Showing results by author "Karen McQuestion" in All Categories

On a cold January night, Sharon Lemke heads outside to see a lunar eclipse when she notices something odd at the house behind her backyard. Through her neighbor's kitchen window, she sees what appears to be a little girl washing dishes late at night. But the Fleming family doesn't have a child that age, and even if they did, why would she be doing housework at this late hour?

Joe Arneson's ordinary life is upended by troubling dreams of himself as a different man in another place and time. It isn't until he visits his estranged grandmother, Pearl, in her Wisconsin hometown that a startling connection emerges. Drawn into his family's past, Joe discovers secrets weighing on the old woman's soul: the tragic death of her sister Alice a half century ago and its ripple effect on all who loved her.

Marnie is just 35 when her boyfriend, Brian, drops dead of a sudden heart attack. Stunned by his death, Marnie finds her greatest grief is for Troy, Brian’s son whom she has raised as her own since he was a kindergartener. When he is reclaimed by his train wreck of a birth mother, Troy’s departure drives Marnie to a grief group at the local rec center. There she finds unexpected allies, three strangers who join her in an impulsive road trip from Wisconsin to Las Vegas to reconnect with Troy.

When Maggie sees the beautiful Venetian blinds moving in the Caldwells' front window, she freezes. Her favorite neighbors Cady and Josh are away, so who is in their house? The pretty young woman who answers the door tells a convincing story. She's Sarah. The house-sitter. Just here for a month. An old friend of Cady's who needed a place to stay. She's pleasant and warm, and Maggie wanders back to her house thinking she might have made a new friend. Yet she can't help but wonder why Cady never mentioned Sarah.

A year after the death of his wife, Christine, Dan is barely holding on. But one thing gets him through the long, lonely nights and that is his cherished dog, Anni. When she is stolen from his front yard, Dan and his daughter, Lindsay, are devastated. Meanwhile in another part of town, Andrea Keller is recovering from the heartbreak of a messy divorce. After she rescues a defenseless dog from an abusive tenant, her life changes in ways she never could have anticipated.

In A Scattered Life, Karen McQuestion proves to be an adept chronicler of unforgettable female characters. Poignantly written, she thoughtfully examines how women love, learn, and come to accept themselves and others, as well as life’s often harsh realities of deception and loss. Skyla Plinka has all she could ask for - at least that’s what her mother-in-law Audrey thinks. On most days, Skyla agrees, yet there’s a part of her that longs for her free-spirited days before husband, child, and the humdrum life of rural Wisconsin.

After her boyfriend breaks up with her and her job is downsized, Elizabeth thinks life can’t get any worse. That is until she gets the news of her beloved grandmother’s unexpected death. Instead of spending the holidays together, Elizabeth will be planning a funeral. Heartbroken, she makes a wish on the brightest star in the night sky: I wish I could see Grandma one more time.

For twenty-nine-year-old Lola Watson, life is finally looking up: she has fabulous friends, is working her dream job at a popular magazine, and has just inherited a beautiful house from her late aunt. Sure, her love life isn’t in great shape, but she’s got time, right? And so what if her new neighbors are a little too friendly (i.e., incredibly nosy)?

When Gwen Hayward moves to the quaint town of Poplar Creek, she's too mired in post-divorce misery to meet the neighbors. That changes when she spots a little girl leaving an anonymous wish on the local bookstore's Christmas tree. Compelled to find the girl and fulfill the wish, Gwen enlists the aid of local business owner Lucky Gallagher. With the help of the townspeople, a lost dog, and some holiday magic, Gwen and Lucky may see more than one Christmas wish come true.

Seventeen-year-old Emma was the only one who hadn't given up on her boyfriend, Lucas. Everyone else - his family, his friends, his doctors - was convinced that any moment could be his last. So when Lucas miraculously returns from the brink of death, Emma thinks her prayers have been answered.

When Hadley's parents leave on a cruise and then are reported lost at sea, her perfect world is turned upside down. In a flash, she is whisked away to a new life of drudgery at Grimm House where she waits on not one but two persnickety old aunts. As she grudgingly fulfills their commands of cooking, cleaning, and even after-dinner-dancing, she comes to suspect the aunts are really witches who are scheming to take the thing she loves best. With only her wits and the help of some unlikely new friends, Hadley makes a plan to escape Grimm House and find her way home before it's too late.

