Jencey's Writer's Corner

  The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patty Callahan came out two years ago.  This book is pure escapism!!  I would also say a beach read! Journey into a magical land!  Enjoy the ride.  About the book:  In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own. But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves. Twenty...

Thank you to Tandem Literary and Random House for a copy of Becoming Mrs. Lewis .   I was given this copy in exchange for an honest review. C. S. Lewis has been a familiar author to me since I was little with books such as the Chronicles of Narnia.   When I was in high school, I remember meeting my friends at the movie theater at Manassas Mall.    The four of us were trying to decide what movie we wanted to see and we ended up picking Shadow Lands.    The movie that tells the story of C.S. Lewis’s wife Joy.    I did not realize there is more to the story.   Facebook    Twitter    Instagram ”When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis—known as Jack—she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn’t holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over t...

Thank you to Berkley and Tandem Literary for a copy of The Bookshop at Water’s End by Patti Callahan Henry . I was given this book in exchange for an honest review. I received no financial compensation. Patti Callahan Henry is one of the most popular writers in my area. I had not found any new books from her in a while. So I was pleased to learn about her new title The Bookshop at Water’s End . I also recently learned that she changed publishing houses from St. Martin’s Press to Berkley.  It is an imprint of Penguin. Synopsis: Bonny Blankenship has been a doctor at a Charleston Hospital for years. She works in the emergency room. One night while at work she gives the wrong dose of pain medicine to a patient. He then dies. Since Bonny works a lot, she has all this vacation time to decide her future. She makes the decision to go back and visit Watersend South Carolina where her family has a summer home. She recruits her daughter Piper and best friend Lainey with child...

The next novel in our Pink Escape series is When Light Breaks by Patti Callahan Henry.   This story asks the question can the past change the future?   Is it worth investigating?  Follow along this story set in South Carolina. Synopsis:  Kara Larson is a manager for the country club.  She works with Pros on the golf tour.  She met her fiancé Peyton through her work with the PGA.  She feels that she has everything she ever wanted.  Then the benefit fundraiser comes along that will follow the tour stop of PGA.  Shelly needs a band for this event.  Then there is Mave's story of her first love.  Kara keeps up her visits to this lady to fulfill her Junior League committment.  One night her fiancé suggests this band that is very popular.  The main members of the band are Jack and his brother.  Shelly and Jack grew up together in her old neighborhood.  Will this band solve all her problems?...

The Stories We Tell is a recent release by the great author Patti Callahan Henry. It has been released in paperback from St. Martin’s Press this summer.   Definitely a must have for 2015 Beach Read.    This story has a little bit of everything! Synopsis:   Eve Morrison runs a letter press company the Fine Line Ink.   It is her pet project that has become a successful company.   This company makes letter press cards.   There is one problem it takes away from her family.   She is married to Cooper Morrison and they have a daughter Gwen.   One night Eve receives a phone that an accident has occurred and both Cooper and her sister Willa were in a car together, and it crashed into the tree.   Cooper’s story is that it is all Willa’s fault because she was drunk.   Is that the actual story?   What happens when the evidence does not match Cooper’s story?   Who will Eve believe Cooper or Willa? My Thoughts:  ...

Summer brings out the list of my favorite writers and one of them is Patti Callahan Henry.   This is my first time to share one of her novels.   Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for a copy of The Idea of Love.   I am also giving away a one copy of this novel.   So sit back and be ready to be enticed for a great story! Synopsis: Blake Hunter is looking for his next story.   He writes screenplays which come to the big screen in Hollywood.   There is only one problem he hasn’t had a hit in a long time.    So he travels to Watersend South Carolina to see what he can find under and assumed identity of Hunter Adderman.   What happens when he comes across a local woman Ella Flynn?    Is she telling him the truth?    Will he ultimately find his story and maybe a little romance of his own? My Thoughts: This is my first time to share one of Patti’s novels.   I am honored for the opportunity to share The ...

Thank you to Patti Callahan Henry for coming to Writer's Corner today to share her casting picks for THE STORIES WE TELL.  The main character in THE STORIES WE TELL, Eve, is in her forties and running a letterpress company. Eve is a creative spirit trying desperately to keep the image of her life together. If I close my eyes I can see Diane Lane playing this character exactly right. Oh, to hear her say. "Can't anyone be happy in your stories?" (a line from the book).   Eve's husband Cooper is cool enough to pull off the best of lies and look good doing it. Sean Penn would saunter through this role with ease. By the opening of the movie, he'd have a scar across his face and look good sporting it while keeping his life together. And Max, Oh my favorite character and Eve's co-worker. Mark Ruffalo definitely. I saw him while I was writing this part--his rugged good looks and raspy voice with a quick wit.   Eve also has an eighteen year o...