The Coach House - A Story of Our Parents' time

 
Accompanied by the music of the forties,
I couldn't help but hum along to each tune.

The Coach House by Florence Osmund is a beautifully written story of the immediate years following WWII. Marie is a young college graduate who has studied Interior Design and is using her skills at Marshall Fields in Chicago during the store's heyday. She is a window dresser, but is soon recognized for her talents and work ethic and is promoted to assistant buyer and ultimately to store manager. Richard is a medical supply salesman who is smitten with Marie's beauty and grace when he sees her working in a window. Romance is a new experience for Marie, and she quickly falls in love with her attentive suitor.

Despite her hesitations, they soon wed, and live the life of a happily married, affluent couple, flying to New York City for shopping and shows. Their differences gradually emerge in their relationship, as Richard is detached from his family, while Marie sorrowfully misses her mother, the only family she had. Richard continually asks Marie to trust him, and all will be well for them. This becomes an increasingly difficult task, as she begins to discover more and more about her husband's working life.

Florence Osmund skillfully interweaves musical interludes throughout her characters' experiences, quoting songs form the post-war era ~ lyrics that so perfectly fit the young couple's thoughts at the moment. Osmund also uses movies of that time to provide insightful dialogue that reveals each of their inner thoughts.

As Marie walks through the city of Chicago, and later through small towns beyond the city, the reader easily strolls alongside, taking in the nostalgic views of small town life in contrast with big city events. The gangsters of the forties, the early civil rights strife and slowly developing societal awareness of such complete the tapestry this author carefully weaves around her characters.

This book is a love story, a chapter in our history, a picture of divergent cultures, and a strong female character's journal. I strongly recommend this book for readers aged 16 and over who want a true look at this time period and all that it encompassed. Five Stars!

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More Mystery Reviews: Susan Santangelo

I've been reading, and it's now time again to review the best of those I've enjoyed in this miserably hot and humid August.  My Kindle has been a blessing as I've spent many days this summer sitting in a doctor's office awaiting treatment. Rick is always at my side, and we've had many conversations during the ride to the city. But in the waiting rooms we both read. So here's what I have for you today.

Every Wife Has A Story

A Baby Boomer Mystery Series

 Susan Santangelo has begun a series of 'baby boomer' books, following Jim and Carol through a series of events that many in this age group are experiencing, or soon approaching.  The subtitle for each book is "Every wife has a story," and the point of view in the books is that of Carol Anderson, who is a wife, freelance writer, mother of two, good friend and devoted companion to two English Springer Spaniels, with whom she shares many conversations. Carol's husband is employed in public relations in New York City, and they share a lovely home in a Connecticut suburb just a commuter train track away. Their son Mike is a well educated individual living on his own, and their daughter Jenny has just returned home, leaving a controlling boyfriend on the west coast to continue working instead on her graduate degree.

In the first book of the series, titled Retirement Can Be Murder, Jim is considering retirement, and Carol is fretting what may signal the impending loss of her alone time at home. Believing that Jim will need the structure and responsibilities of a retirement hobby or avocation, she uses the internet to look into possibilities. But what she finds leads both Jim and Carol into frightening consequences...

The second book, titled Moving Can Be Murder, finds Jim and Carol facing the reality of mortality, and the recognition that living in an old house requires a great deal of maintenance. While they have addressed such problems through the years, Jim's financial awareness and tight purse strings have always been appeased by his willingness to do much of the work himself. But he is older now, and health is at the forefront, right there next to saving money on a tight budget. Carol begins researching condominiums and 'active adult lifestyle' communities. Jim unexpectedly takes the lead in finding such a setting, and encourages Carol to consider it seriously.

Leaving her home is an unsettling proposal for Carol, but leaving their dogs is unthinkable, for both Carol and Jim. They continue looking. They list their own home for sale with Carol's competent realtor-friend, Nancy. But when the first sale falls through due to an unexpected death, things take an unusual twist, involving many more people than would be involved in a typical home sale, as their home is now to be  offered as a 'show home' to benefit "Sally's Place," a charity that supports victims of domestic abuse. Little does she know that her once-intimidating teacher, a nun with a firm standard and glare to match, is in charge of Sally's Place.

