Goodbye, Earl

Bad Girl Creek #3

by Jo-Ann Mapson

Five challenging years have passed in the lives of the ladies of Bad Girl Creek. Beryl, Nance, Ness, and Phoebe have experienced their share of hardship and heartache, but also much happiness. Beryl now lives with Earl in Alaska, where the fissures in their relationship have started to spread. When Earl disappears one wintry night, some dark and desperate memories surface, forcing Beryl to take inventory and withdraw from her friends while she works things out. Nance, on the heels of a string of devastating miscarriages, has been advised to stop trying for a baby. Phoebe finds herself overwhelmed by her own daughter, Sally, who is five-years-old-going-on-thirty; meanwhile she is being romanced by an enigmatic Southern charmer named Andrew. And Ness tenderly nurses David Snow as he gradually succumbs to AIDS. The farm's successes have brought profits, but when a nursery opens across the road, the bar is set higher yet again. As Beryl wonders at Earl's fate, she is isolated by more than geography. Even as her friends in California are wondering what happened to Beryl, Beryl wonders the very same thing.

But life rolls on, and in the midst of myriad misfortunes come explosive surprises. The old friends are challenged to reunite once again, to rediscover with fresh eyes the powerful words in Aunt Sadie's journal: "Live life to the fullest. Love as often as you can. Regret nothing. Eat hearty. Laugh often. Plant flowers. And don't forget to dance."

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Romance, Adult Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Jo-Ann Mapson, a third generation Californian, grew up in Fullerton as a middle child with four siblings. She dropped out of college to marry, but later finished a creative writing degree at California State University, Long Beach. Following her son's birth in 1978, Mapson worked an assortment of odd jobs teaching horseback riding, cleaning houses, typing resumes, and working retail. After earning a graduate degree from Vermont College's low residency program, she taught at Orange Coast College for six years before turning to full-time writing in 1996. Mapson is the author of the acclaimed novels Shadow Ranch, Blue Rodeo, Hank Chloe, and Loving Chloe."The land is as much a character as the people," Mapson has said. Whether writing about the stark beauty of a California canyon or the poverty of an Arizona reservation, Mapson's landscapes are imbued with life. Setting her fiction in the Southwest, Mapson writes about a region that she knows well; after growing up in California and living for a time in Arizona and NewMexico, Mapson lives today in Costa Mesa, California. She attributes her focus on setting to the influence of Wallace Stegner.Like many of her characters, Mapson has ridden horses since she was a child. She owns a 35-year-old Appaloosa and has said that she learned about writing from learning to jump her horse, Tonto. "I realized," she said, "that the same thing that had been wrong with my riding was the same thing that had been wrong with my writing. In riding there is a term called `the moment of suspension,' when you're over the fence, just hanging in the air. I had to give myself up to it, let go, trust the motion. Once I got that right, everything fell into place."

Reviews

[Marleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An authentic-feeling end to the Bad Girl Creek trilogy. I’m going to miss these complex, amazing, and sometimes annoying women. From great moments of joy to long stretches of depression and sadness, the friendship these 4 unique and mature women shared gave me many enjoyable reading hours. The Bad Girls had a good run in the course of 3 books going over a span of +/- 7 years. Nevertheless, I could go on reading about their lives, because I think there are so many more stories to tell – and it always feels real because there’s so many letdowns. I don’t get tired of them, and I don’t get tired of this author. I liked this third book much more than the previous one, because Beryl is my second favorite character after Ness. I couldn’t believe the title at first. Goodbye Earl? It didn’t make sense. No way was it possible to have Earl out of the picture. Well, how wrong were we about Earl.
The new Alaskan characters, Mike Stokes, the 60-something cop, Thomas Jack, the bird whisperer and Zoe, the driving instructor, added a new spice, a new dynamic to Beryl’s world. I especially enjoyed Mike’s humor, and Zoe’s directness.
Jo-Ann Mapson’s style is engrossing. Her work is women’s fiction at its best. Not only is the characterization so convincing, but also the level of maturity of language keeps the reader captivated. I’m also glad I got a taste of how appealing and beautiful Alaska is. This author always succeeds in creating great imagery with details about one’s work environment and/or living conditions, all meticulously depicted (from taking care of birds at the sanctuary to growing flowers at the farm) without getting too technical or boring.
I can only conclude I’m glad the author ended the trilogy with the lights shining on Beryl. Of course there’s no clear closure for any of the girls, which is fantastic, but we get some sort of indication which way they’re heading.
The Bad Girl Creek girls are a great bunch. I’m missing them already.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don't get the point of this book. Everyone was pretty "happily ever after" after the previous book, and for some reason the author wanted to mess things up for people, for no reason that I could understand.

