Friday, March 30, 2018

Dear Abby - Vintage Easter Dogs

Dear Friends,

Just a short and sweet note from me today, wishing you a Happy Easter!   I found a few images of vintage Easter dogs that I thought you might enjoy.

This 1939 illustration by Mabel Rollins Harris features a Cocker Spaniel in an Easter bonnet along with a little girl - and chicks!


A little girl in an Easter bonnet hugs her dog.


A Jack Russell Terrier does not want to share a carrot with some bunny rabbits!


A Scottie dog gets an Easter visitor:


A Cocker Spaniel named Butch wears bunny ears and carries an Easter basket:


 A lovely Dachshund meets a bunny rabbit family:


I hope you enjoyed these vintage images.   Wishing you a wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter!

Love,

Abby xoxoxo


Book Review and Giveaway - A Most Noble Heir by Susan Anne Mason

Book Synopsis
When stable hand Nolan Price learns from his dying mother that he is actually the son of the Earl of Stainsby, his plans for a future with kitchen maid Hannah Burnham are shattered. Once he is officially acknowledged as the earl’s heir, Nolan will be forbidden to marry beneath his station.

Unwilling to give up the girl he loves, he devises a plan to elope--believing once their marriage is sanctioned by God that Lord Stainsby will be forced to accept their union. However, as Nolan struggles to learn the ways of the aristocracy, he finds himself caught between his dreams for tomorrow and his father’s demanding expectations.

Forces work to keep the couple apart at every turn, and a solution to remain together seems farther and farther away. With Nolan’s new life pulling him irrevocably away from Hannah, it seems only a miracle will bring them back together.

My Review
A Most Noble Heir is a historical novel set in 1880's England. Nolan Price is happy working in the stables at a Victorian manor house.  However, as his mother is dying she confesses that his father is the Earl of Stainsby, the owner of the estate.  Nolan has planned to marry Hannah Burnham, who works in the kitchen at the estate.  With this news everything changes for them both.  This novel tells the story of Nolan and Hannah, with many unexpected twists and turns on their path to happiness.

I love historical fiction, and especially enjoy Victorian settings.  Susan Anne Mason did a fine job with the manor house setting of this novel.  The period setting and the upstairs-downstairs details were fascinating.

I really liked both Nolan and Hannah.  They are strong, kind, independent people, and I admired the faith that they maintained even in the most difficult of times.  I really was pulling for their happiness!

I found A Most Noble Heir a very engrossing read - to the extent that I stayed up reading past my bedtime!   I could not put this novel down because I really wanted to know how it would all end up.

I recommend A Most Noble Heir for fans of historical fiction, Victorian settings, manor house novels, and Christian fiction.  It is a lovely read, and I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Author Bio
Susan Anne Mason’s debut historical novel, Irish Meadows, won the Fiction from the Heartland contest from the Mid-American Romance Authors Chapter of RWA. Also a member of ACFW, Susan lives outside of Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and two children. She can be found online at www.susanannemason.com.

Giveaway
If you’d like to enter for a chance to win Susan Anne Mason’s Courage to Dream series, plus A Most Noble Heir, here’s your chance!  (Giveaway ends 4/17)

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4664b04915


I received a copy of this book from Bethany House.