The Plan

By: Kim Pritekel

Narrated by: Leslie McDonel

As the dark days of the Dust Bowl came to an end, the midsection of the United States tried to rebuild and revitalize. In the small, dusty farming town of, Brooke View, Colorado, teenager, Eleanor Landry and her mother were dealing with her father, a self-appointment fire and brimstone preacher to his congregation of two. A plan to survive. As the dark era of the robber baron comes to an end, giants of industry and innovation emerged with fabulous fortunes manifested in the mansions that dotted the landscape across the country. Lysette Landon, the teen daughter of the wealthiest family in Brooke View, was everything a good, proper girl of privilege should be. Only problem was, she wasn’t dreaming of finding a young man to raise a family with. A plan to be free. One look, one touch, all plans are off. Secrets deeper and darker than the grave would bring Eleanor and Lysette together, their families connected by a web of lies and broken promises. A plan to escape. Be careful because, life has other plans....

©2019 Christine Svendsen (P)2020 Sapphire Books Publishing

Diamond in the Rough

A little more editing polish would make the story shine. The author maybe needed to do more research into historical details such as language. For example, ‘what part of (blank) don’t you understand?’ is likely a very modern phrase. Ditto with ‘don’t sweat it’. Also, the author used the word ‘smirk’ about 25 times and mostly in emotionally fraught scenes which seemed inappropriate. Nonetheless, there’s enough to make this a story worth listening to for character development and humorous moments that relieve the often heavy mood of abusive situations. The teen boy Jimmy’s fun personality and his rapport with his favorite teacher were sweet. And the scene of his dad Jim coming clean with Eli was priceless.

Great story

I really liked this audiobook. It had strong characters, the story was great and the ending was good.
The narrator was good but I had to speed it up a bit. I got a little confused sometimes when the timeline changed. Although I’m sure that was just an audio thing that would’ve happened had I been reading it. I know I’m super nitpicking but it makes me crazy when I’m reading or listening to a book that took place 70 years ago but the characters say things like drama queen and slow your roll. Just a thing with me. It didn’t take away from how awesome the book is.

Epic Life of Challenge, Struggle & Love

This was a well written, beautiful love saga. The narration was brilliant 👏, making the characters come alive and the action real and the emotions palpable. I love stories where the love is a part of the broad lives of the characters, their families and the historical context of life in their time. This book plumbs the characters lives from the 1920's to the 1950's writing sensitively about race, marriage, women, historical context and love. it's a great book! You will love every minute you spend with these characters.