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| Cover image courtesy of Goodreads |
What Joy for Beginners is about:
At an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them. To celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her: white-water rafting. But if she goes, all of them will also do something they always swore they'd never do-and Kate is going to choose their adventures.
Bauermeister has been gifted with the talent of being an amazing writer. Once again she has pulled me into the lives of these characters and made me care what happened to them. I loved being able to get a glimpse into each woman's life and personality. Erica is able to make the reader use all of their senses when reading, or in my case listening to one of her stories. I found myself identifying with Marion on so many levels, so many in fact that it was a bit eerie!!
Recommend? Absolutely, especially if you're already a fan of Erica's work, then you would really appreciate this one. The narrator did a fantastic job on this audio and made it very, very enjoyable to listen to!!
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 7 hours 55 minutes
Source: Purchased from audible.com
Book Friends who influenced me to read (listen) to this one:
Margot@Joyfully Retired
Jill@Rhapsody in Books
Diane@Bibliophile By the Sea (audio)
Les@Prairie Horizons
Linda@Silly Little Mischief
Six Sentence Bookish Thoughts #82
© 2013, Staci of Life in the Thumb. All Rights Reserved. If you reading this on a site other than, Life in the Thumb or Staci's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
Ooh, this is going right on my audio wish list. Thanks, Staci!
ReplyDeleteI also listened to this one, and just loved it. The audio reader is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI liked this a lot but not as much as her previous book. But more than I thought I would!
ReplyDeleteI read this in print and thought it was wonderful as well.
ReplyDeleteWow! This sounds really good!!!
ReplyDeleteI won this one and I love Bauermeister but I haven't found the right time yet to read this one. It's the cancer mention that keeps me away I think.
ReplyDeleteI'm already a fan of Bauermeister's novels and Cassandra Campbell is one of my favorite narrators... sounds like a win-win combination!!
ReplyDeleteI wanna read this one :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this book, too. Bauermeister is very good at creating characters you can relate to.
ReplyDeleteLove the premise behind this one:)
ReplyDeletethis sounds like such a fun book to read and almost reminiscent of a book by jude deveraux "the summerhouse"
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of doing something you are afraid of. This one sounds inspirational.
ReplyDeleteSounds as if they are all having a good time!
ReplyDeleteCassandra is a favorie narrator of mine! I enjoyed this book and glad you did too.
ReplyDeleteI am a fan of Bauermeister's book, but this book comes after the cooking school books in my order of preference. Whilst her books often feel like individual stories that are connected by an overarching things, the connection wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be in this one.
ReplyDeleteThis was such a sweet book! Glad you enjoyed it :)
ReplyDeleteI borrowed the paperback of this from Anna! I cannot wait to get to it now!
ReplyDeleteI didn't like the first one, so I have not and most likely will not continue with this author. I know, I know. Party-pooper me! :(
ReplyDeleteI liked this one but definitely felt like there were some characters that had much better story lines. I did really connect with several of the ladies and that alone made it worth the read.
ReplyDeletethis sounds really good.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read anything by Bauermeister, obviously that's poor choice on my part lol. Sounds like the brilliant narration took it to another level.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this one of hers too although I read the paper copy. I'd love to listen to it someday.
ReplyDeleteI had this book and then gave it to my neighbor when she started chemo. I need to get my hands on a copy!
ReplyDeleteI've read and loved all three of Erica's books and wound up re-reading The School of Essential Ingredients (on audio) before The Lost Art of Mixing. I think I need to get this on audio for a re-read, as well. Cassandra Campbell is wonderful! I enjoy the separate stories (which seems to be Erica's style), but I wish there were a more cohesive ending with all of the characters. Does this make sense? What challenge do you think Kate would assign to you?
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