Storyteller Lauren K. Denton, a new voice in Southern fiction delivers a smashing debut, THE HIDEAWAY. Making me want to ret The 30 Best Books of 2017
Storyteller Lauren K. Denton, a new voice in Southern fiction delivers a smashing debut, THE HIDEAWAY. Making me want to return to my southern front porch and curl up for a long leisurely nostalgic afternoon while being transported with this beautiful love story.
My vote for Southern Debut of 2017!
Set in Sweet Bay, Alabama in the Deep South, we meet Dot, a friend of Mags (Mrs. Margaret Van Buren), a tenant of The Hideaway. The Hideaway was once a booming Bed and Breakfast; however, over the years it has turned into a home for eccentric seniors (bohemian) style, artists, and the free-spirited looking for an escape; you came and never left.
As the book opens, Dot (husband, Bert) are seniors living in the house. She is admiring the latest Southern Living article featuring Maggie (Mag)’s granddaughter, Sara who owns a highly successful interior design shop in New Orleans.
People tend to arrive at this charming inn, and they fall in love and decide never to leave.
Mag’s daughter, Jenny is deceased and she helped raise her granddaughter Sara. Mags was very unconventional and some called eccentric. Sara was embarrassed by her lifestyle growing up. Mags has never told her own story to Sara. By the time she had moved in with her at age twelve, Sara was at that critical period where there were peer pressure and friends’ opinions.
Sara turned out to be a stronger woman because of who Mags turned out to be. If Mags had remained under her parents’ thumb, worrying about how others perceived her, she would have been a wispy shadow of a real woman.
Sara loved the French Quarter in the Big Easy. She was proud of her shop, Bits and Pieces. She has no time for a man, relationship, or anything other than her store. She has restored an old shotgun house and filled it with restored furniture, and antiques. A bit of everything. Her assistant manager, Allyn was always there to help out (loved him).
Her mind always went back to Sweet Bay to see Mags, her grandmother. However, she was too busy with the shop to visit more often.
However, when Sara receives the news from Mag’s attorney, she knows it is too late to spend time with her eccentric little grandmother. She had left her for greener pastures in New Orleans, but Mags was her only family. Her grandmother has passed always. Now she has regrets not making the time.
What would happen to the house now that Mags was gone?
"The Hideaway was always full of friends and lovers, mothers and daughters, secret keepers, and secret-spillers, straight talkers and soft shoulders. We had hurt, and we had joy, but I wouldn't have it any other way."
It had not been a proper bed-and-breakfast since she was a kid. As she becomes older, she is more aware of the unusual living arrangements. It might have been a legitimate B&B at one time, but over the years it had become a senior citizen commune with a revolving door. A long-layover for people on their way to Florida retirement glory.
The old Victorian which was once a beauty, now in poor condition. It was formerly in all the travel guides as the Southern Sight to See. They would all be shocked to see it now.
Sara soon learns she has inherited the inn and the resident seniors. She is to bring the B&B back to its glory days. However, in the process, Sara soon learns there was much more to her grandmother than she ever knew.
The author takes us back to 1960's to learn about Margaret's parents, family and how she met her husband to be. The man she married. A man, her family, wanted her to marry. A banker. After he began cheating, over and over, she escapes to The Hideaway. A solace for many.
After meeting the original owner, whose husband died, the inn was not the prestigious Gatsby house it was previously in its hay day. Margaret comes under a false name and soon gives up the rich life, pearls and pillbox hats, for a simpler life. One she adored.
Mags meets William, a man who changes her life. A wood maker, who teaches her the important things in life. The man who held the key to her heart. However, her old life comes back to complicate things. She chooses the bohemian life, so different than the one she had previously. Mag’s past changed her from quiet to bold. Weak to strong.
Sara soon discovers more and more about her grandmother and the mysterious man in her life from the past. However, she may be more like her grandmother than she knows. She decides to remodel The Hideaway per her grandmother’s wishes.
In the process, she meets the handsome contractor which slowly changes her perspective. Also, she encounters challenges with the residing seniors, now part of the family, and a developer who wants the land, after all the work. Plus she has her life and shop in New Orleans. She never wanted to return to Alabama. Much less run an inn.
However, just when she is about to wrap up the renovation and make plans to return to New Orleans, the nasty old developer is threatening to take away the historic dream, for a condo new project development, until someone intercepts, which changes more than one life. Sweet surprises for many.
Compelling and Inspiring! Rich in history, character, and lots of heart, Denton bridges the gap from past to present with a heartwarming and charming southern tale of family and friendship. The critical in life. A thought-provoking takeaway. Self-Discovery.
Do we know our parents and grandparents? We all need to slow down, listen, and hear the intriguing stories from past generations which will enrich our lives while helping us to understand their struggles and sacrifices. After all, they helped mold us to become the person we are today. I loved Mags!!
For fans of southern, historic, women’s and contemporary fiction.
Those who enjoy authors: Viola Shipman, Nicholas Sparks, Beth Hoffman, Patti Callahan Henry, Susan Rebecca White, Mary Ellen Taylor, Lisa Wingate, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Mary Kay Andrews, Joanne DeMaio, Donna Ball, Debbie Macomber, Sherryl Woods, Laura Lane McNeal, Camille de Maio, Wendy Wax and Karen White, will enjoy this newfound author.
Well-written, a must read. The Hideaway resonates with me on so many levels. As a B&Bs, design, antiques, historic properties, plus more.
A special thank you to Thomas Nelson Fiction and NetGalley for an early reading copy.
A special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. A very fitting title and cover.
From Atlanta to A special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. A very fitting title and cover.
From Atlanta to Alabama, M. J. Pullen delivers her third installment (The Marriage Pact #3) with a group of thirty-something girlfriends, BAGGAGE CHECK. From emotional baggage, complexities, wit, wisdom, and love. The game of life. How will each play the game?
As the book opens, Atlanta girlfriends, Suzanne, Marci, Beth and Kate are headed to Charleston, SC where they would all be at Kiawah Island and drinking soon. A luxurious rental house—technically supposed to be a bachelorette party for Suzanne.
Rebecca and Marci had been part of the same circle of friends for more than fifteen years, since Rebecca had escaped to Georgia her senior year in high school, but they could never seem to get comfortable being alone together. Rebecca supposed the fact that she was in love with Marci’s husband, Jake-- didn’t help.
Rebecca, age 35 a flight attendant out of Atlanta receives a phone call from her mother back in Alabama, and returns to the town and a past, she so wanted to leave behind. A town and people she wanted to forget. She had exchanged this unpleasant life for an orderly one. She was not looking forward to returning.
When she was growing up, in the rural small Southern town, a town barely able to support the weekend dance hall that only served soda and doubled as a senior activity center during the day.
Then there was (is) Sheriff Deputy, Alex Chen from the same Podunk town where they had grown up. A guy who played football with her brother, who still has feelings for her. She had no intentions of getting involved with him, or does she?
Her mom, Lorena was a hoarder and has a psychiatrist. OCD plus now she is confused and dissociative. Mental Illness. A traumatic event. Rebecca’s brother Cory died in a car accident in 1997 when he was eighteen. After Rebecca moved to Georgia for her senior year and went to college it became harder for her father to keep her mother in check.
Rebecca begins questioning her own life. For the last ten years she had been too busy lusting after a man who did not love her. Her career. She had been free on weekends and rarely made her way out I-20 West to Alabama. How would she face her own past and present?
Now Marci wants to know if her husband is cheating?
Rebecca had left all these things behind long ago. It was easier. There was something unhealthy in the way her mother clung to each piece of matter around her. As though by holding on to the everyday items, she could hold on to Cory.
She herself, had replaced the past with a senior year trying to fit in with the kids from a rich Atlanta suburb, trying to live up to other people’s potential. From the sorority at UGA, still the regional alumni VP, where she hoarded social connections, the way her mother hoarded garage sale furniture.
Rebecca loved her orderly clean life. Being the kind of person who could be a blank slate, a smile that reflected back what people wanted to see in themselves. No pets, no artwork, no low cut blouses or profanity to offend a potential suitor’s mother. She had built her life on being the girl-next-door clean, as asset to any man of wealth and reputation.
And yet, she slept alone. The men of wealth and reputation wanted blue-blooded women like Suzanne, who could wear high heels and silk scarves and manage to curse while sounding feminine. Rebecca had never been able to pull off either. Was she trying too hard to be something or someone different?
What about Alex? The boy who was there all along.
However, on the opposite side, we hear from Marci Stillwell, through her Blog (The Care and Feeding of a Suburban Husband) with a series of entries about her life. Is her picture perfect husband, lovely home in the suburbs, beautiful daughter and amazing life, what it appears to be?
Everyone is busy rushing to grow up, however, do we wish we had spent more time enjoying our time being a kid? Always striving, while losing the enjoyment of playing the game (journey).
“Life isn’t perfect. Love isn’t perfect. People are taken from us too soon, lives unravel, families crumble. Even when we stay together, we take each other for granted, and the love that should lift us up to be better people sometimes leaves us room to become selfish, righteous, or controlling instead.”
How does love survive? Win or lose, just get back out there. Sometimes you have to know the tears of loss to appreciate the joy of winning. Sometimes the people who need love the most are the ones who seem to push it away.
Being an Atlanta gal, and a Southern native, loved discovering this author. This was my first book in the series and working my way backwards to the prior books. I enjoyed the comparison of marriage, relationships, family and friendships (Life) to the game of (Sports). More than just about the "score" at the end of the game. " If you live in GA or AL, there is always sports.
"Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.” – William A. Ward
Beautifully written, with human insights, a contemporary look at the lives of modern women, their complexities, family, friendships, and the strong need of acceptance and love. Dealing with the past, in order to move forward with the future.
The Marriage Pact series begins with Marci and Jake, Suzanne and Dylan, now Rebecca and Alex--from witty, quirky, emotional and inspirational. Love and Loss. Heartwarming, important life lessons, and self-discovery.
Fans of Emilie Giffin, Sarah Pekkanen, Jane Green, and Jennifer Weiner will enjoy BAGGAGE CHECK! We are, in many ways, defined by our baggage.
"It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up."— Vince Lombardi
A special thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars
THE PROFESSOR, set in Tuscaloosa, Alabama A special thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars
THE PROFESSOR, set in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1969, Robert Bailey delivers his debut, a Southern taut legal suspense thriller mixed with a football icon, Paul "Bear" Bryant, an American college football player and coach— best known as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama football.
Thomas Jackson McMurtrie wants to be a trial attorney, and had just been approached the previous week by a top firm. Now the coach, his former mentor wants him to be a law professor. Before he had reached Birmingham, Tom knew just as he had known all those years ago when he was playing football, the Man had called, and he must answer.
As a law professor, Tom finds himself in the middle of some major issues. He is being forced out; a scandal, betrayed by both a powerful colleague and his own failing health.
At the same time, someone from his past, a girl he dated approaches him, with a legal problem. A few months prior her daughter and husband were in a car accident around Henshaw. They had hit a tractor-trailer truck head-on. Her granddaughter was in the car too and died. They all died, even the trucker.
The trucking company was one in Tuscaloosa- Willistone Trucking Company in 2009 involving a Willistone rig hauling Ultron gasoline and a driver named Harold Newton. A witness says her son-in-law turned in front of the rig, but she does not buy this.
Ruth Ann Wilcox, had never filed a lawsuit before, and she had not one else to call. Tom had not tried a case in year and encouraged her to take it to someone else. He agrees to look at the case. From excitement to guilt. Rick Drake from Henshaw? There is bad blood connected with the two. Rick is now Richard Drake, Esq. Law Firm.
Tom offers the case to Rick Drake. Rick had often daydreamed about chance confrontation with the Professor. The nerve of him coming here after what he had done? He was fired because of him. The Professor thinks this would make up, for how he had hurt his career?
However, could he turn down a multimillion-dollar death case? His only chance was to be a plaintiff’s lawyer and have a million-dollar case walk in the door; that just walked out. He has second thoughts.
Drake, takes the case against the freight carrier and soon begins to uncover the truth behind the tragedy that is buried in a tangled web of arson, bribery, and greed. On the eve of the trial and with his case unraveling in the midst of a dangerous cover-up that threatens to silence his star witnesses, Drake realizes that only his estranged mentor, The Professor can help.
With everything to lose and only justice to gain, will Tom and Drake overcome bad blood to defeat a ruthless adversary? Can they work together and put the past behind them. More importantly, can a sixty-eight year old law professor who has not tried a case in forty years hit the largest verdict in West Alabama history? Vindication, for being forced to retire by the law school?
A fast-paced legal suspense, of the evil corruptions combined with a seasonal legal professor and his young protegee, making for a powerful fight for justice, with some compelling emotional dynamics.
I was initially drawn to the title and author, as a native of the Davidson, NC area, (quaint small college town, having visited a few weeks ago), where the author attended college, as well as a southern legal crime thriller fan.
Look forward to more from the new entertaining southern author, as we continue with McMurtrie and Drake series.
Laura McNeill’s CENTER OF GRAVITY is an intense suspense domestic psychological thriller—a compelling exploration inside the walls of a Southern family, for a riveting page-turner, grabbing you from page one to the end!
Set in Mobile, Alabama it would appear from the exterior, Ava and Mitchell Carson’s marriage and family unit is picture perfect. However, behind closed doors— deceit, lies, and control; a devil in disguise, with charm, good looks, intelligence, and manipulation. Will Ava possess the tenacity and strength to protect her children, from a monster? Will the superhero loving, son Jack save the day before it is too late?
"Every day, somebody, somewhere, needs a hero."
Ava, a teacher meets a charming man who has recently lost his wife. She falls in love with his adorable eight-year old, son Jack, and they are soon married. She does not know much about her new husband’s past life, and does not ask a lot of questions, thinking he does not want a constant reminder of his past life. Ava adopts Jack, and soon thereafter she gets pregnant and they have a son, Sam who is now one.
Into the marriage, Mitchell, her husband, a successful man with money, looks, and charm, becomes controlling and demands she quit her job to stay home with the children. She was a teacher at the private school, where Jack attends.
Ava is a simple woman and does not need all the frills and material possessions, even driving an older jeep. However, Mitchell wants to continue buying, remodeling, and doing things to the house, to show the world he can take care of his family (true narcissistic behavior). His clothes, car, hair, and everything about him is for show and outward appearances. He is high stressed, short tempered, and spends no time with the children.
Ava is innocent, a little naïve at times and wonders if Mitchell is just stressed with work. She is trustworthy, and cannot comprehend her husband would stoop to such drastic measures. She is the only loving parent and soon finds Mitchell is not the man she thought she married. He does not even give her enough money to barely keep the house running-- another control tactic. “Sleeping with the Enemy” intensified, as now there are two children involved.
Mitchell is paranoid and extremely jealous. Cold and calculating. Ava has an old childhood friend (a cop), Mike, and Mitchell is even jealous of him. For no apparent reason, he decides to take the kids and move out. He makes Ava look bad and starts spreading lies. In the blink of an eye, he has temporary custody and Ava finds herself getting one hour a week supervised visitation with her own children. How could this have happened? Mitchell gets down and dirty - He has attorneys, the college, colleagues, judges, her old school friends, and even Ava’s own mother in his back pocket, with money to spin his story. Mitchell soon shows his true colors, and is not the man she thought she knew. How many people will he fool before other lives are in danger? Ava has to get her sons away from this mad man.
This guy is pure evil! Around every corner, he is conniving, setting up Ava to make her look like an unstable bad mother. He is verbally and emotionally abusive with the boys, and poor Jack is caught in the crossfire. (felt so sorry for the boys). Through messy restraining orders and custody battles, which are one sided, the court mandates a child psychologist, Dr. Lucy Bennett, and a mediator. Will Lucy be able to determine which one is the bad parent, in time to save the kids?
