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Life in Palmyrton #4
Life, Revealed: Isabelle's Story
Can the queen keep her crown?
Isabelle Trent knows everyone in Palmyrton, New Jersey. She’ll sell your old house, find you a new one, and solve your termite problem all before lunch at the country club. That’s what makes her the Queen of Palmyrton Real Estate.
But no one really knows Isabelle, not even the women who include her in their girls’ nights out. She deflects personal questions with a cool smile and a smooth change of topic.
Then Isabelle’s half-brother Ricky gets out of prison.
Now she has to explain the presence of a large, tattooed man eating Nacho Cheese Doritos on her white sofa. As Isabelle uses her many contacts to help Ricky start over, she must reveal parts of the difficult childhood they shared. Her crown shows some cracks.
When Ricky reconnects with some sketchy members of their extended family, the life Isabelle worked so hard to build is jeopardized. Isabelle faces a hard choice: fight alone or bare her soul to the friends who can help her.
What’s a queen to do?
Isabelle Trent knows everyone in Palmyrton, New Jersey. She’ll sell your old house, find you a new one, and solve your termite problem all before lunch at the country club. That’s what makes her the Queen of Palmyrton Real Estate.
But no one really knows Isabelle, not even the women who include her in their girls’ nights out. She deflects personal questions with a cool smile and a smooth change of topic.
Then Isabelle’s half-brother Ricky gets out of prison.
Now she has to explain the presence of a large, tattooed man eating Nacho Cheese Doritos on her white sofa. As Isabelle uses her many contacts to help Ricky start over, she must reveal parts of the difficult childhood they shared. Her crown shows some cracks.
When Ricky reconnects with some sketchy members of their extended family, the life Isabelle worked so hard to build is jeopardized. Isabelle faces a hard choice: fight alone or bare her soul to the friends who can help her.
What’s a queen to do?
282 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 2, 2022
254 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
S.W. Hubbard
32 books453 followersS.W. Hubbard writes the kinds of books she loves to read: twisty, believable, full of complex characters, and highlighted with sly humor. She is the author of the Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery Series and the Frank Bennett Adirondack Mountain Mystery Series, as well as the Life in Palmyrton Women's Friendship Fiction Series. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and the anthologiesDead Drift, Crimes by Moonlight, The Mystery Box, andAdirondack Mysteries. When not writing, she hikes with her rescue dog, Libby, and her husband. She lives in Morristown, NJ.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
May 12, 2022
It was like a reunion with old friends reading this next book in SW Hubbard's Women's Fiction series. The characters all stayed true to who they are, but it's fun watching their growth and ability to change. It was a fast and enjoyable read and I recommend it!
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May 3, 2022I wrote it, so naturally, I've read it! Hope you enjoy it.
May 3, 2022
Life, Revealed - a review by Rosemary Kenny.
Isabelle Trent has a settled, comfortable life as the Queen of Palmyrton real estate; single by choice, and happy in her routine with girlfriends, Roz, Audrey, Lydia and Madalyn.
Almost Monica Geller-like, in her obsession with order and neatness in her home, office and personal life, she's completely thrown off balance, when first her brother Ricky's released from prison after fifteen years and then she meets and becomes intimately involved with Dr Steve Bergolini.
Throw a cute kitten, Einstein, into the mix and it's no wonder she collapses with panic attacks, and wants things back just the way they were ...or does she really? What opens her eyes?
Get a copy of Life, Revealed, S.W. Hubbard's excellent new bestseller to find out, today!
Isabelle Trent has a settled, comfortable life as the Queen of Palmyrton real estate; single by choice, and happy in her routine with girlfriends, Roz, Audrey, Lydia and Madalyn.
Almost Monica Geller-like, in her obsession with order and neatness in her home, office and personal life, she's completely thrown off balance, when first her brother Ricky's released from prison after fifteen years and then she meets and becomes intimately involved with Dr Steve Bergolini.
Throw a cute kitten, Einstein, into the mix and it's no wonder she collapses with panic attacks, and wants things back just the way they were ...or does she really? What opens her eyes?
Get a copy of Life, Revealed, S.W. Hubbard's excellent new bestseller to find out, today!
May 15, 2022
We revisit Palmytron in book 4 of this wonderful series. The characters from the first three books are involved in this story. This time we follow Isabelle who is considered to be the Queen of Palmytron Real Estate. Isabelle has always been the most aloof of the group and as we dig into her character, we find out why. When the brother she has told no one about is released from prison her perfect life spirals out of control. Will she build it back better or is she too set in her ways? The characters in this series are imperfect and quite relatable. I look forward to number 5!
