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    Stuck in Manistique: A Novel
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    Stuck in Manistique: A Novel
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    Stuck in Manistique: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Stuck in Manistique: A Novel

    Written by Dennis Cuesta

    Narrated by Jeremy Arthur

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Near the midpoint of the Upper Peninsula, along a Lake Michigan bend of shore, is the town of Manistique, Michigan. Mark had never heard of Manistique before the death of his estranged aunt, but as sole beneficiary of Vivian's estate, he travels there to settle her affairs. As Mark tours his aunt's house for the first time, the doorbell rings. Days after graduating medical school, Dr. Emily Davis drives north, struggling with her illicit rendezvous on Mackinac Island. She never makes it. On the highway near Manistique, her car collides with a deer, shattering the car's windshield. Stranded for the night, Emily is directed to a nearby bed and breakfast. Maybe it's a heady reaction, the revelation that his aunt, an international aid doctor, ran a bed and breakfast in retirement. Or perhaps he plainly feels pity for the young, helpless doctor. Regardless, Mark decides to play host for one night, telling Emily that he's merely stepping in temporarily while his aunt is away. As a one-night stay turns into another and more guests arrive, the ersatz innkeeper steadily loses control of his story. And though Emily opens up to Mark, she has trouble explaining the middle-aged man who unexpectedly arrives at the doorstep looking for her. Will these two strangers, holding on to unraveling secrets, remain in town long enough to discover the connection between them?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLantern Audio
    Release dateDec 10, 2018
    ISBN9781732410947
    Unavailable
    Stuck in Manistique: A Novel
    Author

    Dennis Cuesta

    A native of California, Dennis Cuesta attended the University of Michigan and remained in the Upper Midwest during his early career. Stuck in Manisitque is his first novel. . . .Dennis and his wife did get stuck in Manistique once, long ago. The interrupted trip served as inspiration for the novel.

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    Reviews for Stuck in Manistique

    4/5

    34 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I wasn't sure quite what to expect when I picked this book up from Netgalley, but what I
      found was a charming book about life and family and the things that connect us. The characters were interesting and quirky and there were a few surprises along the way, including an unexpected comedy of errors sequence. And while I've never been to the UP, I've always been interested in going there, and this book solidified my desire to visit. If it happens, I'd be sure to make it to Manistique - it sounds like a lovely little town. All in all, well done - especially for a first novel.

      Thanks to Netgalley and Celestial Eyes Press for providing a copy for an unbiased review.
    • 5/5
      Being from northern Wisconsin, this was a great read because it’s like home. Having visited Traverse City, Petoskey, and Manistique, I could picture all the places as he described them. Such a fun read!!
    • 5/5
      Trespassers Will Be Violated! This is a quirky comedy of errors with a bit of mystery and recent history thrown in. Solid effort, and a very pleasant and quick read. New to me author, but one I plan to watch for in the future.
    • 5/5
      I'm giving this read a 5 star, really good first novel and I'm happy to find another male author. My reading of male authors has fallen away just due to reading a lot of beach stuff during these tumultuous times we are in. Bill Noel is one of my new favorites also, and I hope Dennis writes more very soon!
    • 3/5
      Overall, this was an easy read. The story focuses on two people, Mark and Emily. Mark travels to Manistique to settle his aunt's estate. It turns out that her home is actually a bed and breakfast. Emily had planned on driving to Mackinac Island to meet up with her boyfriend but gets in an accident with a deer on the way there. Emily finds the bed and breakfast and wants to rent a room there while her car is being fixed. Mark really doesn't want to rent rooms but relents since there is no place else to stay.

      Mark and Emily hit it off right away. Through all sorts of twists and turns, Mark and Emily host several other people at the B&B, regardless of Mark's desire to run the place. At times, the comings and goings become very farcical. I'm not sure that it plays well with the overall tone of the book. Mark has people going out the back door to avoid people coming in the front door and vice versa. I don't think that added much to the story and it made it a bit confusing.

