
The Gatekeepers
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By:
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Jen Lancaster
About this listen
"How could we know that forever could end at 17?"
Anyone passing through North Shore, Illinois would think it was the most picture-perfect place ever, with all the lakefront mansions and manicured hedges and iron gates. No one talks about the fact that the brilliant, talented kids in town have a terrible history of throwing themselves in front of commuter trains.
Meet Simone, the bohemian transfer student from London, who is thrust into the strange new reality of an American high school; Mallory, the hypercompetitive queen bee; and Stephen, the first-generation genius who struggles with crippling self-doubt. Each one is shocked when a popular classmate takes his own life...except not too shocked. It's happened before. With so many students facing their own demons, can they find a way to save each other - as well as themselves?
©2017 Altgeld Shrugged, Inc (P)2017 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited.Listeners also enjoyed...
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How fast can charity fundraiser CeCe Barclay’s unimpeachable society life come tumbling down? One minute she’s speaking before Chicago’s glitterati. The next, her financier husband is wanted for embezzlement. Her assets seized and her fall mortifyingly public, CeCe grasps for refuge—and employment—as a sorority housemom at Eli Whitney University, her daughter Hayden’s alma mater.
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Had potential, but fell flat
- By Desiree Paulhamus on 01-04-25
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The Best of Enemies
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Bridesmaids meets Big Little Lies in a novel told from the alternating perspectives of two women who define the term frenemies - from New York Times best-selling author Jen Lancaster. Jacqueline Jordan knows conflict. A fearless journalist, she’s spent the past decade embedded in the world’s hot spots, writing about the fall of nations and the rise of despots. But if you were to inquire about who topped Jack’s enemy list, she’d not hesitate to answer: Kitty Carricoe.
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Unexpected pleasure with engaging dialgoue
- By Anne A. Kennedy on 09-14-15
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Stories I'd Tell in Bars
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- Narrated by: Jen Lancaster, John Fletcher
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Unfiltered. Unapologetic. Older, but not wiser, Lancaster goes back to basics in this hilarious essay collection about everything from taking community policing classes to accidentally getting high with her waiter after a fancy dinner. These are the tales she'd tell if she met you in a bar... if she weren't too lazy to put on pants and go to a bar. Offering advice ranging from how to remain happily married to a man who refuses to blow his damn nose already to not creating An Incident at the cheese counter during an attempt at Whole30, she's you, only louder.
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self absorbed
- By D D H on 06-15-19
By: Jen Lancaster
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The Burnout
- A Novel
- By: Sophie Kinsella
- Narrated by: Bessie Carter
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Sasha has had it. She cannot bring herself to respond to another inane, “urgent” email or participate in the corporate employee joyfulness program. She hasn’t seen her friends in months. Sex? Seems like a lot of effort. Even cooking dinner takes far too much planning. Sasha has hit a wall. Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga, and find peace, she heads to the seaside resort she loved as a child. But it’s the off season, the hotel is in a dilapidated shambles, and she has to share the beach with the only other occupant: a grumpy guy named Finn.
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Classic Kinsella story
- By Mike b. on 10-21-23
By: Sophie Kinsella
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By the Numbers
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Actuary Penny Sinclair has a head for business, and she always makes rational decisions. Knowing that 60 percent of spouses cheat and 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, she wasn't too surprised when her husband had an affair. (That he did so with a woman their daughter's age? Well, that part did sting a bit.) She just made sure she got everything in the divorce, including their lovely old Victorian house. And as soon as her younger daughter has her hipster-fabulous wedding in the backyard, she's trading it in for a condo in downtown Chicago....
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Narrator is bland, slow. Story is good.
- By Dogs & Horses on 07-10-16
By: Jen Lancaster
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Welcome to the United States of Anxiety
- Observations from a Reforming Neurotic
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Jen Lancaster
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Jen Lancaster is here to take a hard look at our elevating anxieties, and with self-deprecating wit and levelheaded wisdom, she charts a path out of the quagmire that keeps us frightened of the future and ashamed of our imperfectly perfect human lives. Take a deep breath, and her advice, and you just might get through a holiday dinner without wanting to disown your uncle.
