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Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – An American Beauty: A Novel of the Gilded Age by Shana Abe – #historicalfiction

Published on by dgkaye24 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing a book I enjoyed by author Shana Abe, An American Beauty: A Novel of the Gilded Age. This is the second book I’ve read from this author after reading The Second Mrs. Astor, and I’m sure it won’t be the last as Abe takes us into the story of Arabella (nee) Yarrington and her poor beginnings before being discovered by the wealthy Collis Huntington as she struggled and sacraficed on her rise to riches in the Gilded Age.

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Blurb:

“Abé is an exquisite storyteller.” —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace

The New York Times bestselling author of The Second Mrs. Astor returns with a spellbinding new book perfect for fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age and readers of Marie Benedict, Karen Harper, and Allison Pataki. This sweeping novel of historical fiction is inspired by the true rags-to-riches story of Arabella Huntington—a woman whose great beauty was surpassed only by her exceptional business acumen, grit, and artistic eye, and who defied the constraints of her era to become the wealthiest self-made woman in America.

1867, Richmond, Virginia: Though she wears the same low-cut purple gown that is the uniform of all the girls who work at Worsham’s gambling parlor, Arabella stands apart. It’s not merely her statuesque beauty and practiced charm. Even at seventeen, Arabella possesses an unyielding grit, and a resolve to escape her background of struggle and poverty.
 
Collis Huntington, railroad baron and self-made multimillionaire, is drawn to Arabella from their first meeting. Collis is married and thirty years her senior, yet they are well-matched in temperament, and flirtation rapidly escalates into an affair. With Collis’s help, Arabella eventually moves to New York, posing as a genteel, well-to-do Southern widow. Using Collis’s seed money and her own shrewd investing instincts, she begins to amass a fortune.
 
Their relationship is an open secret, and no one is surprised when Collis marries Arabella after his wife’s death. But “The Four Hundred”—the elite circle that includes the Astors and Vanderbilts—have their rules. Arabella must earn her place in Society—not just through her vast wealth, but with taste, style, and impeccable behavior. There are some who suspect the scandalous truth, and will blackmail her for it. And then there is another threat—an unexpected, impossible romance that will test her ambition, her loyalties, and her heart . . .
 
An American Beauty brings to vivid life the glitter and drama of a captivating chapter in history—and a remarkable woman who lived by her own rules.

“This story of one woman’s ascent offers a fascinating look at the choices she made to become a Gilded Age titan.”— Kirkus Reviews

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My 5 Star Review:

This is the second book I’ve read from Shana Abe and won’t be the last. The Second Mrs. Astor had me turning the pages, and this book written in a similar timeframe was just as engaging.

This is historical fiction at its finest. I will start by saying, I enjoyed the author’s note after the end which shares some lovely tidbits the author researched on the real Arabella and Collis Huntington and how philanthropic they both were – never forgetting their own humble beginnings. This is a grand story of Arabella (nee) Yarrington, a beautiful and clever young girl who has an incredible rags to riches story from working in a gambling parlor for slimey Johnny Worsham, to becoming a mistress to, and finally, marrying the uber wealthy railroad magnate, Collis Huntington, and becoming the richest women in the country. Collis gave her a start with her sharp business ideas, and from that Belle built her own empire, never wanting to go back from whence she came. Belle was a determined and sharp woman. And despite their initial shady introduction to one another, and the fact that Collis was married when they met, and eventually shared a child together, they managed to keep their heads high in society by staying out of gossip papers and not keeping circles with the elites of the gilded age.

Abe takes us into rich descript settings, and well painted characters which draw us into this fascinating historical transformation of one powerful young woman who will stop at nothing to secure her family and herself to change her destiny. And despite the gossip, jealousy, and snootiness of the upper class circles she’s moved up to, Belle manages to overcome whatever is thrown her way.

Arabella is a beautiful and clever seventeen year old, working as a barmaid in the parlor to support her widowed mother and four siblings in Richmond, Virginia. Collis Huntington frequents that parlor and is smitten by Arabella. They begin an affair, and Arabella learns well how she can move Collis to her wants and whims, and has him relocate herself and her family to New York City, where both Arabella and her family have their own rented mansions paid by the wealthy Huntington as Arabella (Belle) reinvents herself.

