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A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself: A Novel
A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself: A Novel | William Boyle
4 posts | 4 read | 11 to read
Goodfellas meets Thelma and Louise when an unlikely trio of women in New York find themselves banding together to escape the clutches of violent figures from their pasts. After Brooklyn mob widow Rena Ruggiero hits her eighty-year-old neighbor Enzio in the head with an ashtray when he makes an unwanted move on her, she embarks on a bizarre adventure. Taking off in Enzios 62 Impala, she retreats to the Bronx home of her estranged daughter, Adrienne, and her granddaughter, Lucia, only to be turned away by Adrienne at the door. Their neighbor, Lacey Wolfie Wolfstein, a one-time Golden Age porn star and retired Florida Suncoast grifter, takes Rena in and befriends her. When Lucia discovers that Adrienne is planning to hit the road with her ex-boyfriend Richie, she figures Renas her only way out of a life on the run with a mother she cant stand. But Richie has massacred a few members of the Brancaccio crime family for a big payday, and he drags even more trouble into the mix in the form of an unhinged enforcer named Crea. The stage is set for an explosion that will propel Rena, Wolfie, and Lucia down a strange path, each woman running from something and unsure what comes next. A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself is a screwball noir about finding friendship and family where you least expect it, in which William Boyle again draws readers into the familiarand sometimes frighteningworld in the shadows at the edges of New Yorks neighborhoods.
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TheSpineView
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Eggs Excellent 👌🏼 2y
58 likes2 comments
review
TrishB
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Mehso-so

Possibly wrong time, read it because I thought it might be a bit of light hearted fun and I probably wasn‘t really in a place to appreciate that.
Loved the female characters, story just wasn‘t doing it for me.
Sansa not much impressed either.
And I can‘t decide what to read next.....

BarbaraBB Such a cute picture!! 5y
Oryx Beautiful perfectly circular doggy. 5y
Balibee146 Awwwww Sansa 😍😍 5y
See All 15 Comments
hannah-leeloo Cute doggy 🐕❤️ 5y
squirrelbrain Well, if Sansa didn‘t like it either.... 5y
Cathythoughts Lovely pic ❤️ 5y
Reggie May I suggest Camp Carnage. I looked it up and it‘s also free on Amazon UK. Think, Friday the 13th at a conversion therapy summer camp. It‘s also funny. Sometimes we need to fall back on our horror roots, TrishB. Sansa, lovely as always! 😊 (edited) 5y
Caroline2 Yeah I just finished a light, fluffy read and it was a meh from me too. I‘m too fed up for fluff! I‘m reading a Victorian gothic mystery now which is nice and dark which suits my mood! 😉 5y
MicheleinPhilly Sansa. 🥰🥰🥰 5y
TrishB @squirrelbrain it didn‘t even get a doggy sniff! 5y
erzascarletbookgasm Haha it‘s sending Sansa to sleep? 😄🥰 Maybe continue the Kim Stone series? 5y
TrishB @Reggie thank you- just brought 😘 5y
TrishB @Caroline2 that sounds good- will look out for your review 👍🏻 5y
TrishB @erzascarletbookgasm that will be a likely next week 😁 5y
119 likes15 comments
blurb
TrishB
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Couldn‘t go to the bookshop the other day so did some online browsing on News from Nowhere and got these ❤️
Delivered by cycle today! If you live in Liverpool they charge you for post but deliver by cycle and the post money goes to a local cycle charity - encouraging cycling and fixing up bikes for underprivileged kids.
A win-win 👍🏻

Cinfhen That‘s all around fabulous 5y
Joanne1 What a great idea! 5y
MsMelissa That‘s awesome! 5y
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Caroline2 What a fab idea! And the books all look really interesting. 5y
squirrelbrain What a great idea! I loved Nightingale Point... 😁👍 5y
LeahBergen How cool is that?? 5y
TrishB @Caroline2 @squirrelbrain @LeahBergen May just have to order more 😁 5y
charl08 That's brilliant! 5y
TrishB @charl08 it‘s great isn‘t it 👍🏻 5y
emmaturi Things in Jars is very good 5y
TrishB @emmaturi oh cool 👍🏻 5y
116 likes12 comments
review
Suet624
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Pickpick

Picked this up at the library because I liked the title. Turns out it was about the mafia, two retired porn stars, an older widow and her teenage granddaughter, money and murder. Reminded me a lot of an Elmore Leonard novel. Wasn‘t my usual fare but the female characters were terrific and the men in the story got what was coming to them. 😀

Leftcoastzen Love your review!😁 6y
LeahBergen That‘s the title of one of those little 1970s gift books, isn‘t it? 😆 6y
Reggie Lol, what a surprise!!! 6y
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Suet624 @Leftcoastzen Thanks Linda. 😀 6y
Suet624 @LeahBergen you‘re right. 😁 6y
Suet624 @Reggie I know! 6y
RohitSawant Great review! 6y
kspenmoll Love your review!! 6y
Suet624 @rohit-sawant @kspenmoll Thank you both. 😁 6y
71 likes3 stack adds9 comments