The Art of Crash Landing audiobook

In this gem of a novel, we meet Mattie, short for Matilda, a young woman who is running away from her boyfriend who just got her pregnant. She travels to the town where her deceased mother was born and decides to look into the woman who she thought she knew. The book is filled with wonderful written and memorable characters, such as Tawny, Fritter and the many others. One major thing I enjoyed about this book was the fact that there weren't too many characters. In this type of novel, especially ones focusing on a small town, the author can fall victim to having too many side characters. This book instead focuses on a select few and makes them very engrossing and likable. The book does well at pacing and kept me engrossed throughout the 400 pages. Overall, this book was a shining moment in my year of books and I cant' wait to see what this author brings to the table in terms of future novels.

"When you're ass deep in lemons, you start looking for a shovel, not a pitcher and a cup of sugar."Thirty year old Mattie Wallace is homeless, jobless and pregnant, so an inheritance from the grandmother she never met is an unexpected life line. With her worldly belongings crammed into six plastic trash bags, Mattie drives from the Florida panhandle where she grew up with her alcoholic single mother, to small town Gandy, Oklahoma. Stranded in town when her 1978 Chevy Malibu gives out, Mattie settles into her grandmothers house while waiting for probate to clear, and curious, begins to ask questions about her mother the locals are reluctant to answer. Determined to learn why her mother fled her comfortable life, Mattie sets out to solve the mystery of her mother's past, and perhaps forge a new path for herself.The Art of Crash Landing by debut author Melissa DeCarlo is a hilarious, audacious and surprisingly poignant story about loss, regret, secrets and forgiveness. "I have ninja skills when it comes to screwing things up. It's like a superpower only lamer."Mattie is a bold character; snarky, foul mouthed and irresponsible, her former stepfather, whom she affectionately calls Queeg (as in Captain Queeg from The Caine Mutiny), compares her to a natural disaster. She has a history of dating deadbeats, drinking too much, and doing the wrong thing. Damaged by her difficult childhood, Mattie knows she is a mess, but feels destined to repeat her mother's mistakes. I loved her irreverent attitude, and snarky wit, she is smarter than she gives herself credit for, and I really enjoyed the growth of character over the course of the novel. Solving the mystery of her mothers childhood is what lets Mattie reconcile with her past and begin to change the course of her future."I don't know what she's thinking, but I'm thinking about how fluid the border is between crazy and interesting, and hard it is to decide who belongs where."Mattie is both helped, and hindered, by a cast of several quirky characters. Queeg, Mattie's stepfather who remains in Florida, is the most endearing. Then there is Luke, the paraplegic lawyer; Tawny, the teenage wannabe bad ass; Mattie's mothers former best friend Karleen, librarian 'Aunt' Fritter, JJ and the doggie Winstons."We are all more than the worst thing we have done"I laughed often, entertained by the witty banter, eccentric characters and occasionally absurd situations in The Art of Crash Landing, but I was also intrigued by the mystery surrounding Mattie's mother's past, and touched by Mattie's struggle to escape her mother's shadow."Sometimes well begun never has a chance to finish, and every once in a while, a bad beginning turns out okay."DeCarlo's style is similar to that of Cathy Lamb, an author I adore, and I'm looking forward to more from her. The Art of Crash Landing is a great read I'm happy to recommend.

