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Return to Sender
Beloved "New York Times"-bestselling author Fern Michaels delivers a superb new novel--an unforgettable story about love, friendship, family, and the courage it takes to let go of the past.
279 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
870 people are currently reading
1598 people want to read
About the author
Fern Michaels
420 books6,447 followersFern Michaels isn’t a person. I’m not sure she’s an entity either since an entity is something with separate existence. Fern Michaels® is what I DO. Me, Mary Ruth Kuczkir. Growing up in Hastings, Pennsylvania, I was called Ruth. I became Mary when I entered the business world where first names were the order of the day. To this day, family and friends call me Dink, a name my father gave me when I was born because according to him I was ‘a dinky little thing’ weighing in at four and a half pounds. However, I answer to Fern since people are more comfortable with a name they can pronounce.
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
March 1, 2011
And giving one star feels generous for this book. Awful from start to finish. The entire plot was completely unbelievable and ridiculous (17 year old girl finds herself pregnant and alone. Has to make a life for her baby, which she does, becoming a millionaire by the time she's 35. But even with all that decides to seek revenge on her sons dad for not being in the picture....oh but don't worry, the revenge isn't anything destructive, just mild pranks that amount only to her spending a lot of her money and completely losing any amount of self respect in the readers eyes). But that was not the worst thing about this book, it was the dialogue! The never ending banter in which the character repeats herself over and over again. It felt like 8th grade angst, not the thoughts of a 36 year old professional millionaire! If I had to read one more time about the characters past and how hard it was for her to find herself pregnant and alone I was going to throw the book across the room.
Awful. Just awful. (and I love everything I read, so this is REALLY saying a lot.)
Awful. Just awful. (and I love everything I read, so this is REALLY saying a lot.)
October 9, 2015
This book has the distinct (dis)pleasure of being the absolutely worst book I have ever read. If I could, I would rate it in the negative. Like another reviewer said, I love everything that I read & I am really hard to offend. This book is well written as far as grammar goes. The characters are so unlikable, horrible, and their actions so alien to me that it rendered the book unreadable.
Here a quick overview, in my own words, spoilers ahead:
The main female character (magically, I suppose) finds herself pregnant at 17 or so & homeless because of her overly religious father and long suffering yet willingly controlled mother. The father of the baby is a guy from New York that she meets at a Frat Party & has a week long affair with. He is from a wealthy family. Anyway, she's pregnant, alone, and broke. She decides she's going to send the baby's daddy a letter, so she talked to a friend of his & gets an "address" for him. I guess a phone call was out of the question, not sure why. Sure it was before the internet and anyone being just a click away but I would think that their would be a way to find a phone number for someone. Anyway, the letter was written & sent to the provided address. Within a week or so, it was returned by the post office with "Return to sender, Address Unknown". Well, the "Address Unknown" was ignored by the character & I'm thinking it was ignored by Ms. Fern Michaels because the entire story depended on that one detail. So, <1>of course1>, she continues to send further letters to said address, the one that doesn't actually exist, over the years containing information about the child, photos, and baby teeth, etc and of course, they were promptly sent back unopened with Return to Sender, Address Unknown stamped on them. So, fast forward 18 years. She is still carrying around all the letters she has sent over the years in her purse, she is a millionaire herself because she owns a restaurant in a small southern town (lol, I doubt THAT) & her son is leaving to go to NYU. She has become really, really bitter & even more whiny about the stressfulness & heartbreak of being a struggling single mother. As it is repeatedly mentioned, she had to feed her child GENERIC MAC AND CHEESE! GENERIC! She runs into the "baby daddy" at the NYU student welcome dinner. She decides that, <1>imo1> even though she shares responsibility for the pregnancy and she, IMO, owns all the responsibility of the father not finding out about his child, that this man deserves to have a major revenge plot carried out on him. Enter a bitter PI that was fired by the "baby daddy" for being snarky & judgmental when asked to investigate someone & the "fun" begins. Well, fun if you consider stuff such as kidnapping -!literally kidnapping!- the current wife from her home, injecting her with a big dose of Valium, leaving her DRUGGED & ALONE in Harlem in the middle of the night, calling the New York Times to set it up to look like the husband had beat her up, id theft that caused this man to have no access to his bank accounts, credit cards, money, etc., and the general harassment of a man THAT HAS JUST BEEN DIAGNOSED & IS BEING TREATED WITH CHEMO FOR LUEKEMIA fun!!! To me, it was pure insanity and heartless. Not a bit of forgiveness, generosity, compassion, or empathy for anyone but themselves.