Arabella’s lifestyle and the coming and going visits by Collis cause a lot of curious gossip. She’s rising up the ranks in her position in society under the guise as ‘the widow Worsham’ so as not to be taken as a mistress riding on the coat tails of Collis Huntington. Nobody yet knows that Belle’s son is also the son of Collis, and the storyline glides nicely along as the secret is kept – until it’s not. While Belle hopes and waits for Collis to become all hers, she is faced with a nagging heart throb after meeting Collis’s nephew, Edward Huntington, who is Collis’s righthand man in his business world.

Collis and Belle share a wonderful life together and as independents from one another. Belle is a strong woman mentally, not easily offended by society, and admittedly very happy with her life. She loves Collis very much and he adores her, and Belle remained faithful to him, grateful for all he has done and given her, smart enough to know that she wouldn’t risk her happy life for fleeting romance.

This story was well researched and beautifully written with wonderful descriptions of cities and homes and decor of the era in the late 1800s. Belle’s homes in New York were neighbors to the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, et al, of the era after the Civil War and old money and real estate was ripe for those who could afford it. The Gilded Age has been mentioned as a time of the reconstruction and industrialization in America between the 1870s and 1890s, a time of great change, great successes and great losses, political corruption, and excess. No doubts the slogan ‘Keeping up with the Jones’s’ was coined back then, actually in 1913 when a comic strip became popular about the times they were living in.

I look forward to reading more from this author.

©DGKaye2024

Life 101

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – New Series – Life Lessons 101 – Dating Now and Then by D.G. Kaye | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

Published on by dgkaye33 Comments

In my Life Lessons 101 series at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Blog Magazine this week, I’m sharing my article here on – Dating Now and Then.

Welcome back to my Life 101 series. You can find the first post in the series Kindness Matters

Dating Now and Then  

Today I’m talking about the potentially scary world of digital dating compared to the pre-digital era. Maybe it’s because I spend much of my waking life online, so I know how intimidated I would feel to ever think of dating someone I only know through online. Not to say that I am at all interested in dating anyone at this time – or as far as my inner eye can see, but the conversation is still quite worthy of having.

Dating isn’t as easy as it was when I was younger, the days when we got dressed proper and went out with friends, be it clubbing or disco-ing, out for a gathering, a friendly sports competition or just for an ice-cream or coffee. So much of that lifestyle has dissipated into Netflix, takeout food or delivery, gaming, and in my case, nowhere to really go to meet anyone with my same interests.

Life was more personal back when – no cell phones or texts or emails – just face-to-face conversations and phone numbers exchanged. People went out and met other people in person. Working from home wasn’t yet a thing. And quite frankly, much of my own dating life was very busy interacting with colleagues at jobs I worked at, places we all spent much of our waking hours with together. Alas, not everyone met a romantic interest at their jobs, but it just seemed back in the era, pre cell phones and computers, life was just simpler in many ways, and social interaction, face-to-face was a huge part of the way we met people and invited them into our lives.

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If we physically went on a date with someone, we could see who they actually were, in the flesh. We could learn from their conversations – or lack of them, or if we either admired or disliked qualities in that person. Their body language also reveals things about them. One cannot get any of that by meeting someone online, primarily because sadly, often in the scammy world we live in, how are we to trust a total stranger who could type anything they want or put up any photo and say it is them, and not leave us skeptical about who we are really talking to?

Nowadays, how easy is it to meet someone? Many of the men I dated when younger, I met at my jobs. That’s how many people meet. Or met. Now, with so many working from home, is it even harder to meet someone? Not to mention the many who are at jobs and in their ‘free’ moments seem to be appendaged to their phones. And dating, or getting to know someone, by text, isn’t enough to give me any sense of trust of the person’s personality, mood, or quite frankly, their intelligence. For me, eye contact is a big teller of much about a person. I’m a staunch believer in ‘the eyes are the windows of the soul’. Personally speaking, I don’t enjoy texting at all. I find its value in quick messaging as in – meet up times, appointment reminders, but certainly not in deep conversations or for getting to know somebody.

