It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
This week was fairly lowkey. Little Miss and I went swimming twice – once earlier in the week and once yesterday with her friend who I’ll name Crazy Child for the sake of the blog.
She had a sleepover last night and it’s the last one of the summer, so I’m excited about that even if she isn’t. I know. I’m awful, but sleepovers can be so exhausting.
She and her friend had a ton of fun, though, so I am glad.
The temps dropped so much the last couple of days that I think my animals thought it was fall already. They were curled up on me or against me Friday and Saturday. Our youngest cat wanted to be on me no matter what Saturday night – even laying on my chest while I was trying to sleep!
Temps are going to warm up again because we aren’t done with summer yet.
What I/we’ve been Reading
Our daughter let me know this week that she is done watching movies based on books. They ruin her images of what she sees in her mind. I just thought that was funny and accurate because so many of us readers feel that way.
I am currently reading
Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour (just taking my time on this one since it is not my normal genre)
The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes (A Nancy Drew Mystery) by Carolyn Keene
Tracking Tilly by Janice Jackson
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (loved this one. I’ll have a review later this week.)
The Key Collector’s Promise by Donna Stone (this book will be out in September)
Renee by Sandra Ardoin
An Assassination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey
The Boy is in between books.
Little Miss and I are listening to Little Women on Audible at night before bed.
The Husband headed off to work before I could ask him what he’s reading right now.
What We watched/are Watching
This week I watched Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshopwith Kelsey Grammer and a British actress I’d never heard of. It was pretty good but was a pretty simple mystery. I read that it was meant to be the first movie in a series but You Know What happened and then Kelsey started filming the new Frasier.
I also watched When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit(a German film based on the book by Judith Kerr, which I enjoyed).
I started a movie called From Time to Time but haven’t finished it yet. It is a bit weird and involves a young boy going back in time. I’m not sure how they got Maggie Smith for it. It isn’t horrible but it doesn’t seem to be at the same caliber as her other work.
What I’m Writing
I am still working on Gladwynn Grant Shakes The Family Tree and having fun.
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
Sun, sand, and tea are just three of Everly Swan’s favorite things. Her batty, beekeeping great-aunts and small, coastal hometown of Charm, North Carolina, round out the top five. So returning to Charm for a fresh start on her wilting life is an easy decision for Everly, and opening a new seaside cafe and iced-tea shop puts the proverbial icing on her legendary lemon cakes.
Everything is just peachy until a body turns up on the boardwalk outside her home and a jar of her proprietary tea is found at the victim’s side.
Now, Detective Grady Hays, Charm’s newest and most mysterious lawman, has named Everly as his number-one suspect, and Everly’s new start is about to go up in smoke unless she can dish up the real killer.
I’d heard so much about this book from other cozy mystery readers of Booktubers so I was excited when it finally became available through Libby, the library ebook app.
I started it and really enjoyed it in the beginning. I even found out I could listen to it for free via Audible for the times I couldn’t sit and read. I then discovered that Bree Baker was the pen name for another author I’d recently read – Julie Anne Lindsey – so I was sure the book would be as good as everyone said. Lindsey’s book was Apple Cider Slaying, which I really enjoyed.
The writing is great, don’t get me wrong, but after a few chapters I began to realize that I was reading the beach version of Apple Cider Slaying.
Sure, the characters were somewhat different – an extra elderly relative was thrown into this one with two aunts instead of just one grandma – but otherwise the plots were somewhat similar.
There was a person in town who didn’t like the main character, Everly, having her business in her home and before the end of chapter one he was dead.
Everly was considered a possible suspect so she had to clear her name. In Apple Cider Slaying, the main character had to clear her grandmother’s name.
Once again we had a former U.S. Marshal who moved to a small town to start over as the local police chief and the main character found out more about him by looking him up online.
This time we tossed a kid and dead wife into the mix, but the police chief does become a love interest.
Now, all this being said, I’m not saying the book was bad. There were aspects I liked about it, including the back story of the Swan family.
