Books

Best Book Festivals

June 6, 2016 By Editor

Calling all literary lovers…here is a list of the best U.S. and international book festivals:

National Book Festival – Library of Congress is held at National Mall in Washington, D.C. (9/5) www.loc.gov/bookfest (2015 is the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s acquisition of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library).

Brooklyn Book Festival is held in Brooklyn, NY on 9/14-22. www.brooklynfestival.org.

Decatur Book Festival is held in Decatur, Georgia on 9/4-6. www.decaturbookfestival.com (this is the largest book festival in America).

Miami Book Fair International is held in Miami, Florida on 11/15-22. www.miamibookfair.com.

Printers Row Literary Festival is held in Chicago, Illinois on 6/7-8. www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/printersrowfest.

LA Times Festival of Books is held in Los Angeles, CA on 4/18-19. www.events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks

South Carolina Book Festival is held on 5/15-17 in Columbia, SC and features more than 100 authors. www.scbookfestival.org.

Tucson Festival of Books is held on 3/12-13 in Tuscon, Arizona. www.tucsonfestivalofbooks.org.

Texas Book Festival is held in Austin, Texas on 10/17-18. www.texasbookfestival.org.

Louisiana Book Festival is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on November 7. www.louisianabookfestival.org.

Paris Book Festival is in Paris, France in May 2015 with featured speaker/author, David McCullough.

Amsterdam Book Festival is in Amsterdam, Holland in May 2015.

For more information go to www.bookfestivals.com.

More Ghost Books

November 5, 2015 By Editor

Just because Halloween is over doesn’t mean you have to forego ghost stories for another year. Our staff has compiled this list of the scariest stories ever written.

The scariest stories based on true events (assuming you believe these events happened) include Amityville Horror and The Exorcist (1971). The latter is the story of child’s demonic possession that occurred in 1940s and the bk was made into a movie that got ten academy awards and had crowds rioting all across America on premiere day trying to get into sold out theaters.

More picks…
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (RAY BRADBURY): The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. But this isn’t like any carnival you’ve ever seen! Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, not to entertain but to take lives. Two boys discover its secret and must survive and figure out a way to save their town. Lots of imagery with smoke, mazes, and mirrors.

THE DOLL (J.C. Martin) The Island of the Dolls is a strange and eerie tourist destination in Mexico, where hundreds of decomposing dolls hang from trees like grisly Christmas ornaments. On a trip to the island, Joyce Parker’s daughter falls in love with a beautiful but sinister doll. Soon after, she starts developing strange mannerisms that concerns Joyce. Her research into the doll’s past reveals a dark history, and the curse of a lonely child spirit.

THE SHINING (STEPHEN KING) The Torrance family embarks on a months-long retreat into complete isolation when Jack Torrance signs on to be the winter custodian of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Jack is a recovering alcoholic who thinks the months alone with his wife and son will allow him to find peace – and to finally finish the play he has been working on. His long-suffering wife has some misgivings, but the only person really clued into the dreadful possibilities is his son Danny. Danny has “the shine,” a gift which allows him to see and know things he cannot possibly know; As the days pass, the Overlook exerts more and more of an influence on Jack and basically turning him into a murderous new tool at the hotel’s disposal. Danny sees what is happening, although he cannot really understand much of it given his very young age. Very exciting and scary climax!
(I noticed that one of the reviewers wrote that King wrote most of the book while staying at the Stanley Hotel. This is another one of those myths that circulate, as we discussed a couple of weeks ago, Sara. King got the inspiration to write the book after his stay at the Stanley but didn’t not write one word of it while there! However, he did have a weird experience that I chronicled in my latest book, A GHOST HUNTER’S GUIDE TO THE MOST

