Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by The Purple Booker.
Today’s feature is a review book sent to me by the author, Kristy Woodson Harvey. Slightly South of Simple is filled with Southern charm, emotional drama, and plenty of heart. I took it to dinner tonight, and enjoyed reading while eating the kind of soup I imagine the characters in the book enjoy: potato cheese soup.
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Intro: (Prologue – Ansley) – Seagulls
I still have dreams about that yellow-and-white striped bikini, the one I was wearing the night I met Jack, my first bona fide summer love. I was fifteen going on sixteen, the perfect age, when your hair tints that summer blond that hairstylists become superstars for emulating. You have filled out enough not to be gangly but not so much that you can imagine a one-piece being in your future.
We spent those bikini summers in Peachtree Bluff, my family and I, at my grandmother’s waterfront home, the one that I didn’t realize until years later was truly something special. It was always blissful, always enchanted, but that summer, Sandra and Emily, my two best friends, and I spent nearly every day at Starlite Island across from Grandmother’s house. It was only a few boat lengths across the sound, but you couldn’t swim there and needed at least a kayak to go. It felt like freedom.
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Teaser: (Inhumane – Caroline)
The worst part about your husband leaving you when you’re pregnant is that there is no alcohol of any kind involved. I mean, how are you supposed to heal when you can’t drink your troubles away? It’s really quite inhumane, if you ask me. (p. 115).
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Synopsis: From the next “major voice in Southern fiction” (New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand) comes the first in an all-new series chronicling the journeys of three sisters and their mother—and a secret from their past that has the potential to tear them apart and reshape their very definition of what it means to be a family.
Caroline Murphy swore she’d never set foot back in the small Southern town of Peachtree Bluff; she was a New York girl born and bred and the worst day of her life was when, in the wake of her father’s death, her mother selfishly forced her to move—during her senior year of high school, no less—back to that hick-infested rat trap where she’d spent her childhood summers. But now that her marriage to a New York high society heir has fallen apart in a very public, very embarrassing fashion, a pregnant Caroline decides to escape the gossipmongers with her nine-year-old daughter and head home to her mother, Ansley.
Ansley has always put her three daughters first, especially when she found out that her late husband, despite what he had always promised, left her with next to nothing. Now the proud owner of a charming waterfront design business and finally standing on her own two feet, Ansley welcomes Caroline and her brood back with open arms. But when her second daughter Sloane, whose military husband is overseas, and youngest daughter and successful actress Emerson join the fray, Ansley begins to feel like the piece of herself she had finally found might be slipping from her grasp. Even more discomfiting, when someone from her past reappears in Ansley’s life, the secret she’s harbored from her daughters their entire lives might finally be forced into the open.
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I’m thoroughly enjoying this book. When I’ve had my fill of thrillers for a bit, I grab a family story like this one that reminds me of how much mother/daughter bonds (and even conflicts) are just what I need…in between the dark tales. What do you think? Would you keep reading?
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This sounds like a truly lovely read – like you when I’m done with the more brutal crime fiction I like to turn to stories about families and that opening about the bikini summer and the teaser about the lack of alcohol both have me convinced that I’d enjoy this book.
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Thanks, Cleo, I am loving it…I should be finished today, but I’ll want more of this family. Since it’s Book One in a new series, I’m delighted.
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This definitely sounds like it’s more my style than the thrillers and crime fiction 🙂
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I love the thrillers, but I must have my family stories, too,. Thanks for visiting, Karen, and enjoy your reading.
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Thank you so, so much for reading Slightly South of Simple. I’m glad you enjoyed it–and love your teasers!! xo Kristy
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Thanks, Kristy, I’ll be finished reading it today, and my review will be up…I’ll send you the link.
I love the characters, the settings, and the hope of reading more about this family. Thanks again!
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What a smashing premise – and I love the title:). This looks like one I would enjoy when I’m all sci fi’d out… Thank you for sharing – and swinging by earlier.
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Thanks, Sarah, I do love Southern family stories…and I’m not from the South, but my grandparents were. These books feel like “comfort food” for the soul.
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I don’t read this sort of thing a lot but this one sounds like one I would really enjoy. I usually read romances or science fiction as palate cleansers when I have had too much murder. Thanks for visiting my blog. Happy reading!
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Thanks for stopping by, Kathy, and I am always up for books by this author.
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An interesting plot. I’d continue reading this one!
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Thanks, Harvee, I am loving the characters, the settings, and the writing.
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Love the title and glad to find out about this new author. This is one I’d keep reading!
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Thanks, Monica, I hope you are enjoying your reading, too.
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That teaser kind of made me chuckle. Not that it’s funny that her husband left her, but she’s so right – it would seriously suck for something like that to happen while you’re pregnant and can’t drink!
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Oh, I know, Kourtni…the worst thing about being pregnant…sort of. LOL
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One of my favorite genres are books set in the South. I’m like you – After complicated mysteries, I love a good southern novel. This one sounds really good. I’m glad you shared it.
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Thanks, Margot, I do love a good Southern novel…the settings, the food, the family connections.
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I love the title and cover and it reads like something I’d enjoy. The perfect summer book!
My TT from Thirteen
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Thanks, Laura, I think so, too. Glad you could stop by.
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I love the title, synopsis, and your strategy of gravitating to a family story after thrillers. I’m going to look for this new series.
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Thanks, Catherine, it feels very relaxing to read family stories in between intense thrillers. I hope you enjoy your own reads.
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Thank intro brings back memories of decades gone by LOL – I liked it.
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Thanks, Diane, the song I thought about when I read about that yellow and white bikini was “It was an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini.
That she wore for the first time today.”
Summertime, songs, and beer. This book takes me back, too.
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I hadn’t heard of this one, but it sounds like something I’d like. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
My teaser this week is from Don’t Kiss the Messenger by Katie Ray
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Thanks, Gabby, I hope you are enjoying your reading.
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I am planning to read this one and like you did save it to read between those suspense/thrillers.Sounds so good.
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Good plan, Nise, and thanks for stopping by. Enjoy!
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I feel for her, not being able to drink after her husband left her (and I don’t drink). That has to be rough being left while pregnant.
I really liked the intro you shared as well, Laurel-Rain. Such pleasant memories. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for stopping by, Wendy, and I really enjoyed this book. The older character was my favorite, but the whole mother/daughter thing was good, too.
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