Life and Other Inconveniences by Kristan Higgins - Audio Version

Life and Other Inconveniences

by Kristan Higgins

Audio Version

 

☆☆☆☆☆

 

You know the old saying, "Never say never."

That's really the whole theme of this story.

Emma London learned some hard lessons the

hard way. Some lessons learned very young.

Now, she is an adult. A loving wonderful mother.

Emma and her daughter, Riley, live with

Emmas grandfather. In a stable, respectable

home.  

There is so much to this story. Emotion and

the depth of the human condition. Forgiveness.

Bravery. And, of course, love.  

Kristan Higgins uses 4 different narrators to tell

her story. Which is brilliant. I love it when there

are multiple voices. Barbara Caruso, Dion Graham,

Suzy Jackson and, of course, the amazing

Xe Sands. They all do a wonderful job!

 

Life and Other Inconveniences is a thoughtful

story. It has had me thinking since I started it.

Events in the story, dialogue and lifes

inconveniences from this story keep popping

into my head. It's still with me.

And I hope you will enjoy it as well. If you enjoy

audio stories, I highly recommend this one.

 

I bought my version from Audible.com

Review by Lisa Hutosn

Good Luck With That by Kristan Higgins - audio version

Good Luck With That

by Kristan Higgins

audio version

☆☆☆☆☆

 

When you start reading Good Luck With That, you might

imagine its going to be a book to teach you a lesson.

You know, the books with moral lessons and let me tell

you how to live your life. If you only listen to  me, I will

fix your dreadful life right up. We all know those books.

Frankly, I am sick to death of being told I am doing

it all wrong. Not a good enough wife, mother, woman,

human, friend, American, etc.....

 

But I guess, anyone that knows anything about

Kristan Higgins should know she would not write

a book like that!

Good Luck with That is far more about friends helping

friends to love each other and themselves.

Its very different from telling others they are doing

it all wrong. Emerson, Georgia and Marley are the

best of friends. The friends that love each other 

through it all. No judgement.

I think that might be my favorite thing about

Kristan Higgins. She does not judge.

 

I highly recommend all Kristan Higgins books.

But her womans fiction is out of this world.

I bought my copy from Audible.com

Review by Lisa Hutson 







Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins

Just One of the Guys

by Kristan Higgins

Audio Version

 

I have read this one and now listened to it.

All I can say is it is wonderful either way.

 

Chastity O'Neill is 5 foot 11 3/4 of solid

strong sweet determined capable woman.

She is the fifth child after four brothers.
And she has always been one of the guys.

 

Men really cant handle such a woman. There

is one man that she wishes could. Trevor has

always been one of the family. Thought of as

another one of the sons. Long ago, Trevor and

Chastity had a moment. A moment of magic.

 

While Trevor loves her, he keeps it secret. From

everyone. He is afraid he could lose his whole

support system. His whole "family". Trevor was

never certain how Chastity felt. That's why he

has always left it hidden way in the past.

Chastity has always done the same. Afraid she 

could lose Trevor all together.
Maybe even break up the whole family.
Its too scary to take the chance.

 

"My heart is blank, too. It can only take so much,

I surmise. Maybe its used to being in this state of

brokenness, of incompleteness. Who knows?

Hey, you did all you could, my heart whispers.

Thanks for trying."

 

Oh how wonderful it would be. They both think

it. But can either of them take the leap?

Take a big chance and just go for it?
Anybody? Anybody??

 

 

Kristan Higgins is married to a hero firefighter

in real life. I think this gives her a bit of an

advantage writing romance about them.

That is one way to explain how wonderful

her stories are. She never fails to make

me smile, cry a little and sigh....

 

Xe Sands in the narrator for the story.

She does a wonderful job. I really

enjoyed listening to her.

 

I bought my audio copy from Audible.com

Review by Lisa Hutson

 

 



Waiting On You by Kristan Higgins - Audio version

Waiting On You

by Kristan Higgins
Audio version

The Blue Heron series. Book 3

Lucas Campbell & Colleen O'Rourke were the couple that
everyone knew would be forever. But it took just one bad night.
One bad conversation with regrettable words. And they were

over. Then 10 years later, Lucas got the call. His dying uncle
needs him. So, Lucas finds himself back in Manningsport. 
Now, they have a second chance. The heat between them is
still there. As strong as ever.

But they both have a lot of forgiving and forgetting to do.
How bad do they want it? Both of them will have to
compromise and give a little. Can it work?

Amy Rubinate is a pretty well known narrator.
For good reason. She is terrific. Listening to
the story is just that much better because of her.

