The Healing Hands of Friendship

Because my reading time is taking a back seat to writing this month, I’m turning over “Reading Tuesdays” to some of my blog readers. The format is the same–jacket blurb, cover, the views of the reader, and a question that you all can answer regardless of whether you read this particular book or not.

So please, read on and give some thought to this week’s question. Maybe you’ll find a book you want to add to your TBR pile. Maybe the question posed will simply make you think.

Either way, let’s give it up for this week’s “Reading Tuesday” Review by fellow blog reader (and dear friend), Lynn Cahoon.

For those who have never read, FRIENDSHIP BREAD by Darien Gee, here’s a recap from the jacket:

One afternoon, Julia Evarts and her five-year-old daughter, Gracie, arrive home to find an unexpected gift on the front porch: a homemade loaf of Amish Friendship Bread and a simple note: I hope you enjoy it. Also included are a bag of starter, instructions on how to make the bread herself, and a request to share it with others.

Still reeling from a personal tragedy that left her estranged from the sister who was once her best friend, Julia remains at a loss as to how to move on with her life. She’d just as soon toss the anonymous gift, but to make Gracie happy, she agrees to bake the bread.

When Julia meets two newcomers to the small town of Avalon, Illinois, she sparks a connection by offering them her extra bread starter. Widow Madeline Davis is laboring to keep her tea salon afloat while Hannah Wang de Brisay, a famed concert cellist, is at a crossroads, her career and marriage having come to an abrupt end. In the warm kitchen of Madeline’s tea salon, the three women forge a friendship that will change their lives forever.

In no time, everyone in Avalon is baking Amish Friendship Bread. But even as the town unites for a benevolent cause and Julia becomes ever closer to her new friends, she realizes the profound necessity of confronting the painful past she shares with her sister.

About life and loss, friendship and community, food and family, FRIENDSHIP BREAD tells the uplifting story of what endures when even the unthinkable happens.

And now, for Lynn’s take:

FRIENDSHIP BREAD combines my two favorite activities; Baking and Reading. the book focuses on residents of a small town and their daily lives.  And how one act of kindness can blossom into changing a community. Many years ago, I suffered a miscarriage. One of my friends brought me a box of apples from her grandfather’s orchards. And I baked pies. Every day, a different type of apple pie. Crumble top, solid top, lattice top. The act of cooking, peeling the apples, mixing the dough for the crust, lessened the pain. Day by day, pie by pie. FRIENDSHIP BREAD took me back that feeling of healing and friendship.

Have you ever read a book that brought up memories of a different time? Or have you ever cooked you way out of a funk?

~Lynn Cahoon

**For those interested, Lynn does a weekly blog HERE. Check it out sometime.

**If you’d like to do a Reading Tuesday review like this, give me a shout ( ElizabethLCasey@aol.com ).  I’ll secure the book’s picture and blurb, all you need to do is your paragraph and the question!

When THE END is not The End.

A few weeks ago, I took myself to see THE HELP. I hadn’t read the book but, because of what I’d heard about it, I gave it a shot and it did not disappoint.

Three weeks later, I find myself still thinking about something one of the characters does/says throughout the movie. The story follows a colored maid in the south who has essentially raised more than her fair share of white babies (in her role as the family housekeeper). When the story opens, she’s taking care of a little girl who is, essentially, ignored by her mother.

Every morning, in a beautiful attempt to let this kid know she matters, the housekeeper takes the little girl in her arms and says the following…

You are kind.
You are special.
You are important.

The little girl repeats it back…with the “you’s” in place.

By the end of the movie, I was literally crying when the little girl repeated it back because I realized something I hadn’t picked up on in the beginning. Early on, I simply took the little girl’s verbatim repeat as just that…a little kid not knowing to change the pronoun. Yet, by the end, I realized that by saying it the way she was, the little girl was giving the same validation she was getting to a woman (the maid) who needed it every bit as much.

Because no matter how old you are, you need that validation. Somehow, someway.

So tell me, has there ever been a line in a book (or book-inspired movie) that has stayed with you long after you reached “The End?”

~Elizabeth

Sleepless Nights

Thanks to a crazier than normal (and that’s saying a lot) schedule over the past week, I’ve not had any time for reading.

Oh, I think about it. I even look at the book I should be trying to finish. But it’s just not happening.

That said, there are a few authors that could propel me to find the time…as in swap sleep to read. Two that come to mind are Linda Castillo and Emily Giffin–two very different writers, two very different genres.