Favorite Quotes:“Queeg has a simple classification system when it comes to the men I date. They’re all idiots. I like to think it has something to do with them not being good enough for me, but I suspect it has more to do with them being stupid enough to date me.”“One is a little larger than the other, but overall the Winstons look alike – tan fur, short legs, stubby bodies, bat like ears. They snort and trot around like little pigs, and already there has been significant fartage… JJ informed me, when he dropped them off, that they were French bulldogs, which has led me to reassess my opinion of the French. They may know a lot about making wine and fries, but they don’t know jacques-merde about making dogs.”“Although my mother had a long track record as a serial dater-of-losers, I really think she tried to avoid the dangerous ones. She wasn’t always successful. She shielded me from as much of the actual violence as she could, but it was harder to hide the results. You win some, you lose some, she’d say as she iced a twisted wrist, or blotted blood from a split lip. Love was a game for my mother. Sometimes it was a contact sport.”“Queeg always said that normal people are just people you don’t know very well, and as far as I can tell, he was right on the money with that one.”My Review:I knew I was in for a ride when the first paragraph already had me smirking and barking a laugh. And then it was on! I am astounded to learn this highly amusing and stunningly well-written story was penned by a first time author. The narrative is well-paced, the story is artfully crafted, and the writing is simply stellar! But I seriously didn’t know if I was going to be able to care for the main character of Mattie, as she is immature, irresponsible, and selfishly cruel. She is also 30 years old, broke, homeless, unemployed, and knocked-up by her latest loser ex… yikes. Not a likely heroine. I found her to be grossly undependable, and just an awful and lackluster human being as well as a major disappointment to those few who tried to help or be nice to her. She took advantage of others and generally made herself scarce or took the easy way out when others wanted to rely on her. To her credit, Mattie had survived an awful childhood as a bastard child of an alcoholic mother. She is clever and witty, and does have keen observational skills and considerable insight into herself. She makes painfully honest, and humorously snarky self-revelations and observations about her failings; she knows when she is being an ass, but doesn’t do anything to stop herself. Yet she also has a knack for carrying and wearing her personal pain and harbors considerable guilt and anguish. She loved/hated her mother, she loves/hates herself. She loves her ex-step-father (whom she has nicknamed Queeg) but never tells him and continually takes advantage of him. While reading the often cringe-worthy recollections of her life with her mother and her current concerns and behaviors, I frequently laughed aloud to the point of cackling. Her irreverent and cheeky accounting of her life as well as her acerbic observations of others is highly entertaining and totally engrossing. The conversation she had with a swearing seven-year old mortician’s daughter had me howling, and still brings up a smirk and a chuckle even now. And just as quickly, she has squeezed my cold heart to the point of blurred vision and a tight chest, during her brutally painful reflections of her less than stellar behaviors toward her alcoholic mother and her kind and long-suffering step-father in their times of need. Nearing the conclusion, as Mattie had uncovered and solved a puzzling mystery about her mother and family, and having achieved some inner peace – she turned a significant corner. The emotional impact of this brought me to my knees and was deeply felt. I found myself so moved that I had to stop and fight back actual sobs to continue reading. Regardless of whether she is a new author or a seasoned pro – Ms. DeCarlo is a talented wordsmith and has mad skills. I hope to see much more from her in the future.

Mattie is a mess. Pregnant, broke, only-sort-of employed, and pretty much alone in the world except for her ex-stepdad, she's also her own worst enemy, the kind of woman who makes poor decisions impulsively and then seems somewhat surprised when nothing works out. So when she finds out there's an inheritance waiting for her in Oklahoma from the grandmother she never met, in the town her mother escaped years ago, well, of course she decides to drive there immediately from Florida in her broke-down car, no questions asked, without knowing exactly what she'll find. One of the real beauties of this novel is that Melissa DeCarlo manages to make you root for Mattie nonetheless. She's real and funny and relatable in all her flaws and tics, just like the other oddball characters Mattie encounters as she tries to unravel her late mother's Oklahoma secrets. Smart, original, and absolutely laugh-out-loud funny (I filed away the pejorative that includes the word "waffle" for future use), this was a novel that highly entertained me, but also made me think more deeply about family, secrets and the way one's life can change in an instant.

With so much out there competing for our ever-dwindling attention span, a great first sentence is the key to grabbing the reader's eye. Melissa DeCarlo's debut novel The Art of Crash Landing has a doozy:"Twenty-seven minutes is, if anyone ever asks, exactly how long it takes to cram everything I own into six giant trash bags."I ask you, how can you not want to read the rest of this book?Mattie Wallace is thirty years old, pregnant, underemployed, drinks too much and now she is moving out of her soon-to-ex-boyfriend's home. She goes to her deceased mother's former boyfriend, a man she calls Queeg, for help.I loved the relationship between Queeg and Mattie. Mattie had a tough childhood, her mother was an alcoholic who moved around a lot and dated many men. They moved in with Queeg and although Mattie had her issues with him, he cares a great deal for her and she loves him too. He is the only solid thing in her life.Mattie discovers that her mother's mother has died and with nowhere else to go, Mattie takes off for Grandy, Oklahoma, where her mother grew up. Her grandmother has just passed away, and Mattie received a letter from a lawyer stating that she may have an inheritance.The tiny town of Grandy has an entire cast of interesting people, and the small-town feel shines through in this story. Mattie's car breaks down and she manages to find JJ, the town's mechanic who tells her it's going to be awhile and expensive to fix the car. He and Mattie clash right away.Next up is a visit to the lawyer's office where she meets Luke, a paralegal, who tells Mattie that settling the estate may take awhile. While she waits, she stays in her grandmother's home. She has no cash and no job, so Luke takes pity on her and convinces his aunt, the town librarian, to give Mattie a job.Mattie wants to find out why her mother just up and left her hometown when she was seventeen and never looked back. The woman people in town describe as her mother doesn't sound like the alcoholic, broken-down mother she knew. What happened in her past to make her this way?The Art of Crash Landing has terrific characters in a wonderfully real setting, DeCarlo has some great lines in the book, like Mattie saying that "Sometimes my entire life has felt like one long exercise in lowering expectations." And Luke tells her that "needing to change your life isn't enough. You have to want it too."Any book partially set in a library is sure to make me smile, and I laughed as Mattie goes to work on her first day "managing to achieve a reasonably arresting librarian--on-the-skids look" in her grandma's borrowed clothes. And her description of the group of middle-aged men who hang out at the library as "Grandy's intelligentsia" had me in stitches.The Art of Crash Landing reminded me of Joshilyn Jackson's Someone Else's Love Story (they even have similar covers) in its tone, humor and sassy protagonist. I highly recommend The Art of Crash Landing and I'd love to return to Grandy in the future to see how Mattie and company is doing. (Sequel please!)