“When your children are stolen, the pain swallows you whole. Logic fades, reason retreats. Desperation. A charmed life falls to pieces. Destroyed. False promises. Lies. Emptiness.”
Soon Ava starts digging into Mitchell's past and gains the strength to fight for her children against all odds. Did he kill his first wife, the talented author of children’s books? Is she next? The more she learns, the more she fears for her children's safety. Why did Mitchell say his father was dead? What is he hiding behind this façade? Will Graham, Ava’s attorney be able to help her---before it is too late?
WOW! I was not anticipating the intensity and power of CENTER OF GRAVITY! Compelling and impressive. I happened to be packing preparing for a move, and another week of travel, and driving back to Florida from NC. This is the type of book, you want to read in one sitting, as very difficult to put down. My advice, "Do not start this book until you have the time, as it is so good." One to be read with no interruptions.
Laura McNeill's writing is pitch perfect; the pacing, character development, plot planning and a satisfying conclusion – excellent! My kind of book—possesses every ingredient for a "must read"--not a simple fluff drama marriage/divorce story.
CENTER OF GRAVITY, has depth---a psychological suspense, leaving you holding your breath, wondering what Mitchell will do next. It is so realistically shocking, knowing how many women have to face a man like this, when the legal system is not always there to protect the innocent, and everything is not as it appears.
Loved hearing from each well-developed character, flashing back and forth from each perspective (Graham, Ava, Mitchell, Lucy, Jack), getting an intimate view (especially Jack, the son). Ava grew so much from the beginning of the book, with newfound strength and confidence in herself and the fierce love of her boys, and her need to protect her family. Jack was adorable with his love of superheroes, and his younger brother, Sam --his need to protect those he loves. Mitchell is evil and mean, and Laura does an outstanding with the portrayal of this character-- his secret past, keeping you in chilling suspense. I loved Graham, the attorney, not the typical attorney, rough around the edges, his motorcycle, leaving you rooting for a happy ending.
“Everyone has a center of gravity. Every family too. It’s the tangible things that make us feel grounded and whole. And it’s different for everyone—a good job, a strong marriage, or a close friendship. Often when that center of gravity tilts with trouble or disappointment, everything becomes a little unstable. When you have a greater rift, like a divorce, it’s more like an earthquake. It takes time and work to achieve that equilibrium and peace again.”
What is normal?
CENTER OF GRAVITY is a chilling and haunting tale, yet uplifting novel of one mother’s love and a son’s determination. I fell in love with the book, and the author’s style (what a master storyteller)! She has been added to my favorite author list and fans of psychological suspense will devour this one! Highly recommend.
Upcoming Book SISTER DEAR OMG good! 5 Stars + Coming April 19, 2016. You need to move this one to the top of your reading list.
On a side note: The superhero part made me think of my youngest son, who just turned 40. About five years ago, his sister-in-law was planning a superhero birthday party for her son’s eighth birthday to include all his little guy friends. She hired a professional Spider-man for his party; however, he cancelled at the last minute. My son agrees to take his place (he is very athletic, and muscular), and rents a nice Spider-man professional costume (with even more muscles included). He evidently gets into the character, (he was also a superhero fan when he was younger). Highly creative, he wants to make a grand entrance--deciding to climb up a power pole and jump, then run across the back yard to the deck to make his appearance.
However, once he reached the top of the power pole, when he is jumping down, his mask slips over his eyes (had not planned for this minor technicality), blinding him, so he is unable to see the ground below to cushion his fall. He falls and breaks his leg. He still makes his appearance in pain, and winds up in the emergency room for the next seven hours, and an entire leg cast for months. Funny, as the local paper covered the story of the Spider-man superhero cited in the north Charlotte area, with his photo. Since he now has two children of his own (5 and 8), he has given up his superhero stunt performances. ...more