Thoughts in Progress

Friday, April 23, 2021

Under the Southern Sky

I’m delighted to share the news (be it a bit late) that author Kristy Woodson Harvey released a new book, UNDER THE SOUTHERN SKY, this week.

Kristy, as you may know, is the author of the wonderful Southern Peachtree Bluff series. Her newest book is about two childhood friends discovering that family and love can be found in unusual places.

Recently separated Amelia Saxton, a dedicated journalist, never expected that uncovering the biggest story of her career would become deeply personal. But when she discovers that a cluster of embryos belonging to her childhood friend Parker and his late wife Greer have been deemed “abandoned,” she’s put in the unenviable position of telling Parker--and dredging up old wounds in the process.

Parker has been unable to move forward since the loss of his beloved wife three years ago. He has all but forgotten about the frozen embryos, but once Amelia reveals her discovery, he knows that if he ever wants to get a part of Greer back, he’ll need to accept his fate as a single father and find a surrogate.

Each dealing with their own private griefs, Parker and Amelia slowly begin to find solace in one another as they navigate an uncertain future against the backdrop of the pristine waters of their childhood home, Cape Carolina. The journey of self-discovery leads them to an unforgettable and life-changing lesson: Family--the one you’re born into and the one you choose--is always closer than you think.

Here are some thoughts on the book from others.
 

"Harvey (Feels Like Falling) delivers a heart-wrenching tale of love and loss in this tearjerker...Harvey brings her characters to life, including Greer, whose heartbreaking journal entries imagine the family she and Parker would have. These passages are particularly wrenching, making the book’s happy ending all the more moving. Fans of women’s fiction will devour this.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Pack your beach bag, Harvey’s back with another delightful story of the magic of southern coastal towns… As with Mary Kay Andrews or Patti Callahan Henry, Harvey spins romance around well-drawn characters, complete with strengths and weaknesses, and always mindful of the beauty that comes from living in the modern South.”—Booklist

“Sometimes the key to new love lies hidden in old friendships. In Under the Southern Sky, Kristy Woodson Harvey stirs up a warm-hearted mix of hometown charm and the sort of thoroughly modern problems that bring us back to the people who know us best and the places that remind us of who we really are.”—Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours and The Book of Lost Friends

“Perfect for: fans of beach reads, P.S. I Love You, and anything by authors Jennifer Weiner and Elin Hilderbrand. A perfect pick for book clubs or a weekend read, Under the Southern Sky follows journalist Amelia as she makes a heart-wrenching discovery that changes everything.”—Country Living

"I've always been a Kristy Woodson Harvey fan, but she has taken things to a whole new level with Under the Southern Sky, her best novel yet. I laughed, sobbed, and gasped at the story's clever twists and turns; I couldn't flip the pages fast enough to see how Amelia's and Parker's story turned out. You'll need plenty of tissues—and maybe some of Cape Carolina's beloved bourbon-spiked sweet tea—to make it to the end. Deliciously plotted, intricately constructed, gorgeously written, and brimming with hope, Under the Southern Sky will steal your heart and make you think about first loves, second chances, and the unforeseeable twists of fate that guide us all."—Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names

 "Harvey delivers a fresh and unforgettable portrait of modern parenthood and the thoroughly traditional ways that love continues to conquer all."—Booktrib

“This is a character-driven (…) romance with a lot of introspection. Recommend to readers of Mary Kay Andrews and Susan Mallery.”—Library Journal

"I adore Kristy Woodson Harvey’s writing style—and topics! I always know that I’m getting an immersive, well-written, visually transporting book when I open one of Kristy’s and this is one of her best. And that’s saying a lot!"—Zibby Owens, Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books

UNDER THE SOUTHERN SKY is available to purchase at the following links:

BOOKSHOP.ORG, AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, BOOKS-A-MILLION, TARGET And everywhere books are sold. Signed copies are also available from: Oxford Exchange.

Meet the Author: Kristy Woodson Harvey

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the USA Today bestselling author of Feels Like Falling, The Southern Side of Paradise, The Secret to Southern Charm, Slightly South of Simple, Lies & Other Acts of Love, Dear Carolina and the forthcoming Under the Southern Sky. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, her work has been optioned for film and her books have received numerous accolades.

She blogs with her mom Beth Woodson on Design Chic about how creating a beautiful home can be the catalyst for creating a beautiful life. Design Chic is the inaugural member of the design blogger hall of fame, sponsored by Traditional Home, and winner of Amara’s Best Luxury Blog, as chosen by Roberto Cavalli. She also loves connecting with readers on kristywoodsonharvey.com.

Harvey is a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s school of journalism and holds a master’s in English from East Carolina University, with a concentration in multicultural and transnational literature. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications and websites, including Southern Living, Traditional Home, Parade, USA Today, Domino, Our State and O. Henry. She has been seen in Today.com, Women’s Health,The Washington Post, US News and World Report, The Huffington Post,Marie Claire’s The Fix, Woman’s World, Readers’ Digest, Bustle, New York Live and North Carolina Bookwatch, among others.

She is a proud member of the Tall Poppy Writers, serves on the board of Beaufort Historical Association, and is a member of the University of North Carolina’s Women’s Leadership Council. She is a frequent speaker at fundraisers, book conferences and private events. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and son where she is working on her next novel.

For more on Kristy and her writing, you can connect with her on the following sites:

BookBub:  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kristy-woodson-harvey

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Kristy-Woodson-Harvey/e/B00O4OUKI0?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/friend/requests?ref=nav_my_friends

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kristywoodsonharvey

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kristywharvey

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kristywharvey  

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Doesn’t this sound like one of those books that will have you laughing one minute and reaching for a tissue to dry your eyes the next?

