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A Scattered Life

by Karen McQuestion (Goodreads Author)

3.2 of 5 stars 3.20 · rating details · 2,584 ratings · 401 reviews

When free-spirited Skyla marries proper and predictable Thomas Plinka, she finally finds the love and stability she’s craved since childhood. She also acquires a new family: mother-in-law Audrey, disapproving and suspicious of Skyla’s nomadic past; father-in-law Walt, gruff but kind; and Thomas’s brothers, sofa-bound Jeffrey, and Dennis, who moved across the country seemin...more

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Published August 23rd 2011 by Mariner Books (first published August 10th 2010)

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Jan 06, 2012 Misty Baker rated it 2 of 5 stars

There was a period in my life where I felt the need to be detached. Not physically… being AROUND people was not the issue for me, the “emotional connection” is what I feared. I had been forced to face a string of emotional torture and as a result I was (almost) irrevocably damaged. I did not like to talk, I did not form attachments of any kind. I avoided social situations, and more importantly convinced myself that not caring was the easiest path that life had to offer. Thankfully I recognized m...more There was a period in my life where I felt the need to be detached. Not physically… being AROUND people was not the issue for me, the “emotional connection” is what I feared. I had been forced to face a string of emotional torture and as a result I was (almost) irrevocably damaged. I did not like to talk, I did not form attachments of any kind. I avoided social situations, and more importantly convinced myself that not caring was the easiest path that life had to offer. Thankfully I recognized my moronicness and in record time, replaced my brain with a more “well rounded, functioning” one. Unfortunately… some people never experience the light bulb moment I had, and instead wake up one day 80 years old and completely alone.

When I first read the synopsis for “A Scattered Life” by Karen McQuestion the parallels I was to discover between it’s main character and myself were not immediately clear. As a matter of fact I didn’t predict the turn of the book at all. I thought I would be reading about a woman stuck in a rut, and yes.. that was (as predicted) a huge part of the story, but what I didn’t expect was to travel through the mind of a woman that (much like me when I was younger) feared the closeness of others.

Skyla Plinka has an average life, in an average home with an average family, unfortunately she doesn’t like it. Having been a wanderer growing up, she craved stability, but now that she has it, finds it hard to accept. Being a mother is great, but being a mother that never leaves the house was never on her agenda. Insistent on finding an outlet Skyla does two very unexpected things. 1. She gets a job at a rundown bookstore complete with an overlay exuberant shop owner and psychic. 2. She befriends her somewhat chaotic and kid crazy neighbor Roxanne. But just when she thinks her life is on the straight and narrow again, Skyla is suddenly faced with the most challenging path of all. Waiting.

Now, I know what you are thinking. “Misty obviously enjoyed this book because she told an “I relate to this” story” Well, that is where you would be wrong. There were several things wrong with this book, but the most obvious would be it’s LACK OF A STORY. Yes, I know… there was obviously some sort of story or I wouldn’t have been able to write a synopsis, but to be honest the entire book felt like I was standing in line for a rollercoaster and the park closed before I reached the queue. All waiting, no payoff. That’s not to say Ms. McQuestion’s writing was bad, quite the opposite… I believed every word she wrote down and even the structure was good, she just forgot the punch line. All of the characters were very well developed, I could muster an image for each and could probably even predict their next move, the trauma in the story was also believable, sad and a little overplayed, but present and accounted for.

So why did I feel like the entire story was me waiting for the other shoe to drop? Was it McQuestions lack of adrenaline? Her lack of surprise? Maybe it was her over attention to detail that blurred the lines between a good story and a personnel file. Whatever the case… one thing was resoundingly clear. “A Scattered Life” were just a bunch of words on a page that never went anywhere.

My vote? Read if you are bored. (And by bored I mean stuck on a ship in Antarctica with nothing else to do but make ice chips or pet penguins.)

Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.(less)

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Jan 30, 2013 Charley Girl rated it 4 of 5 stars

The books I read seem to go from a warm and cozy feel good book to mystery, violence and sometime scary books. I’m not sure why. I put Karen McQuestion’s A Scattered Life on my Amazon Wish list in March of 2011 and read it last month. I consistently seem drawn to books that have main characters that discover something. If it is a “girly” book it is generally learning something about herself or her life. Skyla, the main character, is no different. She is a loner and the description of her life an...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Amy rated it 1 of 5 stars

I've never felt like I wasted $2.99 on a book before reading A Scattered Life. I wanted to like this novel. I've read some of McQueen's other novels and enjoyed them. Not this one.
The book is told primarily from the point of view of Skyla Pinkta. She's a likable enough protagonist, a young mother of a 4 yo girl, married to an obsessive-compulsive, yet affable man named Thomas. Thomas adores Skyla in a paternalistic, patronizing manner. He's comes to his superior, judgmental attitude from being r...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Karen McQuestion writes for those of us women who need to identify with other women who don't talk about how much they make, women who didn't set aside their promising editorial careers for family and whine about it, women who don't have summer homes "in the Cape", women who spy on their overky successful but gloriously egocentric cheating husbands, and so on. When you search high and low for a book that you can identify with, laugh with, cry, dream, and become a part of, Karen McQuestion is the...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Lydia Laceby rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-women-s-fiction

Originally Reviewed at Novel Escapes

A Scattered Life was a pleasant, easy read, but unfortunately it fell a bit flat for me. When we were contacted about reviewing this novel, I was wary with it being previously self-published (it is now available in print through Amazon Encore). I was pleasantly surprised to find the writing itself was a refreshing change from much of the self published works I've attempted and struggled to read (and I apologize to the self publishers out there and wish you all...more Originally Reviewed at Novel Escapes

A Scattered Life was a pleasant, easy read, but unfortunately it fell a bit flat for me. When we were contacted about reviewing this novel, I was wary with it being previously self-published (it is now available in print through Amazon Encore). I was pleasantly surprised to find the writing itself was a refreshing change from much of the self published works I've attempted and struggled to read (and I apologize to the self publishers out there and wish you all success, but I have a hard time reading past the first few pages most of the time and don't want to fling around negative reviews, which is why we don't review them). With A Scattered Life, although I found the writing easy to read and thought it flowed smoothly, there were a few plot and character issues that had me less connected with this work than I wanted to be.

I didn't find as much depth to the characters as I would have liked and they all came across as one dimensional to me. Skyla herself seemed a bit wooden and although searching for more in life, I don't know if she really found it. Her husband came across as controlling and I couldn't find any other way to see him. With Skyla figuring out her life, I wanted her to see more of this in him and spread her wings further, but never saw much of a change with their relationship which I found really disappointing. I liked Audrey's story and it was interesting to see an overbearing mother in law's side of the story instead of just from the daughter in law's perspective. I thought her transformation was slightly more realistic somehow. Maybe because I just had more of a grasp on her character or that I really felt sorry for her, but even with seeing more of a change, I would have liked to see her take some more action towards the end.

The story seemed to wrap up with a twist I wasn't expecting which was a pleasant surprise, but I found the ending so rushed that it just fizzled out, leaving a few strings dangling that were never followed up on. With Roxanne having such a pivotal role in the climax, I would have appreciated a passage from her perspective as well as Audrey at the end of the novel, but all we see is Skyla's perspective.

All in all, I didn't mind A Scattered Life, and can see how McQuestion has become a self publishing success and might very well read another.(less)

