I have loved reading and meeting authors for as long as I can remember! As an elementary teacher I integrated literature into every part of the core curriculum. Since my retirement, reading and flower gardening are my two favorite pastimes. I look forward to sharing my passion for reading by providing reviews of the books I've read. Perhaps you will join me as I explore new authors and genres!
I visited this wonderful treasure on the way to Galveston to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. It was a dreary, rainy day in Houston, but the wide selection and staff brightened our day! The top of the shelves was a museum of memorabilia, framed autographed photos, and treasures from around the world. I could’ve just moved in for a week, or more like a month!
“Murder By The Book is one of the nation’s oldest and largest mystery specialty bookstores, established in 1980 by Martha Farrington, and purchased by McKenna Jordan in 2009. The store stocks over 25,000 books — new & used, hardbacks & paperbacks, first editions, collectibles, gift items, mystery magazines, and more. We host over 200 of the hottest mystery, crime, and fantasy authors for book signing events every year. We’ve had everyone from Dick Francis to P.D. James, Sue Grafton to Robert Crais, Michael Connelly to Patricia Cornwell, James Lee Burke to Daniel Silva.”
Middle Grade SectionMysteries by American AuthorsAwaiting Bloomsbury GirlsHistorical Mystery-My FAVORITE! Cozy reading corner-perfect for the rainy day!Loved seeing Team W’s newest!
Joy Callaway’s love of storytelling is a direct result of her parents’ insistence that she read books or write stories instead of watching TV. Her interest in family history was fostered by her relatives’ habit of recounting tales of ancestors’ lives. Joy is a full-time mom and writer. She formerly served as a marketing director for a wealth management company. She holds a B.A. in Journalism and Public Relations from Marshall University and an M.M.C. in Mass Communication from the University of South Carolina. She resides in Charlotte, NC with her husband, John, and her children, Alevia and John.
Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab
In 1908 everyone that was anyone summered at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Joy Callaway escorts readers right into the enormous dining hall prepared for Greenbrier’s Centennial Celebration filled with “silk & chiffon served atop a platter of tradition and romance.”
Callaway shares the story of socialite Dorothy Tuckerman’s attempt to escape the prison of expectations through her rebellious and creative lifestyle. In this dual timeline, thirty-eight years later, Dorothy is challenged with overcoming the stigma of divorce and sustaining her design business. She had established herself as one of the first female interior designers but having been raised by a father who found fame uncouth, Dorothy had become dependent on it and praise. Callaway peels back layers of confidence, waxing and waning, as insecurities immerge, affecting Dorothy’s business and personal life.
In alternating chapters Callaway portrays a clear portrait of Dorothy as a debutante in 1908 as she recalls the details and “what ifs” of her last summer at the Greenbrier. In 1946, Dorothy Draper is hired to transform the Greenbrier from an Army hospital to its former glory as a destination resort. Different designs for every guestroom, restoration of antiques, and acquiring artworks along with tales of presidents, royals, and movie stars gracing the halls and cottages make for rich renditions of spectacular events. While hoping for a successful “resort reveal” readers are immersed in the lush details and vibrant colors of Dorothy Draper designs. Scandal, secrets, and love are wrapped in the historic theme of the Greenbrier Resort: romance and rhododendrons.
I received a complimentary copy; the opinions expressed are my own.
Bookstore Visit #10-Holy Grounds Christian Books, Gifts & Coffee-Grapevine, Texas
This was a combination bookstore & wine pick-up trip to Grapevine, Texas. What could be better than books, coffee and then WINE??? Grapevine is a short 30 minute drive for us. Main Street is filled with cute boutiques, restaurants, coffee bars, and wine tasting rooms! The visit to Holy Grounds was visit #10 in my #22in22Challenge. I found a devotional book filled with stories about Texas A&M so that was a “win” for a birthday gift. There were lots of gifts, books and of course, coffee! Holy Grounds is just down Main St. from Messina Hof Winery, so we combined the book store visit with our wine club pick-up. BOOKS, COFFEE, WINE? Yes, please!
Holy Grounds, Grapevine, TexasVisit #10Football team devotionals? Only in Texas!Children’s books and AdultFavorite shelf at Messina Hof’s Library of Wines
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690567 “Inspired by real events, a touching novel about a new class of courageous women who worked at London’s historic Kew Gardens during World War II.“
“Posy Lovell is a pseudonym for British author and journalist Kerry Barrett. Born in Edinburgh, she moved to London as a child with her family. She has a passion for uncovering the role of women in the past. She lives in London with her family and is the author of The Kew Gardens Girls.
