Posted in 5 paws, Review, Southern, women on August 14, 2023

 

 

Synopsis

 

A TALE OF LONELINESS AND DANGER …From USA Today Bestselling Author, Bette Lee Crosby, comes a chilling tale of betrayal, self-doubt, and a friendship so powerful it can change a life.

When Susan Robertson buried her husband, she thought that would be the worst day of her life. She was wrong. Before there is time to grieve, she starts to discover the secrets he left behind. A hidden key. Another woman. A baby on the way.

Devastated by the truth, Susan sinks into an emotionally charged world of pain, loss, and recrimination. With a ready supply of sleeping pills and a well-stocked liquor cabinet, she is on the verge of giving way to her growing despair when friend Blanche steps in with a firm hand and a fistful of tough love.

Trying to instill a renewed sense of purpose in her friend, Blanche suggests a day of sailing. Despite her life-long fear of water, Susan agrees to go. When a sudden storm rolls in, she discovers herself in a dangerous situation and will have to find an inner-strength she thought impossible. If she fails, someone will die.

 

 

 

Amazon

 

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Review

 

Bette has a gift for storytelling. Each book is a delight to read, and this one was no different.

Susan has recently lost her husband, but in the process, she uncovers deception on his part. This shatters her confidence, as I would imagine it would most people. This starts her on a downward spiral. Thankfully, she has two wonderful friends that come to her rescue and insert themselves into her life more than normal. These are true friends! This is Susan’s journey to rediscovering herself and finding out who she truly is deep down.

What I love about Susan’s character is that she is flawed. She isn’t the perfect wife, mother, or friend. Yet, this is what makes her relatable to the reader. I had to think about how I would have handled things if I were in her shoes. Would I react the same or differently? How would I handle betrayal?

I think the hidden gem is Nina. She is a 91-year-old parishioner at Susan’s church, and the pastor does a little conniving to get them to help one another. I feel like they learned a lot from one another. Nina is a bit of a wild woman, but when you get to that age, you have to know what you want from life and go for it.

The story does have a HEA ending, but it is also a story about finding oneself in the midst of a crisis.

We give this book 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

USA Today Bestselling Author and Award-winning novelist Bette Lee Crosby brings the wit and wisdom of her Southern Mama to works of fiction—the result is a delightful blend of humor, mystery, and romance along with a cast of quirky charters who will steal your heart away.

 

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Posted in 5 paws, paranormal, Review, Southern, suspense on January 18, 2023

 

 

Synopsis

 

Can a wrong be rectified in death?

Eight months ago, Simone experienced her first spectral encounter. It awakened a dormant second sight and opened a chasm to the afterlife. Now, another spirit from 1917 New Orleans has wandered through that passage, haunting her with an intoxicating jasmine fragrance and wicked antics.

To escape this mysterious ghost, Simone jumps at a seven-day complimentary Mardi Gras hotel package, unaware there might be an ancestral power behind her decision, an identity she grapples with. Is the ghost’s name Bleu?

She’s a lady of the night who lived a dangerous life in the infamous Storyville. A place lined with mansion-like brothels on the edge of the French Quarter run by unscrupulous madams and frequented by dangerous criminals. WWI is on the horizon, jazz music is burgeoning, and Bleu’s life unravels.

Visions of her past and horrific death beset Simone as she explores present-day New Orleans with her three roommates.

But why are the images fragmented? Has Bleu forgotten what happened the stormy night she died? Can Simone uncover Bleu’s murderer and reunite her with her loved ones before it’s too late?

 

 

Amazon * Other Retailers

 

 

Review

 

Possessions, ghosts, spirits, and a 103 year old mystery bring together a cast of characters that will intrigue and possibly horrify you.

This is the second in the Simone Doucet series. Simone has Creole blood and discovered in the first book that she could communicate with her ancestors and uncover the mystery of why they perished. While the first book was tame, this one is a bit more dangerous because it isn’t just Simone’s body that the ghosts inhabit, they take over several of her friend’s bodies, and it creates quite an incident.

In the first book, we get the full story of her ancestor, but in this novel, it is told in bits and pieces until near the end. I’m not sure which way I prefer, but I know that the little dribs and drabs sprinkled throughout the first half of the book only piqued my interest in who was trying to communicate with Simone and why. I did find it interesting that the ghosts were able to track her to New York, where she lived, and were not bound to the area where they died. But this is what brings her to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, well, partially, anyway.

Outside of trying to decipher what the ghosts are trying to tell her, Simone is connecting with other family members that she never knew about before. She is connecting with them in an unusual way, but it brings an added dimension to the story. We all have skeletons in our closets; we just may not know about all of them. But Bleu wants her help in solving her murder and reconnecting her with those that were important to her 103 years ago.