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Jul 16, 2012 Michele rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I knew that this was going to be typical "chick lit" when I opened it on the Kindle. I had borrowed my mother's Kindle, and I think that she must have had this book on there because it was free. The story line seems harmless enough - and I actually relished the fact that I found almost no redeeming qualities in either Skyla's husband or his mother. Things are thrown into the book for no reason, without any resolution, and the things that do have resolutions seem too pat and easy. Skyla has a dre...more I knew that this was going to be typical "chick lit" when I opened it on the Kindle. I had borrowed my mother's Kindle, and I think that she must have had this book on there because it was free. The story line seems harmless enough - and I actually relished the fact that I found almost no redeeming qualities in either Skyla's husband or his mother. Things are thrown into the book for no reason, without any resolution, and the things that do have resolutions seem too pat and easy. Skyla has a dream about Dennis, and the reader is led to believe that there will be some encounter with him, some family event that will bring him back to Wisconsin, but none materializes. The bookstore owner and the "psychic" are thrown in for the convenience of giving the narrator something to do, and yet what could have been a very interesting internal debate - what the powers of the fortune teller really are, and what she says and how Skyla internalizes that - are skimmed over in a sentence. And then! Just when I think that, "oh, okay, so it's chick lit and it's not very good, but okay, I'll keep reading," Roxanne gets cancer and dies. In the span of about 10 pages. Maybe it was longer than that, because I was reading on the Kindle and I have no idea, but it felt like 10 pages. And all of a sudden, Audrey, who was a meddling interloper for her children's' entire lives, is now the most magical help on the face of the planet. I don't think that people are all black-and-white, and I was irritated that she went from one extreme to the other. What irritated me even more was Skyla's jealousy of Roxanne's relationship with Audrey when she had done everything she could to keep her out of her own family's life. Skyla was hurt that Roxanne's family didn't call her when Roxanne was dying, but from what I could tell, the characters had known each other for less than a year, and Skyla's husband, whose name I can't seem to remember, evidently, actively discouraged their friendship, so I can't imagine they became very close very quickly. Roxanne watched Nora after school, sometimes, but I can't remember any scene that took place with all of the kids in Skyla's house, or any of the kids in Skyla's house, or even Skyla and Roxanne talking at Skyla's house. How close were they, really? Close enough to have Skyla at Roxanne's deathbed? No way. It was family, and it should have been family. What irritated me the most, however, was at the end, when she was given this remarkable gift of a letter from Roxanne and should have been learning the lesson of having love in one's life and counting on the people one loves, Skyla is overcome with jealousy and has to ask Roxanne's husband if Audrey received a letter. She needed to have one more "up" on her mother-in-law. I was disappointed by Skyla's lack of personal growth and in the book as a whole. (less)

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Jun 08, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

While not my typical reading fare, I can see how the story in A Scattered Life would have widespread appeal. At just 255 pages it is an easy read that was a breeze to get through, although I have to admit that by the time I finished it I was a bit underwhelmed by the overall story. The potential was there for a great book (even though it would probably still not be one I would choose for myself), but I thought it fell short in several ways.

Both the characters and the plot really needed to be fle...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Katie O'Rourke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Karen McQuestion's debut novel was the first self-published Kindle book to be optioned for a movie. And here's why: her characters are like real people.

The plot of A Scattered Life moves a bit slowly. I got the impression that nothing was really happening. But the characters are so believable and likable that I didn't really mind. I was content just to be in their company, listening to their conversations and finding truth and familiarity in the more mundane dramas of real life: A husband who do...more

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Sep 04, 2011 Barbara Sissel added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: All fans of fiction about women, mothers & daughters, friendships, love and relationships

I so admire this for an opening sentence: Skyla’s earliest memory of Thomas was linked with the smell of beer and the taste of blood. This is how Karen McQuestion begins her e-novel, A Scattered Life. I was hooked from the start. Skyla ends up marrying Thomas and within a few years, they have a daughter Nora and settle into regular life. But life is never regular and neither are people and Skyla and Thomas are no exception. They watch with interest, and a good deal of consternation on Thomas’s p...more I so admire this for an opening sentence: Skyla’s earliest memory of Thomas was linked with the smell of beer and the taste of blood. This is how Karen McQuestion begins her e-novel, A Scattered Life. I was hooked from the start. Skyla ends up marrying Thomas and within a few years, they have a daughter Nora and settle into regular life. But life is never regular and neither are people and Skyla and Thomas are no exception. They watch with interest, and a good deal of consternation on Thomas’s part, as a new family, the Bears, Roxanne and Ted and their crew of five kids, moves in next door. Five boys, no less, and counting if Roxy has her way. She’s longing for a girl. Skyla has always been a bit reserved. Her life until Thomas was troubled--scattered, is how her mother-in-law, Audrey, describes it--her upbringing uncertain. Skyla has never experienced anything like the freewheeling lifestyle the Bears engage in and she’s drawn to it. Roxanne’s raucous laughter, her near-bawdy ways, the constant churning motion that five children can generate. Skyla and Roxanne are so different and yet they find a warm and loving friendship in each other. Audrey couldn’t disapprove more.

But Audrey is unhappy in any case. Her job as a full-time mother is done for the most part and she is at loose ends with too much time to worry about other people’s business. If Skyla would only allow it, Audrey would step in and run Skyla’s household, raise Skyla’s daughter. She would fold Skyla’s bed linen just so and rearrange her kitchen cabinets, etc. and do it all with such precision and authority. Audrey can’t imagine why a motherless girl like Skyla isn’t more welcoming of her interference. It’s so confusing that Skyla prefers Roxanne’s company and when Skyla finds work in a shop where a psychic gives readings, Audrey is incensed. No one else in the family realizes it, that their lives are unraveling, that something has to be done. And oh, boy, what Audrey does . . . well, as I said earlier, on the surface, A Scattered Life appears to be a story about ordinary people, people as regular as your next door neighbors, say. But life is seldom so predictable.