May 5, 2022
Another Delightful Book
I just love the characters in this “Life” series, and that they are part of each other’s stories. Seeing their friendships develop and deepen is wonderful. They are very relatable and I’d love being in their friend group.Isabelle has been the most remote for me, but her story examines why she is the way she is. Good wine, good conversations, and exciting stories about the woman-next-door is what these books mean to me.
I just love the characters in this “Life” series, and that they are part of each other’s stories. Seeing their friendships develop and deepen is wonderful. They are very relatable and I’d love being in their friend group.Isabelle has been the most remote for me, but her story examines why she is the way she is. Good wine, good conversations, and exciting stories about the woman-next-door is what these books mean to me.
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May 7, 2022Terrific
I am enjoying this series so much! I am so glad that I have found Susan Hubbard. I hope you give her books a try.
I am enjoying this series so much! I am so glad that I have found Susan Hubbard. I hope you give her books a try.
June 29, 2022
Couldn’t put it down
I enjoy everything written by S.W. Hubbard. Her characters are believable and she weaves great stories around them. I really enjoyed seeing Isabelle evolve. Loved it!
I enjoy everything written by S.W. Hubbard. Her characters are believable and she weaves great stories around them. I really enjoyed seeing Isabelle evolve. Loved it!
May 22, 2022
A Series of Easy Entertainment
A bevy of women, all with personalities that create an energetic mix. Each book in the series, highlights a woman in this friendship.
Real, determined and likable.
A bevy of women, all with personalities that create an energetic mix. Each book in the series, highlights a woman in this friendship.
Real, determined and likable.
July 9, 2022
Another winner in the Life in Palmyrton Women's friendship series
Isabelle had surrounded herself with her work and a picture perfect life-guess what that life doesn't exist. She suddenly is thrown into a life she doesn't recognize and she has to get back on track before she loses her heart.
Isabelle had surrounded herself with her work and a picture perfect life-guess what that life doesn't exist. She suddenly is thrown into a life she doesn't recognize and she has to get back on track before she loses her heart.
December 28, 2022
4.5 stars for Life, Revealed: Isabelle’s Story by S.W. Hubbard
Life, Revealed is the fourth book of Hubbard’s Life in Palmyrton series and acquaints readers with Isabelle Trent, a successful real estate agent with a hidden past. Her best friends accept that Isabelle is a very private person, but even they are shocked when Isabelle starts helping a half-brother they didn’t know existed until after his release from prison.
Isabelle’s calm and organized life soon spins out of control, and she’ll need to dismantle the walls she’s spent decades building around herself to find true happiness at last.
Hubbard's story is engaging and compelling as Isabelle struggles to forget a difficult childhood, accept her brother’s checkered past, and allow her friends and colleagues to peer beyond her carefully constructed public persona. And of course we also get to enjoy glimpses of the friends we’ve gotten to know well in the three previous Life in Palmyrton novels. I’ll have to read Hubbard’s Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery series next to learn Audrey’s story and enjoy more time with the wonderful women of Palmyrton.
P.S. If you like the dog on the cover and want to know more about him, you’ll need to read Lydia’s story in book one of the Life in Palmyrton series instead. There should have been a white kitten on the cover of Isabelle’s story.🤷🏻♀️
Life, Revealed is the fourth book of Hubbard’s Life in Palmyrton series and acquaints readers with Isabelle Trent, a successful real estate agent with a hidden past. Her best friends accept that Isabelle is a very private person, but even they are shocked when Isabelle starts helping a half-brother they didn’t know existed until after his release from prison.
Isabelle’s calm and organized life soon spins out of control, and she’ll need to dismantle the walls she’s spent decades building around herself to find true happiness at last.
Hubbard's story is engaging and compelling as Isabelle struggles to forget a difficult childhood, accept her brother’s checkered past, and allow her friends and colleagues to peer beyond her carefully constructed public persona. And of course we also get to enjoy glimpses of the friends we’ve gotten to know well in the three previous Life in Palmyrton novels. I’ll have to read Hubbard’s Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery series next to learn Audrey’s story and enjoy more time with the wonderful women of Palmyrton.
