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Just Fine with Caroline: A Cold River Novel
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Just Fine with Caroline: A Cold River Novel
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Just Fine with Caroline: A Cold River Novel
Ebook393 pages4 hours

Just Fine with Caroline: A Cold River Novel

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

About this ebook

From the author of Sit! Stay! Speak! comes a tender, terrific novel complete with long-buried secrets, a three-legged pot belly pig, and an irresistible dog—an unforgettable story about love, friendship, and community. Perfect for fans of Mary Kay Andrews and Mary Alice Monroe.

Caroline O’Connor never dreamed she’d be back home in Cold River, Missouri, the Ozark Mountain town where everyone is ‘up your business.’…they mean well as they drive you crazy. She thought she’d left town for good, but now she’s back, helping to care for her New York born mother—struck with Alzheimer’s, and prone to saying and doing anything—and her father, the beloved local doctor frustrated he can’t cure his own wife.

As for Caroline, she’s doing ‘just fine’ coping with her parents, her brazen cousin Ava Dawn’s marital disasters, her mostly-deaf dog…and with Noah Cranwell, far-flung relative of a local family mostly infamous for running moonshine, an ex-veteran who’s come to Cold River with troubles of his own.

Caroline believes she knows everything about Cold River and the people who live in its hills and hollers … but sometimes life’s greatest surprises happen closest to home.

 

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateOct 11, 2016
ISBN9780062465634
Author

Annie England Noblin

Annie England Noblin lives with her son, husband, and three dogs in the Missouri Ozarks. She graduated with an M.A. in creative writing from Missouri State University and currently teaches English and communications for Arkansas State University in Mountain Home, Arkansas. She spends her free time playing make-believe, feeding stray cats, and working with animal shelters across the country to save homeless dogs.

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Reviews for Just Fine with Caroline

