Thursday, March 15, 2018

Before We Were Yours - #BookBeginnings on Friday and The #Friday56

I enjoy books where there are two plots going on at the same time. In Before We Were Yours, one of the stories takes place in the late 1930s. The second one is set in present day. Slowly the relationship between the two plot lines is revealed.

Before We Were Yours is a 5-star book, based on a true story, that I won't soon forget.

Beginning:

Prelude
Baltimore, Maryland
August 3, 1939

My story begins on a sweltering August night, in a place I will never set eyes upon. The room takes life only in my imaginings. It is large most days when I conjure it. The walls are white and clean, the bed linens crisp as a fallen leaf. The private suite has the very finest of everything. Outside, the breeze is weary, and the cicadas throb in the tall trees, their verdant hiding places just below the window frames. The screens sway inward as the attic fan rattles overhead, pulling at wet air that has no desire to be moved.

56% on my Kindle:
I spin around and bolt for the backyard, but I'm running in sand, the long wrap dress clinging around my legs, my flip-flops slapping. I catch the flash of a blue shirt near my grandmother's palmetto hedge just in time to put on the brakes and act casual coming up the boardwalk.

Genre: Women's Fiction / Family Saga
Pages: 339
Amazon Link:  Before We Were Yours
Copyright 2017

Synopsis:

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancĂ©, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.


              


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Twitter: @SandyNachlinger
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18 comments:

  1. Hi Sandy!

    Oh, yes, I have seen this one around and I'd love to read it. Thanks for reminding me!

    Here is mine: http://bit.ly/2FHVPqf

    Have an awesome weekend, luv Sass x

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  2. I've heard great things about this author, and even have a book by her on my Kindle. I should read it soon. Those snippets sound like I'd really enjoy her writing. Happy weekend!

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  3. This one is on my TBR! I've heard it's really good and it definitely has been calling my name. I love the teasers you shared.

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  4. This does sound amazing. It is not in a genre I usually read. This week I am spotlighting The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. Happy reading!

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  5. I LOVED this book, too. I was caught up by the Children's Home Society scandal and the emotion of watching lives ripped apart, and then I loved how things came together in the end.

    Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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  6. I've heard lots of good things about this one and even have a copy. Hope you enjoy it!

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  7. I hope you enjoy your read!!
    http://justmeandmyblogreviews.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-friday-56_16.html

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  8. Sounds good; I'll give it a try.

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  9. Having just read Orphan Train, this one seems to have similar elements. Especially the "based on real events" aspect. I'm going to look for it. Thank you.

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  10. This sounds so good! I've heard many great things about it. Thanks for sharing! Hope you have an awesome weekend! :)

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  11. This book sounds absolutely beautiful! I was drawn in by your book beginning and am feeling as though I need to know more. I will have to give this one a try myself. Thank you so much for sharing it. :)

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  12. Sounds like a very compelling read, especially knowing that its based on a true story.

    Have a wonderful weekend and happy reading :)

    Jo-Ann

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  13. Oh, I'm getting a fun, mischievous vibe from that 56. Enjoy your weekend!

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  14. I don't think I can read this. I can't stand suffering along with kids in a story. It sounds like the same feeling as Orphan Train, which I read and then passed along to my mother. She read it and then told me my dad was almost put on that train but at the last minute, his mother (she was divorced and mentally unstable in the worst days of the Great Depression--he was 6) yanked him off it. :(

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  15. Family stories with a double timeline attract me too. Usually they are character-driven, which is a plus. I'm glad you enjoyed this one. Happy reading!

    Ronnie @ Paradise Found

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  16. This looks really interesting. I'll have to add it to my TBR. 8-)

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