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by Susan Mallery

  Book Club Guide

  Suggested Menu:

  Drink:

  Margaritas

  Appetizers:

  Jalapeno Poppers

  Meal:

  Jenna’s Mocha Chili (recipe follows)

  Dessert:

  Apricot Fluff

  Jenna’s Mocha Chili

  1 onion, chopped

  1 lb. hamburger

  2 cloves garlic, minced

  1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes

  1 15-oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes, undrained

  2 15-oz cans of dark red kidney beans, undrained

  2 T chili powder

  1 t instant coffee granules

  1 t cocoa powder

  For mild chili: 1 green bell pepper, diced

  For medium chili: 2 jalapeno peppers, seeds removed, chopped

  For hot chili: 2-3 jalapeno peppers with seeds, chopped

  Brown the hamburger in a heavy-bottomed pan, stirring frequently. Add onion and garlic and sauté until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds longer. Drain off the grease. Mix all ingredients together. Simmer for 1 hour on the stovetop or put into a slow cooker on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours. To make this a vegetarian meal in honor of Serenity, omit the hamburger, sauté the onions and garlic in a little olive oil, and add 2 more cans of beans. You can use more kidney beans if you’d like, or you can use black beans or pinto beans for some variety.

  Serve plain or top with onions, cheese, sour cream and/or avocado.

  For more free recipes, join the Members Only area at www.susanmallery.com!

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  What are the major themes of this story? How does the title support these themes? Explain your thoughts.

  Susan Mallery has often been praised for writing stories that pull at readers’ emotions. Looking back on the story, discuss the moments that were the most emotional for you. What moments made you cry? What moments made you laugh?

  What were the turning points? How and when did the characters change and grow? Who changed the most? Explain.

  Which mother—Beth or Serenity—did you relate to the most, and why? Which father was the most like your father or husband, and why?

  Discuss the ways the women in this story were different, and then talk about the traits they had in common.

  Why do you think Serenity and Tom waited so long to find Jenna? Did they do the right thing? Why or why not? How should they have handled things differently? Under what circumstances do you think Jenna might have looked for her birth parents, if they hadn’t come looking for her?

  Discuss the turning points in Violet’s subplot. How did this subplot support the major themes of the story? If you were Violet, how would you have reacted when Cliff was rude to Jenna and Ellington? Have you ever missed warning signs in your own life?

  Do you think things will work out between Jenna and Ellington? Violet and Dragon? Why or why not?

  If you had to reinvent yourself the way Jenna did after her divorce, what would you do?

  Under what circumstances could you see yourself giving up a child for adoption?

  Do you believe that some people really are more in tune with the universe? Have you ever followed your intuition, your gut, even when logic said you shouldn’t? What happened? How did the situation turn out? Were you right to listen to your gut, or should you have stuck with logic?

  Beth struggled with weight all her life, but Jenna and Marshall thought she was beautiful as she was. Why do you think so many women feel dissatisfied with their bodies?

  How will having known Serenity impact Jenna throughout her life? How has Jenna changed because Serenity entered her life? What do you think Jenna’s life might’ve been like if she had been raised by her birth parents?

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-8884-7

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  Copyright © 2011 by Susan Macias Redmond

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, MIRA Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  MIRA and the Star Colophon are trademarks used under license and registered in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

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