Best Scary Stories FOR KIDS…
The House with a Clock in Its Walls; The Figure in the Shadows; and The Letter, the Witch, and The Ring by John Bellairs are three magically eerie tales gathered in this one-volume edition. The series opens as Lewis Barnavelt, a newly orphaned ten-year-old, comes to live with his Uncle Johnathan. Little does Lewis know that Uncle Johnathan and his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman are witches. Lewis finds that he himself owns magical powers, and soon is thrust in a supernatural battle between good and evil. The second tale focuses on Grampa Barnavelt’s old coin. Lewis thinks the coin is an amulet, but when he starts to wear it around his neck, bizarre things start to happen – and not all of them good. The last tale shifts the focus to thirteen-year-old Rose Rita, who is embittered because she cannot go to camp like Lewis. so Mrs. Zimmerman offers Rita an adventure of her own. But when a magical ring disappears, Rita gets more of an adventure than she bargained for. John Bellair’s vivid characterization and and excruciatingly suspenseful plots make this series a thrilling ride!
Mirror of Danger by Pamela Sykes: The mirror looked ordinary. It had a heavy gold frame and leaned against the wall in the attic. But when Lucy first looked into the mirror, a strange thing happened. Another girl’s face appeared beside hers, laughing. Whirling around in surprise and alarm, Lucy saw a girl wearing a long dress, a pinafore…and a sly triumphant look on her face. Also, the attic had disappeared and another room had taken its place – a room that belonged to the past. The girl in the mirror was Alice, and she had lived a hundred years ago. Lucy found she could visit her any time she looked into the mirror. At first, it was fun to enter the past and see how Alice had lived. But, gradually, the chill of terror took over. Alice’s friendliness turned into a sinister desire for power and control over Lucy. And Lucy found it harder and harder to resist being trapped in the past with Alice forever!

Halloween Tree: Ray Bradbury’s classic adventure of four youths who try to save the spirit of their friend Pip from the ghosts of Halloween past. The four encounter a mysterious and creepy character, Moundshroud who takes them on a magical journey that sweeps them back as far as 4,000 years and touches down in exotic places all over the world like Egypt, England, France and Mexico. Along the way they discover the magic and meaning of Halloween – and friendship.

Biggest Book Show: Frankfurt Book Fair

November 11, 2014 By Editor

The Frankfurt (Germany) Book Fair was held in October. It is one of the biggest book shows in the world, so what happens here is very indicative of what’s going on in the publishing industry worldwide.

Stats show that professional attendance has dropped, but the exact figures haven’t been released yet. However, lots of deals were still happening, especially between publishers and agents at the rights center. Reportedly, there were a number of seven-figure advances and a record number of agents in attendance. In the first of two such deals made just before the official start of the fair, Kate Medina at Random House acquired The Girls, by 25-year-old author Emma Cline, from agent Bill Clegg, as part of a three-book deal. The novel is said to be inspired by the Manson cult in the 1960s. In the second big pre-fair deal, David Ebershoff, also at Random House, took North American rights from agent Susan Golomb to Cameroon novelist Imbolo Mbue’s The Longings of Jende Jonga. Golomb said the immigrant tale has “some of the most delightful and refreshing characters seen in recent fiction.

The attitude was upbeat and polls show there is optimism about the future of book publishing. Opening day speaker was the CEO of HarperCollins, Brian Murray. He talked about a “new era of experimentation” and how this has already yielded positive results for the publisher. “What we’ve seen in the digital realm is that every time you have a new partner—a new digital partner and a new digital offer—you’re creating new merchandising opportunities,” he said. “So, while maybe there are fewer tables at the front of bookstore chains for marketing and promotion, when you introduce a brand new e-tailer, or a different e-model or distribution partner, you are picking up new ways to market your books. In this day and age, [new] companies come up seemingly overnight with billion-dollar valuations, and the next thing you know they’re trying to get into the publishing business. So you have to be at the forefront. You have to try things.”

In other news, FBB debuted an overhauled ConTec, the pre-fair digital-themed show, and the Frankfurt Business Club, which offered extra benefits for attendees. “There are a lot of people coming from technology companies, and from hardware makers, who realize that they have to have content,” Boos explained, adding, “These people want to explore the possibilities here, and maybe they don’t need a stand, but they need to be found. The business club offers this.”

Perhaps the biggest trend at Frankfurt this year, is that more publishers, and the fair itself, are clearly no longer afraid to, as Murray said, try things. “We know that digital is going to stay, print is going to stay, Amazon is going to stay,” Boos says. “But it is not the end of the world. I am not scared to change.”

*Information came from PW Global Rights Report, 10/14.

