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The Things We Do for Love
by
Kristin Hannah (Goodreads Author)
Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family’s restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie’s fortunes will drastically change yet again when she meets and befriends a tro...more
ebook, 464 pages
Published
January 21st 2009
by Ballantine Books
(first published 2004)
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The Things We Do For Love is an emotional journey into one woman's life-stifling heartache of needing to experience motherhood; of wanting and needing a child to love. It is a story about one of the strongest bonds between females, the bond shared between a mother and her daughter. Another young woman finds herself on the other end of the spectrum, a woman who has yet to experience a mother's nurture and love. Together these women find themselves linked in ways they couldn't imagine, discovering...more
Nov 18, 2011
Alaine
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audio,
women-s-fiction
This is the second book of Kristin Hannah's I've read and I absolutely loved it. It was the most beautiful touching story that I've read in a long time. This author has a unique insight into the human soul and she is able to gently guide her characters into a full and rich life in a way that is believable and heartfelt.
Once I started this story I must admit that I just couldn't stop, it drew me in very quickly and I was delighted with the way it turned out. It's a story of human compassion and...more
Once I started this story I must admit that I just couldn't stop, it drew me in very quickly and I was delighted with the way it turned out. It's a story of human compassion and...more
3 likes · like · see review
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I gave it one star because I couldn't give it a negative star. The Things We Do for Love it so bad that you need to love yourself enough not to read this book.
1 like · like · see review
Pegasus Yayınları’ndan çıkmış olan , “ KRİSTİN HANNAH’IN – SEVGİ UĞRUNA YAPTIKLARIMIZ “ adlı kitabını, bitirmiş bulunmaktayım .
Kitabı ,İstanbul Tüyap Kitap Fuarı’ndan almış olmamıza rağmen ,bir iki sebeptan dolayı , elime alıp okumak istememiştim .Fakat hata etmişim , canım yazarımın kitabını bekletmekle . Neyse sonuca bakalım , bugun itibariyle kitabı bitirdim .
Bazı kitaplar için yorum yazarken acayip zorlanıyorum , çünkü ; hakkını acaba verebilirmiyim ,endişesi taşıyorum .Bu kitapta onlardan...more
Kitabı ,İstanbul Tüyap Kitap Fuarı’ndan almış olmamıza rağmen ,bir iki sebeptan dolayı , elime alıp okumak istememiştim .Fakat hata etmişim , canım yazarımın kitabını bekletmekle . Neyse sonuca bakalım , bugun itibariyle kitabı bitirdim .
Bazı kitaplar için yorum yazarken acayip zorlanıyorum , çünkü ; hakkını acaba verebilirmiyim ,endişesi taşıyorum .Bu kitapta onlardan...more
This book is about a women, Angie, who had gone through years of grief from losing a child, miscarriages, and failed adoptions. Angie has a big family, with several sisters who each have children of their own. Her marriage crumbles from the grief, and her lack of moving past this loss. She decides a change of scenery would help her life and she returns to her hometown to help her family save their struggling restaurant. The book also follows Lauren, a teenager with a deadbeat neglectful mother....more
Super quick read...2 days. I couldn't put it down and I think it's b/c I could really relate to the main character, Angie. I loved how Hannah captures the emotion of Angie, who is not able to conceive. It makes me wonder if the author experienced a miscarriage b/c she nailed it.
The book focuses on the DeSario family, a large italian family with all sisters. Angie was the favorite of her father's growing up. She is the only one who moves out of their small town, becomes a marketing exec, and see...more
The book focuses on the DeSario family, a large italian family with all sisters. Angie was the favorite of her father's growing up. She is the only one who moves out of their small town, becomes a marketing exec, and see...more
I don't know if I've changed, but I've been disappointed with the last several books I've read of Hannah's.
I was pleasantly surprised that the ending wasn't as predicatable as I'd assumed it would be.
Angie and her family were the kind of family you want to get together with when they're all together as they're a lot of family members and ton of good Italian food.
It was refreshing that Thor, Angie's estranged husband, didn't have an affair while they were separated. He was a great guy. It was h...more
I was pleasantly surprised that the ending wasn't as predicatable as I'd assumed it would be.
Angie and her family were the kind of family you want to get together with when they're all together as they're a lot of family members and ton of good Italian food.
It was refreshing that Thor, Angie's estranged husband, didn't have an affair while they were separated. He was a great guy. It was h...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Dec 08, 2010
Barbra
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2010-reads,
a-good-book-to-read
Angela DeSaria succeeded in her educational and career dreams and along the way found the perfect husband. The one thing she could not do is have a baby. Shattered dreams, a divorce take her back home to a family who opens their hearts to her.
Lauren Ribido, on the other hand is a teenager who was the mistake of a mother who loves her next drink and boyfriend more than anything or anyone else. Lauren works hard to develop good ethics and works hard while holding on to a full scholarship to a pres...more
Lauren Ribido, on the other hand is a teenager who was the mistake of a mother who loves her next drink and boyfriend more than anything or anyone else. Lauren works hard to develop good ethics and works hard while holding on to a full scholarship to a pres...more
I gave The Things We Do For Love a four star rating straight after finishing, but after letting it stew in my mind for a few days, I’m tempted to change the rating to a three.
