Friday, January 31, 2020

Dear Abby - Dogs in Winter (Vintage Pictures)

Dear Friends,

I hope you are having a good week! I have a few more vintage pictures to share today of dogs in winter. I shared vintage pictures of dachshunds in winter last week. These are pictures of other dog breeds that I like as well!

A woman travels through the snow (perhaps in a sleigh) with her Wirehair Fox Terrier.


A little terrier dog helps a boy make a snowman.  It looks like he is helping a lot by pulling on that scarf!


A dog watches two people make snow angels.  He has the right idea about not joining in!  (Brrr!)


Two little girls walk a little terrier dog in the snow.  They all have on bright 1960's colors -- even the dog!



A little dog is excited inside on a snow day.  In this family scene, a little girl and her mother are watching the father of the family go off to work.  The little boy is putting snow boots on.  The dog (who looks like a  beagle mix) is dancing around.


Photograph of a Jack Russell Terrier being pushed on the ice in a sled by two old fashioned women.


1940's advertisement for spark plugs featuring a Scottish Terrier in the snow
 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures and hope you have a warm and cozy weekend ahead!  Thanks for visiting today.

Love,
Abby xoxoxo


Book Review - A Sister's Courage by Molly Green

My Review
A Sister's Courage is the story of Raine (Lorraine) Linfoot beginning in 1939 England.  Raine dreams of being a pilot and begins flying lessons at the age of 17.  When war is declared, she joins the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying airplanes to military pilots. This is also the story of Raine's relationships with her parents and sisters, and her romantic interest in two very different men.

I wanted to read A Sister's Courage because I love World War II settings. I have never read a book about a female pilot during the 1940's and also found that aspect of the novel interesting.

The historical details in this book, the first in a trilogy (The Victory Sisters) were wonderful. The author captured little day to day aspects of home front life, like rationing and women collecting aluminum for the war effort.

I found Raine's courage in pursuing flying inspiring and interesting. She persisted in her dreams despite a lot of family related challenges.

Raine's family added an additional dimension to the story.  Her father was supportive but her mother was very negative and there was a lot of tension between her and Raine.  When hardship hit the family, I liked the way that Raine and her younger sisters came together.  I am assuming the other books in the series will be about her younger sisters Suzy and Ronnie.

Raine is an interesting character. She is rather prickly and impulsively outspoken.  She is self aware of these traits:  

"She'd  always had difficulty making friends.  Too acerbic, Maman told her more than once;  too self important - not an appealing trait.  Was this how others saw her?" (p. 202)

Raine has romantic interest in two men -- Douglas, who is a bit older and who teaches her to fly in 1939, and later Alec, an airman that she has a bantering relationship with.  I thought this storyline was well done, and it kept me up late reading to see what would happen!

I recommend A Sister's Courage to other fans of historical fiction who love books set in the 1940's.  You will enjoy this novel, the start of a new series.


Book Synopsis
It’s 1939 and the threat of war hangs over Britain…

The most ambitious of three sisters, Lorraine ‘Raine’ Linfoot always dreamed of becoming a pilot. As a spirited seventeen-year-old, she persuades her hero Doug Williams to teach her to fly.

When war breaks out in 1939, Raine is determined to put her skills to good use. She enlists in the Air Transport Auxiliary, becoming one of a handful of brave female pilots flying fighter planes to the men on the front line.

Raine embraces the challenges of the job, despite its perils. But when Doug is reported missing after his Spitfire is shot down, she realises the war could tear apart not only her country, but also her heart…

A gripping story of family, friendship and courage, perfect for fans of Natasha Lester, Lizzie Page and Call the Midwife.


 

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble


Author Bio
Molly Green is a seasoned author of fiction and non-fiction. She has sold lipstick in a Denver store, modelled in Atlanta, assisted the UN Narcotics Director in Geneva, chauffeured a Swiss Gnome in Zurich, assisted a famous film producer in the UK, and cooked in a sanatorium in Germany. She now lives and writes in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

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

Book Spotlight and Giveaway - Metropolis by Ellie Midwood

Book Synopsis

Weimar Berlin, 1924

Unemployed actors, profiteers, cabaret girls, and impoverished aristocracy – out of this wild set of characters populating Weimar Berlin, Margarete Gräfin von Steinhoff belongs to the latter category. Having lost everything due to hyper-inflation, she considers jumping into the freezing waters of the Spree rather than facing the humiliating existence shared by millions of her fellow Germans. However, a chance meeting makes her change her mind at the last moment and offers her a chance to rely on the help of the metropolis itself, where anything can be sold and bought for money and where connections are everything. The bustling nightlife of cosmopolitan Berlin, with its casinos and dance halls, brings good income for the ones who don’t burden themselves too heavily with morals.

After a New Year’s Eve party, Margot finally meets her ever-absent and mysterious neighbor, Paul Schneider, who makes a living by producing a certain type of film for his rich clientele. Under his guidance, Margot discovers a new passion of hers – photography and soon, her talents are noticed by the prominent newspaper, Berliner Tageblatt itself. But being an official photographer of the most celebrated events of the La Scala and most famous Berlin theaters no longer satisfies Margot’s ambitions. As soon as the chance presents itself for her to get involved with the cinematography on the set of “Metropolis” – the film with the highest budget ever produced by the UFA – Margot jumps at it, without thinking twice. At the same time, Paul becomes involved with a rival project, “The Holy Mountain,” which stars an as yet unknown actress and an emerging director in, Leni Riefenstahl. As the two women meet, professional rivalry soon turns into a true friendship, fueled by their passion for cinematography. However, due to the economic woes facing Germany, both projects soon run out of money and now, both film crews must go to extreme lengths to save their respective productions.

Set against the backdrop of a decadent, vibrant, and fascinatingly liberal Weimar Berlin, “Metropolis” is a novel of survival, self-discovery, and self-sacrifice, in the name of art, love, and friendship.

 

Available on Amazon

Author Bio
Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, “The Girl from Berlin.” Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents.

In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and their Chihuahua named Shark Bait.

For more information on Ellie and her novels, please visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook, Amazon, and Goodreads.

Giveaway
During the Blog Tour, we are giving away a paperback copy of Metropolis! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.  

Giveaway Rules 
– Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on February 21st. You must be 18 or older to enter. 
– Giveaway is open to the US only. 
– Only one entry per household. 
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud will be decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion. 
– The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner is chosen.  
Metropolis