P.S. If you like the dog on the cover and want to know more about him, you’ll need to read Lydia’s story in book one of the Life in Palmyrton series instead. There should have been a white kitten on the cover of Isabelle’s story.🤷🏻♀️
September 8, 2022
Last, for now, of the Friendship Fiction series. This was better that the last in several ways. She gave a backstory to Isabelle, the real estate wizard. Apparently she grew up in a very broken and disfunctional home, and her brother ended up in prison at an early age. And stayed there for a lot of years. Now he's out and dealing with all that's changed, and she's there in the thick of it.
Her character become very interesting, but also her brother's. And of course the other women friends get to go on living their lives. But I found him the most interesting of them all. I wish she'd write a sequel from his life in the future--I'd read it in a snap. Of course...that's true of all her books.
Her character become very interesting, but also her brother's. And of course the other women friends get to go on living their lives. But I found him the most interesting of them all. I wish she'd write a sequel from his life in the future--I'd read it in a snap. Of course...that's true of all her books.
April 6, 2023
It much to say, I didn’t not like the book, all people painted with such broad strokes. Of course Isabelle is perfect and then everything comes crashing down.
Didn’t believe for one minute her brother had spent 15 yrs in jail.
Her portrayal of a realtor is also wide of the mark. Everyone has Zillow. Do people really need a realtor to persuade them to buy a particular house?
She mentioned staying with her stepdad the last couple of months before she left for college, it wasn’t she at a boarding school? Sloppy writing.
Still, it was diverting and I read it of my own free will and finished it
Didn’t believe for one minute her brother had spent 15 yrs in jail.
Her portrayal of a realtor is also wide of the mark. Everyone has Zillow. Do people really need a realtor to persuade them to buy a particular house?
She mentioned staying with her stepdad the last couple of months before she left for college, it wasn’t she at a boarding school? Sloppy writing.
Still, it was diverting and I read it of my own free will and finished it
May 25, 2022
The last book in a series about four friends. Isabelle is a realtor friend and business associate of Audrey from the Treasure mystery series. (Ignore the blurbs that call them suspense or terror. They are enjoyable cozy mysteries.) Isabelle's traumatic childhood has made her unwilling to get close to others. Of course, since this is chick lit, there is a happy ending. The story is not as trite as I make it sound, and if you have enjoyed the author's other novels you will like this one.
June 26, 2024
5 Stars
The Childhood Gift That Keeps On Giving
This is the 4th book in a series that should be read in sequence to really enjoy the back story. Each book focuses on the life of one member of a group of friends. These women are all 40ish with careers. Yet, there are holes in their lives. This story deals with a high-flying Realtor and her ex-con brother. There is a day of reckoning to lay the ghosts to rest.
The Childhood Gift That Keeps On Giving
This is the 4th book in a series that should be read in sequence to really enjoy the back story. Each book focuses on the life of one member of a group of friends. These women are all 40ish with careers. Yet, there are holes in their lives. This story deals with a high-flying Realtor and her ex-con brother. There is a day of reckoning to lay the ghosts to rest.
August 7, 2022
Unlikeable Main Character
The writing is very good, and makes me wish I could rate this book higher. Bu t the main character is a complete jerk. She has absolutely no good qualities and treats people like garbage. Even when she knows there is no reason to lie, her image is more important that the people in her life.
The writing is very good, and makes me wish I could rate this book higher. Bu t the main character is a complete jerk. She has absolutely no good qualities and treats people like garbage. Even when she knows there is no reason to lie, her image is more important that the people in her life.
March 17, 2023
Worthwhile
I somehow missed this book when I read the previous ones in this series. The author creates a story that moves along swiftly. I read this practically in one sitting. I'd recommend it but if you should start at the beginning of the series, so you get an update on all the characters.
I somehow missed this book when I read the previous ones in this series. The author creates a story that moves along swiftly. I read this practically in one sitting. I'd recommend it but if you should start at the beginning of the series, so you get an update on all the characters.
May 24, 2023
Real-World Issues
Oh, S. W. Hubbard! Each book is such a treasure!
While your works are pegged as “cozy” stories, that doesn’t track for me; the writing is whip-sharp and human insight abounds where other authors insert treacle, far-too-descriptive physical acts (graphic violence or graphic, um, consenting adult behaviors).
Yours is a rare and lovely talent. Thank you!
Oh, S. W. Hubbard! Each book is such a treasure!
