The Darling Family Collection: All Right Here / Better All the Time / They Danced On
Description
This collection combines all three Darlings novels by Carre Armstong Garnder into one e-book for a great value!
#1 All Right Here:
Ivy Darling can't have children of her own, and her husband Nick's resentment is forcing them apart. And while Ivy has the support and love of her large, close-knit family, Nick's family has never welcomed her into the fold. When the three children next door are abandoned by their mother, Ivy and Nick take them in for the night. One night becomes several, and suddenly Ivy and Nick find themselves foster parents to the only African-American kids in the town of Copper Cove, Maine. As Ivy grows more attached to the children, Nick refuses to accept their eclectic household as a permanent family. Just as Ivy begins to question whether or not she wants to save her emotionally barren marriage, Nick begins to discover how much Ivy and the children mean to him. But is his change of heart too little, too late?
#2 Better All the Time
Seraphina Darling has always struggled to stand out. With her weight issues at the forefront of her mind, Sephy prefers to place herself comfortably in the background. But when Sephy's best friend and older brother announce their engagement, she vows to make a permanent change in her appearance and her life. Meanwhile her younger sister, Amy, lands her dream job: coordinating the restoration of the community theater's arts programs. As the deadline for the project's completion approaches, Amy continues to run herself ragged, struggling to delegate and trust anyone but herself. As the Darling sisters move through tragedy and triumph, between shadows and the limelight, each must find a path into the freedom of who God intended her to be.
#3 They Danced On
Nothing is more important to Jane Darling than her family. She's dedicated her life to raising her children, and they all appear to be doing well. She can finally relax and enjoy life. But when her husband becomes seriously ill, Jane finds herself taking on the most difficult role of her life. Laura Darling moved away to escape the expectations of her family. Ever since she went through rehab, they watch her like a hawk. Now she has a good job, new friends, and no one to criticize her or comment on everything she's doing. But when everything begins to unravel, Laura's heart turns toward home. Follow the Darling family through triumph and tragedy as they struggle with an uncertain future.
More details
Person
Carre Armstrong Gardner was raised in the Adirondack Mountains of New York with her nose stuck in the pages of a book. She says, "I grew up in the most beautiful of all possible settings, and spent countless hours rambling through woods and besides streams, making up stories in my head, usually with myself as the heroine. In fact, I was well into adulthood before I realized that not everyone in the world sat at traffic lights or passed the time in doctors' waiting rooms creating plots and characters in their heads. It was that realization that first gave me permission to think of myself as a writer."
Carre's favorite stories have always been those about the ordinary lives of ordinary people. She believes every life is a fascinating drama; every person is the hero of his or her own story. "If I can tell those kinds of stories in a way that makes readers love my characters," she says, "I will have done what I set out to do."
As a teenager, she was a pianist and a teacher encouraged her to attend conservatory as a performance major. "In a fit of altruism," she says, "I decided to become a nurse instead. I saw it as a career that had the double benefit of assuring me a paycheck while allowing me to pursue music and writing in my spare time."
From 2007 to 2010, Carre lived and worked in Russia with her husband and children. Now, she lives in Portland, Maine, where she works as a nurse at a local hospital. She has three teenagers and two rescue dogs, which is far too many. (Dogs, not teenagers.)
