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Victoria Lesser #2
Twelve Across
Twelve Across by Barbara Delinsky released on Dec 27, 2005 is available now for purchase.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
98 people are currently reading
540 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Delinsky
316 books4,374 followersI was born and raised in suburban Boston. My mother’s death, when I was eight, was the defining event of a childhood that was otherwise ordinary. I took piano lessons and flute lessons. I took ballroom dancing lessons. I went to summer camp through my fifteenth year (in Maine, which explains the setting of so many of my stories), then spent my sixteenth summer learning to type and to drive (two skills that have served me better than all of my other high school courses combined). I earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. The motivation behind the M.A. was sheer greed. My husband was just starting law school. We needed the money.
Following graduate school, I worked as a researcher with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and as a photographer and reporter for the Belmont Herald. I did the newspaper work after my first son was born. Since I was heavily into taking pictures of him, I worked for the paper to support that habit. Initially, I wrote only in a secondary capacity, to provide copy for the pictures I took. In time, I realized that I was better at writing than photography. I used both skills doing volunteer work for hospital groups, and have served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and on the MGH’s Women’s Cancer Advisory Board.
I became an actual writer by fluke. My twins were four when, by chance, I happened on a newspaper article profiling three female writers. Intrigued, I spent three months researching, plotting, and writing my own book - and it sold.
My niche? I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I'm an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not-so-everyday challenges.
My novels are character-driven studies of marriage, parenthood, sibling rivalry, and friendship, and I’ve been blessed in having readers who buy them eagerly enough to put them on the major bestseller lists. One of my latest, Sweet Salt Air, came out in 2013. Blueprints, my second novel with St. Martin’s Press, became my 22nd New York Times bestselling novel soon after its release in June 2015. Making Up, my work in progress, will be published in 2018.
2018? Yikes. I didn’t think I’d live that long. I thought I’d die of breast cancer back in the 1900's, like my mom. But I didn’t. I was diagnosed nearly twenty years ago, had surgery and treatment, and here I am, stronger than ever and loving having authored yet another book, this one the non-fiction Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors. First published in 2001, Uplift is a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes that I compiled with the help of 350 breast cancer survivors, their families and friends. These survivors just ... blew me away! They gave me the book that I wish I’d had way back when I was diagnosed. There is no medical information here, nothing frightening, simply practical advice from friends who’ve had breast cancer. The 10th Anniversary Volume of Uplift is now in print. And the money I’ve made on the book? Every cent has gone to my charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/bdelinsky
Look for my photos on Instagram: instagram.com/barbaradelinsky
Following graduate school, I worked as a researcher with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and as a photographer and reporter for the Belmont Herald. I did the newspaper work after my first son was born. Since I was heavily into taking pictures of him, I worked for the paper to support that habit. Initially, I wrote only in a secondary capacity, to provide copy for the pictures I took. In time, I realized that I was better at writing than photography. I used both skills doing volunteer work for hospital groups, and have served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and on the MGH’s Women’s Cancer Advisory Board.
I became an actual writer by fluke. My twins were four when, by chance, I happened on a newspaper article profiling three female writers. Intrigued, I spent three months researching, plotting, and writing my own book - and it sold.
My niche? I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I'm an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not-so-everyday challenges.
My novels are character-driven studies of marriage, parenthood, sibling rivalry, and friendship, and I’ve been blessed in having readers who buy them eagerly enough to put them on the major bestseller lists. One of my latest, Sweet Salt Air, came out in 2013. Blueprints, my second novel with St. Martin’s Press, became my 22nd New York Times bestselling novel soon after its release in June 2015. Making Up, my work in progress, will be published in 2018.
