This book is about losing a best friend to suicide, which is heart wrenching to consider, but somehow JJ Elliott manages to tell the story with all the shades of grief and not just absolute devastation. It's funny, witty, charming, and absolutely beautiful in the way it celebrates female friendships--the ones that endure and sustain us. The narrator for the Audible version is exceptional, making each character jump off the page and straight into my heart--and my wine glass! Grab several copies and your best girlfriends and gather to read this wonderful novel by JJ Elliott! It also won TWO Zibby Awards (IYKYK!), so that's an awesome seal of approval as well!
People like Feeney Simms don't commit suicide. Beautiful, charismatic, mother of two, wife to a handsome, successful husband, beloved by her friends-this is not the typical picture of a tortured soul. But one summer night, Feeney drives to the beach and swallows a handful of pills. No note, no explanation, nothing. Like that, she's gone.
Faced with this loss, Ali, Max, and Liddy, Feeney's closest friends, are left reeling, grappling with the devastating cocktail of grief, guilt, and anger that's left in the wake of a suicide. In a desperate attempt to avoid further loss, the three women make the…
American Daughter is a gorgeously written but vulnerable account of a young Stephanie growing up in a world that looks nothing like the American Dream we're all promised--no white picket fence or parents to keep her safe. She sleeps on floors and lives in a car with a mother who is unstable on her best days and incredibly dangerous on her worst. I loved this story because of its optimism and Stephanie's unshakeable belief that she could have a different life than the one she'd born into. Her story resonates with resilience and bravery and as a teacher, it explained to me the reasons some of my students are so quick to be in serious relationships: They are creating love and building a family for themselves. A beautiful memoir told by an incredible woman who has absolutely created the life of her dreams (Google her ASAP to see how!)
The sharp and surprising true story of a woman who finally sets out to understand her past, and the mother she had one day hoped to forget. Full of unexpected twists and unbelievable revelations, American Daughter is an immersive memoir that will have you on the edge of your seat to the very last page.
For years, Stephanie Plymale, successful CEO and interior designer, kept her past a fiercely guarded secret. Only her husband knew that her childhood was fraught with every imaginable hardship: neglect, hunger, poverty, homelessness, truancy, foster homes, a harrowing lack of medical care, and worse. Stephanie,…
This novel was a departure from my usual choice of memoir or historical fiction--a novel noir of sorts that grabs you from page one and keeps you tethered to the main character until the mystery is solved! Morgan is an incredibly talented storyteller, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. She has a background in Hollywood/LA television, and her experience creates a vivid setting for our main character, Jenny St. John, as she searches for her doppelganger in an attempt to solve a murder she is being blamed for. This story took me back to an old radio show I listened to as a kid --EG Marshall's CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I not only listened on Audible (GREAT NARRATOR!), but I also bought a hardcover copy! It's original, incredibly well written, and a mystery that is not easily solved! A great read for cozy afternoons!
A failed actress turned grifting psychic searches for her missing doppelgänger and is plunged into a web of murder and corruption among Hollywood A-listers.
"Weird and wonderfully addictive—reads like Agatha Christie on acid, or maybe Raymond Chandler adapted by the Coen Brothers." —Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Ready Player One
When Jenny St. John was eighteen, she moved to Los Angeles from her rural midwestern hometown and scored the lead role in an independent film called The Divide. Under the intimate direction of young auteur Serge Grumet, Jenny was on her way to becoming the next…
People like Feeney Simms don’t die by suicide. Beautiful, charismatic, mother of two, wife to a handsome, successful husband, beloved by her friends—this is not the typical picture of a tortured soul. But one summer night, Feeney drives to the beach and swallows a handful of pills. No note, no explanation, nothing. Like that, she’s gone. Faced with this loss, Ali, Max, and Liddy, Feeney’s closest friends, are left reeling, grappling with the devastating cocktail of grief, guilt, and anger that’s left in the wake of a suicide. In a desperate attempt to avoid further loss, the three women make the unorthodox (and very Feeney-like) decision to hold their own funerals while they are still alive—and the experience changes each of them in ways they couldn’t have imagined.
