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Careful What You Wish For: A Novel of Suspense
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Published:
HarperCollins 2019
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of There Was an Old Woman comes a novel about a professional organizer with a deadly problem she may not be able to clean up.
Emily Harlow is a professional organizer who helps people declutter their lives; she's married to man who can't drive past a yard sale without stopping. He's filled their basement, attic, and garage with his finds.

Like other professionals who make a living decluttering peoples' lives, Emily has devised a set of ironclad rules. When working with couples, she makes clear that the client is only allowed to declutter his or her own stuff. That stipulation has kept Emily's own marriage together these past few years. She'd love nothing better than to toss out all her husband's crap. He says he's a collector. Emily knows better—he's a hoarder. The larger his "collection" becomes, the deeper the distance grows between Emily and the man she married.

Luckily, Emily's got two new clients to distract herself: an elderly widow whose husband left behind a storage unit she didn't know existed, and a young wife whose husband won't allow her stuff into their house. Emily's initial meeting with the young wife takes a detour when, after too much wine, the women end up fantasizing about how much more pleasant life would be without their collecting spouses.

But the next day Emily finds herself in a mess that might be too big for her to clean up. Careful what you wish for, the old adage says . . . now Emily might lose her freedom, her marriage . . . and possibly her life.

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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
08/06/2019
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780062473677
ASIN:
B07CRKCG7G
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Hallie Ephron. (2019). Careful What You Wish For: A Novel of Suspense. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Hallie Ephron. 2019. Careful What You Wish For: A Novel of Suspense. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Hallie Ephron, Careful What You Wish For: A Novel of Suspense. HarperCollins, 2019.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Hallie Ephron. Careful What You Wish For: A Novel of Suspense. HarperCollins, 2019.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Grouped Work ID:
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Needs Update?:
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Date Added:
Aug 05, 2019 08:40:41
Date Updated:
Nov 08, 2022 07:52:09
Last Metadata Check:
Apr 21, 2024 13:16:48
Last Metadata Change:
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Last Availability Change:
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Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Apr 25, 2024 02:10:18

OverDrive Product Record

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        Hallie Ephron is the New York Times bestselling author of Never Tell a Lie, Come and Find Me, There Was an Old Woman, and Night Night, Sleep Tight. For twelve years she was the crime fiction reviewer for the Boston Globe. The daughter of Hollywood screenwriters, she grew up in Beverly Hills, and lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

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fullDescription

From the New York Times bestselling author of There Was an Old Woman comes a novel about a professional organizer with a deadly problem she may not be able to clean up.
Emily Harlow is a professional organizer who helps people declutter their lives; she's married to man who can't drive past a yard sale without stopping. He's filled their basement, attic, and garage with his finds.

Like other professionals who make a living decluttering peoples' lives, Emily has devised a set of ironclad rules. When working with couples, she makes clear that the client is only allowed to declutter his or her own stuff. That stipulation has kept Emily's own marriage together these past few years. She'd love nothing better than to toss out all her husband's crap. He says he's a collector. Emily knows better—he's a hoarder. The larger his "collection" becomes, the deeper the distance grows between Emily and the man she married.

Luckily, Emily's got two new clients to distract herself: an elderly widow whose husband left behind a storage unit she didn't know existed, and a young wife whose husband won't allow her stuff into their house. Emily's initial meeting with the young wife takes a detour when, after too much wine, the women end up fantasizing about how much more pleasant life would be without their collecting spouses.

But the next day Emily finds herself in a mess that might be too big for her to clean up. Careful what you wish for, the old adage says . . . now Emily might lose her freedom, her marriage . . . and possibly her life.

reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: Christian Science Monitor
      • content:

        “[A] thoroughly enjoyable twist on the classic murder mystery.” — Christian Science Monitor

        “Clever...Ephron's tidy approach to stowing clues, arousing suspicions, keeping the chaos of the climax under control, then tying up loose ends makes her a professional organizer of this type of entertainment. In a word—neat.” — Kirkus Reviews

        "Outstanding...May be the first domestic thriller to weave in Marie Kondo's decluttering theory about discarding things that don't spark joy...After being a finalist five times, Ephron may finally win the Mary Higgins Clark Award for this one." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

        “Hallie Ephron has crafted a timely, twisty tale that had me grinning at the opening line and wide-eyed at the conclusion. Cleverly plotted and cast with compelling characters, Careful What You Wish For is the perfect summer book club pick!” — New York Times Bestselling Author Wendy Corsi Staub

        “Hallie Ephron's Careful What You Wish For is a cautionary tale for the spark joy moment—a tidy nightmare of a story that won't be contained. A compulsive page-turner that sparks anxiety.” — Lori Rader-Day, Edgar® Award-nominated author of Under a Dark Sky

        "Hallie Ephron has crafted a timely, twisty tale that had me grinning at the opening line and wide-eyed at the conclusion. Cleverly plotted and cast with compelling characters, Careful What You Wish For is the perfect summer book club pick!" — New York Times Bestselling Author Wendy Corsi Staub

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        May 15, 2019
        If it doesn't bring you joy...get rid of it before it drags you into a murder investigation. In Ephron's (You'll Never Know Dear, 2017, etc.) latest clever crime novel, professional organizer Emily Harlow has made uneasy peace with her lawyer husband Frank's extreme garage-sale-ing. As their story opens, she's in her bedroom making a promotional video about closet decluttering; he's downstairs unloading more boxes of junk into a basement already stuffed with his collections. The irony is not lost on her. But with fertility issues already putting stress on the childless marriage, both partners immerse themselves in their separate activities rather than face off directly. Conveniently, Emily's business, Freeze-Frame Clutter Kickers, has gotten so busy that she and her business partner, Becca, have had to start working weekends. First they have an elderly client who urgently needs them to clean out the storage unit where her late husband kept his collections. Then a wealthy woman whose controlling husband has never let her move her stuff into his showplace mansion, the walls of which are covered with his priceless collections, offers to pay them double if they can come over right away. Everyone's a collector, right? But this is a little more than the skewed perspective of a Marie Kondo devotee--something is rotten in the storage unit. But Emily hasn't done anything wrong--so why do people keep telling her they've got her back? Ephron's tidy approach to stowing clues, arousing suspicions, keeping the chaos of the climax under control, then tying up loose ends makes her a professional organizer of this type of entertainment. In a word--neat.

        COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        Starred review from June 3, 2019
        This outstanding standalone from bestseller Ephron (You’ll Never Know, Dear) may be the first domestic thriller to weave in Marie Kondo’s decluttering theory about discarding things that don’t spark joy. Paring down her belongings brings so much joy to Emily Harlow that she and her friend Becca Jain have started a business, Freeze-Frame Clutter Kickers, to help others organize. Emily’s husband’s obsession with possessions brings her no joy, especially since his “compulsive yard-sale-ing” has overstuffed the basement of their suburban Boston home. But Emily’s rule is that she can’t discard another’s property, even in her own house. Meanwhile, a new client wants Emily and Becca to clear out her late husband’s storage unit she didn’t know he had, and Emily bonds with another client whose husband is also a hoarder. The discovery of a body in the storage unit raises the stakes. Appealing characters and some suspenseful detective work help elevate this in-depth look at people’s emotional attachment to things. After being a finalist five times, Ephron may finally win the Mary Higgins Clark Award for this one. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        August 1, 2019
        Emily Harlow has changed careers, going from teacher to professional organizer. It's something of an odd choice since her husband, Frank, is a flea-market enthusiast, verging on hoarder. But Emily's fledgling business, which she runs with her best friend, is doing well, and the future looks even brighter, thanks to two new clients: Mrs. Murphy, who needs to clean the storage locker of her deceased husband, and Quinn Newell, a young woman who wants help cleaning her garage. Of course, nothing is as it seems, and, before long, the jobs are suspiciously intertwined by the discovery of Quinn's husband's body in Mrs. Murphy's storage locker. In Emily, veteran writer Ephron has created a likable amateur sleuth, albeit one who figures out various plot elements considerably after the reader does. Still, the story flows smoothly and agreeably around an engaging premise. It's easy to see this as the start of a series; after all, there are plenty of opportunities to find dead bodies when one is cleaning out closets and garages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        July 1, 2019

        Professional organizer Emily Harlow would love to attack her own husband's sky-high pile, but it's against her own rules. Still, she and a new client laughingly imagine what life would be like without their hoarding husbands. Careful what you wish for, Emily. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

        Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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shortDescription

From the New York Times bestselling author of There Was an Old Woman comes a novel about a professional organizer with a deadly problem she may not be able to clean up.
Emily Harlow is a professional organizer who helps people declutter their lives; she's married to man who can't drive past a yard sale without stopping. He's filled their basement, attic, and garage with his finds.

Like other professionals who make a living decluttering peoples' lives, Emily has devised a set of ironclad rules. When working with couples, she makes clear that the client is only allowed to declutter his or her own stuff. That stipulation has kept Emily's own marriage together these past few years. She'd love nothing better than to toss out all her husband's crap. He says he's a collector. Emily knows better—he's a hoarder. The larger his "collection" becomes, the deeper the distance grows between Emily and the man she married.

Luckily, Emily's got two new clients to distract...

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