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Book: Shine Like the Dawn
Author: Carrie Turansky
Genre: Historical
In a quiet corner of northern Edwardian England, Margaret Lounsbury diligently works in her grandmother’s millinery shop, making hats and caring for her young sister. Several years earlier, a terrible tragedy reshaped their family, shattering an idyllic life and their future prospects. But Maggie is resilient and will do what she must to protect her sister Violet. Still, the loss of her parents weighs heavily on her heart and she begins to wonder if what happened that day on the lake…might not have been an accident.
When wealthy inventor and industrialist William Harcourt dies, his son Nathaniel, who is Maggie’s estranged childhood friend, returns from his time in the Royal Navy and inherits his father’s vast estate, Morningside Manor. He also assumes partial control of his father’s engineering company and the duty of repaying an old debt to the Lounsbury family. But years of separation between Nate and Maggie have taken a toll and Maggie struggles to trust her old friend.
Can Maggie let go of the resentment that keeps her from forgiving Nate—and reconciling with God? Will their search for the truth about her parents’ death draw them closer or will it leave them both with broken hearts?
My Review:
Shine Like the Dawn
abounds with mystery and second chances.
Taking place during the early 1900’s, we are witnesses to the fatal
circumstances that change Maggie Lounsbury’s life forever. Four years later, Maggie has moved on with
her life as best as she can when her very best friend Nate comes back from his
service in the Navy. Nate’s ancestral
home and family was very closely tied and interwoven with Maggie’s but due to
some conniving on Nate’s family’s part, Nate was unable to be there for Maggie
thus destroying their trust and friendship.
I liked how Nate came back and wanted to amend the wrongs
that were made and rekindle the friendship and possibly more with Maggie. Maggie is hurt, understandably, and
confused. She is not trusting of God or
anyone else in particular. It seems her
life is one tragedy after another, but some of her decision making (based on
her feelings) left me at times perturbed with her. After a few more things go awry, Maggie
begins to see Nate as the dear friend he once was and begins to give her heart
to him as well. But the road to true
love is not easy for them as doubt and suspicion begin to surface.
What really stood out to me was the mystery of this novel
and what really happened those four years ago to Maggie and her family. I was not able to guess the intentions of the
villain nor if the so called bad guys had anything to do with the tragedy. This had some elements of being a gothic
novel and I had a hard time putting the book down to sleep. There were some great lessons to be learned
such as the trying and testing of our character and commitment to those we love
especially in the hard times of our lives.
And that includes our faith as well.
There is much more that was happening in the background of this novel as
well and I am recommending this book for its pure reading enjoyment.
I received a copy of this book for free. I was not required to give a positive review
and the views and opinions expressed are my own.
About the Author
CARRIE TURANSKY is an award-winning author of more than a dozen novels and novellas. She has been the winner of the ACFW Carol Award, the Crystal Globe Award, and the International Digital Award, and a finalist for the Inspirational Readers Choice Award and the Maggie Award of Excellence. A prolific writer of contemporary and historical romance, women’s fiction, short stories, articles, and devotionals, Carrie lives in central New Jersey with her husband Scott. They have five adult children and four grandchildren.
Guest Post from Carrie Turansky
Hats, Glorious Hats!
By Carrie Turansky
One fun part of my research for Shine Like the Dawn was learning about hat making in the early 1900s. My heroine, Maggie Lounsbury is a milliner who designs women’s hats. She learned this skill from her grandmother who owns a small shop in the village of Heatherton. Maggie has an artistic eye and she enjoys making stylish hats, but she doesn’t like the overdone designs some of their customers request, so that creates some humorous conflict in the story.
Hats in the Edwardian era were large and often covered with feathers, flowers, lace, netting, berries and bows. The “bird nests,” as Coco Chanel called them, were held on with large hat pins stuck through piles of hair on the crown. These hats were called Gainsborough or Picture hats because of the way they framed a lady’s face. They often featured huge dried flower arrangements and sometimes included real leaves and twigs! No doubt the Garden hat was a fitting name.
1907 The Merry Window hat became very popular after the leading lady in the play by that same name wore a hat that was even taller and wider than usual. Some people complained these hats were too big and obtrusive in public places like the theater or picture shows. But English women loved them and wore them to all kinds of events.
The popularity of using large feathers and stuffed birds on hats caused concern for the welfare of birds. Many protective laws took effect and milliners had to use more ribbon and tulle and only large ostrich feathers to decorate hats. Those ostrich feathers came from birds that were raised on farms and their feathers were collected as they fell out naturally.
The movement toward smaller hats began around 1913 when hats still had high crowns but smaller brims. Straw boaters, small top hats, and mini versions of picture hats were very common.
Motion pictures had the greatest influence on Edwardian hat fashion. After the release of The Three Musketeers many ladies wanted to wear tricorne and bicorne shaped hats. They were still very large but now had shapes other than just round. Hat brims were folded up on the side, at an angle, or all around to create drama. Veils disappeared in the early 1900s only to come back again as a long scarf that wrapped over the hat and under the chin for the new sport called motoring.
I’ve had fun dressing Edwardian style for book launch tea parties and other book events. It made me feel very special to wear these lovely hats. What do you think of Edwardian Hats? Would you like to wear one?
Thanks to friends at the Vintage Dancer website for some of this information.
Stop by Carrie’s Facebook author page and view her live videos February 21 – 25, 3:00 pm Eastern. She’ll be talking about the story behind Shine Like the Dawn and giving away a fun prize each day to one person who leaves a comment. Even if you can’t catch the live video you can still enter for 24 hours after it’s posted. She is also hosting a book launch celebration and giveaway on her blog February 25 – March 6.
Like to my Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/
Link to my Book Launch Blog Post: http://carrieturansky.com/
Blog Stops
February 21: New Horizon Reviews
February 21: Bookworm Mama
February 21: Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses
February 22: Tell Tale Book Reviews
February 22: Book by Book
February 22: History, Mystery and Faith
February 23: Bibliophile Reviews
February 23: Smiling Book Reviews
February 23: A Readers Brain
February 23: Faithfully Bookish
February 23: Lane Hill House
February 24: Back Porch Reads
February 24: The Scribbler
February 24: I Hope You Dance
February 25: Stuff & Nonsense
February 25: The Power of Words
February 25: A Greater Yes
February 26: cherylbbookblog
February 26: Moments Dipped in Ink
February 26: Splashes of Joy
February 27: Genesis 5020
February 27: inklings and notions
February 27: D’S QUILTS & BOOKS
February 28: Karen Sue Hadley
February 28: A Simple Life, really?!
February 28: Neverending Stories
March 1: Daysong Reflections
March 1: Connie’s History Classroom
March 1: Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations
March 2: These Splendid Sentences
March 2: Singing Librarian Books
March 2: Blossoms and Blessings
March 3: Pause for Tales
March 3: blogging With Carol
March 3: Mary Hake
March 4: Radiant Light
March 4: For The Love of Books
March 5: Christian Bookaholic
March 5: Rachel Scott McDaniel
March 6: Baker Kella
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Carrie is giving away all 4 books: Shine Like the Dawn, The Governess of Highland Hall, The Daughter of Highland Hall, and A Refuge at Highland Hall.! Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/b0fb
Thank you for featuring Shine Like the Dawn on your blog today and for your kind review! It's always a treat to connect with new reading friends! Blessings to you, Carrie
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