Rating: 3.4444444037037036 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

27 ratings12 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Returning to her small, intrusive Ozark Mountain community, Caroline O'Conner cares for her Alzheimer's patient mother while navigating the challenges of her doctor father's frustrations, her brazen cousin's marital disasters, her deaf dog, a moonshining relative and a troubled ex-veteran.Noblin’s books are pleasantly entertaining and romantic.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Every once in awhile a lighthearted and sweet novel comes along with very likable characters, and this book fits the bill. Caroline is just fine with putting her life on hold to care for her ailing mother. Noah returns to this small Ozark town to remodel and reopen the station owned by his grandfather. Boy meets girl and the sparks fly. A cute story with a predictable ending, but a pleasant way to spend a few hours.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Caroline has returned home to the small town of Cold River, Missouri to help care for her mother who has Alzheimers. When Noah Cranwell shows up to renovate the family business across the street from Caroline's bait shop, secrets from both families begin to surface and threaten the love they have for each other. Throw in a cousin with her own troubles with an abusive husband and a nearly deaf dog for some drama.At times this story moves very slowly. There are also a number of minor mistakes, usually involving time or characters names, which will hopefully be corrected in the final version. Too much of the "action" involves the drinking habits of the characters, and some characters are not well developed. As a whole, this book does not live up to its potential. Sit! Stay! Speak! was better.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was very light hearted and fun. While it was a "light and fluffy" read, I really enjoyed the storyline. The story focuses in on Caroline, who has put her life on hold to care for her mother who has Alzheimer's disease. This part of the story was touching and easily relatable. Caroline meets Jake, who has moved back to the area to be closer to his family and the sparks begin to fly. Without spoiling the book by giving away more details, this was also a nice part of the story. The characters were vividly painted making it a nice easy weekend read. Having grown up very close to the Ozarks, it was nice to see some of the old home town flair, which showed up in the dialogue, places and descriptions. While some of the book was predictable, it was still very enjoyable.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This novel has a lot of problems. A weak story, unbelievable characters, several serious typographical errors and just crazy circumstances. The author tried to tie too many subjects together , Alzheimer's, infidelity, homophobia, domestic violence, southern stereotypes and it just didn't work. It makes me not want to ever visit Missouri and the Ozarks, that's for sure. I also kept looking for the three legged potbelly pig listed in the description of the book on the back cover. Where was it??? I think this author can write but really needs help with a decent story line. Nothing much really happened in this book and I really can't recommend it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Just Fine With Caroline is Annie England Noblin's second novel.Caroline has moved back home to Cold River, Missouri. Her family needs her help - her mom has Alzheimers, her dad is so busy (he's the town doctor) and her cousin Ava Dawn always seems to need a hand. And Caroline wants to keep her mom's beloved bait store open.Life gets a little more complicated when Noah Cranwell returns to town to resurrect his family's store - directly across from the bait shack.Noblin hits all the notes you would expect in a light hearted read - a slow building romance that hits more than one bump in the road, family issues, quirky supporting characters, conflicts that our main characters need to challenge - and secrets. Noblin also weaves some historical fact into her story that was quite fascinating.Annie herself makes her home in the Missouri Ozarks and uses that first hand knowledge to create her town, residents and atmosphere. I have lived in more than one small town and Noblin's depiction is spot on. Everyone really does know you, your business and it's really hard to keep a secret in a small town.I liked Caroline as a lead character - she's the solid, smart one that people tend to turn to. Ava Dawn is a foil for Caroline - she makes mistakes, bad choices and tends to live a wilder life. Noah as the yes, no, maybe so romantic lead was well drawn - and attractive. The rest of the supporting players round out the cast. High school hero also back in town, good guy sheriff with his own secrets, lovable town drunk etc.There's usually not much you can't figure out ahead of time in 'heartwarming small town' types of reads. And yes, this proved true for Just Fine With Caroline for me. But that's the appeal of them - you know everything is going to turn out okay in the end.This is the first book in Annie's new Cold River series. I can see a wealth characters just waiting to be met and and for their stories to be told. Read an excerpt of Just Fine With Caroline.My only quibble is that those quirky characters, dialogue and situations just try a bit too hard and are a bit over exaggerated. But on the other hand, this suits this style of novel. A sweet little read, meant to be enjoyed with a tall glass of sweet tea
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When the weather starts cooling off, I find that I look forward to curling up with lighter books. Maybe it counteracts the visual evidence that another year is heading to a close. It slows the dying of the season somehow. Perfect for this mood, are books set in small towns with quirky characters. Annie England Noblin's newest book, Just Fine with Caroline, is the first in the Cold River novel series and it has just the right heartwarming small town romantic feel that counters the sadness of the falling leaves so very well.Caroline gave up getting a college degree and a teaching certificate to go back home to Cold River, a small town tucked in the Missouri Ozarks, when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She has been mostly happy living in the town she grew up in, running her family's bait shack business, hanging out with her best friend Court, and helping her father, the local doctor, look after her mom. As the title suggests, she's doing just fine. When Noah Cranwell, the youngest member of the rather notorious local Cranwell family, comes back to town to start up a business across from Caroline's bait shack, Caroline is intrigued by the very sexy man. Noah's mother took him away to New Jersey when he was just five so he's a bit of an enigma in this small town where everyone knows everyone else's life story. But as Caroline and Noah learn, there are still secrets here, hurtful secrets that challenge how Caroline's coping with everything.The major plot line is that of Caroline and Noah's growing relationship but there are several other secondary threads that deal with Caroline's kooky cousin Ava Dawn, who is trying to finally escape from her abusive marriage, with Caroline's best friend Court and the source of his sadness, with the sorrow of Alzheimer's and what it does to a family, and with loss of many different sorts. Despite these heavy topics, the characters populating the pages are quirky and rather endearing. None of the secrets they are hiding (nor the one that Caroline eventually uncovers) is terribly surprising but they could just be the seeds for future books in the series where they'll receive more in-depth treatment. The immediate attraction between Caroline and Noah was believable but they were all over each other much sooner than the character development would have suggested. As a whole though, this was an easy, light read and I reckon it was sweet story (a reference lost on you if you haven't read the book).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Author Annie England Noblin begins her "Cold River Series" with "Just Fine with Caroline". Set in a quirky small town in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, this is a contemporary romance that will please lovers of the engaging characters and humor and closeness of such communities. Even the animals themselves are characters. When Caroline O'Connor returns to Cold River to help care for her ailing mother, she finds that some things never change, but Fate always has the upper hand. Many surprises await Caroline, including an unexpected romance. She just may have to rethink her outlook on life in her hometown and let her heart help her with the thinking. What she tried so hard to leave behind may turn out to be "Just Fine with Caroline".Review Copy Gratis Library Thing
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Definitely an enjoyable book and a good read. I liked reading about Caroline and her life in the Ozarks. There was good mystery and romance and all around it would be a great vacation read. I would look forward to reading more from this author.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Just Fine with Caroline is a funny title for this book because everything is not fine with Caroline, in fact she’s going through a difficult patch having moved back home to help take care of her mother who has Alzheimer’s. Home is the small town of Cold River in the Missouri Ozarks. It’s a town where everyone knows everyone’s business, the kind of place that its hard to keep secrets—but her best friend Court has one, and so do the Cranwells’ whose family business, which has been closed for years, is across the street from her families Bait Shop. Things get more complicated, when Noah Cranwell, a hunky ex-veteran with secrets of his own, moves back to Cold River then it’s only a matter of time before things hidden come to the light. The author has written a good story with mystery and relatable characters; I just wished for more interaction with Caroline’s old dog, and that she would have sprinkled the tale with fireflies which I loved when a spent time in Missouri. If you like romantic fiction you’ll really enjoy this book. There is a little sexual content and adult subject matter.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I received this book from Library Thing to read and honestly review. Caroline O’Connor has returned home to Cold River, Missouri, a small Ozark Mountain town, where her parents live, to help with care of her mother. Her mother is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Her father, the town doctor, has retired and works part time at a town clinic, frustrated he cannot stop the spreading illness in his wife. In addition, Caroline has a close cousin Ava Dawn, who is in the middle of a predictable marriage meltdown, a dog, Yari, who is mostly deaf but still tries her best to be the kind of dog people want and like, and a new neighbor, Noah, whose own business is across from her bait shop, who is a long-gone-but-now-returned relative of one of the town’s infamous families who has returned to work the family gas station/neighborhood store. In the story, Caroline is doing “just fine” coping. She knows she must. As the story progresses, we are taken on a trip through Caroline’s daily life and routines, as she copes with the many twists and turns that occur. Still, Caroline, who figures she knows or has heard most of the town’s and her family’s secrets by now, finds out new, fascinating secrets, and must learn to cope with them—as well as with a budding relationship with Noah.This book provides a good picture of life in a small Ozark Mountain town. The town people are very typical of small towns, accepting and enjoying, when possible, life as it comes at them. The characters come across as real and well developed, fitting easily and completely into this rural, small town setting. There are some mysteries but nothing terribly outlandish or over powering in the story plot. My big problem with the book is the fact that it moved rather slowly at times and had very little plot or reason to want to keep reading to see what would happen next. I do not want to condemn it as boring, but, as I reflect on it now, I think it was just that. I had hoped to find an exciting story in it, but never did. The relationship between Noah and Caroline was obvious, but I did not pick up on a lot of good chemistry between them. There were times when the author inserted feelings and words that could lend to chemistry between the duo, but those seemed, for the most part, contrived and lacked any real authenticity for me. I enjoyed reading about Yari, the nearly deaf dog with a traumatic past and old injuries to show, who had been adopted by Caroline, but Yari really did not play as big a role in the story as I had hoped, after looking at the cover of the book. I enjoyed reading the book, but not nearly as much as I have other romances that have a bit of mystery contained within them as this one did. This is a nice book to curl up with, if you enjoy the author’s work, or if you are looking for a good book to pass the time while at the beach or on a relatively quiet afternoon.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    4.5 stars.