I enjoyed the interactions between the characters and the ghosts. I am not sure why Simone tried to keep it a secret from her roommates, but they figured it out pretty quickly. This was actually a good thing because they could watch out for her and make sure she was ok if a ghost inhabited her body.

There is even a little romance in this book between Simone and her roommate Mitchell. She keeps him at bay until she realizes that he can adapt to her gift.

This book is set in early 2020, and Covid is just beginning, so there are several references to the virus. I think that helps bring it closer to home in a way. It is something that is happening in the world and in the book.

If you like mysteries and paranormal facets, you just might enjoy this book. We give it 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

E. Denise Billups was born in Monroeville, Alabama, and raised in New York City, where she currently resides. She’s a former Financial Analyst turned writer. A multi-genre fiction author, she’s published six novels and several supernatural short stories. A skilled artist, she trained as a dancer (ballet, modern, and jazz dance) in her younger years and dabbled in writing, which she would not pursue until much later. As an avid reader of many genres, she was greatly influenced by magical realism, mystery, suspense, and supernatural novels. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s running miles in the park, finding her inner calm with yoga, experimenting with vegan dishes, and enjoying time with family and friends.

Presently, she is working on book two of her trilogy, Twilight Ends, a paranormal historical fiction, and book three of the Simone Doucet Series.

 

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Posted in 5 paws, Review, Southern, suspense on January 14, 2023

 

 

Synopsis

 

She escaped servitude for a worse fate. Now she wants everyone to know what happened.

Travel writer Simone Doucet is searching for a meaningful life, but she hasn’t found a purpose yet. But after she accepts an assignment that takes her to Magnolia Sunrise – a historical bed-and-breakfast on the bluffs of Natchez, Mississippi – strange events begin to take place.

Frightful images of a young slave girl, Delphine, haunt her nights. The first night at the B&B, Simone is transported to 1863 antebellum Natchez. Through spectral eyes, Simone sees Delphine’s history, the horrors she witnessed and was subjected to.

Delphine wants everyone to know what happened to her, and she won’t stop haunting Simone until she tells her story. But why has Delphine chosen Simone, and will this awakening bring new purpose to her life or open up more untold mysteries to be discovered?

 

 

Amazon * Other Retailers

 

 

Review

 

This is a twisty tail, set in the mid to late 1800s, brings in the horror of slavery and what they were forced to endure. But it is also a tale of hope that one woman’s story will not be forgotten.

While not a long story, it still packs a punch, and it reminded me of what slaves had to endure during that time. While we can’t change the past, we can learn from it and recognize that some were not kind to their slaves/servants, as depicted in this story.

I found myself engaged in this story as I watched Simone deal with some cryptic dreams, and by the end, all questions were answered. I loved the trip to Natchez, and the description of the area was beautiful and horrifying, especially when it came to the Devil’s Punchbowl area. So much death and destruction during the civil war. The story is told from Simone’s POV and also from Delphine’s, a slave girl from the past that sought a better life for herself and her family.

While most of the story is heavy with what Delphine goes through, there is hope at the end for better times.

I’m excited that this is a series, and I already have the second book queued up and ready to read.

If you are looking for a different point of view on the civil war, I suggest picking up this book. We give it 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

E. Denise Billups was born in Monroeville, Alabama, and raised in New York City, where she currently resides. She’s a former Financial Analyst turned writer. A multi-genre fiction author, she’s published six novels and several supernatural short stories. A skilled artist, she trained as a dancer (ballet, modern, and jazz dance) in her younger years and dabbled in writing, which she would not pursue until much later. As an avid reader of many genres, she was greatly influenced by magical realism, mystery, suspense, and supernatural novels. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s running miles in the park, finding her inner calm with yoga, experimenting with vegan dishes, and enjoying time with family and friends.

Presently, she is working on book two of her trilogy, Twilight Ends, a paranormal historical fiction, and book three of the Simone Doucet Series.

 

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Posted in coming of age, excerpt, Giveaway, Short Story, Southern, Texas on July 9, 2022

 

 

PICTURES OF THE SHARK

 

by

 

THOMAS H. McNEELY

 

 

Short Stories / Southern Fiction / Coming of Age

Publisher: Texas Review Press

Date of Publication: July 12, 2022

Number of Pages: 205 pages

 

Scroll down for the Giveaway!

 

 

 

 

A sudden snowfall in Houston reveals family secrets. A trip to Universal Studios to snap a picture of the shark from Jaws becomes a battle of wills between father and son. A midnight séance and the ghost of Janis Joplin conjure the mysteries of sex. A young boy’s pilgrimage to see Elvis Presley becomes a moment of transformation. A young woman discovers the responsibilities of talent and freedom.

