Smooth Talking Stranger (2009) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

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• Ella Varner: Tara's older sister, an advice columnist for Vibe magazine - "Miss Independent"
• Jack Travis: The middle son of Churchill Travis, playboy who owns a property management company
• Luke Varner: Tara's son, Ella's nephew
• Tara Varner: Ella's younger sister, Luke's mother
• Haven Travis Cates: Jack's sister, married to Hardy
• Gage Travis: Jack's oldest brother, married to Liberty, father to Matthew
• Joe Travis: Jack's youngest brother, commercial photographer
• Churchill Travis: Patriarch of the Travis family, wealthy financier, father to Gage, Jack, Joe, and Haven
• Dane: Ella's boyfriend, a vegan
• Liza Purcell: Ella and Tara's cousin who shares an apartment with Tara
• Mark Gottler: Associate Pastor of a mega church called Fellowship of Eternal Truth
• Matthew Travis: Liberty and Gage's son
• Tom: Stacy's husband and friend of Dane
• Stacy: Ella's best friend, married to Tom
• Hardy Cates: Married to Haven, self-made wealthy man
• Ashley Everson: Jack's ex-fiancee
• Carrington Jones: Liberty's younger sister, raised by Gage and Liberty
• Dr. Jaslow: Tara's psychologist
• Candy Varner: Ella's mother
• Noah Cardiff: Senior pastor of The Fellowship of Eternal Truth,

Quotes edit see section history

• “He made me feel as if life was a circus and I was permanently assigned to walk behind the elephant.”

  Ella Varner

• “This baby is endangered. It's with my mother.”

  Ella Varner

• “A gorgeous woman was never expected to be smart, and if she was, most people found it off-putting. There was only so much good fortune a normal person could forgive in another.”

  Ella Varner

• “He wasn't abandoned. A baby isn't abandoned if you know where you left him.”

  Liza

• “I never like the kind of guy that all women liked.”

  Ella Varner

• “It was a mark of Dane's unfamiliarity with babies that he had suggested, without irony, that I get a good night's sleep. My nephew was a living breathing sleep disorder.”

  Ella Varner

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• I reflected that for all the people you lost touch with or couldn’t hold on to, life occasionally made up for it by giving you the right person at the right time.

  Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers

• Somehow the promise we had made on that piece of paper gave me more freedom than I’d ever known before. It allowed both of us to argue, to laugh, to risk, to trust—without fear. It was a confirmation of a connection that already existed.

  Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers

• getting to a higher spiritual level is like increasing your credit score. You get a lot more points for sinning and repenting than if you have no credit history at all.”

  Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers

• I respect your brains, and all those big words you like to use. But I also want to rip your clothes off and have sex with you until you scream and cry and see God.”

  Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers

• It was a piece of paper you could build a life on.

  Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers

• “I’m a big believer in putting things off,” I told him. “In fact, I even put off procrastinating.”

  Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers

• I understood finally that the thing I should have feared most was not loss, but never loving. The price for safety was the regret I felt at this moment.

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• white sangria, stirring Riesling together with chunks of peaches, oranges, and mangoes, and a liberal splash of Peach Schnapps.

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• golf was one of the two things in life you could enjoy even if you were bad at them.

  Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers

• Babies were dangerous . . . they made you fall in love before you knew what was happening.

  Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Austin, Texas: Ella's home.
• Houston, Texas: Main setting for the story. Home of the Travis family.
• River Oaks: Suburban housing enclave where the Travis family home is located in Houston

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Single mothers: Unwed mothers

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Blue-Eyed Devil.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Lisa Kleypas (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3561.L456 S66 2009
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Profanity and sexual content.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Romance › Authors, A-Z › ( K ) › Kleypas, Lisa
• Books › Romance › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Lisa Kleypas: Author's website

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history