Keturah by Lisa T Bergen

My latest blog for Bethany House is Keturah by Lisa T Bergren

  I've got to be honest, my first thought when I read the description for this book was ' Three sister's running a sugar plantation in Nevis?? In 1773?? Am I going to find this interesting? ' But by the end of the first chapter I was hooked.
Keturah Tomlinson, her older sister Verity, and her younger sister Selah receive devastating news of their father's passing at his sugar plantation in tropical Nevis. After years of poor planting conditions and bad management, the business is in a sad state. Because the plantation provides the income for their home in England, Keturah finds herself in the position of becoming the new overseer of this disatrous plantation.  She makes the decision to go to Nevis to see if anything can be done to turn the plantation around. Selah and Verity do not like the thought of being separated from their sister, so they decide to make the journey with her.
  Traveling on the boat with them to Nevis is Keturah's childhood friend Gray. Naturally, there are some feelings between them, but Keturah has just come out of a brutal former marriage and is not ready to fall in love again.
  The novel deals with the themes of slave trading and abuse, and delivers a message of hope without being trite. Keturah's relationship with her slaves grows throughout the story- and with slave Mitilda for a particular reason - as she encounters the racism and cruelty of other plantation neighbors on the island.
  With Gray's help she starts to get the plantation going again, but not before scares of sickness and a mudslide that almost takes her life.
  I loved all the action, and the characters were strong and open minded. The setting of Nevis is lush and exotic and a great backdrop for a romance story. There feels like more story to be told here, with more plantation struggles, the relationship between Katurah and Mitilda, and sister Verity and the captain, so I checked the front cover and was happy to note the book is The Sugar Baron's Daughter's -ONE which means we can expect more of this saga in the future. I will be looking forward to it to the next escape to this tropical paradise with Keturah and Gray.

Gardener's Log Book A Five Year Planner

My latest blog for Blogging For Books is for the Gardeners Log Book a 5 Year Planner.
 I've been gardening for about ten years but I have never kept a detailed log about my planting season but I am going to this year with the help of this little journal.
 The book opens with a map of the united states and the planting zones. My only complaint here is that all of the zones are featured in shades of green, so it's not that easy to differentiate the heartland region.
 The next section is many pages with a gridlike pattern that you fill in with your planting and harvesting dates. I think. It's pretty freeform with no explanation of what you are supposed to fill in on the squares - which are quite small- but I assume this is what it's for.
  The next section is a series of blank pages for journaling. I would use these to record details like weather patterns.
  I can see where a journal like this can be benefial to a gardener. Tracking trends can bring your gardening down to a science.
 I loved the cover design of this little book and the elastic cover holder. It should stand up to several years of use.