" Author Karen White "

I LOVE discovering the writing of an author NEW to me! I'm not sure how I came across this very talented author, but I've spent quite a few hours lately savouring her books! Meet Karen White.......... Karen has written 13 novels that I can find, four of which I've got, three that I've read and two more that I've got ordered..............

The first one I read is titled: " The Lost Hours" This one is set in one of my very favorite places Savannah, Georgia. Piper Mills was raised in Savannah by her grandparents after her parents died tragically. Her valid hope of becoming an Olympic equestrian dies also after a near fatal fall from a horse. Drowning in her fear of horses and her grief from her loss of both grandparents, Piper is further stressed by being the heir to her grandparents Monterey Square home filled with secrets. A secret room is discovered, the memory of burying a box in the backyard with her grandfather when she was 12years old is remembered filling her with regret that she failed to ask questions which now appear too late for answers. Her search for those answers takes her on a journey that will not only give her the answers to those questions but also makes her face her fears...............and gives her new hope

I then read: " The House On Tradd Street" Melanie Middleton is a young successful real estate agent who sells historic houses in Charleston, South Carolina. She doesn't even like old historic houses. She also hates that she inherited her Mother's gift of " the sixth sense". So when a stranger leaves his entire estate to her including an 1840 haunted old historic Charleston house in need of restoration, she really feels cursed! In steps another stranger to invade her life, writer Jack Trenholm who offers his help in restoring the house if Melanie agrees to let him search for diamonds he believes were hidden in the house by the Confederacy during the Civil War! This was a wonderful read full of ghosts, intrigue, history and romance..........taking you on a delightful journey as Melanie makes lemonade out of her basket of lemons~

My favorite of the 3 I've read is the one I finished yesterday: " On Folly Beach" Set in Folly Beach, South Carolina this book is set in two time frames, 1942 and 2009.

In 2009 Emmy Hamilton is reeling from the loss her young soldier husband in Afghanistan.

Ater much resistence, and seeing some myserious love notes inside some old books her mother has bought from a bookstore in Folly Beach, SC, Emmy is convinced by her mother to leave Indiana and move to her mother's home town of Folly Beach and buy the bookstore store her mother frequented as a child, Folly Finds, site unseen.

In 1942 Folly Beach is front and center of WWII given reports that German Subs are being spotted off it's coast. Maggie O'Shea, the owner of the local bookstore Folly Finds has her hands full trying to raise her nine year old sister Lulu and console her cousin Catherine who has just lost her husband at Pearl Harbor.

Karen did a wonderful job of capturing place during both of these time periods. For anyone who loves books, bookstores, mystery and history, this is a must read! This is a story of love, loss and the power of the written word to tranform lives!

This book will make to want to visit Folly Beach! It will also make you yearn to own your own Bottle Tree as they play an important role in this book. This Bottle Tree was presented to Karen by some of her readers who loved the book!

I have not read "The Girl On Legare Street" yet. I know I will love it though as it is the sequel to " The House On Tradd Street " and I look forward to seeing what Melanie and Jack are up to in Charleston's Historic District! I will get to it............

Right after I read this....................

As you all know NC Author Vicki Lane is one of my VERY FAVORITE AUTHORS........

Well, she has BLESSED me with a galley of her new book " The Day of Small Things "

due for release on September 28, 2010 !!!!!!!!!!!

I'm 50 pages in and LOVING IT!!

A review when I'm through..................... :)

Karen White lives in Atlanta, Ga with her husband and 2 children.

For more on go here For more on Vicki's books go here

For a tour of New Orleans with me go here

"AWESOME READS"

Read All About The Great Books by clicking HERE

" Coming Soon from WNC "

WNC is in my opinion one of the most beautiful places on earth with her Appalachian Mountains, gorgeous streams and rivers............... With Spring approaching, her beautiful flowers will be putting on a show soon..... It's her writers that keep me coming back though............they are some of the very best storytellers in print !!

Writers like Asheville's Wayne Caldwell ...................

Whose first novel " Cataloochee" took me back to one of my favorite places in the GSMNP,

Cataloochee Valley. Most people are familiar with Cades Cove but few have discovered Cataloochie Valley with its old homesteads, churches and herds of Elk and much less traffic to fight! I loved Wayne's book which gave me a realistic insight of life in this beautiful place before and after the Civil War. Its a book you are so sad to see end.................

On February 23, 2010 I will get to travel back to Cataloochee and revisit the Carter,Banks and Wright families again in the pages of Wayne's new novel " requiem by fire " a sequel to Cataloochee. I'm really looking forward to this! If you haven't read "Cataloochee", get going so you can enjoy "requiem " along with me!! :)

Next we have Maggie Valley's beautiful and very talented Kathryn Magendie...........

Whose first novel " Tender Graces" introduced us to Virgina Kate who made us cry, smile and won our hearts. We wanted her to stay with us forever..............

In April 2010.........We will once again welcome Virgina Kate back into our lives when the sequel " Secret Graces " is released! So if you haven't met Virginia Kate in " Tender Graces " you'll be way behind when Kathryn Magendie stops by The Writers Porch for an interview! Get to turning them pages now, you hear? :)

Also notice the cover has a blurb from Wayne Caldwell !!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE and LOOK FOR THE BIG REVEAL AT THE PORCH LATER TODAY !!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Discovering New Authors

This week I "got wind " of some authors and books that caught my interest. Pat, a blog follower from East Tennessee wrote me about a new first novel from author Dolen Perkins-Valdez titled " WENCH". She said it was being compared to " The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. Since "The Help" is my favorite read of 2009, I had to check this book out. I googled it and read the reviews. It has gotten rave reviews! The author who lives in Seattle was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee so that means Southern Author in my book and you all know how I Love our southern writers! This book is fact based on a pre-Civil War Ohio summer resort where slave owners took their African-American mistresses to spend summer vacations. The story is told from the voices of four of these women who meet up there every summer for 4 weeks. I started the book last night and read three chapters. So far it is wonderful! I'll do a review when I'm finished..........for more on this book go here I got a e-mail from a friend in Tennessee who had just finished this book " Mudbound"by Hillary Jordan and she said it was terrific! This is also a first novel that was published in 2008. Its setting is post WWII in the Mississippi Delta. The story of a white family and a a black family who work together in a struggle to survive on a ramshackle farm. It is a winner of the Bellwether Prize for fiction. Hillary Jordan grew up in both Oklahoma and Texas....for more on this book go HERE

Author Vicki Lane had a comment in her newsletter about another author I'd never heard of who writes books about my favorite place, Appalachia. A North Carolina Author!! You know how partial I am to those wonderful NC writers! So I googled Peggy Poe Stern and was just awe struck by the books she's written! I had a wonderful phone conversation with Peggy yesterday and I'll be getting five of her novels in the mail this week! I'm really excited about discovering Peggy Poe Stern! Thanks Vicki !! This book is her first novel and it also has a sequel titled

" Above All" and she told me she has two more sequels to this book in the works!

" Tamarack" was her second and one of the five I ordered from her. Her books are set in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina and have gotten wonderful reviews! For more on Peggy Poe Stern and her books go HERE.

I hope you will check out these books and their authors and add them to your list of must read books!!