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Title: Pretending to Dance

Author: Diane Chamberlain

Narrator: Susan Bennett

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-08-15

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

When the pretending ends, the lying begins....

It's the summer of 1990, and 14-year-old Molly Arnette lives with her extended family on 100 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The summer seems idyllic at first. The mountains are Molly's playground, and she's well loved by her father, a therapist famous for books he's written about a method called 'Pretend Therapy'; her adoptive mother, who has raised Molly as her own; and Amalia, her birth mother who also lives on the family land. The adults in Molly's life have created a safe and secure world for her to grow up in.

But Molly's security begins to crumble as she becomes aware of a plan taking shape in her extended family - a plan she can't stop and that threatens to turn her idyllic summer into a nightmare.

Pretending to Danceby Diane Chamberlain, the best-selling author ofThe Silent Sister, is a fascinating and deftly woven novel that reveals the devastating power of secrets.

Critic Reviews:

"Prepare to have your heartstrings tugged by this cleverly crafted family drama." (Sunday Mirror)

"Tightly written with a great plot, this book will keep you hooked." (Fabulous Magazine)

Members Reviews:

Beautiful story, heart felt and captivating

This is a beautiful story of personal development and really tough choices. I loved the honesty of the characters and the easily imagined back drop. Susan was a perfect narrator with an age appropriate voice. I have personally and professionally related to this book as I am a Therapist and a girl who also grew up loving New Kids On The Block! It reminds me of Judy Blume and Freya North. Love them both.

Easy to read (listen to) yet fulfilling.

Beautiful performance.

I guessed the twist. And I thought the main character was selfish. But by design. Neither of these things made the book any less enthralling. Loved it.

A new take on coming of age teenage angst. A good story, well told

This American family drama has it all: family secrets, teenage rebellion and its outcome, and terminal illness. It deals with some very difficult subject matter and still delivers a satisfying story with a good ending. Ultimately a heartwarming story which is well told. I enjoyed it very much.

Absorbing and involving

I thoroughly enjoyed this thought provoking and involving book. As with most modern fiction there were areas which stretched credulity but overall it was a lovely, true read. Well narrated and well crafted. I shall look to read more by Diane Chamberlain.

Started great but sickly sweet unbearable ending

I loved the adventures of the young Molly but the present Molly came across as pathetically hard done by with a constant 'woe is me' attitude. The subject matter of euthanasia could have been so great and gritty but it wasn't It was disappointingly dull. The ending was also a real let down, all lose ends are tied up in a cheesy big pink sickly bow. 1...2...3..group hug!!!

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Title: Daylight, Book 1

Subtitle: No Death for the Wicked

Author: Karli Rush

Narrator: Jeannie Lin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-05-15

Publisher: Karli Rush

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Due to sexual scenes and adult language, this novel is intended for adults, 18+.

In a small spectrum of the world is a city full of vampires and a very rare serum. This serum allows a vampire to walk in the light of day. The formula has been guarded for thousands of years, and yet a young female vampire from the north claims to have lived on the serum as if it's common place...This cannot be...This must be dealt with. Mattie desires two things, getting daylight back and him.

Members Reviews:

Daylight Serum!

I have enjoyed all of Karli Rush's audiobooks she has on Audible. I thoroughly enjoyed the first story that I listened to by her, Pine Needles and I'm still waiting anxiously to here the second audio in the Veil Realm series and I hope she'll add to that series soon. To be honest, Daylight was written even better than the first story I listened to by Karli Rush. I know this is a must read story and I will NOT leave anything about the story in my review. I don't want to spoil this amazing and unique story for anyone. In this story the author adds vampires, witches, mysteries, love triangles, HOT sex scenes, a story filled with twists and turns, and so much more to make this story perfect that Karli has created. The worlds are well written and developed, the characters are intriguing, and the story was well paced and the writing flowed smoothly.

Jeannie Lin has done a superb job with her narration of Daylight. She kept me glued to this story from start to finish. She did a great job distinguishing the characters accents and voices. As I set with my eyes closed listening to this story, I felt as if I was watching this story unfold. Overall, a perfect 5 star rating! I look forward to listening to more of this narrators work.

Daylight

Any additional comments?

