4. The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

listened on Audible (purchased with one credit)

2024
304 pgs.
Adult contemporary ("gothic") mystery
Finished 1/17/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.12
My rating: 5
Setting: Huge mansion in contemporary NC mountains

My comments:  A contemporary "gothic" mystery told in three voices - two of them in real time and one in letters from 2013.  This is the first modern gothic that I've read that I've actually liked.  So well done!  Twists and turns, of course, and so many questions as you read along.  One rich, greedy family vs. a couple of cunning, clever women and a super kindhearted man.  Certainly kept me interested.  Whose accounting should I trust?

Goodreads synopsis:  When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.

But to everyone’s surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle’s death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.

Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam’s estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.

But Ruby’s plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

North Carolina Road Trip Spring Break 2022

 

My Facebook notes are below.

5 NPS sites (but one was closed)
                Cedar Creek & Belle Grove NHP (Closed)
                Shenandoah NP Skyline Drive (Last 1/3)
                Petersburg NBP (?)
                Guildford Courthouse NMP
                Blue Ridge Pkway – Just a small bit, in Roanoke VA
1 yarn shop
                Wool Workshop – Roanoke, VA

1 quilt shop

                 Patchwork Plus - Dayton, VA (amazing!)
8 letterboxes
9 cemeteries (at least)
                Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, VA
                Cedar Grove Cemetery, New Bern, NC
                Greenwood Cemetery, New Bern, NC
                U. S. National Cemetery, New Bern, NC
                Jacksonville City Cemetery, Jacksonville NC
                Montford Point Federal Cemetery & Coastal Carolina State Veterans Cemetery, Jacksonville, NC
                Oakwood Cemetery, High Point, NC
                East Hill Cemetery, Salem, VA

                Resthaven Memorial Gardens, Harrisonburg, VA
3 Munzee gardens
5 nights in a motel –
                Wingate by Wyndham, Short Pump, VA
                Hampton (2) New Bern, NC & Waynesboro, VA
                Microtel – Jacksonville, NC
                Quality Inn – High Point, NC
1 flat tire, Richmond, VA
2 new windshield wipers
1 bookstore
                Next Chapter Bks & Art, New Bern, NC
2 museums
                Pepsi, New Bern, NC
                Guildford Courthouse NMP
1 college
                High Point University, High Pont, NC

1 factory tour

                  Route 11 Potato Chips, VA
2 war memorials
                Lejeune Memorial Gardens, Jacksonville, NC
                                Vietnam War Memorial 
                                Beirut Memorial
3 roadside Attractions
                5 (of 80) fiberglass bears, New Bern, NC
                “Furniture Capital of the World” bureau
                2 huge bicycle “sculptures” at the Star on the hill in Roanoke
 
Numerous bronze statues of famous people sitting on benches, High Point University, NC

4/14  Chris Graves is in Short Pump, Virginia.

Lovely day! I headed down Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. No bear this time, but deer, wild turkey, and snake all crossed my path. Overcast, but no haze - beautiful views. Stopped for the night just outside of Richmond, found a Vietnamese restaurant and had yummy pho, setting out for North Carolina in the morning.

                    3 photos:  tulips, mntns, Skyline Drive sign

 

4/15 earlier in the day than the next post:  Chris Graves is in Henrico, VA.

Always an adventure!!

My current scenic view.

Flat tire. May not be repairable.

lollolol, what else can ya do but laugh?

               1 photo inside tire store

 

4/15  Chris Graves is in New Bern, North Carolina

What a gorgeous day today! My flat tire debacle was concluded by 10:30, not bad at all. My first stop, Petersburg National Battlefield, was pretty gloomy. The end of the Civil War, a nine month siege between Lee and Grant to cut off supplies for the confederate capital in Richmond. Grim. Spend some time letter boxing in cemeteries in Petersburg and at my final destination for the day, in NC.  All in all, four really historic cemeteries. I actually don’t find cemeteries grim at all, I enjoy and respect them and learn lots of history from their primary sources. I’m a weirdo…

          Photos  Petersburg Battlefield sign, Welcome to NC sign, arched cemetery entrance, New Bern arched cemetery entrance, US National Cemetery gate, grave markers inside National cemetery, New Bern flag by river

 

4/16  Chris Graves is in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Day 3. I love being on the road. And there’s so much to see along the North Carolina coast!