Oh, do you ever get that delicious little frisson of excitement when you read the first few chapters of a book and realize you've stumbled across what is going to be a really, really good read? Melissa DeCarlo's debut novel, The Art of Crash Landing is one of those books - I absolutely loved it!Mattie Wallace is 30 years old. And pregnant. And homeless. And broke. Screwing up her life is nothing new for Mattie. She's a bit (well maybe a bit more than a bit) of a train wreck. When she finds out that she has inherited her grandmother's house in Gandy, Oklahoma it's a bit of a surprise - Mattie had no idea she had a grandmother. Her alcoholic mother never mentioned where she grew up or that her own mother was alive. With nowhere else to go, Gandy is the the direction she steers her mother's old Malibu."There was a time when I believed my whole life stretched before me, rich with promise. Now? Not so much.But when she arrives in Gandy, no one really wants to talk about her mother. And the ones that do paint a very different picture from the mother Mattie grew up with.Where to start. First off, I really didn't like Mattie at all in the first few chapters. She's abrasive, manipulative and self serving. Or is that just a way to protect herself from hurt and disappointment? As the book progresses, there are glimpses into the Mattie beneath that exterior. And I found myself soundly in Mattie's corner, hoping she can find the promise in life again. "Sometimes my entire life has felt like one long exercise in lowering my expectations."Gandy is populated by a varied and eclectic cast of characters, many who are just as prickly as Mattie, yet oddly compelling. So many of them appealed to me - one was Fritter the librarian. (And as someone who works in a library, I found myself laughing out loud at some library scenes that were spot on) But I think that Queeg, Mattie's stepfather, is my favourite. His quiet, understated, unfaltering love for Mattie is moving.As Mattie continues to ask questions around town about her mother, the mystery deepens. What happened thirty five years ago to her mother? From the girl Gandy knew to the single woman who gave birth to Mattie? And as Mattie pursues answers, she also remembers her Mom - and the reader learns more about both women.DeCarlo kept me completely off balance as I read - I had no idea where the story was going to go and many of the character's revelations were so unexpected. Her plotting is fresh, original and just so darn good.The Art of Crash Landing is absolutely one of my favourite reads for 2015.

Surprising twist in the story.

The Art of Crash Landing is a strong debut novel from Melissa DeCarlo, with interesting characters, and a compelling plot. We follow our protagonist, Mattie (short for Mathilda) Wallace, as she ditches her loser musician boyfriend, broke and pregnant, as she seeks the path of least resistance - avoiding at all costs gainful employment or acts of responsibility on this journey. She isn’t the most likeable protagonist, as I found it hard to relate to her rampant immaturity as a 30 year old woman in arrested development, but she is interesting and somewhat funny, as are many of the supporting characters.Mattie has a sweet relationship with her former step-dad (Herman, whom she calls Queeg), who is really the only constant in her life since her mother’s death 5 years ago. Mattie spends most of her time either remembering or wondering about her mother. There are several “mysteries” for the reader (one of which isn’t a mystery to Mattie, but they drag it out in many flashbacks for the reader): 1. How / why had her mother died?2. Why did her mother leave her home town, and then never return, 35 years ago?3. Also, what was going on with this grandmother Mathilda that she’d never met?Mattie travels from the Florida panhandle to Oklahoma, not because she’s a huge fan of states with panhandles, but because she finds out that her grandmother (whom she had never met, but for whom she was named) has died, and that she may have an inheritance. Her mother’s cool but old car barely survives the journey (but somehow gets her to the exact location she needed), so she’s stranded in a town with no money, knows no-one, with a car in need of a transmission that she can’t afford. So what is the first thing she does? Look for a job? Why of course not. She starts questioning random residents of the town. And shockingly, both Mattie’s mother (Jeannie) and her grandmother (Tilda) had best friends who are still 1.) alive, 2.) in this small town, and 3.) someone she encounters in her first couple days in town and she interacts with somehow enough to realize this connection.She learns about both Jeannie and Tilda’s pasts, and the investigation and people she encounters along the way are compelling enough to mostly make up for her ham-handed attempts at romancing local dudes just for a free meal – which is just off-putting and weird. I preferred her relationship with a teenage juvenile delinquent who at least has her age as an excuse for her immaturity, to these awkward attempts to inject romance (unnecessarily) into the story. Does Mattie learn, grow, and let her past go (and consider actually working a job rather than just sponging off people) so she doesn’t need to repeat her mother’s mistakes? Let’s hope so, but the epilogue was a little sketchy. One thing that was also quite sketchy – her mom’s photography business aimed at funeral photography. Really, funeral photography? With detailed descriptions of families posing both with and without the deceased. A day to remember forever in film? This whole tangent reminded me of the plotline in “The Wedding Crashers” where the washed up former wedding crasher (played by Will Ferrell) has taken to picking up girls at funerals. So on that off-putting note, I’ll end by saying this gets 4 stars as it’s a strong book and an easy and enjoyable read, but it does hit a couple sour notes.