I love how this story was well written and thought out. The characters were strong and made you pull for them. I do hope to see more from this story. And I know there is more coming from this talented author..Very good audio book.

Disappointed with the ending...

The story was overall good but the ending fell flat. The story was interesting and I was given a free copy for an honest review. I really enjoyed the story until the ending which sort of just stopped; no ending just ended. Hopefully, they will continue the rest of the story and finish out the story.

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Title: White Chalk

Author: Pavarti K. Tyler

Narrator: Chloe Golden

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-01-15

Publisher: Evolved Publishing LLC

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Chelle isn't what most people consider a typical 13-year-old girl - she doesn't laugh with friends, play sports, or hang out at the mall after school. Instead, she navigates a world well beyond her years.

Life in Dawson, ND spins on as she grasps at people, pleading for someone to save her - to return her to the simple childhood of unicorns on her bedroom wall and stories on her father's knee.

When Troy Christiansen walks into her life, Chelle is desperate to believe his arrival will be her salvation. So much so, she forgets to save herself. After experiencing a tragedy at school, her world begins to crack, causing a deeper scar in her already fragile psyche.

Follow Chelle's twisted tale of modern adolescence, as she travels down the rabbit hole into a reality none of us wants to admit actually exists.

Members Reviews:

Real, Rough, and Highly Recommended

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, it was hard for me to put into words what I thought of this book. I can normally come up with my thoughts within an hour after finishing the book. I finished it 36 hours ago, and it's still difficult. This is not as easy book to read. I had to shut it many times. One page took me two hours to read. Not because it is bad, because it is an exceptional book. It was the content. There are things in this book that I wish I was warned about before starting. I figured it out pretty quickly - puked within the first 10% of the story. And again a little more than halfway into it.

I was drawn to the main character, Chelle, for a number of reasons. Not all of which I feel comfortable listing in a public review. She felt so real, and my heart ached for her as I read this story. I have seen similar things happen, and that is one big reason why I applaud this book.

Abuse is real. It happens every day, all over the world. Whether it is bullying, neglect, sexual, or otherwise - it is happening everywhere around you. And to all sorts of people. Closing your eyes and ignoring it won't make it go away. White Chalk took things many people are overlooking, and showed the consequences.

I do highly recommend this book, but with a warning. The content it rough and it will hurt.

5/5 Platypires

A Raw, Realistic but Important Story

Every parent of a teenager should read this book. It's gritty, raw, and extremely realistic but it shows what can happen when a child is neglected and pushed aside. Chelle represents many modern teens struggling with the pressures of broken homes, peer admonishment, and exploding hormones. The author weaves a gripping story of a young girl searching for acceptance the only way she knows how but finds no matter what she does, love is just out of reach. I commend the author for taking an unflinching look at the kind of story no one wants to tell. You will find yourself shocked and appauled but you will also never look at today's teenagers the same way again. Perhaps you will even have a bit more compassion for what they are going through.

Trigger Warning: some of the content in this book may trigger severe reactions from people who have suffered abuse.

I really loved this book even though it's probably not for everybody

I really loved this book even though it's probably not for everybody. Celle, a 13 year old, is a girl with absolutely no self esteem looking for love or affection anyplace she can get it.

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Title: The Chimes

Author: Anna Smaill

Narrator: Luke Kempner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-28-15

Publisher: Sceptre

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A mind-expanding literary debut composed of memory, music and imagination.

A boy stands on the roadside on his way to London, alone in the rain. No memories beyond what he can hold in his hands at any given moment. No directions, as written words have long since been forbidden. No parents - just a melody that tugs at him, a thread to follow. A song that says if he can just get to the capital, he may find some answers about what happened to them.

The world around Simon sings, each movement a pulse of rhythm, each object weaving its own melody, music ringing in every drop of air.

Welcome to the world of The Chimes. Here, life is orchestrated by a vast musical instrument that renders people unable to form new memories. The past is a mystery, each new day feels the same as the last, and before is blasphony. But slowly, inexplicably, Simon is beginning to remember. He emerges from sleep each morning with a pricking feeling and sense there is something he urgently has to do. In the city Simon meets Lucien, who has a gift for hearing, some secrets of his own, and a theory about the danger lurking in Simon's past.

A stunning debut composed of memory, music, love and freedom, The Chimes pulls you into a world that will captivate, enthral and inspire.