Before I left New Bern this morning I drove around and took photos of some of the 80+ fiberglass bears that decorate the town. History is everywhere in New Bern- roadside signs and old houses labelled with their information all over town, plus the two old cemeteries I mentioned yesterday. I went into the corner drugstore-now-museum where Pepsi was invented and enjoyed a browse and sip. My last stop before leaving town was a really interesting book shop. They cater to local authors (of which there are a huge amount) as well as some local artisans.  I actually found a small souvenir for myself here - and met a super friendly cat as well. Leaving town I was treated to the site of the roadway rising in front of me so that a tall-masted ship could go under the bridge. Took less than 10 minutes and was quite interesting.

Heading south, I got my first-ever taste of the Outer Banks! I traveled along about 20 miles, from Atlantic Beach to Emerald Isle. There’s a lot for sale along that roadway! Ocean on both sides, prime real estate. And lots of public access to the beach on both sides of the road.

When I got to Jacksonville I visited the Lejeune Memorial gardens, where I spent a bit of time at both the Vietnam War Memorial there and the memorial in recognition of American lives lost in Beirut in 1983. Look it up. Interesting. And sad.

I have no idea where I’ll head tomorrow. That’s the fun of a meandering vacation

          Photos  standing bear, colorful bear, pepsi recipe, me in Pepsi corner, bookshop cat, river bridge road n the air, two different pink flowers, beiruit monument, 3 vietnam memorial photos

4/17  Chris Graves is in Archdale, North Carolina

North Carolina. All the trees are green, all the shrubs are blooming in glorious pinks and purples, and it was about 75° all day with sunshine. Sunshine!

Two standouts today – Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, a 1781 Revolutionary war battle site near Greensboro NC (It’s not all Civil War battlefields down here). I asked them if adults ever did the junior ranger programs and she told me about their not-so-junior-ranger program… for people like me! It was fun, had to answer all sorts of questions after watching the video, touring the museum, and driving the auto tour.

A short drive away is High Point University, where two of my nephews went to school. They both loved it there, and I love checking out colleges —- I’m so glad I went! This place is unbelievable! I’ve probably seen hundreds of college campuses, but none ever like this. Huge regal white buildings, fountain after fountain after fountain, lots of space and green and flowering plants. But my favorite part was the dozens and dozens of benches that had bronze statues of famous people sitting in them.. I had quite a conversation with Aristotle, as you can see in the photos. The town of High Point was once the largest manufacturer of furniture in the US not so long ago.

Plus some more really interesting cemeteries…

I’ve had a lovely dinner every night, but tonight was my favorite, a local Mexican restaurant. So good.

             PHOTOS:  US/NC Flags, Guilford Courthouse sign, Guildford Crthse woods, inside museum, HPU flags on lightpoles, Helen Keller, Me & Aristotle, MLK Jr with sign behind him, Coltrane, Mother Teresa, huge bureau, 50 confederate bured headstone, buried American flags placque.

4/19  Chris Graves is in Waynesboro, Virginia

Yesterday (4/18) was a gloomy day. Downpouring rain, sleet, snow, multiple car accidents…but I did find a very cool wool shop. My plans for Roanoke pretty much tanked because of the wetness and limited visibility. I did find a couple of letter boxes in a sopping cemetery.

           Photo:  foggy tree with star, foggy bikes

4/19  Chris Graves is in home in Carlisle, PA

Had a long,somewhat leisurely drive up 81 today.  I went to an absolutely incredible quilt store in Dayton, VA, which is a tiny bit southwest of Harrisonburg.  Holy Schmoley, what a place!  I MUST go back when I have definite quilt plans, or to take Dede.  Also in Harrisonburg I hit a cemetery for a letterbox.  Muddy.  Got mud on me, the tires, the running board, and the car mat.  Light brown mud....