Pictures of the Shark, by Houston native and Dobie Paisano award-winning author Thomas H. McNeely, traces a young man’s coming of age and falling apart. From the rough and tumble of Houston’s early seventies East End to the post-punk Texas bohemia of late eighties Austin, this novel in stories examines what happens when childhood trauma haunts adult lives.

 

 

 

 

CLICK TO PURCHASE

 

 

Praise

 

“McNeely’s brilliant stories are filled with delicious menace and heartbreaking hope.” – Pamela Painter, author of What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers and Fabrications: New and Selected Stories

“In these gorgeously crafted interlinked stories, Thomas McNeely demonstrates once again an uncanny ability to illuminate the darkest emotional corners of his characters with a vision that is as tender and compassionate as it is unflinching.” – Antonio Ruiz-Camacho, author of Barefoot Dogs

“With masterful prose, McNeely draws you down into emotional depths where your ambivalence and confusion show you at your most profoundly human. These stories hook you quickly and deeply and keep you even after they end. – C.W. Smith, author of Steplings, Buffalo Nickel, and Understanding Women

 

 

 

Excerpt from “No One’s Trash”

 

From Pictures Of The Shark

 

By Thomas McNeely

 

 

Outside the kitchen, past the glassed-in storm door, rain lashed the back yard, which was already filling up with water.  On the TV, light poles littered the streets, and freeway underpasses were ponds where windshields of cars peeked out like frogs.  Margot hoped Jimmy wouldn’t be foolish enough to drive across Houston to pick up Buddy; though she didn’t want to begrudge him their time together, either.

Buddy sat in front of the TV, his back to her, rigid as a mannequin, the usual mood he assumed when Jimmy came to get him on Saturdays.  Margot had left the back door open to keep an eye on the pecan tree that swayed over the fence with Mr. Knight’s back yard.  What good it would do to watch it fall on her garage, she didn’t know.  Even through the thrum of rain and air conditioner’s moan and the TV announcers’ gabble, she could hear the Knights arguing next door.

Just as she told Buddy to say a prayer that his father would be safe, the lights in the house went out, the TV went dead, the air conditioner stopped.  Buddy glanced back at her – she was standing at the sink, checking the road, which was still clear – then he leaned across the piles of paper on her desk, pressing his nose against the air conditioner to catch the last cool drops, his eyes closed, beatific, as if receiving a sacrament.  How delicate he still was, she thought, his milk-pale skin covering blue veins, his wrists so small she could circle them with her forefinger and thumb.  All morning, he hadn’t spoken to her; she still wasn’t sure if he would now.  Her heart constricted with tenderness for him, a physical ache.

Outside, there was only the steady thrum of rain.  Even the Knights had fallen silent.  Margot wanted to say something to Buddy, but felt suddenly shy.  It was a foolish thing, a humiliating thing, to feel this way with one’s own son.

The phone rang.  She nearly jumped out of her skin; in the sudden quiet, it was uncanny and absurd.  Buddy looked at her, then at the phone, an accusation.

It could only be one of two people: Jimmy, or her mother.  It was Jimmy.  All morning, Margot had called the lab, and Jimmy’s beeper, and his parents’ house, where Jimmy said that he lived.  Jimmy’s mother answered, and asked Margot who she thought she was, calling her son at all hours, hounding him, before she hung up.  Jimmy’s voice, now, was falsely causal, as if he’d just gone to the grocery store and was phoning to see if there was anything he could bring back.  He asked how they were doing, in a tone that suggested he still lived with them, a tone that never failed to jolt her with anger at its presumption, and relief that it was no longer true.  She said they were fine.  He asked her about the backyard.  She said that it was fine, too, that it hadn’t taken on any water, and thanked him for putting in the drain, which was what she knew he wanted to hear.  Buddy glared at her, catching her lie; she turned her back on him.

“I’m not going to be able to make it over there today,” Jimmy said.

“Of course not,” she said, too quickly.

“Have you thought anymore about the letter?” he said.

It was all she thought about.  “Not yet,” she said.

Buddy was watching her.  He’d understood, she saw, that Jimmy wouldn’t come; his expression was like water clearing – relief and also anger.

“I’m sorry,” Jimmy said.  “Tell Buddy I’m sorry.”

“Tell him yourself,” she said.

Buddy cradled the receiver against his shoulder, turning from her, giving mumbled one-word answers to the questions Jimmy always asked:  How was school that week?  How was his horror movie coming along?  He told Jimmy he loved him, too, then put the receiver back in its cradle.  Then he jumped up and down silently, shaking his fists, baring gritted teeth – a hateful, sorrowing dance.  She had borne this kind of anger before from Jimmy.  Now she couldn’t look at him, at Buddy, her son.