So,in a nutshell, Return To Sender is all about bitterness, revenge, and not accepting responsibility for your own actions. Everyone, in their own way, lived happily ever after but did not learn the lessons they needed to learn. They did not really have a change of heart. That would have made this book okay, not great but tolerable at least. When the main character learned of her mistake about the Address Unknown, it was like, Giggle, WHOOPS!
I wouldn't ever recommend this book to anyone I know except maybe my vindictive & bitter ex sister in law.
Here a quick overview, in my own words, spoilers ahead:
The main female character (magically, I suppose) finds herself pregnant at 17 or so & homeless because of her overly religious father and long suffering yet willingly controlled mother. The father of the baby is a guy from New York that she meets at a Frat Party & has a week long affair with. He is from a wealthy family. Anyway, she's pregnant, alone, and broke. She decides she's going to send the baby's daddy a letter, so she talked to a friend of his & gets an "address" for him. I guess a phone call was out of the question, not sure why. Sure it was before the internet and anyone being just a click away but I would think that their would be a way to find a phone number for someone. Anyway, the letter was written & sent to the provided address. Within a week or so, it was returned by the post office with "Return to sender, Address Unknown". Well, the "Address Unknown" was ignored by the character & I'm thinking it was ignored by Ms. Fern Michaels because the entire story depended on that one detail. So, <1>of course1>, she continues to send further letters to said address, the one that doesn't actually exist, over the years containing information about the child, photos, and baby teeth, etc and of course, they were promptly sent back unopened with Return to Sender, Address Unknown stamped on them. So, fast forward 18 years. She is still carrying around all the letters she has sent over the years in her purse, she is a millionaire herself because she owns a restaurant in a small southern town (lol, I doubt THAT) & her son is leaving to go to NYU. She has become really, really bitter & even more whiny about the stressfulness & heartbreak of being a struggling single mother. As it is repeatedly mentioned, she had to feed her child GENERIC MAC AND CHEESE! GENERIC! She runs into the "baby daddy" at the NYU student welcome dinner. She decides that, <1>imo1> even though she shares responsibility for the pregnancy and she, IMO, owns all the responsibility of the father not finding out about his child, that this man deserves to have a major revenge plot carried out on him. Enter a bitter PI that was fired by the "baby daddy" for being snarky & judgmental when asked to investigate someone & the "fun" begins. Well, fun if you consider stuff such as kidnapping -!literally kidnapping!- the current wife from her home, injecting her with a big dose of Valium, leaving her DRUGGED & ALONE in Harlem in the middle of the night, calling the New York Times to set it up to look like the husband had beat her up, id theft that caused this man to have no access to his bank accounts, credit cards, money, etc., and the general harassment of a man THAT HAS JUST BEEN DIAGNOSED & IS BEING TREATED WITH CHEMO FOR LUEKEMIA fun!!! To me, it was pure insanity and heartless. Not a bit of forgiveness, generosity, compassion, or empathy for anyone but themselves.
So,in a nutshell, Return To Sender is all about bitterness, revenge, and not accepting responsibility for your own actions. Everyone, in their own way, lived happily ever after but did not learn the lessons they needed to learn. They did not really have a change of heart. That would have made this book okay, not great but tolerable at least. When the main character learned of her mistake about the Address Unknown, it was like, Giggle, WHOOPS!
I wouldn't ever recommend this book to anyone I know except maybe my vindictive & bitter ex sister in law.
December 10, 2010
Just awful. Contrived, inconsistent plot development. Loads of details about what she ate and wore, erratic coverage of motivations. The editing was horrendous and I've never been so conscious of poor editing as I was with this book. Here's an example: they delivered a package to Nick that was so heavy he could barely lift it. He opened it up and the contents was an iPod.
