Friday 05/24/2013 at 11:00 AM
Peter Warren
(The Journey North) at Kimbel's in Wachesaw
The American Civil War still captivates our interest. As the war entered its third summer, the Confederate army met the Union army in July 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During the second day of this three-day battle, some of the most brutal fighting occurred at Little Round Top. This story describes the bloody fighting that took place between the Union's 20th Maine and the South's 15th Alabama. It also describes how two fictional soldiers meet on Little Round Top and become friends. This meeting portrays those that often took place between opposing soldiers. Random acts of compassion during a brutal war. These soldiers pushed aside their differences to become friends. In an act of kindness, one of these soldiers initiated their friendship, while the other cemented their friendship by a personal sacrifice he made later. It was a friendship that would last for years.
$25

Friday 05/31/2013 at 11:00 AM
Jennie Fields
(The Age of Desire) at JD's Steakhouse
They say behind every great man is a woman. Behind Edith Wharton, there was Anna Bahlmann – her governess turned literary secretary, and her mothering, nurturing friend. When at the age of 45, Edith falls passionately in love with a dashing younger journalist, Morton Fullerton, and is at last opened to the world of the sensual, it threatens everything certain in her life but especially her abiding friendship with Anna. As Edith’s marriage crumbles and Anna’s disapproval threatens to shatter their lifelong bond, the women must face the fragility at the heart of all friendships. Told through the points of view of both women, "The Age of Desire" takes us on a vivid journey through Wharton's early Gilded Age world: Paris with its glamorous literary salons and dark secret cafés, the Whartons' elegant house in Lenox, Massachusetts, and Henry James's manse in Rye, England. Edith's real letters and intimate diary entries are woven throughout the book. "The Age of Desire" brings to life one of literature's most beloved writers, whose own story was as complex and nuanced as that of any of the heroines she created.
$25

Friday 06/07/2013 at 11:00 AM
Mary Kay Andrews
(Ladies' Night) at Pawleys Plantation
The New York Times bestselling author is back with another page-turning beach read about a woman whose life is turned upside down when she discovers her husband cheating on her. Rising media star and lifestyle blogger Grace Stanton's own life gets torpedoed after she drives her cheating husband's pricey sports car straight into the family swimming pool in a fit of anger. Soon she's locked out of her own palatial home, checking account, and blog, forced to move in with her widowed mother who lives above, and owns, The Sandbar, a rundown beach bar. Attending court-mandated weekly "divorce recovery" therapy sessions with a group of three other women – marital misfits whose only common denominator is betrayal – Grace and the women soon ditch their therapist and move their Wednesday "Ladies' Night" sessions to The Sandbar. They begin to help each other, walking a fine line between revenge and justice, as each one finds closure in ways previously unimagined. Can Grace figure out a new way home and how strong she needs to be to get there? Told with Andrews' unique blend of humor, heart and unpredictable plot twists, "Ladies' Night" will have you raising a glass and cheering these characters on.
$25

Tuesday 06/11/2013 at 11:00 AM
Dorothea Benton Frank
(The Last Original Wife) at Inlet Affairs
Special Tuesday Moveable Feast/Book Launch! Experience the sultry Southern atmosphere of Atlanta and the magic of the Carolina Lowcountry in this funny and poignant tale of one audacious woman's quest to find the love she deserves. Leslie Anne Greene Carter is The Last Original Wife among her husband Wesley’s wildly successful Atlanta social set. His cronies have all traded in the mothers of their children they promised to love and cherish – 'til death did them part – for tanned and toned young Barbie brides. If losing the social life and close friends she adored wasn't painful enough, a series of setbacks shake Les's world and push her to the edge. She's had enough of playing the good wife to a husband who thinks he's doing her a favor by keeping her around. She's not going to waste another minute on people she doesn't care to know. Now, she's going to take some time for herself – in the familiar comforts and stunning beauty of Charleston, her beloved hometown. In her brother's stately historic home, she's going to reclaim the carefree girl who spent lazy summers sharing steamy kisses with her first love on Sullivans Island. Along Charleston's live oak- and palmetto-lined cobblestone streets, under the Lowcountry's dazzling blue sky, Les will indulge herself with icy cocktails, warm laughter, divine temptation and bittersweet memories. Daring to listen to her inner voice, she will realize what she wants . . . and find the life she's always dreamed of. Told in the alternating voices of Les and Wes, "The Last Original Wife" is classic Dorothea Benton Frank: an intoxicating tale of family, friendship, self-discovery and love, that is as salty as a Lowcountry breeze and as invigorating as a dip in Carolina waters on a sizzling summer day.
$25