And the characters are less enjoyable than usual. For example, the author portrays Phoebe's daughter as such an unpleasant child, yet everyone dotes on her--it makes no sense. I don't understand why the author never shows anything good about the child.

I didn't enjoy any of the story lines in this book, and I really don't see what the point was.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, how much bad stuff are you going to throw at these poor women? Nance is married, but has to suffer through FOUR miscarriages before she gets to have a baby at the very end of the book? Ness's husband David dies and Phoebe's husband Juan gets KILLED? And poor Beryl, she's the worst! She loses her mother at a very young age (I can't remember anymore how old she was, but she was 8 when she had a step-mother), then her step-brother RAPES her, which causes her to get PREGNANT, and she has to give the baby up for adoption! Then when she gets married, her husband BEATS her, until she kills him in self-defense, and she goes to PRISON for several years! Sheesh! THEN her new boyfriend Earl runs off without any explanation... And THEN for the encore, she has some weird kind of ophthalmic vessel behind her left eye that causes her to go BLIND in one eye! Why does the author have to do this to her characters???

All right, I'm done. :)

[Valerie Patterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me months to get through this book. Ugh! I could not get into it and stay into it. The characters themselves are engaging but the plot fell a little flat by bouncing around from one problem of one friend to another problem of another friend and back again. Even fans of the series had complaints on this one.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Jo-Ann Mapson's writing. Since this was in her Bad Girl Creek series and I liked the other books, this just gave me an update on characters I liked and was interested in reading about. It was fun for me to read about Anchorage, as I visit there every summer and lived there for 4 years many years ago.

[EngIIrockz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm hoping there's another book coming in the Bad Girl Creek series because this one left too many open-ended issues for my taste. I think I'd like living at Sadie's Farm on the shores of Bad Girl Creek!

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third Bad Girl Creek novel I've read. I like the characters and enjoy reading about what's happening in their lives. I hope she writes more.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) This is the third book in the series. Five years have gone by since the events in the second book. Beryl is living in Alaska with Earl, but she is worried that their relationship may be crumbling. When Earl disappears, with his truck abandoned, Beryl is left alone, unsure if he is still alive or not. She struggles with being alone and not knowing how to drive. She finally starts to put herself back together to help her parrot and meets a friend, Thomas Jack, at the bird sanctuary. She is also supported by the police officer on her case, Mike Stokes, and her driving instructor, Zoe. She is hesitant to reach out to her Bad Girl Creek friends but wonders how they are doing. They are having their own challenges, with Phoebe dealing with her sassy daughter and exploring the possibility of finding love again, Nance and James struggling to have a child of their own, and Ness dealing with David’s declining health. They have competition for their business and other life challenges. While I liked this one better than the second book, the first is still my favorite of the series.

[Ann Boytim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Third book in this series and Beryl has moved to Alaska with Earl leaving Pheobe and Nance and James on the flower farm. Ness is with her friend and now living in California because of his health and helping taking care of him since he is dying of AIDS. Beryl seems to think something is going on with Earl as he is restless after enjoying living in Alaska and one day he goes for a walk and does not return. Beryl is frantic and the search for Earl begins only to find his truck parked and no trace of Earl. Meanwhile Nance finds herself pregnant again after three miscarriages and James is frantic. Pheobe is introduced to a new man and Sally Pheobe's six year old daughter is crazy about horse riding. Lots going on with this group and even though they are far apart their friendship is solid. Ness returns home after David dies and Beryl is struggling but will she also come back?

[Lynne Spreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one in the series of Bad Girl Creek novels, wherein we catch up with Beryl in Alaska. Here she lives on and off -- mostly off -- with her weirdly elusive boyfriend, Earl. Formerly in prison for accidentally killing her abusive husband, Beryl is now fairly well-off and has choices in life, maybe for the first time. While she's dithering (yes, I'm sorry, it's not compelling), we catch up on Nance and James, Phoebe and her daughter, and Ness and David. It's interesting, but is more of an ensemble piece without real magnetism. I liked all of the characters, though.