February 20, 2017
Still another badly written book about unlikeable people. Incredibly unrealistic, the "heroine" - and I use the term loosely - went from being an unwed mother at seventeen, rejected by her parents, to becoming a multi-millionaire in less than 15 years all told. Not incredible in itself, but she did it by waitressing in a diner, later buying the diner with a bank loan of a half-million and going on from there. Pray tell me - what bank would lend that much money to a waitress who had to work double shifts to pay the bills? And how did she get to be a tycoon less than 10 years later, owning only the single diner? Anyway, she did. For years she sent her son's fabulously rich father letters, all returned marked "Return to Sender". Did she never think someone else might have intercepted them? Did she ever think to STOP WRITING TO THE JERK?? NOOOO. Instead, she decided to "teach him a lesson" by messing with his bank accounts, compromising his credit rating, and digging up old family scandals. Can we all say "FELONY!!"??? In the meantime, the father - who is a rich SOB whose wife hates him so much she tries to kill him - becomes ill with leukemia, and has to cope with his life falling apart while trying to stay alive. Not having any family that he knows of, he sponsors a bone marrow drive in hopes of finding a compatible donor for a $10 million prize. Of course, his son wants to win the money (not knowing that is is his father), but his mother PREVENTS him from being a donor because she doesn't want to admit to her son that his father was not dead, as she had claimed all his life!! Lovely woman. The whole thing ends improbably with her taking her son to see his father in the hospital where she falls in love with his doctor. She throws all the returned letters at the father who suddenly notices the words "Address Unknown" on each one. Somehow, even after carrying the letters everywhere with her for last 20 years, she had missed that small detail. Everyone has a little chuckle, the rich SOB gets his transplant, she marries the doctor and they all live happily ever after. Phhhggghhhlllhhhllhh!!!!!
July 6, 2016
Lin finds herself pregnant at 17 and is kicked out of her home. She ends up raising her son alone with no help from her family or the man who impregnated her.
I hated the characters of this book, especially the main character Lin. She constantly complained, was judgy and a cry baby, blaming her problems on everyone but herself. The only one I didn't hate was Nick, and I'm pretty sure the author wanted me to hate him....
I will probably gives this author another chance because I think it was well written. Be warned though, editing is horrendous and there are 2 flashback scenes, that are word for word the same. I've never seen anything like it before and hope I never do again.
I hated the characters of this book, especially the main character Lin. She constantly complained, was judgy and a cry baby, blaming her problems on everyone but herself. The only one I didn't hate was Nick, and I'm pretty sure the author wanted me to hate him....
I will probably gives this author another chance because I think it was well written. Be warned though, editing is horrendous and there are 2 flashback scenes, that are word for word the same. I've never seen anything like it before and hope I never do again.
August 25, 2011
I just finished this book and I honnestly can't recall reading a worst story. EVER! I'm generally someone who always finds a redeeming quality to what I read but this time, it can't be done!
Where to start? The story is unbelievable from start to finish. I hated Lin's character almost from the start. She is made to pose as some king of hero but her want for revenge is not only ridiculous, it proves that she's just a tad crazy and not to bright to boot. Come on! Not a second she thought about the reasons Nick didn't respond other than is abandonnement. Wake up lady!
About the story... A girl find herself pregnant at 17, raises her baby by herself, become very wealthy and successfull, then sees the father of her son and decides out of the blue to get revenge. Her best friend jumps in with both feet (of course!) and they try by the stupidest ways possible to try to ruin him. During this time, he's fighting cancer and his wife is a mean bitch who want to off him. But wait! Then Lin falls in love with his doctor, tells her story to him and her son. Suddenly, no more revenge, let's go see daddy Will. Ridiculous. I was reminded of my daughters when they play and make up the story as they go. This book was like that for me. As if the author had no plan what so ever in writting it and tacked on bits and pieces on the way.
P.S. Forgive me if my English isn't always up to par, it isn't my first language.
Where to start? The story is unbelievable from start to finish. I hated Lin's character almost from the start. She is made to pose as some king of hero but her want for revenge is not only ridiculous, it proves that she's just a tad crazy and not to bright to boot. Come on! Not a second she thought about the reasons Nick didn't respond other than is abandonnement. Wake up lady!
About the story... A girl find herself pregnant at 17, raises her baby by herself, become very wealthy and successfull, then sees the father of her son and decides out of the blue to get revenge. Her best friend jumps in with both feet (of course!) and they try by the stupidest ways possible to try to ruin him. During this time, he's fighting cancer and his wife is a mean bitch who want to off him. But wait! Then Lin falls in love with his doctor, tells her story to him and her son. Suddenly, no more revenge, let's go see daddy Will. Ridiculous. I was reminded of my daughters when they play and make up the story as they go. This book was like that for me. As if the author had no plan what so ever in writting it and tacked on bits and pieces on the way.
P.S. Forgive me if my English isn't always up to par, it isn't my first language.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 16, 2017
CD/Romance?/Unabridged: This is one of the worst books I ever listened to. I liked the beginning, but when I got to the second disc, it was a mess. This review is full of spoilers and I don't care.
Continuity:
If the math is correct throughout the book then Nick was a strapping young 24-year old and still in college (? Really, it’s not like he was studying to be a doctor, he had a business degree) when he spent the week with the 17 year-old Lynn and impregnated her. BTW, they only had unprotected sex during that week and talked very, very little because neither one of them knows ANYTHING about the other, you know, like a phone number.
