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    Smitten
    Smitten
    Smitten
    Audiobook4 hours

    Smitten

    Written by Janet Evanovich

    Narrated by C.J. Critt

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Single mom Lizabeth Kane isn't exactly carpenter material -- she's never picked up a hammer in her life. But she desperately needs the construction job that builder Matt Hallahan is offering. And even though he knows trouble is ahead, Matt can't refuse Lizbeth's irresistible smile.

    Matt Hallahan isn't exactly relationship material -- he has always been too busy working on other people's houses to make a home of his own. And even though she knows better, Lizabeth can't stop thinking about the rugged carpenter.

    Is the relationship Matt and Lizabeth are building solid -- or more like a house of cards?

    Editor's Note

    Classic & comedic…

    See another side of the bestselling mystery novelist’s talents in this classic and comedic contemporary romance about a single mother, a sexy construction worker, and a bad dog.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 25, 2006
    ISBN9780061134807
    Smitten
    Author

    Janet Evanovich

    Bestselling author Janet Evanovich is the winner of the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Award and multiple Romantic Times awards, including Lifetime Achievement. She is also a long-standing member of RWA.

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    Reviews for Smitten

    3.5/5

    491 ratings206 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This was a beautifully written book that kept me intrigued and riveted to the very end. I was a little disappointed with the ending but I can understand why the writer decided to finish it in this way. Each of the characters was so well developed and Edgar's story made it all come together so well. Adding the voices of the dogs was another interesting element that made this family drama so exciting. It also added to the mysticism of the phantoms and sages that appeared throughout the story. In the end, I sympathized for his mother, Trudy who will try to understand why everything ended the way it did, may have enough clues to figure it all out but in the end, suffer the most through her many losses. It is a book over which I reflected many times and to me, that always makes it a success. For the author's first novel, this was superb!
    • 3/5
      Forte's Children -Edgar comes from a line of dog breeders. After buying a farm, his grandfather rents out the farmland and starts dog breeding. He and his wife have two sons, Edgar's father (Gar) and Claude. Claude leaves the farm and Gar stays on and carries on the family business. After some troubled attempts to have a child, Gar and his wife (Trudy) have Edgar. After his parents come to understand that he is mute, Edgar grows up on the farm learning to breed dogs with his parents and Almondine, his own dog. Once he is old enough, his parents give him his own litter to raise.Eventually, Claude returns to the farm. After a brief stint of helping out around the house and barn, he leaves after a drunken brawl with Gar. A few weeks later, Edgar finds his father in the barn, dying mysteriously. After unsuccessfully trying to call for help, Edgar watches his father die.Three Griefs -After burying Gar, Edgar and Trudy decide to keep the family business running, despite the new workload. However, shortly after beginning to adjust to Gar's death, Trudy catches pneumonia and Edgar attempts to carry on the work without her. Before long, two dogs end up in a vicious fight. With both dogs injured and their vet out of town, they must call on Claude for assistance. After he helps treat the dogs and Trudy recovers, they begin to sleep together.One night not long after, Edgar wakes to the dogs barking and goes to investigate. Searching around in a storm for what was causing the dogs to bark, he sees the outline of his father's ghost in the rain. Through signs, Edgar is led to the syringe that most likely killed his father – one that he has seen Claude use before.What Hands Do -After Edgar confirms for sure that his mother and Claude are indeed romantically involved, he struggles to live under the same roof with his uncle. He comes to seek confirmation for his suspicions about his father's murder.When a potential buyer comes over to take a look at their dogs, Edgar seizes on the opportunity to test Claude. He stages a scene with the dogs, in which they mimic Claude using a syringe to poison people. One dog touches another with a syringe in its mouth and the touched dog falls over and plays dead. The final dog touches Claude's leg, and when he flinches, Edgar feels he has confirmed his suspicions.Angry at the strange show Edgar put on in front of