Making Arrangments: 1 (Making Arrangements) - Softcover

Robinson, Ferris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0965648117 ISBN 13: 9780965648110

Publisher: Peach Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

The small town of Barrington, with its picturesque cottages, breathtaking gardens and friendly neighbors, is very appealing. Things are going swimmingly for Lang Eldridge, an unlikely cancer survivor who is marking the one-year anniversary of her “death sentence.” She spent her supposed final year of life making sure her beloved husband, Jack, could survive without her. A caramel cake is in the freezer for his first birthday without her and love letters for every occasion are carefully written and tied with a pink ribbon. But just as she is packing for their celebratory trip, Jack drops dead on the tennis court. Devastated and reeling from shock, Lang realizes all of her perfect arrangements are in utter disarray. A mute stray dog posts itself on her front porch and a grammar-butchering fashion plate, A.J. Cole, practically takes up residence, regularly revealing too much information to loner Lang. Her son, Teddy, a tennis has-been, has his own ideas of how she should manage her life, and they don’t include cavorting about with a veterinarian who resembles Wimpy. Lillian, Lang’s long-lost mother, reappears and is as obnoxious as ever, waving to the pews at Jack’s funeral like she is Miss America. Lang’s granddaughter, Katie D, is a consistent bright spot, and Lang can’t imagine her life without her. As she realizes Jack wasn’t exactly the person she thought he was, she discovers a secret he carried to his grave could ruin her life. If she lets it. Compared to the Mitford Years by Jan Karon and Good Grief by Lolly Winston, Making Arrangements features “rich sassy writing with characters you’ll want to slap.” It is a story of family life and friendship, about mothers of both grown and young children, and how strangers (even the most irritating) can evolve into sisters. Relationships of all sorts can bloom into love (at any age) and the love between family, between mothers and children, grandparents and grandchildren, and sisters, is worth sustaining.

About this title

Review

"If you are looking for a mixture of heartbreak and humor delve into Ferris Robinson's Making Arrangements, a beautifully written family drama sprinkled with scenes of hilarity." Amazon reviewer "In just a few pages, Ferris Robinson gives the reader an honest and believable sense of Lang, the main character in the novel. Lang exemplifies the traits of the perfect hero- familiar and unfamiliar, likeable yet flawed, ordinary and extraordinary. I was immediately hooked by the opening lines: "Lang leaned on her shovel and tried to slow her breath. She should be packing for their celebratory trip for her one-year remission, not trying to divide a wayward clump of Lenten roses," and by the storyline in which Lang is unexpectedly handed a huge problem from the get-go. Bottom line... I stayed up much too late several nights because I couldn't quit reading Making Arrangements." Amazon reviewer "Thoroughly enjoyed Ferris Robinson's authentic southern characters and almost tactile sense of enjoyment in plants and food and her granddaughter." Amazon reviewer "I literally could not put this down! I read a lot and many different types. I would put it up there with some of the best sellers that I have recently read. " Girl On A Train" comes to mind. It lends itself to a series and I hope that the author will continue. The characters are well written to the point that they feel like family. Unpredictable twists and turns that keep the reader's interest. Well worth the time but my suggestion would be to read on a weekend or a night when you don't need much sleep because it will keep you captivated." Amazon reviewer "What an absolutely delightful story. Although it is centred around a main character who is going through the dual suffering of having cancer and losing her husband unexpectedly, overall this was a story that made me feel good about appreciating life and the people in it. There were a few moments in the story that made me a bit tearful, but really this book is very much a joy to read." Amazon reviewer "Reading Ferris's descriptions of the way people experience their lives is, without exception, an affirmation of the way we experience our own. I have long been a fan of her works of non-fiction. After reading "Making Arrangements" there is no doubt that her gifts and talents lend themselves beautifully to the world of fiction" Amazon reviewer

About the Author

Ferris Robinson lives in a beautiful part of East Tennessee with her husband and two dogs. The mother of three grown sons, she delights in the fact that her dogs obey her - more or less. A former columnist for the Chattanooga Free Press, she is now the editor of the Lookout Mountain Mirror and the Signal Mountain Mirror. Her work has been published numerous times in The Christian Science Monitor and the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. She is a columnist at chattanoogan.com. The author of several cookbooks, including Never Trust a Hungry Cook, which she wrote in college, Simplify Supper and the Gorgeless Gourmet's Cookbook, Ferris was featured on the cover of Woman's World magazine. Promoting her easy but healthy recipes, she made numerous television appearances and sold 10,000 copies of the Gorgeless Gourmet's Cookbook, pre-Internet. Subscribers from every state subscribed to her newsletter, The Gorgeless Gourmet's Newsletter. She also wrote Dogs and Love - Sixteen Stories of Fidelity, and Authentic Log Homes, featuring hand-hewn log homes. "Making Arrangements" is her first novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Peach Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0965648117
• ISBN 13: 9780965648110
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 342