How can she be a millionaire? I looked up Dalton, GA. It’s smaller than my city in Alabama. She becomes a millionaire from catering… in Dalton, GA… by the age of 30… in Dalton, GA.
Common Sense:
Nick had an abusive father. Lynn had an abusive father. Both had horrific childhoods. That never came up during their week together. Supposedly, Lynn has fresh scars on her back from the abuse. Nick never sees them.
“Return to Sender; address unknown” stamped, not written, on an unopened letter does not mean he has abandoned you and your baby. It means he never got the letters. If you’re such a millionaire at 30, you should have hired someone to find him when your son was in his teens.
It’s not about you:
Lyn had unprotected sex and gets pregnant with Will. She lectures Will about risky behavior. When she finally does have sex again after 18 years, she immediately gets pregnant. She says she wants to “do it right” this time. So she purposely gets pregnant without talking it over with the dad. Also, he’s a McDreamy kind of doctor and doesn’t date. (Really, why become a doctor?) Anyway, they didn’t talk about it because McDreamy doesn’t figure it out. McDreamy = McDense.
Lyn complains about having to feed Will Macky Cheese when he was a kid, when she had money to scrape together to feed him. She was too proud for handouts. Food Stamps and WIC aren’t about you. It’s about feeding your child properly, especially if you’re going to wait for a man who is never going to come around. Georgia is one of the better states when it comes to child support payments in the south.
Lyn tells her horror story first to her son, then to her boyfriend, and then to Will’s dad. Her horror story was supposed to tell why she did not tell Will his father was alive. The story never answered the question and all three times I heard it I was yelling at my CD player, “It’s not about you.”
The bio dad has cancer and will probably needs a bone marrow transplant. First, she wants to stop her son from getting tested and when that fails, she goes to his doctor to have her son’s name withheld if they are a match. Her son is 18; time to fess up about your lie. It’s not about you.
Lynn and he BFF kidnap Nick’s wife. They give her a triple shot of liquid Valium without knowing her medical background. Then they drive her to Harlem (racist much) and leave her for some reporters to see, but not before giving her another dose of Valium. They leave her at Bill Clinton’s old office, but no one thinks to look at the camera footage to see what really happened. I work in newspaper and it is an insult that the NY Times would print the story, because there is no way they would. Then the two reporters from competing papers rush in a cab together. Really? Lynn and her BFF leave and basically the wife is left to any pervert who wants a thrill with a passed out woman in a wheel chair.
Continuity:
If the math is correct throughout the book then Nick was a strapping young 24-year old and still in college (? Really, it’s not like he was studying to be a doctor, he had a business degree) when he spent the week with the 17 year-old Lynn and impregnated her. BTW, they only had unprotected sex during that week and talked very, very little because neither one of them knows ANYTHING about the other, you know, like a phone number.
How can she be a millionaire? I looked up Dalton, GA. It’s smaller than my city in Alabama. She becomes a millionaire from catering… in Dalton, GA… by the age of 30… in Dalton, GA.
Common Sense:
Nick had an abusive father. Lynn had an abusive father. Both had horrific childhoods. That never came up during their week together. Supposedly, Lynn has fresh scars on her back from the abuse. Nick never sees them.
“Return to Sender; address unknown” stamped, not written, on an unopened letter does not mean he has abandoned you and your baby. It means he never got the letters. If you’re such a millionaire at 30, you should have hired someone to find him when your son was in his teens.
It’s not about you:
Lyn had unprotected sex and gets pregnant with Will. She lectures Will about risky behavior. When she finally does have sex again after 18 years, she immediately gets pregnant. She says she wants to “do it right” this time. So she purposely gets pregnant without talking it over with the dad. Also, he’s a McDreamy kind of doctor and doesn’t date. (Really, why become a doctor?) Anyway, they didn’t talk about it because McDreamy doesn’t figure it out. McDreamy = McDense.
Lyn complains about having to feed Will Macky Cheese when he was a kid, when she had money to scrape together to feed him. She was too proud for handouts. Food Stamps and WIC aren’t about you. It’s about feeding your child properly, especially if you’re going to wait for a man who is never going to come around. Georgia is one of the better states when it comes to child support payments in the south.
Lyn tells her horror story first to her son, then to her boyfriend, and then to Will’s dad. Her horror story was supposed to tell why she did not tell Will his father was alive. The story never answered the question and all three times I heard it I was yelling at my CD player, “It’s not about you.”
