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Jan 06, 2012

Misty rated it:

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...

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Jan 19, 2012

Katie rated it:

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 husb More...

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Sep 04, 2011

Barbara added it

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...

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Jul 09, 2011

dina rated it:

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” phrase More...

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Dec 01, 2010

Linde rated it:

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:

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 More...

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Sep 05, 2010

Barbara rated it:

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 o More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 11, 2011

Kara rated it:

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 carri More...

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Aug 18, 2010

Deanna rated it:

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.
More...

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Dec 13, 2010

Loida rated it:

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

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2011

Erin rated it:

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 bother More...

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Aug 30, 2011

YA Reader rated it:

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 More...

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May 25, 2011

Peggy rated it:

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 s More...

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May 15, 2011

Brian rated it:

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 Roxann More...

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Aug 29, 2010

L. A. rated it:

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 More...

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Aug 10, 2010

Imogen rated it:

"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 i More...

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Mar 25, 2011

Becca rated it:

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 th More...

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Oct 01, 2010

Brooke rated it:

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

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 04, 2011

Candice rated it:

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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Nov 15, 2010

Carla rated it:

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 More...

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May 06, 2011

Jason rated it:

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 More...

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Dec 10, 2010

Erin rated it:

Skyla is a loner, who has never stayed in one place for very long. That is until she meets Thomas, who is the epitome of 'grounded'. They get married, move into a house in his home town 15 miles from his overbearing Mother. Skyla befriends a quirky, outgoing neighbor that her husband and Mother-In-Law do not approve of. In addition she picks up a job at the local book store.

I think I would have appreciated more background on each character, but the 'present time' development of the cha More...

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Oct 25, 2011

Katharine rated it:

While there's a bit of clunky writing now and then and many of the events are predictable, I enjoyed reading this short novel. The main character, Skyla, isn't well-drawn. Lots of words are used to describe her and her thoughts, but I don't "see" her in my mind. The same with Audrey, the mother-in-law. McQuestion describes both extensively -- in other words, the author tells rather than shows. However, McQuestion does better with her supporting characters. Several of them I feel I woul More...

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Jun 18, 2011

Melissa rated it:

The book cover of A Scattered Life hooked me right away - I immediately recognized the map of Wisconsin. I love discovering books by Wisconsin authors and its a bonus if the book is set in Wisconsin. So when I saw the WI map, and read the synopsis on the back AND saw that Karen lives in Wisconsin, the book was already a must-read.
I loved the book from the beginning. The characters were just delicious. There is Skyla, the free spirit that settled down with quiet, restrained, yet opinionated More...

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Sep 04, 2010

Pirate rated it:

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

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 04, 2011

Alexis rated it:

I'm going to give this book an "E" for effort. I felt a bit more respect for it when I learned the author had published it herself as an eBook and was the first of such picked up by Kindle (or something like that). Learning that also answered some of my questions, mainly "How the hell did this thing get published??" and "Where was the editor???" I think there was a good, sweet story line that had very little substance to back it up. There is not much character d More...

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Jan 28, 2011

Lynnette rated it:

This was a nice book, and a quick read. The book follows the story of Skyla Plinka, a free spirit that marries a down-to-earth older man. He tries to control her life like his mother controlled his. The book also touches on Skyla's neighbor, Roxanne (who really is the best character in the whole book) and Skyla's Mother-in-Law, Audrey.

I would have enjoyed the book more had it followed a little more about Roxanne--you really don't get to know as much as you'd like about her. It al More...

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Nov 08, 2010

Vanessa rated it:

artistic and unpredictable skyla marries a boring man. but it seems to work despite how different they are. she seems to be the outsider in her in-lawed family and tip toes through her life as a wife and mother. she loses herself in these roles and forgets who she was and wants to be. eventually she finds a part time job that utilizes her talents, makes her feel needed. she also meets her new neighbor who gives her the courage to find herself again.
this book is strange because it seems to b More...

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May 13, 2010

Amanda rated it:

I really wanted to like this book. I wanted it to be a shining example of all the potential that e-books have opened up for independent authors and readers alike.

I didn't. It felt....uncomfortable. I've read novels where the characters were small town narrow-minded people that felt comfortable. They were either still sympathetic characters or clearly not. These were... not sympathetic but felt as if the author thought they might be. And while there was some attempt at a redempt More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 24, 2011

Trish rated it:

This is a contemporary novel that I wasn’t sure at first whether I would finish. There were several books over the last couple of months that I couldn’t quite get into, but I decided to give this one a fair chance and was very happy that I did so. I was especially surprised to find out that it was originally self-published and is now an Amazon Encore title.

The book takes places over the course of a year and focuses on three women, Skyla, her mother-in-law and her new best friend. I lov More...

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