My Review of This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

From Audible

 

A National Bestseller!

“A lovely, affecting paean to the power of books and enduring love.”—People

A woman receives an unexpected gift from the man she loved and lost—a year of books, one for every month—launching a reading-inspired journey to live, dream, and love again in this glimmering and heart-stopping novel.

Twelve books. Twelve months. One chance to heal her heart…

When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. But mainly because Joe died five months ago….

When she goes to pick up the present, Alfie, the bookshop owner with kind eyes, explains the gift—twelve carefully chosen books with handwritten letters from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.

At first Tilly can’t imagine sinking into a fictional world, but Joe’s tender words convince her to try, and something remarkable happens—Tilly becomes immersed in the pages, and a new chapter begins to unfold in her own life. Monthly trips to the bookstore—and heartfelt conversations with Alfie—give Tilly the comfort she craves and the courage to set out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to share her journey with others, her story—like a book—becomes more than her own.

 

This Book Made Me Think of You Audiobook by Libby Page

 

My 5-Star Review

 

Being a writer and reader, I always enjoy stories that take place in bookstores and libraries, and I like a book with a feel-good ending. This one didn’t disappoint me.

Having lost my husband, I could relate to Tilly. But it was painful seeing her ignore the first book she receives, leaving it untouched on her living-room coffee table for almost a month. I was ready to give up on the book until she finally sat down to read.

After that, I found the book hard to put down. Tilly’s adventures, inspired by the books she received, kept me hanging on. The bookstore’s recommendations at the beginning of each section add a nice touch.

The British narrator, though hard to understand at times, does an excellent job, giving each character a distinct voice. If you like books about reading with feel-good endings, like I do, I highly recommend This Book Made Me Think of You. Thank you for reading.



Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!


 

Book Covers Worth Many Words #MondayMusings #OpenBookBlogHop #WritingPrompts

Welcome to another Open Book Blog Hop. Here’s this week’s prompt.

***

Do you have a favorite site for free photos to use with your writing? Or do you use paid photos?

***

The only photos I use are for book covers. Leonore, my editor at DLD Books found great pictures from various online sources for Living Vicariously in Wyoming, (See below.) Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me, The Red Dress, and My Ideal Partner.

The photos for the covers of That’s Life: New and Selected Poems and How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver were taken by friends. Someone at iUniverse, the firm that helped me publish We Shall Overcome, designed the photo for that cover. I’m proud to say that my book covers have received rave reviews.

***

If you’re an author, where do you get photos you use in your work? You can sound off in the comments or click below to join the conversation and see what others say. Thank you for reading.

 

InLinkz – Linkups & Link Parties for Bloggers

 


Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!

Pictures Worth Thousands of Words #MondayMusings #OpenBookBlogHop #WritingPrompts

Welcome to another Open Book Blog Hop. Here’s this week’s prompt.

***

How many of your own graphics do you do? Does anyone help you with them?

***

With my visual impairment, if I did my own graphics, they would look like something my robotic cat would drag in if she were able to do so. Fortunately, I’ve had plenty of assistance.

Leonore Dvorkin, at DLD Books, did an excellent job designing the covers for three of the four books this service helped me publish. The cover of My Ideal Partner, the first book we did together, a memoir about how I met and married my late husband Bill, then cared for him after he suffered two paralyzing strokes soon after we were married, includes our wedding picture. Images for other covers were found online.

The front cover images for my first three books that were published by iUniverse and Finishing Line Press respectively have different origins. The cover of We Shall Overcome, featuring a young woman with a white cane and sunglasses, was designed by someone at iUniverse. My poetry collection, How to Build a Better Mousetrap, includes a picture someone took of Bill and me after his strokes, where I’m standing next to him in his wheelchair, my arm around his shoulder. For the cover of That’s Life, another poetry collection published by Finishing Line Press, a friend took a photo of a large pair of pants hanging on a clothesline, since I advise my thirteen-year-old niece to put on her big girl pants in the title poem.