The bio dad has cancer and will probably needs a bone marrow transplant. First, she wants to stop her son from getting tested and when that fails, she goes to his doctor to have her son’s name withheld if they are a match. Her son is 18; time to fess up about your lie. It’s not about you.
Lynn and he BFF kidnap Nick’s wife. They give her a triple shot of liquid Valium without knowing her medical background. Then they drive her to Harlem (racist much) and leave her for some reporters to see, but not before giving her another dose of Valium. They leave her at Bill Clinton’s old office, but no one thinks to look at the camera footage to see what really happened. I work in newspaper and it is an insult that the NY Times would print the story, because there is no way they would. Then the two reporters from competing papers rush in a cab together. Really? Lynn and her BFF leave and basically the wife is left to any pervert who wants a thrill with a passed out woman in a wheel chair.
April 16, 2013
Lin Townsend has had a very sheltered life and has endured being bullied and beaten by her religious maniac of a father. When she was very young she was made to go to school in urine stained clothes because he wouldn’t allow her to go to the bathroom until she had finished reciting the bible passage he made her learn by heart. So, at age seventeen when she has the very first opportunity to escape her father’s violence by attending a maths tournament out of town, she jumps at the chance.
That’s when it happens. She meets Nick Pemberton, the most handsome boy she has ever laid eyes on and they have four wonderful days of fun and intimacy before Lin has to return home to her living hell. Two months later Lin discovers she is pregnant and when her father discovers the thruth, he literally throws her out into the street with only the clothes she has on her back. Fortunately Lin has saved some money to go to college with and using that she finds a one room garage apartment to live in and a job waiting tables at a local diner to keep a roof over her head. She tries to contact Nick to tell him of her plight but all her letters are returned unopened with the stamp “Return to Sender” on the envelope.
Eighteen years later we meet Lin again and this time she is in much better circumstances. After working two jobs and extra shifts at the diner before and after her son, Will was born, she is now the owner of the diner and a wealthy woman. We meet her as she is about to attend the NYC University open ceremony with Will who is about to commence his undergraduate degree in veterinary medicine. For the past eighteen years Lin has repeatedly tried to contact Nick to tell him about his son, but still the letters are returned unopened. Then, on what should have been the happiest day of her life she sees Nick Pemberton again and that is where the story really begins.
The first few chapters of this story are compelling reading. I loved Lin instantly and really wanted to know what happened to her and Will. As the book progresses, though, Lin begins to act foolishly and out of character from the original portrait that had been painted of her. I just couldn’t grapple with these two Lin Townsend’s and it irritated me to think how ridiculous she was being and I couldn’t believe she would resort to acting so childishly. Having said that, even though she got on my nerves, it did not stop me reading the whole story! I realised that those first few chapters had me hooked enough to care about what happened and had made me hopeful that Lin would get over the nonsense and be her nice self again.
I honestly cannot remember ever being so undecided about whether I liked a character or not. One thing is for sure, even though I really enjoyed the story I was glad when I finished reading it!
Have you ever had a character in a story really get on your nerves?
Return To Sender
That’s when it happens. She meets Nick Pemberton, the most handsome boy she has ever laid eyes on and they have four wonderful days of fun and intimacy before Lin has to return home to her living hell. Two months later Lin discovers she is pregnant and when her father discovers the thruth, he literally throws her out into the street with only the clothes she has on her back. Fortunately Lin has saved some money to go to college with and using that she finds a one room garage apartment to live in and a job waiting tables at a local diner to keep a roof over her head. She tries to contact Nick to tell him of her plight but all her letters are returned unopened with the stamp “Return to Sender” on the envelope.
Eighteen years later we meet Lin again and this time she is in much better circumstances. After working two jobs and extra shifts at the diner before and after her son, Will was born, she is now the owner of the diner and a wealthy woman. We meet her as she is about to attend the NYC University open ceremony with Will who is about to commence his undergraduate degree in veterinary medicine. For the past eighteen years Lin has repeatedly tried to contact Nick to tell him about his son, but still the letters are returned unopened. Then, on what should have been the happiest day of her life she sees Nick Pemberton again and that is where the story really begins.
The first few chapters of this story are compelling reading. I loved Lin instantly and really wanted to know what happened to her and Will. As the book progresses, though, Lin begins to act foolishly and out of character from the original portrait that had been painted of her. I just couldn’t grapple with these two Lin Townsend’s and it irritated me to think how ridiculous she was being and I couldn’t believe she would resort to acting so childishly. Having said that, even though she got on my nerves, it did not stop me reading the whole story! I realised that those first few chapters had me hooked enough to care about what happened and had made me hopeful that Lin would get over the nonsense and be her nice self again.