Writers’ Graves

October 15, 2014 By Editor

In honor of Halloween, we thought it might be fun to share where some of the most revered writers have been laid to rest:

EDGAR ALLAN POE (who is probably most famous for his poem, The Raven) was buried anonymously in 1849 in Baltimore. A cousin eventually ordered a tombstone but it got damaged before it was installed. It was twenty-six years after Poe’s death that a monument was erected.

MARY SHELLEY (author of Frankenstein) was buried in Bournemouth, England.

BRAM STROKER (author of Dracula) was cremated and his ashes are kept at Golders Green Crematorium in London, England.

IAN FLEMING (author of James Bonds books, such as Goldeneye) was buried in Kent, England.

THOMAS MANN (author of Death in Venice) is buried in Kilchberg Village Cemetery in Zurich.

OSCAR WILDE (author of The Importance of Being Ernest) has an elaborate tomb in Paris’ Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

CHARLES DICKENS (author of The Christmas Carol) was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, London.

RUDYARD KIPLING (author of The Jungle Book) joins fellow writer, Charles Dickens, in London’s Westminster Abbey.

*This information was compiled from Writers Digest (Nov/Dec ’13 issue)

SC Lowcountry: Beaufort Area

August 15, 2014 By Editor

Hi y’all,

I’m sad to say that this is this last post I’ll be doing about the Lowcountry. But I am hoping that the publisher will let me stop in and post a bit every now and again. By now, I think of us as friends (and as you know, I hate to lose touch with my friends).

The last little corner of the Lowcountry is the Beaufort Area. Here’s what I can tell you:

Beaufort county encompasses 587 square miles of land mass, and extends 30 miles along the Atlantic Ocean. It also includes hundreds of small islands and sixty-seven major islands, including Port Royal, St. Helena, and Hilton Head Island. I don’t get this way very often but it is a lovely corner of South Carolina. I know the leading industries are seafood, lumber milling, USC-Beaufort, Parris Island USMC base, and tourism. You should remember that many of the island’s are connected by bridges and causeways. Some of the bridges have to be raised to accommodate Intracoastal Waterway traffic, so visitors need to accept this inconvenience as being another facet of island life. Take the time to switch gears from ‘mainland’ to ‘island’ time.

The “must see” attractions in Beaufort include the Historic District, Beaufort Museum, John Mark Verdier House Museum, and Old Sheldon Church ruins. You may want to time your visit with one of the many festivals held here, including Gullah Festival (May), Water Festival (July), Shrimp Festival (October), and Penn Center Heritage Days Celebration (November).

Did you know…

Beaufort is the second-oldest city in South Carolina.

Beaufort was the first town in South Carolina to fall into Union hands (troops arrived less than six months after the opening shot of the war was fired at Fort Sumter, Charleston. More than 14,000 Civil War soldiers (both Union and Confederate) were buried in Beaufort National Cemetery. A strong military presence remains due to nearby Parris Island Marine Corps base.

Beaufort has more antebellum homes than Charleston and Savannah combined!

Lots of movies have been filmed here, such as The Prince of Tides and Forrest Gump.

Hunting Island State Park is the most popular park in South Carolina (and is less than twenty minutes from Beaufort). It draws more than one million visitors a year!

Beaufort Shrimp Festival

FYI: Beaufort is 47 miles south of Charleston and 45 miles north of Savannah, Georgia

Lodging…there are several exceptional places to stay in Beaufort, as well as lodging along the highway or on adjacent islands:

Rhett House Inn, City Loft Hotel, Beaufort Inn, Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Resort, Comfort Suites Beaufort, Best Western Sea Island Inn Beaufort, Hilton Garden Inn Beaufort, Hampton Inn Beaufort, and Atlantic Inn.

Restaurants…lots to choose from including The Bistro at Beaufort Inn, Bricks on Bondary, Saltus River Grill (ask for the fried lobster tails), Q on Bay, Lady’s Island Dockside, Foolish Frog, Plums, Breakwater, Boondocks, Bluffton Oyster Company, Back Porch Grill, and 11th Street Dockside Restaurant. I’d also like to give a shout out for Kooky Mooky’s (best milkshakes), CraveCupCake Boutique, Magnolia Bakery Cafe, Bruster’s Ice Cream, and Lowcountry Produce Market and Cafe.

