Chances Are (Paperback)

by Barbara Bretton (Author) "THREE WEEKS TO the day after Maddy Bainbridge announced her engagement to Aidan O'Malley, she found herself stripped and held hostage in the bridal department..." (more)
Key Phrases: Paradise Point, The Candlelight, David Fenelli (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In Bretton's fine follow-up to Shore Lights, firefighter and bar owner Aidan O'Malley and radio-show host Maddy (DiFalco) Bainbridge prepare for their upcoming nuptials in Paradise Point, N.J. Their pre-wedding jitters are magnified when PBS films a documentary on Jersey Shore towns and focuses on the O'Malley and DiFalco families, who settled Paradise Point and are now being joined in marriage. Maddy and Aidan are salt-of-the-earth characters, grounded in the realism of past disappointments and tragedy. Aidan raised his teenage daughter, Kelly, on his own, his young wife having died when Kelly was an infant. Maddy in turn lost her previous love when he broke off their relationship after she became pregnant with their young daughter, Hannah. The well-observed interactions between friends and family add depth. Claire, part owner of O'Malley's bar and widow of Aidan's philandering brother, Billy, must come to terms with her deceased husband's infidelity, especially when she remembers Billy's affair with Gina, Maddy's colorful cousin, who has secrets of her own. Kelly, however, may be keeping the biggest secret of all, and it could tear Maddy and Aidan apart. Alternately poignant and humorous, this contemporary romance gracefully illuminates life's highs and lows.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Maddy Bainbridge is finally marrying Aidan O'Malley, culminating the courtship featured in Shore Lights (2003). Too many relatives are involved in the wedding preparations, and everyone's looking forward to the upcoming nuptials--everyone, that is, except Claire O'Malley, the widow of Aidan's brother, Billy. Claire has a deep, dark secret and hidden fears, both of which have paralyzed her ability to feel the joy of the occasion. However, secrets and fears are hard to keep to oneself when a crew from PBS is taping a documentary about one's family and town. This novel is filled with an almost bewildering number of aunts, cousins, nieces, and nephews, but Bretton skillfully intertwines their stories with threads of emotions ranging from gentle humor to palpable angst. Chances Are can stand alone, but it makes more sense if Shore Lights is read first. Shelley Mosley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; Original edition (September 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425197964
• ISBN-13: 978-0425197967
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #107,781 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Continuing Love Story, March 10, 2007

By	Courtney Rabideau (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a continuation from Barbara Bretton's book Shore Lights.

It follows the story of newly engaged couple Aiden O'Malley and Maddie Bainbridge along with their families.

Their relationship has had its share of troubles (such as when Aiden fell and broke his leg right before they were going to concemate their relationship for the first time) but during their engagement Aiden and Maddie get thrown for several loops that threaten their relationship.

Something is definitly going on with Maddies cousin Gina. She had been involved with Aiden's brother Billy years before his marriage to Clair Meehan, but there is a secret about Gina's son that threatens both of their families.

Clair O'Malley is also one of the loops thrown in Aiden and Maddies relationship. She has been like a mother to Aiden's daughter Kelly and does not like the fact that Maddie is threating that relationship. Is also is not comforable when one perticular journalist comes to town looking for a scoop for the marriage between the descendents of two of the towns founding families because Clair had a relationship with him after leaving her husband.

Aidens daughter Kelly also is a loop in Aiden and Maddie's relationship because the teenager is pregnant and does not know what to do.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Proceed with caution, November 15, 2004

By	Butterscotch (USA) - See all my reviews

This book is a continuation of Shore Lights, and follows the same characters as they now prepare for the wedding of Maddy DiFalco and Aiden O'Malley. I'm not sure why this book was necessary, because it didn't further the relationship, didn't end with the wedding, and was filled with family squabbles and bickering. I 'think' Bretton is setting us up for a story about Claire and her own love life, but I don't think it'd be very interesting based upon her character in this book. The story contained a lot of in-fighting between family members, lots of bad blood between relations and future relations, and turned a great character (Kelly O'Malley) into a bad one for the sake of the storyline. Actually, the story was quite dependant upon Kelly and her life to propel the action. I wouldn't recommend this book - it's a family drama with no romance. No romance, no sincere story, and a lot of drivel.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fun second chance at love story , September 7, 2004

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In Jersey Shore town Paradise Point Maddy Bainbridge and Aidan O'Malley are getting married. The twosome knows that they must also work extra hard to form a family unity that includes her five years old daughter Hannah and his seventeen years old daughter Gina. However, neither was prepared for the nuttiness of her family who are driving Maddy to think of eloping. All this lunacy is occurring in front of PBS as historical journalist Pete Lassiter is doing a series of shows on the town.

However, Maddy learns a secret that Gina is hiding from her father. When she informs the teen that she must tell her father, Gina reacts by threatening to run off to New York to take care of business. Worried that the child will be all alone at a dark pivotal moment when she needs love and support, Maddy agrees to hide Gina's secret from her dad even though it costs her the trust of her beloved and potentially the relationship.

CHANCES ARE overwhelmingly that Barbara Bretton's myriad of fans will appreciate this solid contemporary sequel to SHORE LIGHTS that continues the second chance at love story of two delightful protagonists. Gina's crisis is a fabulous subplot that strains the relationship of the lovebirds even as Maddy's family adds humor by sending the bride's blood pressure to the stratosphere with their demands and intercession on how the nuptials will play out. Ms. Bretton provides a fine return to the Jersey shore with this warm family drama.

Harriet Klausner