    Annie England Noblin's delightful Cold River series is off to wonderful beginning with the first installment, Just Fine with Caroline. This absolutely marvelous novel is a poignant but uplifting story that I highly recommend to readers of contemporary women's fiction.

    Caroline O'Connor left college before obtaining her degree to move back to her small hometown nestled in the Missouri Ozarks to help care for her mother after she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. During the summer months, she runs her mom's bait shop in addition to caring for her mom. This summer is a little livelier than usual due to the unexpected arrival of Noah Cranwell, who plans to reopen his family's store, the return of Caroline's ex-boyfriend, Reese Graham and her cousin Ava Dawn's impending divorce. Despite living in a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business, the Cranwell family remains a bit of a mystery and Caroline is stunned to discover her family is harboring a shocking secret as well.

    Caroline is struggling with the reality of her mom's worsening condition while feeling like her life is in limbo. While she does not begrudge assisting her parents' through this difficult time, she cannot help but feel like she is waiting for her own life to begin. At the same time, Caroline is a little frustrated with her emotionally distant father who is not handling his wife's diagnosis very well. Not exactly content with the status quo, Caroline just sort of drifts through her days until she meets Noah. She is quite drawn to him but will their burgeoning relationship survive once Caroline learns the truth about a long held family secret?

    After several years in the military, Noah is finally ready to put down roots. He is soon caught up in renovating his family's long closed business while at the same time reconnecting with his grandfather. He is just as surprised as Caroline by their mutual attraction and although there is tension between their families, they enjoy getting to know one another. However, secrets do not always remain hidden and Caroline feels betrayed by him once her family's secret is revealed. Is their fragile relationship strong enough to withstand this stunning setback?

    A secondary story arc featuring Ava Dawn's decision to leave her abusive husband, Roy, provides added depth to the main storyline. Her troubled marriage has to be the worst kept secret in town and although she has left Roy numerous times in the past, this time Ava Dawn is serious about divorcing him. Further complicating the situation is her involvement with a popular church and its minister, Brother Haiden Crow. Unlike Caroline who does not trust Brother Crow, Ava Dawn hangs on his word but does her involvement with him go beyond spiritual guidance?

    Just Fine with Caroline is an incredibly moving novel that delves into the complicated dynamics of family relationships. Caroline's heartbreak over losing her mother to the vagaries of Alzheimer's Disease is realistically portrayed and will definitely resonate with readers whose lives have been affected by the ravages of the disease. The romance between Caroline and Noah is sweet yet steamy but misunderstandings and lack of communication threaten to derail their relationship at the first hint of trouble. he Missouri Ozarks serve as the perfect backdrop for this marvelous story and Annie England Noblin brings the town of Cold River and its inhabitants vividly to life. An absolutely charming first installment in a promising new series that I absolutely loved and highly recommend.