Initially, I had enjoyed the story immensely. Just like Firefly Lane and Fly Away I was swept away in the story almost immediately and like the two previous novels, raced through it as quickly as I could. Because of that, I didn’t give myself a whole lot of time to ponder the story…instead I focused on my emotional respons...more
Initially, I had enjoyed the story immensely. Just like Firefly Lane and Fly Away I was swept away in the story almost immediately and like the two previous novels, raced through it as quickly as I could. Because of that, I didn’t give myself a whole lot of time to ponder the story…instead I focused on my emotional respons...more
After trying (unsuccessfully) to get pregnant, Angela Malone finds herself divorced and headed back to the small Pacific Northwest coastal town where she grew up. Angela, who previously had a successful advertising career, sets to work trying to market and revamp her family's restaurant.
When searching for an additional waitress for the restaurant, she runs into seventeen-year-old Lauren Ribido, whose alcoholic mother steals her paychecks to support her habit. Lauren's in search of a new job and...more
When searching for an additional waitress for the restaurant, she runs into seventeen-year-old Lauren Ribido, whose alcoholic mother steals her paychecks to support her habit. Lauren's in search of a new job and...more
A surprisingly lovely book. I almost put this down in the first few chapters, which I found disconnected and hard to follow. I'm glad I didn't. Ultimately this was a touching and absorbing story of people making difficult choices and about the meaning of family. Granted, I was a little predisposed to like the story because I share the characters' love for Western Washington and have some personal empathy with the issues they handle. Still, given that I read books for a living, it's a rare story...more
I find Kristin Hannah to be a writer much in the vein of Jodi Picoult, and nearly as prolific. Her stories and characters are appealing and compelling, but there seems to be a formula to her writing: Troubled characters meet other troubled characters, drama ensues, a tender resolution is achieved.
In this novel a childless woman, freshly divorced after years of struggling to conceive a child moves back to her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to take over management of her family's floundering It...more
In this novel a childless woman, freshly divorced after years of struggling to conceive a child moves back to her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to take over management of her family's floundering It...more
I really enjoyed this book. Our main character Angie's biggest dream and wish is to become a mother. SO much so that after years of unsuccesful attemps at getting preganant and adopting the stress and auguish of not having a baby brings about the end to her marriage. She moves home to help her mother and sisters save the family restuarant. Her she meets a teenager who changes her life and shows her there are many ways to be a mother and to love someone. I loved the hope this novel inspired as we...more
This book is all feels. It will make the reader smile, sad, laugh, long for someone you love/once loved, think, remember. This book shows the reader the humanness of people, even weakness and fragility. And also the things that tears people in half - love and forgiveness. Kristin Hannah will tell you through the story about life,
"'He loved to sit here and watch the ocean,' Mama said, leaning against her.
'We have to fix the stairs, Maria. That's what he said first thing every summer.'
'Did yo...more
"'He loved to sit here and watch the ocean,' Mama said, leaning against her.
'We have to fix the stairs, Maria. That's what he said first thing every summer.'
'Did yo...more
A love story of families: between mother and daughter; between sisters; between a man and a woman; a boy and a girl; a girl and her brand new baby and a woman and the child she always wanted. It's a love story on all these levels with a few twists and turns that we are accustomed to with Ms. Hannah's prose. I enjoyed it very much even though I had trouble reading it through my tears in a few places. Good summer reading at the beach or on a rainy day at home. A great Italian family that comes tog...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I loved,loved,loved this book. It is a story of a couple who has tried for years to have a child and when they finally have one she doesn't live very long. They get a divorce and Angie moves back to the coast to be around her family and of course they are a big Italian family with a restaurant the is having money troubles so Angie steps in to help. She hires a young girl named Lauren who has practically raised herself as her mother is an alcoholic. Lauren gets pregnant and her Mother leaves and...more
Did Kristin Hannah really write this? That was my main thought when reading this book. I have loved every book of hers that I have read and never gave lower than a 5 star rating until this book. (This is really a tiny bit above a "2 star" but couldn't bring myself to give one of my favorite authors a lower rating)
I felt the writing was repetitive, the story too predictable, and the plot -- lets just say, I felt I have read this story before, by another author using different characters with the...more
I felt the writing was repetitive, the story too predictable, and the plot -- lets just say, I felt I have read this story before, by another author using different characters with the...more
Truly an awful book, in part because it pretends to be a good one. It's one dimensional, flat writing, the kind that might be interesting in a writer's workshop but with characters who are not developed in any way, for a novel. Hannah is a terrible writer; her plot is boring; the characters don't feel real in any way (has she ever had a family that she might draw from?), and there is a use of overdone language, like, calling the parents, "Mama" and "Papa," without real introduction. This book tr...more
1 like · like · see review
So I'm a Kristin Hannah fan.
Both the main characters in this book were likable - and, is K.H.'s way, the surrounding characters are wonderful - totally enjoyable! What surprised me this time about? I like the teenage girl, Lauren, more than the middle aged character Angie. Lauren was real and layered. The teenage pregnancy thing was dealt with fairly - I was sad and happy for Lauren, and the other characters, by the end of the story.