Friday 06/14/2013 at 11:00 AM
Karen White
(The Time Between) at Tara Ballroom, Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort
New York Times bestselling author Karen White delivers a novel of two generations of sisters and secrets set in the stunning South Carolina Lowcountry. Eleanor Murray will always remember her childhood on Edisto Island, where her late father, a local shrimper, shared her passion for music. Now her memories of him are all that tempers the guilt she feels over the accident that put her sister in a wheelchair – and the feelings she harbors for her sister's husband. To help support her sister, Eleanor works at a Charleston investment firm during the day, but she escapes into her music, playing piano at a neighborhood bar. Until the night her enigmatic boss walks in and offers her a part-time job caring for his elderly aunt, Helena, back on Edisto. For Eleanor, it's a chance to revisit the place where she was her happiest – and to share her love of music with grieving Helena, whose sister recently died under mysterious circumstances. An island lush with sweetgrass and salt marshes, Edisto has been a peaceful refuge for Helena, who escaped with her sister from war-torn Hungary in 1944. The sisters were well-known on the island, where they volunteered in their church and community. But now Eleanor will finally learn the truth about their past: secrets that will help heal her relationship with her own sister – and set Eleanor free....
$25

Friday 06/21/2013 at 11:00 AM
Beth Hoffman
(Looking for Me) at Kimbel's in Wachesaw
Beth Hoffman's bestselling debut, "Saving CeeCee Honeycutt," won admirers and acclaim with its heartwarming story and cast of unforgettable characters. Now her unique flair for evocative settings and richly drawn Southern personalities shines in her compelling new novel. Teddi Overman found her life's passion for furniture in a broken-down chair left on the side of the road in rural Kentucky. She learns to turn other people's castoffs into beautifully restored antiques, and eventually finds a way to open her own shop in Charleston. There, Teddi builds a life for herself as unexpected and quirky as the customers who visit her shop. Though Teddi is surrounded by remarkable friends and finds love in the most surprising way, nothing can alleviate the haunting uncertainty she's felt in the years since her brother Josh's mysterious disappearance. When signs emerge that Josh might still be alive, Teddi is drawn home to Kentucky. It's a journey that could help her come to terms with her shattered family – and to find herself at last. But first she must decide what to let go of and what to keep. "Looking for Me" brilliantly melds together themes of family, hope, loss and a mature once-in-a-lifetime kind of love.
$25

Friday 06/28/2013 at 11:00 AM
Billy Baldwin, Lee Brockington & Aida Rogers
(State of the Heart: South Carolina Writers on the Places They Love) at Inlet Affairs
"In State of the Heart," editor Aida Rogers has crafted an artful love letter to our state, with contributions from a host of nationally and regionally recognized writers who've written short essays on the South Carolina places that they cherish. This anthology provides a multifaceted historical and personal view of the Palmetto State. Thematically organized, this collection offers a geographic and emotional scope that is as diverse as its contributors. Sportswriters describe beloved arenas; historians reflect on church ruins and forts. Backyards, front porches, a small library at a children's home, the drama and camaraderie of building the Savannah River Site, and places that are gone except in the memories of the writers who loved them – these are just a few of the locales covered, all showing how South Carolina has changed and inspired people in a variety of ways. "State of the Heart" evokes a sense of history and timelessness by bringing together heartfelt responses to South Carolina locales rooted in memory, drawing on reflection, inspiration, and love. The anthology reveals a state that is more than a playground for tourists; it's a state of human hiding places that echo in the hearts of its literary citizens. Though presented as a book about place, the collection is ultimately about our shared connections to one another, to a complex common past, and to ongoing efforts to frame and build a future of promise and possibility.
$25

Tuesday 07/02/2013 at 11:00 AM
Mary Alice Monroe
(Summer Girls) at Tara Ballroom at Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort
Special Tuesday Moveable Feast/Book Launch! Three sisters reunite on Sullivan's Island off the coast of South Carolina after years of separation in this heartwarming first novel in a new trilogy from a beloved author. Eighty-year-old Marietta Muir is a dowager of Charleston society who has retired to her historic summer home on Sullivan's Island. At the onset of summer, Marietta, "Mamaw," seeks to gather her three granddaughters – Carson, Eudora and Harper – with the intent to reunite them after years apart. Monroe explores the depths and complexities of sisterhood, friendship and the power of forgiveness.
$25

