The Garden of Small Beginnings
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Narrated by:
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Emily Rankin
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By:
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Abbi Waxman
About this listen
“A quirky, funny, and deeply thoughtful book” (Hello Giggles) that’s “filled with characters you’ll love and wish you lived next door to in real life” (Bustle) from the author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.
Lilian Girvan has been a single mother for three years - ever since her husband died in a car accident. One mental breakdown and some random suicidal thoughts later, she's just starting to get the hang of this widow thing. She can now get her two girls to school, show up to work, and watch TV like a pro. The only problem is she's becoming overwhelmed with being underwhelmed.
At least her textbook-illustrating job has some perks - like actually being called upon to draw whale genitalia. Oh, and there's that vegetable-gardening class her boss signed her up for. Apparently, being the chosen illustrator for a series of boutique vegetable guides means getting your hands dirty literally. Wallowing around in compost on a Saturday morning can't be much worse than wallowing around in pajamas and self-pity.
After recruiting her kids and insanely supportive sister to join her, Lilian shows up at the Los Angeles botanical garden feeling out of her element. But what she'll soon discover - with the help of a patient instructor and a quirky group of gardeners - is that into every life a little sun must shine, whether you want it to or not....
©2017 Abbi Waxman (P)2017 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“What a treat!! Abbi Waxman is one of the wittiest voices in the world today. The Garden of Small Beginnings is a beautiful book full of humor, heart, and deep insight. An intimate and hilarious journey about a young mom moving on from grief. Reading it gave me the feeling I was talking to a really funny, open mom-friend sharing secrets about life, love, loss, and gardening! Abbi Waxman’s quick wit and heart shine brightly throughout this debut novel. I just loved it!” (Molly Shannon, actress)
“Waxman's skill at characterization...lifts this novel far above being just another 'widow finds love' story. Clearly an observer, Waxman has mastered the fine art of dialogue as well. Characters ring true right down to Lilian's two daughters, who often steal the show. This debut begs for an encore from Waxman.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
“Kudos to debut author Waxman for creating an endearing and realistic cast of main and supporting characters (including the children). Her narrative and dialog are drenched with spring showers of witty and irreverent humor, which provides much respite from the underlying grief theme.” (Library Journal, starred review)
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The Lost Husband
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
"Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for - Dear Lord! - two whole years, and I'm writing to see if you'd like to be rescued." The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who - after the sudden death of her husband, Danny - went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country.
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wonderful story. narrator kind of a sad sack.
- By Susan Reynolds on 07-24-19
By: Katherine Center
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Kissing Games of the World
- By: Sandi Kahn Shelton
- Narrated by: Myra Platt
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What if the one person you can't bear to be with is also the one person you can't bear to be without? Jamie McClintock is a free-spirited artist and single mother who has at last found peace and freedom sharing a farmhouse with an elderly man and his young grandson. But when the old man dies suddenly her idyllic country life comes to a halt as the old man's estranged son, Nate, returns to claim the house and his child.
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Great Writer, Great Narrator ! Loved it!
- By Ms. Critic on 05-30-09
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The Girls of Mischief Bay
- Mischief Bay, Book 1
- By: Susan Mallery
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nicole Lord wants to be a good wife, but there's a difference between being supportive and supporting her husband, who quit his job to write a screenplay she's never seen. He won't even help take care of their son, leaving Nicole to run the house and work full-time at her Mischief Bay Pilates studio. Can she say enough is enough without losing the man she loves?
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Great
- By sandy_lowe on 02-27-15
By: Susan Mallery
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Barefoot Season
- A Blackberry Island Novel, Book 1
- By: Susan Mallery
- Narrated by: Sarah Grace
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Michelle Sanderson may appear to be a strong, independent woman, but on the inside, she’s still the wounded girl who fled home years ago. A young army vet, Michelle returns to the quaint Blackberry Island Inn to claim her inheritance and recover from the perils of war. Instead, she finds the owner’s suite occupied by the last person she wants to see. Carly Williams and Michelle were once inseparable, until a shocking betrayal destroyed their friendship. And now Carly is implicated in the financial disaster lurking behind the inn’s cheerful veneer.
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Narrator Ruins It
- By Gale Ann on 03-25-13
By: Susan Mallery
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It Happens Every Spring
- By: Catherine Palmer, Gary Chapman
- Narrated by: Jill Mueller
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The first in a new series, Four Seasons, takes us to Deepwater Cove, a small community on the shore of the Lake of the Ozarks, where we're introduced to four couples in different stages of life. It Happens Every Spring centers on Brenda, a lonely wife, and Steve, a go-getter real estate agent, in the mid-winter of their relationship. When a stranger appears at their door one night, change blows through their house and their marriage.
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Amazing book!
