Review & Giveaway: Rounding Home by Sarah Swindell

ROUNDING HOME

by

SARAH SWINDELL

  Genre: Memoir / Family / Autism

Date of Publication: August 2, 2019

Number of Pages: 256

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In 1991, twenty-one-year-old Sarah, the recently divorced mother to two-year-old Hayley, moved from the dusty small town of Farmington, New Mexico to the bustling city of Houston, Texas with dreams of a better life. A year later, she was swept off her feet by Greg Swindell, an established Major League Baseball player who had just signed a lucrative contract with the Houston Astros and was quickly becoming the talk of the city. 

Six weeks after their first date, Greg asked Sarah to quit her job as a hairdresser and marry him during Spring Training in Florida. Over the next several years, Sarah’s Cinderella story continued with the addition of three more children, a lifestyle only a few ever dream of living, and a love story even fewer ever experience.

That is until 2002 when her picture-perfect life came to a gut-wrenching halt, and Sarah was faced with more pain than she ever thought possible. For almost a decade, the puzzle pieces would cease to align due to an avalanche of events; a devastating autism diagnosis, a painful affair, multiple marriages, multiple divorces and her children’s own personal struggles with self-harm, eating disorders, and attempted suicide. 

If you have ever felt lost, betrayed, or heartbroken, this story will inspire you to never give up on finding true joy and happiness again. It will prove there is no such thing as the “perfect family” and that difficult times can actually make you stronger than you ever dreamed possible.

 

PRAISE FOR ROUNDING HOME:

“Rounding Home takes you on a riveting journey through the eyes of an exceptional woman who embraced struggle, love, success, and the unimaginable, autism. Get ready to laugh, cry, and flutter with romance; it’s one hell of a love story!” — Gena Lee Nolin, actress, author, advocate, “Thyroid Sexy,” wife & mother

“In Rounding Home, Sarah writes with gritty honesty, a deeply moving account of life with her autistic son. This testament to the resilience of the human spirit will touch your heart and soul.” — Gayle Nobel, life coach, autism mom, and author of three books about living with autism

“This story of the Swindell family is a poignant demonstration of how each family member responded and was changed, for better or worse, as they struggled to come to terms with how their lives had been altered. And although there was damage along the way, they ultimately triumph by rekindling the love that created their family unit in the first place.” — Dr. Bryan Jepson, author, physician, and father of two sons with autism

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Some of my all-time favorite movies are baseball movies, so I was immediately drawn to the cover art of Rounding Home. I was intrigued by the ghostly image paired with a baseball phrase that normally stirs up feelings of excitement since the base runner is about to score by crossing home plate. The muted colors of the baseball field and the washed out colors of the author, Sarah, standing barefooted with a bottle of wine at her feet is somber and beautiful at the same time.

The only thing I didn’t read in this book is the testimonials page at the very front. I didn’t want my review influenced by anyone else. I have quasi-photographic memory, so that’s a very real hurdle for me when reviewing books. I’m a big fan of the disclaimer about this book being a memoir; the imperfections of human memory and perception that might cause a slight distortion of actual events. I also love the hotline numbers listed below. Upon reading the Foreword, I already knew that I would experience a lot of different feelings from reading this memoir. Motherhood is a very different journey for every woman but we experience many of the same destinations or perhaps choose a slightly different route by our interpretations of life’s map. The Acknowledgements page confused me because it sounded like she was married to one man but was madly in love with another. Once you finish the book, you might come to the conclusion that she sort of was.

Sarah’s voice is very clear and her thoughts are organized, even though her life’s events seemed anything but. She mentions in the Foreword that she asked her editors to tread lightly in order to preserve her natural voice, which I think they did very well, but the proofreading could have been a little tighter. But to be fair, I think only a page or two slipped past the editorial team. The typesetting and formatting of the pages are executed nicely but the design of the jacket feels distinctly self-published.

To say that Sarah Swindell has lived a very interesting life would be a humongous understatement. She lays herself bare; apologetic to those around her who were hurt by her decisions, but unflinching when critiquing her own bad decisions or flaws in retrospect. I found her to be a delightful cocktail of stereotypes validated and realized mixed with beating the odds. Let me explain. She perpetuates that tragic cycle of a woman that can’t be without a man when she gets married and divorced over and over again. But her own daughters are able to break the cycle of girls who are the product of teen pregnancy or divorce: they often get pregnant early or divorced themselves. Her own children struggled with many issues due to the instability of moving around and Sarah’s marriage/divorce cycle, but it looks like they learned from her mistakes and applied the lessons to their own lives.

