Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Life On Hold
    Life On Hold
    Life On Hold
    Audiobook5 hours

    Life On Hold

    Written by Karen McQuestion

    Narrated by Emily Beresford

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Fifteen-year-old Rae Maddox’s mom, Gina, is a big fan of fresh starts. Gina thinks of them as an adventure, but for Rae, each move is just one more friend lost, one more chance to feel like an outsider. But when they arrive in Wisconsin, Gina promises to stay put until Rae graduates. Cautiously optimistic, she wades into the social whirl at Whitman High School, making a few friends and even earning a chance at love. But when the vice principal pairs her with fellow newbie Allison Daly, Rae’s tentative happiness is jeopardized. It seems Allison was orphaned after her parents died in a suspicious house fire, leaving their daughter to bounce between relatives’ homes. When a sleepover at Rae’s house goes terribly wrong, Rae sees a troubling side of Allison—and learns a few secrets about her own mother in the process. Suddenly Rae is at risk of losing everything and everyone she cares about—unless she steps up and takes charge of her life once and for all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateSep 4, 2012
    ISBN9781469243399
    Life On Hold
    Author

    Karen McQuestion

    Karen McQuestion, the bestselling author of Good Man, Dalton and Hello Love, writes the books she would love to read—not only for adults but also for kids and teens. Her publishing story has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, and NPR. Karen has also appeared on ABC’s World News Now and America This Morning. She lives with her family in Hartland, Wisconsin. To find out more about Karen and her books, visit www.KarenMcQuestion.com.

    More audiobooks from Karen Mc Question

    Related to Life On Hold

    Related audiobooks

    YA Family For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Top 10 Books

      Jun 16, 2023

      Top 10 Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      Greedy Gold En Girls

      Mar 25, 2021

      Greedy Gold En Girls
      3 min read

    • Article

      I Confronted My School Bullies

      Jul 3, 2019

      I Confronted My School Bullies
      6 min read

    • Article

      Girls On The Playground

      Feb 18, 2021

      Girls On The Playground
      15 min read

    • Article

      Being Elliot Page

      Jun 2, 2022

      Being Elliot Page
      16 min read

    • Article

      Search and Destroy

      Oct 24, 2017

      My daughter has bugs living in her hair. It is my job to kill them. The post Search and Destroy appeared first on Guernica.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Finding Peace—and Briefly, Freedom—at My Grandfather’s Funeral

      Oct 11, 2019

      “Saying goodbye with the people who loved him—and me—I remember that I am not the tomb that imprisons me.”

      6 min read

    • Article

      THE POLICEMAN AND THE Bee

      Mar 1, 2024

      THE POLICEMAN AND THE Bee
      3 min read

    • Article

      Born small, STANDING TALL

      Mar 3, 2021

      Born small, STANDING TALL
      3 min read

    • Article

      Loving Our Children For WHO THEY REALLY ARE

      Sep 29, 2020

      Caroline Martin, 62, is from Lincolnshire. As soon as he started school, my little boy changed from being happy and carefree to quiet and withdrawn. He would cry at night and be in sheer terror whenever the school holidays ended. I’d ask him what wa

      4 min read

    • Article

      Star Turn

      Sep 26, 2023

      Star Turn
      5 min read

    • Article

      I See Dead People

      Jun 6, 2022

      I See Dead People
      3 min read

    • Article

      In the Beginning, In the End

      Sep 1, 2020

      In the Beginning, In the End
      10 min read

    • Article

      Just a Choice: LaToya Watkins on Motherhood

      Aug 30, 2022

      Though I love my children fiercely, I don’t think I ever really grew into being their mother. The post Just a Choice: LaToya Watkins on Motherhood appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Here’s What I Don’t Say

      Jun 1, 2019

      Here’s What I Don’t Say
      13 min read

    • Article

      I Used to Give Men Mercy

      Feb 12, 2018

      I Used to Give Men Mercy
      12 min read

    • Article

      A Temporary Arrangement

      Oct 2, 2023

      A Temporary Arrangement
      19 min read

    • Article

      After Prison, I Became a Better Dad

      Jun 14, 2019

      “Even when a parent has been part of a child’s pain, that parent’s love can still be the antidote.”

      6 min read

    • Article

      Hell Is A City in Texas

      Jun 14, 2021

      Hell Is A City in Texas
      10 min read

    • Article

      Mind the Gap

      Feb 13, 2018

      Mind the Gap
      6 min read

    • Article

      THE greatest LOVE

      Oct 21, 2021

      THE greatest LOVE
      10 min read

    • Article

      Mothering–The Long Haul by Mandy Nolan

      Mar 4, 2021

      I remember packing my five kids in my Mum van and wondering if I would ever get my life back. The endless shopping, wiping, driving, dropping off, picking up, encouraging, hassling and general micromanaging sometimes made me feel like my head was goi

