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    Valley of Ashes
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    Valley of Ashes
    Unavailable
    Valley of Ashes
    Audiobook11 hours

    Valley of Ashes

    Written by Cornelia Read

    Narrated by Hillary Huber

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Madeline Dare trades New York's gritty streets for the tree-lined avenues of Boulder, Colorado when her husband Dean lands a promising job. Madeline, now a full-time homemaker and mother to beautiful toddler twin girls, has achieved everything she thought she always wanted, but with her husband constantly on the road, she's fighting a losing battle against the Betty Friedan riptide of suburban/maternal exhaustion, angst, and sheer loneliness. A new freelance newspaper gig helps her get her mojo back, but Boulder isn't nearly as tranquil as it seems: there's a serial arsonist at large in the city. As Madeline closes in on the culprit, the fires turn deadly-and the stakes tragically personal. She'll need every ounce of strength and courage she has to keep the flames from reaching her own doorstep, threatening all she holds most dear.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateAug 14, 2012
    ISBN9781611134834
    Unavailable
    Valley of Ashes

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    Reviews for Valley of Ashes

    4/5

    25 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      There have been other Madeline Dare books that I have not read, but I will be searching them out when our library reopens.Madeline is a stay-at-home mother with one-year-old twin girls, while her husband Dean travels extensively for work. The story starts as a caustically funny motherhood tale as Madeline adjusts to their new community of Boulder and tries to find friends among the New Age granola-ish mothers of Colorado. When she finally is hired to write restaurant reviews and the occasional news piece for a local free paper, it is a welcome opportunity to talk to adults again. One of her first assignments is profiling Mimi, the local fire investigator working on a string of arsons. Mimi becomes a friend, and Madeline becomes more involved in the arson investigation. Is this going to become a crime novel? Well, somewhat, but there is more than enough in the motherhood/friendship/marriage components of Madeline's story to keep the reader fascinated.I found Madeline to be a remarkably well-developed heroine. Her voice was true, her situations funny but recognizable by most mothers, and her heartbreaks revealed honestly without cloying sentimentality. I want Madeline for my best friend.Recommended.
    • 5/5
      Author: Cornelia ReadPublished By: Grand Central Publishing Age Recommended: AdultReviewed By: Arlena DeanBook Blog For: GMTARating: 5Review:"Valley Of Ashes" by Cornelia Read was a really excellent mystery read. This novel had my attention from the first page and didn't lose any of it until the last word. I really enjoy this fourth book in the Madeline Dare series in that it brought the reader some fun, dark but yet a well written and even a personal read. For these two people...Dean and Madeline (Maddie/or Bunny) you would have thought that they had it all but that was not the case...for they had two only daughters (twins)..around one, a home that was 'perpetual mess,' money was tight, and a good night of sleep often was out of the question. Then, Madeline is offered a job at the local newspaper as a freelancer where she would critic restaurants. It was then that Madeline gets interested in a series of fires around the area...that come very close in that this story will reveal a series of arson attacks that blows up and the far-reaching effects will lead directly to the front door of Madeline and Dean. This is where I say you must pick up "Valley Of Ashes" to see what mystery comes from this excellent read. "Valley Of Ashes will have a very intriguing ending that will only leave you saying Wow.... I didn't set that coming! And the characters were all so well developed with a 'real psychological insight' only making this read more of a good mystery. If you are looking for a good mystery that has marriage problems,young ones,feeling isolated in a new city, fires being set and even murder... you have come to the right place because "Valley Of Ashes" will take you there...and YES,I would recommend this novel as a excellent read.
    • 3/5
      I haven't read a Cornelia Read book since the first entry in the Madeline Dare series. Maddie is still sharp-tongued and funny but now she's the harassed mother of twins and her previously good husband has turned into a total jerk. Instead of fighting back, she morphs into a self-deprecating "little wife", blaming herself for her husband's awful behavior. Read starts off with a series of arsons but the whole story line is dropped abruptly in the middle of the novel. Then, it's all about Maddie and her awful life. The book falls apart in the last few chapters and Maddie's reaction to the final, unexpected event is offensively overblown (hard to explain without a spoiler) - much like Maddie's wise-cracking wit which is a lot funnier and more effective when used sparingly. And isn't 30-something Madeline Dare a little old to be calling people "dude"? 4 stars for the first half of the book; 2 stars for the second half.
    • 5/5
      This is Cornelia Read's fourth book in her Madeline Dare series, and like the previous 3, it's keeping me up late turning pages. I'm also very fond of Madeline. She's not an obnoxious super-mom: she's just a hard worker who is doing her best while trying to find her purpose. Ms. Read is an excellent storyteller. Her prose is smart and witty, and her characters are straight-talking. I enjoy spending time with them. The plot is not contrived but it's very engaging because it's set in the not-too-distant past and feels like something I could have experienced.Ms. Read outdid herself in this story. The characters exhibited such emotional depths that my heart went out to them...and to their author. Their anguish continues to haunt me, even after finishing the book. I can't wait for the next installment.
