
The Bright Side of Disaster
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Thérèse Plummer
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By:
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Katherine Center
About this listen
A new mother must adjust to a life she never asked for - and learns that sometimes the worst thing that can happen is exactly what you’ve been waiting for - in this spirited novel from the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire
“Charming...cleverly told and uncommonly appealing.” (People)
Very pregnant and not quite married, Jenny Harris doesn’t mind that she and her live-in fiancé, Dean, accidentally started their family a little earlier than planned. But Dean is acting distant, and the night he runs out for cigarettes and doesn’t come back, he demotes himself from future husband to sperm donor. And the very next day, Jenny goes into labor.
In the months that follow, Jenny plunges into a life she never anticipated: single motherhood. At least with the sleep deprivation, sore boobs, and fits of crying (both hers and the baby’s), there’s not much time to dwell on her broken heart. Then things start looking up: Jenny learns how to do everything one-handed, makes friends in a mommy group, and even gets to know a handsome, helpful neighbor. But Dean is never far from Jenny’s thoughts or, it turns out, her doorstep, and in the end she must choose between the old life she thought she wanted and the new life she’s been lucky to find.
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Story
Helen Carpenter can’t quite seem to bounce back. Newly divorced at thirty-two, her life has fallen apart beyond her ability to put it together again. So when her annoying younger brother, Duncan, convinces her to sign up for a hardcore wilderness survival course in the backwoods of Wyoming—she hopes it’ll be exactly what she needs. Instead, it’s a disaster. It’s nothing like she wants, or expects, or anticipates. She doesn’t anticipate the surprise summer blizzard, for example—or the blisters, or the rutting elk, or the mean pack of sorority girls.
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Better than the movie
- By SLP on 11-07-24
By: Katherine Center
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The Littlest Library
- A Novel
- By: Poppy Alexander
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Jess Metcalf is perfectly content with her quiet, predictable life. But when her beloved grandmother passes away and she loses her job at the local library, Jess’ life is turned upside down. Determined to pick up the pieces, Jess decides it’s time for a new beginning. Unable to part with her grandmother’s cherished books, she packs them all up and moves to a tiny cottage in the English countryside. To her surprise, Jess discovers that she’s now the owner of an old red phone box that was left on the property.
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An entertaining read.
- By Kim Meseck on 11-10-22
By: Poppy Alexander
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Things You Save in a Fire
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's excellent at dealing with other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to uproot her life and move to Boston, it's an emergency of a kind Cassie never anticipated. The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew.
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Pretty predictable
- By Susan Jordan on 09-14-19
By: Katherine Center
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Hello Stranger
- A Novel
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Patti Murin
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality.
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Slow, miscommunication trope, unlikeable characters
- By Jennifer on 07-28-23
By: Katherine Center
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The Beach Trap
- By: Ali Brady
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Imani Jade Powers
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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When 12-year-olds Kat Steiner and Blake O’Neill meet at Camp Chickawah, they have an instant connection. But everything falls apart when they learn they’re not just best friends—they’re also half sisters. Confused and betrayed, the girls break off all contact. Fifteen years later, when their father dies suddenly, Kat and Blake discover he’s left them a joint inheritance: the family beach house in Destin, Florida. The two sisters are immediately at odds. Blake wants to sell the house, while Kat is desperate to hold on to the place where she lived so many happy memories.
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Shallow story w/Boyfriend reading Toxic Masculinity
- By TC on 08-01-23
By: Ali Brady
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Just Haven't Met You Yet
- By: Sophie Cousens
- Narrated by: Charlotte Beaumont
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Hopeless romantic and lifestyle reporter Laura’s business trip to the Channel Islands isn’t off to a great start. After an embarrassing encounter with the most attractive man she’s ever seen in real life, she arrives at her hotel and realizes she’s grabbed the wrong suitcase from the airport. Her only consolation is its irresistible contents, each of which intrigues her more and more. The owner of this suitcase is clearly Laura’s dream man. Now, all she has to do is find him.