2018? Yikes. I didn’t think I’d live that long. I thought I’d die of breast cancer back in the 1900's, like my mom. But I didn’t. I was diagnosed nearly twenty years ago, had surgery and treatment, and here I am, stronger than ever and loving having authored yet another book, this one the non-fiction Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors. First published in 2001, Uplift is a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes that I compiled with the help of 350 breast cancer survivors, their families and friends. These survivors just ... blew me away! They gave me the book that I wish I’d had way back when I was diagnosed. There is no medical information here, nothing frightening, simply practical advice from friends who’ve had breast cancer. The 10th Anniversary Volume of Uplift is now in print. And the money I’ve made on the book? Every cent has gone to my charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/bdelinsky
Look for my photos on Instagram: instagram.com/barbaradelinsky
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
May 23, 2013
My wife picked this up for me at the local train station’s “take one, leave one” bookshelf because I’m a crossword addict and the title and cover art promised puzzling goodness. I should have remembered not to judge a book by its cover.
On page nine we learn that the heroine constructs crosswords for a living. On page 67 that she does themed crosswords. With nothing more than that happening on the puzzling front by page 78 I started flipping through the rest of the book. Just about the only further reference I found didn’t come until page 160 when Delinsky showed that she’d picked up one term of puzzle jargon but otherwise had no clue about the crossword business. (I can say this with authority since I have several friends who make their livings creating puzzles.)
In the meantime there was an abundance of smoldering looks and hormonal urges and “corduroys mold[ing] a lean pair of hips and long, powerful legs”. And then I came to the title page—published by Harlequin Books. This is a bloody Harlequin romance!
That settled it: the thing was never going to improve. I did what is almost unheard of for me—I abandoned it. It’ll be going back to the train station post-haste.
On page nine we learn that the heroine constructs crosswords for a living. On page 67 that she does themed crosswords. With nothing more than that happening on the puzzling front by page 78 I started flipping through the rest of the book. Just about the only further reference I found didn’t come until page 160 when Delinsky showed that she’d picked up one term of puzzle jargon but otherwise had no clue about the crossword business. (I can say this with authority since I have several friends who make their livings creating puzzles.)
In the meantime there was an abundance of smoldering looks and hormonal urges and “corduroys mold[ing] a lean pair of hips and long, powerful legs”. And then I came to the title page—published by Harlequin Books. This is a bloody Harlequin romance!
That settled it: the thing was never going to improve. I did what is almost unheard of for me—I abandoned it. It’ll be going back to the train station post-haste.
August 20, 2018
This is a delightful story. The name has been changed to CROSSED HEARTS while the story remains the same. It centers around changing the assumptions about yourself through experience. I enjoyed it.
May 5, 2022
Another reissue from the mid-1980s, and this one holds up a whole lot better than the other 2 in the Matchmaker series. In fact, I give this 3.5 stars.
Leah, divorced and about to lose her rental to a condominium conversion, is provided with the opportunity to rent a remote cabin in the forested mountains of New Hampshire from her friend, Victoria. Happy for the opportunity for many reasons, Leah packs up and stores her possessions then heads to the cabin with a newly purchased car loaded with the tools of her trade as a crossword puzzle constructer (yes, there is an included puzzle to solve that's mentioned from time to time), plus books, music (mention of tape player and cassettes was genuinely nostalgic), cooking supplies, and more. Only one problem: she arrives at the cabin to find it had burned down 3 months earlier!
Garrick has been in hiding for that last 4 years after his various addictions assisted in the destruction of his Hollywood acting career. In fact, he's terrified of being recognized or returning to any urban area as he fears that being recognized will lead to his succumbing to addiction once again. Garrick has built a life for himself in isolation and resents Leah's wet muddy appearance on his doorstep.
Victoria of course knew all about the burned out cabin and, flexing her matchmaker instincts, provided Leah with information on the trapper nearby who would help her if need be. Only, that 'trapper' isn't quite the old craggy codger she pictured, but instead find Gorgeous 40 year old Garrick instead. Add in the torrential spring rains of New England during Mud Season, and you have a classic romance set with 2 strangers stranded together in a remote cabin, both initially determined to remain unencumbered and single after suffering pain in the past.