a buyer, Trudy confronts Edgar and they get in a struggle. In the midst of their argument, Edgar, enraged, seeing a figure he thinks to be Claude, swings a hay hook and sends him tumbling down the stairs, killing him. Trudy discovers that the figure was actually Dr. Papineau, their vet. Scared at what might happen to Edgar because of the death, she tells him to disappear for a while. Three dogs from his litter follow him into the woods.Chequamegon -Edgar drifts in the woods and, without a fishing tackle, is forced to rob the cabins he comes across for food. Eventually he decides to head up to Canada, where there is a commune he hopes to join. Along the way however, one of his dogs is injured, and he is forced to seek help.He goes to a house he has just robbed and the owner, Henry, helps him with the injured dog. He takes to Henry, and agrees to stay there until his dog has healed. Once the dog is healed, Henry offers to give Edgar a ride up north to his destination. En route they are hit by a tornado. In the aftermath, Edgar decides to return home.Poison -Edgar returns home and leaves a note in his house for his mother. Claude finds it before Trudy and tells Glen, a police officer and son of Dr. Papineau, who is suspicious that Edgar caused his father's death. Spooked by Edgar's appearance, Claude moves a bottle of poison in the barn and Edgar catches him. Later, Edgar sees his mother and convinces her to give him a night alone in the barn, so he can search for the poison Claude moved. Meanwhile, Claude and Glen plot to trap Edgar, so Glen can “question” him.Glen surprises Edgar in the barn and tries to kidnap him using a rag soaked in ether. Edgar manages to grab some quicklime and douses Glen in it. It gets in Glen's eyes and he stumbles out of the barn, blinded. The ether hits a lamp and the barn lights on fire. Edgar, worried for the dogs papers, his father's life's work, starts moving them out of the barn while it burns up. Claude has hidden the poison with the papers, though. He pretends to help Edgar take the files out of the barn, grabs the bottle of poison, and when he is not looking, stabs Edgar with a syringe in the burning barn. As Claude waits for the poison to work on Edgar, the barn fills with smoke. Claude is unable to escape and he and Edgar die in the barn. The Sawtelle dogs, who have escaped the fire, leave into the wild.
    • 3/5
      Edgar Sawtelle, born mute (but hearing normally) in the mid-1950's to a rural dog-breeding couple, grows into adolescence helping breed and train the special Sawtelle dogs, who for many years have been a sought-after companion/working dog to those who know these things. When his father Gar dies of an apparent stroke, Gar's brother Claude returns to the family business and works his way into his brother's old life and family. When Edgar becomes convinced that Claude killed Gar, his plan to expose him goes awry and he flees, spending months on the run with three young Sawtelle dogs who have joined him. Eventually he returns home to confront Claude, and the book closes in an unsettling and disturbing climax. I can't think of another book, save Thomas Harris' "Hannibal", that I enjoyed so much until it was irredeemably marred by a conclusion so wrongly crafted. Such is the case here; the ending is marked by loose strings, justice denied and innocence punished. It's a shame, too; until the ending this was such a well-told story that made me care about Edgar in such a confident and compassionate voice. And I have no knee-jerk objections to mysticism in a story, but here I feel it needlessly detracted from the plot.
    • 4/5
      While the book closely follows the events of Shakespeare's Hamlet updated to 50's Wisconsin, it’s the character of Edgar, so much more sympathetic than that of Hamlet, and the details of the dog training and personalities that make this book stand on its own, not just as an homage. Edgar and his story challenged me to think of some of the events in Hamlet in different ways. More important, and less tangible, was how engaged I was with the book. I’d be doing errands, or away from the house, and I would miss the book. I’d wonder what the people and dogs were doing within the covers. It’s not often a book so inveigles itself into my life.
    • 3/5
