 About the Book In a quiet corner of northern Edwardian England, Margaret Lounsbury diligently works in her grandmother’s millinery shop, making hats and caring for her young sister. Several years earlier, a terrible tragedy reshaped their family, shattering an idyllic life and their future prospects. But Maggie is resilient and will do what she must to protect her sister Violet. Still, the loss of her parents weighs heavily on her heart and she begins to wonder if what happened that day on the lake…might not have been an accident. When wealthy inventor and industrialist William Harcourt dies, his son Nathaniel, who is Maggie’s estranged childhood friend, returns from his time in the Royal Navy and inherits his father’s vast estate, Morningside Manor. He also assumes partial control of his father’s engineering company and the duty of repaying an old debt to the Lounsbury family. But years of separation between Nate and Maggie have taken a toll and Maggie struggles to trust her old friend. Can Maggie let go of the resentment that keeps her from forgiving Nate—and reconciling with God? Will their search for the truth about her parents’ death draw them closer or will it leave them both with broken hearts? About the Author CARRIE TURANSKY is an award-winning author of more than a dozen novels and novellas. She has been the winner of the ACFW Carol Award, the Crystal Globe Award, and the International Digital Award, and a finalist for the Inspirational Readers Choice Award and the Maggie Award of Excellence. A prolific writer of contemporary and historical romance, women’s fiction, short stories, articles, and devotionals, Carrie lives in central New Jersey with her husband Scott. They have five adult children and four grandchildren. Guest Post: Hats, Glorious Hats! By Carrie Turansky One fun part of my research for Shine Like the Dawn was learning about hat making in the early 1900s. My heroine, Maggie Lounsbury is a milliner who designs women’s hats. She learned this skill from her grandmother who owns a small shop in the village of Heatherton. Maggie has an artistic eye and she enjoys making stylish hats, but she doesn’t like the overdone designs some of their customers request, so that creates some humorous conflict in the story.  Hats in the Edwardian era were large and often covered with feathers, flowers, lace, netting, berries and bows. The “bird nests,” as Coco Chanel called them, were held on with large hat pins stuck through piles of hair on the crown. These hats were called Gainsborough or Picture hats because of the way they framed a lady’s face. They often featured huge dried flower arrangements and sometimes included real leaves and twigs! No doubt the Garden hat was a fitting name. 1907 The Merry Window hat became very popular after the leading lady in the play by that same name wore a hat that was even taller and wider than usual. Some people complained these hats were too big and obtrusive in public places like the theater or picture shows. But English women loved them and wore them to all kinds of events.  The popularity of using large feathers and stuffed birds on hats caused concern for the welfare of birds. Many protective laws took effect and milliners had to use more ribbon and tulle and only large ostrich feathers to decorate hats. Those ostrich feathers came from birds that were raised on farms and their feathers were collected as they fell out naturally. The movement toward smaller hats began around 1913 when hats still had high crowns but smaller brims. Straw boaters, small top hats, and mini versions of picture hats were very common.  Motion pictures had the greatest influence on Edwardian hat fashion. After the release of The Three Musketeers many ladies wanted to wear tricorne and bicorne shaped hats. They were still very large but now had shapes other than just round. Hat brims were folded up on the side, at an angle, or all around to create drama. Veils disappeared in the early 1900s only to come back again as a long scarf that wrapped over the hat and under the chin for the new sport called motoring. I’ve had fun dressing Edwardian style for book launch tea parties and other book events. It made me feel very special to wear these lovely hats. What do you think of Edwardian Hats? Would you like to wear one? Thanks to friends at the Vintage Dancer website for some of this information. Stop by Carrie’s Facebook author page and view her live videos February 21 – 25, 3:00 pm Eastern. She’ll be talking about the story behind Shine Like the Dawn and giving away a fun prize each day to one person who leaves a comment. Even if you can’t catch the live video you can still enter for 24 hours after it’s posted. She is also hosting a book launch celebration and giveaway on her blog February 25 – March 6. Like to my Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/authorcarrieturansky/ Link to my Book Launch Blog Post: http://carrieturansky.com/index.php/blog/ ReviewCarrie Turansky has once again written a delightfully charming historical romance that readers will not want to miss. With historical romance novels being one of my favorite genres and Turansky being one of my favorite authors, I was thrilled to read Shine Like the Dawn. From page one, readers will be drawn to the magnificent story and cast of characters. This novel will touch the heart of readers with its tragedy, sadness, and difficulty, as well as happiness and love. Readers continually return to Turansky’s stories as they are beautifully written and enjoyable to read. Historical romance readers will be captivated with this book. Genre: historical, romance, Christian Publisher: Multnomah Books Publication date: February 21, 2017 Number of pages: 320 Content Rating: PG Book Rating: 5 stars  A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher via CelebrateLit. A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are my own. Giveaway To celebrate her tour, Carrie is giving away all 4 books: Shine Like the Dawn, The Governess of Highland Hall, The Daughter of Highland Hall, and A Refuge at Highland Hall.! Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! Enter HERE! Tour ScheduleBlog StopsFebruary 21: New Horizon Reviews February 21: Bookworm Mama February 21: Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses February 22: Tell Tale Book Reviews February 22: Book by Book February 22: History, Mystery and Faith February 23: Bibliophile Reviews February 23: Smiling Book Reviews February 23: A Readers Brain February 23: Faithfully Bookish February 23: Lane Hill House February 24: Back Porch Reads February 24: The Scribbler February 24: I Hope You Dance February 25: Stuff & Nonsense February 25: The Power of Words February 25: A Greater Yes February 26: cherylbbookblog February 26: Moments Dipped in Ink February 26: Splashes of Joy February 27: Genesis 5020 February 27: inklings and notions February 27: D’S QUILTS & BOOKS February 28: Karen Sue Hadley February 28: A Simple Life, really?! February 28: Neverending Stories March 1: Daysong Reflections March 1: Connie’s History Classroom March 1: Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations March 2: These Splendid Sentences March 2: Singing Librarian Books March 2: Blossoms and Blessings March 3: Pause for Tales March 3: blogging With Carol March 3: Mary Hake March 4: Radiant Light March 4: For The Love of Books March 5: Christian Bookaholic March 5: Rachel Scott McDaniel March 6: History, Hope, Laughter & Happily-ever-after March 6: Baker Kella 
Richard Brandt
3/2/2017 09:46:31 pm
As a movie buff I was fascinated by the impact of film on fashion even then, but I was also intrigued to learn of the impact of animal welfare activism!
MH
3/3/2017 02:22:23 am
Have heard so much about this book! Fascinating topic.
Mary Preston
3/3/2017 02:42:00 am
I'm not a hat person, they make my head too hot, but these hats are beautiful.
Dianne Casey
3/3/2017 05:32:13 pm
This looks like an amazing series. I love the covers and can't wait to read the books.
Sarah
3/4/2017 02:54:21 pm
I like hats, but not on me :-). I find all the different things they used on them very fascinating. Thanks for this chance to win some of your books. I have enjoyed the ones I have read & I'm looking forward to reading more.
Debbie Clatterbuck
3/4/2017 03:36:59 pm
Fabulous post. Even though I am not into hats, these ones are amazing. Thanks for the giveaway and good luck everyone. Comments are closed.
|