Outside, she saw the Knight girls, Cara and Darla, hop across the paving stones in the back yard, like naiads, like water sprites, already soaked to the bone.  Buddy turned to her, his mouth pinched and vindictive.

“Get rid of them,” he said.

“I can’t do that,” she said.

She couldn’t, even if she had wanted to; they were already at her door.

 

 

 

 

Thomas H. McNeely is an Eastside Houston native. He has published short stories and nonfiction in The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Ploughshares, and many other magazines and anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories and Algonquin Books’ Best of the South. His stories have been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories, and O. Henry Award anthologies. He has received National Endowment for the Arts, Wallace Stegner, and MacDowell Colony fellowships for his fiction. His first book, Ghost Horse, won the Gival Press Novel Award and was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize in Writing. He currently teaches in the Stanford Online Writing Studio and at Emerson College, Boston.

 

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 FOUR WINNERS!

 

2 winners: autographed copy of Pictures of the Shark

 

2 winners: autographed copy of Pictures of the Shark

 

+ editorial critique of an excerpt (up to 20 pages) from an unpublished short story or novel.

 

(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 7/15/2022)

 

 

 

 

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Posted in 5 paws, fiction, Novella, Review, Southern, women on May 17, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

Small-town romantic suspense from USA Today bestselling author, Ashley Farley

Casey Hobbs has never met her father. She doesn’t know his identity or where he lives or whether he has children. She’s spent the past three years at her mother’s sickbed, watching cancer eat away her organs and their bank account. Upon her mother’s death, Casey receives a letter containing clues about her mysterious father. With nothing left for her in New York, Casey packs her meager belongings in her mother’s old convertible and heads off in search of Daniel Love.

Casey finds the Virginia mountains charming and the small town of Lovely quaint. Buying time while she determines how best to approach her father, Casey accepts a job as a graphic designer with Foxtail Farm, a boutique winery conveniently located next door to Love-Struck Vineyard. On her first day, she discovers her new boss is at war with the Love children, Casey’s half-siblings.

Weeks pass before Casey meets her father. Casey reminds Daniel of her mother, the true love of his life, and he welcomes her with open arms. But Casey’s half-siblings want nothing to do with her. The stakes are high, and they want her gone. They’ll stop at nothing to protect the family dynasty.

 

 

Amazon * B&N * Kobo

 

 

Review

 

I am never disappointed by Ashley’s books and this one is no exception. It is a spinoff series of the Hope Springs series and features Ollie and Fiona and a whole new crew of characters including some shady ones from the Love family.

We meet Casey who has ended up in Lovely searching for her father after her mother’s passing. He is also the father of some scoundrels that are harassing Ollie and the land she bought next to their vineyard because she won’t sell it to them. Needless to say, this is going to cause a bunch of friction between many of the characters because Ollie has a hard time separating the bad seeds from the whole family.

I loved the start of this new series. It was nice to revisit some characters but also watch them come into their own and create a new adventure for themselves. The book focuses mainly on Casey but we also get a peek into Ollie and Fiona’s life with this new vineyard. Ollie does seem distracted throughout the book and that could be due to the Love brothers that seem to think that bullying will get them what they want. However, some of her reactions were over the top considering she didn’t stop to ask questions of Casey and what she was or wasn’t doing with her father now that they had met. Hopefully, she calms down in future books because holding onto that much anger does not do her any good.

I enjoyed watching the interactions between Casey and her new family. While she gets along great with her father and brother Sheldon, the other three siblings are spoiled entitled brats. Tables are turned on them by their father and I enjoyed watching them squirm. I can’t wait to see how this progresses in future books.

The synopsis says that this book is romantic suspense and I don’t think it is, at least not the suspense part. To me, it is more family drama than anything else. That doesn’t mean this is a bad book, just don’t expect any real suspense (or at least not the kind I am used to reading).

We give this 5 paws up and can’t wait for the next book in this series, Blind Love.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Ashley FarleyAshley Farley writes books about women for women. Her characters are mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives facing real-life issues. Her bestselling Sweeney Sisters series has touched the lives of many.

Ashley is a wife and mother of two young adult children. While she’s lived in Richmond, Virginia for the past 21 years, a piece of her heart remains in the salty marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry, which she still calls home. Through the eyes of her characters, she captures the moss-draped trees, delectable cuisine, and kindhearted folk with lazy drawls that make the area so unique.

