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Blackberry Winter
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Tara Sands
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
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In this new novel from the author of The Dressmaker’s Dowry, two young women two generations apart discover the joy and heartbreak of following their dreams. Aspiring Hollywood actress Violet makes a shocking choice in 1940, and 70 years later, Mari sets out to discover what happened on that long ago summer. Santa Cruz, Summer 1940: When auburn-haired Violet Harcourt is crowned Miss California on the boardwalk of her hometown, she knows she is one step closer to her cherished dream: a Hollywood screen test.
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Wonderful Story set in Santa Cruz.
- By Christina on 11-02-19
By: Meredith Jaeger
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The Life List
- A Novel
- By: Lori Nelson Spielman
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Brett Bohlinger has forgotten all about the list of life goals she’d written as a naïve teenager. In fact, at 34, Brett seems to have it all—a plum job at her family’s multimillion-dollar company and a spacious loft with her irresistibly handsome boyfriend. But when her beloved mother, Elizabeth, passes away, Brett’s world is turned upside down. Rather than simply naming her daughter the new CEO of Bohlinger Cosmetics, Elizabeth’s will comes with one big stipulation: Brett must fulfill the list of childhood dreams she made so long ago.
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Truly Terrible.
- By Cricket on 04-27-14
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Black & White
- By: Dani Shapiro
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Clara Brodeur has spent her entire adult life pulling herself away from her famous mother, the renowned and controversial photographer Ruth Dunne, whose towering reputation rests on the unsettling nude portraits she took of her young daughter from the ages of three to 14. As Clara charts a path connecting her childhood with her adult life, Shapiro's novel weaves together past and present in images as stark and intense as the photographs that tore the Dunnes apart.
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It was okay
- By Lucy7 on 02-13-19
By: Dani Shapiro
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Stars over Sunset Boulevard
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Los Angeles, present day. When an iconic hat worn by Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind ends up in Christine McAllister's vintage clothing boutique by mistake, her efforts to return it to its owner take her on a journey more enchanting than any classic movie.... Los Angeles, 1938. Violet Mayfield sets out to reinvent herself in Hollywood after her dream of becoming a wife and mother falls apart, and she lands a job on the film set of Gone with the Wind.
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Pass on this
- By Lulew on 03-24-17
By: Susan Meissner
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Falling Home
- By: Karen White
- Narrated by: Lyssa Browne
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Cassie Madison has it all: A high-powered advertising career; a stylish Manhattan apartment; and a sophisticated, rich, and gorgeous fiancé. It's a far cry from her childhood in Walton, Georgia, home of the annual Kudzu Festival and hot, sticky summers. And then there are all the bad memories, the heartache. When Cassie's estranged sister calls to say that her father is dying, Cassie knows it's time to set aside her feelings and go home and face the sister she hasn't seen in 15 years.
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Could not finish
- By G. Moore on 06-08-11
By: Karen White
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Evergreen Falls
- By: Kimberley Freeman
- Narrated by: Jennifer Vuletic
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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A long-forgotten secret, a scandalous attraction and a place where two women's lives are changed forever. 1926: Violet Armstrong is one of the few remaining members of staff working at the grand Evergreen Spa Hotel as it closes down over winter. Only a handful of guests are left, including the heir to a rich grazing family, his sister and her suave suitor. When a snowstorm moves in, the hotel is cut off and they are all trapped. No-one could have predicted what would unfold.
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Soooo Boring
- By Merford on 10-09-19
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The Red Address Book
- By: Sofia Lundberg, Alice Menzies - translator
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The global fiction sensation - published in 32 countries around the world: Meet Doris, a 96-year-old woman living alone in her Stockholm apartment. She has few visitors, but her weekly Skype calls with Jenny - her American grandniece, and her only relative - give her great joy and remind her of her own youth. In writing down the stories of her colorful past - working as a maid in Sweden, modelling in Paris during the '30s, fleeing to Manhattan at the dawn of the Second World War - she may help Jenny, haunted by a difficult childhood, unlock the secrets of their family....
