Book Review - The Color of Home

Audrey Needham looks like she is at the top. By all appearances, she will soon be promoted by her boss, who is currently in the spotlight as the Bay Area’s top designer. Audrey just has to get through this big meeting and then two weeks out of office. If only those two weeks were not in Charity Falls, Oregon. If only her great-aunt and uncle didn’t live across the road from the place where Audrey’s dad was taken from her in a fire. If only she didn’t have to face that place every day of her time helping Daisy and Dean, as she helps them prepare to move into their memory care apartment. And to top off the struggles, she is still nestled in the dramatic Cascades when her job disappears on the Bay Area fog, leaving her with a lot of time to weigh her options and embrace the stirrings of her soul. A series of chance encounters with a handsome, but surly, resident of Charity Falls leave Audrey feeling more lost and unsettled. But in a series of moments of clarity, the dark sadness of the past is pulled into the light, where Audrey can find the bright hope of her future.

Painted vividly with all the colors Pantone has to offer, The Color of Home is a tangible testament to the power of immersion. From allowing herself to be fully immersed in her career to the realization that Audrey has drifted from her roots as an artist, the reader is pulled deep into her metamorphosis. In committing to Daisy, Dean, and Charity Falls, the outer trappings are washed away like pigment from a brush to allow the next right thing to be revealed. Kit Tosello has created a cozy community with lovable characters for the reader to fully immerse themselves in and enjoy.

The Color of Home by Kit Tosello is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House    Christian Book    Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Walmart

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Lady with the Dark Hair

Art and family history come together in The Lady with the Dark Hair, an exploration of the her-story of said lady and its impact on a modern day art history major with a passion for a specific painter. Esther Markstrom is a descendant of Francisco Vella, curator of the museum which houses a collection of his paintings, and caretaker of her mentally ill mother. All of these components of her identity also carry the heavy burden of responsibility. The most prized Vella painting does not reside in the museum, however, but in her family home. Never seen by anyone other than Esther and her mother, never questioned beyond her mild curiosity about the identity of The Lady with the Dark Hair, never challenged. Then Esther invites her former professor to visit La Dama del Cabello Oscuro, kicking off a chain of events she could not have predicted for her mundane life. Events that not only shake up everything anyone knows about Francisco Vella, but also everything Esther has ever known about herself.

Told in dual time fashion, The Lady with the Dark Hair delivers the stories of Esther and La Dama. Their own relationships with Vella are brought to light, as history opens itself to explore the struggles and expectations of women in the late 19th century and its parallels with those Esther faces in her own experiences. Characters in both eras leap from the page as the author has painted her story so vividly that its pull is inescapable.

The Lady with the Dark Hair by Erin Bartels is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House        Christian Book        Amazon        Barnes & Noble        Walmart

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.