Overall, the book was interesting and engaging even if it was predictable and not as good as I had hoped. Still, cozy mysteries aren’t known to be creatively unique or full of depth all the time. They often simply give readers what they want – a mystery to solve by an amateur sleuth who must clear either her name or that of a friend or family member and some quirky and fun characters. Cozy mysteries are to cozy mystery readers like romances are to romance readers – comfortingly predictable and maybe even slightly cheesy.
Live and Let Chai had all of that so I enjoyed it, yes, but I don’t know if I will rush out to read the next in the series – especially because I didn’t really like the main character that much. She was a bit rude and pushy at times.
I will, however, most likely read the next in the series at some point because I am curious to see if the other books will be as predictable or if Lindsey – er – Baker will break the mold a bit.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
After I posted that post the kids and I picked up a friend of The Boy’s and brought him home to our fold to become one of the family for a couple of days – though he is really part of the family even when he isn’t here.
We also stopped and picked up groceries.
Yes. It was a very exciting day, but we needed that after our busy week last week.
What I/we’ve been Reading
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.
I’m very much enjoying this book which is so much different than the Anne of Green Gables books. I love the main character and can’t wait to see what happens to her in the end.
When You Returned by Havelah McClat
Tracking Tilly by Janice Thompson
I put Dandelion Cottage by Carrol Watson Rankin to the side and plan to pick it back up in the fall to read with Little Miss – or actually we may start it this week because am I as writing this I remembered we finished our read aloud this week.
Return to Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright
Renee by Sandra Ardoin
Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour
An Assassination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey
What We watched/are Watching
This week I watched the original Gidget movie (1959) for my planned Summer Movie Marathon and will write about it in a future post.
I also rewatched the 2010 version of True Grit with The Boy and his friend. As usual I cried at the end. It’s such a good movie.
I am currently listening to The Cross-Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini.
I have also been listening to Anne Wilson’s album, Rebel.
Photos from Last Week
Now it’s your turn
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
Today’s prompt is: Ten Things I Loved About [Insert Book Title Here] (Pick any book and tell us ten things you loved about it!) (submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext)
For this prompt, I chose to write about Little Women, which I read for the first time at the end of last year into this year. I stretched out the reading of this book – savoring it – because I loved it so much. I can’t believe it took me so long to read it. I fell in love with every character and I feel like this is a book I may not read over and over but will read excerpts of each year – probably in the winter like I did this time.
Anyhow, without further ado. . .
Top Ten Things I Loved about Little Women.
1. I love how realistically Louisa Mae Alcott wrote about the roles and lives of women in that time period, but she also didn’t entirely adhere to this historical fact because she also wrote of the girls as rebellious to those strict “standards” for women. The young March women were bold and strong-willed and didn’t let what society said they had to be stop them from being what they wanted to be.
2. I love Marmee. Just everything about her. I loved how she was maternal and brave and cared for others. I loved how she was strong but didn’t mind showing the girls she was scared when her husband was in the military hospital. I loved that she didn’t mind telling Jo that she too had struggled with her tongue and being snappy and hurting people’s feelings, yet didn’t try to tell Jo that Jo needed to change. Alcott’s decision to write about her admittance of her own struggles with temper and her reasons for those struggles was so ahead of its time. Talking about feelings and motivations for why a person acted the way they did wasn’t really something touched on by many books of this time, as far as I’ve seen.
3. I love how the book is not a traditional romance or really a romance at all – yet it is at the same time. Readers may think the story is marching (no pun intended) to a certain conclusion with two certain people ending up together but Alcott turns it all on its head and leaves us pondering what we think about who does end up with our beloved Teddy.
4. Finding a category to place this book in can be very hard at times. There are elements of romance, but then also just sweet stories, and then women’s fiction with Jo’s story and thoughts about what it means to become a young woman and a writer and what love means to her. I love that the book can’t be easily categorized. It makes it even more endearing.
5. I love the faith of the characters and how even though they have faith, they also aren’t afraid to question it and admit when God seems so far away.
“Yes, it is. She doesn’t know us, she doesn’t even talk about the flocks of green doves, as she calls the vine leaves on the wall. She doesn’t look like my Beth, and there’s nobody to help us bear it. Mother and Father both gone, and God seems so far away I can’t find Him.”
