BEACH BOOKS
Got everything ready for that long-awaited beach trip, now that the kids are out of school? Up to you to remember the sunscreen, but we can certainly take care of you with what to read. We’ll start Candace Cox Wheeler’s Sunset on the Sound, set on the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast. Many of Candace’s readers loved Cradle in the Oak and Squall in the Gulf, her first two volumes of her Biloxi-based trilogy, but if you are new to the party, Sunset is a fine place to start. It’s fast-paced and suspenseful with plenty of conflict, as the wide open gambling environment that Biloxi residents of the 1950s view as a tourism boost lands squarely on the radar of a U.S. Senate Subcommittee chairman.
Ground Zero Blues Club in Biloxi is an especially cool place for an author event. Great food and drink, a thoroughly unique atmosphere, and a one-of-a-kind reading given the author’s knowledge of not only the book’s subject matter, but the city itself.
The wait is almost over for Scott Lenoir’s suspenseful debut, The Amendment. He’ll launch exactly one month from today at Lemuria Books of Jackson with an in-person event at 5 p.m. Scott introduces you to protagonist Blake Weaver, a complicated protagonist if there ever was one, but Blake is a good man. A banker with a law enforcement background, he puts that skill set to good use as he attempts to right a whole series of wrongs in a fast-paced read set in south Mississippi and New Orleans. The cast includes a young Episcopal priest put in an almost impossible spot and some authentic New Orleans muscle.
Co-author Mike Frascogna Jr. and I signed more than 100 books at Lemuria while launching The Saints of St. Mary’s last month. If you haven’t picked up a copy, know that it’s far more than just a book about football, or about coaching football. Saints is a powerful story that will make you laugh, cry a bit, and want to cheer. It’s faith based and packed with life lessons for our youth: always do the right thing, rely on your teammates, and never forget you’re capable of accomplishing more than you ever imagined. It’s recommended for any parent, coach, or teacher working with boys or girls.
Pick up a signed copy at Lemuria as well as The Book Mart & Cafe in Starkville, Friendly City Books in Columbus, Impression Books of Flowood, and Cotton Row Books in Cleveland.
And it’s a great beach read.
We’ll have the Dogwood Press tent at the annual Mississippi Book Festival again this year and look forward to seeing you. Hard to say how much cooler, if at all, it will be on September 14 (yes, the festival is in September this year), but by then we’ll be a lot closer to a pair of Sunrise Press releases I’m very excited about. Hal Kitchings, pastor of Easthaven Baptist Church in Brookhaven, Mississippi, has written Dog-Gone, it’s Hard, a devotional designed to help grieve one’s lost dog with daily entries that mix scripture with gentle encouragement and quotes from famous people. Hal and I can’t wait for you to read it!
And if you enjoyed Monica Walton’s Advent Reflections For This Day, you’ll really appreciate Lean Into Lent. Instead of planning ahead to give something up, make it a Lenten goal to read this book. It’s a multi-denominational work with relevant modern day parables which really bring the scriptures to life.
Thanks so much for your time. Visit dogwoodpress.com for an updated list of book signings for all of our authors. We hope to see you soon!