Friday 07/05/2013 at 11:00 AM
Eben Alexander, M.D.
(Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife) at Pawleys Plantation Ballroom
Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew that NDEs feel real, but are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress. Then, his own brain was attacked by a rare illness. The part of the brain that controls thought and emotion – and in essence makes us human – shut down completely. For seven days he lay in a coma. Then, as his doctors considered stopping treatment, Alexander's eyes popped open. He had come back. Alexander's recovery is a medical miracle. But the real miracle of his story lies elsewhere. While his body lay in coma, Alexander journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angelic being who guided him into the deepest realms of super-physical existence. There he met, and spoke with, the Divine source of the universe itself. Alexander's story is not a fantasy. Before he underwent his journey, he could not reconcile his knowledge of neuroscience with any belief in heaven, God, or the soul. Today Alexander is a doctor who believes that true health can be achieved only when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of personal existence but only a transition. This story would be remarkable no matter who it happened to. That it happened to Dr. Alexander makes it revolutionary. No scientist or person of faith will be able to ignore it. Reading it will change your life.
$25

Friday 07/12/2013 at 11:00 AM
Kim Boykin
(The Wisdom of Hair) at Kimbel's in Wachesaw
A story of a young woman from a tiny South Carolina town who escapes an impoverished background to find her calling in beauty school – doing hair, and along the way discovers what real love is and what it's not from a quirky community of lovable women.
$25

Tuesday 07/16/2013 at 11:00 AM
Stephanie Evanovitch
(Big Girl Panties) at Capt. Dave's Dockside
Special Tuesday Moveable Feast for a debut novel: A rollicking and poignant romantic comedy about a young widow who decides to get in shape...and winds up getting her groove back — and a whole lot more! Holly Brennan used food to comfort herself through her husband's illness and death. Now she's alone at age thirty-two. And she weighs more than she ever has. When fate throws her in the path of Logan Montgomery, personal trainer to pro athletes, and he offers to train her, Holly concludes it must be a sign. Much as she dreads the thought of working out, Holly knows she needs to put on her big girl panties and see if she can sweat out some of her grief. Soon, the easy intimacy and playful banter of their training sessions lead Logan and Holly to most intense and steamy workouts. But can Holly and Logan go the distance as a couple now that she's met her goals — and other men are noticing?
$25

Friday 07/19/2013 at 11:00 AM
C. Hope Clark
(Lowcountry Bribe and Shy Writer Reborn) at Carefree Catering
Author of the Carolina Slade mystery series shares both her newest mystery and invaluable insights for would-be writers. As an introvert and a writer, you feel stretched to choose between the lesser of two evils – marketing to people who’ll most likely criticize you, or putting your writing on the back burner. Introverts have strengths that make them marketable, creative and successful. Forget those people who tell you to change, to put on a different personality, to dance like a monkey before crowds. Here is the support to be a writer and remain who you care to be . . . genuine.
$25

Friday 07/26/2013 at 11:00 AM
Cassandra King
(Moonrise) at Pawleys Plantation
Helen Honeycutt is just getting her life back on track after a bitter divorce when she meets Emmet Justice, an attractive widower still grieving for his late wife, Rosalyn. Their sudden marriage sets off a maelstrom of resentment and ill-will among Rosalyn's family and friends. Hoping to mend fences, the newlyweds plan a summer at Moonrise, Rosalyn's historic estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Moonrise is known far and wide for its unique nocturnal gardens, which have fallen into ruin since the death of its mistress. Like the heroine of Daphne DuMaurier's classic romance, "Rebecca," Helen becomes obsessed by her predecessor, who lives on in her house and gardens and the hearts of those who loved her. Not only does Helen fail to measure up to the beautiful and accomplished Rosalyn, she doesn't fit into her world, either, an elite enclave of well-to-do summer people. Even the gardens exclude her, since their secrets, passed down by generations of gardeners, died out with Rosalyn. When it becomes clear that someone in Rosalyn's close-knit circle of friends is determined to drive her away, Helen wonders if she can trust anyone, even her husband. As the sweltering summer draws to an end, Helen must uncover the secrets of the past in order to establish her own identity apart from the woman she replaced.
$25