As the tears streamed fast down poor Jo’s cheeks, she stretched out her hand in a helpless sort of way, as if groping in the dark, and Laurie took it in his, whispering as well as he could with a lump in his throat, “I’m here. Hold on to me, Jo, dear!”
She could not speak, but she did “hold on,” and the warm grasp of the friendly human hand comforted her sore heart, and seemed to lead her nearer to the Divine arm which alone could uphold her in her trouble.
6. I love how each chapter of the book is like its own story which means I could read a chapter or two a night of the book and stretch out the enjoyment of stepping into that world night after night.
7. I love how Beth was both childlike and deep at the same time. So many of the things she said – much like Jo and Marmee – were amazingly profound and thought-provoking in such a simple, sweet way.
“You must take my place, Jo, and be everything to Father and Mother when I’m gone. They will turn to you, don’t fail them, and if it’s hard to work alone, remember that I don’t forget you, and that you’ll be happier in doing that than writing splendid books or seeing all the world, for love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.”
8. I love the subtly of the life lessons in this book. Those life lessons come in some of the profound statements that the characters, like Beth, says, but especially through the actions of the characters. How Marmee takes food to others and cares for them when they are at their lowest. How all the girls grasp onto life and hold on tight so they can enjoy as much of it as possible. How Mr. March helps his neighbors. How Beth cares for the young children who are sick, resulting in her own sickness and later her death.
9. I love how we are able to follow the young women from childhood to adulthood. I loved being able to see them grow and progress and stretch along the way.
10. I love Mr. Laurence and his love for Beth, but all the girls and how that love opens up parts of him that he had shut off long ago.
Is there a book that you could list ten things you love about it? If so, which book is it?
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
Yesterday my husband and I celebrated 22 years of marriage. We went to dinner at a nearby restaurant and watched a movie together after shipping off the kids and dog to the grandparents.
It was a nice, quiet, relaxing day and very welcome.
I rambled about our trip to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon in my post yesterday if you want to read about that.
What I/we’ve been Reading
The Dandelion Cottage by Carol Watson Rankin
Version 1.0.0
Return to Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright (a read aloud with Little Miss).
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
When You Returned by Havelah Mclat
Live and Let Chai by Bree Baker (I wanted to like this much more than I did. Not the worst but pretty much like a previous book I read by the author under her real name).
Reneeby Sandra Ardoin
Clueless at the Coffee Stationby Bee Littlefield
Little Menby Louisa Mae Alcott
The husband is reading the latest installment in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series by Anthony Horowitz.
Also, for those who wanted to know, he did enjoy the Patrick Stewart biography.
The boy is in between books because he finished his last read which was an audio version of a Warhammer book.
What We watched/are Watching
Just a Few Acres Farm
There is something so relaxing about just watching Farmer Pete work on his farm or dig holes in his field or feed the cows. When my brain is spinning or I just feel off-kilter, I turn on Pete and just remember the simple things of life.
Last night the kids and I watched Monty Python’s Search for The Holy Grail because we needed a laugh.
The husband and I watched Breakheart Pass with Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland (Bronson’s wife) after our anniversary dinner. I didn’t think it was very romantic but then I got wrapped up in it and needed to know what happened. I’m going to make him watch a romantic comedy with me later in the week.
During the week I watched this YouTube channel because it is also relaxing: Under A Tin Roof.
What I’m Writing
We had a busy week so I did not write as much as I wanted to but I did work on Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree a little bit.
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
We have been sweating. We will sweat more this week. We will try to go swimming and maybe do some other things as family since The Husband has this next week off work. I am ready for Summer to be over. I’m sorry Summer lovers but I hate the heat. If it can be 65 to 70 for the rest of Summer, then it can stay. Otherwise – buh-bye *wink*
If you want to read about how much I want Summer to go away and Autumn to come, you can read my post from yesterday.