Not too far down the road I saw a sign for Route 11 Potato Chips.  It's a small facility, and you can look through windows to watch them make their very-fried chips.

And then home!  Didn't take too long.  My tiny suitcase and I hit the stairs, then I hit the bed and fell fast asleep.  What a great trip!  School tomorrow!

23. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

listened to on Audible - Unabridged (12:12)
narrated by Cassandra Campbell
2018 G. P. Putnam's Sons
370 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction 1952 - 1970
Finished 2/27/2019
Goodreads rating: 4.54 - 98,680 ratings (wowzer!)
My rating: 5
Setting: 1952-1970 northern NC coast

First line/s:  "The morning burned so August-hot the marsh's moist breath hung the oaks and pines with fog.The palmetto patches stood unusually quiet except for the low, slow flap of the heron's wings lifting from the lagoon.  And then, Kya, only six at the time, heard the screen door slap."

My comments: What a beautifully crafted story, how I enjoyed listening to it!  I have a feeling that if I had read it I would've been impatient with some of the description of the marsh, the animals, the winds and grasses and beaches.  But listening to it read in Cassandra Campbell's lilting voice, it became poetry.  Loneliness and aloneness, beauty and nature, described brilliantly.  This is a wonderful piece of storytelling.

Goodreads synopsis:  For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens.
          Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell, Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

52. Paintbrush by Hannah Bucchin

read on my iPhone
2014 Blaze Publishing
306 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished 8/30/17
Goodreads rating:  4.17 - 151 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: contemporary rural North Carolina

First line/s:  "Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine what a normal school morning looks like."

My comments:  Love the cover.  It's gorgeous.  This is a love story with two protagonists, alternating chapters with their first person accounts.  The only problem was that they both sounded exactly the same; they had the same voice, the same kinds of quirks, the same angst.  The same "goodness."  Each had one single close friend.  I loved the setting and Bucchin's description of it: a commune on a mountain in North Carolina.  40 cabins, 100 or so people, and a once a week community meal.  However, out of those 100 people we only get to meet a very few.  I so wanted to meet more, and it was hard to visualize this commune full of so many people when you're only thinking about eight or nine.  Lost the big picture a bit.  Pretty well written love story, all in all, with a pat, satisfying ending - always okay with me.  There are definitely going to be some females that swoon over this book.

Goodreads synopsis: Mitchell Morrison and Josie Sedgwick have spent their whole lives at the Indian Paintbrush Community Village, a commune full of colorful characters tucked in the mountains of North Carolina, and they aren't particularly close--at least, not anymore. Josie wishes she could spend all of her time at Paintbrush planting tomatoes, hiking the trails, or throwing giant communal birthday parties, while Mitchell can’t wait to escape the bizarre spiritual sharing and noisy community dinners. Luckily for both of them, high school graduation is just around the corner.
          But when Mitchell’s mother makes a scandalous announcement that rocks the close-knit Paintbrush community, and Josie’s younger sister starts to make some dangerously bad decisions, the two find themselves leaning on each other for support – and looking at each other in a whole new light. Their childhood friendship blossoms in to something more as they deal with their insane families, but as graduation approaches, so does life in the real world, forcing Josie and Mitchell to figure out what, exactly, their relationship is – and if it can survive their very different plans for the future.

60. Blackman's Coffin by Mark de Castrique

read on my Kindle and listened to using Whisper-Sync on Audible
2008 Poisoned Pen Press
255 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 11/2/16
Goodreads rating:  3.94 - 545 ratings
My rating: 4 - I liked it a whole lot
Setting: Contemporary Asheville, North Carolina (with forays back to 1919 via a journal)

First line/s:  "I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking me awake.   'Now you can pass as a local.  They've all got one leg shorter than the other.  Comes from being raised on the side of a mountain.'"