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Not relatable
- By shelly on 11-03-20
By: Jen Lancaster
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Housemoms
- A Novel
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Maria McCann, EJ Lavery, Jeremy Carlisle Parker
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
How fast can charity fundraiser CeCe Barclay’s unimpeachable society life come tumbling down? One minute she’s speaking before Chicago’s glitterati. The next, her financier husband is wanted for embezzlement. Her assets seized and her fall mortifyingly public, CeCe grasps for refuge—and employment—as a sorority housemom at Eli Whitney University, her daughter Hayden’s alma mater.
-
-
Had potential, but fell flat
- By Desiree Paulhamus on 01-04-25
By: Jen Lancaster
-
The Best of Enemies
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Emily Rankin
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bridesmaids meets Big Little Lies in a novel told from the alternating perspectives of two women who define the term frenemies - from New York Times best-selling author Jen Lancaster. Jacqueline Jordan knows conflict. A fearless journalist, she’s spent the past decade embedded in the world’s hot spots, writing about the fall of nations and the rise of despots. But if you were to inquire about who topped Jack’s enemy list, she’d not hesitate to answer: Kitty Carricoe.
-
-
Unexpected pleasure with engaging dialgoue
- By Anne A. Kennedy on 09-14-15
By: Jen Lancaster
-
Stories I'd Tell in Bars
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Jen Lancaster, John Fletcher
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unfiltered. Unapologetic. Older, but not wiser, Lancaster goes back to basics in this hilarious essay collection about everything from taking community policing classes to accidentally getting high with her waiter after a fancy dinner. These are the tales she'd tell if she met you in a bar... if she weren't too lazy to put on pants and go to a bar. Offering advice ranging from how to remain happily married to a man who refuses to blow his damn nose already to not creating An Incident at the cheese counter during an attempt at Whole30, she's you, only louder.
-
-
self absorbed
- By D D H on 06-15-19
By: Jen Lancaster
-
The Burnout
- A Novel
- By: Sophie Kinsella
- Narrated by: Bessie Carter
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sasha has had it. She cannot bring herself to respond to another inane, “urgent” email or participate in the corporate employee joyfulness program. She hasn’t seen her friends in months. Sex? Seems like a lot of effort. Even cooking dinner takes far too much planning. Sasha has hit a wall. Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga, and find peace, she heads to the seaside resort she loved as a child. But it’s the off season, the hotel is in a dilapidated shambles, and she has to share the beach with the only other occupant: a grumpy guy named Finn.
-
-
Classic Kinsella story
- By Mike b. on 10-21-23
By: Sophie Kinsella
-
By the Numbers
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Actuary Penny Sinclair has a head for business, and she always makes rational decisions. Knowing that 60 percent of spouses cheat and 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, she wasn't too surprised when her husband had an affair. (That he did so with a woman their daughter's age? Well, that part did sting a bit.) She just made sure she got everything in the divorce, including their lovely old Victorian house. And as soon as her younger daughter has her hipster-fabulous wedding in the backyard, she's trading it in for a condo in downtown Chicago....
-
-
Narrator is bland, slow. Story is good.
- By Dogs & Horses on 07-10-16
By: Jen Lancaster
-
Welcome to the United States of Anxiety
- Observations from a Reforming Neurotic
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Jen Lancaster
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jen Lancaster is here to take a hard look at our elevating anxieties, and with self-deprecating wit and levelheaded wisdom, she charts a path out of the quagmire that keeps us frightened of the future and ashamed of our imperfectly perfect human lives. Take a deep breath, and her advice, and you just might get through a holiday dinner without wanting to disown your uncle.
-
-
Not relatable
- By shelly on 11-03-20
By: Jen Lancaster
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The Tao of Martha
- My Year of LIVING; Or, Why I'm Never Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Jen Lancaster
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
One would think that with Jen Lancaster’s impressive list of bestselling self-improvement memoirs that she would have it all together by now. One would be wrong. Jen’s still a little rough around the edges. Suffice it to say, she’s no Martha Stewart. And that is exactly why Jen is going to Martha up and live her life according to the advice of America’s overachieving older sister - the woman who turns lemons into lavender-infused lemonade.