Editorial Reviews:

"The Chimes is a remarkable debut. It's inventive, beautifully written, and completely absorbing. I highly recommend it." (Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds)

Members Reviews:

An already so-so book made worse by the narrator.

What disappointed you about The Chimes?

The story is in no way original - and although that isn't always a problem (hello, Star Wars?), here there is little redeem it. The characters are unlikeable, and the way Luke Kempner narrates Lucien and Lucien's sister, you would believe they're 40 and 50 respectively. Also, the one thing that really makes it stand out - the accent placed on music, and musical narration, and musical theory - is lost one someone like me, who has marginal knowledge of musical theory and zero imagination when it comes to translating descriptions of music into actual sounds in my head.

Has The Chimes turned you off from other books in this genre?

I remember reading on Goodreads that the author intended this book to be a YA novel, and it was the publisher that re-shelved it. Bad idea. This is YA, period, and I wouldn't have touched it if I had known.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Boredom.

Wonderful

I really enjoyed this story. Anna Smaill deserves her award. It was different, refreshing and new. I've never read anything like this. Although there was a faint echo of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas with the language spoken. This story will always stay with me.

The Chimes

Told with beautiful prose, this novel is an inventive and original take on dystopian fiction, as well as a love story to music. IMHO however, the book is spoiled by the discord between the first and second half. The first half is mind-blowing in its originality and breathtaking beauty, the second half seemingly plot-driven young-adult-fiction, it's urgency to 'tell' disappointing.

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Title: A Time for Friends

Author: Patricia Scanlan

Narrator: Grainne Gillis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-10-15

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

When are the boundaries of friendship pushed too far, and when is it time to stop flying over oceans for someone who wouldn't jump over a puddle for you? There comes a time when Hilary Hammond has to make that call.

Hilary and Colette O'Mahony have been friends since childhood. But when irrepressible Jonathan Harpur breezes into Hilary's life and goes into business with her, Colette is not best pleased.

After their first encounter, Colette thinks he's a "pushy upstart" while he thinks she's "a snobby little diva". And so the battle lines are drawn, and Hilary is bang in the middle.

But as the years roll by and each of them is faced with difficult times and tough decisions, one thing is clear...to have a friend you must be a friend.

And that's when Hilary discovers that sometimes your best friend can be your greatest enemy....

Members Reviews:

Narrator destroys this book

I only purchased this book yesterday and immediately started to listen to it. However the narrater sounds so full on. She barely pauses for a breath. I managed to listen for an hour but gave up. I usually love Patricia Scanlan's books but unable to read this one it is not a pleasant read because of the narration. I cannot speak for the story as I have not completed or intend to complete this book. Because Patricia Scanlan is one of my favourite authors I will buy a hard copy of this book.

I cannot understand why authors do not stick with a fabulous narrator when they have them read their previous books it happens so often with Audible and is very disappointing.

Excellent storyline

Loved the story but I felt it was spoiled by the reader. I love Patricia Scanlan's books so it wouldn't put me off another one

Dreadful narration.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I absolutely love Patricia Scanlan, one of my favourite authors but I could continue listening to this one. Loads of mispronunciations and monotonous.

Has A Time for Friends put you off other books in this genre?

No, not at all, just the narrator.

What didnt you like about Grainne Gilliss performance?

As above.

Very disappointed

What would have made A Time for Friends better?

Better narration

What was most disappointing about Patricia Scanlans story?

Only got half way through chapter 1 before I lost the will to live

What didnt you like about Grainne Gilliss performance?

She was rushing through the sentences so much thought she was on speed dial and hadn't been thought to breathe properly. Couldn't stand it!

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

All the above

Any additional comments?

Have just finished Orange Blossom Days by Patricia Scanlan which I loved so was looking forward to listening to another book by same author

Great story

The narrator took me a while to get used to. Overall I quite enjoyed it.

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Titre: Le secret de la manufacture de chaussettes inusables

Auteur: Annie Barrows

Narrateur: Claire Tefnin

Format: Unabridged

Durée: 18 hrs and 31 mins

Langue: Français

Date de publication: 09-09-15

Éditeur: Audiolib

Evaluation: 5 sur 5 sur 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Résumé de l'éditeur:

Après Le cercle littéraire des amateurs d'épluchures de patates, le retour très attendu d'Annie Barrows avec ce roman d'une grande finesse.