My comments:  This was one of the first purchases I made when I started using Bookbub, which has introduced me to all sorts of authors that I've never heard of before.  I definitely liked Sam Blackman and his investigative prowess.  He has lost much of a leg serving in Iraq, and we meet him while he is ending his rehabilitation in Asheville, North Carolina.  I've been to Asheville several times and have extremely fond memories - of traversing onto and off the Blue Ridge Parkway, of visiting the Biltmore Estate, and of poking around.  I got to do more poking around while reading this book - the setting of Asheville takes a front seat, as does the writing of Thomas Wolfe and great history of the early 20th century including geology and gem-mining.  Excellent mystery.  I'm hoping the setting stays in Asheville, I look forward to more books in the series.

Goodreads synopsis:  What's really hidden beneath Asheville's rich history? Sam Blackman is an angry man. (NOTE from Muddy Puddle:  I didn't consider Sam Blackman an angry man at all...) A Chief Warrant Officer in the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the U.S. military, he lost a leg in Iraq. His outspoken criticism of his medical treatment resulted in his transfer to the Veteran's Hospital in Asheville, NC. Then an ex-marine and fellow amputee named Tikima Robertson walks into his hospital room.Tikima hints that she has an opportunity for Sam to use his investigative skills--if he can stop feeling sorry for himself. But before she can return, Tikima is murdered, her body found floating in the river. Tikima's sister, Nakayla, brings Sam a journal she finds in Tikima's apartment. The volume dates to 1919 and contains the entries of a twelve-year-old boy who accompanies his father, a white funeral director, as they help a black man, Elijah Robertson, transport his deceased relative to a small family plot in Georgia. Nearly ninety years ago, Elijah's body was found in the French Broad River, a crime foreshadowing the death of his great-great granddaughter--Tikima's.Sam and Nakayla must devle into Asheville's rich history, the legacy of the Vanderbilts at the Biltmore estate and of author Tom Wolfe, to uncover the murderous truth. Blackman's Coffin starts a new series by Mark de Castrique, author of the critically-acclaimed Buryin' Barry Mysteries. 

32. Ten Miles Past Normal - Frances O'Roark Dowell

2011, Atheneum
211 pages
for:  Middle School/young YA
rating:  very likable: a happy, easy, fun read for girls (4)

1st sentence/s:  "No one can figure out where the terrible smell is coming from, but everyone on the bus this morning can smell it and has an opinion."
Setting:  Contemporary "rurally" North Carolina, the high school is in town, but the protagonist lives out a bit on a small farm.

Janie Gorman has been miserable throughout her first months as a freshman.  Many middle schools have come together in her North Carolina town to become part of a huge high school, and it words out that none of her friends are in any of her classes OR eat the same lunch as her.  It doesn't help that when she was in the 3rd or 4th grade they moved from the central part of town way out to the country, where her family now lives on a small, self-sustainable farm.  She has her own goat, which she loves and talks to.  But this has not helped her non-existent social life at all.

Janie just wants to be "normal."  Well, she's more than normal, she's unique and special, but she doesn't realize it, as most 14-year-olds don't.  Starting the year by getting onto the school bus with goat poop on her shoe - stinky goat poop - doesn't help.  She knows no one at her lunch, so she crams her food down standing outside her locker and spends the period in the library. Her best friend, Sarah, is in only one class with her, and elective they chose purposely to be together.  It comes a the end of the day, and for it they have decided to research some older civil rights workers in their town.

However, wanting to belong as much as possible, it works out in a somewhat funky way that Janie starts to play bass guitar.  She teaches herself.  Fast.  It does not mention too much practicing, but she becomes fairly good.  Again, fast.  This was the one part of the story that needed work.  When Sarah and her sister, Emma, take up accordion, it never mentions any previous experience on the piano, but they are performing together in no time.  Didn't quite work for me.

But the characters did.  From her mom's futile attempts at crafting, her realization that Sarah is really quite bossy (and also her acceptance of it), to the boys she meets that year, all are interesting and pretty well crafted.  It was a quick, enjoyable read with a happy edge to it.  Perfect summer reading, and perfect for a whole lot of the girls I know.