Susan Santangelo weaves the two stories together skillfully, and in the second book, introduces her readers to not only the world of maturing baby boomers, but also the world of realty and of domestic violence, and to the realization that there is much more to retirement than just finding a hobby to fill the hours.   Five stars for both of these books; I am looking forward to the third book, due soon. Both of these are available for kindle and for nook and other e-readers, as well as in paperback.

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A small group of local authors met ...

Today I met with Maggie and Paul, both local authors in my hometown and willing to meet and strategize marketing our independently-published books. We sat in the cozy fireside corner of the Scala Art Center, where Pickering's hardware was established many years ago. A few customers wandered in and out while we sat meeting and chatting about our recent experiences marketing our books.

Paul spoke a bit about the convention of book authors and publishers that he attended recently in New York, and brought back a few books to share with some members of the group who wrote in a similar vein. I dream of one day being able to go to such a gathering, sharing with others the variety of books I have published, and those I intend yet to write and market.

Maggie told us about her independent publisher.Outskirts Press in Colorado, which has a range of services available to authors, who are not obligated to purchase anything they might not need or want at this point in their journey. Paul and I are both using different self-publishers, he with Lulu and I with CreateSpace. We compared the costs of such services, and the amount of marketing we've done either through the publishers or through word of mouth.

Maggie also talked of her finding a good deal at Kinko's for bookmarks that feature the illustrator's work from her book, and I spoke of the reasonable prices I find at Vistaprint. Paul spoke of how easy it is to work with Vistaprint, and to potentially buy more than one needs with such ease:) !

Social media was also discussed as a marketing tool. I talked about the various sites at Facebook that host authors who share similar thoughts and topics. We talked about having websites as a grounding core of marketing efforts, but in reality we're all just learning how to use these sites to our advantage.

I talked about my recent disappointment with a group I'd connected with on LinkedIn, realizing only recently that job offers in India would pay only wages accepted in India, which amounted to only pennies and single dollars here in America. I'd found a calculator site on the internet that would convert currencies, and learned that offering to pay 9 Rupees for 500 word articles was offering less than $2.00, and that offering 500 Rupees for a 3000 word article would garner less than $10.00 US currency. When I posted these currency exchanges at the site, another writer from India came on to advise me that this was an Indian site, and that I would never receive as much as $10.00 for a short article in India.

Maggie and Paul and I went back to the discussion of reviews, and how to garner them for our books. I said that I'm reviewing other authors' books here at my blog, but have received very few in return. That may be that the books I'm reviewing are not of the same genres that I've written so far. A discussion of paid reviewers came up, and we questioned the value of that over a real review by a reader who chose to read the book. We didn't have a real answer to that.

We'll meet again, optimistically with a fourth member who couldn't make today's daytime meeting. We'll meet in the evening, perhaps at the Scala Art Center, or at one of our homes if the hours don't work for the setting. We'll share ideas again, and bolster each other's spirits.

I'll keep you posted here in a month or so, to let you know whether this small group of mutually-supportive authors solves any great problems, or finds any new ways to further our publishing success.

Meanwhile, back at the book shelf: 

Here's another five star review at Amazon:

By 

Paul J

I found this a very illuminating story. A very personal account of disease, disability, and the failure of the medical system to be able to deal with it. There are a great many diseases, and people in this same situation who would find this helpful.

And here's a reminder:

Multiple Sclerosis an Enigma is on sale right now at Smashwords.com, for less than $5.00. This sale will end on June 19th. Click on this link and use this code at checkout to get the discount: LY76U. The book is now available at Smashwords for all e-book formats: Kindle, Nook, I-Pad, Sony E-Reader, etc. I think it will even download to your I-Phone, if you have one! Check out the site and see how many formats you can choose from!

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