So tell me, are there any writers who can make you swap sleep in exchange for reading your way through the night?

~Elizabeth

Confessions of a Reader

If you’re an avid reader, there’s little doubt you have a few skeletons in your closet. But, since we’re all friends here, it’s okay to confess a few of your darkest reading secrets to all of us. 

Ready?

1) Do you peek at the ending of a book prematurely? Why or why not?

2) Will you read a book until the end whether you like it or not? Or do you quit and walk away?

3) If wandering through a bookstore, what will make you buy a book? The cover? The first paragraph? The book jacket blurb? Or do you close your eyes and point?

4) Where do you go to buy books most often?

~Elizabeth

Casting Time!

Thanks to Irene and her visit to my neighborhood during the wee hours of Sunday morning, the chance of being without power today is very high as you can see. So, with that in mind, I’m asking all of you for some help with today’s blog…

If you’ve read all of the books in the Southern Sewing Circle series thus far, who would you cast as Tori Sinclair on the movie  screen?  How about Rose or Leona? Margaret Louise or  Debbie? Dixie or Melissa?  You don’t have to have ideas for all of them, I’m just curious who comes to your mind for some of the circle members.

 You know, in the outside chance Hollywood comes knocking (ha!)…

Ready? Go!

~Elizabeth

**One person will be randomly chosen (from those who leave a comment here on the blog) to win a little prize package in preparation for the November 1st release of DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS!! While the contents of the package is a secret, I can tell you this:  If you like the series, you’ll like the prize!

A More Tolerable Delay

A few months ago, my dear friend Vicki (who happens to own a delightful independent book store in St. Charles, MO–CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS) recommended I read Linda Castillo’s SWORN TO SILENCE.  The title was the first in a series of Amish Thriller novels and Vicki knew I was getting ready to embark on my own Amish mystery series. Despite the fact that I’ll be writing a cozy series set around the Amish, she figured it couldn’t hurt for me to read Castillo’s series.

Wow. Best book suggestion I’ve gotten in a long time.

I read SWORN TO SILENCE and loved it. It was darker and more edgy than I generally tend to read (I write cozies for a reason), but the writing was SO good I ran out and bought the second–PRAY FOR SILENCE.

Fortunately for me, Vicki introduced me to this series within just a few short weeks of the release of Castillo’s third–BREAKING SILENCE. When it came out in July, I wanted nothing more than to run to the store and buy it. But I resisted because I knew I had my own deadline to meet and I knew that if I started reading, I wouldn’t do anything else–including write.

So I waited. Until now. 

Sunday morning, before driving to the airport with my daughters, I stopped at the bookstore and purchased BREAKING SILENCE. I figured I’d read a chapter or two while waiting for the girls’ flight.

It was a good decision to stop and buy it as I read far more than two chapters. In fact, thanks to weather delays and airlines, I got to read half the book while sitting in the terminal. Then, last night, I finished the book.

And I loved it. Absolutely. Loved. It.

Of course, now I feel like a hack, but that’s okay because I love being hooked on a writer and flipping the calendar ahead a year in anticipation of the next in their series.

So what are you reading?

~Elizabeth

Priceless Autographs

If you could have three books signed by the actual author, what books would they be?

~Elizabeth

More Than Just Paper

Today’s post is one I’m hoping you can help me with…

Some of the best comments will be shared on my Facebook Fan page over the next few weeks (first name attribution only)…

1) What does reading mean to you?

2) What is your fondest memory involving books/reading (if you have more than one, that’s fine, too)?

~Elizabeth

A Little of This, A Little of That

**If you read my lead-up on Friday to our weekly Bits & Pieces, you know I was craving (and I mean CRAVING) a hamburger with a vanilla milk shake on the side.

Soooo, as the saying goes, all good things come to those who wait…

Boy, was that good. And the shake…there wasn’t a single solitary drop left in either the original glass or the little silver back-up thingy. Mmmm…

**I just got word that Book # 6 in the Southern Sewing Circle series has had a slight name change. Now, the book will be called, REAP WHAT YOU SEW.  Cute, huh?   But wait! If you’re scratching your head counting the books already out, you’re right…# 5 is the next to be released. That one is titled, DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS and will release on November 1st.  Both books are available for pre-order now!

**And finally, I’m currently reading Wendy Wax’s latest book, TEN BEACH ROAD.  What are you reading?

~Elizabeth

An Alternate Ending

 I have a fun question for all of you book lovers out there today…

 If you could rewrite the ending of ANY book, what book would it be and how would you end it?

~Elizabeth