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Perfection
- By Anonymous User on 01-30-22
By: Sophie Cousens
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The Restoration of Celia Fairchild
- A Novel
- By: Marie Bostwick
- Narrated by: Sarah Naughton
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Celia Fairchild, known as advice columnist "Dear Calpurnia", has insight into everybody’s problems—except her own. Still bruised by the end of a marriage she thought was her last chance to create a family, Celia receives an unexpected answer to a “Dear Birthmother” letter. Celia throws herself into proving she’s a perfect adoptive mother material—with a stable home and income—only to lose her job. Her one option: sell the Charleston house left to her by her recently departed, estranged Aunt Calpurnia.
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Honestly have no idea how people enjoyed this
- By Kelly Albury on 10-11-21
By: Marie Bostwick
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The Break-Up Book Club
- By: Wendy Wax
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber, Nicole Lewis, Renata Friedman, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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On paper, Jazmine, Judith, Erin, and Sara have little in common - they’re very different people leading very different lives. And yet at book club meetings in an historic carriage house turned bookstore, they bond over a shared love of reading (and more than a little wine) as well as the growing realization that their lives are not turning out like they expected.
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Audio Errors
- By Madeleine on 06-08-21
By: Wendy Wax
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Thank You for Listening
- A Novel
- By: Julia Whelan
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.
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Julia Whelan is the GOAT
- By echo404 on 08-03-22
By: Julia Whelan
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She Gets That from Me
- By: Robin Wells
- Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer, Abby Craden, Mark Deakins, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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When Quinn Langston’s her best friend unexpectedly passes away, Quinn knows she'll do anything to protect Brooke’s three-year-old daughter, Lily, and her grandmother Margaret. Not only is Quinn the little girl’s godmother, but they are the family she always wished she had. Now she vows to do whatever it takes to help the three of them heal - even if it means letting a complete stranger into their lives - and into their hearts. Margaret is old-fashioned, and she has no compunction about finding a way to reach Lily’s dad, a sperm donor.
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Too perfect, Irritating narration
- By Admirer of great books; critic of bad books. on 05-22-22
By: Robin Wells
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Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
- By: Elyssa Friedland
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In its heyday, The Golden Hotel was the crown jewel of the hotter-than-hot Catskills vacation scene. For more than sixty years, the Goldman and Weingold families - best friends and business partners - have presided over this glamorous resort which served as a second home for well-heeled guests and celebrities. But the Catskills are not what they used to be - and neither is the relationship between the Goldmans and the Weingolds.
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Very frustrating and confusing
- By kendallalycia on 05-26-21
By: Elyssa Friedland
predictable yet fun!!!!!
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I Wish it went on longer
I wish I could know what happens to Jenny and Jon next just because.
I’m a romantic
How funny it is!
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Good until the end
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Another great book by Katherine Center
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Lighthearted
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Cute but predictable
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Good story that took a few wrong turns
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Love Katherine Center’s stories!
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Fictional what to expect when your expecting
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“The Bright Side of Disaster” is "Katherine Center’s"debut novel. Jenny is very pregnant, she never planned to be pregnant but needs to embrace this life path .. she thinks Dean her finance and father of her baby is on the same path. But Dean’s head in a different space - he is more interested in his cheesy cover band, has a bad smoking habit and very unsupportive Jane. One night he goes out for cigarettes and just never comes back. Jane wakes up and finds a note from Dean .. he is not in love with her anymore and needs to get away .. this all before their baby is born.
Once the baby is born, a little girl Jenny names Elizabeth Maxine; Maxie, life with a new baby just gets harder, motherhood is not what she expected - Jenny’s milk takes it time coming in causing a hungry baby turning Maxie into a crier.
“No, I haven't showered in a week because the baby cries when I put her down"
Jenny, Jenny, Jenny, let the baby cry occasionally and take a damn shower.
With the help of her mother, a new Mommy Group and bargaining with a neighbor for help in exchange for home cooked meals and even the possibility of a new love interest Jenny gets somewhat of a handle on her life until .. yep you guess right .. Dean shows up.
Finally Jenny realizes ..
“And I was grateful. For all the things that had brought me to this moment, and for every single thing that would follow.”
While I found “The Bright Side of Disaster” and easy quick read, I got very frustrated with Jenny - she makes dumb decision making her character look weak with no backbone. I felt the end of the books was a tad rushed BUT I am still giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was an audiobook narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Thérèse Plummer.
good debut novel
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