Unsettling: A Novel - Hardcover

Sandoval, Lynda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060546875 ISBN 13: 9780060546878

Publisher: Rayo, 2004

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Lynda Sandoval is a former police officer and the author of twenty award-winning books. She writes young adult novels as well as women's fiction, romance, and nonfiction for five different publishers, all while working part-time as a 9-1-1 fire/medical dispatcher. Her work has appeared on the Waldenbooks Romance Bestsellers' list and has won numerous national awards, including a Colorado Book Award nomination for Best Young Adult Literature and a National Reader's Choice Award, also in the YA category. Lynda's teen novels have twice been nominated as ALA Quick Picks for Young Adult Readers, and her 2004 release, Who's Your Daddy? was named to the New York Public Library's "Books for the Teen Age" list. Unsettling, Lynda's 2004 release, won the 2005 Laurie Best of the Best Published Award, as well as several other honors. Lynda has been profiled in People en Espanol, Writer's Digest, Romantic Times, Catalina, Latina, The Denver Post, and many other publications.

From Publishers Weekly

Lucy Olivera is a tough 38-year-old Denver drug cop, but she's terrified to tie the knot with the man of her dreams, fellow cop Ruben. All Olivera first marriages end in divorce, and against her will, Lucy has begun to believe in the family curse. At the start of Sandoval's frenetic, overplotted novel, Lucy asks three old friends to help her get through the wedding: Mercedes, a high-powered New York City magazine editor; Annette, a devoted but harried mother of five; and Cristina, the socialite wife of a former football star and television personality. With their support, she makes it to "I do," but then bolts from the reception. Mercedes, Annette and Cristina find her, and with Ruben's blessing, decide to take her on a road trip to New Mexico in search of a fabled curandera (medicine woman) named Tilly. Lucy's not the only one who hopes Tilly can fix her life: Annette is stifled by family responsibilities; Mercedes's boyfriend recently dumped her and is trashing her in the tabloids; and Cristina has a shoplifting problem. And there's more drama: the pals rescue an abused pregnant woman, thwart a gas station holdup and survive a bear attack. Sandoval's protagonists are complex and pleasingly unpredictable, but the distractions pile up wildly in this uneven girlfriend caper.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Rayo
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0060546875
• ISBN 13: 9780060546878
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336