Sometimes a terrible and sad thing can happen and plans can take a sharp detour. Sometimes our gravest flaws turn out to be our saving grace. Another gift of this story is the ending, the way it unfolds out of who the characters are. It isn’t a pat ending or a necessarily happy one. It’s human. Like life, which is at times messy and unpredictable. And that’s what makes it satisfying. A Scattered Life was an altogether warm and thoughtful read.

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Jul 09, 2011 dina rated it 1 of 5 stars

Like other reviewers, I also wanted to like this independently published novel. I actually purchased it thinking I might identify with a character - seemingly my age - who found herself in a marriage and life that wasn't what she had envisioned for herself.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Without the occasional pop culture references to Nickelodeon, I would have thought this novel was set in the 50s with all the “Mercy me”, “Heaven only knows” and “Any normal family” phrases that permea...more

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Dec 01, 2010 Linde rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Scattered Life is the story of a free spirited young woman who marries an older and very stable and predictable man. It is a story of relationships between them, a more free spirited neighbor and her very stodgy and organized mother in law. It is full of upper midwest culture. Skyla, the main character also develops a relationship with a self proclaimed psychic who confides in her that she is not a real psychic, but really teaches people how to live happily and do the right thing. There is a c...more

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Sep 26, 2010 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle-version

There's something in Karen McQuestion's novel that's reminiscent in both the style and family drama found in some of Anne Tyler's novels and Judith Guest's Ordinary People.

A Scattered Life brings together people looking for stability — or at least that's what they initially believe — and those who live fully, and damned what the neighbors think.

Not a one of the characters is without flaw. There's Skyla, resentfully suppressing her own nature to accommodate her husband's practical side. There's...more

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Sep 05, 2010 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: lovers of women's relational fiction

Recommended to Barbara by: AmazonEncore - many positive reviews

Shelves: tear-jerker, relationships, fiction

A book I stumbled upon. I just bought my first kindle and was online looking for an inexpensive or even free book to try out. I found AmazonEncore, which I had never heard of before. I liked the concept so loaded this book on my kindle. Yesterday. I read the entire book in one sitting.

The story is mostly told from the perspective of Skyla who lost her mother at a young age and traveled the country with an unsettled father. She meets Thomas and marries him, and a good portion of the book is also...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Stacielynn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: february-2013, kindle-freebies

I enjoyed reading this book. Great literature? No. Deep philosophical impact? No.
Fascinating character study? No. Enjoyable and affecting read? Absolutely!

Generally, I found the characters to be more flesh and blood than one-dimensional -- they were a bit of a type, but then it was necessary to create the tensions in the book. Not everyone was likable or even understandable -- which is what made them so believable.

I wanted to find the book trite and pedestrian, but little things tugged at me -...more

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Jun 11, 2011 Kara rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is McQuestion’s best book so far and as I understand, it was her first book published. I picked it up a couple of days ago and didn’t put it down until I was finished.

I immediately felt a connection to the main character Skyla and her new neighbor / best friend Roxanne. While I have a lot in common with Skyla, my husband is much more like Roxanne’s husband. When ready Audrey’s point of view, I felt like I was her daughter in law and found myself frustrated with the way she carried herself....more

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Aug 18, 2010 Deanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read all the reviews for A Scattered Life before I bought it and I was a little anxious. There are some extremely negative reviews, but most failed to say why they didn't like the book, so I bought it anyway.

I sat down to read it and couldn't put it down. The prose is amazing, the characters are well-developed and believeable with all their very human frailties. The author managed to take a storyline and present it from three different points of view and didn't falter once.