While your works are pegged as “cozy” stories, that doesn’t track for me; the writing is whip-sharp and human insight abounds where other authors insert treacle, far-too-descriptive physical acts (graphic violence or graphic, um, consenting adult behaviors).
Yours is a rare and lovely talent. Thank you!
June 9, 2022
Cliff Hanger
Hubbard leaves us wondering would Roz finish her book? Will Isabelle let her natural hair flow for love? Need one more book of the four friends to place an ending of “LIFE”
Hubbard leaves us wondering would Roz finish her book? Will Isabelle let her natural hair flow for love? Need one more book of the four friends to place an ending of “LIFE”
December 13, 2022
Very nice read!
I really enjoyed reading about Isabelle and her life.
I also enjoyed her brother Ricky and how he brought life back into her. I think you may enjoy this story also.
Happy Reading!
ENJOY!!
MARY C
I really enjoyed reading about Isabelle and her life.
I also enjoyed her brother Ricky and how he brought life back into her. I think you may enjoy this story also.
Happy Reading!
ENJOY!!
MARY C
February 12, 2023
I don’t want it to be over!
I love how the characters flow from one book into the next while portraying the central character. They are friends, family, relatable. I shall miss them. Thank you for what you do!
I love how the characters flow from one book into the next while portraying the central character. They are friends, family, relatable. I shall miss them. Thank you for what you do!
February 28, 2023
Ere
I really hate writing reviews but here it is. I fema!e characters were so different from each other. Their backgrounds so diverse. Their friendships were so supportive it made my heart happy. I read books three and four in one day. Thank you for the books. I loved them.
I really hate writing reviews but here it is. I fema!e characters were so different from each other. Their backgrounds so diverse. Their friendships were so supportive it made my heart happy. I read books three and four in one day. Thank you for the books. I loved them.
March 28, 2023
Laughs and tears
Poor Isabelle, the trials and tribulations of a young woman who has self made herself and then several wrenches knock her lovely life into reality. I laughed and cried for this group of ladies
Poor Isabelle, the trials and tribulations of a young woman who has self made herself and then several wrenches knock her lovely life into reality. I laughed and cried for this group of ladies
September 9, 2023
Coarse Language
Language. Unnecessary coarse terms.
Distracts from story.
Makes the ladies sound uneducated and classless.
Appeared to be added as an attempt to make this series more contemporary.
Ruined an otherwise good story..
Language. Unnecessary coarse terms.
Distracts from story.
Makes the ladies sound uneducated and classless.
Appeared to be added as an attempt to make this series more contemporary.
Ruined an otherwise good story..
September 21, 2023
Palmyrton Women Book 4
This one tugs at the heart strings. The characters are believable and come with multiple personal issues. The friendships and family are wonderful to read. I highly recommend the entire series.
This one tugs at the heart strings. The characters are believable and come with multiple personal issues. The friendships and family are wonderful to read. I highly recommend the entire series.
February 9, 2024
Disappointed
This is book 4 in the series and I feel quite disappointed. I've enjoyed the other books but this just didn't feel it was needed in the series. I wasn't keen of the boyfriend the way he was with Isabelle and the ending felt rushed and a bit boring.
This is book 4 in the series and I feel quite disappointed. I've enjoyed the other books but this just didn't feel it was needed in the series. I wasn't keen of the boyfriend the way he was with Isabelle and the ending felt rushed and a bit boring.
March 10, 2024
Love this author
S.W.Hubbard I want to read everything and anything you write. I loved the Estate Sale Mysteries and grieved their passing until I found Women’s Friendship Fiction and now I am off to see what else you have in store for me.
S.W.Hubbard I want to read everything and anything you write. I loved the Estate Sale Mysteries and grieved their passing until I found Women’s Friendship Fiction and now I am off to see what else you have in store for me.
September 29, 2025
In book 4 the writer gives us a deeper look at Isabelle, one of the "Life in Palmyrton Women's Friendship" series. After reading her story, I found myself liking her more. The book was interesting, enjoyable and romantic.
June 19, 2022
Great story
Despite the fact that Isabelle did not interest me in the preceding books of this series, I enjoyed understanding her more in this one.
Despite the fact that Isabelle did not interest me in the preceding books of this series, I enjoyed understanding her more in this one.
July 17, 2022
I thoroughly enjoy this series
August 6, 2022
love these books
I just keep coming back because the writing is believable and they are easy to move through. On to the next series.
I just keep coming back because the writing is believable and they are easy to move through. On to the next series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews