What a delight Hope Between The Pages by Pepper Basham was to read! This book has so much for book lovers to, yes, love! A dual timeline with past secrets kept me turning the pages. This one is highly recommended!
Uncover the Story Behind a One-Hundred-Year-Old Love Letter
Clara Blackwell helps her mother manage a struggling one-hundred-year old family bookshop in Asheville, North Carolina, but the discovery of a forgotten letter opens a mystery of a long-lost romance and undiscovered inheritance which could save its future. Forced to step outside of her predictable world, Clara embarks on an adventure with only the name Oliver as a hint of the man’s identity in her great-great-grandmother’s letter. From the nearby grand estate of the Vanderbilts, to a hamlet in Derbyshire, England, Clara seeks to uncover truth about family and love that may lead to her own unexpected romance.
Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance peppered with grace and humor with a southern Appalachian flair. Her books have garnered recognition in the Grace Awards, Inpsys, and the ACFW Carol Awards. Her books are seasoned with her Appalachian heritage and love for family. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is the mom of five great kids, a speech-pathologist to about fifty more, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, hats, and Jesus.
You can get to know Pepper on her website, http://www.pepperdbasham.com, on Facebook, Instagram, or over at her group blog, The Writer’s Alley.
My Impressions:
First let me say that Hope Between The Pages is ideal for a book nerd like me. Each of the two story lines feature main characters who love books. Basham sprinkles in a lot of references to both current bestsellers and beloved classics. Clara and Sadie know their books, and I would have loved to have a conversation with them both. LOL! Clara is a modern-day book shop owner who dresses vintage, but has an eye to the future. Sadie is her great-grandmother who starts out as a book housemaid (a kind of librarian) at Biltmore house over 100 years prior to the contemporary story. I loved how Basham used first person present tense POV for Sadie’s story. It helped make her real and relatable. Her story becomes very personal as she struggles with love that spans class divides and two continents. Clara’s contemporary story is told in third person past tense — giving a hint to a final happily-ever-after. Each style was so effective.
Basham is also adept to bringing the setting to life. I loved visiting the Biltmore library again in this book. And I felt like I was at home in the Lake District of England even though I have never been there. Her eye to detail is perfect. There is a mystery surrounding Sadie’s life that is uncovered through Sadie’s own narrative and Clara’s research. The suspense kept me on the edge of my seat! And if you are a fan of romance, Basham delivers every time. Known for her kissing scenes, Hope Between The Pages goes above and beyond for Basham fans! Swoony-ness is a very real thing in the pages of this book. 😉
I loved this look at the past and present. A fun bookish story with suspense and romance aplenty, it gets a highly recommended rating from me.
Highly Recommended.
Audience: adults.
(Thanks to Barbour Publishing for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
Thank you sooooooo much, Beckie!!!!!!