Skyla, a rootless...more

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Aug 19, 2010 Loida rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: never-again

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 12, 2013 Rebecca Graf rated it 5 of 5 stars

A young girl finds a man she can love and marry. With him comes a controlling mother-in-law who refuses to let her sons grow up into men and stand on their own. Skyla only has her husband until a new neighbor moves in that doesn’t quiet meet the standards of her husband or his family, but she doesn’t care. She’s found a friend who can teach her to be herself and have some fun in life. Everything goes into a chaotic whirlwind when Skyla does the worst thing in her family’s eyes by taking a job....more

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Sep 19, 2011 Erin rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was not my favorite at all. In alternating chapters it tells the story of three women: Skyla, a young married mother of one; Audrey, her nosy, interfering mother-in-law; and Roxanne, the new neighbor who is mother to six boys. None of the characters were very realistic (it was especially strange to me why the main character, Skyla was attracted to her husband--supposedly it was because he was steady and grounded, but to me he seemed judgmental and sexist), and I could barely be bothere...more

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Aug 23, 2011 YA Reader rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As the first self-published Kindle book ever to be optioned for film I had high expectations of Karen McQuestion's, A Scattered Life. It was the second book that I had read written by McQuestion but I enjoyed it far more than Favorite. It may have had mixed reviews on the blogosphere but don't let that put you off.

The book documents family life in Wisconsin and the lives of three families are carefully intertwined. There are numerous protagonists but Skyla sticks out at the forefront. She marrie...more

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May 25, 2011 Peggy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a great book, it is the story of two housewives, Skyla who lives a quiet and ordered life and Roxanne, whose life is chaos and craziness.

Skyla Plinka lives in a quiet house iwht her 5 year old daughter, Norah, and her teacher husband, Thomas. Thomas's family is quiet, ordered and very much repressed. This is how he expects Skyla to live.

Enter the Bear Family who move next door to Skyla and Thomas. Their life is chaos, disorder and just plain crazy. With 5 sons and a husband, poor Roxa...more

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May 15, 2011 Brian rated it 1 of 5 stars

I bought this book because it was one listed on AmazonEncore as a good review. This is a program designed to let new authors have a spotlight. I had read a previous book by her and dubbed it was pure trashy chick lit, so I'm gonna be honest and say that I was dreading reading this book, which I had purchased prior. I wanted to get it over with..and let me tell you, BLECH!!! Skyla is married to Thomas, who is a real jerk. Her mother in law is also a jerk. She befriends the very trashy Roxanne who...more

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Aug 29, 2010 Leslie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-reviews

In real life truth is often stranger than fiction, and so it is in the case where Skyla Medley first meets Thomas Plinka in Karen McQuestion's novel A Scattered Life. Two different people and opposing personalities brought together by fate, Thomas was raised in a close-knit family with an interfering Mom, and Skyla was basically an orphan as well as a rolling stone who was constantly on the move.

Skyla settles into life with Thomas. He has the stability she has always dreamed of, but along with t...more In real life truth is often stranger than fiction, and so it is in the case where Skyla Medley first meets Thomas Plinka in Karen McQuestion's novel A Scattered Life. Two different people and opposing personalities brought together by fate, Thomas was raised in a close-knit family with an interfering Mom, and Skyla was basically an orphan as well as a rolling stone who was constantly on the move.

Skyla settles into life with Thomas. He has the stability she has always dreamed of, but along with that comes a very intrusive mother-in-law. Both Thomas and Skyla feel they can work at keeping the interference at a low level through their interactions, and Nora, their beautiful and precocious daughter, is the glue that binds as well as the light of their lives. Skyla has settled into this life with ease; Thomas is very controlled, thinking before he speaks, and while he is very predictable Skyla has a life she has only dreamed of. So why does it feel like something is missing?

After church one day Skyla decides she wants to walk by the the house down the street. Their old neighbors have just moved away, and she is curious to meet the new people moving in. Thomas isn't interested but Skyla is hoping the new neighbors will have a little girl, someone that could be a friend for Nora. Skyla missed having friends and as she grew up had at least one in every town she moved to. She cried everytime they left because she would miss them. She did not have any friends in her new home as the women in her neighborhood were busy with careers or just more sophisticated. This made her very uncomfortable to be around them. She wants more for Nora and just knows that if the neighbors have a little girl they will be the best of friends.

As they approach the driveway amidst the mess of moving, in Thomas's view more than the normal disaray, Nora spots a very young boy in some blankets sucking his thumb. No one is around and he is on his own. He looks to be two or three, and Thomas is very bothered that no one seems to know he is missing. As meeting the new neighbors goes, once Skyla alerts them to finding their absent son, which they had not noticed missing, this is not a great beginning as Thomas has already formed his opinion. Skyla, however, is fascinated and likes the hustle and the earthiness of her new neighbors. Without even knowing it, Roxanne Bear is just the friend she herself was looking for.