 

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Posted in 4 paws, Book Release, coming of age, Southern, Young Adult on May 10, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

Seventeen-year-old Maggie Warshauer wants is to leave her stifled life in Filliyaw Creek behind and head to college. An outsider at school and uncertain of her own sexual identity, Maggie longs to start again somewhere new. Inspired by a long-dead biologist’s journals, scientific-minded Maggie spends her days sailing, exploring, and categorizing life around her. But when her beautiful cousin Charisse disappears on prom night and is found dead at the marina where Maggie lives, Maggie’s plans begin to unravel. A mysterious stranger begins stalking her and a local detective on the case leaves her struggling to hold on to her secrets—her father’s alcoholism, her mother’s abandonment, a boyfriend who may or may not exist, and her own actions on prom night. As the detective gets closer to finding the truth, and Maggie’s stalker is closing in, she is forced to come to terms with the one person who might hold the answers—herself.

 

 

Regal House * Amazon * Powells

 

 

Excerpt

 

From Chapter 9

 

“What did you tell him?” Nat’s voice, never much of an instrument anyway, nearly disappeared in the slap of backwash against the dock. Out here at the end of B dock, I thought it would be quieter, but it’s never altogether quiet around water. I pressed the phone up tight against my ear.

“The same stuff.” I watched a heron lift one foot slowly and set it down slowly. “We were at OT, she showed up drunk. I said something about her dress being ripped.”

“He already knew about that. Hulky told him.”

Huh. “Well, Hulky couldn’t hardly keep inside his skin, looking at her.” I heard my own voice say that, like some of Dad’s old hillbilly talk.

The heron had its head pulled back as though it was going to stab something, then eased down and shook its neck-feathers. Nat didn’t say anything. I watched the bird and waited on him. First one to speak loses, so says Dad.

I waited some more, but I must have had more questions than Nat. “So what did you tell him?”

“Yeah, well, all that,” he said. “She was crying and messed up.”

“Did you tell him about what she did?”

“No.”

“Well, he must have known something, cause he was asking me about if we were close.”

“I told him Charisse followed you.” Nat was almost whining. “That’s all.”

“Oh, great.” I could see Vann putting that down in his little book.

“I just told him the truth. You took off and after a while she went the same direction, toward the lake. I never said anything before.”

“Why’d you now?”

“He was saying we looked good for it, Hulky and me. We were the last ones with her, the last ones to see her.” He was talking so fast I could hardly understand him. “We didn’t do anything to her. You know that. We shouldn’t look good for it. Anyway, Hulky probably told him too.”

I remember Vann asking, had I seen anyone when I was walking home.

Clouds underlit by lightning. Wisteria smell. Below the old plantation house, down by the fallen-in cabins, something white had come out of the woods and flashed past me. Big. I heard the leaves scatter, the drumbeat of hooves. It was one of the albino deer that show up around the lake—I realized that, even though my heart was hammering and I stopped on the path and listened before moving as quickly as I could down the hill to the lake, the wind banshee-howling in the shrouds of the sailboats.

“Anyway, they found her in your backyard.”

The great blue had stalked deeper into the water off the point. Now he was cocked like a gun—one foot up—then fast-fast he struck and brought up a good-sized fish.

“Some friend you are,” I said.

 

 

Review

 

This coming-of-age novel is coupled with an unreliable narrator, Maggie. Maggie is trying to figure out who she is in this small town with few friends and an obsession with nature fueled by a book by Carl Linaeus that details botany and insects and other parts of nature. Her living situation isn’t the best as her mother ran off when she was younger and she lives with her father on a houseboat. While this sounds like a wonderful life, plus it is a plus if she wants to study marine biology, things aren’t well as they could be with a father that tends to drink and become maudlin pining for his wife. But despite the dysfunctional family, it seems to work for them.

There is a mystery as to who killed Maggie’s cousin Charisse. The search and anticipation of waiting for the killer to be revealed is actually a twist in the tale at the very end and what you thought you knew to be true is not. While I may not have come to the same conclusion, I had my suspicions about how the story might end. There were multiple suspects, known and unknown, and the final revelation was not quite what I expected.

Maggie has a lot of angst for a teenager, but perhaps that is not surprising because she is a teenager and her actions and reactions were typical for someone of her age. She didn’t mind being alone but at the same time, she longed for friendships and perhaps even a boyfriend. Hopefully, things will change once she gets to college and into a larger town with more people. She is the kind of character that you want to see good things happen to in the future.

The story does flip around a lot and there are some chapters that were focused on nature or her adventures but didn’t do much to move the plot along. Perhaps they were designed to give us more insight into Maggie? I did find myself skipping through those chapters since I didn’t feel it added to the story but detracted it in a way. I also don’t think I would consider this a thriller. I do think it might be more literary fiction delving into symbolism for Maggie and her life.