What I/we’ve been Reading
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
Live and Let Chai by Bree Baker
The Chosen Kids Saga Book One: Encounter at the Dunes by R.W. Ruiz (not related to the show The Chosen/children’s book)
Return to Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright (reading with Little Miss on nights we don’t fall asleep early)
The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz
Renee by Sandra Ardoin
Dandelion Cottage by Carol Watson Rankin
Clueless At the Coffee Station by Bee Littlefield
Little Men by Louisa Mae Alcott
What We watched/are Watching
I have been rewatching All Creatures Great And Small (the modern version) and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew series (more on that later this week), but not a lot else. I’ve been reading and writing a bit more lately.
What I’m Writing
I am working on Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree (the title is tentative at this point), which is the third book in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries. I’m having fun writing it and I hope you’ll have fun reading it.
I don’t mention it a lot here but if you want to read the other two books you can find a link to them in the My Books section in the menu at the top of the page.
I’m also offering 50 percent off annual paid subscriptions to my Substack newsletter/author site. I’ll be offering sneak peeks, author interviews, and several other perks on there and this week added an epub version of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing to all paid subscriptions.
If you are interested in the discount, you can use this coupon link:
I am listening to Live & Let Chai by Bree Baker when I am driving somewhere, while also reading the ebook on Kindle.
Music-wise I am listening to Anne Wilson’s Rebel album.
Now it’s your turn
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
I saw this prompt for a Mid-Year Book Round-Up (Freak Out) on Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs’ blog a few weeks ago but also saw another version online where the blogger listed more than one book for certain questions so I decided to combine the two.
Best Book (s) You’ve Read In 2024
Little Women by Lousia Mae Alcott and Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
I know. I know. I went for the classics, but I had never read either of them and ended up loving them both. I started Little Women in December but finished it in 2024, so I am counting it for 2024. I listened to Around the World in 80 Days and maybe it was the narrator that made it so interesting for me, but I really did enjoy it.
Best Sequel You’ve Read In 2024
The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes
My daughter and I loved this middle-grade book and, I think, it was the only sequel I read all year so far. It was such a cute book, following the adventures of – well, the middle Moffat, Jane. Her adventures with the Oldest Inhabitant (a 99-year-old Civil War vet) was the cutest part of the book to me. It was also cool that we read the chapter about the Eclipse at the same time the eclipse was happening.
Most anticipated release for the second half of the year?
There are a lot of these (and you can read more of mine here) but for now, I will go with Tracking Tilly by Janice Thompson and I haven’t read it because it actually doesn’t release until August 1.
This one is a mystery that seems pretty cozy so I am looking forward to it.
Here is the description:
Who Stole Tilly from the Auction Block? Breathe in the nostalgia of everything old red truck in book one of a new cozy mystery series. The Hadley family ranch is struggling, so RaeLyn, her parents, and brothers decide to turn the old barn into an antique store. The only thing missing to go with the marketing of the store is Grandpa’s old red truck, Tilly, that was sold several years ago. Now coming back up on the auction block, Tilly would need a lot of work, but RaeLyn is sure it will be worth it—if only she can beat out other bidders and find out who stole Tilly after the auction ends. Hadley finds herself in the role of amateur sleuth, and the outcome could make or break the new family venture.
Biggest disappointment.
I have two for this one:
Hell is Empty: A Walt Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson
I’ve enjoyed almost all of the Walt Longmire series I’ve read so far but this one was ridiculous and predictable and I was terribly disappointed in it. My husband has suggested I read more books in the series because the rest of them were very good, so I will.
Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jaime Jo Wright
This was my first time trying this author and not only was the book repetitive (the woman grew up in a house of death by a cemetery full of death and death was all around her. Yes, got it. Stop repeating it every chapter) but it was extremely, extremely disturbing to me and I didn’t feel it should have been listed under Christian Fiction.
Biggest surprise.
I picked up How To Plan Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin on Netgalley and wasn’t sure what I would think of it but ended up really enjoying it and getting swept up in the twists and turns of this mystery.
Favorite new author. (Debut or new to you)
Isabella Alan would probably be a new favorite for me. Her real name is Amanda Flowers but she writes as Isabella Alan as well and I really enjoyed her book Murder Plainly Read and plan to read more books by her later this year.
