Giving Myself Away

by Grete DeAngelo

In Giving Myself Away, divorced mother Adrienne Manning is devastated to find out she's pregnant after messing around with a guy who's clearly not boyfriend material. He's a lonely mortician with a spiteful daughter, and things just happened late one night after a funeral. When Adrienne meets George Freihoffer in a coffee shop to tell him the news, he asks her to get married and promises to take care of her. Adrienne hasn't been single long and she doesn't trust men so easily after Drew, her high school sweetheart turned husband, left her for a perky soccer mom. Adrienne and Drew's two sons don't like spending weekends with their dad and his new wife, who has three wild boys of her own. They are confused about why Adrienne plans to give up the new baby and they worry she'll get rid of them too. Adrienne gives George an ultimatum: agree to the adoption or she won't talk to him anymore. He accepts, but in the meantime, drifts into a relationship with Carolyn, a woman Adrienne initially set him up with to get him off her back. Adrienne realizes when he's gone that although she might not have been madly in love with him, George was a good friend and she misses having him around. Being alone causes Adrienne to second-guess her decision about the baby. Giving Myself Away grabs readers by the heart and guides them through a realistic journey fraught with tough decisions.

302 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2013

About the author

My first novel, Giving Myself Away, was published in November 2013 by Panoptic Books, an imprint of Assent Publishing. I wrote the kind of story I like to read... one where you get lost in someone else's life journey as an absorbing escape from the responsibilities of your own life. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies and my fondest wish is to contribute to the abundance of women's fiction writing I've greatly enjoyed.

I am also a mom to two boys... one of them loves to read too. If not for reading novels, most of my life would be taken up with discussions of Minecraft.

I have taught middle school and high school history, geography, and sometimes journalism for the past ten years. I love my career, and especially the privilege of spending my days with teenagers, the most brutally honest and refreshing people around.

My life's mission is to live in peace and to love.

Reviews

[Abbie c Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad book do not read a bit boring and Michael says no

[Rebecca Kokinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn’t a genre that I frequently read, and I have to say I really, really enjoyed this book! The complexity of the relationships, and the lack of any simple, straightforward resolution, are so true-to-life that I became very emotionally invested in the characters .

I really enjoy when an author doesn’t feel compelled to lay out the characters or the story fully all up front. She adds layers as the novel unfolded which kept me wondering how it would end – and even better, wondering how I *wanted* it to end – right up until the last page.

I hope to see more from this author!

[Ronda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grete wrote a great story that was easy to read but even easier to enjoy!!! I loved it!