      I read this book some time ago for a book club discussion but felt that I hurried through it so decided to re-read by audio book. I just finished listening to the 19 discs and I enjoyed the book more than on the first reading. It is probably because I already knew the ending. The idea of raising “Sawtelle dogs” was intriguing but I got lost in the details. The book changes between sad, morose and suspenseful. Edgar, who is born without a voice is brought up in and around the kennels and is raised by his father and mother. Tragedy or foul play strikes and Edgar is filled with anger and sadness. In fact, tragedy and or foul play seems to repeat itself in this book. Edgar Sawtelle is not a happily ever after book and is a bit depressing, although one character Henry was well developed and I was drawn into the positive interactions between him and Edgar. I am glad that I read the book a second time so that I could better understand the characters. The language was rich and the writing well done. The ending is very difficult so be prepared to shake your head in wonder leaving you with more questions than answers. I would give the book a 3.5 rating.
    • 5/5
      Life changing awesomeness!
    • 4/5
      I thouroughly enjoyed this epic novel about generations of dog breeding in the Sawtelle family. The story moves quickly and the characters are well developed and though out. Hard to believe this was a first effort. I look forward to new work by this author. The ending is gripping and engaging. I would highly recommend reading this novel.
    • 2/5
      An impressive first novel. Wonderfully descriptive writing - especially of the environment and the dogs. The description of Edgar's first memory of Almondine was simple and beautiful. My one complaint, although it is a rather significant complaint, is that the ending was disappointing. Certainly saw Hamlet underpinning most of the plotline but the ending was just so Hamlet-like it seemed a bit of a cop-out after the substance of the rest of the book.
    • 2/5
      Beautiful writing, but many problems, particularly poor ending. “Almondine” chapters are especially well written, but after reading them, I realized they didn't make sense (a dog would know that the woman was pregnant). Ignorance of sign language — crucial to the "message" and its misunderstanding in the denouement. Misuse of association with origins of seeing-eye dogs Raising dogs in rural Wisconsin, but apparently training only for basic companion obedience. Created breed, sold (“placed”) only as yearlings for $1500 in 1960s. Characters ignore obvious clues (e.g., brother had been imprisoned for murder). 560 pagesBest part is Henry.
    • 3/5
      Was fun to read but not sure what I was supposed to get from it.
    • 5/5
      The Story of Edgar Sawtelle parallels the story of Hamlet. The themes are the same. Even the names are similar: Claude represents Claudius, Trudy represents Gertrude. That said, Wroblewski’s book is a beautifully written, excellent novel in its own right. The setting is a Wisconsin dog breeding farm. The protagonist, Edgar, is a sensitive, mute boy. All of the characters in this book, including the dogs, are exquisitely drawn. The descriptions of the idyllic life on the dog farm and the wilderness into which Edgar escapes after the death of his father are mesmerizing; they made me feel as if I had entered another world. This is a novel that will stay with me a long time and one I heartily recommend.
    • 5/5
      This book left me feeling profoundly depressed - the mark of a great story teller. I was completely engrossed and would have greedily gobbled the book up in one sitting if events such as eating, work and annoyingly, sleep hadn't torn me away from it. An absolute page turner and I can't wait for the next book by this author. Strangely enough, I don't think I could bring myself to read it again with the knowledge of the ending - I won't be able to enjoy the richness an depth of the characters in the same way now knowing what their fate is. I've insisted my husband reads it and have given no hint of the ending. I hope he isn't as heart broken as I was, but he is currently enjoying it thoroughly and I feel a bit guilty as if I've given him a sweet with an extremely sour centre. Phenomenal book! One of the best I've read.
    • 1/5
      A lot of hype, unjustified. Some of the writing is beautiful, but this is offset by the fact that the book is over 200 pages too long. In the guise of lyrical imagery, some passages are almost indecipherable. If my book club did not have it as our next selection, I would never have finished reading it.
    • 5/5
      One of my favourite books. Though marginally a modern take on "Hamlet" it's completely readably without any reference to the original. But my favourite moment in the book is when the author has to deal with the appearance of Dad's ghost. I was so afraid it would be handled cheesily, but it was spectacular! Read that passage again and again for its beauty.
    • 5/5
