Friday, October 26, 2018

Dear Abby - Halloween with Dogs and Retro Fun - Lots of Links!

Dear friends,

Boo!  Are you ready for Halloween?   I am as ready as I can get, which means I will certainly be in the bedroom listening to happy music during all the noise of trick-or-treaters.

I wanted to share some Halloween links with you.  Some are my old Halloween posts, and others are retro themed posts by my Momma.  I hope you enjoy them!

A few of my Halloween posts:

Dear Abby - Pets in Halloween Costumes

Dear Abby - Calling All Girls (Retro Halloween Magazine Covers) 

Dear Abby - Vintage Halloween Dogs 

Retro Halloween fun:

Vintage Halloween on Pinterest

Did You Know:  Trick or Treat

Halloween Costumes With Plastic Masks 

Did You Know:  Candy Corn

13 Great Halloween Songs That Aren't "Thriller" or "Monster Mash"

Do you have special Halloween plans?   If you have pets, do they dress up for the holiday?  What do they think of trick-or-treaters?   I've love to hear from you in the comments, below!

Love,

Abby xoxoxo
 

Book Review - Lady of a Thousand Treasures by Sandra Byrd

Book Synopsis
Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone.

The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether to donate the priceless treasures to a museum or allow them to pass to the baron’s only living son, Harry–the man who broke Eleanor’s heart.

Eleanor distrusts the baron’s motives and her own ability to be unbiased regarding Harry’s future. Harry claims to still love her and Eleanor yearns to believe him, but his mysterious comments and actions fuel her doubts. When she learns an Italian beauty accompanied him on his return to England, her lingering hope for a future with Harry dims.

With the threat of debtor’s prison closing in, Eleanor knows that donating the baron’s collection would win her favor among potential clients, saving Sheffield Brothers. But the more time she spends with Harry, the more her faith in him grows. Might Harry be worthy of his inheritance, and her heart, after all? As pressures mount and time runs out, Eleanor must decide whom she can trust–who in her life is false or true, brass or gold–and what is meant to be treasured.


 

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble


My Review
Lady of a Thousand Treasures begins in 1866 England.  Eleanor Sheffield is an antiques appraiser and evaluator.  She has been in business with her father, who is deceased, and her uncle, who is in the early stages of dementia.  She is juggling her work and her strong feelings toward her former beau, Harry Lydney, when she is asked to evaluate the collection of Harry's late father and decide on its disposition.  

This is such a unique and engrossing book!  It has several really interesting facets.   Most of all I loved reading about Eleanor's work evaluating antiquities.   There were so many fascinating details about the glassware and antique pieces featured in this novel.  A mystery begins involving some missing and forged antiquities and I found that really compelling too.

A good example of the type of details found in this novel:  "I was delighted when I learned that monarchs, on coins, always face in the opposite direction from their predecessor.  It started, my father taught me, when Charles the Second wanted to turn his back on Cromwell -- and so he did, on a coin, for all to see" (p. 43).

The social issues raised by this novel, including women seeking to be recognized in professional positions and the plight of women in prison, were very thought provoking.  The historical notes at the end of the book were interesting.  I had no idea that Lady Charlotte Schreiber, antiquities evaluator, and Dr. Elizabeth Garrett were based on real people!

I loved the personal details too -- Eleanor and her family with her uncle and her housekeeper (who is like family) and her back and forth relationship with Harry.   Harry is an interesting romantic lead.   He is presented in a multi-dimensional way and I went back and forth a few times as to whether Eleanor should trust him.

The Victorian historical details were beautifully done and I feel I actually learned some interesting history just reading this novel.  It is an engrossing read and I looked forward to ending each day with the continued story.   I think that other fans of historical fiction will enjoy Lady of a Thousand Treasures as well.

Author Bio
Sandra Byrd’s first series of historically sound Gothic romances launched with the best-selling Mist of Midnight, which earned a coveted Editor’s Choice Award from the Historical Novel Society. The second book, Bride of a Distant Isle, has been selected by Romantic Times as a Top Pick. The third in the series, A Lady in Disguise, was named by the American Library Association’s Booklist as one of the Top Ten Inspirational Fiction Books of the year.

Her contemporary adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. To Die For was also named a Library Journal Best Books of the Year Pick, as was The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr.

Victorian Ladies, a new series, offers its first title, Lady of a Thousand Treasures, in 2018.

 

Connect with Sandra

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram


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

Book Spotlight - Child of Love and Water by D.K. Marley

Book Synopsis
The year is 1722. A child is born on the isolated island of Ospo off the Georgia coast. In the midst of General Oglethorpe’s vision for this new land, and the emerging townships of Frederica and Savannah, four lives entwine together on this island like the woven fronds in a sea-grass basket – the orphaned Irish girl born free of hate or prejudice, a war-ravaged British soldier seeking forgiveness and absolution, a runaway Gullah slave girl desperate for a word of kindness on the wind, and a Creek Indian warrior searching for answers about this intrusion onto his homeland. What they learn from this wild innocent girl, and from each other, will change their lives forever.

A new birth, a new country, and the elements – Water, Wind, Fire, and Earth – entwine to teach one thing: Love conquers all. Love sees beyond borders. There is no ignorance in love.

Available on Amazon


Author Bio
D. K. Marley is a historical fiction writer specializing in Shakespearean themes. Her grandmother, an English Literature teacher, gave her a volume of Shakespeare’s plays when she was eleven, inspiring DK to delve further into the rich Elizabethan language. Eleven years ago she began the research leading to the publication of her first novel “Blood and Ink,” an epic tale of lost dreams, spurned love, jealousy and deception in Tudor England as the two men, William Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe, fight for one name and the famous works now known as the Shakespeare Folio.She is an avid Shakespearean / Marlowan, a member of the Marlowe Society, the Shakespeare Fellowship and a signer of the Declaration of Intent for the Shakespeare Authorship Debate. She has traveled to England three times for intensive research and debate workshops, and is a graduate of the intense training workshop “The Writer’s Retreat Workshop” founded by Gary Provost and hosted by Jason Sitzes.  She lives in Georgia with her husband and a Scottish Terriers named Maggie and Buster.

For more information, please visit D.K. Marley’s website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads.