Lucy, the commitment-phobe, is about to do something she never thought she would: get hitched. She has fallen in love—with the right man. Only there's one problem: every first marriage in her family has ended in divorce. Every single one. She thinks her family is cursed, and most everyone who knows them agrees. The issue: does Lucy really want to go through with getting married to Mr. Right, if it'll only mean that marriage will end in a division of assets? Her three best friends—Cristina, Mercedes, and Annette—believe that Lucy's marriage is a blessing and are determined to get Lucy to the altar, despite the fact that the wedding has come at a particularly bad time in all of their lives. Cristina, the beautiful, married into Texan aristocracy, has two perfect children, a perfect dog, a perfect cat, and a perfect wardrobe. So when her husband retires from professional baseball, the boredom of her perfect life begins to wane on her self-esteem, and she turns to the unimaginable—shoplifting. Ugh. Cue in Mercedes, the driven. This self-made publishing mogul has a no-holds-barred ambition that makes her the Cruella De Vil of the magazine world. After her power-biz beau dumps her, she finds herself a thrice-divorced horror of a person, whose fuel is a potent mix of martinis and Vicodin. Oh no. Bringing us to Annette, the homemaker. This thoughtful, working-class mom has devoted her entire life to raising her five beautiful daughters. Feeling taken for granted, Annette is just about to go on Domestic Goddess Strike when her eldest daughter drops a bomb—she's fallen in love with another girl. Yikes. So when Lucy bolts after the wedding, each of her friends' secrets come spilling out. As a group they decide their only alternative is to embark on the unthinkable: a journey to the mountains of New Mexico, in search of a reclusive spiritual guru who is renowned for being able to change people's lives. The quest is not what they expect, but it's an odyssey that strengthens the bonds of their friendship and ultimately enables each of them to begin accepting herself and who she is as well as the life she leads. Through laughter, love, and a little bit of magic, Unsettling is a novel that will make you want to pick up the phone and call everyone you ever felt close to, over and over again.
Author
**Since I'm intimately familiar with the blood, sweat, and tears that go into producing a book, I will only be listing my 4-and 5-star reads. We don't all like the same fare (as is evidenced by some of the Goodreads ratings on my own work!), so if I don't love a book, you won't see it on my page. I'm not interested in bashing anyone else's creative efforts or negatively influencing anyone's reading choices. This is PURELY my choice, and how you review is up to you. On with the bio.**
Lynda Sandoval is a former police officer-turned fiction writer with 22 published (or soon to be published) books to her credit. She's written women's fiction and nonfiction for HarperCollins Rayo; romance for Silhouette Special Edition; a romantic novella for Avon A; and young adult novels and novellas for Simon & Schuster and Houghton Mifflin. She launched her career with five award-winning books for Kensington Bouquet and Pinnacle Encanto, and her popular nonfiction text published by Gryphon Books for Writers, True Blue: An Insider's Guide to Street Cops—For Writers, is still selling strong.
Lynda also works half-time as an emergency 9-1-1 dispatcher for the Fire/EMS Department, teaches writing for Long Ridge Writer's Group, volunteers at a GLBTQ youth center and speaks regularly to book groups and clubs.
Lynda's Awards:
Look of Love/Pinnacle Encanto/1999
2000 Rising Star award
One and Only/Pinnacle Encanto/2001
4-1/2 star Gold Medal Top Pick in Romantic Times
2002 Golden Quill Award, Short Contemporary
Thief of Hearts/Pinnacle Encanto/2001
2003 Colorado Romance Writers' Keeper Award
2002 Beacon Award, Long Contemporary
Finalist, 2002 Booksellers' Best Contest, Long Contemporary
Finalist, 2002 Golden Quill award, Long Contemporary
Unsettling/HarperCollins Rayo/2004
2005 Write Touch Readers' Award, Mainstream Fiction
2005 Laurie Award of Excellence, Single Title Fiction
2005 The Lories, Mainstream Fiction
2005 The Lories, Best of the Best Published
2005 Colorado Romance Writers' Award of Excellence, Mainstream Fiction
2nd place, 2005 More than Magic Award, Mainstream Fiction
2nd place, 2005 Beacon Award, Mainstream Fiction
Finalist, 2005 Golden Quill Award, Mainstream Fiction
Finalist, 2005 Aspen Gold Award, Single Title Fiction
Finalist, 2005 National Readers' Choice Award, Single Title Fiction
And Then There Were Three/Silhouette Special Edition/2004
Two weeks on the Waldenbooks Series Bestsellers' List, peaking at #3
2nd place, 2005 The Lories, Long Contemporary
Finalist, 2005 Colorado Romance Writers' Award of Excellence, Long Contemporary
Finalist, 2005 Orange Rose Award, Long Contemporary
One Perfect Man/Silhouette Special Edition/2004
2005 Holt Medallion, Long Contemporary
2005 Write Touch Readers' Award, Long Contemporary
3rd place, 2005 More than Magic Award, Long Contemporary
Honorable Mention, 2005 Barclay Gold Award, Long Contemporary
Finalist, 2005 Colorado Romance Writers' Award of Excellence, Long Contemporary
Who's Your Daddy?/Simon Pulse/2004
Finalist, Colorado Endowment for the Humanities' Colorado Book Award, Young Adult Literature
2007 Evergreen Young Adult Book Award nominee
2005 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers
2005 New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age
2005 National Readers' Choice Award, Young Adult Literature
2005 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Young Adult Literature
Chicks Ahoy/Simon Pulse/2005
2006 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers
2006 Books that Kids Love and Parents Hate, Cleveland Public Library System
The Other Sister/Silhouette Special Edition/2007
Nominee, 2007 Romantic Times BOOKCLUB Best Special Edition of the Year
Borders Group/Waldenbooks Series Romance Bestseller
www.LyndaSandoval.com
