Summer Reads - Be Encouraged
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Summer Reads!
Friends, I’m so happy summer is here. It’s time to enjoy nature, tackle my reading list, and soak up the sun! Some favorite reads so far include the stunning The Secret of Clouds by Alyson Richman, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett was an intriguing read, and a novel you’ll likely stay up all night to read (I did!), Heather Gudenkauf’s This is How I Lied. Read my reviews here on Goodreads. Thanks to all my readers who made my recent Facebook giveaway so fun.
Add Water Lily Dance and Essie’s Roses to your summer reading list. Heartwarming historical fiction. In Water Lily Dance, the lives and secrets of three brave women, centuries apart, intersect at the artist Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny, France in this emotional, imaginative portrait of loss, love, and second chances. Essie’s Roses is a #1 Amazon Kindle bestseller and timely, moving historical novel set before the Civil War about secrets, freedom, and the power of love.
Facebook Friends
Let’s connect. Like and follow me on Facebook, where I share my latest book news, giveaways, historical tidbits, and more. I love hearing from you! On Time Travel Thursday, I share photos of historical artifacts and places that inspire scenes in my novels. Here’s my latest historical inspiration and fun fact from Water Lily Dance:
Women in the Garden by Claude Monet, 1866.
“Women in the Garden” Claude Monet, 1866. Camille Doncieux posed for three figures. In my dual timeline novel Water Lily Dance, I explore the mysterious Camille and her intriguing relationships to Claude Monet and the Impressionists. Monet’s fellow artists predicted “Women in the Garden” as Monet’s triumph and victory for the painters of the “New Art” at the Paris Salon exhibition. But the government’s jury rejected and censored it because Monet painted visible brushstrokes, vibrant colors, and figures staged in nature–clothed in modern fashions!
Monet’s progress threatened their control on dictating an artist’s career and limiting free artistic expression as Monet offered the public a different art far from their mandate to paint classical depictions of war, religious themes and nudes. Funny tidbit: Claude Monet never once painted a nude in his career. Unheard of during the day. When asked, later in life, why he never painted a nude Monet’s only answer: “I wouldn’t dare.”
Book News! WESTLAND
I’ll be posting a bit less the next few months as I work to finish Essie’s Roses book 2, WESTLAND! Essie’s Roses fans, you’ve waited a long time for the sequel, and I’m so thankful for your continued support! Stay tuned.
Be Encouraged
Friends, sometimes you may wonder if you’re making a difference in someone’s life. I’m here to tell you, you are. You have offered me treasured kindness and support. Maybe you’ve never contacted me, but you’re reading this now, visited me on Facebook or Goodreads, entered a giveaway, chose one of my novels to read, and signed up for this newsletter. Your support, in every way, motivates me to keep writing—and has changed my life. Thank you with all my heart.
The greatest blessing: many of you have never met me, yet you call me your friend. I value your friendship. In turn, I hope my novels have offered you an escape, entertainment, and joy during difficult times. We need each other and the spark of goodness and kindness now more than ever.
My debut novel, Essie’s Roses, is special to me. It took nearly ten years to write and publish. Essie’s Roses highlights a brave, African American woman, Essie Mae, enduring a dark period in our history. The journey of writing Essie’s Roses, visiting its historical sites, and studying its history, taught me lessons that will stay with me forever. I share one example on my website’s FAQ page, the moment I held an actual slave receipt at a history center, feeling the weight, evil, and horror of what that fragile paper represented. As a writer of historical fiction, the importance of learning from history inspires my writing. I believe stories, music, films, and art pave the way to important conversations that may bring healing, understanding, and unity. I’m passionate about writing stories that highlight injustice, especially the fight for equality, women’s rights, and for all, the dream and desire to attain freedom in its many forms.
“We cry the same tears. We feel the same pain, of hurt, of hunger, of thirst. When we bleed, our blood is one color. The color of the price of freedom.”
In Essie’s Roses, my heart was to offer a unique perspective on a horrific time in American history before the Civil War through two brave little girls. Essie Mae is a character I cherish and will always remember, and one, I hope, inspires tenacity, inclusion, forgiveness, healing, courage, and change. Thank you, friends, for embracing her. My sequel to Essie’s Roses, Westland, has taken on new meaning, an emotional tale continuing the journey for the women of Westland. I can’t wait to share it with you soon.
Be encouraged. We will get through this time. I’m with you, friends. Believe the best and purpose to look on the bright side of life. Happy summer! Happy reading!
