Moon Over Edisto

 

About The Book:  The past has come knocking on Julia's door. Can she summon the courage to answer betrayal with love?  Julia’s best friend, Marney, broke up her parents' marriage years ago. Now Marney shows up at her Manhattan apartment, asking the impossible—come home to Edisto Island to care for the half-sisters and half-brother she has never known. Marney, recently widowed, has lung cancer. There's no other family to care for the children while she’s in the hospital following surgery.  Julia loathes Marney. But if she doesn’t step in, her own mother—who has never gotten over the divorce—will be called upon to take care of the children. So she heads to South Carolina to keep the peace.  On Edisto, she begins to reconnect with the place and the people and she’s been running from her whole adult life. There’s the local doctor who once stole a kiss from her on that very beach, and the siblings she’s never known—especially the sister with selective mutism named Etta who’s the keeper of nearly every family secret . . . including the very one that just might bind-up Julia’s long-since shattered heart.

About The Author:  Beth Webb Hart, a Southy Carolina native, is the best-selling author of Grace at Low Tide and The Wedding Machine.  She serves as a speaker and creative writing instructor at schools, libraries, and churches throughout the region, and she has received two national teaching awards from Scholastic, Inc.  Hart lives with her husband and their family in Charleston.





My Thoughts On The Book:  I have traveled many times throughout the Charleston region and it tugs at my heart every time I am there.  As a child I used to dream I was a true Charlestonian, but alas.  Edisto Island has always been one of my favorite get-aways.  There is something extremely magical there.  The story line drew you right in as Beth Webb Hart's books usually do.  From the beginning of the book I found myself emotionally attached to the characters.  I loved the way this story unfolded as a tale of forgiveness and letting go of the past.  God is portrayed as the omnipotent one he is giving Julia what her heart desires even though she is not really aware that she wants it. At one point in the story Julia thinks Marney is destroying her life  for a second time only to realize she is about to make a huge mistake in marrying Simon and that Marney is actually giving  her what she truly desires and needs in her life...children and Edisto.  I could not put this book down and as the story drew to a close I found myself hoping this would be a series.  There was so much I still needed to know about Etta, Meg, Mary Ellen, Charlie, Jed and their lives on Edisto Island.  What an amazing book by a truly wonderful wordsmith!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishing Booksneeze Program for bloggers. I was not required to write a positive review. All they asked for was an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Let's Not and Say We Did - Sunrise on the Battery

About the Book:  The two main characters, Mary Lynn and Jackson are living the life they always dreamed of: a historic home in Charleston, social acceptance, money, talented children. It is everything a person could want, but for Mary Lynn, something is missing. She is increasingly drawn to the religion of her childhood. On Christmas she attends a church service and wishes her whole family could share in her awakening. On a Christmas trip to England, Jackson begins to read the Bible and an amazing thing happens. Jackson finds Christianity and it takes over his life. It's not the polite church on Sunday religion Mary Lynn has found. When Jackson experiences a conversion, he wants to live the Bible literally. This creates an enormous distance between them putting the survival of their marriage in doubt.  Can they find their way back together?  Read the book and see.

My thoughts: I have spent many wonderful hours in Charleston SC.  It is one of my favorite places. Beth Webb did an excellent job drawing her readers into the setting and then left them hanging. This book is a slow read and there is a lot of pre-Charleston knowledge that really bogs down the story.  The characters are introduced in their affluent life style, but there is no dimension to the characters. They are as flat as the page they are housed on. I found the treatment of being a Christian in this book almost circuslike, with Jackson’s overzealousness made to appear comical in nature. None of the characters were particularly interesting, or fully developed. I was actually glad when the story was over.  I have read better and really cannot give this book a high rating unless you just love to read about Charleston and nothing more.

About the Author: Beth Webb Hart, a South Carolina native, is the best-sellingauthor of Grace at Low Tide, Adelaide Piper and The Wedding Machine.   She has a B.A. in English Literature from Hollins University 

and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College,  Hart is the recipient of two national teaching  awards from Scholastic, Inc. and the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.  She lives with her husband, composer Edward Hart, and their family  in Charleston. Her fourth novel, Love, Charleston, came out in September 2010.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishing Co. as part of their Book Sneeze blogging review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."