I spend too much time online and have a huge mistrust for even thinking of joining a dating site (which is furthest from my mind), but just sayin’, what if I was? So where can people go to meet other people without feeling as though they’re being set up or potentially scammed? I’ve thought of this question many times, especially when speaking with my single friends. And the only thing that makes sense to me as a good alternative is to join a club or hobby doing something we like to do and there we will meet like-minded souls who enjoy same things. Where better to go than where we can share an interest with someone else?

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What is it we enjoy doing – outside of the home in social surroundings? Hobby? Singing in a choir, volunteering for an organization that we support? Joining a gym? Join groups that may be online but offer in person trips and/or get togethers? As long as we are joining a group of like-minded people in the flesh, better than virtually, we will be among others who share our same passions. . . please read read the conclusion at Sally’s Smorgasbord.

©DGKaye2024

Source: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – New Series – Life Lessons 101 – Dating Now and Then by D.G. Kaye | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Writing to be Understood: What Works and Why by Anne Janzer #nonfiction

Published on by dgkaye53 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. I’m happy to share this informative book by Anne Janzer – Writing to be Understood: What Works and Why. The book is geared toward nonfiction writers, which captured my attention. But, I will say that I’m certain it would be as beneficial to fiction writers as well.

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Blurb:

How do great nonfiction writers connect with us so strongly—and what can you learn from them to apply to your own writing?

Writing to Be Understood explores the ways powerful writers explain and inform, including analogies, imagery, humor, story, and more.

The book combines insights from cognitive science with advice from expert practitioners in the fields of psychology, technology, economics, medicine, policy, and more. Each chapter wraps up with practical advice that you can put to work, no matter what you’re writing.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Appeal to your readers’ innate sense of curiosity
  • Connect with audiences that aren’t immediately receptive to your ideas
  • Make abstract ideas understandable and memorable
  • Banish the boring from your work


Whether you’re trying to communicate expertise with a mainstream audience, pitching ideas to your team, or hoping to make an impact with a nonfiction book, dig into Writing to be Understood to reach more people with your words.

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My 5 Star Review:

I found this book had some excellent tips for writers to focus on, zeroing in on what engages a reader in an author’s writing style, how to draw in the reader and keep them engaged using cognitave empathy to grab and maintain a reader’s attention. The author shares the importance of focusing on tone and delivery of information when writing a story, not just the storyline. She goes on to say that good nonfiction reading should have the reader feeling the emotions of story, and as for self-help books or manuals, make the readers easily able to digest information instead of sounding like an instructional. She offers great tools to keep the writing lighter and interesting, with tricks about how not to bore readers, how to cater to and connect with your readers, and learn how to be able to please the majority of our readers – because, as Janzer says: there will always be some readers that can’t be pleased, by offering her methods for connecting with readers, helps to ensure most readers connect with our ’emotional components’.

The author offers snippets from other writers with tips to keep the readers reading, as one stated, we must keep the reader curious enough to continue reading without using ‘unnecessary’ vocabulary terms a reader may be unfamiliar with. Although a reader may not appreciate tedious writing, the importance of keeping readers engaged is with voice, and using analogies to activate sensory processing of emotions, especially with nonfiction readers.

You will also find a chapter about the importance of never deleting unused work or parts of a book, and what to do with those bits, for future uses. “When you’re writing nonfiction, you don’t have to mesmerize people with suspense. You might simply frame a moment, a scene, or transformation.” “People remember stories, not data.” In Part Three – How Not to be Boring, Janzer talks about tone and style – voice, style, and tone. As a conversational writer myself, I did enjoy the chapter on Conversational writing. The author broke it down nicely as to what’s involved with conversational writing, such as paragraph and sentence length, and the importance of staying away from using jargon and the importance of using personalized writing and imagery by use of figurative language, metaphors and similes, which spur a pause or curiosity from the reader. Also caveats on choice of metaphors so as not to irritate readers with a misintrepreted choice of metaphor, which may not convey the writer’s initial intention and may also distract a reader when they pause too long to think about what the writer is trying to convey. We’re advised to choose familiar images to project with our metaphors to avoid distraction as can idiomatic expressions, (natural and unscripted thoughts) which can leave a reader visualizing something more problematic.