- By Rad on 10-07-22
By: Catherine Palmer, and others
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The Admissions
- A Novel
- By: Meg Mitchell Moore
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Hawthorne family has it all. Great jobs, a beautiful house in one of the most affluent areas of Northern California, and three charming kids whose sunny futures are all but assured. And then comes their eldest daughter's senior year of high school....
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Anything for success
- By JillHen on 09-13-15
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How to Be an American Housewife
- A Novel
- By: Margaret Dilloway
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington, Emily Durante
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
How to Be an American Housewife is a novel about mothers and daughters and the pull of tradition. It tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI, and her grown daughter, Sue, a divorced mother whose life as an American housewife hasn't been what she'd expected. When illness prevents Shoko from traveling to Japan, she asks Sue to go in her place. The trip reveals family secrets that change their lives in dramatic and unforeseen ways.
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big disappointment
- By Kirsten on 04-12-12
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The Portable Veblen
- By: Elizabeth Mckenzie
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor. The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its words, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now.
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Not what it was cracked up to be
- By Linda on 02-03-16
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Breakwater Bay
- By: Shelley Noble
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Preservationist Meri Hollis loves her latest project, restoring one of Newport's forgotten Gilded Age mansions. And with summer approaching, she'll be able to spend more time with her Gran on the Rhode Island shore. She has a great job, a loving family and she's pretty sure her boyfriend is going to propose on her thirtieth birthday. But everything Meri believes about family, happiness, truth, and love is shattered when her family's darkest secret is exposed.
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Wasted Potential
- By Rusty on 03-15-15
By: Shelley Noble
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The Shape of Desire
- A Shifting Circle Novel, Book 1
- By: Sharon Shinn
- Narrated by: Erin Moon
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For 15 years Maria Devane has been desperately, passionately in love with Dante Romano. But every month, Dante shifts shape, becoming a wild animal. During those times, he wanders far and wide, leaving Maria alone. Since the beginning, she has kept his secret, knowing that their love is worth the danger. But when a string of brutal attacks occur in local parks during the times when Dante is in animal form, Maria is forced to consider whether the lies she's been telling about her life have turned into lies she's telling herself.
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More mature content than her previous works
- By R. O'Hare on 05-23-12
By: Sharon Shinn
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The Opposite of Maybe
- By: Maddie Dawson
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Jonathan and Rosie have been together so long they finish each other's sentences - so when he (finally) proposes and asks her to move across the country with him, everyone is happily surprised. But when things suddenly unravel, Rosie sends Jonathan packing and moves back home with Soapie, the irascible, opinionated grandmother who raised her.
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Well written book. The characters grow on you~
- By chatteycathi on 08-01-18
By: Maddie Dawson
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Get Lucky
- By: Katherine Center
- Narrated by: Morgan Hallett
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Filled with wit and heart, Get Lucky by Katherine Center explores the deep bonds of sisterhood. Sarah Harper’s whole world revolved around her job at a New York advertising agency before an email snafu got her fired. Now she’s seeking refuge at her sister Mackie’s home in Houston. But Mackie, who’s unable to get pregnant, is also down-and-out these days. So Sarah decides to do something good and becomes a surrogate mother.
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Finding what matters most in life
- By bizymom7 on 10-12-24
By: Katherine Center
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The Story of Arthur Truluv
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Berg
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Three people find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of belonging in this deeply moving novel. Arthur, an old widower struggling to overcome his grief, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who avoids school by hiding out where Arthur goes every day for lunch. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation.
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Sickly Sweet
- By Amazon Customer on 01-19-18
By: Elizabeth Berg
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Falling Together
- A Novel
- By: Marisa de los Santos
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It’s been six years since Pen Calloway watched her best friends walk out of her life. And through the birth of her daughter, the death of her father, and the vicissitudes of single motherhood, she has never stopped missing them. Pen, Cat, and Will met on their first day of college and formed what seemed like a magical and lifelong bond, only to see their friendship break apart amid the realities of adulthood. When, after years of silence, Cat - the bewitching, charismatic center of their group - e-mails Pen and Will with an urgent request to meet at their college reunion, they can’t refuse.
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Narrator's breathy voice a turn off
- By Amy on 10-16-11
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Read it 3 times so far!
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In this charming and poignant novel that "oozes charm and wit and speaks beautifully about friendship and love, and the differences between the two" (Laura Pearson, author of I Wanted You to Know), teenager Emmie Blue releases a balloon with her email address and a big secret into the sky, only to fall head-over-heels for the boy who finds it. But 14 years later, everything Emmie has planned is up in the air.
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Such a good and fun read
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I’m so hungry now
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At 40, May Attaway is more at home with plants than people. Over the years, she's turned inward, finding pleasure in language, her work as a gardener, and keeping her neighbors at arm's length while keenly observing them. But when she is unexpectedly granted some leave from her job, May is inspired to reconnect with four once close friends. She knows they will never have a proper reunion, so she goes, one by one, to each of them. A student of the classics, May considers her journey a female Odyssey.
