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Letters from My Sister by Valerie Fraser Luesse

313 pages Revell publisher August 15, 2023 publish date

Synopsis

Two Sisters. One Single Event. A Family Changed Forever.

At the turn of the twentieth century, sisters Emmy and Callie Bullock are living a privileged life as the only daughters of a wealthy Alabama cotton farmer when their well-ordered household gets turned upside down by the arrival of Lily McGee. Arrestingly beautiful, Lily quickly–and innocently–draws the wrong kind of attention. Meanwhile, Callie meets a man who offers her the freedom to abandon social constraints and discover her truest self.

After Lily has a baby, Callie witnesses something she was never meant to see–or did she? Her memory is a haze, just an image in her mind of Emmy standing on a darkened riverbank and cradling Lily’s missing baby girl. Only when the sisters are separated does the truth slowly come to light through their letters–including a revelation that will shape the rest of Callie’s life.

Bestselling author Valerie Fraser Luesse weaves a complex and suspenseful tale dripping with intrigue, romance, and Southern charm.

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My Thoughts

Some books while you may enjoy them a lot while you are reading them and forget about them soon after, this one is not like that. It will be a keeper on my shelf and in my mind.
Set in Alabama at the turn of the twentieth century, this is the story of strong sisterly love. Sisters Callie and Emmy are the privileged daughters of a wealthy cotton farmer. Their bond will show no breaks. Things run beautifully on their plantation home front until an unexpected guest shows up.

Lily is a beautiful young girl who is the granddaughter of their housekeeper and has been brought to live with them due to unforeseen circumstances. Lily attracts the wrong kind of attention including Ryder’s. Ryder, a married man with a roving eye is not trustworthy and a character I didn’t like.


A poignant story, I could imagine myself there in each of the scenes the author has portrayed. A book such as this is so vividly imagined in my mind that it plays out like a movie.


Though there is much happiness in the book there is also sadness.
The author writes a book you will become invested in, with her authentic feeling characters and realistic events. There is a mystery in the book that will keep you reading as it’s revealed later in the book.

When the siblings are separated their bond continues on as they write letters to each other. I must say I wished the book was longer as it was just that good. Those who enjoy southern women’s fiction with deep characters will enjoy this.

Published August 15, 2023
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

The Author

Valerie Fraser Luesse is the author of four novels set in the South: Christy Award winner Missing Isaac (2018), Almost Home (2019), The Key to Everything (2020), and the upcoming Under the Bayou Moon (August 2021), all published by Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. An award-winning magazine writer, Luesse is perhaps best known for her feature stories and essays in Southern Living, where she wrote major pieces on the Mississippi Delta, Acadian Louisiana, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Her editorial section on the recovering Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, photographed by Mark Sandlin, won the 2009 Travel Writer of the Year award from the Southeast Tourism Society. Luesse earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Auburn University and Baylor University, respectively. She is a native of Harpersville, Alabama, and lives in Birmingham, where she is the senior travel editor for Southern Living. Find her online at valeriefraserluesse.com; facebook.com/valeriefraserluessebooks; bakerpublishinggroup.com; bookbub.com/authors/valerie-fraser-luesse; and goodreads.com.

May your day be blessed with goodness. Thank you for stopping in today.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday’s topic this week is WATER. I have lots of books with water on the cover so let’s get to it. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

In this heartwarming small‑town romance, can three months, two planning projects, and a meddling grandmother finally make two high school hate crushes see just how right they are for each other? 

Can first love truly have a second chance when two high school sweethearts find themselves working together to save their respective businesses in this charming, laugh-out-loud retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion?

When Bea Fernsby discovers her fiancé’s eyes have been wandering, she calls off the wedding and hits the road. The village of Heartcross in the Scottish Highlands is about as far away from home as she can get, and when she stumbles into the ideal summer job at The Little Blue Boathouse and meets gorgeous vacationer Nolan Hemingway, things finally start looking up.

Now, as an old mystery surfaces and Bea and Nolan band together to find out what happened to his late grandfather’s one true love, fate throws Bea some unexpected curveballs…and promising opportunities.

After two young women’s deep bond is torn apart, what will it take to bring them together again? In The Ladies of the Lake, the beloved author of Saving Amelie and Night Bird Calling returns with a transformative new historical novel about the wonder and complexities of friendship, love, and belonging.

Amanda Cox is living in New York with a non-committal boyfriend and a student loan that threatens to crush her. That is, until she enters a raffle for a manor house in the British countryside of Northumberland – and wins…

When Luna loses her beloved mother, she’s bereft: her mother was her only family, and without her Luna feels rootless. Then the chance discovery of a collection of letters in her mother’s belongings sends her on an unexpected journey.

