Friday, February 9, 2018

Dear Abby - Vintage Dachshund Valentines

Dear Friends,

Next week is one of my favorite holidays, Valentine's Day!  I wanted to take the opportunity to wish you a happy Valentine's Day and to share a few vintage dachshund Valentines with you.

These are all older cards from the 1950's - 1960's like children exchanged in school.

This little dachshund wags her tail and mentions "a long long time."   (Lots of dachshund cards make a play on the word "long.")


 This is an elegant dachshund with a garland of red hearts:


 This cute dachshund is a dandy.  He is wearing a hat and coat!

This little girl dachshund looks so sweet in her coat and hat.  She is even carrying a pink rose!


This festive dachshund wears a hat with streamers:


"Valentine, you're really swell!"   


 "I'm longing for you, Valentine."


 "I've liked you a long time Valentine!"


"For you on Valentine's Day."  A little girl and her two dachshunds look at a note that is arriving through a letter slot in the door.


This little red dachshund is from a child to their teacher.


 "You're a dog-gone swell Valentine."


I hope you enjoyed this vintage Valentines, and hope you have a wonderful holiday!  I'll be back next week with some more dogs in movies.

Love,

Abby xoxoxo

Book Review and Giveaway - The Story of Our Lives by Helen Warner

Book Synopsis
They think nothing can tear their bond apart, until a long-buried secret threatens to destroy everything. 

Every year they have met up for a vacation, but their time away is much more than just a bit of fun. Over time, it has become a lifesaver, as each of them struggles with life’s triumphs and tragedies.

Sophie, Emily, Amy and Melissa have been best friends since they were girls. They have seen each other through everything—from Sophie’s private fear that she doesn’t actually want to be a mother despite having two kids, to Amy’s perfect-on-the-outside marriage that starts to reveal troubling warning signs, to Melissa’s spiraling alcoholism, to questions that are suddenly bubbling up around the paternity of Emily’s son. But could a lie that spans just as long as their friendship be the thing that tears them apart?

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Purchase Links

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My Review 
The Story of Us tells the story of four friends over the years.  Sophie has a wonderful relationship but struggles with post-partum depression.  Amy is in a perfect marriage - from the outside.   Emily is a single mother raising her son alone.  Melissa struggles with drinking and self esteem that leads her to choose the wrong men.  

This book spans the years from 1997 to 2012.  Each section begins with a quote about what is happening in the world at that time.  Events like Princess Diana's death, the Queen's Golden Jubilee, and the divorce of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills are included as touchstone memories.

I really enjoyed the way this book moved back and forth through time.  As the women move along in life we see flashbacks to their pivotal college years and their 20's.  This was an interesting way of getting to know the characters better.

The author, Helen Warner, does a wonderful job of delineating these very different characters.  Within the first few chapters I felt I had a good understanding of the different women and what motivated them.

I found The Story of Our Lives a real "can't put down" novel.  I read it in about 3 days because I enjoyed the book so much that I kept sneaking in extra reading time to find out what happened next!   I really enjoy novels about women's friendship, and this was an enjoyable read.  

I recommend this book to fans of women's fiction. This would be a great weekend read or vacation book!

Author Bio

Helen Warner is head of daytime for Channel 4, where she is responsible for shows such as Come Dine With Me and Deal Or No Deal. Previously she worked for ITV where she launched the daytime talk show Loose Women and was editor of This Morning. She lives in East Anglia with her husband and their two children.

Connect with Helen

Website | Goodreads


Giveaway  

Win a $25 gift card!

I received a copy of this book from TLC Book Tours.