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Charming, poignant, and utterly engaging
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The Lost Husband
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"Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for - Dear Lord! - two whole years, and I'm writing to see if you'd like to be rescued." The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who - after the sudden death of her husband, Danny - went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country.
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wonderful story. narrator kind of a sad sack.
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Overworked and underappreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City. Usually grounded and mild mannered, Amy finally lets her hair down in the city that never sleeps. She discovers a life filled with culture, sophistication, and - with a little encouragement from her friends - a few blind dates.
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Enjoyable narration. Story is an easy read.
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A Season for Second Chances
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Annie Sharpe’s spark for life has fizzled out. Her kids are grown up, her restaurant is doing just fine on its own, and her 26-year marriage has come to an unceremonious end. Untethered for the first time in her adult life, she finds a winter guardian position in a historic seaside home and decides to leave her city life behind for a brand new beginning.
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charmingly quirky
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Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly
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Esme Cahill thinks she has failed spectacularly: fired from her New York City publishing job, divorced from her husband, and possessing little more than a broken-down car and a pile of unfinished manuscripts, she drives home to Asheville at the request of her late grandmother, Adele, who had begged her, just before she died, to return to the place she grew up. There she discovers the once-charming lakeside retreat run by her family is sliding toward financial ruin.
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Lacking in depth
- By Laura R Reindl on 11-11-23
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The Authenticity Project
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Julian Jessop, an eccentric, lonely artist and septuagenarian believes that most people aren’t really honest with each other. But what if they were? And so he writes—in a plain, green journal—the truth about his own life and leaves it in his local café. It’s run by the incredibly tidy and efficient Monica, who furtively adds her own entry and leaves the book in the wine bar across the street. Before long, the others who find the green notebook add the truths about their own deepest selves - and soon find each other In Real Life at Monica’s Café.
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Sweet, easy listen
- By Benhandel on 04-23-20
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For the Love of Friends
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Lily Weiss is her mother’s worst nightmare: thirty-two and single - the horror! She’s also a talented writer but hides behind a boring job at a science foundation. To her friends, she’s reliable and selfless, which is how she winds up a bridesmaid in five weddings in six weeks. Anything for her three best friends and two (younger) siblings, right? Even if her own love life is...well, she’d rather not talk about it. To keep her sanity, Lily needs a safe place to vent. And so her anonymous blog, Bridesmania, is born.
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Heartwarming story!
- By Bianka on 08-24-21
What listeners say about The Garden of Small Beginnings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Annika
- 01-09-21
Well-written, insightful, funny
Really enjoyed this. I was worried that it would be the usual mediocre writing and limp plot about sad widow looking for new life and love—but it is much more. The writing is snappy and sometimes funny, the characters appealing, and the plot satisfying.
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- Ken Hammond
- 05-25-24
Best read yet by Abbi Waxman
I really liked this story and characters. Great blend of humor in dealing with the realities of loss and grief.
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- Amanda Nitsa Oz
- 03-28-21
Delightful and funny
Delightful and made me actually laugh quite a few times. Very witty!
A touching story of healing.
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- Irene
- 04-11-21
A feel-good book
This book made me laugh and smile. I felt like I was outdoors in the sun, even when it was actually grey and raining outside.
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- Jeri
- 12-07-19
Funny, interesting, angsty
Loved it. New author for me. Starts with a sad premise but overflowing with fun quirky humor and characters I really liked.
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- Rachele
- 02-18-21
Great read
Loved this book! Big fan of Abbi Waxman and Emily Rankin, as narrator. This book did not disappoint. It’s witty, funny, and charming.
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- Jessica
- 01-19-22
Cute Read
I finished it but it was very dark at parts and too cheesy and predictable at others. Loved the gardening intros at the beginning of the chapters though, that was sweet. Love to garden so overall enjoyed the concept.
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- Andrea
- 07-09-20
cute story
I like the author's humor and wisdom. I have enjoyed several of her books. The narrator does a wonderful job on all the voices except for Ed.
She sounds like Dr. Ruth, the love doctor. It was so annoying that I almost gave up on the book.
I did enjoy the book including the gardening aspect and the varied characters.
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- Cara F.
- 06-22-24
Complications in a young family where the husband dies
The story was of a metaphorical bud, a widow and her young
family, blooming. It was a light, delicate story with a happy ending. The writing style was nothing special and the second half of the book had extra deadpan comedy.
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- Phoebe
- 11-15-18
Excellent performance of a great story
Emily Rankin's narrations are consistently superb and "The Garden of Small Beginnings" was no exception. The story was sweet and made a solo road trip for work feel much less lonely. I was rooting for the characters and found myself extremely emotional upon the book's end.
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6 people found this helpful