    • 4/5
      I'm very fond of Madeline Dare. She's smart, snarky, tough, and downright lovable. In her latest adventure she's moved to Boulder with husband Dean and is sorting through what it means to be a full-time mother to two twin toddlers. When I say "full-time mother" that's exactly what I mean - no working, no money of your own - in many ways blissful yet utterly dependent on the person who earns the money who may or may not deserve you and your efforts.Valley of Ashes is a great story, but it's also a really sad one. Watching Madeline try to juggle everything, deal with some awful things happening with her friends and with her marriage is both inspiring and heartbreaking. Add to this the fact that her best friend is dealing with similar issues in her own marriage and I was too closely reminded of the time period before my divorce (different issues, but similar pain).Women who get to stay home with their kids make a lot of sacrifices and are very lucky. I know I was grateful to spend the first 18 months of my son's life home with him. It created a bond that has been unbreakable our whole lives. It's tough work, but the reward is great. The choice definitely must be made with the right partner. In my experience money creates a power differential and when you're the one not making any you're usually the loser in that equation. I was fortunate that I didn't have that problem in my own situation, but many women aren't so lucky.It was, as always, great to watch Madeline kick ass and take names and utterly heartbreaking to experience the outcomes with her. I hope she'll come back in a new place in her life when next we see her. Ms. Read is a great writer and in Madeline Dare she's created a heroine I won't soon forget.
    • 5/5
      First Line: When we first moved to Boulder, I was entirely too happy-- a state of being so rare in my experience that I found it rather terrifying.Madeline's husband Dean found a job in Boulder, Colorado, and while he spends a lot of his time on the road as a salesman, Madeline is a stay-at-home mother of two toddler twin girls, India and Parrish. Her world couldn't be any more different from the life she knew in New York City.At first Madeline is ecstatically happy, but as exhaustion wears her down, she becomes dissatisfied. Her world has shrunk to an endless round of taking care of two demanding babies, a house that is never clean, and a husband who, when he is home, is more and more critical of her.When her mother and her friends tell her that she needs to do something outside the house just for her, she manages to get a job writing restaurant reviews for a local newspaper. The editor loves her writing and asks her to attend a neighborhood meeting in which fire department officials will advise residents on how to defend themselves against an arsonist who's been torching buildings in the area. The subject fascinates her, and Madeline becomes friends with one of the arson investigators. She even begins to do a bit of investigating on her own, but when the fires turn deadly and the stakes disastrously personal, Madeline finds that she needs every atom of courage she possesses to keep those whom she loves safe from harm.When someone asks me to list my favorite writers of any genre, Cornelia Read is always in the top tier. Her creation, Madeline Dare, is the best blend of smart alecky, brave vulnerability that I've ever encountered. At first, I was hesitant with this book. Madeline as a mother? I chose not to procreate for a very good reason: I am not child friendly. Read made me forget all that as Madeline hauled her children all over town in a red wagon, as she fixed them broccoli, and made sure she packed the sippy cups and extra diapers. Madeline was a natural, and she made me forget that I'm not.I cheered as she found the job at the newspaper so she could do something she liked to do that didn't involve babies... something that made her feel better about herself. She needed that because as the pages turned I had grave misgivings about the way her marriage was going, and so did her friends in Boulder.The mystery concerning the arsonist is an intriguing one, but this book is about so much more than arson. It's about motherhood and marriage, it's about friendship and tragedy and grief. It's about standing up for yourself and those you love. There are many things in life that can turn to ash within the blink of an eye. As Madeline deals with all these issues, I was intensely emotionally involved. This sassy-mouthed woman with a big, big heart is one of the few fictional characters who can make me cheer, laugh, gasp, and cry within the space of a very few sentences.If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Cornelia Read dips her pen in her own heart's blood as she writes. This is beautifully written, emotional, soul-searing and laugh-out-loud funny fiction at its very best. It's anyone's guess as to whose soul is bared the most throughout the book, Madeline's or Cornelia's, and it really doesn't matter. What does matter is that I want more. Lots more.
    • 4/5
      Madeline Dare is now a very stressed stay-at-home mom to twin toddlers and resentful of how busy and distant her husband has become. When she gets a part-time job as restaurant critic for the local free paper, she becomes obsessed with a series of local arson fires.This is mainly a story of motherhood and marriage. The arson subplot seems almost secondary and is oddly paced.
    • 4/5
      Funny, heartbreaking, full of foul language, not a mystery.