Newest fictional crush.
Theo Goodnight in Sharon Peterson’s The Fast Lane. He’s so swoony and sweet and funny and (a small spoiler here!) writes romances that I actually wouldn’t read but we’ll just go back to him being sweet and funny and dreamy.
Here is a little snippet of the book with Theo in it:
Bracing a hand on the table, he leaned close. “I’m beginning to think you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
My breath caught at the low, gravelly sound of his voice.
He shifted closer, his mouth stopping an inch from my ear. His warm breath on my skin sent a zing of awareness through me. “And I’m definitely not your brother.”
Swoon.
This is a clean romance by the way, so there is a bit of steam, small level of spice but no open door scenes or even medium spice.
Newest favorite character.
I know he isn’t new to others, but he’s new to me: Hercule Poirot. I’ve watched him on TV in the shows, but never realized how savage he was – even more so in the books than the show. The way he slams Hastings, putting him in his place, is just so funny.
From Lord Edgware Dies:
“I have noticed that when we work on a case together, you are always urging me on to physical action, Hastings. You wish me to measure footprints, to analyse cigarette ash, to prostrate myself on my stomach for the examination of detail. You never realize that by lying back in an armchair with the eyes closed one can come nearer to the solution of any problem. One sees then with the eyes of the mind.”
“I don’t,” I said. “When I lie back in an armchair with my eyes closed one thing happens to me and one thing only!”
“I have noticed it!” said Poirot. “It is strange. At such moments the brain should be working feverishly, not sinking into sluggish repose. The mental activity, it is so interesting, so stimulating! The employment of the little grey cells is a mental pleasure. They and they only can be trusted to lead one through fog to the truth…”
Book that made you cry.
Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen. ‘
So much of this book was just so sweet and touching. It’s the story of a family who travels to the mother’s grandmother’s former home in the Pennsylvania countryside to try to help the father overcome PTSD. While there they meet a lovely couple, help the couple make maple syrup, meet a man who they thought was weird, but was actually sweet and just grow together as a family. Maybe it is because I am from Pennsylvania that it gave me sentimental feelings, I don’t know, but it really had me teary-eyed.
Book(s) that made you happy.
I’m picking two for this one:
The Cat Who Talked To Ghosts by Lilian Jackson Braun.
This book didn’t make me happy because a side character in the series I’ve been reading since high school was tragically murdered, but because I saw so much more of the main character, Jim Qwilleran’s, personality in this book. There were funny moments and touching moments and it was just such a departure from the other books in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Murder In An Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor
This one was just a fun ride and I really enjoyed learning about Irish culture while also being taken on a journey through an interesting mystery. Plus, I fell in love with the characters.
What books do you want to read by the end of the year?
Here are a list of books I want to read by the end of the year:
The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery (already reading it)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (because I’ve never read it
Live and Let Chai by Bree Baker (I’ve heard a lot about this one and have it on my Kindle and Audible right now so I am looking forward to it)
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kipp by Sara Brunsvold (I started this one but it got a bit heavy for me so I would like to finish it)
An Old Fashioned Girl by Louise Mae Alcott
The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Are any of these books on your mid-year round-up? Any of them you want to read? Let me know.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
Can you even believe it is the last day of June? Because I absolutely cannot. June has gone by so fast my head is spinning!
I rambled about my week last week in yesterday’s post where I wrote about swimming and summer and the rain we had all day Saturday
What I/we’ve been Reading
The Women of Wynton’s by Donna Mumma
The Sentence is Death: A Hawthorne & Horowitz Mystery by Anthony Horowitz
The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father by Jim Wight (I have to be honest that this one is a bit boring to me right now so I am not reading it every day)
Return to Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright (a read aloud with Little Miss)
Lord Edgware Dies: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie
Tracking Tilly by Janice Thompson
The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit
The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes: A Nancy Drew Mystery by Carolyn Keene
The Husband is reading Making It So: A Memoir by Patrick Stewart (he found it on Libby)
The Boy is listening to Soul Hunter by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
What We watched/are Watching
I am making my way through the old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys show from the 1970s. Why? Yeah…I have no idea but they aren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. I’m even getting to hear some good tunes from Shaun Cassidy. *wink*
Lovejoy. This old show from the 1990s is scratching an itch and I have no idea why. I guess I’m craving old stuff these days.