Quand Layla Beck accepte de devenir rédactrice pour le compte d'une agence gouvernementale, elle s'imagine déjà en route vers le prix Pulitzer. Hélas, on la charge de rédiger l'histoire de Macedonia, une petite ville de Virginie, et de sa manufacture de chaussettes. C'est peu de dire que le projet ne l'emballe guère et que l'été s'annonce sinistre...

Mais elle va prendre pension dans une famille de doux excentriques - les anciens propriétaires de la manufacture - et découvrira peu à peu leurs secrets enfouis, leurs désirs cachés, leurs rêves inavoués. Et personne n'en sortira totalement indemne.

Après Le cercle littéraire des amateurs d'épluchures de patates, Annie Barrows nous offre un nouveau roman absolument réjouissant.

©2015 The Truth According To Us / Annie Barrows. Traduction par NiL Éditions, Paris. Design couverture : © Joël Renaudat / Éditions Robert Laffont - © Robert Hunt Studio et Olga Popova, Julia Sudnitskaya, Vitaly Korovin, Antonio Gravante / Fotolia.com (P)2015 Audiolib

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Title: Radio Iris

Author: Anne-Marie Kinney

Narrator: Jane Cramer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-09-15

Publisher: Recorded Books

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Radio Iris follows Iris Finch, a 20-something socially awkward daydreamer and receptionist at Larmax, Inc., a company whose true function she doesn't understand (though she's heard her boss refer to himself as "a businessman"). Gradually her boss' erratic behavior becomes even more erratic,;her coworkers begin disappearing; the phone stops ringing, making her role at Larmax moot; and a mysterious man appears to be living in the office suite next door. Radio Iris is an ambient, eerie dream of a novel, written with remarkable precision and grace that could also serve as an appropriate allegory for our modern recession.

Critic Reviews:

"A noirish nod to the monotony of work." (O: The Oprah Magazine)

"[An] astute evocation of office weirdness and malaise." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Radio Iris has a lovely, eerie, anxious quality to it. Iris's observations are funny, and the story has a dramatic otherworldly payoff that is unexpected and triumphant." (Deb Olin Unferth, The New York Times Book Review)

Members Reviews:

Growing up is hard to do

I really enjoyed reading this well written, mystery/suspense story. The use of first person viewpoint, the unreliable narrator, and the pacing of the story reminds me of The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips. From the beginning it's obvious that Iris is trying very hard not to think about something from her past, but the event, how she was involved, and why it affects her as it does, is revealed so gradually, that the reader gets to enjoy Iris's own awakening to the significance of the event. Like Iris, I also work in a small office, that has days of almost complete silence, absent co-workers and absent managers. Sometimes work really is like living in the Twilight Zone. BTDTGTTS.

well written, but no story

I honestly liked the author's prose. She can certainly write. It feels, however, like she started writing without a story in mind. There is certainly not one here. The book alternates between a young woman, a receptionist at a clearly failing firm, and her brother, a traveling salesman. Both seem to be mildly aphasic. Her college roommate keeps trying to set her up. There is a strange guy in the office next door. The brother had a childhood tragedy. Someone delivers a piano. And, that's about it. You could stop at any point and not miss a thing. I can only assume that the ending was the result of a mistake at the printers. It clearly was from an entirely different book. Maybe it is intended to make the reader go back and question the character's sanity, but as a ending, it is terrible.

:(

One of the VERY few books I actually splurged and bought (I usually go free or cheap, out of necessity) and really did not like it. I finished and thought what was that!?!

Hard to follow

This book was hard to follow and hard to understand. Maybe I am too old to get it. didn't understand the ending at all.

A Terrific Read

While I was utterly captivated by this book and its mysterious depths, if, like my wife (who gave it the raspberries), you want clear resolution and harbor little tolerance for ambiguity and characters at sea, you probably won't find this as creepily engaging as I did. "Radio Iris" is way more than a well-written tale about a girl working in a very strange office with weirdness that grows like kudzu. It's about anomie and entropy. It's about desperation and lack of connection.

