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Skipping a Beat

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Skipping a Beat
A Novel  
By Sarah Pekkanen
This edition: Trade Paperback, 352 pages
List Price: $29.99
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From the outside, Julia and Michael seem to have it all. Both products of difficult childhoods in rural West Virginia, they become high school sweethearts. Now in their thirties, they're living a rarified life in a multi-million-dollar, Washington, D.C. home. Julia is a sought-after party planner and Michael has just sold his beverage company for $70 million.
Then Michael collapses. Four minutes and eight seconds after his cardiac arrest, a portable defibrillator jumpstarts his heart. But in those lost minutes he becomes a different man. Money is meaningless to him and he wants to give it all away. Julia, who sees her life reflected in scenes from the world's great operas, has
three weeks to make a choice: Walk away from the man she once adored, but who became a stranger to her even before this pronouncement, or give in to her husband's pleas for a second chance and a promise of a poorer but happier life?
“The impossible choice between true love and the trappings of success is explored in Skipping a Beat. Sarah Pekkanen proves masterful at creating nuanced, complex characters deadlocked with emotional conflict, and the story culminates in an ending that will leave readers breathless. Evocative and compelling, it couldn’t be more satisfying.”
-- Jen Lancaster, author of Bitter is the New Black
"A provocative, poignant look at marriage, money and the things that matter most."
-- Beth Kendrick, author of The Pre-Nup
"Original, engaging, and soulful, Skipping a Beat explores the complexity of marriage and what it really means to share a life. I fell in love with Julia, a funny, flawed and utterly real heroine--and felt the weight of her dilemma with every page, all the way through to the surprising, satisfying finish."
-- Emily Giffin, New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed and Heart of the Matter
"Tender and funny in turn, Sarah Pekkanen has made modern marriage exciting in this imaginative and heartfelt tale of love and healing."
-- Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Nanny Diaries
"In her second novel, Pekkanen (The Opposite of Me) offers a wonderfully compelling, compassionate, and complicated portrait of the marriage of Julie and Michael Dunhill. Meeting in high school, the two were both determined to leave their hometown behind and make something of their lives, contrary to how they were raised. With Michael’s colossal and unpredicted financial success, these once loving sweethearts drift apart and find different foci for their passionate energies--Michael is completely absorbed in his DrinkUp company and Julie in her party-planning business. When Michael collapses on his office floor and dies for four minutes and eight seconds, their whole world changes, and both are left to reevaluate what they thought was important in life. For Julie though, this is a struggle to overcome the disappointment, sense of abandonment, and misunderstandings she’s harbored against her husband for years. VERDICT: In this compelling and satisfying read, Pekkanen offers relatable characters that move you and an ending that surprises and pleases. Highly recommended."
-- Library Journal, starred review
“A two-hanky weepy… A tragic turn of events redirects what could have been a predictable romance into a drama on the fragility of love and marriage.”
-- Kirkus
“An insightful examination of a marriage. The moving story and bittersweet ending will draw in readers”
-- Booklist
"This portrait of a couple forced to take responsibility for the breakdown of their relationship is at once heartbreaking and familiar."
-- People
“Intelligent and entertaining.”
-- The Washington Post
Arts and entertainment calendar for Oct. 13
Libertyville Review, October 11, 2011
...Grove. Featuring authors Ellen Hopkins (Triangles), Lisa Tucker (The Winters in Bloom), Amy Hatvany (Best Kept Secret) and Sarah Pekkanen (Skipping a Beat). Free admission, but registration is required. Oct. 24, 7-9 p.m.: Young Adult author ...
Story of love, near-death and wealth tugs at reader's heart
Ventura County Star, March 19, 2011
...Ventura County Star SKIPPING A BEAT by Sarah Pekkanen (Washington Square Press, $15) Contributed by Washington Square Press Julia Dunhill was planning one of her many fundraisers when life as she knew it got ...
Heroine's life altered by single heartbeat
Journal-Gazette, March 16, 2011
...The heroine of Sarah Pekkanen’s second novel, “Skipping a Beat,” is a 30-something party planner who lives in a multimillion-dollar mansion in Northern Virginia. When we first meet Julia Dunhill, she is finalizing ...
Hot 2011 women's fiction releases
Examiner.com, January 5, 2011
...A Romeo & Juliet-esque tale of star-crossed romance set in a future world where love is forbidden.  “Skipping a Beat” by Sarah Pekkanen (release date: 2/22) A woman deals with her husband’s new perspective on life after a cardiac ...
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