Here’s The Grateful Reader’s review of Posy Lovell’s first book, The Kew Gardens Girls. This post includes the review/summary and a map and photos of Kew Gardens in London. Enjoy!
“Gardening’s all about the future, isn’t it?” Ivy asked Daisy.
For readers and gardeners who are always looking to the future for hope, this is an inspiring tribute to the courageous women who filled in the gaps during World War ll. Posy Lovell continues her series set at the historic Kew Gardens by featuring the “Dig for Victory” model created to provide an example of how a back garden of fruits and vegetables could feed a family year-round. Daisy and Beth, two young girls from opposite parts of London are chosen to plot, plant, and promote the Dig for Victory garden. The hope is that the model allotment-vegetable garden will attract many visitors seeking advice and asking questions. Equally important, the Vegetable Drugs Committee is created to harvest British grown plants for medicinal purposes. This concept and the model allotment project blossoms and grows beyond anyone’s imagination.
Following the lives of Daisy and Beth through the growing seasons of 1940 and beyond, readers will reap many benefits from the life lessons learned as they each face inner turmoil and make personal choices that impact not only their families, but their future. Posy Lovell’s superbly developed characters take readers on an emotional garden path; sowed with agony and grief, choked with confusion, chaos, even shock, but at the end discover a bountiful harvest of relief and joy. The theme of racial and gender injustice influences the cultural landscape of The Kew Gardens Girls at War, but the women learn that adapting, making the best of situations, and helping others is key to helping yourself.
My favorite local bookstore is INTERABANG in Dallas. This is where I order all my print copies to support authors. I was one of the designated Zibby Books Ambassadors and thoroughly enjoyed my role. The store was busy and everyone was enjoying the snacks and shopping! I was thrilled to see so many guests and loved hearing all the bookish conversations and delightful laughter.
Gift from Interabang for being a Zibby Books Ambassador!Gift to myself after listening to Jane Green’s interview on Friends & Fiction!Interabang symbol on yummy cookies! Questioning/searching + Discovery/Excitement = Interabang
Aimie writes fiction, both historical and contemporary, that celebrates the spirit of strong women. In addition to her writing, she is active as a speaker and educator in the writing community. She lives in Colorado with her amazing husband, kids, cats, and pet dragon.
Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab
The School for German Brides examines the impact of social and political beliefs on the lives of three young girls living in Germany 1938 and beyond. First, Hanna Rombauer, following her mother’s unexpected death has been sent to live in Berlin with Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Otto, Hitler supporters. Hanna’s aspiration is to study medicine at university following in her mother’s footsteps.
Hanna is befriended at school by second teen, Klara Schmidt. Klara’s parents, active in the Nazi Party, have grand plans for Klara to marry an SS officer. Aimee K. Runyan’s discerning insights into the strained social settings the teens are thrust into cause readers sincere stress and angst. Events hosted by Charlotte and Otto and the deplorable, disgusting plans that involve Hanna are unimaginable. Third, Mathilde Altman, a Mischling- mixed Jewish and Gentile, is an amazing seamstress and she and her mom live in fear for their safety. They earn a meager living with a fabric shop while Tilde’s dream of studying law disappears.
Runyan’s novel is filled with historical background and political views of women’s “duty” to Germany. Young girls, groomed to be in service to the Fatherland are encouraged to join the BDM- Bund Deutscher Madel or Band of German Maidens, part of the Hitler Youth. “Schools for German brides” taught that “motherhood is your sacred duty…the very reason you were born.” Hanna, Klara, and Tilde cross paths at the school for brides, the luxurious Villa on Schwanenwerder Island. Each young woman is at a crossroads, facing life changing decisions. Runyan’s novel is compelling and intriguing as readers find out how the girls serve their country and find one last gesture to honor the memory of their friendship.
Gertrud Scholtz-Female leader in the Nazi Party, Director of the School for German Brides The first Reich Bride School was established in 1937 on Schwanenwerder, an island in the Havel river in the Berlin locality of Nikolassee. It occupied a villa which served as a model household, in which groups of up to twenty young women would live for a six-week course.The first Reich Bride School was established in 1937 on Schwanenwerder, an island in the Havel river in the Berlin locality of Nikolassee. It occupied a villa which served as a model household, in which groups of up to twenty young women would live for a six-week course.
MARY KAY ANDREWS is the New York Times bestselling author of 29 novels (including The Santa Suit; The Newcomer; Hello, Summer; Sunset Beach;The High Tide Club; The Weekenders; Beach Town; Save the Date; Ladies’ Night; Christmas Bliss; Spring Fever; Summer Rental;The Fixer Upper; Deep Dish; Blue Christmas; Savannah Breeze; Hissy Fit; Little Bitty Lies; and Savannah Blues), and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook.
The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab
Love It or List It and Fixer Upper fans, listen up! Tune your summer reading dial to Mary Kay Andrew’s TheHomewreckers, airing today at a book seller near you! TheHomewreckers pairs headstrong home remodeler Hattie Kavanaugh from Savannah, Georgia, with devilishly handsome TV designer Trae Bartholomew in hopes of creating onscreen chemistry as an abandoned, dilapidated house is restored in a reality TV show. Hattie’s compassionate, lovable father-in-law, Tug, and just the right amount of sarcasm and insights from her protective site foreman, Cassie, add to this delightful cast of characters. When the “showrunner” Taleetha Carr gets involved in tighter launch scheduling along with creator Mauricio, Mo, the cast drama intensifies! While Mo is explaining “sizzle reels” and creating scenes to tape, the unsolved disappearance of a beloved high school teacher heats back up when a wallet is found on demo day! High school memories and secrets are woven into dialogue with nosy neighbors, former owners, city code enforcers, and investigating cops that creates a range of feelings from suspicion to “heart squeeze” moments for readers. Will the TV show help save the struggling Kavanaugh & Sons? Readers will anxiously flip pages for the “before/after” of Hattie Kavanaugh as she saves Savannah’s historic district one house at a time.
Published April 12, 2022-Reviewed for Historical Novels Review Magazine, May 1, 2022
Set during the Great Depression, Sarah Bird’s Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a novel about one woman—and a nation—struggling to be reborn from the ashes. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250265548
“Sarah is the author of 11 novels. Her latest, Last Dance on the Starlight Pier, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in April 2022. In addition to her novels, she has written screenplays for television and magazine articles for national magazines, including The New York Times Magazine, Texas Monthly and the Chicago Tribune. Sarah and her husband, George Jones, live in Austin, Texas, with their son and, arguably, the cutest corgi in the world.”
The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab-
The full review of The Last Dance on the Starlight Pier will be published in the Historical Novels Review Magazine on May 1.
“Welcome to Galveston. Playground of the Southwest,” greeted visitors to Galveston Island, Texas,1932. Sarah Bird shares the riveting story of Evie Grace Devlin’s life during the Great Depression and the world of dance marathons. Evie, having won a scholarship, is following her dream to be a nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital. She meets student Sophie Amadeo of the infamous family who “owns” the island with their illegal booze and gambling racket and during three years of nursing school the two become “pinky promise” friends.”
Sarah Bird masterfully develops the characters in this first-person, gut-wrenching account as Evie hides her past as a child performer in Vaudeville to fulfill her lifelong dream. The horribly despicable actions of Evie’s mom, Mamie, and the Director of St. Mary’s are well scripted, offensive, and appalling. Devilishly delightful Sister T from the nursing school and later dance partners Cleo and Zave add to the suspense and relief like the fifteen-minute breaks in dance marathons.
Bird’s vivid account of Evie’s life after nursing school in 1932, leads readers on an exhausting whirl of dance marathons through West Texas, Chicago and back to Galveston’s iconic landmarks, the Hollywood Dinner Club, Buccaneer Hotel, Guido’s, and Starlight Palace. “Newsies” keep readers up to date with the Lindbergh kidnapping and the nomination of FDR in the upcoming election. Sensory observations of a bayou; the “oily rag/rotten egg smell of the refineries” and Bird’s use of shoes, black-and-white spectator wingtips, high-heeled Mary Janes, and white bucks; to symbolize the wealthy in the box seats, are examples of exquisite prose. Bird’s theme of “love thatrescues a person” shines like a spotlight on the dance floor. So as the Vaudeville saying goes, ‘Absotively, possolutely’ read Last Dance on the Starlight Pier.
Galveston Landmarks from The Last Dance on the Starlight Pier:
Star Drug Street ViewStar Drug upstairs ‘Museum” “The Oldest Drugstore in Texas!”STAR DRUG STORE -SPONSOR of DANCE MARATHONShttps://galvestonstardrug.com/Flagship Hotel destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008Pleasure Pier replaced the Flagship in 2012Guido’s on the Seawall, opened in 1911, still serving visitors to the island!Murdoch’s Sponsor of Dance MarathonsBeach Crowd -Postmarked Galveston 1932Balinese Room Pier Hotel Galvez Postcard – to my grandfather, Eloi Landry in 1932Hotel Galvez built in 1911–Grand Galvez Today St. Mary’s Site of St. Mary’s Hospital where Evie & Sophie studied nursing Buccaneer Hotel was across from Murdoch’s Bath House
Leslie Johansen Nack’s debut, Fourteen, A Daughter’s Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival received five indie awards, including the 2016 Finalist in Memoir at the Next Generation Indie Book Award. She lives in sunny San Diego and enjoys sailing, hiking and her granddog, Alice.
Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab
The Blue Butterfly is the love story of William Randolph Hearst, the richest man in the country, and Marion Davies, a Ziegfeld Follies dancer. Hearst’s money turned her into a movie star while his love for her lasted a lifetime. The novel spans the glittering world of Hollywood and the coming of “talkies”, the rise and fall of the Hearst empire, and the east coast-west coast battle between Hearst’s wife, Millicent, and Marion, his mistress. Leslie Nack develops the deep love and devotion that Marion and Hearst share amidst California garden parties, politics, the building of La Cuesta Encantada in San Simeon, and collapsing economics. Tangling strong feelings of rejection with tender caring moments involving death and grief, others infuriating; the reader is along for an emotional ride. Told in first person the reader cheers for Marion as her deepest fears and insecurities change to confidence and determination to overcome stuttering and develop writing and comedic skills on the stage. Famous Hollywood stars such as Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin and even the Marx brothers have roles to play in the “blue butterfly’s” story.
Leslie Johansen Nack has written a star-studded novel that will leave readers searching for the movie Citizen Kane “that threatened to invalidate all Marion’s successes,” Mank, and The Hearst & Davies Affair to continue the love story. The Blue Butterfly combines the opulence of Hollywood and the audacity and double standard enjoyed by wealthy, powerful men with naivety and lust for stardom. This is a combustible potion when mixed with jealousy and love, adding heat to the inferno of The Blue Butterfly.
“(1863-1951) William Randolph Hearst, the man who conceived Hearst Castle, was a media genius whose influence extended to publishing, politics, Hollywood, the art world and everyday American life. His power and vision allowed him to pursue one of the most ambitious architectural endeavors in American history, the result of which can be seen in magnificent grounds and structures of Hearst Castle.” Read More: https://hearstcastle.org/history-behind-hearst-castle/historic-people/profiles/william-randolph-hearst/
Kimberly Brock is the award-winning author of The Lost Book of Eleanor Dareand The River Witch. She is the founder of Tinderbox Writers Workshop and has served as a guest lecturer for many regional and national writing workshops including at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. She lives near Atlanta with her husband and three children.
History, mystery, and myths are the ingredients blended into The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare. The journal or ‘lost book” is a Commonplace Book, over 400 years old, kept by generations of Dare women. The history of the Colony of Roanoke and Sir Walter Raleigh, 1587, told by Eleanor Dare is alternated with first person narratives by war widow Alice, slowly uncovering her inner self, and her 13-year-old daughter Penn’s newly discovered quest. Emotions from the past stirred with mother-daughter relationships create a dangerous concoction; one that keeps readers hanging on Kimberly Brock’s accounts of Eleanor and the Lost Colony of Roanoke and the rebuilding and decisions to be made about Evertell mansion by the women who now own it. From a radio receiving messages high up in the cupola to a mysterious stone tower at the edge of the forest hiding a chandlery, to the peacocks and Tybee Island, readers will savor Brock’s imagery in descriptions, the loving, endearing character traits, and the search for that silvery light that was supposed to be inside the heirs of Eleanor Dare. Brock slowly reveals Alice’s story as the “peeling layers” of fear and grief gives way to her daughter Penn’s coming of age as the Commonplace Book is discovered and treasured by both mother and daughter. Readers travel from the lonely coast of North Carolina in 1587 to Evertell on the banks of the Savannah River 1945, with some surprising twists. Kimberly Brock’s The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare, truth mixed with myth, is haunting and memorable.
“The origins of one of the America’s oldest unsolved mysteries can be traced to August 1587, when a group of about 115 English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina. Later that year, it was decided that John White, governor of the new colony, would sail back to England in order to gather a fresh load of supplies. But just as he arrived, a major naval war broke out between England and Spain, and Queen Elizabeth I called on every available ship to confront the mighty Spanish Armada. In August 1590, White finally returned to Roanoke, where he had left his wife and daughter, his infant granddaughter (Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas) and the other settlers three long years before. He found no trace of the colony or its inhabitants, and few clues to what might have happened, apart from a single word—“Croatoan”—carved into a wooden post.”
John White’s Return to Roanoke Depiction of Baptism of Virginia Dare
The Grateful Reader 