Good Karma: A Novel
Written by Christina Kelly
Narrated by Teri Schnaubelt
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
A charming, heartfelt tale of love lost and regained in a gated community in Savannah, Georgia.
After almost forty years in New Jersey, Catherine, Ralph, and their beloved Boston Terrier Karma are hitting the road, relocating to a gorgeous, serene island off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, where Catherine can work on her backhand and Ralph can hit the links. But upon their arrival in the Seven Oaks gated community, it becomes apparent that Catherine and Ralph’s visions of retirement couldn’t be more different. While Catherine is intrigued by their quirky neighbors, Ralph’s golf-and-poker routine seems to be interrupted only by his flirtations with their zealous real estate agent.
As the pair drift further apart, Catherine cannot help but sense her marriage is at risk. Then, she meets recent widower Fred at the dog park. United by their dogs, they embark upon a friendship that could be something more—until she discovers that he’s not quite what he seems. As she sorts out fact from fiction and discovers what sorts of secrets might be hiding behind Seven Oaks’ pristine picket fences, she’ll have to make a decision affecting her future happiness and her chance at newfound love.
Christina Kelly
Christina Kelly is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an occasional contributor to the New York Times crossword section. A native of Westchester, New York, she now lives with her husband in Savannah. Good Karma is her first novel.
Related to Good Karma
Related audiobooks
The Lost Queen of Crocker County Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love Stories in this Town: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When She Came Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kindred Spirits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Million Dollar Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On the Same Page: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDriving with the Top Down: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Seekers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Julie and Romeo Get Lucky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Forever: A 1970s Love Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLosing Clementine: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Off the Menu Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Testament of Harold's Wife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Short History: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost at Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Ideas: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Red Hat Club Rides Again: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Still True Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Week at the Lake Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fatgirl: Origins, Part One: Fatgirl, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There Are No Rules For This: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Inheritance: An Inlet Beach Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gilded Life of Matilda Duplaine Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Our Little Racket: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Godforsaken Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whole Way Home: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll About Evie Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sea Sisters Swimming Club Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInvisible as Air: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our New Normal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Family Life For You
Nineteen Steps: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Collected Regrets of Clover: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Idea of You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Regretting You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reminders of Him: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evil Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bodyguard: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Found You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe in Another Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Then She Was Gone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Joy Luck Club Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After I Do: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mask of Sanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forever, Interrupted: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winter Garden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Humans: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bird Box: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where the Forest Meets the Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The People We Keep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not Forever, But For Now Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nineteen Minutes: A novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Home: the most moving and heartfelt novel you'll read this year Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Good Karma
4 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My cousin Lynne has a Boston Terrier, who has her papers as an emotional support dog. I chose this book for that reason and enjoyed the book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It used to be unusual to find a book centered on older characters but in recent years there seem to be more and more books that acknowledge that neither aging out of your twenties nor living past the child rearing years means that life is over. In fact, the books coming out now show that not only are people still living interesting lives, they are grabbing hold of that life, still growing and changing no matter what their physical age. Christina Kelly's novel, Good Karma, with a cast of kooky characters and major life disruptions shows just this.Catherine and her husband Ralph have retired, moving from New Jersey to Georgia. Their marriage had already grown distant but retirement really highlights just how little they connect anymore, and Catherine at least is hoping this move to a gated community called Seven Oaks outside of Savannah* will bring them closer together again. But it soon becomes clear that they are looking for different things out of retirement. Catherine wants companionship while Ralph might want the brassily alluring real estate agent they're working with to buy their home. When Catherine takes her Boston Terrier Karma to the dog park, she meets Fred and his lovely Great Dane named Sequoia. Fred is a widower, having lost his beloved wife Lissa to cancer less than a year previously and he's been struggling with grief and depression ever since. These two lonely people start to build a friendship with the help of some truly nutty characters, their dogs, and Lissa's ghost.This is a generally sweet book and Catherine and Fred are sympathetic characters. Most of the rest of the characters are more than a little crazy. There's Ida Blue, the pet psychic who discovers that she actually can see the dead thanks to Lissa's ghost. There's the pushy and rather unpleasant realtor who only acquired a dog because she thought it made her look good. There's Amity, a young woman going through a divorce who breaks into people's homes (she calls it "creeping"), not to steal anything but to imagine herself in a different life. There's Ralph, a man clearly having a late mid-life crisis who is every cliche in the books. And there's even a named alligator who lives in the lagoon behind the realty building. The main plot line is obviously concerned with Catherine and Fred and what their future looks like, as friends or as more, but there are a multitude of secondary plot lines which aren't as well developed as they could be. The climax right before the end is a bit Three Stooges slapstick but most of the comedy in this is far less obvious and over the top. In general this is a sweet novel, maybe a little too sweet, about starting over, growing out of a marriage, loss, and love and those who don't mind a little paranormal mixed in with their sugar and looking for older protagonists will be happy to "creep" into these characters' lives for a time.*Anyone familiar with Savannah will recognize Seven Oaks as The Landings on Skidaway and there seems to be no good reason to have changed the name of the community.