Overall, it was an interesting read and we give it 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Valerie Nieman’s In the Lonely Backwater is being called “not only a page-turning thriller but also a complex psychological portrait of a young woman dealing with guilt, betrayal, and secrecy.” To the Bones, her folk horror/mystery about coal country, was a finalist for the 2020 Manly Wade Wellman Award, joining three earlier novels, a short fiction collection, and three poetry books. She has published widely in journals and has held state and NEA fellowships. She graduated from West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte and retired as a creative writing professor at NC A&T State University.

 

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Posted in 5 paws, fiction, Giveaway, Historical, Review, Southern on August 5, 2021

 

 

 

UNDER THE BAYOU MOON

 

by

 

Valerie Fraser Luesse

 

 

Categories: Fiction / Christian / Historical

 

Publisher: Revell

 

Date of Publication: August 3, 2021

 

Number of Pages: 352

 

Scroll down for the giveaway! 

 

 

 

 

When Ellie Fields accepts a teaching job in a tiny Louisiana town deep in bayou country in 1949, she knows her life will change–but she could never imagine just how dramatically.

Though rightfully suspicious of outsiders, who have threatened both their language and their unique culture, most of the residents come to appreciate the young and idealistic schoolteacher, and she’s soon teaching just about everyone, despite opposition from both the school board and a politician with ulterior motives. Yet it’s the lessons Ellie herself will learn–from new friends, a captivating Cajun fisherman, and even a legendary white alligator haunting the bayou–that will make all the difference.

Take a step away from the familiar and enter the shadowy waters of bayou country for a story of risk, resilience, and romance.

 

 

Baker Book House • Amazon • Christianbook.com

 

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I had a hard time getting into another book that I was reading, so I decided to pick this one up knowing that it needed to be read soon. I could NOT put the book down! Oh My Word! I feel like the author must have looked into my family tree when writing these characters in South Louisiana. Heck, even one of the characters had the same last name as people in my family tree. I guess this is what happens when an author writes about the Cajun culture with which I am somewhat familiar…but even I learned a few things.

This story takes us back to the late 40s in a small town where poverty runs rampant but the sense of community is humbling. These people looked out for each other and while it might be hard to give their trust to you, once you have earned it there is no looking back. The camaraderie is what we should all try to achieve in our own lives.

Ellie accepted a teaching position in this small town and she is exactly what they need to educate their children and breathe life into this sleepy little town. From the moment she arrives, she wants nothing more than to foster a positive environment for the children because word is that the previous teachers were not kind. All because one man didn’t want French to be spoken by anyone, mostly because he couldn’t speak it and didn’t know what they were saying. But you can’t stamp out heritage and embracing the dual languages can only be a good thing. But that was then and this is now and the mindset was very different.

Even though Ellie is there to teach the children, she finds love with Raphe, a local man that is raising his nephew. Their journey together is beautiful and reminds us that you can find love if you only take the chance.

Perhaps one of my favorite characters is Heywood. Ellie first meets him in New Orleans by chance, but they form a fast friendship that spans the years. Heywood has his own issues by believing he won’t live to see his 30th birthday. I liked how Ellie brought all of this into perspective for him and encouraged him to see a different path for his life.

This tiny town has its share of tragedies that might have brought another community to its knees. Not this town. They rallied around each other and found solutions that worked for everyone. I liked that they did not discriminate based on color or religion.

I loved every bit of this book and highly recommend it to everyone. We give it 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valerie Fraser Luesse is the bestselling author of Missing Isaac, Almost Home, and The Key to Everything, as well as an award-winning magazine writer best known for her feature stories and essays in Southern Living, where she is currently senior travel editor. Specializing in stories about unique pockets of Southern culture, Luesse received the 2009 Writer of the Year award from the Southeast Tourism Society for her editorial section on Hurricane Katrina recovery in Mississippi and Louisiana. A graduate of Auburn University and Baylor University, she lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband, Dave.

 

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Posted in 5 paws, Book Release, Review, Southern, women on August 1, 2021

 

 

Synopsis

 

Three women form a village to help a friend in need.

Becca has embarked on the most important mission of her life. She trusts no one, and she’s running out of time. On a whim, she rents a beach cottage on Palmetto Island for the summer. She’s searching for a solution to her problem. Help comes in an unexpected friendship with the young woman next door.

Hannah has three months to plan her dream wedding. While she’s eager to marry the man of her dreams, she finds the logistics of combining households and the details of organizing her event overwhelming. When she learns of a new friend’s crisis, she drops everything to come to her aid.

Sidney forges ahead with her successful career as a chef, while her heart remains in the past. On impulse, she reaches out to her old boyfriend on social media, and they rekindle their relationship. Chemistry between them still exists. But is it enough? Can she live with her secret? Or will she risk her happiness by revealing the truth?

