MISS HILDRETH WORE BROWN by Olivia deBelle Byrd

Published by Morgan James Publishing
ISBN 978-1-60037-748-8
I originally won this book from My Reader’s Block blog and then at the request of the author, was asked to read, review and offer my honest opinion. There was no cost to me and/or no monetary compensation.
  Synopsis: While Olivia deBelle Byrd was repeating one of her many Southern stories for the umpteenth time, her long-suffering husband looked at her with glazed over eyes and said, “Why don’t you write this stuff down?” Thus was born Miss Hildreth Wore Brown—Anecdotes of a Southern Belle. If the genesis for a book is to shut your wife up, I guess that’s as good as any.
  On top of that, Olivia’s mother had burdened her with one of those Southern middle names kids love to make fun. To see “deBelle” printed on the front of a book seemed vindication for all the childhood teasing.
  With storytelling written in the finest Southern tradition from the soap operas of Chandler Street in the quaint town of Gainesville, Georgia, to a country store on the Alabama state line, Olivia deBelle Byrd delves with wit and amusement into the world of the Deep South with all its unique idiosyncrasies and colloquialisms.
  The characters who dance across the pages range from Great-Aunt Lottie Mae, who is as “old-fashioned and opinionated as the day is long,” to Mrs. Brewton, who calls everyone “dahling” whether they are darling or not, to Isabella with her penchant for mint juleps and drama.
  Humorous anecdotes from a Christmas coffee, where one can converse with a lady who has Christmas trees with blinking lights dangling from her ears, to Sunday church, where a mink coat is mistaken for possum, will delight Southerners and baffle many a non-Southerner. There is the proverbial Southern beauty pageant, where even a six-month-old can win a tiara, to a funeral faux pas of the iron clad Southern rule—one never wears white after Labor Day and, dear gussy, most certainly not to a funeral.
  Miss Hildreth Wore Brown—Anecdotes of a Southern Belle is guaranteed to provide an afternoon of laugh-out-loud reading and hilarious enjoyment.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: A very light hearted, quick, funny, and at times, laugh out loud chapters read. The writing style of the author allows the reader to actually visualize the scene and gives the feeling of the author and reader engaged in a dialogue. Short chapters touching upon topics, in my opinion, everyone can relate to in some way. Her sense of humor and the way she relates events from funerals to family vacations, emergency room visits to Christmas attire is hysterical. A must read and a perfect gift for those “just because occasions”!!!!

 

Addendum: Olivia deBelle Byrd will be visiting here on April 14th while on tour. So mark your calendars!!! She also has a surprise in store for you!!

  Nerves make us bomb job interviews, first dates, and SATs. With a presentation looming at work, fear robs us of sleep for days. It paralyzes seasoned concert musicians and freezes rookie cops in tight situations. And yet not everyone cracks. Soldiers keep their heads in combat; firemen rush into burning buildings; unflappable trauma doctors juggle patient after patient. It’s not that these people feel no fear; often, in fact, they’re riddled with it.
  In Nerve, Taylor Clark draws upon cutting-edge science and painstaking reporting to explore the very heart of panic and poise. Using a wide range of case studies, Clark overturns the popular myths about anxiety and fear to explain why some people thrive under pressure, while others falter-and how we can go forward with steadier nerves and increased confidence.

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Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
*Grab your current read
*Open to a random page
*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
*Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

She was simply falling apart before my eyes.  Beneath the pain dwelled the complexity of a hurt I knew I would never be able to understand.

  Nerves make us bomb job interviews, first dates, and SATs. With a presentation looming at work, fear robs us of sleep for days. It paralyzes seasoned concert musicians and freezes rookie cops in tight situations. And yet not everyone cracks. Soldiers keep their heads in combat; firemen rush into burning buildings; unflappable trauma doctors juggle patient after patient. It’s not that these people feel no fear; often, in fact, they’re riddled with it.
  In Nerve, Taylor Clark draws upon cutting-edge science and painstaking reporting to explore the very heart of panic and poise. Using a wide range of case studies, Clark overturns the popular myths about anxiety and fear to explain why some people thrive under pressure, while others falter-and how we can go forward with steadier nerves and increased confidence.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
  BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
*Grab your current read
*Open to a random page
*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
*Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

She was simply falling apart before my eyes.  Beneath the pain dwelled the complexity of a hurt I knew I would never be able to understand.