      I am thinking this is the author's first book, perhaps? Or maybe it just needed (and maybe will get) better editing? There were times where it would say someone went back into the house, but they had never left the house. Not a huge deal when reading, but probably something that could have been caught during the editing process. Also, I feel like Mark's character wasn't very "clean". He would be easy going one minute and then walk out upset the next. He could take a joke one time and then get upset the next. It was a little jarring to me.

      Overall it was a fun read and it really made me want to explore the UP!

      I was given an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
    • 3/5
      3.5 Set in the Midway point in the upper peninsula of Michigan, Mark discovers he has inherited an old Victorian house. The aunt who disappeared from his life when he was a young teen, has passed on, leaving Mark in a quandry as to what to do with the house. His life is in Chicago, but he travels to Manistique, to meet first with the attorney , and then on to the house to see just what he has inherited. A sweet, rather charming book that is also very humorous at times. Some quirky characters that are easy to like, some also at a crossroads in their own lives. He finds that his aunt had been running a B&B, and when strangers start appearing at his door, he unwillingly is drawn into a veritable comedy of errors. He will eventually find out done secrets kept for she's, in his own family.Just a quirky, fun read, in a beautiful setting.ARC from Netgalley.
    • 5/5
      fiction, life-changes, light-hearted, humor I liked the references to places I know well and the angst thing that each of the two main characters were going through. Most of the characters truly are, and while the publisher's blurb is better than most, there's more humor involved than the blurb indicates. It seems to be pretty well written and some aspects are spot on. A really nice read for a quiet afternoon! I requested and received a free ebook copy from Celestial Eyes Press courtesy of NetGalley.
    • 4/5
      Title: Stuck in ManistiqueAuthor: Dennis CuestaPublisher: Celestial Eyes PressReviewed By: Arlena DeanRating: FourReview:"Stuck in Manistique" by Dennis Cuesta My Thoughts....."Stuck in Manistique" was really a good entertaining read. I found both of the main characters [Mark and Emily] who were strangers that were 'brought together due to some unlikely circumstances' with some amusing as well as endearing moments. What will happen when all of these guest show up at this Bed and Breakfast that Mark had inherited from his estranged aunt that will only to 'add a houseful of oddly eccentric characters?' These characters will take the reader on quite a wide ride as each one having their own story with all of the things that were happening in their lives. Who was this aunt who was a international aid doctor who had ran a bed and breakfast in her retirement and had left this place to Mark? And the mystery continues about this situation is that Mark knows very little about this aunt other than knowing 'she traveled the worked as a humanitarian doctor in war town countries' but the jest to it all he had never met her. Now, to get the rest of this good story you will just have to pick up "Stuck in Manistique" to see how well this author brings it all out to the reader. Be ready for twist, turns and humours moments that will definitely keep the reader entertained especially about this area in Michigan. I enjoyed how this author was able to give the readers of just how 'one event can bring so many others things to light.' I loved the connection that Mark had with each one of the guest and that twist at the end was quite a good one.
    • 3/5
      I love the UP. I have spent at least a part of every summer there since I was born. As a result of my love for it, I was very excited to see a book, especially one that is not a mystery, set there. In fact, I've been to every last place mentioned in Dennis Cuesta's funny and generally readable new novel, Stuck in Manistique.Mark is a financial planner in Chicago but his Aunt Vivian has died and he needs to head to Michigan to handle her estate. He didn't know his aunt well. When he was young, she wrote him letters from her far flung postings with Medecins sans Frontieres but her letters tapered off when he was 13 and aside from later trying to alert her when his mother died, that was that for their relationship. She's left all of her estate to him despite this distance. Knowing of her long time good works around the world, Mark is more than a little shocked to discover that she had opened a small bed and breakfast in tiny Manistique, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.Emily Davis is a newly graduated O.D. who is on her way to her parents' house before moving to Chicago for the next phase of her education. She's taking a weekend visit to Mackinac Island with her very married boyfriend and mentor first though. As she drives north towards her new life, she debates with herself the right thing to do with regards to this