renovates her dream cottage and awaits her first child. Does it worry her that the McCarthy legacy is in the hands of her disastrously irresponsible sister, Ginger? Sure. But the camp’s not Cat’s problem anymore.
-
-
Got way better in the second half
- By Ana's Attic on 10-13-24
By: Ann Garvin
-
My Favorite Terrible Thing
- A Novel
- By: Madeleine Henry
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Detective Nina Travers is so good at her job that she blends in like a benevolent Tom Ripley. She can be anyone. She can be no one. Nina wants to be someone. Her new case will finally get her noticed. Bestselling author Claire Ross has disappeared from the Hamptons on her wedding day. How tragic that the author of an epic romance that captured the heart, soul, and imagination of the world should suddenly vanish on the happiest day of her life.
-
-
Bad Word Choice!
- By Empress Karen on 01-30-25
By: Madeleine Henry
-
Don't Let Him In
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Joanne Froggatt, Tamaryn Payne, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Restauranteur Paddy Swann was the life of the party until the day a man pushed him in the path of an oncoming train, leaving his twenty-something daughter Ash and wife Nina devastated. Shortly after Paddy’s funeral, the two women receive a surprise in the mail: a note and package from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of Paddy’s, and a nondescript lighter that once belonged to him decades ago. This unexpected gift draws Nick and Nina closer together—much to Ash’s dismay.
By: Lisa Jewell
-
Passion Project
- A Novel
- By: London Sperry
- Narrated by: Alex Finke
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life, Bennet Taylor is failing miserably . . . with a big emphasis on the miserable. Where’s that zest she keeps hearing about? She’s a temp worker in New York City with no direction, no future, and no social life. And at the painful center of this listlessness is grief over the death of her first love.
-
-
Ridiculous and a waste of a credit
- By Victoria on 04-15-25
By: London Sperry
Critic reviews
“Fresh, exciting, and necessary. A must-read author.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of the New York Times bestselling novels Carrie Soto Is Back, Malibu Rising, and Daisy Jones & the Six
“Palmer tells a story like a girlfriend over lunch.”—People
“Funny and clever…a real crowd-pleaser.”—Publishers Weekly
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Fox
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Max Meyers, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Kirsten Potter, and others
- Length: 25 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who is Francis Fox? A charming English teacher new to the idyllic Langhorne Academy, Fox beguiles many of his students, their parents, and his colleagues at the elite boarding school, while leaving others wondering where he came from and why his biography is so enigmatic. When two brothers discover Fox’s car half-submerged in a pond in a local nature preserve and parts of an unidentified body strewn about the nearby woods, the entire community, including Detective Horace Zwender and his deputy, begins to ask disturbing questions about Francis Fox and who he might really be.
-
Sunny Side Up
- A Novel
- By: Katie Sturino
- Narrated by: Yael Rizowy
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sunny Greene is thirty-five, recently divorced, facing the looming prospect of going solo to her little brother’s wedding, and currently trying to find anything plus-sized in the Bergdorf Goodman swimsuit department that doesn’t make her want to cry. It’s not going well. But isn’t rock bottom the perfect place to start a climb? She decides it’s now or never. Sunny has her PR empire, her gorgeous Chelsea apartment, her two dogs, and her loyal best friends. Maybe it's time to just love her body and accept herself for who she is.
By: Katie Sturino
-
Maine Characters
- A Novel
- By: Hannah Orenstein
- Narrated by: Mara Wilson
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every summer, Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster spend a month with their father at his lake house—separately. Raised in New York City, Vivian is an ambitious sommelier with a secret that could derail her future. Lucy grew up in a tiny Maine town, where she now teaches high school English while watching her marriage unravel. They’ve never met. While Lucy envied her half-sister from afar, their father kept Vivian in the dark. When Vivian arrives at the lake to spread his ashes and sell his cabin, she's shocked to find Lucy there, awaiting his return.
-
-
Great narration and character relationship development
- By Simon A. on 06-10-25
By: Hannah Orenstein
-
Sleep
- A Novel
- By: Honor Jones
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a dazzling new talent, the story of a newly divorced young mother forced to reckon with the secrets of her own childhood when she brings her daughters back to the big house where she was raised.
-
-
Best “literary fiction” book in years
- By Lydia Paddon on 05-30-25
By: Honor Jones
-
Close Your Eyes
- By: Teresa Driscoll
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When private investigator Matthew Hill picks up the call from his wife, Sally, his world comes crashing down. Their eight-year-old daughter, Amelie, is missing. One second, she was there, the next, she was gone. It’s the very nightmare they’ve been dreading. Long ago, Matthew left the force after a woman blamed him for her son’s death, promising that he too would one day feel her pain. It’s a threat that’s hung over his family ever since, and now it’s Amelie’s picture on the news.
