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    Hope in a Jar: A Novel
    Hope in a Jar: A Novel
    Hope in a Jar: A Novel
    Audiobook7 hours

    Hope in a Jar: A Novel

    Written by Elizabeth Harbison

    Narrated by Orlagh Cassidy

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Twenty years ago, Allie Denty was the pretty one and her best friend Olivia Pelham was the smart one. Throughout high school, they were inseparable…until a vicious rumor about Olivia— a rumor too close to the truth—ended their friendship.

    Now, on the eve of their twentieth high school reunion, Allie, a temp worker, finds herself suddenly single, a little chubby, and feeling old. Olivia, a cool and successful magazine beauty editor in New York, realizes she's lonely, and is finally ready to face her demons.

    Sometimes hope lives in the future; sometimes it comes from the past; and sometimes, when every stupid thing goes wrong, it comes from a prettily packaged jar filled with scented cream and promises.

    Beth Harbison has done it again. A hilarious and touching novel about friendship, Love's Baby Soft perfume, Watermelon Lip Smackers, bad run-ins with Sun-In, and the healing power of "Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific." Hope in a Jar: we all need it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJul 7, 2009
    ISBN9781427206619
    Hope in a Jar: A Novel
    Author

    Elizabeth Harbison

    New York Times bestselling author Beth Harbison started cooking when she was eight years old, thanks to Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys and Girls. After graduating college, she worked full-time as a private chef in the DC area, and within three years she sold her first cookbook, The Bread Machine Baker. She published four cookbooks before moving on to writing women’s fiction, including the runaway bestseller Shoe Addicts Anonymous and When in Doubt, Add Butter. She lives in Palms Springs, California. 

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    Reviews for Hope in a Jar

    3.5/5

    94 ratings10 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is by far Harbison's BEST book to date.

      Hope in a Jar starts out with a bang just like all of Harbison's books do. The difference with Hope in a Jar is that the book just keeps getting better and better.

      The plot of the mysterious death of friendship between best friends, the too-good-to-be-true guy friend, and the rivalry between classmates which reignites at a 20 year high school reunion is handled well by Harbison.

      The parallel plot lines between the past and the present work well and increase tension. All of the characters are well-drawn and real, even the "evil" Vickie who sees herself as a victim.

      I can't praise this book enough. I stayed up very late last night to finish it.

      I'm glad I picked this up, and if you're a fan of chick-lit, you'll be glad you picked it up too!
    • 2/5
      just a girl book full of drama. Listened on audio Orglagh Cassidy - Great
    • 2/5
      This was supposed to be funny...I missed it.

      This is light chick-lit about a high school friendship gone sour because of a major misunderstanding.

      Now 20 years later at their reunion Olivia, Allie, Noah & Vickie (now Tori) all get together again.

      There is romance, friendship, and old jealousies....
    • 4/5
      Strong, competent chick lit and definitely more than skin-deep. While I wouldn't normally enjoy a tale with quite so much material about beauty products, those scenes were important to the main characters and flagged fairly enough by the title itself. And although I was initially irritated by the flash-back scenes to high school, as the book went on it became obvious that the history there was an essential part of the more weighty story elements. I didn't fall totally in love with the main hero, but otherwise, this was a highly enjoyable novel which tied its loose ends together beautifully by the end.
    • 4/5
      This was a really fast and fun read!
    • 2/5
      This book was weird...

      I feel like the author was so hell bent on making sure that she could incorporate nostalgic products from her youth that she forgot to develop characters that anyone would give a shit about. Also, she could have used Lip Smackers and Love's Baby Soft and STILL had characters who were closer to 28 than 38. I had a hard time envisioning these morons being close to 40 years old.

      The drama was stupid... I read a lot of chick lit and I can't stand the unresolved fight... "______ was pissed about something she heard ______ did and never spoke to her again." It's easy and convenient writing and it makes me want to throw books.

      Ugh... the more I write about it the less stars I want to give it. I'm going to stop now, while it still has two.
    • 2/5
      Hope in a Jar moves back and forth in time with the story of two friends - Olivia and Allie. They were friends in high school, had a falling out, and meet again at the twentieth high school reunion. The alternating chapters tell the story of what happened in high school and the current story. Unfortunately, the current story seemed to feel like the characters were still in high school. The plot centers around their male friend Noah and Vicki, the high school mean girl. Predictable and unfortunately because of its structure, immature characters.
    • 5/5
      This is by far my favorite book by Beth Harbison. The story of friendship and self-reflection was great. I loved how both of the main characters and things to work through and how they were able to come back together after so many years apart. This was a wonderful read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
    • 4/5
      Standard chick-lit and a perfect beach read. Allie, Olivia & Noah were best friends all through school until a misunderstanding drove Allie and Olivia apart. Now it's twenty years later and time for the reunion, Allie is twenty pounds overweight, just found her longtime boyfriend in bed with the paper saleswoman and her best friend Noah is spending all his free time with a new girlfriend. The story is told in mortifying flashbacks to high school, and I loved all the references to 80's beauty products, music and teen idols. There aren't any great surprises in this story, but it's a fun, light read. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a sequel to this book that explores Olivia's story more.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book. I am a beauty product junkie, which is what led me to this book, but even better, she dropped the names of many 70s/early 80s products, which took me down memory lane. It jumps back and forth in time, but it's easy to follow, and there is a depth that I didn't expect. My only complaint was that the 70s product name dropping went just a bit too far sometimes