      What's more amazing about this book? The lyrical language and gripping story or the fact that this is a debut? Not since reading "Cold Mountain" have I paused as much while reading just to sit back and marvel at how the author flushes out a scene. I cannot count the number of times I closed my eyes and saw the Sawtelle farm in my mind as if I'd been there before. Enough has been written about the plot and the characters. All I can do is echo Stephen King's vow to re-read this book. It is a magnificent story and by the end of it, you may catch yourself searching for a Sawtelle dog of your very own. And praying that Wroblewski is hard at work on his second novel.
    • 4/5
      I'm always looking for original debut novels and this one was a very good-outstanding in some of the description and characterizations of both people and dogs. But...it lost me along the way because it was just too long and too much and lost its momentum. It would have been great with more editing.
    • 4/5
      I can see why this novel was popular and received positive reviews. It's hard not to like the silent, moral, confused main character of Edgar Sawtelle ,and I - a golden retriever owner for 20 years, also appreciated the insights into dog breeding and training. However I wish I never read a snipet of a review that called it a "Hamlet" retelling. This caused me to read with a certain preoccupation, looking for the varioius scenes and characters that can be found in Shakespeare's tragedy. I have to learn to not read anything about a book before deciding to experience it. I again though would say that I enjoyed the novel and would recommend it to others. An amazon review is listed below for reference: Beautifully written and elegantly paced, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a coming-of-age novel about the power of the land and the past to shape our lives. It is a riveting tale of retribution, inhabited by empathic animals, prophetic dreams, second sight, and vengeful ghosts. Born mute, Edgar Sawtelle feels separate from the people around him but is able to establish profound bonds with the animals who share his home and his name: his family raises a fictional breed of exceptionally perceptive and affable dogs. Soon after his father's sudden death, Edgar is stunned to learn that his mother has already moved on as his uncle Claude quickly becomes part of their lives. Reeling from the sudden changes to his quiet existence, Edgar flees into the forests surrounding his Wisconsin home accompanied by three dogs. Soon he is caught in a struggle for survival — the only thing that will prepare him for his return home.
    • 4/5
      What do Hamlet and The Jungle Book have in common? The answer is, strangely, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, the first novel of David Wroblewski. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is an epic tale of family tragedy and a coming of age adventure. Throw in a plentitude of information about dog breeding and you have yourself a novel.Heavily referencing Hamlet (the tragedy part of the story) and The Jungle Book (the coming of age/sdventure part of the story), The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a compelling story with a sympathetic main character, Edgar who is deaf and forms a bond with a dog who essentially raises him as much as his human parents do, read Jungle Book. The story ends tragically in death and fire (again, think Hamlet).Wrobelewski is talented at weaving a compelling tale, and the characters are simultaneously unique and familiar. The shortcoming of this book is the abundance of information on dog breeding and training. Some information provides the reader with the necessary background for the novel, but Wrobelewski goes overboard and the excess causes the storyline to drag in parts (think Moby Dick and all of those chapters on whaling).All in all this was a good book, with the potential to be a great book. Wrobelewski knows his stuff and the characters are believable, but the plot lags in parts making it a bit of a slog rather than the page turner it wants to be.
    • 4/5
      As a student of Shakespeare, and Hamlet being one of my favorite plays, I have to say I simply thought The Story of Edgar Sawtelle was brilliantly written. I've noticed MANY reviewers saying they did not like the end of the novel--and without posting a spoiler I will say this--Hamlet' story was a tragedy, and so is the story of Edgar. Tragedies never have happy endings, do they? Of course not. Tragedies reveal the human condition--brutal as it can be, intertwined with love and tenderness.One of the most unique transformations from Hamlet to this novel was the character of Ophelia, represented here by a beautiful dog, Almondine. I absolutely loved the chapters written from Almondine's point of view--especially one line where she was noting the delivery of mail on a daily basis--the mailbox caught and released the man every day. (paraphrased) There are many little gems like this scattered throughout the book. One element I loved in Hamlet, but is missing from this story, is the advice that Polonius gives his son, Laertes--you know, the famous "Not a beggar nor a borrower be" etc. Polonius is represented by the friendly old vet, Page, and his son is the town's buffoon sheriff deputy. Don't think that it is Hamlet retold, though, because the book is not. It stands on its own merits. I'd love to read anything else by Wroblewski. I'm usually not a fan of verbose writers, but Wroblewski paints such a vivid image in the reader's mind that I have to say the length and extended descriptions did not bother me and the reading went quickly.
