Welcome to the Sunday Dish!

If you go back in my blog and look at the last time I posted, you’ll see it was May. After that, the crush of summer chaos hit, and this blog unfortunately took a back seat to kids out of school, out of town trips, family emergencies, summer camps…oh and a book release. All in all, a busy couple of months! I’ll be sending out a newsletter very soon (here’s how to sign up to receive it) with all the details of the release of THE ONE YOU’RE WITH, but for now, here’s what I’m reading, a newly released (or soon to be released) book I have my eye on, and a link or two…

What I fell asleep reading last night…

Angela Jackson-Brown’s WHEN STARS RAIN DOWN. I’ve known about this book for a little while now and had been meaning to pick it up to read, but only got around to it about a week ago, and I’m thankful I did. The story is set in the fictional small town of Parsons, Georgia, in the summer of 1936, and tells the story of Opal Pruitt, an eighteen-year-old woman who works with her grandmother at the home of a white family in town. There’s racial tension, sweet romance, hardworking women, and an unseasonably hot summer. So far, I definitely recommend it.

Book I have my eye on…

Susie Finkbeiner’s THE NATURE OF SMALL BIRDS came out the same day my THE ONE YOU’RE WITH came out, so our books share a birthday, and I can’t wait to read Susie’s. It tells the story of a woman who was adopted from Vietnam in 1975, who announces to her family that she wants to travel back to Saigon to find her birth family.

A link or two…

• We recently bought a painting from Georgia artist Sara England and it makes me so happy every time I look at it. It’s from her Southern Oaks Collection, but she’s always doing no collections–her recent paintings of peaches were adorable! And her prices are very reasonable for such beautiful original art.
• This is one of my recent Homewood Star articles, talking about home and how little pieces of it always stay with me.

That’s it from me this morning. My nine-year-old is lying on the floor at my feet with the dog and my second cup of coffee is waiting for me in the kitchen. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday (or Monday, or whenever you read this), and I hope you stay safe and healthy.