Bay Street

If you’re able, buy fresh seafood and take it home to create a memorable meal:

LOWCOUNTRY BOIL (also known as Beaufort Boil or Frogmore Stew)

*serves 30 (great for parties)

10 pounds of smoked beef sausage in long links

2 small boxes of seafood seasoning

2 dozen ears shucked, cleaned corn

1/2 bushel crabs

15 pounds shrimp (deveined and headed)

Fill 20-gallon pot half full of water. Cut sausages into one-inch sections. Bring water to boil. Put sausage and seasoning bags in water and boil for ten minutes or so. Put corn in pot and bring to boil. Add crab (whole or picked) and bring to boil. Add shimmp and once boils, pour off water.

This isn’t the recipe the CGFs use but when in Rome… this is what I found on the Beaufort Public Library website. Reportedly, Lowcountry Boil was conceived by Richard Gay of Gay Seafood Company. While on National Guard duty in Beaufort, he was preparing a cookout of leftovers for his fellow guardsmen. He brought the recipe home with him and it was a hit. According to Gay, the Steamer Restaurant on Lady’s Island was the first restaurant to serve this dish (more than 25 years ago).

I hope you found this information helpful. Come see me if you want to know more!

Lydia

A great publication dedicated to all things lowcountry is the Lowcountry Companion. www.lowcountrycompanion.com

Great sources for tourism information include: www.tripadvisor.com, www.beaufortsc.org, www.hiltonheadisland.org and www.discoversouthcarolina.com

SC Lowcountry: Charleston Area

August 2, 2014 By Editor

Hey y’all,

Did you get a chance to visit Georgetown yet? Even though it is my favorite part of the South Carolina Lowcountry, I did promise to share some information about Charleston (even though it gets more than its fair share of tourists and media interest).

This was considered the “big city” when I was growing up. We used to go into Charleston to go shopping for school clothes or for special occasions. It is nearly twice the size of Georgetown. Charleston is actually a peninsula where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers meet to form the Atlantic Ocean–or so Charlestonians half-jokingly claim. It dates back to 1670 when it was originally named Charles Town, in honor of King Charles II. There are 2,800 historically significant buildings. The intersection of Broad and Meeting Streets is called the “Four Corners of the Law” because every legal requirement can be done at this junction. On one corner is St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, where couples may get married; the next corner is the Charleston County Court House, where couples may pay taxes on their new home; the next corner is City Hall, where couples may file for divorce; and across the street on the fourth corner is the post office, where newly married or divorced couples can file change of address forms!

Charleston is also known as the “City of Firsts” because so many ‘first’ things have happened here. The first shot of Civil War was fired in Charleston Harbor at Fort Sumter. Charleston boasts the world’s first successful submarine attack during the Civil War. Charleston had the country’s first golf course, first railway mail service, first prescription drug store, first passenger train, first public museum, first public theatre, first music store, and much more.

Today, it is the second largest city in the state and the seventh largest cargo port in the United States. But its main claim to fame is tourism. More than ten million tourists flock to this charming city every year. Some of their favorite things to see and do include: The Battery, Rainbow Row, Aiken-Rhett House, Charleston Museum, Charles Town Landing State Historic Site, Fort Sumter, Patriots Point, SC Aquarium, and the Old Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon.

Visitors can explore the city in a variety of ways, such as historic walks, pirate walks ghost walks, carriage tours, trolley tours, and harbor cruises. A few other points of interest in the greater Charleston area include Folly Beach, Kiawah Island and Angel Oak, Sullivans Island (Fort Moultrie and Sullivans Island Lighthouse), Edisto Island and Edisto Beach State Park, Charleston Tea Plantation, and Isle of Palms. See what I mean about so much to see and do?

I recommend contacting the tourism board for the names and contact info for tour companies and outfitters, as well as a comprehensive list of accommodations, restaurants, and art galleries. I suggest you avoid summer as it is peak season so it is very congested on Highway 17 and hard to find bargains on lodging and also it is VERY hot and humid as this is the South Carolina Lowcountry, after all.