-
-
A bridge too far on character behavior
- By Ken Lewis on 01-26-25
By: Teresa Driscoll
-
The Love Haters
- A Novel
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Patti Murin
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West. The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but pretends that she can. Plus, Cole and Hutch are brothers. And they don’t get along. Next stop: paradise!
-
-
Great narration. Vivid imagery. Lovely depictions of older female friendships.
- By J. Olich on 05-24-25
By: Katherine Center
-
Fox
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Max Meyers, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Kirsten Potter, and others
- Length: 25 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who is Francis Fox? A charming English teacher new to the idyllic Langhorne Academy, Fox beguiles many of his students, their parents, and his colleagues at the elite boarding school, while leaving others wondering where he came from and why his biography is so enigmatic. When two brothers discover Fox’s car half-submerged in a pond in a local nature preserve and parts of an unidentified body strewn about the nearby woods, the entire community, including Detective Horace Zwender and his deputy, begins to ask disturbing questions about Francis Fox and who he might really be.
-
Sunny Side Up
- A Novel
- By: Katie Sturino
- Narrated by: Yael Rizowy
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sunny Greene is thirty-five, recently divorced, facing the looming prospect of going solo to her little brother’s wedding, and currently trying to find anything plus-sized in the Bergdorf Goodman swimsuit department that doesn’t make her want to cry. It’s not going well. But isn’t rock bottom the perfect place to start a climb? She decides it’s now or never. Sunny has her PR empire, her gorgeous Chelsea apartment, her two dogs, and her loyal best friends. Maybe it's time to just love her body and accept herself for who she is.
By: Katie Sturino
-
Maine Characters
- A Novel
- By: Hannah Orenstein
- Narrated by: Mara Wilson
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every summer, Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster spend a month with their father at his lake house—separately. Raised in New York City, Vivian is an ambitious sommelier with a secret that could derail her future. Lucy grew up in a tiny Maine town, where she now teaches high school English while watching her marriage unravel. They’ve never met. While Lucy envied her half-sister from afar, their father kept Vivian in the dark. When Vivian arrives at the lake to spread his ashes and sell his cabin, she's shocked to find Lucy there, awaiting his return.
-
-
Great narration and character relationship development
- By Simon A. on 06-10-25
By: Hannah Orenstein
-
Sleep
- A Novel
- By: Honor Jones
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a dazzling new talent, the story of a newly divorced young mother forced to reckon with the secrets of her own childhood when she brings her daughters back to the big house where she was raised.
-
-
Best “literary fiction” book in years
- By Lydia Paddon on 05-30-25
By: Honor Jones
-
Close Your Eyes
- By: Teresa Driscoll
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When private investigator Matthew Hill picks up the call from his wife, Sally, his world comes crashing down. Their eight-year-old daughter, Amelie, is missing. One second, she was there, the next, she was gone. It’s the very nightmare they’ve been dreading. Long ago, Matthew left the force after a woman blamed him for her son’s death, promising that he too would one day feel her pain. It’s a threat that’s hung over his family ever since, and now it’s Amelie’s picture on the news.
-
-
A bridge too far on character behavior
- By Ken Lewis on 01-26-25
By: Teresa Driscoll
-
The Love Haters
- A Novel
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Patti Murin
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West. The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but pretends that she can. Plus, Cole and Hutch are brothers. And they don’t get along. Next stop: paradise!
-
-
Great narration. Vivid imagery. Lovely depictions of older female friendships.
- By J. Olich on 05-24-25
By: Katherine Center
Great change from romance
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
good clense story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Delicious
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
~
Family Reservations by Liza Palmer was difficult to finish. I didn't like that the story was being told to us; it was too easy to get confused as to who was talking because the focus changed without warning. I also found myself zoning out, due to sheer boredom as telling the story this way makes it hard to stay engaged. Stevi Incremona is not a narrator I want to hear from again.
I thoroughly understand Maren's anger about the pork chop. I see a lot of reviews calling it outlandish, excessive, mean, etc., but Maren's actions and feelings make sense to me. It was all about Athena's ego, thinking she knew better, which is proven later in the book. The fact that she worried about it so long without speaking up shows that she knew it was wrong but wanted to test her mom. Granted, Maren acted quite horrible in other scenes, just like every other woman did, unfortunately, but the pork chop scene was valid.
I rate Family Reservations 2 stars as it was only okay. I genuinely like Valentina; she is the only one that brought life and happiness to the book. I wish we heard more from her. However, I will not read more from Liza in the future.
2 stars
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.