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narrator was overwrought
- By Janet L. Hamilton on 02-22-19
By: Sofia Lundberg, and others
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Brass Ring
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Perpetual optimist Claire Harte-Mathias and her disabled husband, Jon, run a successful foundation to help people with spinal cord injuries. One night Claire witnesses a woman leaping to her death from a bridge, and the tragedy sparks murky childhood memories that leave her confused and frightened. As Claire becomes obsessed with trying to understand the power the haunting memories have over her, she's torn between blocking them from her mind entirely and trying to unearth their source.
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Disappointed with this one
- By Scott on 03-22-16
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Modern Girls
- By: Jennifer S. Brown
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1935, Dottie Krasinsky is the epitome of the modern girl. A bookkeeper in midtown Manhattan, Dottie steals kisses from her steady beau, meets her girlfriends for drinks, and eyes the latest fashions. Yet at heart, she is a dutiful daughter, living with her Yiddish-speaking parents on the Lower East Side. So when, after a single careless night, she finds herself in a family way by a charismatic but unsuitable man, she is desperate: unwed, unsure, and running out of options.
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Super annoying voiceover
- By Amazon Customer on 04-25-17
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Inheriting Edith
- A Novel
- By: Zoe Fishman
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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For years Maggie Sheets has been an invisible hand in the glittering homes of wealthy New York City clients, scrubbing, dusting, mopping, and doing all she can to keep her head above water as a single mother. Everything changes when a former employer dies, leaving Maggie a staggering inheritance - a house in Sag Harbor. The catch? It comes with an inhabitant: the deceased's 82-year old mother, Edith.
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Narrator is distracting.
- By Onelove on 05-13-20
By: Zoe Fishman
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Trading Dreams at Midnight
- By: Diane McKinney-Whetstone
- Narrated by: Shari Peele
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Diane McKinney-Whetstone, the award-winning and best-selling author of Tumbling, presents Trading Dreams at Midnight - - an Essence Book Club Recommended Read. Back in 1984, 15-year-old Neena's mother left and never came back. And now Neena is following in her footsteps.
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Hard to follow
- By Nevada on 08-13-10
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What listeners say about Blackberry Winter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anthony & Michelle Colberg
- 11-20-16
Wanna get lost in a great book?....
I love Sarah Jio. Her writing captivates me. You will find a bit or more of yourself in anyone of her amazing books. I've read almost all her books and they are all really good, but I think Blackberry Winter is my favorite.
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- maida smith
- 08-01-13
My kind of book
If you could sum up Blackberry Winter in three words, what would they be?
Clever, determined effort
What did you like best about this story?
The tenacity of the journalist
Have you listened to any of Tara Sands’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I don't think so.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Would have been nice
Any additional comments?
Of interest to many readers
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- Debbie
- 07-18-13
Historical Fiction of Depression Era and Now
This is a beautifully written story, very personal . . . which I easily related to . . . if you have had the privilege to have grown up with or known family members who went through the Great Depression, you will appreciate this audio book. My mother-in-law grew up during the depression. She was the most unassuming, gentle, giving person I have ever known. She never went past third grade, because she had to leave her family, her mother, father and seven siblings to go to the city and keep house . . . cook and clean for a wealthy family. And she was never, ever bitter. Family was everything to her. This book tells about a young single mother who has to leave her three year old son in bed asleep at night, while she goes to work cleaning motel rooms. The poverty during the 1930's is absolutely unimaginable to our society today. But I assure you, it was real. This is a complex story of the haves and the have nots . . . of those who abuse their power . . . and those, who by the grace of God, USE their power and money for good. It was then . . . and is now . . . a choice. The story goes back and forth between the '30s and today, and weaves a beautiful tale of love, sadness, mistakes, forgiveness and hope.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kelly
- 06-15-13
Sweet, Emotional Story about Motherhoo & Loss
What made the experience of listening to Blackberry Winter the most enjoyable?
Although this story is a bot predictable and doesn't make you think or learn, it is emotional, and sweet and made me cry more than once. It explores motherhood & loss and because I am a mom it touched my heart. When it ended I was left wanting more. I wanted to go into the story and meet the heroines of the story and become their friends.
Who was your favorite character and why?
I am not sure I can pick a favorite character. However I liked Dominic a great deal. He was a more minor character, but I felt that he was an honorable and loyal friend. He was a person I trusted and I felt he allowed the main characters to flourish and grow.