The story of her son’s challenges with autism could be a book on its own, but I can see how integral it has been to her life’s story and the journey of her family as a whole. I must confess that I had to adjust my judgy pants when she points the blame to vaccinations. But to her credit, she came to this conclusion eons before Jenny McCarthy’s anti-vaccine propaganda. Either way, this memoir is a great read for mothers, especially those who have children with autism. I found this book to be uplifting and inspirational.

 

Sarah Swindell lives in the Austin area with her husband, Greg, a former Major League Baseball player and 2019 Texas Sports Hall of Fame inductee. Sarah is a commercial actress/model and has been working in the industry for over thirty years. She enjoys spending her free time with her four grown children and several grandchildren who reside in Texas as well.

Sarah is an avid moviegoer, loves yoga and true-crime podcasts, and advocates for children and adults with autism and other disabilities. Her son was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of eighteen months and continues to touch peoples’ hearts to this day.

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August 22-September 1, 2019

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Guest Post & Giveaway: Dragonfly by Leila Meacham

DRAGONFLY

by

LEILA MEACHAM

  Genre: Historical / WWII / Espionage

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing 

Date of Publication: July 9, 2019

Number of Pages: 576

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From the New York Times bestselling author of Roses comes a gripping new novel about five young spies embedded among the highest Nazi ranks in occupied Paris

 

At the height of World War II, a handful of idealistic young Americans receive a mysterious letter from the government, asking them if they are willing to fight for their country. The men and women from very different backgrounds-a Texan athlete with German roots, an upper-crust son of a French mother and a wealthy businessman, a dirt-poor Midwestern fly fisherman, an orphaned fashion designer, and a ravishingly beautiful female fencer-all answer the call of duty, but each for a secret reason of her or his own. They bond immediately, in a group code-named Dragonfly. 

 

Thus begins a dramatic cat-and-mouse game, as the group seeks to stay under the radar until a fatal misstep leads to the capture and the firing-squad execution of one of their team. But…is everything as it seems, or is this one more elaborate act of spycraft?

 

 

PRAISE FOR DRAGONFLY:

“Meacham’s impeccable pacing and razor-wire tension evoke the daily drama of life under a Reich whose French reign might have lasted little more than four years but felt like the thousand years that it threatened to endure.” ―Bookpage

 

“Meacham’s nail-biting tale will please fans looking for an intricate story of spycraft and deception.” ―Publishers Weekly

 

“Meacham ratchets the suspense ever tighter, while providing fascinating backstory on the intrepid five [American spies] as well as delivering a detail-rich portrait of Paris during the Occupation.” ―Booklist

 

“Complex, epic, and rich in historical detail-an uplifting story of finding friendship behind enemy lines.” ― Kirkus

 

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The Man Who Ultimately Inspired Dragonfly
Guest Post
By Leila Meacham

As a writer of historical family sagas, I have been asked what prompted me to deviate from that genre to write a novel posed against the background of World War II, especially the backdrop of Paris during the German occupation. My answer would have to be the Office of Strategic Services, the OSS. The germ was implanted way back in the fall of 1945 when I was seven years old. The son of a neighbor, a gentle man, kind to children and animals, returned to our hometown after peace was declared earlier that year. He limped, and part of an earlobe was missing, but he had not served in the armed forces. So what accounted for his injuries suffered when he was “over there”?
Years later, when he died an early death, it came out that he had volunteered to serve in a secret government agency known as the OSS and had been assigned to Paris where he was caught and tortured by the Gestapo, both strange names until research revealed the origins and purposes of both organizations. They were enough to raise the hair on one’s head. Even then, long before I ever thought to become a writer, I was left to wonder at the makeup of men and women of the OSS who would risk life and limb, horrible treatment, and death to serve their country through an organization where their names, bravery, and sacrifice might never come to light.
Thus it was that eight decades later, Dragonfly came to be. It is the story of five young Americans the OSS hand picks to insert into German-controlled Paris in the years 1942-44. Because of the extensive research, the narrative took nearly three years to write. Involved was a study of the history of the OSS and its founder, William J. Donovan, for which I am thankful for the biography “Wild Bill Donovan” that gave me an insight into the man and his agency. Other major sources besides the Internet, from which I gathered a staggering amount of information, were Ronald C. Rosbottom’s riveting When Paris Went Dark; Patrick K. O’Donnell’s Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs; and Douglas Wallers’s Disciples.
When all was said and done, I believe that germ imbedded in the back of my mind those many years ago may have inspired the nucleus of Dragonfly as a tribute to the memory of the man none knew was a hero living next door.