The French Protestant (Huguenot) Church is one of only two remaining Huguenot churches in America.

FYI: Charleston is sixty miles south of Georgetown and sixty-nine miles north of Beaufort.

Lodging…there is a wide range of options to fit any budget and type of traveler. The top hotels and inns in the city are:

French Quarter Inn, Wentworth Mansion, Planters Inn, John Rutledge House Inn, Venue, Market Pavilion Hotel, Restoration on King, Mills House, Wyndham Grand Hotel, and Charleston Place. Additionally, there are many choices on the outskirts of town and up the road in Mount Pleasant and Summerville and in the heart of the city there are some budget options, such as Holiday Inn Express Charleston, Days Inn Charleston, and Town and Country Inn & Suites.

Restaurants…endless. Some of the best chefs in America can be found in Charleston restaurants. There are restaurants to suit any budget and desired cuisine, but since I’m a Lowcountry girl, I’m not even going to talk about Mexican or Italian eateries! My picks are Lowcountry Bistro, Hominy Grill, Poogan’s Porch, 82 Queen, Jasmine Porch, Hyman’s, and Slightly North of Broad. I have left out a lot of good restaurants simply because there are so many (too many to name) but a visitor’s guide will provide detailed descriptions and let you know what awards which restaurants have won. You can also opt to buy fresh seafood in Shem Creek or at one of the local seafood markets, if you are staying in a rental house or condo. Don’t forget there are some yummy recipes in the back of my back, The Sanctuary.

Rainbow Row

Well, I think that does it for my knowledge of Charleston. Don’t forget I’ll be back soon to talk about Beaufort.

Lydia

A great publication dedicated to all things lowcountry is the Lowcountry Companion. www.lowcountrycompanion.com

Also, Charleston Magazine, www.charlestonmag.com

Great sources for tourism information include: www.tripadvisor.com, www.charleston.com, www.charlestoncvb.com and www.discoversouthcarolina.com

Great New Beach Book!

July 22, 2014 By Editor

New! Released July 2014

Four friends. Three shocking secrets. Two marriages on the rocks. One special place, The Sanctuary, that they have always been able to count on—until now…

Lydia has spent her life happily taking care of others. But when her husband dies, Lydia is the one who needs help. She learns that her husband has deceived her for most of their marriage. She will have to deal with the truth about her husband and their marriage once his secret is revealed—and the consequences of his deception.

Liz is beautiful, fearless, and larger than life. She has achieved everything she set out to do—and she is keeping a secret that could cost her everything.

Julia suffered a childhood trauma that has caused numerous neuroses and years of nightmares. Despite her best efforts to suppress the incident, it continues to haunt her. Now she must finally deal with what happened or risk losing her family.

Sonya is a successful business woman but she has never been successful in love. She thinks she may have finally gotten it right with husband #4—until she realizes that she might not live long enough to find out.

These four women, who call themselves Carolina Girls Forever, have shared a lot over the years. But they have also kept a few significant secrets from one another—until now. All the secrets they have safeguarded for so long will soon come to light. Once that happens, their lives will be changed forever. But no matter what the costs, they must save The Sanctuary…

***Available in print and digital formats from most booksellers***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cassandra R. Siddons was born and raised in the South Carolina Lowcountry. She has written several articles about it but this is her first novel, which has inspired by her love of the this special place. When she’s not writing, she spends her time taking care of her husband, an alligator named Reggie (who likes marshmallows), a small fox (who likes catfood), a badelynge of ducks, three dogs, and two cats.

Note: At the back of the book readers will find several Lowcountry recipes, such as this one:

BENNE WAFERS

1 cup sesame seeds, toasted

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Cover cookie sheets in parchment paper or lightly oil them. Toast the sesame seeds in a heavy skillet over medium heat until they are golden brown. Beat the brown sugar and butter together in a medium-sized bowl for several minutes until fluffy. Beat in the egg. Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder, then add these dry ingredients to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Mix well. Stir in the toasted sesame seeds, vanilla extract, and lemon juice.