This video from Under A Tin Roof:
Videos from Just A Few Acres Farm on YouTube.
What I’m Writing
Still working on Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree and I hope to have it released in the fall. Right now the first two books are on sale on Amazon for $1.99 (ebooks).
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
The books for the Apron Strings Book Series keep releasing and this month Cynthia by Jessica Marie Holt was released.
The Apron Strings Book series features books about women in each decade from 1920 to 2020. The characters are connected by one recipe/cookery book, but otherwise the books can be read individually and in any order. My book, Cassie, will be released in August and there are 11 books in all.
Today I am interviewing Jessica about her writing and her book, which was released June 15.
Here is a quick description:
At twenty-two, Cynthia Bailey has had enough family drama to last a lifetime. She loves her small eastern North Carolina town, and longs to settle into a simple, quiet life on her own . . . or maybe with Tucker, the boy next door who won’t stop asking her to marry him. Unfortunately, Momma’s wild ways have a tendency of throwing monkey wrenches into Cynthia’s plans. Besides, without Cynthia there to keep constant watch over her, Momma is certain to get herself into real trouble.
Cynthia has one respite from her problems: Granny Tru’s farm. Momma doesn’t like her going there, as she left Granny and farm life behind long ago and expects Cynthia to do the same. But she doesn’t dare say much, because if there’s anyone more strong-willed and determined than Momma, it’s Granny.
Cynthia secretly wishes everyone would just get along. But Momma and Granny are worlds apart, with bitterness, family secrets, and tragedies between them. It all seems hopeless until, tired of Momma’s frozen TV dinners, Cynthia asks Granny True for help learning to cook. When Granny gives her a vintage cookbook she acquired from a used book shop, she finds much more than cooking lessons. She finds faith, hope, and a way back to healing for her family.
See the bottom of this post for a link to the book.
1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m a mom of five, although two of my little birds are grown and have flown the nest. I homeschool my three younger kids. We have two dogs, Jack and Daisy, and two cats, Milo and Whiskey. We also have a hamster named Taco. I grew up in South Florida, but I currently live in central/eastern North Carolina. I absolutely love it here; it has inspired so much of my writing.
I have been writing almost all my life, but I have only been published since 2018, when I dusted off a short story I’d written 20 years earlier and made being a writer official.
2. What is your latest book about? Who are the main characters and when and where does it take place?
My latest book, Cynthia, is part of an amazing multi-author series called Apron Strings. Each book is set in a different decade, and each main character is from a different place and a different walk of life. The stories are tied together by one cookbook from the 1920s.
My book, Cynthia, takes place in the 1970s. Cynthia is a sweet 22-year-old girl who is caught between two very different generations—Momma’s and Granny Tru’s. She’s also caught between a rock and a hard place. She wants to move on with her life and find her place in the world, but she’s stuck. She lives at home with Momma, whose wild ways make it difficult for Cynthia to start a new life on her own—or with Tucker, the boy next door who won’t stop asking her to marry him.
3. What is the overarching message of your latest book?
Mainly, Cynthia is a story about finding the courage to let go and move forward. In one way or another, each of the three women in the story, Cynthia, Momma, and Granny, are struggling with the past and finding it hard to let go and move on.
In our doubt and fear, we often tend to try and hold on to people we love—to manage them or rescue them or control the outcomes of their choices. We do this to protect them, and to keep ourselves from getting hurt. But this kind of “help” isn’t really helpful. At some point, we need to learn to let people go and be at peace. After all, God loves them more than we do, and he’s in control.
4. Did you learn anything about writing or yourself as you were writing the book?
This was a healing story for me. I found a little bit of courage and clarity when I wrote it.
5. Where can readers find out more about you and your projects?