I bought my audio copy from Audible.com
Review by Lisa Hutson





Susan and Lisa review -- Waiting On You by Kristan HIggins

Kristan Higgins -- Waiting on You

I’ll admit-- I adore a second chance at romance novel. There’s something about a couple who falls deeply in love, breaks up and gets the opportunity for a do over that appeals to me. I read Kristan Higgin’s book Anything for You and figured out that Ms. Higgins had written a story for Connor’s twin sister Colleen. Waiting On You provides Lucas and Colleen a chance to see if they have what it takes to make a relationship work.

“What are you doing?” said a low voice behind her. 

Colleen’s heart froze, as though she swallowed a large ice cube, and it was stuck right over her heart. 

She turned around. 

Yep. Lucas Campbell. 

None other. 

Standing approximately two feet from her, looking at her with those dark knowing eyes. 

Her skin suddenly felt tight. Mouth: dry Brain: dead. 

Lucas Campbell broke Colleen O’Rourke’s heart ten years ago. He moved to Chicago, married and became a successful construction project manager. Colleen graduated college, returned home to Manningsport and opened a restaurant with her brother. Colleen is a harmless flirt who has played matchmaker to many of her friends but has not gotten over her first love.

Kristan Higgins is a fabulous storyteller. She provides enough back story in Waiting On You for the reader to grasp the intensity of Colleen and Lucas’s teen age romance and how tragic it was that a misunderstanding caused their break up. I liked that the novel was told using the dual narrative technique as it allowed the reader to understand each character’s point of view, their motivations and emotions. I wasn’t a big fan of Lucas at first. He kept something important from Colleen and he got married shortly after their break up. By providing his point of view, the author was able to provide the reasons for his behavior and what was behind his choices.

Colleen has a huge fear which stems from her parents break up. Her father left her mother for a younger, prettier woman. And Lucas left. He married a beautiful rich woman. Colleen doesn’t want anyone else to leave her and is unable to commit to anyone.

I have enjoyed reading each of the novels in the Blue Heron series. Kristan Higgins always delivers a heartfelt story with lots of humor, great dialogue and well thought out minor characters who play important roles in the novel. Colleen and Lucas’ love story is problematic—After 10 years can you go back to the way it was? – - Do you forgive and forget and move forward?-- Or has too much time and one too many secrets gotten in the way of the HEA? Loved the ending to this novel—it is not what I expected at all and its perfect!

Reviewed by Susan Gorman 

I purchased the book at amazon.com. 

To read my review of Anything for You, please visit Fresh Fiction. 

Waiting On You

by Kristan Higgins
Audio version

The Blue Heron series. Book 3

"Is your first love worth a second chance?"

Lucas Campbell & Colleen O'Rourke were the couple that
everyone knew would be forever. But it took just one bad night.
One bad conversation with regrettable words. And they were

over. But 10 years later, Lucas got the call. His dying uncle
needs him. So, Lucas finds himself back in Manningsport. 
Now, they have a second chance. The heat between them is
still there. As strong as ever.
But they both have a lot of forgiving and forgetting to do.
How bad do they want it? Both of them will have to
compromise and give a little. Can it work?
Amy Rubinate is a pretty well known narrator.
For good reason. She is terrific. Listening to
the story is just that much better because of her.

I bought my audio copy from Audible.com
Review by Lisa Hutson





Anything For You by Kristan Higgins - Audio Version

Anything For You

by Kristan Higgins

Anything For You is from the Blue Heron series.

Connor O'Rourke has been in love with Jessica Dunn

since they were 12 years old.
Connor has not had the easiest life. But really, he always

had his twin sister, Colleen. Their parents broke up.
Their mother did not take it well. Their dad started a

new family for himself.
Meanwhile, Jessica has been trying to survive. Taking care

 of her parents, herself and her little brother, Davey.

Davey suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Only Jessica

can take care of him. At least, that's what she thinks.  

She never asks for help from anyone. Never.

That is hard for Connor to accept. He is the guy that takes

care of the people around him. Especially the women.

Its always been his fondest wish to take care of Jessica.

But Jessica is determined to take care of herself and Davey.

She struggles and strives to reach her goals.

With her own personal life being her last concern.

The story runs over a long span of time. The way its written

draws you in. Closer to the characters. Into their relationships.

You will find yourself cheering when the good things happen for

everyone. Then, of course, crying when the bad things happen.

The Holland clan. The O'Rourkes. Everyone from Manningsport

is in this story. Oh gosh, just thinking about this story makes

me smile and tear up a little bit.

I have to add, I have read quite a few Kristan Higgins stories.

I have always liked them. I feel like her writing style is

changing. The last two stories of hers have felt different.