Skyla finds too much time on her hands when school starts, and Nora is no longer at home all day so she takes to walking through town. At the end of her walk each day is a dilapidated book store, Mystic Books. While she has never been inside, she has been curious about it, so she decides to step in and check it out. The tiny elderly woman inside appears to be expecting her. She lets Skyla know that Madame, the woman that did the "readings" in the back of the book store, informed her that Skyla would be coming and would be working at the store. Skyla loves the book store and feels she can help to bring it back to its former glory as she agrees to start working there. As Skyla leaves the book store, she reflects on how she would let Thomas know about her new job, knowing he would not approve.

As Skyla's life changes and brightens even further, we move into a story of love, anger, tragedy, loss, heartache, and death. And, as happens in true life, this book also brings a feeling of renewal and laughter.

This is a wonderful book and hard to put down. Be prepared and bring the tissue. Karen McQuestion has written a profound and engaging book on issues that we all face in our lives, and she has found a way to bring this full circle and to add closure where it is due.It has been awhile since I cried during a book.

I received this book as a free copy by the Author. All opinions are my own based off my understanding of the material.

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Aug 10, 2010 Imogen Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars

"OPEN YOUR HEART"

Three women living a small-town life in Wisconsin. Karen McQuestion's novel is narrated by these three voices. The first, Skyla Plinska, a former free-spirit, now firmly seeded into a middle-class life with her level-headed husband and their well-behaved daughter. The second is Skyla's mother-in-law, Audrey. Audrey has spent her life caring for her now three grown-up sons and husband, but always longing for a daughter. Will Skyla fill this void? The third is Roxy, Skyla's new ne...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Becca rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

I was really into this book in the beginning, I really liked the story line about the over protective mother stalking her grown son in a bar, I wanted more of that. In the middle of the book, I was wondering who was the main character, who was this book about: the mother (or MIL), the woman who gets a job, the woman's husband, or the neighbor with the large family. Or maybe the psychic? I was waiting for more, but it didn't come until the end of the story when the neighbor got cancer.
Now that I...more

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Oct 01, 2010 Brooke rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 04, 2011 Candice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: recommend

Almost everything about this book worked really well for me. The writing was clean and beautiful and didn't get in the way of the plot, and even the minor characters were well-drawn. Some characters I didn't particularly like, but found fascinating, which makes for just as good a reading. I preferred the first half of the book and could recognize or identify with some of the characters at first, but they all became a little larger than life in the second half (or perhaps a little too true to the...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Dava Stewart rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm still not sure what I think about this book. Some stuff I really liked - the sort of quiet way you get to know the characters for instance - and some things not at at all - like what's with the strange and repetitious mentions and hintings toward being able to know the future? The weird fortune-teller character was just strange.

The actual story really surprised me - the story of the neighbor, which I think was the real story. I kind of like that the real story snuck up on me at least halfwa...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Carla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Skyla has dealt with a lot in her life and has landed in a stable, if sometimes boring, marriage to Thomas. She doesn't have family to fall back on and doesn't necessarily warm up to Thomas'. She is a devoted mother to Nora when she meets Roxanne, mother of 5 boys who becomes her best and only friend. Thomas doesn't approve of Roxanne and Ted Bear's parenting style but simply shows Shyla his disapproval by laughing at the Bears' antics. When Nora stars school, Skyla gets a part time job at a boo...more

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May 06, 2011 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book follows the lives of three different women and although they don't serve as narrators in their respective chapters, they are written from their points of view. Skyla is a restless spirit looking for an anchor in her life when she realizes her husband and daughter aren't enough. Roxanne is the gregarious mother of five that she befriends. And Audrey is Skyla's mother-in-law, full of rigid ideas and seeking a place where she's really needed.

In general this was an enjoyable read, but it l...more

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About Karen McQuestion

National best-selling author Karen McQuestion writes books for adults as well as for kids and teens. Her novels regularly place in the top 100 Kindle books, and each successive novel has added to her ever growing fan base, making her one of the preeminent Amazon Publishing authors. McQuestion lives in Wisconsin with her family and is always working on her next novel.

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“Seems like sometimes life gives you what you need instead of what you want, if you know what I mean” — 2 people liked it

“It's good to plan, but don't let the planning take the place of doing.” — 2 people liked it

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A Scattered Life

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