Metaphors should support work and move the cause forward, and the importance of clarifying a metaphor the general public may not clue into. Imagery touches all the senses. But I think my favorite chapter was #13 – Credibility, Humanity, and Humility, and how Janzer goes deeper into how these three elements are important in nonfiction writing – “Humility disarms the reader and paves the way for deeper connections.” This book reinforced in me what my own readers in general, gratefully, say about my own books, my vulnerability and empathy not written as authority, but from authentic self, not self-absorbed, welcoming in the reader because something about a story made them feel connected as though I was conversing directly to them. An author’s dream audience.

A well written book by Janzer on how to write to keep the reader engaged by connecting with the reader’s brain. The author reminds that stories and anecdotes are an essential part of a nonfiction writer’s arsenal. We will also learn why repitition of key sentences are effective to instill key points that may have been skimmed over, reiterating that repitition is to be used judicially as to not sound repetitive or boring, rather by rephrasing when reiterating to fuel memory.

This book offers some great cognitive tools for a writer’s arsenal. I also found the style the information was delivered in was very engaging, as opposed to feeling more manual-like as many books on writing can appear. The description of this book mentions it talks about how nonfiction writing can connect strongly with readers; but I will say as a writer that any genre of writer can benefit from this well written and straight forward book.

©DGKaye2024

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Julia’s Violinist by Anneli Purchase

Published on by dgkaye82 Comments

Today I’m reviewing a book I’ve been meaning to get to for awhile, but somehow kept getting pushed down the TBR pile – Julia’s Violinist by Anneli Purchase. This is a memoir/novel about the author’s mother’s life after WWII ends, and as a Sudeten German living in the outskirts of the northern Czech Republic border and the Czechs and Russians punishing the innocent Germans after the war ends in relatiation for Germany’s war on humanity. I found it a fascinating read as I typically read historical fiction on the topic of WWII and about how all the persecuted people survived, and not about how the Gemans who endured who were caught up in war’s aftermath.

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Blurb:

The lovely Julia has it all—a seemingly perfect life. The aftermath of WWII changes all that. Widowed and homeless, Julia and her two small children become refugees in their own land. As she tries to rebuild her life, Julia is drawn into a love triangle. New flames or old flames—both can burn and destroy.

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My 5 Star Review:

A fictionalized memoir of the author’s mother’s life in the aftermath of WWII, which left a family struggling to stay together.

In the first part of the book we are in present time – 1949 where Julia is a young widow with two daughters living on the the northern border of the Czech Republic enduring daily retaliations from Germany’s enemies in the aftermath of war. The military wants to rid the Republic of Germans, and these citizens are sent to barracks to work in forced labor to starve and be raped.

Julia, now a widow, and her two young daughters, along with her sister-in-law and parents are re-located to forced labor camp for almost a year until they are loaded onto filthy cattle wagons and transported back to a refugee place in Germany.

In part two, we are taken to the the past – early 30s when Julia met her Michael who played the violin beautifully at weekly choir practice. But, due to hardships during wartime and Michael’s obligations to run the family bakery, it left little time for the star-crossed lovers to see each other. At the same time, handsome Lukas gave Julia plenty of attention, and they eventually got married. But Michael will re-enter Julia’s life again, later in Julia’s journey.

The love stories woven through this engaging story are a mix of the historical brutality with a softening aspect of the love Julia felt for her husbands, and especially her children.

The setting takes us to different time frames – pre war, after war and wartorn life for the Sudetens after losing their homes after the war, a new marriage to Karl, and a move to Canada.The timelines jump around, but the author makes this clear through chapter headings.

Karl has had a difficult life, but is quite handy at finding odd fix-it jobs, and with already losing one wife in a childless marriage, seeks the simplicity of having a wife and children. He eventually meets Julia and becomes an important character in her life. Julia’s relationship with Karl is a comfort for her to finally make a new life, have her own roof over her head, and have more children. Julia is a soft and compassionate character, while Karl is hard-working, he’s very rough around the edges, offering Julia a more comfortable life without the real romance. In the last part of the book, it focuses on the life Julia makes with Karl, but never fulfilling the emptiness of what could have been with Michael is never far from Julia’s thoughts.

Julia remeets her heartthrob Michael. Michael has never forgotten Julia through all the years and never stopped loving her. Michael knows Julia is remarried but makes a brave stance to contact her despite. Their friendship creates a world of jealousy for Karl, and plenty of grief for Julia. I’m not going to get into spoilers here about how this love triangle will play out, but the situation makes it crystal clear how damaging unrequited love can be to the heart, and how the strongest who love deeply can keep temptation at bay, and yet, so easily cave to it at the same time – and the repercussions that follow.