Leila Meacham is a writer and former teacher who lives in San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of the bestselling novels Roses, Tumbleweeds, Somerset, and Titans.

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Review & Giveaway: A Glitter of Gold by Liz Johnson

A GLITTER OF GOLD

Georgia Coast Romance #2

by

LIZ JOHNSON

  
Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance / Mystery
Publisher: Revell

Date of Publication: August 6, 2019

Number of Pages: 368

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Discover a treasure worth more than all the pirate gold in the world

Anne Norris moved to Savannah, Georgia, for a fresh start. Now her pirate-tour business is flagging and paying the rent requires more than wishful thinking. When she discovers evidence of a shipwreck off the coast of Tybee Island, she knows it could be just the boon she needs to stay afloat. She takes her findings to local museum director Carter Hale for confirmation, but things do not go as planned.

Carter is fascinated with the wreck, the discovery of which could open the door to his dream job at a prestigious museum. But convincing Anne to help him fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle is no easy task. And working with Carter means that Anne will have to do the one thing she swore she’d never do again: trust a man.

 

“Both an exciting treasure hunt and penetrating exploration of overcoming mistakes Johnson’s excellent novel will captivate readers.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, STARRED REVIEW

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A Glitter of Gold is the first Liz Johnson book I have read so far and let me tell you, I want to read everything she has ever written. The story flows effortlessly. Sometimes you can sense when an author is trying to do too much with their characterization or the plot, and it often works to their disadvantage. Johnson is telling a story both in the present time and the past (some 250 years ago or so), and she weaves them together with such grace. I have read other books that have used a similar technique and found myself wishing that the author spent more time in one time period than the other. I think that the author gives us a good mix of both worlds. To me, the mark of a truly good book is one that you don’t want to see end. While I appreciate the epilogue that tied up some loose ends, I really wanted to know what happens to our heroin after this adventure.

The cover art is beautiful and matches up stylistically with the other Georgia Coast Romance novel (A Sparkle of Silver). I paused a little when I looked at it because the cover model is Jessica Alba’s doppelganger. That little bit aside, once I really dove into the story, I didn’t think that the cover matched the novel. Anne didn’t seem like the type of woman to wear fancy looking drop earrings and a snazzy nautical scarf around her neck. But to be fair, having her appear sweaty and disheveled in her pirate getup probably wouldn’t be the way to go either.

When you have a story within a story, sometimes the page or chapter breaks get crazy with odd formatting. You can breathe easy knowing that A Glitter of Gold is not one of those books. The formatting is clean and the copy editing is impeccable. I could truly enjoy just reading this story without feeling tempted to reach for a red pencil and start marking away. The characters and dialogue are realistic, so you can just immerse yourself in the story. I also liked Johnson’s style of writing during the diary entries. You could tell that it was meant to be written long ago without the use of old timey words like “ye” and certainly no pirate talk.

This book would have been the perfect beach read if I had the good fortune to be on vacation. Alas, I was confined to a sweltering day at home with no air conditioning. It was a nice, cozy read as I sipped my iced tea on the couch. I resisted the siren song of Netflix over the weekend so that I could devour it all in one go. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Liz Johnson is the author of more than a dozen novels, including A Sparkle of Silver, A Glitter of Gold, The Red Door Inn, Where Two Hearts Meet, and On Love’s Gentle Shore, as well as a New York Times bestselling novella and a handful of short stories. She makes her home in Phoenix, Arizona.

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GRAND PRIZE: Copies of both Georgia Coast Romance Series Books + $25 Barnes & Noble Gift Card; SECOND PRIZE: Copy of Glitter of Gold + $10 Starbucks Gift Card;
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