Published by Independently Published on November 16, 2023
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
It was just one date.
My friend told me I needed more fun in my life, so I reluctantly said yes. Fun wasn’t exactly in my wheelhouse. After watching my own mother’s love life implode time and time again it’s only natural that I have a few rules to protect myself.
Actually, it’s just one rule… Avoid relationships with men so I don’t get attached.
I wasn’t worried. Getting attached has never been a big problem for me. This guy was just a warm body in a chair. I was here for the basketball game. I was absolutely NOT here for my date.
Or the kiss cam.
Or the kiss.
Or the impromptu evening with the one man who seems bent on throwing my tidy world off of its axis.
But when my life takes a nose dive, he’s also the man who seems bent on proving to me that good men do exist, dreams can come true, and sometimes throwing out the rule book is when the magic really starts to happen.
It started with the kiss cam. Duke and Nora happened to be sharing an armrest at a Jazz game when they were captured on the kiss cam, three times! This was the start of one fantastic night, but it was also Nora's last night in Utah. Fast forward three years, and the universe brought Nora and Duke back to each other.
I was so sad when Duke and Nora had to part ways, but their reunion was a thrill even if Nora was not in the best place in her life. Duke was determined to help her, and maybe he was not completely honest, but had the best intentions.
This book was so much fun and super cute. I loved Duke so much! And you know what? I loved him even more for being the one person in Nora's life who didn't take advantage of her. Extra points for the adorable old people and their forced proximity plot. My first Cindy Steel book was a hit, and I look forward to reading more.
Published by Ballantine Books on December 3, 2019
Age/Genres: Adult, Historical, Fiction
Rating:
Goodreads
This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud.
Hollywood, 1938: As soon as she learns that M-G-M is adapting her late husband's masterpiece for the screen, seventy-seven-year-old Maud Gage Baum sets about trying to finagle her way onto the set. Nineteen years after Frank's passing, Maud is the only person who can help the producers stay true to the spirit of the book--because she's the only one left who knows its secrets.
But the moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of "Over the Rainbow," Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story, from her youth as a suffragette's daughter to her coming of age as one of the first women in the Ivy League, from her blossoming romance with Frank to the hardscrabble prairie years that inspired The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Judy reminds Maud of a young girl she cared for and tried to help in South Dakota, a dreamer who never got her happy ending. Now, with the young actress under pressure from the studio as well as her ambitious stage mother, Maud resolves to protect her--the way she tried so hard to protect the real Dorothy.
The author of two New York Times bestselling nonfiction books, The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse, Elizabeth Letts is a master at discovering and researching a rich historical story and transforming it into a page-turner. Finding Dorothy is the result of Letts's journey into the amazing lives of Frank and Maud Baum. Written as fiction but based closely on the truth, Elizabeth Letts's new book tells a story of love, loss, inspiration, and perseverance, set in America's heartland.
I have long been a fan of Oz and was thrilled to get to learn more about the woman behind the man behind the amazing world. Maude Baum as a very interesting person who was a woman out of place in her time. A lot of that could be attributed to her upbringing by her suffragette mother, who taught her to be independent and to follow her own path.
I feel like I always say this when I read about people who lived in times without all the modern conveniences I am accustomed to, but these people had it way hardier than me, and I admired their strength and resilience, and the chances they were willing to take to build a better life for themselves and their family.
The story flashed back and forth between Maude's earlier life and the making of The Wizard of Oz film. Those Hollywood scenes reminded me how Judy Garland was done dirty by just about everyone in her life. It was a sad reminder of how the studios took advantage of and harmed their young actors.
But the past timeline was one that fascinated me, and it was wonderful learning about Maude and Frank's world. Maude fell in love with a dreamer who had a huge heart and an even bigger imagination. Their love story was very touching. It was beautiful that Frank told of their life through the many adventures in Oz, and I really enjoyed learning more about their lives.
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