[Kathee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Friends

The best thing about this book, and the other two in the series, are the amazing characters. They are so true-to-life and so deep and well-developed that I wish I could invite them into my life. The story was very good and the ending very satisfying. As the ladies in the book could tell you, life goes on, no matter what challenges are thrown your way. You can fight against what’s wrong or fight on and with girlfriends, you always have someone on your side to help.

[Trudy]

Very good, great descriptive writing

[Vicki Jaeger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the first book in the series. The second book was okay, with some good twists & turns, though I was really pissed at the author for some of the situations/unhappiness she threw at the characters. This one is making me break up with the series. Every time I turned around, there had to be yet another life-threatening or earth-shattering issue. I wanted an easy beach read, not a soap opera.

[BeParticular · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay--I'd give it 2.5 stars if I could. This book focused mostly on Beryl, with the rest of the chapters taken up by Ness and Phoebe. I really got tired of all of these women. Yes, they all had life throw significant nastiness their way. But how many people do you know who reach midlife without that being the case? And every one of us has to learn how to deal with it and move forward. These ladies withdrew and whined and denied and whined and stalled and whined. Exhausting. Plus, they were magically blessed in the midst of their traumas. Normal humans are not so lucky. Beryl was a particular disappointment because I had liked her in the previous installments. Yes, we learned more about her past and the resulting issues, but it did not explain the complete about-face in her reaction to the newest circumstance. And I particularly loved how these selfish, self-pitying women, (Beryl and Phoebe, especially) attract kind, understanding, stable strangers to step right in take care of them. Blech. I believe I am done with Mapson.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked Bad Girl Creek, in a guilty pleasure, chick-book sort of way, so I was excited that it was going to be a series. The second book, Along Came Mary, was pretty disappointed. This one was better, although it still didn't live up to the original.



I think the problem here is that Mapson is trying to tell too many stories at once. So we focus here mostly on Beryl's break-up, but then there's also Phoebe's new relationship, and Nance's pregnancy. Ness's story gets shoved way into the background, and there are a lot of other things that aren't really resolved or fleshed out.

Not a bad light read, but I don't know if I'll pick up the 4th book, if the series continues.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jo-Ann Mapson writes wonderful stories about characters that seem like you could easily know them in your life.
This book is a continuation of the character from "Bad Girl Creek,"
One of the stories I enjoyed in the book is Ness taking care of her friend, David Snow. David has AIDS and is dying. This story highlights straight women loving gay men (or visa-versa) It is a very loving story.
The main story is about Beryl. She is in Alaska with Earl and he dissapears one night. Will their relationship withstand this?
If you have read other books about these characters and liked them, you will enjoy this book.

[Sandy D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok sequel to "Along Came Mary" and "Bad Girl Creek", about a group of women living on a flower farm in California. One of them goes to Alaska with her parrot & wonderful boyfriend, and five years later her boyfriend (Earl) disappears. He may or may not be as great as he appeared. Kinda soap opera-ish, and the characters are a little too charmingly idiosyncratic now. Her first books seemed to pack more of a punch, and now the characters are just rambling along while all kinds of things crash down upon them.

[Susan E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just re-read this trilogy, and it wasn't as fun a series as I remember. Although I still like some of the characters, others strike me as harsh and I wonder why these women felt so strongly about each other.

[Linda]

I like the song by the Dixie Chicks but this was much better! Learning about Alaskan winters, Northern Lights, rescuing birds, Loss of loved ones, Better better, best for fiction writing. Try this easy going novel, you'll LIKE it.

[Marsha Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best way to overcome adversity is with the help of friends and helping others (therefor making friends.

[Pamela Trawick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of series. This one is more in Alaska than in California.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

needed a girl book to go w/ reading the Alaska book in tandem w/ Larry

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, a wonderful story of enduring friendship and life lessons.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

More on the lives of the Bad Creek Girls.

[Wanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant, light reading.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully woven tale of life, love, and friendship. Can't wait to check out her other Bad Girl Creek titles.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story. Last in the trilogy. Highly reccomend.

[Mary Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book in the Bad Girl Creek series. I like Jo-Ann Mapson's writing although I sometimes become confused trying to keep up with the different characters.

[Toesnorth's mom]

well written but characters not _______ and hard to understand