Yes, it's a familiar trope, and one I frankly always enjoy. Beyond the basic romance, which is pretty hot and sexy, there are also very serious themes of addiction, loss, and pain that have to be individually addressed for each character not only to move forward with his/her life, but also to embrace fully a partner and a future together. Plus it was fun to see them torment Victoria just a little after what she set up for them.
Leah, divorced and about to lose her rental to a condominium conversion, is provided with the opportunity to rent a remote cabin in the forested mountains of New Hampshire from her friend, Victoria. Happy for the opportunity for many reasons, Leah packs up and stores her possessions then heads to the cabin with a newly purchased car loaded with the tools of her trade as a crossword puzzle constructer (yes, there is an included puzzle to solve that's mentioned from time to time), plus books, music (mention of tape player and cassettes was genuinely nostalgic), cooking supplies, and more. Only one problem: she arrives at the cabin to find it had burned down 3 months earlier!
Garrick has been in hiding for that last 4 years after his various addictions assisted in the destruction of his Hollywood acting career. In fact, he's terrified of being recognized or returning to any urban area as he fears that being recognized will lead to his succumbing to addiction once again. Garrick has built a life for himself in isolation and resents Leah's wet muddy appearance on his doorstep.
Victoria of course knew all about the burned out cabin and, flexing her matchmaker instincts, provided Leah with information on the trapper nearby who would help her if need be. Only, that 'trapper' isn't quite the old craggy codger she pictured, but instead find Gorgeous 40 year old Garrick instead. Add in the torrential spring rains of New England during Mud Season, and you have a classic romance set with 2 strangers stranded together in a remote cabin, both initially determined to remain unencumbered and single after suffering pain in the past.
Yes, it's a familiar trope, and one I frankly always enjoy. Beyond the basic romance, which is pretty hot and sexy, there are also very serious themes of addiction, loss, and pain that have to be individually addressed for each character not only to move forward with his/her life, but also to embrace fully a partner and a future together. Plus it was fun to see them torment Victoria just a little after what she set up for them.
October 20, 2024
Twelve Across is a sweet story about two individuals who are trying to find themselves. Their paths cross when a mutual friend finagles a way to get them together through a deception.
The two main protagonists have each suffered a trauma in the past and must try to put it behind them. When they meet, neither one is ready to share anything about their pasts. When they finally open up a little with one another, they find discover what they really need is not what they expected - a closeness that begins to open up their hearts.
A tender love story that comes full circle as the two characters discover what is important in life and how far you must go to achieve it. Another lovely story by this talented author.
The two main protagonists have each suffered a trauma in the past and must try to put it behind them. When they meet, neither one is ready to share anything about their pasts. When they finally open up a little with one another, they find discover what they really need is not what they expected - a closeness that begins to open up their hearts.
A tender love story that comes full circle as the two characters discover what is important in life and how far you must go to achieve it. Another lovely story by this talented author.
May 29, 2017
One of Barbara Delinsky’s earlier novels, presumably republished for a 21st century reader. Despite it being a little dated, I found this a delightful story. Leah Gates has been given notice to quite her New York apartment and is at her wit’s end until a friend offers her the loan of a cabin deep in the heart of New Hampshire. As Leah earns her living from inventing crosswords, she can work anywhere so accepts. What she hasn’t bargained for is that the said cabin has been burned down. In desperation, Leah makes her way to the cabin of neighbour Garrick Rodenheiser, whom her friend had told her to turn to if she needed help. For Garrick, who for his own reasons, has shut himself off from the world, the last thing he needs is a very wet and bedraggled young woman turning up on his doorstep. Worse, in the middle of the rainy season, no-one is going anywhere. Somehow, until the weather clears, Garrick and Leah must muddle through together. This really is all of the story but the relationship between the two is explored in a tender and poignant way and is a good example to any budding writer. I loved it.