Following a clue in the letters, Luna packs her bags and heads to Venice, to a gorgeous but faded bookshop overlooking the canals, hoping to uncover the truth about her mother’s mysterious past.

The next gripping and heartbreaking WWII historical fiction novel from international bestseller, Mandy Robotham.

Pianist: NOUN. Informal. A person who operates or controls a radio transmitter – often in code.

July, 1940

Blitz-ridden London: Marnie Fern’s life is torn apart when her grandfather is killed in an air raid. But once she discovers that he’d been working undercover as a radio operative – or Pianist – for the Dutch resistance, Marnie knows she must complete his mission – no matter the cost…

When western novelist Sadie Goodwin must pen a romance novel to rescue her lackluster sales, there’s only one tiny problem: she’s never been in love.

Desperate to salvage her career, Sadie accepts an invitation to hole up at her friend’s beach duplex for the summer and devote herself to this confounding genre. After all, where better to witness love than on the beautiful South Carolina shore?

A mesmerizing novel about three generations of women who have lost each other—and the quest to weave them back into a family.

An immersive historical tale spanning the life stories of three women, The Woman Beyond the Sea traces the paths of a daughter, mother, and grandmother who lead entirely separate lives, until finally their stories and their hearts are joined together.

A gripping, heartbreaking story of two sisters in occupied Jersey during WWII – one a nurse, who is transported to Nazi Germany, the other, who volunteers for the island’s resistance movement – from the author of The Child on Platform One. Perfect for readers of The Nightingale and The Midwife of Auschwitz.

I can’t wait to get to all these books. They look and sound marvelous. I am a cover lover I’ll admit. Any of these on your tbr list? Have you read any of these?

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping in.

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Her Secret Hope (A Season in Pinecraft Book #3): (An Amish Christian Romance Series about Living Fully, Friendships, Heartbreaks, and Finding Love) by Shelley Shepard Gray

304 pages November 7,2023 publish date Revell publisher

ABOUT THE BOOK

Almost two years after Lilly Kurtz first traveled to Pinecraft, Florida, with friends, she’s decided to make a fresh start there. She’s ready to be new-and-improved Lilly, a Lilly without a past, a Lilly with no secrets. At first, everything goes well. She gets a job, her coworkers feel like family, and she enjoys reconnecting with her friends. But it turns out the past is reluctant to be left behind.

When Lilly meets hardworking farmer Eddie Byler, she can’t get him off of her mind. But then she discovers that Eddie actually lives just a few miles from her hometown in Ohio. Lilly knows that he’s not going to like it when he finds out what secrets she’s been running from. And she knows she could never follow the man she’s falling in love with back to a place where she’s never felt accepted.

Will Lilly have to give up on love in order to find peace? Or could it be that love is actually the solution to all of her problems?

MY THOUGHTS

When I saw Shelley’s latest release in the A Season in Pinecraft series available I just had to grab it and read in less than a day. Never mind that it doesn’t release until November I wasn’t waiting to read it!

I’ve loved this series and getting to know the girls who met on a bus in an ice storm on the way down to Pinecraft. This happened in the first book. Each book in the series has taken us through the girls’ friendships and meeting their beau, marriage and them settling into adult life.

I enjoyed reading the descriptions of Pinecraft, Florida and its Amish population and how they’ve adapted to life there. This book is about Lilly Kurtz, leaving her old life behind is not quite as easy as she thought it would be. Secrets seem to come to light when you least expect it, but will it put a damper on her new budding relationship with hardworking farmer Eddie Byler?

Eddie and his grandmother, November have traveled from Ohio for a vacation. I’ll say November is unlike any Amish woman I’ve read about. She’s sassy and I love her character.

Lilly is happy, she’s found work at an inn and gets along well with the other employees and the owner. When she is blamed for an incident beyond her control at work who will she have to fall back on? I have really enjoyed this series; I think it may be my favorite by the author and greatly look forward to her next series. I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Pre-Order Here

THE AUTHOR

Shelley Shepard Gray is a NYT and USA Today bestselling author. She’s published over a hundred novels and has over a million books in print. She currently lives in northern Ohio and writes full time.

Shelley lives just an hour from Holmes County, where many of her Amish-themed novels are set. She currently writes contemporary romance and Amish fiction for a variety of publishers. When not spending time with her family or writing, she can usually be found walking her two dachshunds on one of the many trails in the Cleveland area.

She also bakes a lot, loves coconut cream pie, and will hardly ever pull weeds, mow the yard, or drive in the snow.

Shelley also spends a lot of time on line! Please visit her website, http://www.shelleyshepardgray.com to find out her latest news or to sign up for her newsletter. Shelley can also be found on FaceBook, Instagram @shelley.s.gray, or on Twitter @ShelleySGray.

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