The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa DeCarlo is a contemporary adult family fiction which is full of humor and wit, pain and struggle, and hope and redemption. The book is perceptive, and beautifully captures the angst of a woman who is broken, homeless and alone. Melissa painted such a convincing portrait of the main character that you can only empathize with her, feel her loneliness and desperately wants her situation to turn around. This is one amazing and wonderful book, with the characters almost leaping out of its pages as you read along.Would you root for someone who’s a complete mess like Mattie Wallace? It was her recklessness that got her pregnant in the first place, and her live-in boy friend Nick is almost allergic to raising a family. Broke and without any proper work, life can’t get any worse for Mattie. Yet it was during this dark hour when there appears a glimmer of hope. There’s one person who she still can rely on, her ex-stepfather, Queeg, who has problems of his own. He tells her how a lawyer for her grandmother has been trying to call her about a will.Leaving the city behind, Mattie takes the long trip to the small town of Gandy, Oklahoma, and how she uncovered the truth about her mother and grandmother makes for a rewarding read. Full of secrets and surprises, The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa DeCarlo is a mishmash of drama, comedy, and romance which adult readers will enjoy. The writing is almost flawless and the story is full of interesting characters. And the premise of the story is quite unique. A stunning debut by Melissa DeCarlo, The Art of Crash Landing is unquestionably a great read!

This is one of my new favorite books. I honestly just want to be her friend. She’s a mess, she’s sarcastic, she’s hilarious, and everything in between. She really needs to write another book soon!

This book caught my attention fast and moved along fast. I was intrigued enough to continue reading, I liked Mattie’s story line and what she discovers about her past etc.I would recommend it to others for An easy read.

Twenty-seven minutes is, if anyone ever asks, exactly how long it takes to cram everything I own into six giant trash bags...Most people would probably have a hard time totally fucking up their life in under an hour. But then again, I'm not most people. I'm amazing. I'm like some kind of fuckup savant. The opening lines of Melissa DeCarlo's THE ART OF CRASH LANDING tells you a lot about the quirky screwup protagonist, Mattie Wallace. At thirty, she's learned to fail and keep on going, but this time she may have just hit the bottom. She gets with the wrong guys, used to smoke and drink too much, has no money to her name, and will soon be a mother.Upon finding that she may be the beneficiary of her grandmother's estate, she picks up and heads to Gandy, Oklahoma, where her late mother grew up and her estranged grandmother lived until she passed away. Bad karma follows her there when her car breaks down, she meets a prickly mechanic, and finds out that her grandmother has a long list of creditors waiting to get a piece of the estate. The good news? She's allowed to stay in her grandmother's house while the estate is settled, thanks to the cute paralegal she meets when coming into town who also hooks her up with a job.The cast of characters Mattie meets while in Gandy is one of my favorite parts of the novel. Everyone has their own part in a past Mattie knows very little about—her mother's. About to be a mother herself, Mattie reflects on her own experiences with her alcoholic mother who passed away suddenly. She worries that she will screw up her unborn child's life like her mother did hers.Despite being a frustrating and sometimes selfish character, I really liked Mattie. Her narrative was peppered with a heavy dose of humor and introspection. In a lot of women's fiction novels, the female character is totally aware of her own journey; it's often intentional. But Mattie sort of falls into her own metamorphosis. As a reader, it made seeing her growth that much more entertaining.This book explores the idea of growing out of your mistakes, learning from them, and trying to avoid making the same ones again. It's so fun to read books with such charismatic side characters and this one did not disappoint in that area. This was Melissa DeCarlo's debut novel and I can't wait to see what's next for her. *** LINKS ABOVE CONTAIN AFFILIATES ***AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: This means that if you make a purchase through one of the links I may receive a small commission. Read this Review • My Website • Facebook • Twitter • Pinterest • Instagram • Subscribe by Email****************★★UPCOMING BOOK RELEASES★★****************