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Not as light as previous books, still witty
- By Dogs & Horses on 05-10-15
By: Jen Lancaster
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I Regret Nothing
- A Memoir
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Jen Lancaster
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
New York Times best-selling author Jen Lancaster has lived a life based on re-invention and self-improvement. From Bitter Is the New Black to The Tao of Martha, she’s managed to document her (and her generation’s) attempts to shape up, grow up, and have it all - sometimes with disastrous results...Mistakes are one thing; regrets are another. After a girls’ weekend in Savannah makes her realize that she is - yikes! - middle-aged (binge watching is so the new binge drinking), Jen decides to make a bucket list and seize the day.
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The Smug Is Strong With This One
- By T. Filowitz on 05-24-15
By: Jen Lancaster
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Almost Perfect
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- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Everyone has that one line they swear they’ll never cross, the one thing they say they’ll never do. We draw the line. Maybe we even believe it. Sage Hendricks was my line. Logan Witherspoon befriends Sage Hendricks at a time when he no longer trusts or believes in people. He's drawn to Sage, with her constant smile and sexy voice, and his feelings for her grow so strong that he can’t resist kissing her. Sage finally discloses a big secret: She was born a boy. Enraged, frightened, and feeling betrayed, Logan lashes out at her.
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Takes teen angst to a new level
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By: Brian Katcher
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Final Girls
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Performance
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Ten years ago, six friends went on vacation. One made it out alive... In that instant, college student Quincy Carpenter became a member of a very exclusive club - a group of survivors the press dubbed “The Final Girls”: Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who endured the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape the massacre at Pine Cottage. Despite the media's attempts, the three girls have never met.
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Not what I expected...in a good way
- By Chanda Leigh Combs on 08-08-17
By: Riley Sager
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It's Not Like It's a Secret
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- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
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Overall
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Sixteen-year-old Sana Kiyohara has too many secrets. Some are small, like how it bothers her when her friends don't invite her to parties. Some are big, like the fact that her father may be having an affair. And then there's the one that she can barely even admit to herself - the one about how she might have a crush on her best friend. When Sana and her family move to California, she begins to wonder if it's finally time for some honesty, especially after she meets Jamie Ramirez.
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YA contemporary that focused on an important topic
- By AudioBookHoe on 06-21-17
By: Misa Sugiura
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Rumble
- By: Ellen Hopkins
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Matthew Turner doesn't have faith in anything. Not in family - his is a shambles after his younger brother was bullied into suicide. Not in so-called friends who turn their backs when things get tough. Not in some all-powerful creator who lets too much bad stuff happen. And certainly not in some "It Gets Better" psychobabble. No matter what his girlfriend Hayden says about faith and forgiveness, there's no way Matt's letting go of blame.
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Amazing
- By Caesar hubbard on 01-20-23
By: Ellen Hopkins
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What to Say Next
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- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David. Kit appreciates David's blunt honesty - in fact, she finds it bizarrely refreshing. David welcomes Kit's attention and her inquisitive nature. When she asks for his help figuring out the how and why of her dad's tragic car accident, David is all in. But neither of them can predict what they'll find. Can their friendship survive the truth?
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Couldn't Put It Down !!
- By Doha on 09-06-17
By: Julie Buxbaum
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She Started It
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- By: Sian Gilbert
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Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe are best friends—or were, as children. Despite drifting apart in adulthood, shared secrets have kept them bonded for better or worse, even as their childhood dreams haven’t quite turned out as they’d hoped. Then one day they receive a wholly unexpected—but not entirely unwelcome—invitation from another old friend. Poppy Greer has invited them all to her extravagant bachelorette party: a first-class plane ticket to three days of white sand, cocktails, and relaxation on a luxe private island in the Bahamas.
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Just wrong!
- By Dan C. on 07-31-23
By: Sian Gilbert
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Storyworthy
- Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling
- By: Matthew Dicks, Dan Kennedy - foreword
- Narrated by: Matthew Dicks, John Glouchevitch
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A five-time Moth GrandSLAM winner and bestselling novelist shows how to tell a great story - and why doing so matters. Whether we realize it or not, we are always telling stories. On a first date or job interview, at a sales presentation or therapy appointment, with family or friends, we are constantly narrating events and interpreting emotions and actions. In this compelling book, storyteller extraordinaire Matthew Dicks presents wonderfully straightforward and engaging tips and techniques for constructing, telling, and polishing stories that will hold the attention of your audience (no matter how big or small).