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Title: Never Said

Author: Carol Lynch Williams

Narrator: Elise Arsenault

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-25-15

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 1.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

For as long as she can remember, Sarah's family life has revolved around her twin sister, Annie - the pretty one, the social one, the girl who can do anything. She's the person everyone seems to wish Sarah - with her crippling shyness - could simply become.

When Annie suddenly chops off her hair, quits beauty pageants, and gains weight, the focus changes - Annie is still the star of the family, but for all the wrong reasons. Sarah knows something has happened, but she too is caught in her own spiral after her boyfriend breaks up with her and starts hanging out with one of Annie's old friends.

Annie is intent on keeping her painful secret safe. But when she and Sarah start spending time together again for the first time in years, walls start to break on both sides...and words that had been left unsaid could change everything.

Members Reviews:

Compelling premise, meh execution

Grade: C

Sarah, who suffers from social anxiety exists behind the shadow of her beauty pageant queen twin. Now Annie no longer competes and is happily overweight, much to the chagrin of their mother. Sarah knows something with her sister is different, but for once the loquacious Annie isn't talking.

Told in prose by Sarah and verse by Annie NEVER SAID is a quick read about a serious issues. I'm often frustrated by the easy answers in Carol Lynch Williams' books. She writes about such topical, important subjects, pens overly simplistic resolutions and the characters often don't show their troubles in an an authentic manner. With Sarah, her social anxiety feels flat. I didn't feel any of the tension jumping of the pages. I felt like Williams googled the condition and plugged in some symptoms, instead of doing actual research. Annie's situation was too cerebral, and unemotional. Williams has excellent plot ideas, but let's me down with the execution.

I enjoyed reading NEVER SAID, but wished it had more substance. I think Annie's chapters might have been better told in prose. The free verse never felt metaphorically poetic, instead read like thoughts in incomplete sentences. On some level this worked to convey Annie's disjointed thinking, although it kept me from knowing her and feeling like she was a complex character.

THEMES: social anxiety, twins, sisters, siblings, family, eating disorders, sexual abuse, rape, parents

NEVER SAID, a compelling story, glosses over complicated issues with easy answers.

The Twins Who Are So Different

Annie was once thin and popular, but now she's overweight. Food seems to be her only friend. Her twin sister, Sarah, has never been popular. She gets nervous around people, but that doesn't keep her from having a boyfriend. But now, she and he are no longer together. Why is Annie eating so much? And can Sarah stop thinking about her ex long enough to give her sister the help she needs?

The first thing that caught my eye was the nice cover, and then I noticed the author's name. I've read two books by Carol Lynch Williams, so I figured I'd like this one. I'm okay with poetry, but I don't read it often. I've enjoyed one or two verse novels, but this is the first time I've seen a story written in verse (Annie's voice) and first person point of view (Sarah's voice). This took a little while to get used to. Once I did, I stopped feeling like the story was choppy. It was just creatively different .

Social Anxiety.

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Title: Rabbit Redux

Author: John Updike

Narrator: William Hope

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-20-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

It's 1969, and the times are changing. America is about to land a man on the moon, the Vietnamese war is in full swing, and racial tension is on the rise. Things just aren't as simple as they used to be - at least not for Rabbit Angstrom.

His wife has left him with his teenage son, his job is under threat and his mother is dying. Suddenly, into his confused life - and home - comes Jill, an 18-year-old runaway who becomes his lover. But when she invites her friend to stay, a young black radical named Skeeter, the pair's fragile harmony soon begins to fail....

John Updike was born in 1932 in Shillington, Pennsylvania. He attended Shillington High School, Harvard College and the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford, where he spent a year on a Knox Fellowship. From 1955 to 1957, he was a member of the staff of The New Yorker, to which he contributed numerous poems, short stories, essays and book reviews. After 1957 he lived in Massachusetts until his death.

John Updike's first novel, The Poorhouse Fair, was published in 1959. It was followed by Rabbit, Run, the first volume of what have become known as the Rabbit books.