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Lady Rosamund and the Horned God (+ Giveaway)

It’s a pleasure to be a part of author Barbara Monajem’s Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for her latest release, LADY ROSAMUND AND THE HORNED GOD, the second installment in her Rosie and McBrae Regency Mystery series.

Lady Rosamund And the Horned God

By Barbara Monajem

Historical Cozy Mystery

2nd in Series: A Rosie and McBrae Regency Mystery

Publisher - Level Best Books

Number of Pages – ~300 Pages

Widowed Lady Rosamund spends the first months of her mourning in the Lake District, where it’s safe and peaceful, and murders are exceedingly rare. Luckily, she is rescued from this tedium by a house party comprised of playwrights, poets, and actors—an immoral set of persons with whom no respectable lady should associate. Even so, she hardly expected to wake in the wee hours to find one of the guests lying dead.

As if that wasn’t troublesome enough, Gilroy McBrae is at the same party, masquerading as a footman to investigate a series of thefts. Was the sudden death an accident—or murder? Almost everyone had reason to loathe their unpleasant fellow guest. Rosie must set aside her confused emotions about McBrae and work with him to find the culprit before an innocent person is accused of the crime.

Here's an excerpt for your reading pleasure.

The first night at a house party, Lady Rosamund she is wakened by a scream…

I sat up in bed, heart battering my chest. By the grey light in my room, I surmised it was almost dawn. Had that shriek been merely a dream? The house seemed enveloped in silence.

And then came more screams, ghastly and chilling, one after another after another.

I leapt out of bed, crammed my feet into my slippers, donned my wrapper once again, and rushed into the passageway.

It was cloaked in gloom, but faint light from the Great Hall filtered up. It was from there that the screams came, now dissolving into hoarse sobs. A door opened behind me across the passage, but I was first to the stairs.

Which you no doubt think was foolish of me, but I couldn’t help myself. Although I have had many small brushes with supposed insanity, I’m not a complete idiot. I peered over the bannister before starting down.

Below me, flat on the floor, was a man. All I could discern was his head and feet, for something huge and unidentifiable lay atop him. As I stared, a woman appeared and glanced about. She bent over the huge something, grunting…and then with a swish of skirts, she vanished.

Meanwhile, a sobbing girl stumbled up the stairs toward me. She tripped on her gown and fell, crying out, and I helped her up. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

“He’s dead.” She swayed. “Oh God, he’s dead. He murdered him!”

I feared she would faint, so I kept a firm hold on her. “Who?” A stupid question, I realized. In the first place, I didn’t specify whether I was asking for the identity of the victim or the murderer. In the second place, she was hysterical and unable to speak coherently. I could very well go see for myself, once I got rid of her.

“It’s all my fault,” she whispered, clutching my arm. “I wish I had never come to this horrid place.”

An understandable sentiment, but she couldn’t have predicted this…could she?

“Helen! Miss Gardner, that is.” Mr. Powers hurried up, clad only in shirt and breeches. This utter disregard of the proprieties, coupled with his use of her Christian name, seemed to indicate that his relationship with the young woman might be as close as Harold Bellevue feared. “What happened?”

“He’s dead!” she wailed and cast herself upon his breast.

“Hush,” he said. “Who’s dead?”

“How could you?” she cried and sobbed into his shirt. She, at least, was fully dressed, making the embrace less improper than it otherwise might have been.

I left them to it and hastened down to see the body for myself. Obviously, it behooved me to determine first of all whether the man on the floor was indeed dead.

It was the unpleasant Mr. Fence, but looking unlike himself—tranquil and at peace. With a shudder of revulsion, I realized that what lay atop him was a huge rack of antlers. I glanced up at the wall of the landing: sure enough, the largest stag’s head I’d seen there last evening was gone.

I knelt beside him and felt for his pulse—a waste of time, for even if he still lived, he wouldn’t for long. Two prongs of the antlers had pierced his chest.

There was not even a flutter of heartbeat.

I stood and took a deep breath, trying to shove away the thought that ran over and over through my mind: you wanted a corpse, and you got one.

Lady Rosamund And the Horned God is available to purchase at Amazon.

Meet the Author: Barbara Monajem

Winner of the Holt Medallion, Maggie, Daphne du Maurier, Reviewer’s Choice and Epic awards, Barbara Monajem wrote her first story at eight years old about apple tree gnomes. She published a middle-grade fantasy when her children were young. When they grew up, she turned to writing for adults, first the Bayou Gavotte paranormal mysteries and then Regency romances with intrepid heroines and long-suffering heroes (or vice versa). Some of her Regencies have magic in them and some don’t (except for the magic of love, which is in every story she writes).

Barbara loves to cook, especially soups, and is an avid reader. There are only two items on her bucket list: to make asparagus pudding and succeed at knitting socks. She’ll manage the first but doubts she’ll ever accomplish the second. This is not a bid for immortality but merely the dismal truth.

She lives near Atlanta, Georgia with an ever-shifting population of relatives, friends, and feline strays.

For more on Barbara and her writing, you can connect with her on the following links:

Website: http://www.BarbaraMonajem.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/barbara.monajem
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BarbaraMonajem
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1chhzpf
** Sign up for her occasional newsletter here: http://www.barbaramonajem.com/contact.html

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be sure to follow Barbara on her virtual book tour by visiting the blogs below. Also be sure to enter the giveaway below. If the Rafflecopter widget doesn’t show up, you can still enter by clicking HERE.

Doesn’t that excerpt make you want to know more about Lady Rosamund and what happens next?