More and deeper emotion. The characters are interesting

and real. Even the ones that aren't so likable are important

and you want to know about them.

Amy Rubinate is a wonderful narrator for Kristans books.

I have not listened to her for a while and as soon as she

started talking, it reminded me how great she does.

Review by Lisa Hutson

I bought my audio copy from Audible.com





If You Only Knew Dinner & Book Signing with Kristan Higgins.

It's me, Celeste!! And I have exciting news!

Guess what??

Lisa and Susan won a fun contest and got to meet author Kristan Higgins  (Did you know Kristan Higgins loves dogs?) for dinner and go to a book signing for her new book If You Only Knew!

Lisa's story
On Wednesday, September 9, I drove to downtown Phoenix. We met at the Blue Hound Kitchen.
We were a group of 7. Two of the ladies were old family friends of Kristans. They live here in the Phoenix area. One of the ladies was a mother of 8 children. Another had a bunch of very good questions to ask Kristan. You could tell she had put a lot of thought into them ahead of time. It was a lovely time, though not long enough. Kristan was very friendly and generous with her answers. Telling us about her family and childhood. Along with all of our questions about her books.
At the end of dinner, I asked for everyone to stand for a group picture. I snagged a young man to snap it for us.

Then everyone separated to make their way to the book signing. It was hard to find and no parking. So I was late getting there. She had already started her reading. But I saw a couple of the ladies from the dinner had made it.
It was a wonderful evening I will never forget. I have never heard of writers doing this. So  feel especially lucky to have gotten to enjoy the experience!

Susan's story

I love contests! I have been so fortunate to win books, necklaces and totes from authors. I never imagined that I would win the Dinner With Kristan Higgins contest. I crossed my fingers and said a quick prayer as I sent the email!! And I won...so exciting!

I drove to The Melting Pot restaurant in Framingham, Massachusetts to meet author Kristan Higgins and five other lucky readers for dinner on September 14th. The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant and it was perfect spot for dinner as we had to decide on the fondue selections and share the cooking space. We shared two different kinds of cheese fondue and dipped fruit, bread and veggies into the cheese as we talked. Kristan is warm and funny just like she is on social media. I asked her about the characters and settings in If You Only Knew. Everyone talked about how much we loved Jenny and Leo. We ordered dinner which was a surf and turf combination and cooked it on the cooktops on our table. Kristan spoke to each one at the table and knew two of the ladies  Suzy Duffy and Lisa Olech, who were also authors.

I asked Kristan about the Blue Heron series (which I love!) and she mentioned that the last Blue Heron book will be published in December. Kristan thanked me for my review which was published on Fresh Fiction. We had chocolate fondue for dessert and it was fabulous!

The book signing was at the Bacon Free library in Natick and was well attended. Kristan answered many questions about the book and read a chapter. I am so happy that I had the opportunity to meet Kristan! I gave Kristan a small gift for her dog from Celeste-- a Humarock dog bone!  

Dinner was so much fun and the book signing was enjoyable, too!!

Such a fabulous night!

Link to Lisa's Lady Celeste review.
Link to Susan's Fresh Fiction review. 

If You Only Knew by Kristan Higgins-Audio Version

If You Only Knew

by Kristan Higgins

I listened to the audio version of this story. Starting there,

it has to be noted that the narration was fabulous. It's the

story of two sisters. In brilliant fashion, they used two

narrators, Xe Sands and Amy Rubinate. This only added

to the pleasure of listening. They did a terrific job.

Having read a number of Kristan Higgins stories, I have

to start out saying, this one took her out of her own

comfort zone. Don't get me wrong, I love her comfort

zone. Her comfort zone is often my comfort zone.

 But this story strayed off from her normal style. At least,

it did for me. This is harder real life. The real life that

we normal people live. With deceit and anger. Not sure who

to trust. Low self esteem. Then, of course, you have your

sister. The one person on the planet you can share

everything with. Everything. The person you are always

sure it doing better than you are. The person you want to be

more like. Only of course, you find out their life isn't all you

thought it was. There is Kristans beautiful comedy too. You will
laugh as well as cry and worry.

This story took me up, down and all around. There

were moments that you could not figure out what she is

thinking. And you could not wait to find out. Jenny and

Rachel have a very interesting mother. We all know

someone with a mother like this. We also know people

that stay friendly with their ex husband. Everyone knows

that some people have the perfect marriage.

And then, none of it is true or good after all.

I highly recommend this story and especially in

the audio version. Such great writing

from Kristan Higgins to send off to the

fabulous narrators.

  And I will never look at a tree the same.

This review written by Lisa Hutson.

I bought the paperback and 

audio versions of this story.