The Ballad of Belle Dorcas by William H. Hooks

by Carol5 Comments
The Ballad of Belle Dorcas by William H. Hooks, illustrated by Brian Pinkney (Suggested reading level: Grades 2 - 4) This is a wonderful re-telling of a traditional American story, but one I've never heard before. According to the author, this is one of the many "conjure" tales he was told when he was a child in the tidewater area of rural North Carolina. He remember listening with "awe and tantalizing shivers." Belle Dorcas is free issue, the daughter of a slave woman and her master who was granted her freedom at birth. She works in the master's home, but her mom is dreaming of the day when Belle will marry a free issue man and live in her own home on her own land. Despite being courted by a number of eligible free men, Belle falls in love with a slave, Joshua, and gains permission to marry him. She gives up everything for love. When a new master plans to sell Joshua,...
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Over two years ago

by Carol14 Comments
My first post was over two years ago, and I actually do remember why I started this blog in the first place. I had just discovered the world of book blogs and thought had to join in. And I've never regretted it. It's fun, talking about books I love or hate, sharing bits of my life, showing off my photos, "meeting" new people from all over the world. I have to admit that I love the internet. Face-to-face, I'm not totally comfortable, and I'm horrible on the phone. The internet and e-mail have liberated me. I can write whatever I want- if people care enough to read it great, if not that's fine too. At heart, my blog is for me. It's about the things I enjoy, the people I love. It made me happy in the beginning and still does. Why did you start blogging?...
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Winner!

by Carol2 Comments
Congrats to the winner of  India Black by Carol K. Carr. Natasha J I'll be e-mailing you shortly. I just need your mailing address to pass on to the author. I hope you enjoy the book. For those of you who didn't win, you can always buy it at Amazon, an Indie bookstore, or The Book Depository....
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Looking forward to…

by Carol18 Comments
I am looking forward to actually going on vacation this summer. It's been a couple of years since we've taken off a whole week and gone away. The plan is to head for the Outer Banks in North Carolina, hopefully around Hatteras, but we haven't booked anything yet. The three of us are going down with my mom, my brother and his family. It should be a nice time. Relaxing on the beach, site-seeing, bird-watching, eating, shopping, fishing, kayaking. Any suggestions of things we should do, places we should visit while we're there?...
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Teaser from The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

by Carol13 Comments
CeeCee sat down across the table from Tim. It was an incongruous scene, she thought. Formal dining room, crystal chandelier, heavy gold jacquard draperies that  must have cost a fortune, eating pizza on paper plates, planning a kidnapping. (13%, The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain) I'm not to this point in the book yet, but I can still picture the scene. Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Play along. The rules are easy and I only cheated a little. Grab your current read, open to a random page, and give us two teaser sentences. Remember, no spoilers. Purchase at Amazon, an Indie bookstore, or The Book Depository. I purchased my copy and the above is my honest opinion.....
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