May 31, 2019
This was a delightful read. I thought it was going to be like girl meets guy in the woods who start out disliking each other. But it was so much better. I love a great love story and this one was just that.
This isn't a new book, but one that came out in 1987. It was as good or better than some written today
Barbara Delinsky is an amazing writer and I have enjoyed every book of hers I've read so far.
This isn't a new book, but one that came out in 1987. It was as good or better than some written today
Barbara Delinsky is an amazing writer and I have enjoyed every book of hers I've read so far.
November 24, 2019
It was ok not the best of her books
May 10, 2024
I have to preface this by saying I did not finish the book. I purchased the ebook for $9.99 plus tax but requested a refund within an hour. The grammatical errors in the book were far too many to justify paying over $10 for the ebook. I read up until the end of the preview & I was intrigued, so I thought I’d purchase it. There hadn’t been many issues up to that point, but after the preview ends, it goes downhill.
This is an older book, so I don't know if it was initially printed this way or received an update. Either way, it doesn't seem to have been proofread before it went to print. I can overlook a few errors, but there were multiple times where a word was clearly supposed to have an “n” but had “m” instead. That's just one example. It was like playing a guessing game on what word was supposed to be there. Because of all the errors, I couldn't justify paying over $10 for the ebook.
If there is a sale at some point, I may consider repurchasing, but only if it's a steep discount.
I will add that I read up to a point (past Chapter 2 but before Chapter 3) where she meets the main male character. Their instant connection/lust/love, whatever you might call it, did turn me off a bit. It didn't feel believable at all.
This is an older book, so I don't know if it was initially printed this way or received an update. Either way, it doesn't seem to have been proofread before it went to print. I can overlook a few errors, but there were multiple times where a word was clearly supposed to have an “n” but had “m” instead. That's just one example. It was like playing a guessing game on what word was supposed to be there. Because of all the errors, I couldn't justify paying over $10 for the ebook.
If there is a sale at some point, I may consider repurchasing, but only if it's a steep discount.
I will add that I read up to a point (past Chapter 2 but before Chapter 3) where she meets the main male character. Their instant connection/lust/love, whatever you might call it, did turn me off a bit. It didn't feel believable at all.
August 15, 2024
This isn't Delinsky's best. Not by a long shot. Not only that, but the electronic publisher clearly doesn't care at all about punctuation, capitalization, or spelling. The Kindle edition is rife with errors. I reported the first five and then got tired of submitting. Had this been the first book by Delinsky that I'd read I wouldn't have read another. Go for Lake News, Accidental Woman, Before and Again, Family Tree, or many of the others that are really wonderful. Of course, since she's written 93 books there is bound to be a stinker in there somewhere.
I also thought it hilarious that Kindle wouldn't let me give it a two star rating.
I also thought it hilarious that Kindle wouldn't let me give it a two star rating.
March 26, 2020
Two people dealt unfortunate life choices meet & their world's collide. Trying to fight the irresistible urge, as much as humanly possible, only pushes them more towards each other. A love story that delves into the lives of two lonely people, Leah & Carrick, and provides a delectable story to read.
June 29, 2025
Loved this story about Leah Gates a crossword puzzle maker and Garrick (a former famous actor) who are forced to live together due to the rainy weather in New Hampshire and how they fall in love with each other.
They also have so much baggage that it takes them a while to fully commit to each other
They also have so much baggage that it takes them a while to fully commit to each other
August 5, 2022
Otro que me gustó mucho pese al instalove. Al segundo de conocerse ya se dicen te quiero, y eso es lo único que me chirría del cliché en los libros románticos. El resto es adorable y muy tierno. Bastante entretenido.
March 13, 2025
Excellent book from page one to the last. Would read it again! True to her style - always excellent reads. Loved the characters - were true to who they were. Great conversations between each other.