Amelia is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She seeks therapy in order to put the past behind her. Do all her problems stem from her abusive marriage? Or is something missing from her life? Will she give up the possibility of a future with the love of her life to fulfill another dream?

The paths of these four women collide in a dramatic conclusion. Farley once again reminds us that family is more than blood ties.

 

 

This book releases August 3rd, 2021…pre-order today!

 

Amazon * B&N * Indiebound * Kobo * Bookshop

 

 

Review

 

Such a great series set in the Low Country. This book in the series features, Becca and Happy (Harper), who are visiting Palmetto Island because Becca doesn’t have good news in her life and wants to give her daughter a memorable summer. There are also other main storylines featuring Hannah, Sydney, and Amelia.

The crux of this book focuses on PTSD, fear, sorrow, and joy. The phrase “it takes a village” could not be any more appropriate for this book. No one should have to live alone or without the help of others, but sometimes it takes the influence of those around you to help one realize that life isn’t meant to be traveled alone. We all need the support of friends and family to make it through.

I like that the characters deal with real-life issues. Anyone reading this book will probably be able to relate to one or more of the characters and their situation. Of course, there are also characters to not like or be frustrated with their actions. But it adds conflict and tension before everything is resolved.

We give this book 5 paws up!

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Ashley FarleyAshley Farley writes books about women for women. Her characters are mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives facing real-life issues. Her bestselling Sweeney Sisters series has touched the lives of many.

Ashley is a wife and mother of two young adult children. While she’s lived in Richmond, Virginia for the past 21 years, a piece of her heart remains in the salty marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry, where she still calls home. Through the eyes of her characters, she captures the moss-draped trees, delectable cuisine, and kindhearted folk with lazy drawls that make the area so unique.

 

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Posted in 5 paws, Cozy, Giveaway, mystery, Review, Southern on September 19, 2020

 

 

 

 

Murder in the Bayou Boneyard: A Cajun Country Mystery
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (September 8, 2020)
Hardcover: 304 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Maggie Crozat has the Halloween heebie-jeebies in USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author Ellen Byron’s howlingly funny sixth Cajun Country mystery.

 

Maggie Crozat, proprietor of a historic Cajun Country B&B, prefers to let the good times roll. But hard times rock her hostelry when a new cell phone app makes it easy for locals to rent their spare rooms to tourists. With October–and Halloween–approaching, she conjures up a witch-crafty marketing scheme to draw visitors to Pelican, Louisiana.

Five local plantation B&Bs host “Pelican’s Spooky Past” packages, featuring regional crafts, unique menus, and a pet costume parade. Topping it off, the derelict Dupois cemetery is the suitably sepulchral setting for the spine-chilling play Resurrection of a Spirit. But all the witchcraft has inevitably conjured something: her B&B guests are being terrified out of town by sightings of the legendary rougarou, a cross between a werewolf and vampire.

When, in the Dupois cemetery, someone costumed as a rougarou stumbles onstage during the play–and promptly gives up the ghost, the rougarou mask having been poisoned with strychnine, Maggie is on the case. But as more murders stack up, Maggie fears that Pelican’s spooky past has nothing on its bloodcurdling present.

 

 

 

Penguin Random House – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – IndieBound

 

 

Review

 

Anytime I read one of the books in this series, I feel like I am visiting my family that lives in Cajun country. The vernacular is spot on and the food, well, let’s just say it is all delicious and I’m glad that the author provides recipes at the end of the book.

I enjoyed spending time with Maggie and her fiance’ Bo, and the rest of the Crorzat family. The whole family is a bit wacky but I love have they have each other’s back no matter what the situation. Actually, the whole town seems to support one another, at least most of the time. However, this time there is a new family relation in the picture and she is not what she seems. Her whole family is a bit off and that does not win them any friends.

I enjoyed learning some interesting tidbits about the superstitions that many believe in the south and how they especially love Halloween. I don’t think I had ever heard of a rougarou before this book so now I’m going to have to ask my Cajun family about that mythical creature.

The mystery is engaging and I have to admit, I wasn’t sure who the killer was or why. As I read further into the book and near the end, I had my suspicions, but I didn’t really know they why. It was interesting to uncover the truth in the situation. I’m going to be cryptic because the why is rather intricate and I don’t want to spoil anything for you.

There is a somewhat sad scene near the end that touched my heart and hopefully will touch yours. Another one that I won’t share details because you’ll need to read the book to find out!

I’m not sure what the next book will hold but I’m hoping it is Gran and Maggie’s double wedding!  We get a taste of Gran’s planning and her affinity for cake testing.  I can’t blame here, one of my favorite parts of planning a wedding. Laissez les bons temps rouler!!!