I honestly cannot remember ever being so undecided about whether I liked a character or not. One thing is for sure, even though I really enjoyed the story I was glad when I finished reading it!
Have you ever had a character in a story really get on your nerves?
Return To Sender
March 15, 2011
A fast paced reading. I liked the way the author gave us background to the main character (Lin), then jumped forward 17 years to when her son is entering NYU. We didn't have to wade through his growing up years which were immaterial to the story. Young girl (Lin) is raised in an abusive environment and is thrown out of her house with only the clothes on her back when her father discovers she is pregnant. She manages to raise her son and make something of herself. As her son enters NYU, she attends the welcoming ceremony for freshman, and lo and behold, the father of her son is the guest speaker. The son does not know his father is even alive. Lin has carried with her, for all these years, the letters she wrote to the father but were returned, all stamped "return to sender". She's furious she had to struggle to have money for food and he's a rich SOB. Revenge: she wants him to know what it's like to have no money and no control of his life and to sully his reputation. And she takes action to do just that with the help of a private eye who used to work for this SOB and is more than willing to assist her. The father is not a nice man, he treats his driver, his housekeeper, his wife, his employees, his lawyer, his accountant, like dirt. I wanted to see something bad happen to him. Then I took a step back and felt ashamed that I was wanting something bad to happen to him at the hands of another (not murder, just something bad). Although the ending was predictable, I have misgivings about the means to the end. This is the same author that writes the Sisterhood books, the women who work together to bring justice to wrong-doers when the judicial system has failed. There's a trend here in her writings and I'm now curious what her background and youth was like that leads her to write about women making things "right".
December 28, 2012
Review featured on www.books-n-kisses.com
While I usually like Fern Michaels books I do have trouble with the conversations she holds in them because it just does not sound the way a normal person would speak and I expected to feel that way about this book as well while none-the-less enjoying it. I was wrong. I really did not enjoy this book at all. It is so mean spirited and vengeful that I found no connection to the characters. Lin is so obsessed with revenge that it takes away from every other part of this story.
Nick is never a character that the reader decides is worth liking (at least not this reader) and while I have read a bunch of books where the main character is a jerk but low in behold by the end of the book they are a saint this is not one of those.
The book is also a reprint from 2010 which might not sound that long ago but with this book there are some references that date the book making it seem even older.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
While I usually like Fern Michaels books I do have trouble with the conversations she holds in them because it just does not sound the way a normal person would speak and I expected to feel that way about this book as well while none-the-less enjoying it. I was wrong. I really did not enjoy this book at all. It is so mean spirited and vengeful that I found no connection to the characters. Lin is so obsessed with revenge that it takes away from every other part of this story.
Nick is never a character that the reader decides is worth liking (at least not this reader) and while I have read a bunch of books where the main character is a jerk but low in behold by the end of the book they are a saint this is not one of those.
The book is also a reprint from 2010 which might not sound that long ago but with this book there are some references that date the book making it seem even older.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
June 24, 2017
I usually enjoy Fern Michaels books but this one was a total bore.
September 22, 2019
I hated every character in this book.
November 14, 2022
Fast read - some parts were interesting but for the most part the whole story is based on Revenge -
family problems and how she will bring "harm" to the ones that had harmed her and what she thought they deserved........
family problems and how she will bring "harm" to the ones that had harmed her and what she thought they deserved........
November 5, 2020
Had potential but ended up disappointing early with unbelievable actions and situations, No one in their right mind does that.
January 3, 2022
The book has an open ending. Would like to know if Nick survived. Do not recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2022
It’s sad this is what passes for romance these days. The characters are mean spirited ugly people with few redeeming qualities. The plot is completely implausible- young teen of religious tyrannical father get let out for very first time and get pregnant by a guy she has only just met. Tossed on the street she buys a restaurant and turns that ONE restaurant into a multimillion dollar business and then uses the money to get revenge on the guy who never even knew she had his kid because he never got the letters which the post office returned to her. Every character in this book was just a mean jerk in one way or another. And the love interest doesn’t even appear until far into the story and surprise, she immediately gets pregnant by him too. Really? Beyond dumb.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2017
This book was pretty good not really one of my favorites but that's ok sometimes you just can't like or love every book your favorite authors write. This is the first time I'm writing a review like this just to see how it's taken, now on to my review:
-Lin: She was ok of a character but darn if she didn't aggravate me. She complained throughout the whole book about how the father of her child sent back all the letters she wrote so on and so on: but didn't take any responsiblity about the fact that she DIDN'T tell him but seeing what kind of father she had I can understand why.