May 17, 2018
I liked the crossword element and I also liked the reason that kept the lovers apart near the end of the book - much better than a row or a misunderstanding.
August 25, 2018
Nice story of redemption and healing.
February 28, 2020
This was a good quick book.
May 11, 2020
Barbara Delinsky books are never a disappointment this was a very good book.
April 9, 2021
Truly forgettable little cotton candy of a book.
February 1, 2024
2.5-star read
May 6, 2024
Decent story line, but filled with too many typos. Poor proofreading!
Good characters, but a their backstories were awkward/contrived, sex was a bit uncomfortable. Ending was ok.
Good characters, but a their backstories were awkward/contrived, sex was a bit uncomfortable. Ending was ok.
May 7, 2024
I was surprised by the level of depth towards the end of the book. It’s a good, fluffy vacation read. *trigger warning* contains themes of prenatal loss.
May 8, 2024
So boring and so many typing errors 📚
May 11, 2024
I was very disappointed in Barbara Delinsksky . Her books are usually great. I’m not sure if I’m reading the last of this series.
July 20, 2024
If you love words, and I do, you’ll love how Leah uses words for her crossword puzzles. A nice little read.
August 19, 2015
Leah Gates, crossword puzzle creator, is being forced out of her apartment in NYC as it is being converted to an unaffordable condo. Her friend, Victoria, offers her use of her cabin in New Hampshire as an interim house while she decides whether to look for another apartment in the city or a house in the suburbs. Victoria gives her precise directions to the cabin and a letter of introduction to a friend who lives a short distance through the woods if she has problems (no phone service). What Victoria doesn't tell her is that the cabin burned down 3 months before and she is matchmaking her with her friend, Garrick. Spring rains bring mud and a treacherous trip, resulting in a mired car and an uninhabitable cabin. She shows up at the friend's cabin cold, wet and exhausted. He, of course, is suspicious. Both of these people have had difficult pasts which have kept them isolated and lonely. It is only as they spend time together waiting for the rain to subside that they realize that they are lonely. As they open up and eventually reveal their pasts they find a kindred soul in each other. More issues arise as well as the issues associated with stepping out of their insular lives. Very well done early work.
February 2, 2011
A nice second chance for Garrick and Leah. But reading the book made me feel a little stupid cause while I found it half exerted I couldn't stop feeling myself like I'm intruding in some private life that could be resumed in just two lines. I know it most be two characters resulting from the imagination of a romantic writer, but I'm sorry to say it didn't amaze me. I used to read this kind of book and be fond of them when I was a teenager...I guess things changed a little bit after all.
Anyway I didn't mention yet that's the first time I read Barbara Delinsky and probably it's not my general opinion about all her books. I recently entered the site of her and I was surprised to find a review of Times Union matching Barbara Delinsky to Johny Updike. And for the first time I picked up 2 books without knowing both these two authors and later found out a similarity between the two but of course as I'm reading now John Updike I can see that he got other style.
Anyway I didn't mention yet that's the first time I read Barbara Delinsky and probably it's not my general opinion about all her books. I recently entered the site of her and I was surprised to find a review of Times Union matching Barbara Delinsky to Johny Updike. And for the first time I picked up 2 books without knowing both these two authors and later found out a similarity between the two but of course as I'm reading now John Updike I can see that he got other style.
April 10, 2009
Cute story!!
From back cover:
"Garrick Rodenheiser crashed, burned and found a second chance when he crawled away from the wreckage of his life four years ago. And while he hasn't exactly escaped his past, he's kept it far enough away. Until trouble in the form of a rain-soaked, bleeding woman comes banging on the door of his remote cabin. True, she doesn't look like a reporter. But the word trust simply isn't in Garrick's vocabulary anymore.
Crossword puzzle creator Leah Gates has a few words of her own for her reluctant savior: querulous, adamantine, irresistible. She isn't sure if it's cabin fever, loneliness or just plain fate that drew them so magically together. But she does know that falling in love is the easy part. Trusting the future is a different challenge entirely."