I found this book an addictive read as I was immediately invested in the characters for all their strengths and weaknesses, and whatever it took to survive a horrendous war. Julia’s tender mothering and strength shone through this story despite all the horrible living conditions she endured and the uncertainty of daily living. This is a story of love and loss, compassion, survival, and one selfless, loving woman, Julia.

©DGKaye2024

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – The Rat in the Python Book 2 – Shopping and Food by Alex Craigie

Published on by dgkaye113 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing Alex Craigie’s latest release – book 2 in her Rat in the Python series – Shopping and Food and living for baby boomers after WWII.

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Blurb:

If you haven’t heard of a liberty bodice, believe that half-a-crown is something to do with impoverished royalty and never had the experience of slapping a television to stop the grainy black and white picture from rolling, then this series might not be for you. Please give it a go, though – I’ve suspect that most of it will still resonate no matter where you were brought up!

Book 2 looks at shopping and food after the end of WWII and how they’ve changed over the decades. From farthings to Green Shield stamps; from beef dripping sandwiches to Babycham, and beyond.

The Rat in the Python is about Baby Boomers who, in the stability following the Second World War, formed a statistical bulge in the population python. It is a personal snapshot of a time that is as mystifying to my children as the Jurassic Era – and just as unrecognisable.

My intention is to nudge some long-forgotten memories to the surface, test your own recollections and provide information and statistics to put it all in context.

Are you sitting comfortably?
Then I’ll begin…

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My 5 Star Review:

Alex Craigie is taking us back to the 1950s and 60s England in this book 2 in her memoir series of her childhood growing up in a post war U.K. and sharing her recollections and facts of the times in the Boomer era U.K. about diets, food availability and scarcity, and the rise of the refrigerator, which only one third of the population had into the early 70s.

I found this book a fascinating look at the ‘food times’ of post war U.K. With still no refrigeration, microwaves, or anything of its ilk, and food rations, Brits were pretty crafty about what they would eat to get by and how meals were prepared. As the author goes through chapters about food availability, preservation, and her childhood favorites and dislikes, I found this book to be a great informational about the past told with inflections of humor and wonderful images of gadgets of the times, and it was an eye-opener to me as a Canadian child growing up in the sixties with no lack of food choices, colorful refrigerator models, and all the comforts of home while England was just catching up with the modern times as it was re-building from the aftermath of war.

This book made me think about how much we take for granted in our lives without understanding that other parts of the world weren’t as quickly advancing into modern times because of war. It also reminded me of why I thought England was never known for their great food in such an era as I visited London for the first time in the late seventies and wasn’t impressed with food choices – as a North American. But look at the U.K. now with all its famous chefs and multi-cultural food choices. Amazing catching up in the world of food.

At the end of the book, the author offers some quiz questions about foods from different parts of the world, and about foods found in children’s books from the Boomer era. This author never disappoints, whether it’s her nonfiction or gripping fictional novels, Craigie keeps us engaged. This would also be a great book for school curriculum education of the past.

©DGKaye2024

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Genuine Deceit by Joy York #Suspense

Published on by dgkaye72 Comments

I’m back! Just saying hello and sharing my review for one of five books I managed to read while on vacation in Mexico. The socials kept me busy, so I didn’t get to read all the books I had planned to, but I enjoyed the ones I managed to read. My regular midweek blog will resume on Wednesday. I still have a mountain of things that need tending to, and I have yet to write my vacation journey posts but I thought I’d get the ball rolling with the first of reviews for one of the books I enjoyed while away – Genuine Deceit by Joy York.

Blurb:

When a young woman finds herself unknowingly accountable for the past sins of her family, she must unravel their secrets and lies to stay alive.

When her grandmother is brutally murdered in her own home, Reagan Asher leaves her corporate job and rushes to her sleepy hometown in Ohio. She has barely entered the house before a second break-in attempt is made, prompting police to believe it’s not just a random burglary. Reagan’s lifelong friend Mattie asks Aiden Rannell, her brother-in-law and an ex-Navy Seal, to lend support and protection to Reagan as she navigates the investigation.