THE WEIGHT OF GLASS by Stuart Heatherington

Published by Stuart Heatherington
ASIN: B003WMA670
At the request of the author, an EBook edition was provided, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from author): Hidden in the words of Amy Macon’s memoir, as much a work in progress as a survival guide for a torturous childhood, is the need to stitch together the fabric of a family’s dark history.
  For Lee Macon, growing up meant you had to forget waking up inside your mother’s coffin or the memory of the man that put you there. That’s a secret he’s kept from his sister for 30 years.
  Things change, however, when Amy joins Lee at the family’s beach house to lay their sister to rest. Showing up will ease some of the scars brought on by time, if not the memory of the ones etched upon Amy’s wrists. But more importantly, Lee understands the staggering truth behind her murder.
  What they know is this: out of a houseful of children, only two of them remain alive. One is pushing to escape the past and the other hell-bent on bringing it to light. In this, Lee finds himself blindsided by a sister’s resolve, drug around by the corners of a broken heart and forced to remember what, as a boy, he so desperately fought to hide. Problem is no one said it would be easy digging up the dead. It never is. But if they’re going to sift through the bones of memory, it will mean uncovering the mystery of a family long buried in violence.
  A provocative novel of survival and redemption, The Weight of Glass is a story of one family’s struggle with forgiveness in the wake of tragedy.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: This was a very hard read due to the nature of the story line. A very disturbing and profound plot of extreme child abuse of 4 siblings, only 2 surviving to adulthood and trying to deal with the past. The story alternated between an adult brother and sister reliving and confessing to each other the torture they both endured of their childhood and how it affected them. At times, I had difficulty as to who was remembering the memories and had to reread a few pages to fully grasp which sibling it was. The characters were very hard for me, and this is my opinion only, to relate to as the abuse was so horrendous at times, that I could not imagine. A very depressing, and at times, horrific read. Unfortunately, in this day and age, we hear and see real life stories like this on the news every week.

THE WEIGHT OF GLASS by Stuart Heatherington

Published by Stuart Heatherington
ASIN: B003WMA670
At the request of the author, an EBook edition was provided, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from author): Hidden in the words of Amy Macon’s memoir, as much a work in progress as a survival guide for a torturous childhood, is the need to stitch together the fabric of a family’s dark history.
  For Lee Macon, growing up meant you had to forget waking up inside your mother’s coffin or the memory of the man that put you there. That’s a secret he’s kept from his sister for 30 years.
  Things change, however, when Amy joins Lee at the family’s beach house to lay their sister to rest. Showing up will ease some of the scars brought on by time, if not the memory of the ones etched upon Amy’s wrists. But more importantly, Lee understands the staggering truth behind her murder.
  What they know is this: out of a houseful of children, only two of them remain alive. One is pushing to escape the past and the other hell-bent on bringing it to light. In this, Lee finds himself blindsided by a sister’s resolve, drug around by the corners of a broken heart and forced to remember what, as a boy, he so desperately fought to hide. Problem is no one said it would be easy digging up the dead. It never is. But if they’re going to sift through the bones of memory, it will mean uncovering the mystery of a family long buried in violence.
  A provocative novel of survival and redemption, The Weight of Glass is a story of one family’s struggle with forgiveness in the wake of tragedy.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: This was a very hard read due to the nature of the story line. A very disturbing and profound plot of extreme child abuse of 4 siblings, only 2 surviving to adulthood and trying to deal with the past. The story alternated between an adult brother and sister reliving and confessing to each other the torture they both endured of their childhood and how it affected them. At times, I had difficulty as to who was remembering the memories and had to reread a few pages to fully grasp which sibling it was. The characters were very hard for me, and this is my opinion only, to relate to as the abuse was so horrendous at times, that I could not imagine. A very depressing, and at times, horrific read. Unfortunately, in this day and age, we hear and see real life stories like this on the news every week.

According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”
                                                                  From Doubleday