My back cover photos were taken by friends. My profile picture that you see at the bottom of my posts and on my website was taken by a local photographer who offered this service free to those attending a writers’ conference one summer. I’m thankful to have had such wonderful help with my graphics.

***

If you’re an author, do you do your own graphics, or does someone help you? You can answer in the comments or click below to join the conversation and see what others say. Thank you for reading.

 

InLinkz – Linkups & Link Parties for Bloggers

 


Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!

Change and Forgiveness: My Review of the Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green #FantasticFridayReads #Fiction #Inspiration

From Audible

 

The New York Times bestselling author of Falling presents a warm, wise, and wonderfully vivid novel about a mother who asks her three estranged daughters to come home to help her end her life.

Ronni Sunshine left London for Hollywood to become a beautiful, charismatic star of the silver screen. But at home, she was a narcissistic, disinterested mother who alienated her three daughters.

As soon as possible, tomboy Nell fled her mother’s overbearing presence to work on a farm and find her own way in the world as a single mother. The target of her mother’s criticism, Meredith never felt good enough, thin enough, pretty enough. Her life took her to London—and into the arms of a man whom she may not even love. And Lizzy, the youngest, more like Ronni than any of them, seemed to have it easy, using her drive and ambition to build a culinary career to rival her mother’s fame, while her marriage crumbled around her.

But now the Sunshine sisters are together again, called home by Ronni, who has learned that she has a serious disease and needs her daughters to fulfill her final wishes. And though Nell, Meredith, and Lizzy have never been close, their mother’s illness draws them together to confront the old jealousies and secret fears that have threatened to tear these sisters apart. As they face the loss of their mother, they will discover if blood might be thicker than water after all…

 

The Sunshine Sisters Audiobook by Jane Green

 

My 5-Star Review

 

I liked Jane Green’s narration of her book. At one point, Meredith tells another character that though she and her sisters grew up in the United States, they developed British accents. That explains why Green makes these characters sound English, and I found this interesting. But she does a great job with American accents as well.

The prologue gives the reader a basic idea of the outcome. I probably wouldn’t have stuck with the book otherwise, not liking two of the three sisters or their mother. But I was pleased at how these characters evolved in the course of the book.

This book contains strong language and descriptions of sex. But the former shows us the characters’ traits and the latter their emotions during such scenes.

Knowing the outcome helped me face it when I got there. Though the ending is predictably sad, it made me smile. I recommend The Sunshine Sisters to anyone who enjoys a heartwarming family story where people change for the better and forgive each other.

 


Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!

Thankful for Hoopla and Interpreter #SundaySunshine #Gratitude #Jottings

I’m taking a break from my food gratitude series to share something that happened recently. A couple of weeks ago, I was notified that my novel, The Red Dress, is now available on Hoopla. Last Wednesday, I finally got around to clicking the link in the email I received from Draft 2 Digital informing me of my book’s availability on Hoopla. If the link worked as expected, I planned to add it to my website, so those using this service could easily download the book there.

To my surprise, I discovered that two of my other books are also on Hoopla. I started the process of including Hoopla links to all three books on these books’ pages on my site. All went smoothly until I got to My Ideal Partner, the last one I needed to do. Then, I discovered that the formatting for all ordering links on that page somehow got messed up. I couldn’t figure out what was going on or how to fix it. For once, my screen reader was of little help.

I called AIRA, a visual interpreting service I use in such situations. A helpful agent remoted into my computer with Quick Assist and, despite apparently not having worked with WordPress before, was able to straighten out the mess. She included the Hoopla link and made sure all other links worked as expected. I’m thankful for this agent’s help and would like to think she found a book or two to add to her TBR list. By the way, if you use Hoopla and want to check out my books, you can click the link below.

 

Titles by Abbie Johnson Taylor | hoopla

 

What have you been thankful for this week? Please tell us in the comments on on your blog with a link to this post. I look forward to reading about your gratitude. Thank you for reading. Always be grateful!

 


Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!