    • 4/5
      I did not pay much attention to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle when it was released in 2008. I knew it was a “dog story” and, frankly, novels about dogs or cats do not have much appeal to me. So I did little more than thumb through the book once when I saw it on the shelf of my local bookstore.Then, in December 2009, I attended the Texas Book Festival in Austin and sat in on a an interview session with the book’s author, David Wroblewski, during which the author discussed, among other topics, how he came to write the book. The discussion was interesting – but not nearly as interesting as the reaction Mr. Wroblewski’s presence drew from the bulk of those in attendance that day. The man was treated like a superstar author, and the questioners seemed to know the book by heart.I was so impressed that I purchased a first edition copy of the book and had Wroblewski sign it for me. Then I put it on the shelf at home for another year, finally “reading” an audio version of the book just this month. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle turns out to be quite a story (those familiar with Shakespeare’s Hamlet might recognize early on where it is headed) and my usual aversion to “dog stories” did not surface. In fact, I particularly enjoyed those portions of the narrative told from the viewpoint of Almondine, the beloved Sawtelle dog that was Edgar’s protector from the day he was brought home from the hospital. This is the story of the Sawtelle family: Gar, Trudy, and their mute son, Edgar. The Sawtelles have been breeding and training very special dogs for several decades and the dogs have become so special that they are known now simply as “Sawtelle dogs.” However, despite the quality of the animals they produce, the Sawtelles are just barely surviving financially. That their local veterinarian owns a share in the business, and does not charge for his services, is what allows them to continue at all.But the Sawtelles are working at something they love, and 14-year-old Edgar is preparing himself to carry the business forward at least one more generation. Then Gar’s brother, Claude, fresh from prison, comes home and things begin to change – for the worse, and in a way and to a degree that will surprise most readers right to the very end of the book.I admire David Wroblewski’s courage to end the book the way he did, knowing that many readers will be very disappointed in that ending. That ending, though, is a very logical one considering all that led up to it and the makeup of the book’s central characters. The audio version of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is exceptionally well read, with narrator Richard Poe striking the perfect tone and cadence for the various characters for whom he reads. It was a pleasure listening to Mr. Poe and, because of the half point I am adding for his narration, I am rating this one a solid four. Rated at: 4.0
    • 5/5
      I really couldn’t be objective about this book. I said earlier how I was enjoying it purely as a reader and not a critic, but it goes deeper than that. It’s like Wroblewski had some kind of infrared Jungian checklist and somehow managed to find out all my childhood fantasies: benevolent and wise dog companion/nursemaid? Check. Super-intelligent semi-wild pack of devoted dogs that sleep with you at night? Check. I guess the only thing worse than being raised by wolves is wishing you were – as a kid I always had a fantasy of a wolf pack appearing on my street to take me away. I wanted a dog who would look out for me like Lassie. So this was like – pardon the crudeness of the simile – finding the porn that gets you off just right.Even though there were problems – a series of transitions in the last quarter of the book that didn’t work well, and the last part in the barn wasn’t the climax or catharsis that I think the book wanted, and yeah, it was fat as a tick on a dog’s ear. But that didn’t matter much to me, honestly – I was so emotionally involved with the characters it was like being in love, in the way logic just flies out the window for a while. And it’s been such a long time since a book did that to me. I gave in, I did, I swooned.Plus there’s a lot that was just right. His language