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letting Go

      Apr 30, 2018

      For years my mother warned me. “Before you know it,” she’d say, “they’ll be off and away.” But I never believed her. How could I? My kids were in the middle of everything, of the everything that was my life. For twenty years it felt natural to drop e

      3 min read

    • Article

      Spilt Milk

      Nov 4, 2019

      Spilt Milk
      10 min read

    • Article

      Shame Is Ever-Present When You’re Sitting in a Cell

      Oct 23, 2020

      Between a strained relationship with my family and the death of a good friend, I’ve struggled to feel like I’m worth something.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Alan Cumming

      Nov 1, 2021

      Alan Cumming
      5 min read

    • Article

      Judi Love: ‘Working In A Hairdresser Was The Best Education’

      Mar 25, 2023

      ​​I lived in my own world as a kid. I sang Whitney Houston songs to imagined crowds. While watching films, I’d pretend to be the star of my own movie. Something in me wanted to entertain, but there was no representation. I never thought there was a s

      2 min read

    • Article

      Better

      Aug 12, 2019

      Better
      18 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Life On Hold

    3.5/5

    23 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      McQuestion knows how to write a novel that captures your attention and keeps you interested from cover to cover. She is a versatile author since she writes both YA and adult fiction. In LIFE ON HOLD she writes from a 15 year old's perspective and takes you on a journey with Rae who is used to not staying put too long. When she gets to Wisconsin that all changes and Rae finally feels at home. In this quick novel you will become immersed in the story and enjoy seeing the characters grow and mature. McQuestion never disappoints and I would recommend this book to both teens and adults. 4 stars.
    • 3/5
      This book held my interest until the end, but I felt some parts were lacking. The mother being sometimes on top of the situation and other times really oblivious confused me. She was supposed to come off as irresponsible, and that she did, but she also just seemed inconsistent. The main character was okay, but it was really the supporting character, Allison, that made me keep reading. Don’t get me wrong, I did like this book, but it wasn't amazing. I really did enjoy Allison’s story unfolding, how it didn’t really make sense and the reader was slowly let on to the situation (which makes sense because the MC didn’t really know what was going on either). The ending as well made me happy, it was a nice ending and wrapped up the story well. Overall, some good, some blah, this book was kind of in the middle for me. If you the kinds of contemporaries with struggling, somewhat dysfunctional, lower class families (not to mush such a big category into one), give this one a try.
    • 3/5
      Fun writing and wonderful characterization. Not much there in the way of plot, but I almost didn't miss it!
    • 4/5
      Article first published as Book Review: Life on Hold by Karen McQuestion on Blogcritics. Life if sometimes really messed up when you are a teenager. Your parents don’t understand what you are going through. You can’t argue and win because they have all the answers. What Rae Maddox had a problem with, was moving. Every time she would just get settled in a new school, it was time to move on. Her mom was pretty cool but it was definitely something that created an issue for her. Because she handled it all with aplomb, her mom never really understood. At her current school, she has a couple of people that she hangs out with. She does not call them friends because then she will be moving and lose more people that are close to her. The pain is too much, and she will just have to start again.Kylie and Mason are the group she hangs with, but Blake and his friends are the, “cool Kids.” She is just not a part of that crowd. So when she is singled out by her principle to help a new student adjust she does not understand. She is still feeling her own way to belonging, but as usual, she goes with the flow. The new student Allison is quiet and standoffish. Rae struggles with finding a common ground. When she finds out that Allison’s parents just recently died in a fire, she tries very hard to understand. Allison is Blake’s cousin, but he goes out of his way to treat her rudely and taunt her. When Allison meets Rae’s mother, Rae is unsure how she feels about the bonding that occurs.What Rae does not realize is that Allison is hiding her wounds; she is not mentally capable of dealing with her parent’s death. The unkindness of her cousin Blake and her difficulty fitting in, just pile more stones upon an already fragile ego. When Allison disappears, no one understands what has happened. Searching her heart, Rae believes she understands where Allison may have gone. Will she find her before it is too late?In Life on Hold, Karen McQuestion has taken the horrifying events that occasionally happen in life and used it to build a lesson of understanding. The characters are very much like teenagers everywhere. Life happens all around them, but they only plug into what shows on the surface. There are often deep waters lurking in the shadows of their minds that are unplumbed. As with most kids, making fun and scoring off someone else often gets you laughs, but those laughs are often painful to the person on the other end.Rae is a young woman with a heart, growing up without her father, but with a mother’s undivided attention has given her a different view of life. Trying to put herself in Allison’s place, she tries to be kinder to her. However, Allison herself makes it difficult. Can Rae reach deep within herself to find the solution to Allison’s disappearance. Will she be too late to save her?I would recommend this book for the young adult reader. It is a harrowing look at what can happen when a teenager’s pain goes unnoticed. It is an eye opening look at challenges, which sometimes seem insurmountable. I believe it would be a great book to open dialog and create discussion. McQuestion puts together a realistic and fast-paced look at life.This book was received free from the author. All opinions are my own based off me reading and understanding of the material.