OPTIONAL: Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. This makes it easier to drop the cookies on the sheets. Drop by teaspoonful onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving space for the cookies to spread. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown. Cool for a minute or two on the cookie sheets then transfer to a rack to continue cooling. Makes 2–4 dozen, depending on the size of your spoonfuls.

*This recipe is from Old Colony Bakery in Charleston. This bakery has been selling benne wafers since 1940.

The History of the Benne Wafer

Unique to the Lowcountry since colonial times, benne (the Bantu-word for sesame) originated in Africa. Sesame is a versatile seed that can be used in many of the same ways as nuts. It has a nutty, sweet aroma and a sweet, buttery taste. When toasted, its flavor intensifies, yielding an almost almond- or peanut butter-like flavor. Many Southern recipes call for sesame seed, but none are more popular than the benne wafer. The Bantu (and Charlestonians) believe eating these cookies brings good luck.

*** BE SURE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE LOWCOUNTRY, THIS BOOK, AND THE AUTHOR IN UPCOMING POSTS AND BY CLICKING ON ‘FICTION BOOKS’ ON OUR HOME PAGE.***

SC Lowcountry: Georgetown Area

July 15, 2014 By Editor

Georgetown Harbor

Hi y’all,

As promised, I am back to write about my favorite place, the South Carolina Lowcountry. This particular corner of the Lowcountry is my favorite since it is my hometown. If you read my story, The Sanctuary, or checked out my last post, you already know that the lowcountry is a geographical and cultural region along the South Carolina coast. Just as a reminder, this region is defined by three areas: Georgetown area, Charleston area, and Beaufort area.

Georgetown Area

I have lived here all my life and boy has it changed since I was a kid. There used to be nothing out on Winyah Bay but old fishing boats and shrimp trawlers. But nowadays sleek boats and yachts are seen more frequently than fishing boats. Georgetown is situated on the Atlantic Ocean where the Waccamaw, Black, Sampit, and Pee Dee Rivers meet to form Winyah Bay.

Hampton Plantation

Georgetown is the third oldest port in the state and is becoming one of the fastest-growing towns in South Carolina. Old warehouses have been converted into restaurants and shopping forums. Impressive housing developments are popping up at an increasing rate. The first thing that visitors from either the highway or waterway see is our Historic District. Visitors can learn more about it by taking a trolley tour or a boat tour. I think the best views are from a boat. I recommend a plantation river cruise, but there are also narrated sunset cruises around the harbor, lighthouse shelling and dolphin cruises, and a fun-filled excursion aboard a mock pirate ship. Regardless of the vessel and type of excursion, the scenic vistas remain the same–spectacular. So sit back and enjoy the cool breeze, shorebird sightings, majestic waterfront homes, and pods of dolphins. Additionally, we have lots of museums (mostly on Front Street), such as Georgetown Museum, Kaminski House Museum, SC Maritime Museum, and the Rice Museum. Two things I think are a ‘must’ are a tour of Hampton Plantation Historic Site (mentioned in my book and haunted too!) and a ghost walk. Georgetown is home to lots of ghosts!

FYI: Georgetown is thirty-six miles south of Myrtle Beach and sixty miles north of Charleston.

Lodging… the accommodations in Georgetown are quite nice and reasonably-priced, but not luxurious. I think the best options are:

Hampton Inn (420 Marina Drive, on the waterway)

Baymont Inn & Suites (120 Church Street, near marina)

Quality Inn & Suites (210 N. Church Street)

Shaw House B & B (613 Cypress Street)

Mansfield Plantation (1776 Mansfield Road)

But if you are looking for something really upscale you can go up the road to Litchfield Resort.

Restaurants…we’re pretty much a ‘down home’ group, which means we like good food but don’t like to overpay or get gussied up just to eat a meal. My picks (just head to Front Street):

River Room, Front Street Deli, Reflections Grill, Rice Paddy, Big Tuna Raw Bar , Kudzo Bakery and Sweeties Sweets, Pralines, Toffee & Homemade Ice Cream (I love their pralines!)

Well, that’s all for now. I hope you get a chance to visit Georgetown. It’s a lovely place. I’ll be back soon to talk about Charleston.