is nicely suited to the tale, elegant and tuned into the natural world. Obviously I’m a dog person so I’m slanted that way in the first place, but I thought he wrote the dogs well. It’s always a treat to read someone who’s so carefully observed something that you have too. And much of the book flowed beautifully. But mostly it was the characters that moved me, people and dogs alike. Not necessarily their inner lives or motivations, which fluctuated all over the board in terms of plausibility – just the fact of them. They’ll stay with me a while. Lord, I cried so hard over Almondine I had to go sit outside for a few minutes with my arm around my own flesh-and-blood dog.And the very last scene just called up my inner 8-year-old and made her happy. I couldn’t evaluate that dispassionately if I tried.In the end I don’t really know what to say about this book that anyone else might relate to. All I know is it transported me, and it was a good ride.
    • 1/5
      What a disappointment! I had read several good reviews before I started this book and maybe my expectations were too high. This book never approached its hype -- and I started reading it before Oprah jumped on it.The characters (other than Edgar) are never fully developed. Claude, the antagonist, is but a slippery shadow. We never even come close to understanding his motivations. I don't mind using my imagination to fill in some blanks, but to have Claude so ill-defined leaves the reader to write the book!I kept waiting for this book to capture me and draw me in. It continued to push me away. I had to force myself to finish it. Of course I was hoping the ending would bring things to clarity and make me say, "wow!" Never happened.Someone likened this book to "The Life of Pi." I have been looking for another "Life of Pi" since I read it and this is not it! "The Life of Pi" is lyrical, mystical, magical and just downright fun and funny! This book just disappoints.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book, but it's very sad, it made me cry several times. IMHO, it deals with questions of love, family, life after death, possible analogies to religious questions of the nature of the soul, eternal life. Is this life all there is? Are we just here to reproduce, then back to the dust? What is love? why are some people evil and others good? Wow, I'm not normally this deep.
    • 5/5
      A great read, especially if you are familiar with Hamlet. Wonderful character study. Beautiful imagery and language.
    • 3/5
      Loved the book but the ending was unsatisfying.
    • 5/5
      Wonderfully written book about a familly in Wisconsin that raised and trained a fictional breed of Sawtelle dogs. I loved the parts about their training and the part where Edgar has to leave home with three of his dogs to flee to the wilderness. I love a big read and this delivered. I didn't like the end, too many questions left unanswered. I would recommed to anyone interested in the canine world.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book so much I had to read it twice. The first time I read it through quickly on my Kindle because I cared so much about Edgar and his dogs that I wanted to find out what happened to them. I recognized it as Hamlet, but nonetheless held on to hope for Edgar until the last. Alas.I bought the hard back and read it about a year later. This time I slowed down to savor Wroblewski's prose, especially his descriptions of the Wisconsin countryside, the careful way he develops his characters, his fearlessness in facing the tragedy that we know is coming. Two other remarkable aspects of this book are his ability to convey what is going on in the mind of a special dog, Almondine, and his ability to portray supernatural encounters in ways that made them truly believable. I listened to an interview he did with Oprah in which we said he spent 15 years writing this book. It shows. This is a well-crafted work.
    • 3/5
      I agree with Audrey Niffenegger's comment on the back of this book:. "Basically, its Hamlet in Wisconsin at a kennel".I also agree that Mr Wroblewski has created a very unique story and that the book is beautifully written. Unlike most readers however, I did not like this book. That is partly because I was bored with the subject matter and I do not like the elements of mysticism interfering with the plot. And sometimes I wished that I could slap Edgar...and the less said about the ending the better.
    • 4/5
      poetic, captivating, descriptive, sense of place,
    • 2/5
      Why an author would take such care and pride in creating such vivid characters (canine and human) and then do such harm to them is beyond me. Though beautifully written for all of the reasons mentioned in almost every review, I couldn't possibly recommend this book to anyone.