relationship, especially in light of the death of a child under her mentor's care for which she feels responsible. When she decides to speed past the exits for the ferry docks to the Island, she heads into the UP and eventually into the path of a deer, shattering her windshield and landing her on the doorstep at Mark's Aunt Vivian's bed and breakfast. Although Mark has no intention of being an innkeeper, he takes pity on Emily and without telling her that Vivian has died, he allows her to stay at the Manistique Victorian. Opening his door to her eventually leads to a full house of kooky eccentrics including George, who might be in the beginning stages of dementia or Alzheimer's, and a couple intent on being the first to drive around Lake Michigan in an electric car. Add to these guests two related, perhaps identical, police officers (one local and one state), a Native handyman who has visions, and the local doctor and you've got a recipe for total chaos at the bed and breakfast.The third person narrative focus alternates by chapter between Mark and Emily as they are the two characters around whom everything revolves but also the two who have major life changing decisions in front of them. The novel is quite fast moving and very dialogue heavy, almost as if Cuesta envisions this more as a screenplay than as a novel. In fact, at times, things moved so quickly that I had to re-read pages to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I hadn't but there were gaps where a little exposition might have helped. The tone of the story changes from a sweet tale about family and relationship to a screwball comedy of sorts and then back again once the secrets the characters spend a long time hiding from each other come out. Take note that when I say relationship, I do not mean a romantic relationship; this is not a love story. As excited as I was for the setting of the novel, I don't think it totally captures the spirit of the area and the uniqueness that is the UP and its inhabitants. Of course, most of the characters are not actually Yoopers so perhaps that explains why the feel is mostly missing. Despite this (and really, most people probably won't notice this), the book was a quick, light read for a couple of hours and other readers familiar with the area will enjoy seeing their remote corner of the world name checked in a book.
    • 5/5
      First of all, my name is Laura, so it must be fate that I felt so attracted to the characters in this novel.I am also from Wisconsin, so while not a Yooper, I am a close neighbor. I also have fond memories of Fawlty Towers. Once you read this delightful book you will understand.Mark has fond memories of his Aunt Vivian, even though he only remembers spending time with her when he was very young. When he learns she has passed away and he must head north to attend to her final affairs, he discovers, rather abruptly, that she had spent her final years running a B&B.Somehow, during the few days Mark is up north, coinciding with Memorial Day, he becomes an unexpected landlord or housekeeper to a variety of unusual guests.This is the story of that long weekend (plus a few days) and the start of some new friendships, as well as the resolution of the consequences of past bad choices.The characters are wonderful. Quite an assortment. The emotional turmoil is realistic. There are plenty of humorous moments, some to break the tension and others quite spontaneous.And YES- deer DO hit cars. I speak from personal experience.I often read several books at one time. I began this book while attempting to finish another, but kept putting any other book aside because I really didn't want to set this book down. It demanded and deserved my full attention. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.Dennis Cuesta please write something else for me to read soon!
    • 3/5
      The new debut novel by Daniel Cuesta was a delight to read. It’s written with a bit of slapstick and plenty of references to the British sitcom, Fawlty Towers. I’ve never watched that myself, but it did not take away from Cuesta’s story, other than I may not have gotten a joke or two.When Aunt Vivian dies, her nephew Mark must go to Manistique to settle her affairs. As a child, Mark had been close to his Aunt Vivian, but as he grew older they had lost touch, so Mark enters into the details of her estate with limited information about her life in recent years.Meanwhile, Emily, a young doctor, has a collision with a deer and ends up in Manistique needing to get her car repaired and needing a place to stay for the night.As luck would have it, she ends up at the Victorian Manistique, which is the bed and breakfast Mark’s Aunt Vivian owned. He allows her to stay the night out of sympathy, even though he has no plans to run the bed and breakfast and wants to sell it as quickly as possible.Through the course of a few days, various people come and go and the situation for Mark and Emily undergoes a drastic change. A bit predictable, but also a bit of a surprise, this was one I enjoyed reading.Many thanks to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.