Review: Close Quarters By Amanda Zieba

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Kelly, Lindsay, Mia, and Harper grew up not only as cousins but as best friends. Kelly has always been the dreamer and Lindsay the one with all her ducks in a row. Mia claimed the role of wild child the day she was born, and Harper will forever be the baby. Separately they are flawed, but together, the Ames cousins are convinced they can do anything.Then, without warning, their grandmother, the infamous Midwestern literary critic, Ingrid Ames dies. Suddenly, they each find themselves unsure of how to move forward without her guiding presence in their lives. As they attempt to pick up the pieces after the funeral, the cousins come together to open a bookstore in her honor. Unfortunately, their vision of tribute seems to be jeopardized at every turn. A surprising pregnancy, mysterious deliveries to the store, a deployment, and — most unexpected — time with each other, threaten to collapse the entire operation.

This new novella from Amanda Zieba, explores the tribulations of being a woman in today’s high expectation world, the complexities of close-knit families and the power of friendship. 

Facebook : Amanda Zieba – Author

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Amanda Zieba divides her working day between teaching and writing, and always wishes there were more hours for the later. Amanda believes that the statement, "readers live a thousand lives" is doubly true when you are the writer... because she gets to write the lives she's curious about. Anyone else dream of owning a bookstore?!?! Just Like the Ames cousins of this story, Amanda calls the La Crosse area home and loves living there with her husband and sons.

This is her third book for adults, and her ninth overall, the others written for children and young adults. 

Close Quarters

By Amanda Zieba

Review by Heidi Lynn's Book Reviews

First, I want to thank Amanda Zieba for providing me with this book so I can bring you this review.

Close Quarters by Amanda Zieba is a feel-good book that will bring a smile on your face and love in your heart.

Amanda’s dedication was quite unique and had me laughing.  It is dedicated to her close knit, boundary blurring, overstepping, matriarchal family. There is a piece of each of them in the story. She is hoping that they are happy that they made the cut! She is forever grateful for her past, present and future with them.

The cover of the book looked like a beautiful and picturesque painting. Kudos to the graphic artist who designed the cover.

Right from the very beginning of this book Amanda made me smile. This book was focused around family. The cousins just lost their Gram and were celebrating her life. Each reminiscing the special memories they were blessed to share with her. Amanda really brought out the love and admiration each character had for their late gram. Reading this sweet scene made me miss my Gram and all the memories we made together.

I loved how Gram was a book reviewer and kept all the books she reviewed in her attic. Amanda mentions one of the series of books I grew up on-The Babysitter’s Club. God how I loved that series when I was younger. Reading the names of the books Gram had brought back a lot of memories for me.

It is ironic that I am reading this review on Veteran’s Day when this story has a character who is facing deployment for a year.

I loved Kelly’s character and her storyline! She had very special news to share in a very special way. No other author (that I have read for) ever attempted this before. This was pure genius and so creative! I loved it!!

Amanda truly wrote this book with a lot of passion and heart behind each character and storyline. It made the story much more special to read this way.