Happy Holidays!!!

 

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported The Book Bandit's Library this year.

I hope you have a lovely holiday season and I will see you on the other side!!!

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The Book Bandit

My favourite book of 2021 - Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury by Kinley Bryan #HistoricalFiction @kinleybauthor

 

Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury 

By Kinley Bryan

Publication Date: 12th October 2021. Publisher: Blue Mug Press. Page Length: 324 Pages. Genre: historical fiction

Three sisters. Two Great Lakes. One furious storm.

Based on actual events...

It's 1913 and Great Lakes galley cook Sunny Colvin has her hands full feeding a freighter crew seven days a week, nine months a year. She also has a dream—to open a restaurant back home—but knows she'd never convince her husband, the steward, to leave the seafaring life he loves.

In Sunny’s Lake Huron hometown, her sister Agnes Inby mourns her husband, a U.S. Life-Saving Serviceman who died in an accident she believes she could have prevented. Burdened with regret and longing for more than her job at the dry goods store, she looks for comfort in a secret infatuation.

Two hundred miles away in Cleveland, youngest sister Cordelia Blythe has pinned her hopes for adventure on her marriage to a lake freighter captain. Finding herself alone and restless in her new town, she joins him on the season’s last trip up the lakes.

On November 8, 1913, a deadly storm descends on the Great Lakes, bringing hurricane-force winds, whiteout blizzard conditions, and mountainous thirty-five-foot waves that last for days. Amidst the chaos, the women are offered a glimpse of the clarity they seek, if only they dare to perceive it.

This novel is a MUST READ if you enjoy wonderfully realistic Historial Fiction. 

I rated this book 📚📚📚📚📚⭐ = A book in a million back in November. 

You can read my review here! 

If you are looking for your next great read, look no further. 

Kinley Bryan

Kinley Bryan is an Ohio native who counts numerous Great Lakes captains among her ances-tors. Her great-grandfather Walter Stalker was captain of the four-masted schooner Golden Age, the largest sailing vessel in the world when it launched in 1883. Kinley’s love for the in-land seas swelled during the years she spent in an old cottage on Lake Erie. She now lives with her husband and children on the Atlantic Coast, where she prefers not to lose sight of the shore. Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury is her first novel.

Social Media Links:

Website, Twitter, Instagram, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads

Read an excerpt from Glass Ornament Christmas by Cheryl A. Hunter #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub @CherylAHunter4 @maryanneyarde

 

Glass Ornament Christmas

By Cheryl A. Hunter

Publication Date: 23rd August 2021. Publisher: Grand Owl Publishing. Page Length: 238 Pages. Genre: Historical Fiction

This year, Christmastide will be extra special for glass blower Shayla Toselli who lives in Canterbury Corner, England. The town square will have its first electrically lit tree, and she has been commissioned to create delicate glass ornaments for the new Duke’s Christmas Eve ball. One morning, the Duke’s youngest brother, Adam Preston, finds himself in the Toselli glass factory. He is fascinated with glass blowing and with Shayla. The temperature in the workshop heats up in more ways than one as the unlikely pair work together in the days leading up to the ball. This will certainly be a Christmastide to remember.

Excerpt

“Hello, Miss Shayla,” Mrs. Stewart, the cook, said.

“Hello. Is my aunt in?”

Graves, the butler, saw Shayla and bowed. “She is. This way please, Miss.” Graves led her to the small front parlor. “Miss Shayla, Madam,” he announced. 

Aunt Margaret looked up from her needlework. “Thank you, Graves.” 

He bowed his way out of the room, and Shayla walked up to her aunt. 

“Shayla, love.” She stood up and hugged her niece. 

“Aunt Margaret, you look well.”

“As do you,” she replied. She indicated Shayla should sit down in the chair beside her. Shayla looked at her aunt’s work. She was stitching an alphabet border, likely something for someone’s new baby. Her aunt was quite skilled with a needle, something Shayla had little patience for. Shayla thought her aunt was the perfect wife. She was pretty, delicate, smart, and she had impeccable manners. Margaret was her mother’s much younger sister, and she was only nine years older than Shayla herself. Margaret loved Shayla very much, but Margaret’s hair was red, like Shayla’s mother, and she had green eyes, also like her mother. Aunt Margaret painfully reminded her of her mother, and she thought that was why she did not spend a great deal of time with her aunt. She shook her head to clear it. “Papa would like you and Uncle James to come to dinner tomorrow evening.” 

“We would love to. What is the occasion?” Aunt Margaret asked without looking up from her work.

“No occasion. Papa invited, Adam Preston, who now works in our shop to dinner.”

Margaret stopped and looked at Shayla. “Adam Preston? Duke Wellshore’s brother?”

Shayla sighed. “Yes, that is the one,” she said with a roll of her eyes. Honestly, why did everyone make such a fuss over the man?

Margaret smiled. “He would be an excellent match for you, Shayla.” She leaned back from her needlework stand.

“No,” Shayla replied a little too quickly. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair and looked at her aunt.

Margaret gave her a small smile. “Why not?”

“I am not interested in marriage. I plan to stay an independent woman.” Shayla sat up straighter. “I do not need a man.”

“Every woman needs a man,” her aunt replied softly.

“I can provide for myself.”

“Financially yes, but men take care of a woman’s other…needs.”

Shayla chose to ignore her aunt’s comment and stood up. “Well, I must get back home. Mrs. Lawry may need my help with dinner.” Not that she usually helped Mrs. Lawry prepare dinner, but she did not want to have this uncomfortable conversation with her aunt. 

Unphased, Aunt Margaret started to stich again. “What dress do you plan to wear?”

“I have not decided. I will find something in my closet no doubt.”

“Um hum.” Aunt Margaret smiled. “Well, dear, I am here if you need help selecting a dress.”

“Thank you.” Shayla bent down and kissed her aunt’s cheek then quickly left the parlor.

You can pick up your copy of this book from Amazon. This novel is available to read on #KindleUnlimited

Cheryl A. Hunter is an author and artist. Her books span multiple genres including historical fiction, contemporary fiction, paranormal fantasy, and nonfiction. Cheryl is also an artist who works in glass, ink and watercolor, and photography. When she is not writing, taking pictures, or creating glass art, she loves to travel. Her interest in Ancient Greek and Roman cultures has taken her to many Archeological sites and museums in several countries. 

Social Media Links:

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Instagram • Pinterest • Amazon Author Page • Goodreads

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