Lydia

A great publication dedicated to all things lowcountry is the Lowcountry Companion. www.lowcountrycompanion.com

Great sources for tourism information include: www.tripadvisor.com, www.visitgeorge.com, and www.discoversouthcarolina.com

The Sanctuary

July 5, 2014 By Editor

Hi y’all,

My name is Lydia Coble and I’ve got a story to share with you. I should confide that my life has taken an unexpected turn recently. My husband betrayed me but I didn’t realize his deception until after he died. I was, as you can imagine, devastated to discover that the one person I loved and trusted more than anyone in this world could do such a thing. If it hadn’t been for my best friends I’m not sure I could have survived. But I did and I even managed to create a new–and very different–life for myself. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I need to start at the beginning and it all began at The Sanctuary.

P.S. In addition to sharing my story with y’all, I would like to share my favorite place too: the South Carolina Lowcountry. Stay tuned for my insider’s tour of this magical place. Just click on ‘Publisher’s Post’ to read them or sign up for them to be delivered to your mailbox.

Read what reviewers are saying about this book…

The Sanctuary tells the story of a few eventful months in the lives of four women who have been friends for decades. Family commitments and demanding careers caused them to drift apart for a time but an unforeseeable crisis brings them back together again. As events unfold they are forced to re-examine their lives, and question long held beliefs in the light of emerging facts. On the surface each one seems to have found fulfillment and achieved what she wanted, but all four are hiding secrets that threaten their happiness and those around them…There are numerous twists and turns in the plot and some very unexpected outcomes; the reader is as much in danger of jumping to conclusions as the characters…The book is set mainly in the author’s homeland, the South Carolina Lowcountry, and I enjoyed her descriptions of the scenery, flora and fauna that she knows so well… I recommend it…(3 out of 4 stars) -Online Book Club

“I was intrigued by the opening to the book describing the Gullah and the [SC] low country. The image of the girls secretly watching the [Gullah] ceremony is absolutely marvelous. It sounds like such a lovely place. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the natural surroundings on the Carolina coast and the wildlife. The nature writing is inspired. The Sanctuary is well-written and has good story-lines…When the women are laughing over the hilarious escapades of their youth, the author creates one of those magical moments that’s even more special as Liz’s daughter has a revelation and begins to see these middle-aged women, and her mother, as they are, inside, stripped of the wrinkles and years. I think the main story and characters are marvelous…” -Readers’ Favorite

In the tradition of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, Siddons spins a well-written and engaging tale of how true friendship must face and somehow survive tough times. Filled with rollicking vignettes, a wild road trip, well-drawn characters, and the intriguing backdrop of a South Carolina island and its mysterious Gullah residents, this entertaining novel is a worthy addition to women’s fiction. –US Review of Books

When Lydias husband dies, she is stunned to find out that he left her penniless, and in debt. But even worse, is the secret she must unravel with the help of her 3 childhood friends. I loved every minute of this book. When the girls went on their road trip, I enjoyed every tourist stop they did. In fact, I hit those same stops on one of my vacations. This gave my memories of it more value as I also saw it through their eyes, like being there again with them. I could feel the camaraderie of the four friends as if I were one too. It was so easy to relate to each of their personalities, no matter how different they were, and visualize each scene as I read it, whether it was Sonias secret, Julias fears, or even Lydia and Lizs arguments. I now feel that all these memories are mine too. I will be reading their continuing story for sure. -Bookplex

World Book Night April 23, 2014

April 20, 2014 By Editor

Soon, boxes of books will find their way to libraries and booksellers, which may not strike you as unusual. But these particular books are destined to be given away, not sold, to those who can’t afford or don’t have access to books.

Entitled World Book Night, this program enlists individual volunteers to hand out books to light or non-readers, hoping to kindle the love of reading in the recipients.

Volunteers can choose from a pre-selected group of about 30 books and have them delivered to a local library or bookstore. Then on April 23, volunteers hand out the books to those who are interested in reading more but often don’t have the means.

There are lots of rules that accompany this program, and it is too late this year to become a volunteer/book giver but there is always next year. Every volunteer has to re-apply so you would have a good chance at getting selected. Donations are accepted year-round.

To see a list of the chosen books to be distributed through this program or to learn more about World Book Night, visit http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/