Aiden suggests a ring that Reagan’s grandmother owned may be more valuable than anyone realizes. Considering her frugal life growing up, Reagan dismisses the idea, showing Aiden an old pink box filled with similar colorful, ornate costume jewelry she and her friends played with as children. When they find a decades-sealed container with shocking contents supporting Aiden’s concerns, Reagan begs him to help her find the origin and if it is related to her Nana’s death.

Finding clues to solve a decades old mystery proves challenging as the threats to Reagan’s life escalate. Could the discovery of a water-stained, half-torn photo found in her grandmother’s safe deposit box be significant? Her mother’s suicide? Her father’s abandonment? Unanswered questions send Reagan and Aiden across the country in search of answers, with danger never far behind. With each new revelation of deception and lies, Reagan begins to doubt everything she ever knew about her life.

My 5 Star Review:

I will start by saying, whew! What a roller coaster of events!

An engaging suspense story. It all begins at Reagan’s Nana’s house when she is found murdered. Reagan flies from her hometown Chicago, to Ohio when she hears what happened to her Nana.

A seemingly frugal grandma murdered in her own home, for what? That’s what I savored every page to find out as Aiden and Reagan led a dangerous investigation of their own. The police had still assumed it was a burglary gone bad when Reagan and Aiden uncovered something big and they were determined to find out what some of the clues led to for themselves before sharing with the police. If Aiden hadn’t have had a sneaky suspicion about a ring Reagan played with as a child and believed her whole life it was costume jewelry, this story would have turned out very different – and not in a good way.

Besides the many chases and perilous moments in this great suspense – with a touch of romance, Reagan had to deal with realizing that some of the people she grew up with as family, had quite the pasts that left her questioning much of her childhood. With her father abandoning her as a child, and her mother committing suicide when she was only seven, her Nana raised her, and everything she thought she knew about her grandmother wasn’t truth.

Reagan’s best friend Mattie, since childhood asks her husband’s brother Aiden to watch over Reagan while the burglar/murderer is still at large. The pair begin searching the house hoping to find clues as to what this burglar wanted and come across some old photos of Reagan’s mom and some of her friends that piqued Reagan’s curiousity. And then a surprising discovery of a safety deposit key that belonged to her Nana.

During one of their many visits back to Nana’s house, Reagan and Aiden are faced with danger as the burglar comes back, still looking for what he didn’t previously find. And the hunt and chases begin. With many near death experiences, attempted kidnappings, plentiful twists and turns, this book was an addictive read. The author masterfully ties in all the characters, crimes, and red herrings. Also, there was a stunning revelation in the last chapter we don’t see coming. I certainly look forward to reading more from this author. If you love suspenseful page-turners, you will love this book.

©DGKaye2024

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – The Seas of Time, Book 4 in the Harbor Pointe Series by D. Wallace Peach

Published on by dgkaye134 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing Diana Peach’s engrossing story – The Seas of Time. This is Book 4 in the Harbor Pointe series, a collaboration of 8 books written by different authors, all taking place at Harbor Pointe. As always, Diana never disappoints as she takes us on a two time-line journey through the decades from a stow away slave on a ship to California.

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Blurb:

The Harbor Pointe Inn has loomed on California’s cliffs for generations of Hawthornes. For some, it’s been a blessing. For others, a curse. Travel through two centuries of stories to discover the old inn’s secrets.

In 1858, a ship carrying ice from Alaska wrecked off the coast of California, and little does Taliah Keldan realize how that tragedy will impact her life in 1972.

When Tali decides to quit college and become a civil rights activist, her disappointed parents encourage her to think it over. What better spot for contemplation than at her aunt and uncle’s Harbor Pointe Inn, a charming seaside getaway with its own lighthouse? The place is under renovation and empty of guests. All she’ll have to deal with is the construction crew.

But the inn is far from peaceful.

Tali discovers an old Bible hidden in the lighthouse keeper’s cottage. Strange prayers angle down the margins, all but one ruined by the sea. When she deciphers the crude writing, a dark portal gapes open to a pre-civil war night when an escaped slave in a foundering ship prayed to his voodoo God. A winged creature emerges from the watery void, and her stay transforms into a nightmare.

With the aid of the construction foreman, Tali is determined to send the beast back through time, a choice that will risk their lives, test her convictions, and change her future.

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My 5 Star Review:

A two-timeline story that begins in 1858 with Samuel, an escaped black slave stowed away on a foundering ship and his voodoo prayer to Damballah, the ancient sea god, recited from his bible in his cries for freedom. That same bible is found in 1972 by Tali, a college student fighting for civil rights, while visiting her aunt’s Inn in Harbor Pointe for a college timeout. After Tali finds the bible in the lighthouse and recites the barely almost legible only prayer that hasn’t been washed away by sea water, all hell breaks loose.

Peach is known for her wonderfully woven fantasy stories, and this story is an exciting twist of both, the real world, racism, mixed with paranormal fantasy as Talia makes a dangerous mistake by reading out the prayer passage from that bible, and unlocks a portal, unleashing a gargoyle. While the Inn is under construction, the only others around are the work crew and Greg the foreman who becomes ensnared in this fantastical story as he enters the cottage where Talia is struggling to deal with the almost compassionate beast that is now taking over the cottage. The struggle is to try and send gargoyle, Zam, back to whence he came. And eventually, as Tali and Greg struggle to tame the beast, on a wild journey they find themselves back in 1858 where they piece together the origins of what transpired back then.

Peach is a masterful writer of fantasy whose stories never fail to draw us in with her page-turning evocative stories and prose. I am looking forward to reading all the books in this stand alone series.

©DGKaye2024

woman with phone

The New Phone Camera Tricks I Learned

Published on by dgkaye96 Comments

Late November I posted about my having to cave in and upgrade my mobile phone, and my billing issues. I feel like I’m so inundated with everything technical that I just try to do the least on my phone. I don’t even open emails on my phone, except if I’m in an airport in case there’s notifications from the airlines while I’m awaiting a delayed flight. My old phone had a great camera and I used minimal of its capabilities, I’m sure. On my new Samsung, one of the high points was some special camera that has three lenses on it. I didn’t get into the specifics of its capabilities until my niece and grand niece came over this past Sunday.

I am no pro photographer but I love taking pictures. And I noticed sometimes my phone taking multiple pictures at once. I erased them all one by one and thought, come on, there has to be a quicker way to get rid of these in one swoop in today’s newest phones. So I asked my niece (the phone and tech wizard) to have a look at my camera and tell me what all the options were. This stuff wasn’t on my other phone. So I learned some cool things to do with pictures now, which I can’t wait to play with when I go to Mexico. And in case some of you have newer -ish phones and also may not be aware of the capabilities, I thought I’d share some things I learned from my niece . . .

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Burst mode – so I learned why when I took one photo, several shots appeared. Apparently, by holding down the button to take a photo for a few seconds, creates a burst of many photos for us to choose from and a one touch on the button to erase the ones we don’t want. Hence, I must have held the button too long when I got ten of the same photo. Another great thing about burst mode is that you can use it to take selfies with. This way you have many images to look through to choose the one you like best – as opposed to taking many over and over, hoping to find a good one.

Night mode – as opposed to regular mode and it using auto flash, brings a beautiful clear picture in dark situations. It enhances the main focus of the photo, making the focus brighter, despite the darkness.

My niece did a demo for me in night mode vs. flash mode, what a difference! She also wrote caption demo with her finger. Both shots were taken from inside with the view from my balcony:

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Portrait mode – taking a photo and the main object focus is brought to the focus and the forefront of the photo.

Panoramic mode – so cool, so I click on panoramic then pan around the room or outside anywhere as though I’m videoing, but I’m just panning the perimetres and then the whole scan turns into one picture with everything I panned into one photo. This most definitely is a great aide for people in real estate or renting air bnbs to show the rental unit. So cool.

Director’s View – The even cooler thing! So we click on this mode and it becomes a split screen, where the smaller square you see your own face (almost like a selfie mode) and in the larger area you see what’s behind the camera. It’s perfect for doing a Youtube video. And also very cool that you can edit and add text with type or handwritten on the photos.

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Who knows, I may even become a pro photographer with this new phone! And if any of you are not as inclined as I am to learn all the fun things on our phones, maybe take a look at your camera options, you may be pleasantly surprised like me!

©DGKaye2023