title: The Stuff That Never Happened: A Novel
author:  Maddie Dawson 
description: Dawson's nicely written if erratically paced debut interweaves two story lines--in 2005, there's Annabelle McKay's midlife crisis as her empty-nest marriage to historian Grant falls into the doldrums, and in the 1970s, there's the beginning of their relationship and the affair that nearly drove them apart. In the present, Annabelle's middle-aged ennui and floundering marriage spin out slowly until her pregnant daughter Sophie's health crisis takes Annabelle to Manhattan to care for her. In the past, Dawson trawls through Annabelle and Grant's young, troubled marriage during his first job at Columbia University, when they live with his mentor, Jeremiah. The first third of the book is so mired in backstory that even Dawson's enjoyable prose and keen characterization can't save the monotony. The novel finally picks up steam when past and present collide, underlining the themes of marriage and self, but the ending feels rushed and pat. For fans of upmarket hen lit, it's worth a look, but Dawson doesn't deliver enough consistent tension to make the work pop. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: Anything For You
  
  Landon & Maddie ~ The Connor Family, Book 1
  
  Layla Hagen
  
  
  ***
  
  Anything For You
  
  Copyright © 2018 Layla Hagen
  
  C over: Uplifting Designs
  
  Cover Photography: Lauren Perry Photographer
  
  Anything For You
  
  Copyright ©2018 Layla Hagen
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
  any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from
  the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
  articles or reviews. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses,
  places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s
  imagination or used in fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons,
  living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
  
  
  # Table of Contents
  
  [Title Page](text00000.html)
  
  [Copyright Page](text00001.html)
  
  [Chapter One](text00003.html)
  
  [Chapter Two](text00004.html)
  
  [Chapter Three](text00005.html)
  
  [Chapter Four](text00006.html)
  
  [Chapter Five](text00007.h