We give this book 5 paws up and if you have never read this series, start with the first book in the series, Plantation Shudders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won the Agatha award for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty awards for Best Humorous Mystery. Her Catering Hall Mystery series, written as Maria DiRico, launched with Here Comes the Body and was inspired by her real life. She’s an award-winning playwright and non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like WINGS, JUST SHOOT ME, and FAIRLY ODD PARENTS, but she considers her most impressive credit working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. A native New Yorker who attended New Orleans’ Tulane University, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and rescue furbaby.

 

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Posted in 3 1/2 paws, fiction, Review, Southern on August 10, 2020

 

 

 

 

Little Tea
Southern Fiction
Publisher: Firefly Southern Fiction (April 28, 2020)
Paperback: 252 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Southern Culture … Old Friendships … Family Tragedy

 

One phone call from Renny to come home and “see about” the capricious Ava and Celia Wakefield decides to overlook her distressful past in the name of friendship.

For three reflective days at Renny’s lake house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, the three childhood friends reunite and examine life, love, marriage, and the ties that bind, even though Celia’s personal story has yet to be healed. When the past arrives at the lake house door in the form of her old boyfriend, Celia must revisit the life she’d tried to outrun.

As her idyllic coming of age alongside her best friend, Little Tea, on her family’s ancestral grounds in bucolic Como, Mississippi unfolds, Celia realizes there is no better place to accept her own story than in this circle of friends who have remained beside her throughout the years. Theirs is a friendship that can talk any life sorrow into a comic tragedy, and now that the racial divide in the Deep South has evolved, Celia wonders if friendship can triumph over history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review

 

This southern fiction novel covers several subjects including racial issues, mental illness, homosexuality, love, and loss.

This story is told from Celia’s point of view in two different timelines.  We have the current day which finds Celia meeting up with her best friends, Renny and Ava, to help sort out Ava’s life. The other timeline is Celia’s childhood and this is the storyline I really enjoyed the most. It is set in the 1980s in the deep south where a multi-generational family has different views on equality. Celia’s grandparents believe in segregation but her parents believe in equality and treating everyone with respect. This causes tension when the grandparents try to get back involved with the farming activities or are visiting.  Celia’s best friend is Little Tea and their friendship runs deep.  It doesn’t matter that she is black because Celia doesn’t see her skin color. Hayward, one of Celia’s brothers, expands their friendship to a trio and he encourages Little Tea in her athletic abilities but there is something more there.

The present day story ties to the past slightly. Ava wants to leave her husband and runs into her first boyfriend, Mark. This potential relationship with Mark is a trainwreck waiting to happen. From comments made by Renny and Celia, it seems that Ava might be depressed and has an issue with alcohol. Those two together never end up well for anyone.  But this trip together for the three of them brings up memories from the past that Celia might have been running from and this past story is much more complex.  In fact, Celia’s first love/boyfriend reappears in the present day.  That probably also brought back many memories, some good, some bad.

As I mentioned, the past story was my favorite and the one I was most invested in. As situations unfolded and we learned more about Celia, Hayward, John, Little Tea, and the rest, I suspected several outcomes but some were still a surprise. Some were happy, some were sad, and some were shocking. But each situation added complexity and depth to the story and the characters.

While I won’t tell you the ending, I suspected what was going to happen but I don’t like how the author ended the book. I felt like there was more information we needed to know. It is hard to say too much without giving away the ending, but there are many questions left unanswered, at least in my mind.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and will check out other books from this author. We give it 3 1/2 paws.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Claire Fullerton hails from Memphis, TN. and now lives in Malibu, CA. with her husband and 3 German shepherds. She is the author of Mourning Dove, a coming of age, Southern family saga set in 1970’s Memphis. Mourning Dove is a five-time award winner, including the Literary Classics Words on Wings for Book of the Year, and the Ippy Award silver medal in regional fiction ( Southeast.) Claire is also the author of Dancing to an Irish Reel, a Kindle Book Review and Readers’ Favorite award winner that is set on the west coast of Ireland, where she once lived. Claire’s first novel is a paranormal mystery set in two time periods titled, A Portal in Time, set in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. She is a contributor to the book, A Southern Season with her novella, Through an Autumn Window, set at a Memphis funeral ( because something always goes wrong at a Southern funeral.) Little Tea is Claire’s 4th novel and is set in the Deep South. It is the story of the bonds of female friendship, healing the past, and outdated racial relations. Little Tea is the August selection of the Pulpwood Queens, a Faulkner Society finalist in the William Wisdom international competition, and on the short list of the Chanticleer Review’s Somerset award. She is represented by Julie Gwinn of the Seymour Literary.

 

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