From back cover:
"Garrick Rodenheiser crashed, burned and found a second chance when he crawled away from the wreckage of his life four years ago. And while he hasn't exactly escaped his past, he's kept it far enough away. Until trouble in the form of a rain-soaked, bleeding woman comes banging on the door of his remote cabin. True, she doesn't look like a reporter. But the word trust simply isn't in Garrick's vocabulary anymore.
Crossword puzzle creator Leah Gates has a few words of her own for her reluctant savior: querulous, adamantine, irresistible. She isn't sure if it's cabin fever, loneliness or just plain fate that drew them so magically together. But she does know that falling in love is the easy part. Trusting the future is a different challenge entirely."
December 16, 2016
We live our lives in puzzels each of us going either across or down. Sooner or later the across and downs will meet. What we do when they meet are the choices of the puzzeler. We get stuck or work thru it. Victoria saw 2 people stuck; Garrick and Leah. She had to send in a life line for both. She had done it in a way which was wrong, but couldn't tell these two very different people what she was doing. She knew they would be appossed to what she was doing. They were very independent and strong people who wanted no interferences from the outside world only at their own will. They had so many barriers and walls Victoria had to do something for her friends. When they let down their walls they found true love and soul mates. They also found a word with 3 A's and the 4 letter word which was hidden within the puzzel. A word some will never find or for some a 2nd chance.
Read
April 12, 2014This book was originally released as "Twelve Across" and was the first in the Victoria Lesser matchmaker series. It was not my favorite even though I tried to remember that it was written in the 80's and romance novels were very different back then.
Victoria lends her friend Leah her remote cabin in New Hampshire. When she gets there, the cabin has been destroyed by fire and Leah is forced to seek help from another of Victoria's friends, the reclusive ex-movie star Garrick Rodebhiser. Forced to live under the same roof during "muddy season" the two find love.
It was a fast read. The storyline was interesting but I would have been furious with my friend had she sent me off to a remote cabin that did not exist. I like later Delinski much, much better.
Victoria lends her friend Leah her remote cabin in New Hampshire. When she gets there, the cabin has been destroyed by fire and Leah is forced to seek help from another of Victoria's friends, the reclusive ex-movie star Garrick Rodebhiser. Forced to live under the same roof during "muddy season" the two find love.
It was a fast read. The storyline was interesting but I would have been furious with my friend had she sent me off to a remote cabin that did not exist. I like later Delinski much, much better.
January 1, 2017
Arghhhh!! 1.5*****
I am trying to complete this Matchmaker Trilogy series by Ms. Delinski, and apart from losing several days of my valuable time, I am being introduced to the most uninteresting, unidimensional characters involved in the most inane plots. Victoria Lesser needs to stop playing matchmaker as she is deliberately endangering her "friends' lives"
Her targets this time around are Leah, an evicted cartoonist, and Garrick, a reclusive, washed-up, self destructive actor/ TV star, who meet in a torrential storm at his cabin. Why?? Victoria sent Leah on vacation to her burnt down cabin, who had to trudge through a forest without supplies in the cold, early Spring months. That's a friend for you!1.5***** for the editorial process!
I am trying to complete this Matchmaker Trilogy series by Ms. Delinski, and apart from losing several days of my valuable time, I am being introduced to the most uninteresting, unidimensional characters involved in the most inane plots. Victoria Lesser needs to stop playing matchmaker as she is deliberately endangering her "friends' lives"
Her targets this time around are Leah, an evicted cartoonist, and Garrick, a reclusive, washed-up, self destructive actor/ TV star, who meet in a torrential storm at his cabin. Why?? Victoria sent Leah on vacation to her burnt down cabin, who had to trudge through a forest without supplies in the cold, early Spring months. That's a friend for you!1.5***** for the editorial process!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews