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Jan 23, 2011

Girls Gone Reading rated it:

The Stuff that Never Happened took a hold of me early, and it never let me know. I was initially intrigued by the mystery of the plot: What could their big secret be? What could be so bad in your marriage that you would rather just ignore it? But the mystery aspect of the novel was just enough to get me into the plot. Then Annabelle and the fantastic story took over.

Usually, I have a little trouble with narrators. Sometimes I find them frustrating. Sometimes I wish they would turn ri More...

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Oct 16, 2011

Karen rated it:

"I know this feeling: It's a cousin of the mood that made me cry among the pork chops." This book may not resonate for you if you have never wept in the aisles of Whole Foods, but so far I am eagerly picking it up in my spare moments. There's a mother who dabbles in art, and there's a daughter who is going to be a mother. There's a lot more but those are my basic requirements.

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Feb 20, 2012

Joan rated it:

The characters that Dawson weaves together are the characters in all of our lives: mothers, fathers, husbands, girlfriends and children; tempting acquaintances, misunderstood affections and all of the confusing and dramatic influences that each personality brings into Annabelle’s life. The real testament to this story is that, on one hand, it is so accessible. On the other, the people and the story are uniquely portrayed and so well rounded by Dawson that the reader never feels as though they ar More...

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Jan 12, 2012

CC rated it:

I think I wanted to like this more than I did. The cover, for one, is beyond awesome. And the setting, New Hamsphire, is just different enough to evoke intrigue. With those two things going for it I didn't even read the jacket copy, I just swooped it up.

New Hampshire resident Annabelle McKay is having a midlife crisis. With her kids gone and her professor husband Grant working on a novel, she finds herself thinking about an affair she had in her twenties with a man named Jeremiah. Th More...

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Dec 20, 2011

Sonia rated it:

Credo che a volte, tra le centinaia di letture in cui siamo immersi durante l'anno, sia un bene trovare una storia che non appartiene al nostro genere, che non avremmo preferito se qualcuno ce ne avesse parlato, di fronte a cui forse avremmo storto il naso.
La trama di Facciamo finta che non sia successo niente mi aveva attratta a suo modo, ma ritrovarmi in quella storia mi aveva fatta sentire un'intrusa: non voglio leggere di storie quotidiane di amori che si trascinano, che forse sfociano More...

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Jul 09, 2011

Jo Anne rated it:

I ended up really loving this honest portrayl of a woman torn between two men. I almost put it down in the beginning because I didn't think the characters clicked but I am glad I stuck with it. Turns out the reason I almost stopped reading this was the reason for the story in the first place.

Anabelle, a fifty year old empty nester, takes a look back at her marriage of 28 years to Grant. With the kids gone she is not getting the attention and love she needs from her husband who is a More...

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May 25, 2011

Pam rated it:

This was an excellent book, I feel like I could go on reading about Grant and Annabelle forever. I want to read about them growing old together. The story is told in alternating chapters between the beginning of Grant and Annabelle's marriage in the 1970's and currently, 2005 as they face the trials of begin married 20+ years.

What makes this book work so successfuly is the characterization. I really feel that Grant and Annabelle are fully fleshed characters. I understand why th More...

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Apr 30, 2011

Debbie rated it:

I liked it a lot. I really enjoy books that delve into the human psyche in a non-judgmental way. This book is about two imperfect people. Annabelle is a self-absorbed, extroverted narcissist, like her own mother. Both woman seem to have no real problem with committing infidelity in the name of passion. Annabelle's husband, Grant, is a introverted, intelligent, dorky, but morally impeccable guy who absolutely loves and adores her. But she is blind to that love. In Annabelle's mind he is not More...

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Jun 13, 2010

Chris rated it:

I loved this novel, about the "what-if" person who enters our minds unbidden but can't be forgotten--and almost every woman I know has a person like that. It reads so true.

"Maybe this is common. Perhaps the whole human race goes around with an ache like this. Maybe we're all dreaming of a person from the tantalizing past who sits there, uninvited, watching from the edge of our consciousness, somebody you find packing up and moving out of your head just as you're waki More...

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Oct 27, 2011

A.r. rated it:

If it hadn't been for the language in this book I would have given it four stars. I'm picky in how much profanity I will tolerate in a book and this was one had a little too much.