-Nick: DUDE WAS AWESOME!!! Love a character that tells people he's the boss and you either have to live with it or your out. Nick is my kind of character, strong, handsome, funny and doesn't care what people say or think about him.
-Will (The prodigy): The character wasn't really fully developed by the ending of the book in my opinion. I know the book was supposed to be about the mother and a little bit about the father but he could've had more of an opportunity to grow.
-Evan (The Doctor): This guy was actually a pretty good character and even though he said he didn't like Nick but boy he really took control of him in the end and showed his wife who was boss. HAHAHAHA
-Chelsea: Boy did this woman drive me insane, she was OUT-OF-CONTROL. The woman was a money hungry wack-job. Stupid woman.
So here's my review took a chance a new way hopefully it works for some people. Thank You.
-Lin: She was ok of a character but darn if she didn't aggravate me. She complained throughout the whole book about how the father of her child sent back all the letters she wrote so on and so on: but didn't take any responsiblity about the fact that she DIDN'T tell him but seeing what kind of father she had I can understand why.
-Nick: DUDE WAS AWESOME!!! Love a character that tells people he's the boss and you either have to live with it or your out. Nick is my kind of character, strong, handsome, funny and doesn't care what people say or think about him.
-Will (The prodigy): The character wasn't really fully developed by the ending of the book in my opinion. I know the book was supposed to be about the mother and a little bit about the father but he could've had more of an opportunity to grow.
-Evan (The Doctor): This guy was actually a pretty good character and even though he said he didn't like Nick but boy he really took control of him in the end and showed his wife who was boss. HAHAHAHA
-Chelsea: Boy did this woman drive me insane, she was OUT-OF-CONTROL. The woman was a money hungry wack-job. Stupid woman.
So here's my review took a chance a new way hopefully it works for some people. Thank You.
September 14, 2013
Rosalind Townsend (Lin) was brought up by a very cruel father who would make her kneel on the hardwood floor as far back as she could remember, while her father read from the bible. He made a pulpit which he would put in the middle of the room where he read from and if Lin ever once expressed a desire to take a break he would strike her. Her mother was no help to Lin at all as she just cowered and accepted her husband's abuse towards her daughter. At 16 years old Lin got pregnant and her father threw her out with just the clothes on her back. Lin vowed her child would never know that kind of cruelty in his life. When Lin found that the boy who impregnated her would not return her phone calls and even sent back her letters, she realized she was totally on her own. When her son was off to reside in New York and continue his education studying to become a veterinary Lin went with him to help set him up etc. While there her path crossed with Nick Pemberton, the father of her son, Will. Knowing Nick was a very wealthy married man, she wanted nothing more than to make Nick suffer the way she did when everyone turned their backs on her and she had to fend for herself. Just once she would like to see him wonder and worry what it felt like not knowing where or when your next meal was coming. Ah, sweet revenge, or is it.
April 25, 2014
Honestly, I could not understand Lin's motivation, so it was impossible to connect with her. As the synopsis states, Lin got pregnant at 17 and tried for 18 years to inform her baby's father, but every letter she sent was returned unopened. So, after nearly 20 years of this, she had given up, but it's revealed that during those years she has managed to build a wonderfully successful life for herself and her son. However, when she randomly sees her son's father after all this time, she suddenly decides she has to "get even" with him - even though logic should have told her that he hadn't ignored her intentionally. Her childish pranks in her attempt to get even just take an initially strong character and turn her into this alternate-reality version of herself that is no more than an annoyance. I think under other circumstances I could have liked Lin, but I was too focused on trying to figure out why the she was even pursuing her "revenge" to immerse myself in the story. I almost didn't even finish it, but I had this [misguided] hope that some more logical explanation would be revealed and redeem her. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
December 17, 2012
I enjoyed this book. Lin was 17 when she got pregnant with her son, Will. Over the years she sent letters to Will's father that were never opened and always marked 'Return to Sender'. Now Will is in college in New York and she runs into his father, Nick Pemberton, while there helping Will get settled. This starts a series of events that may just lead to the ultimate revenge!
I loved Lin and Sherry's friendship. Sherry was the grounded friend who didn't mince words. Lin was too softhearted in the beginning but she toughened up. I didn't like Nick at all. He was an arrogant jerk and though I did feel bad for what he was personally going through, I never could make myself like him. The story line is great, not what I was expecting exactly so that made it even more interesting.