Wandering the dark streets at night is Russ Becker's way of dealing with his relentless insomnia and the angst of life. But that changes forever the night he witnesses a strange astronomical event, then discovers he's developed incredible superpowers. And he's not alone. Three others in his town have had the same experience and acquired intriguing powers of their own. At first the four secretly relish their newfound gifts while keeping them hidden. However, things get serious when they learn they're being hunted by an organization that wants them for its own nefarious purposes.

At nine years of age, Logan Weber knows the routine. Keep quiet, make the food last, and don’t ever cause trouble. He’ll do what it takes to evade the rages of his troubled, violent father. Even though he’s only a child, Logan already knows too much - has seen too much. So when the opportunity presents itself, Logan runs. He has no idea where his journey will lead, or that the grandmother he’s been told is dead is desperately searching for him. Alone with no home of his own, Logan looks for a safe place to hide.

Fifteen-year-old Rae Maddox’s mom, Gina, is a big fan of fresh starts. Gina thinks of them as an adventure, but for Rae, each move is just one more friend lost, one more chance to feel like an outsider. After arriving in Wisconsin, Gina promises to stay put until Rae graduates. Cautiously optimistic, she wades into the social whirl at Whitman High School, making a few friends and even earning a chance at love. But when the vice principal pairs her with fellow newbie Allison Daly, Rae’s tentative happiness is jeopardized.

Five years have passed since Angie Favorite’s mother, Laura, disappeared without a trace, and Angie still hasn’t recovered. Sure, things look normal on the surface — she goes to school, works her summer job, and argues with her older brother Jason — but she can’t shake the feeling her mother didn’t leave by choice. Angie’s dad does the best he can, but his work as a musician keeps him on the road and away from home, where it’s up to Angie’s grandmother to keep an eye on the kids. She can’t be with them all the time, though, and so Angie is alone when she’s snatched from a strip mall parking lot by Scott Bittner. Angie narrowly escapes, and Bittner is arrested, but he takes his life in jail before he can offer an explanation for his crime. When his mother makes contact, begging forgiveness on her son’s behalf, Angie agrees to meet with her in hopes of finding answers to the seemingly random attack. But when she arrives at the massive Bittner estate, she is overcome by an unshakeable sense of foreboding… Part thriller, part coming-of-age tale, Favorite is an engrossing young adult novel in which nothing — and no one — is as it seems.

Greta Hansen has arrived in Manhattan to intern with the Vanderhaven Corporation, a company owned by distant and very wealthy relatives. But she soon realizes she’s actually been hired to keep watch on their capricious daughter, social media celebrity Cece. No last name required. Why bother? The entire Twitterverse already watches every fabulous move she makes. Including an unfortunate shoplifting mishap when Cece decides to go off script. It’s then that a handsome - and homeless - stranger comes to the rescue.

After surviving a danger-filled trip to Peru, Russ Becker looks forward to a laid-back summer spending time with his new love, Nadia. But plans go awry when he and his friends are invited by the Praetorian Guard to the event of the season. The mission? To protect the president and her daughter from assassination at the elegant Presidential Black Tie Bash. While Nadia struggles with her own troubles at home, Russ is torn, but determined to do his job. Battling for his life against the evil Associates, Russ confronts his worst fears and learns shocking revelations about those around him.

The Edgewood four are about to embark on their riskiest mission yet in Revelation, the thrilling final installment of the series! Going undercover, the four friends join the Associates in order to find their weaknesses and overthrow them from within. To do this, they must successfully convince the organization they’ve switched alliances by completing a centuries-old challenge, something no one else has been able to achieve. The stakes have never been higher, and all of them are about to be challenged in ways they never imagined.

Mallory, Russ, Jameson, and Nadia are just trying to blend in as normal teens while secretly learning to use their newfound superpowers. Everything changes when they’re invited to travel to Peru under the supervision and protection of the Praetorian Guard, an organization claiming to have their best interests at heart. Seeing the trip as a challenge, the teens agree to go and help search for David Hofstetter, a man from their hometown who’s been presumed dead for sixteen years. Meanwhile, the threat of the rival organization, the Associates, is always present.

When billionaire Felix Worthington invites the five cast members of the TV show A Little Slice of Haven to recreate their roles twenty-five years later, they're initially skeptical. It's an unusual request, even for a self-professed superfan like Felix. For several of them, playing a member of the Barlow family in the small town of Haven in the 1940s was an experience best forgotten. But living in a recreated version of the town in a warehouse in Montana has its appeal. And the clincher? Two million dollars for each of them, provided they stay in character.