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Karen's Best Friend
 
 

Karen's Best Friend [Kindle Edition]

Laura Jane Leigh
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: £1.98 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
* Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.



Product Description

Product Description

Karen is a young widow, still mourning her husband ten months after his death. Financial difficulties force her to work long hours at a job she hates. The one bright spot in her life is her little daughter, Cindi.
One morning, Karen decides to pick herself up and start again. The first step is to go back to college. If she finishes her degree, she can have the career she wants, as a teacher of French. The problem is: she can’t afford to take time off, unless she finds a cheaper place to live. A solution arrives in the form of her old friend, Jim. He’s on a tight budget, too, and he needs someone to share his apartment. Karen foresees difficulties, if she moves in with a man. Jim, though, reassures her. There’s no chemistry, no spark. It should be easy to live together as “just friends.”
Thinking matters over, Karen agrees. After all, Jim is the kind of man she calls a “Mr Nice Guy”—good-natured and funny, but not physically attractive.
Soon she and her daughter have settled in. Life is pleasant, but dull, until the employment agency calls with an ideal assignment: six days at a legal conference in Venice. In that dream-like city, she meets Mark Lebrun, a man she sees as a fairy-tale prince. Handsome and rich, he makes life easy for Karen. Unfortunately, her friend, Manon, dislikes him. And Karen herself begins to notice flaws in his character. But she confronts Mark and he promises to change.
In the meantime, Jim has been dating Manon. She encourages him to lose weight and work out at the gym. Soon women begin to notice him. And Karen is one of them.
As problems worsen with Mark, she wonders: has she been looking for love in the wrong place? And when she decides what she really wants, will it be too late?

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 366 KB
  • Print Length: 147 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B007DI16VE
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #128,712 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing 11 May 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was amazed by the story and its development, but the ending shocked but pleased me! What a great book, would recommend to all, 5 stars greatly deserved
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read 19 April 2012
By L. Rann
Format:Kindle Edition
This book was an excellent read and very good value for money! One of those books that you have to keep turning the pages & you really don't want it to end
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 3.7 out of 5 stars  11 reviews
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Slow Going But Very Emotional 3 Mar 2012
By Sheiglagh - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
A young widow with a five-year old daughter, Karen is barely surviving with her temp jobs. To save on cost, she shares an apartment with Jim, an old college roommate and friend. Accepting that there was no "spark" between them, Karen and Jim became best friends as they pursued their own romantic relationships.

In a temporary assignment in Venice, Italy, Karen met Mark, a very successful lawyer for New Orleans. With a "spark" between them even while they were in Venice, Karen and Mark continued their romantic liaison alternately visiting each other in Montreal and New Orleans.

But, everything is not it seems. As Karen's relationship with Mark deepens, she also notices how Jim, her nerdy friend is becoming a babe magnet.

***MY TAKE ON THE STORY***
Beautifully told, the story is actually slow in the beginning, yet you emphatize with the feeling of loss and sadness that permeates Karen. Looking at it from another angle, perhaps the author deliberately made the pacing that way.

Karen's awakening from a grieving widow to a vibrant woman was also slow as the audience saw the small steps that she took. She blossomed into our very eyes. Her love interests - Mark and Jim, also blossomed into our eyes as we became familiar with their qualities. Even the minor characters were fleshed out nicely by the author.

Added bonus is the tour of Montreal, Venice and New Orleans. If you haven't been to these places, you can actually see them in your mind's eye as the author described them.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely story of true love 20 Jun 2012
By Dafna Yee - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Karen's Best Friend was a wonderful story of how the love between friends developed into a deep love between a man and a woman. Karen, who was widowed ten months earlier, and her daughter, Cindi, moved In with Jim, who had known Karen for 14 years as a platonic friend, in order for both of them to afford a nice apartment. Karen wanted to be able to complete her college education and Jim wanted the freedom to write a novel. Other reviewers have already written a synopsis of the story so I'll just say that the relationships were very believable.

All of the people had well-rounded, complex and three-dimensional personalities and the dialogues were completely authentic as well as fun to read. The imagery was fantastic, especially the descriptions of Montreal, Venice, and New Orleans; they were so graphic and realistic that I felt like I would know exactly where to go (and what to eat), if I ever visited them. The writing was very well done but the editing could have used a good proofreader. However, the errors were not bad enough to interfere with the flow of the story.

I really admired the way that Karen refused to tolerate any form of abuse from Mark and stopped the relationship immediately when the abuse became physical. I only have two small criticisms: there was no translation of the French when there was a quote from Beaudelaire and when Karen and Jim did become intimate, there was no mention of them using protection.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this story very much and I would definitely recommend it. I'd give it a grade of A-.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book 17 April 2013
By Dazaray Larose - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition
Good book but wish it was a little longer hope there will be another book on Karen and Jim's married life
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