I rate this a 4/5. It was an enjoyable revenge story!
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy of this book (via netgalley). I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.
I loved Lin and Sherry's friendship. Sherry was the grounded friend who didn't mince words. Lin was too softhearted in the beginning but she toughened up. I didn't like Nick at all. He was an arrogant jerk and though I did feel bad for what he was personally going through, I never could make myself like him. The story line is great, not what I was expecting exactly so that made it even more interesting.
I rate this a 4/5. It was an enjoyable revenge story!
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy of this book (via netgalley). I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.
August 9, 2016
I have so many friends that love Fern Michaels, I have never been a fan. I came across this book at work that someone donated. Since I left my book behind at home, I decided to read it during my lunch. At the end of my lunch hour, couldn't put it down. I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times, which was great. Lin Townsend is a woman that becomes pregnant at an early age. She is kicked out of the house by her crazy religious father. On her own with no money, Lin sets out to raise her child. She sends letters to her childs father only to have them returned which ignites an anger that builds each year. As fate would have it, their paths cross once again many years later and Lin finds that not all things are as they seem. Even though it was pretty predictable, I did enjoy it. I recommend this to those looking for a light read, some laughter mixed with the disappointments that life brings.
December 18, 2012
A story of revenge and redemption. Lin Townsend finds herself alone and pregnant at 17. Somehow she manages to not only raise her son alone, but to make a successful life for herself, all the while wanting to get back at Nick Pemberton, her sons father, for his seeming neglect of his responsibilities to her. After a chance encounter with Nick in New York, Lin embarks on a course of revenge to destroy Nick's life. (Didn't someone tell this woman that success is the sweetest revenge.) A lot of time is spent filling in the back story to this tale and introducing new characters and implausible situations. Then the author tries to tie it all together in the last five or so pages. It just doesn't work. What you are left with is an unsatisfactory ending to what the real story should be about, and what appears to be the prelude to a whole other story.
November 19, 2017
This book started out pretty good, but after the NYU reception with the chance meeting, the storyline went downhill and plateaued until the ending. As many of the other reviewers stated, the characters were unlikable, and the plot was drawn-out and unrealistic (and IMO had humongous holes). It wasn't enough for me to quit reading the book altogether, but it wasn't a book that kept me up nights either. In a word...Meh! This is not the first time that I have read Fern Michaels and it won't be the last, but IMO, this was not one of her best works.
October 23, 2018
I was looking for a pleasant novel to read on my Kindle while traveling. This was top on the available list from my library. I shouldn’t have wasted my time on this ridiculously implausible trash. I had never before read a book by this “New York Times best-selling author.” It’s hard to imagine why this author ever had a book published. I won’t bother with any plot details. Just don’t waste your time.
January 2, 2012
I thought this was another well written story by Fern Michaels. The middle of it was a little hard to stick it out. Hoping the Lynn wouldn't get herself into some serious trouble with trying to get even with Nick. Considering the type of upbringing Lynn had endured, she managed to overcome those struggles to become a successful business woman and mother.
March 14, 2013
Such a good read. "Return to Sender". Lesson of book, things are definitely not what they seem to be. First she wanted revenge, you want what's best for you and your child, then getting even, then wishing him well, then you wish for the happy ending. Wow , what a roller coaster. Totally engrosses you in their lives. Great read. Highly recommend.
February 6, 2017
I did not get this at all. It seems to glorify severe bullying in name of revenge. The ending was ridiculous. The rest of the story was pretty dang boring. There is no decent reason given for the scene before the happy ending (which is ridiculous in itself as well, btw). I might give this author one more chance because she writes about Georgia.
July 29, 2017
This book was just too far fetched and ridiculous to be a good read. I have read several other books by Fern Michaels and thought that they were pretty good. However, this one was a disappointment as it just continued to go off on a series of unbelievable story lines. The only reason I read the entire book was because it was an easy read. Definitely not one to recommend.
February 13, 2022
Did not like this book at all. Too unbelievable! Lin is abused as a child, gets pregnant in high school, then gets kicked out of her home. Then she finds an apartment and buys a restaurant and becomes a millionaire who drives a Porsche and then decides to get revenge on the guy who got her pregnant.
What a joke!
What a joke!
April 18, 2017
I disagree with a lot of the other readers, I like the story, it is a fictional one so it does not need a whole lot of thought. I do think Lin needs to tell her son the truth
since he is about to encounter his father and will resent her if he finds out later from someone else.
since he is about to encounter his father and will resent her if he finds out later from someone else.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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