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not many tips on how to deliver a good story
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By: Matthew Dicks, and others
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I'll Be You
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As children, Sam and Elli were two halves of a perfect whole: gorgeous identical twins whose parents sometimes couldn’t even tell them apart. They fell asleep to the sound of each other’s breath at night, holding hands in the dark. And once Hollywood discovered them, they became B-list child TV stars, often inhabiting the same role. But as adults, their lives have splintered. After leaving acting, Elli reinvented herself as the perfect homemaker: married to a real estate lawyer, living in a house just blocks from the beach.
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The near perfect book
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By: Janelle Brown
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As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
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like Gillian Flynn's version of Eat pray love
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The Latecomer follows the story of the wealthy, New York City-based Oppenheimer family, from the first meeting of parents Salo and Johanna, under tragic circumstances, to their triplets born during the early days of IVF. As children, the three siblings—Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally—feel no strong familial bond and cannot wait to go their separate ways, even as their father becomes more distanced and their mother more desperate. When the triplets leave for college, Johanna, faced with being truly alone, makes the decision to have a fourth child.
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Conservatives and religious are the villains
- By Ashley on 09-01-22
What listeners say about The Gatekeepers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- malinda_h
- 05-14-18
Jen NAILS It
Another terrific book from Jen Lancaster. If you are already acquainted with her books you will thoroughly enjoy this story. When it comes to the characters, the narration is a bit distracting from an otherwise fantastic book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- L. Fullmer
- 04-07-18
Great performance
If you could sum up The Gatekeepers in three words, what would they be?
The story is very thoughtful and well delivered. My only complaint is the perpetual use of perpetually. :)
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- Michele Poythress
- 08-14-21
Good storyline but confusing performances
Overall, the storyline was good. A bit junior and better for the teen/tween audience but valuable just the same.
With the intermingling of the character conversations it becomes difficult to follow along w/ the story (I.e. Simone talking to Kent but performing Kent’s voice). I didn’t know if there was an inner monologue or if the experience was a direct conversation.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Books2Geaux
- 11-17-17
timely
this is her best work since NewBlack.... Her research is solid.
and her passion clear.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-17-18
Very Good Book
I loved this book! I have read a number of Jen Lancaster books and I have enjoyed them but is different in a lot of ways, much darker, kind of depressing. It was a little preachy with different people saying almost exactly the same thing. There were a few times either the text was wrong or the narrator screwed up that I noticed, but over all a very good book.
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- Jamie
- 07-06-24
The sensitivity of the topic.
As I listened to this on my commute, I realized even the upper rich classes do in fact have their own issues. I became proud of Owen’s parents, and Simone’s. And really I wanted to shake Mallory’s and Liam’s. But the book approached the suicides, identified a root cause, and solutions. Thank you.
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- MizzSkully
- 11-10-17
SO worth the credit! This book could save lives!
This book touched on SO many issues that I was amazed at how the author wove it all together! I think this should be required reading in schools, right alongside 13 Reasons Why! And the song mentioned in the book (for which it was likely named I assume) was BEAUTIFUL. I even shared it with a friend battling depressing due to health problems. I've been on both ends of the proverbial "spectrum" where suicide is concerned, so I can relate to a lot of the feelings the characters had. This is the type of book that can really help people and I'm SO glad I stumbled upon it. Ms. Lancaster, thank you for using your talent to really inspire change! I ❤ u!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Cassidy
- 06-22-18
Good, but...
I love all of the Jen Lancaster books, to include this one, but having two teenagers it’s really apparent that this book is out of touch with teen reality. I really enjoyed the book it’s like teens with technology but talk like 80’s kids. The references are very adult as is the slang and pop culture.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Paula M Nichter
- 05-21-21
Not my cup of tea.
It Was recommended by my daughter-in-law and for some reason I just think I'm too old for this type of book and I believe it's too mature for my granddaughter. I can't say that it's bad because I've liked the author's other books I am just not thrilled with this one.
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