I loved On Mystic Lake, but I liked this one.
I'll have to read...more
Both the main characters in this book were likable - and, is K.H.'s way, the surrounding characters are wonderful - totally enjoyable! What surprised me this time about? I like the teenage girl, Lauren, more than the middle aged character Angie. Lauren was real and layered. The teenage pregnancy thing was dealt with fairly - I was sad and happy for Lauren, and the other characters, by the end of the story.
I loved On Mystic Lake, but I liked this one.
I'll have to read...more
I will refrain from commenting on the swearing and sex because that is pretty much my standard complaint.
I liked this book. The complexity of the relationships was very interesting. I enjoyed the soul-searching that Angie, the main character, experienced.
If you are going to read this book, don't read the next paragraph until you finish the book, it talks about the ending!
Because of my own personal feelings on the subject of adoption, I was let down by the ending. Hannah set it up so that it real...more
I liked this book. The complexity of the relationships was very interesting. I enjoyed the soul-searching that Angie, the main character, experienced.
If you are going to read this book, don't read the next paragraph until you finish the book, it talks about the ending!
Because of my own personal feelings on the subject of adoption, I was let down by the ending. Hannah set it up so that it real...more
1 like · like · see review
I read this book b/c I read another one from Hannah and really enjoyed it and wasn't disappointed with this novel as well. Lauren had to deal with things that most kids don't want to or don't have to worry about and for Ange to help her and grow to love her as her own daughter even though it hurt at times, just shows how much loving a person helps one another and how great love is in all aspects. I loved the DeSarias family and how they were all there for one another even when they didn't agree....more
This chick lit sucked me right in. I have come to love this author. On par w/ Jodi Picoult for the sort of emotional and moral issues that make for a good read. I literally couldn't put this down. This is about an Italian family and reminded me quite a bit of Adrianna Trigiani too. There is a woman who wants nothing more than a baby; so much so that her relationship with her husband has broken up. She returns to her small town home and the family restaurant, which she helps bring back to life. T...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
One of the main characters, Angie is very weak and heartbroken in the beginning of the book but she turns the bad stuff in her life into a positive. By the end she is very strong and her life might not be how she planned it to be or turn out but she makes the best of it and things turn out in the end. I like this book because it shows that we can either walk away from a great thing and do nothing about it or we can change and grow and make the best out of a poopy situation. Life doesn't aways tu...more
It's a real credit to Kristin Hannah that she made me, a woman without any maternal instinct and who has never wanted children, care about the protagonist Angie - a woman whose obsession with having a baby ending in sorrow and divorce. While I couldn't necessarily relate to the longing Angie felt, her pain leapt off the page. With Lauren, the other protagonist, Hannah really created a character that I cared about and wanted so badly for things to go right for her. Lauren was dealt a tough hand -...more
Just finished this book last night! It was not a book that I was hooked that I had to finish that night but it was a book that I wanted to finish. I wanted to see how it ended. My favorite part was the characters. Of the main characters there was three sisters Mira, Livvy, and Angie from the big Italian family who were always in each other's business. I loved this because this is so much like me and my sisters. I have two younger sisters whose names are similar to the characters (Olivia & Ad...more
Kristin Hannah’s book, What We Do For Love, is an inspirational look at the issues of love, faith, and teenage pregnancy.
Seventeen year old Lauren Ribido had her future all mapped out. She’d carefully crafted a life to help her reach the lofty goals of a good job, love, marriage and children. In that order. When life steps in with other plans, Lauren has to make decisions that could have repercussions for the rest of her life.
Angie Malone is struggling to find her way back to love, family and pe...more
Seventeen year old Lauren Ribido had her future all mapped out. She’d carefully crafted a life to help her reach the lofty goals of a good job, love, marriage and children. In that order. When life steps in with other plans, Lauren has to make decisions that could have repercussions for the rest of her life.
Angie Malone is struggling to find her way back to love, family and pe...more
Growing up, Angela "Angie" DeSaria Malone was the unique one in her family. Her two older sisters got married, had children, and continue to work in the family restaurant. The apple of her late father's eye, Angie instead went to college, and although she got married, it wasn't so easy for her to have a large family like her sisters. After finally getting pregnant, Angie and her husband Conlan's daughter lives only a few days. Soon after, Angie's marriage disintegrates and she must adjust to lif...more
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Kristin Hannah is the New York Times bestselling author of eighteen novels, including the blockbuster Firefly Lane and Night Road. She is a former lawyer turned writer and is the mother of one son. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii with her husband.
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3 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“You look great," he said.
It made her smile, even if it was a lie. "I'm as big as a house."
He laughed. "I like houses. In fact, I'm thinking about architecture as a career.”
—
5 people liked it
It made her smile, even if it was a lie. "I'm as big as a house."
He laughed. "I like houses. In fact, I'm thinking about architecture as a career.”
“Lauren: "Can I ask you a question?"
Angie: "Generally that's a question one should say no to. Often hell no.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
Angie: "Generally that's a question one should say no to. Often hell no.”