But putting that aside - I thought The Stuff That Never Happened was a very interesting look at marriage and extramarital affairs. An interesting look at what constitutes real solid love over the passionate, rip your clothes off kind of excitement. I found myself asking if the later was truly love or just an More...

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Feb 26, 2011

Laura rated it:

I really enjoyed this book. Annabelle is about my age and going through some of the same things (not the affair...I promise!) Just that empty next thing. Here's a funny passage:

"...let me tell you: the one with the most free time loses in all marital discussions. It's a given. So, if you're the less busy person, take my advice and fake extreme busyness...."Well, that leaves me out, I'm afraid, because nobody on earth could be busier than Grant"... then you'll have to More...

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Sep 02, 2011

Michelle rated it:

Hmmm, not sure how to rate this (two stars? three?) It started pretty slow even though the writing itself is strong. I guess I just don’t relate to the whole unrequited love thing. It’s hard to buy into Annabelle’s deep feelings for Jeremiah because we learn from the outset she wants to leave her husband and it’s because of this guy and she hasn’t seen him in twenty-six years. It’s a conceit I had trouble buying. Sure, her marriage is a little strained, but nothing major. Maybe this happens. May More...

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Aug 17, 2011

April rated it:

I am not quite sure what to think of this one. I was immediately drawn to it after opening the front cover only to discover that someone had taken the time to pencil in "GREAT book" on a LIBRARY book *gasp*. Seeing it as a *sign* that this book must be read, I took it home.

Told through alternating chapters of the past and modern day, you learn about the life and loves of Annabelle McKay. A habitual fall-in-love-with-your-whole-heart kind of woman: you know with the man who More...

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Feb 15, 2011

Jessica rated it:

I tell my writing students about the neessity of hanging in a few pages longer than wanted with books. I know after one not-so-wonderful page, they are ready to throw in the towel on the whole thing. They look up, covet the television, the wii--anything but what they are holding in their hands.

My examples of two books I wished to cast aside are Beloved and The English Patient, excellent, beautiful books each. But after a chapter or two my first go around with both, I was ready to More...

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Jul 14, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

I totally loved this book. I was hooked pretty quickly and every time I got a moment to read, I would take it. I was intrigued by the marriage between Annabelle and Grant, but loved the flashbacks even more. It was nice to see how they got started, how he proposed, etc., to really build the story. It got me wondering a lot about what could be so bad that your marriage would suffer the way it obviously had.

I will say that I was pretty much uninterested in the "current" plo More...

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Feb 12, 2011

Shannon rated it:

This book was full of amazing quotes that will resonate with me for awhile. My favorite parts: "I tell her the thing I truly believe - that sex and love and parenthood and complications can coexist, that you can be happy even when sex is something you steal away for once you've gotten the last of the dishes washed and the kid with the fever to finally go to sleep. But then my throat is suddenly clogged up with so much sadness and longing and regret that I think I will choke. It's because o More...

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Sep 12, 2011

Jody rated it:

I was happy to receive this book from the First Reads giveaways. Maddie Dawson tells an intriguing story going back and forth between 1977 and 2005. Annabelle is married to Grant in 1977 without knowing him very well. They move from California to New York and live with another couple. Of course, a love trinagle ensues. The story bounces back and forth from their early days of marriage (the tumultuous 70's) to an empty nest, midlife crisis kind of life in 2005.

The novel is fast More...

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Apr 18, 2011

Ivy rated it:

I highly recommend THE STUFF THAT NEVER HAPPENED over many books. Maddie Dawson's great talent as a writer stands out. Her book was truly a joy to discover and read. She has an excellent sense of story, wit, humor, plot, and people. What else can I say? It deserves an average user rating of no less than between 3.8 and 4.0. If there is anything keeping this book from being 5 out of 5 stars, it is.... It's hard for me to say. I have a vague feeling of wanting more drama and emotion at the More...

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Feb 04, 2011

Laura rated it:

I cant believe how many people rated this book so favorably and said they enjoyed and even liked the characters. I found the main character incredbily self absorbed and selfish. The betrayal of her young husband was just disgusting to me and the fact that she continued to perseverate on the other man for so many years while she was still married, seemed so unfair to her husnad. However, I didnt really like Grant or Jeremiah that much either.
The book was an easy read and had some enjoyable More...

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May 08, 2011

Meghan rated it:

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

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 08, 2011

Tammara added it

THIS is what Women's Fiction is supposed to be. The story built slowly, alternating between Annabelle's past as an early 20-something, and her present late-40s self.

An affair with a friend - her husband's mentor - early in her marriage pulls her out of a floundering rut of day-to-day existence, shakes her up, and makes her question everything she'd ever thought or assumed about love and marriage. Her marriage survived, but at what personal cost? Now she has grown children, a career h More...

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Jul 30, 2010

Kathy (Bermudaonion) rated it:

When Annabelle and Grant got married, they really didn’t know each other all that well. They moved across the country and lived with another young couple and their two children. Something happens in those early years that will haunt their marriage for the rest of their lives. Rather than talk about it, Grant makes Annabelle agree to never mention it again, and in effect, pretend that it never happened. On the surface, that seems to work – they move to New Hampshire, raise two children and se More...

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Jan 23, 2011

Sarah rated it:

the subject is a bit dismal - a married woman who has an affair and stays a little in love with this man from her past. The book alternates between present day and the years leading up to and during her affair - the in between times are summarized briefly. As much as the main character annoyed me at times with her angst, self absorption, and betrayal, there were many illuminating moments - while I hated what this character did and her flitiness at a time where she should have been fully commi More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Ronya rated it:

These days, I find it difficult to differentiate between chick lit and novels written by women. This one falls, unfortunately, somewhere in between. It was a good story, with chapters alternating between the present and the past--with all coinciding at the end. Definitely kept you wanting to read more and find out what happens, but some of it was a bit trite and predictable. The end ties up quite nicely (in a bad way) but at the same time leaves you wondering what happens. So, as you can se More...

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Jul 10, 2011

Mary Kay rated it:

Annabelle tells her story alternately from her early-twenties self in the 1970s & her fiftyish, empty-nester self in 2005. Early in her marriage to Grant, she had an affair with Grant's mentor, Jeremiah. Annabelle & Grant pledged never to mention the affair again. But then the kids leave home & Grant is totally absorbed in writing his book about labor unions, so Annabelle can't help thinking, "What if...?" A great treatise on modern marriage

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Jun 08, 2011

Mia rated it:

I couldn't finish this book. I wasn't interested in Annabelle and her perceived issues or her husband Grant. Her daughter was more whiny than she was which made it hard for me to feel compassionate towards her. I skipped ahead to meet Jeremiah and literally threw the book across the room. I found the whole thing to be a long winded whiny rant of a self absorbed woman and I gave up on it. I tried for 3 days to go back to it, but I couldn't make myself do it. I definitely won't be recommending thi More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 27, 2011

Sara rated it:

This book turned out a lot better than I thought during the first chapter. It seemed like it was going to be dreary and whiny, woman unable to cope with distant husband and empty nest, but it became a lot more lively and engrossing. It was kind of a soap opera or fairy tale with not one but two very convenient medical crises to jolt the plot. Not highly realistic or memorable, but it was entertaining.

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Nov 07, 2010

Nette rated it:

A very old story (did she marry the right guy? or should she have gone with the big passion 30 years ago?) told in a fresh way, by an author who (oh thank you baby Jesus) writes great dialogue. Of course, I read these marriage-centered books with the same level of understanding as Lindsay Lohan reading about plasma physics, but every once in a while I find one that's relatable.

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Sep 26, 2011

Carol rated it:

I liked this book less as I got deeper into it. Going ahead w/ 3 stars because she did a good job at digging deep into a marriage, the relationship with Grant seemed 'real' to me. However, I ultimately found the main character to be selfish, immature and unlikable. I don't feel like she ever really grew beyond that, and didn't really deserve a happy ending.

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May 25, 2011

Denise rated it:

I really liked this book. The family felt remarkably real to me, like people I know/knew or could know.
The interaction between the parents, contrasted so much with the interaction between parents and the
children. The obvious bond was family love, but the story takes the journey of rediscovering the complex below-the-surface things that comprise couple love.

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