Up Close and Personal [Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Fern Michaels (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2007

For generations, the Windsors have lived on the family’s grand estate in Crestwood, South Carolina, as intertwined with local life as sweet tea and pecan pie. Now, on the anniversary of her daughter Emily’s death, Sarabess Windsor believes she may be the last to carry the family name - unless she can find her second daughter, Trinity, who disappeared fifteen years ago. Trinity grew up as Trinity Henderson, adopted by the Windsor foreman and his wife. Trinity was conceived not out of love, but out of Sarabess’s desperate attempt to prolong Emily’s life by providing a bone marrow donor. On her fifteenth birthday, Trinity ran away and hasn’t been seen in Crestwood since. But the town has never forgotten her…especially not handsome lawyer Jake Forrest. And although Jake has no desire to help selfish Sarabess Windsor, the thought of seeing his childhood friend again fills a void in his heart that Jake didn’t even know existed. Trinity swore never to return to Crestwood. Not for the mother who callously abandoned her, not for the late father she hardly knew, not for the huge family trust she stands to inherit. But some ties - to a place, to a past, to the people we once were and dreams we once had - can never be fully broken. And as family secrets are revealed, and desires old and new come to light, Trinity may discover the one thing she never expected to find in Crestwood: a place to call home at last.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Michaels's fable-like latest, wicked South Carolina heiress Sarabess Windsor must face the fallout of a decision she made 30 years ago: when her beloved daughter was diagnosed with a potentially fatal illness, doting Sarabess hatched a plan to bear another child solely as a source of bone marrow for little Emily. Donor daughter Trinity, unaware of her parentage, spent her childhood in closely monitored foster care, but forced, like the other children in town, to fawn endlessly over Emily, whose life is extended 13 years by her sister's cells. When Trinity runs away at 15, Sarabess makes sure no one tries to find her, but hapless father Harold, on his deathbed, sets up a trust for Trinity to claim on her 30th birthday. Several months before that day, Sarabess begins to try to finagle the funds for her own use. While Sarabess is without any redeeming qualities, her Trinity is anything but. Readers will root for the plucky heroine and her childhood friend Jake (a lawyer, natch). The finale's shocking revelations are just that, as Michaels, who was written more than 80 novels, somehow does it again. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Sarabess Windsor committed an act that would shock most people: she had a second child for the sole purpose of providing bone marrow for her firstborn. Not only that, she arranged for the couple who oversee her land in Crestwood, South Carolina, to raise the child. Throughout what was left of her first daughter's life, she would force the neighborhood children, including her donor daughter, Trinity, to play with her, which was never a cheering prospect because she was a spoiled brat. Trinity ran away at age 15, and was never found. Now that she's turning 30, she will come into a large inheritance from her father. Sarabess is determined to find Trinity before that day, because all of her nefarious deeds have yet to come to light, and she wants attorney Jake Forrest, Trinity's former friend, to find her. Longing to see Trinity again, he agrees. The tirelessly inventive and entertaining Michaels creates yet another unique situation for her characters, and that, plus her famous snappy dialogue, is enough to recommend her latest. Hatton, Maria --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD; MP3 Una edition (July 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 142334250X
• ISBN-13: 978-1423342502
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,327,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Fern Michaels is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Fool Me Once, Sweet Revenge, The Nosy Neighbor, Pretty Woman, and dozens of other novels and novellas. There are over seventy million copies of her books in print. Fern Michaels has built and funded several large day-care centers in her hometown, and is a passionate animal lover who has outfitted police dogs across the country with special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident ghost named Mary Margaret.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wasted Effort, April 9, 2008

By 

A. Roberts "Avid Reader" (Wyoming) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Up Close and Personal (Hardcover)

The book started out okay and I thought we have a real plot here. There was some humor and I thought Jake might make a likeable hero. By the time Trinity enters the story it goes downhill from there. She is a childish annoying character and Jake becomes a wimp. Trinity is 30 and Jake in his 30's and they act like 10 year old children. When I got to the part Trinity accosts Jake in his home and knees him in the groin and hits him in the face, I decided I had enough.(A woman should not hit a man any more than a man should hit a woman-that was just stupid) Adults in their 30's resort to that kind of behavior? Jake is over 6 foot and works out and she can beat him up? Get real! From there on I didn't care about any of the characters. The story goes on and on and is so boring I finally skim to the last couple chapters to see how Ms Michaels ends the disaster. None of the characters have any depth to them and I'm annoyed with myself for wasting even a few hours on it. I'm usually not too critical of a fiction romance with light mystery because they are what they are and I don't usually expect the novel of the century but this one is so bad. I simply can not get past 2 adult people calling each other names and carrying one like 2 spoiled children. There is no real romance here nor much of a story. It's all quite unbelievable. Thankfully I picked this up at the library so didn't invest $$ in it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars better than expected, August 7, 2007

By 

Jennifer (Utica, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up Close and Personal (Hardcover)

This book is about a woman named Trinity Henderson who ran away at 15 yrs. after discovering she was being raised by a couple who worked for her parents. She eventually returns to her hometown after being discovered by her childhood crush. I found the book to be funny, at times a real page-turner and for most of it, I couldn't wait to see how it ended. The three-legged race was ecspecially entertaining. Four stars because I thought there were a few instances where the book started to lag.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coming Home, August 10, 2007

By 

Shelly Itkin "Book Lover and Mom" (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Up Close and Personal (Hardcover)

Ms. Michaels has done it again with one of her best books ever.
Trinity was a child that was conceived not out of love but to help save Sarabrees precious Emily.

After 15 years of living a not very happy life she decides to leave and persue another life. Her new life is safe but then suddenly a reminder from the pasts finds her and she has to decide what to do.

She returs home after being away for 15 years and many things are told to her that she did not know before.

You wont be able to put this book down and I feel it is one of her best. A great read.