Everything In Its Place [Paperback]

Evelyn Palfrey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2002

Bobble Strickland, an Austin elementary school principal, didn't really believe ex-army officer Ray Caldwell was coming on to her. She wasn't a young girl anymore, and, besides, she had bigger priorities than a relationship -- such as fighting her own daughter in court for custody of her grandchild.

Yet, strong, honest Ray had the "right stuff" to make her feel like a desirable woman again. He had come back to Texas to heal, stunned by a divorce he never expected. Soon, he was entangled in Bobble's life, increasingly worried about the violence surrounding her daughter, Darlene, who was caught up in a web of drug addiction and secrets.

Neither Bobbie nor Ray guessed how desperately Darlene was fighting to escape the demons of her past...in a drama that would test the strength of African-American faith and family values and all the courage in a woman's heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Austin school principal Bobbie Strickland has her hands full in Blackboard fave Evelyn Palfrey's Everything in Its Place: her daughter, Darlene, is a mess, so Bobbie is raising her granddaughter, Monee; then her elderly neighbor is beaten and robbed under mysterious circumstances. With all this, she can barely make time for handsome divorc‚ Raymond Caldwell. Despite occasionally tepid dialogue, the plot equal parts family drama, mystery and romance contains plenty of surprising twists, and the story is delivered with a sure hand. There are enough issues for a week of Oprah shows (parenting, fidelity, religious hypocrisy, substance and sexual abuse) but Palfrey (Dangerous Dilemmas) incorporates them all with a minimum of melodrama.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Bobbie Strickland has a lot on her plate. She's a single mother of two grown twins, one of whom is a lost cause. She's raising her granddaughter. She's the principal of an elementary school that continually gets low test scores. She finds herself the caretaker of an elderly neighbor who is assaulted in her own home, and she's a member of the church choir. It's as she's singing a solo that Ray Caldwell, recently retired from the military, sits up and takes notice. He approaches Bobbie after the service and ends up inviting himself over to her place to fix her cabinets. Bobbie and Ray are attracted to each other, but Bobbie has so much going on and has relied on herself for so long that it is difficult to let Ray into her life. Gritty and realistic, this latest Palfrey novel is a must for those who enjoy reading about real people in real situations, warts and all. Maria Hatton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books; Original edition (July 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671042246
• ISBN-13: 978-0671042240
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,711,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Evelyn Palfrey is a native Texan who writes romantic suspense for the 'marvelously mature.' She writes about issues that are relevant to the middle passage of life--and having a ball doing it!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Does the Rain End and the Sunshine Appear?, August 1, 2002

By 

Yasmin Coleman (PENNSYLVANIA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Everything In Its Place (Paperback)

After a parent raises her children, she should be able to stroll into the sunset and enjoy her twilight years in peace, and without the headaches of taking care of someone else's child. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case for Bobbi Strickland, the protagonist in Evelyn Palfrey's latest novel, Everything in Its Place. When Bobbi was barely out of her teens, she was a single-parent raising her twin children, Darcy and Darlene. Now in her middle years, she's raising her grandchild and Darlene's daughter, Monee. Monee has been with her grandmother since she was a tot; and now she is a normal, well adjusted but active preteen who keeps Bobbi busy shuffling her from one activity to another. Except for choir rehearsal and Bobbi's career, as the principal of an inner-city elementary school, Bobbi really doesn't have a life outside of taking care of Monee and worrying about Darlene. So when Ray, handsome, retired Armed Force personnel, newly divorced, and very handy around the house, enters Bobbi's life it is unexpected but can it lead to a pleasant surprise...riding into the sunset and living happily ever after?

Once again Palfrey has graced the reader with an entertaining and compelling read about "marvelously mature" adult romance. Bobbi & Ray are characters that we can easily relate to as they deal with the drama of raising adult children and trying to get a little adult romance going on the side. As is her norm, Palfrey doesn't just bring us a relationship saga but she also gives us characters that are three-dimensional and have lives beyond the (bedroom) sheets. And finally, it just wouldn't be a Palfrey novel without mystique, intrigue and suspense...shocking and surprising plot twists and turns.

Palfrey's Everything in Its Place is a solid page turner that held me captive and able to finish in one sitting. On the APOOO scale, its 4.5 stars, and I recommend it to others who like mature reads with realistic drama.

Yasmin
APOOO BookClub

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taking Out a Little Time For Romance, September 1, 2002

By 

J.C. Wallington "jnettefrommi" (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Everything In Its Place (Paperback)

Ray, fresh out of the military attends church at the insistence of his mother. Meaning to make a quick exit, he hears the voice of Barbara, aka, Bobbie stops in his tracks and is immediately smitten by this woman. He makes it his business to get to know her.

Bobbie is a busy grandmother, school principal and is raising her granddaughter. The many distractions in her life makes it difficult for her to even think about establishing a relationship. Romance is the last thing on her mind, but Ray's persistence grows on her.

This book has a little of everything: romance, mystery, child custody, grandparents raising grandchildren, the aftermath of sexual exploitation, and substance abuse. It is another signature novel by Evelyn Palfrey featuring a trip taken in a RV, characters whose appearances are left to your imagination, and always the marvelously mature woman. It has all the components that makes one return to reading her work again and again.

Jeanette
APOOO BookClub

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Never to late for love again, September 21, 2002

By 

"shoppnmama-aol" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everything In Its Place (Paperback)

A story about a grandmother ( Bobbie ) who's the principal of an elementary school. Raising her granddaugher , and finally discovering the secret .

Okay You want to know what the secret is right ?

Who 's the father of her daughter's child .? I won't tell

I will say You would not believe who the father is ?

Now 10 years later the statue of limitations up the truth come out
and what a shame ,he gets away with it .

I wanted him to get his.

Bobbie's first love was take away from her by a family member .

She finds out she is pregnant with his twins and he is sleeping with her aunt .
Imagine that .

She was left to raise the twins a lone.

Years later Bobbie meets Ray at church and she has a chance at love again .

I give this one 3.5 * not enough drama and some unfinished business not taken care of . The drama came at the end of the story for me .

Evelyn , Please I want another drama filled story like The Price of Passion !

I'm still soaring high on that one !