Which character – as performed by Tara Sands – was your favorite?
I loved the voice she used for Daniel - the grandfather. Some of the other characters sounded much alike but Daniel was easily distinguishable and he actually sounded aged, I heard weakness, kindness and surprise in his voice at the appropriate times.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes, and I did. I finished it in a 24 hour period.
Any additional comments?
This is my first review ... if I didn't explore parts of the story or narration or there is something I could do to make my reviews more helpful please leave me comments.
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- Paula
- 11-20-12
Formulaic, Irritating Narration - but Still Worthy
The over-enunciating, over emphatic narrator practically ruined this story for me. Add that to the rather predictable, formula-driven plot and this became an average if not less than average read at best. Still, there was something captivating about the plot. . . pitting poor against wealthy and overcoming the ravages of time to open old memories and uncover new evidence. So I'll give it a weak, wavering one-thumbs-up.
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4 people found this helpful
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- BarbJ1947
- 12-13-12
Very interesting concept
This was as unique a plot as I've seen in a long time, and I liked the shifts from present to past, but the it would have been much stronger without the ungainly coincidences. Good character development and good sense of the lives of the poor in the 1930s. Worth the time.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Anne
- 07-11-13
Pretty good story buried under turgid narration
The story has a creative and interesting plot surrounding a modern-day love story and a long-ago mystery and the way they become woven together by two freak spring snow storms. It's not great literature, but it would be a good read. I use "read" deliberately because listening to this story is a terrific disappointment.
I realize, as I am nearing the end, that I am so distracted by the narrator, that I find myself wondering, "How would that sound in my head if I were just reading it - would I give that phrase that emphasis? Would I feel differently about this character, this decision, this coincidence if I didn't have that voice in my head making every character sound as if they have a huge stick up their... er ... you know." When the focus of your listening experience becomes the narrator and not the story, something isn't working well.
I'm not sure what Ms. Sands was trying to do with this story, but her slow, deliberate, pronounce-every-syllable pacing becomes very distracting. Her tone is usually "emphatic" sounding and everyone (all her characters) speak with the same level of intensity about everything. Vera is exactly as intense about the hole in her shoe as she is about her missing child - like that.
I listened to samples from some of her other works, and she clearly doesn't narrate like this in all of them, and that leads me to wonder if this might have been the result of bad direction.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-04-19
Blackberry Winter a family puzzle
This is a story of family, lost an found. Masterfully woven to keep you guessing, until the end. The rich and poor have a profound effect on each other.
The performance was wonderful.
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- Debralee G.
- 03-06-16
Wow just Wow! Excellent book!
Heart wrenching and heart warming at the same time. Keeps you intrigued and turning the pages.
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- Pamela Harvey
- 09-28-12
Cleverly Constructed
From the cover design and the book's title, at first glance I thought this might be a romance novel, and had a moment of regret after purchase. However, I was pleasantly surprised, as the story evolves as relatively original and the author weaves the present and past in a very believable and relatable way, with past-to-present story lines that are somewhat similar or at least parallel.
Though romantic love is a theme, it's not the primary one, as the novel deals with larger issues like personal growth, motivation, the definition of true "success", and how we handle life's curve balls; how we play the hand we're given.
I appreciated the main character's perspective from an in-law attached to a high-profile and wealthy family, as many on the outside can think that once you marry into wealth and influence your life is solved. But that's not always the case, and there are downsides.The protagonist struggles to find her own way, establish herself independently of her husband's powerful and prestigious family. She does manage to succeed at this and in the end becomes more than just another appendage to a family with far-reaching power and influence.
I think the plot trajectory is clever, well-conceived and somewhat original. I am sure there are other novels with a similar story but I haven't encountered them, so to me this narrative has legs beyond what at first seems to be simply about a reporter just trying to find a story. And it's all deftly mixed in with the specter of a recent personal tragedy that adds color and depth.
I am only giving this book 4 out of 5, however, because the ending was resolved for me way before the last few chapters, and those sections, seeming like filler, just dragged annoyingly on and on. This part didn't seem to fit - perhaps added as a recommendation from an editor, because the primary reveal was accomplished well in advance of the final chapters.
Still, well worth the purchase and highly deserving of a credit.
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21 people found this helpful