Rabbit Is Rich (1981) and Rabbit at Rest (1990) were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Critic Reviews:

"A masterpiece.... Updike owns a rare verbal genius, a gifted intelligence and a sense of tragedy made bearable by wit. (Time)

An awesomely accomplished writer.... For Gods sake, read the book. It may even - will probably change your life. (Anatole Broyard)

A superb performance, all grace and dazzle...a brilliant portrait of middle America. (Life)

Members Reviews:

Top flight literary fiction

This is an excellent work of literary fiction. Updike was one of America's greatest authors of the last century and in a world enamored with crime novels, thrillers and fantasy tales, proves again and again the value of fine literature. The plot of the book is thin--young Harry Angstrom's efforts to leave his pregnant wife--but Updike's detailed look at Harry, his family and friends makes for an engaging read and offers thoughtful insights into the human condition that are as valid today as they were when the novel came out in 1960. Highly recommended.

drama at its best

This book is about a young man facing a situation many of us have faced: after graduating from minor glory in high school, he finds himself just another working stiff, married to an imperfect person, with a dreary life (according to him) around and ahead of him. How he reacts to it - by constantly running away - is demoralizing and depressing. His actions are motivated by his still-lingering youthful selfishness, and never does love enter into his relationships, which are created more out of convenience and need of a partner - any partner - than anything else. The characters in the book are normal, typical people, and their flaws drive the story. This ultimately results in a rather depressing story with little redemption, and it's just about impossible to like anything about Rabbit. About the only character I felt empathy for was Ruth. But that doesn't mean that it's not worth reading.

I found Updike's writing and descriptions to be very good. Not too long winded, as some people think, and the symbolism was a another layer to the story.

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Title: The Daughter-in-Law Syndrome

Author: Stevie Turner

Narrator: Wendy Anne Darling

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-19-15

Publisher: Stevie Turner

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The Daughter-in-Law Syndrome delves into the complicated relationship that is causing much friction between Edna Deane and her daughter-in-law Arla. In addition it focuses on the sometimes tumultuous partnership between Arla and her husband Ric.

Arla Deane sometimes likens her marriage to undergoing daily psychological warfare. Husband Ric will never voice an opinion, and puts his mother Edna up high on a pedestal. Arla is sick of always feeling that she comes in at only second best to her mother-in-law, who much to Arla's fury is never told anything by Ric or his sisters that she would not want to hear.

This novel explores the husband/wife, mother/son, and mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationships. After 28 years of marriage, Arla, the daughter-in-law, is at the end of her tether and persuades a reluctant Ric to accompany her for marriage guidance. As they look back over their lives with counselor Toni Beecher, Arla slowly comes to realize her own failings, and eventually discovers the long-hidden reason why Ric will never utter a cross word to his mother.

Also adding to Arla's stress is the fact that her son Stuart will soon be marrying Ria, a girl whom Arla feels is just looking for a free ride. Arla is convinced that Ria will be no asset to Stuart at all; her new daughter-in-law just wants to be a mother and has no intention of ever working again once the babies start to arrive. After visiting Stuart and Ria for Sunday lunch, Arla is convinced that her son is making the biggest mistake of his life....

Members Reviews:

The Daughter-in-law Syndrome by Stevie Turner

Would you consider the audio edition of The Daughter-in-Law Syndrome to be better than the print version?

I don't know. I haven't read the print version.

I received this audio book as a prize, a few days ago, and decided to give it a try and see how it works out. From the very beginning, I was captivated by the story, and couldnt stop listening. I listened way into the night about poor Arla who underwent a tug-of-war relationship with her mother-in-law, and sisters -in-law that lasted twenty-eight years. For twenty eight years, she was not accepted by her husbands family, and it seemed that her husband remained quite neutral about it all, not taking sides, and not giving her support.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Daughter-in-Law Syndrome?

When she too became a mother-in-law herself to Ria, and things started to change. She saw herself almost falling into the same pattern as Edna, but Rias sunny disposition, and refusal to be put off, plus the therapy, of course, help her to become the mother-in-law to Ria that she did not experience.

She was forced to seek therapy to better understand her situation, and to figure out what to do. A marriage where a woman stays home to bring up the kids, usually leaves the woman with no financial power of her own. Arla confesses to the counselor Toni, that her fear of divorce was based on the fact that she has no money of her own. He mother-in-law, Edna, and sisters-in-law, Val, and Jan, and to some extent Ric her husband, put her through hell.

Which character as performed by Wendy Anne Darling was your favorite?

Definitely Ria's character.