Sandra Merville Hart's Blog, page 20
August 9, 2023
The Thousand Islands
by Susan G Mathis
Welcome Susan G. Mathis, fellow author at Wild Heart Books, back to Historical Nibbles! Susan shares some historical background for her latest release, A Summer at Thousand Island House. Welcome back, Susan!
More than 1800 islands, known as The Thousand Islands, lay between New York state and Ontario, Canada, where Lake Ontario narrows and becomes the St. Lawrence River. Here the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River intersect to become the world’s largest inland navigation system. Huge freighters pass by tiny islands along the main channel and share the waterway with all kinds of boats including kayaks and canoes!
In 1872, George M. Pullman invited President Ulysses S. Grant to visit his small island during the reelection campaign, as well as several Civil War heroes including General Sheridan. When President Grant and his entourage came, the Thousand Islands became a national event. The press touted the Thousand Islands as THE place to summer for the rich and famous and common man alike.
In so doing—and thanks to excited journalists—he launched The Thousand Islands Gilded Age season of the rich and famous buying islands and lots along the mainland and building castles, mansions, and magnificent summer homes. Those islands, those homes have delightful, intriguing, and often poignant stories to tell. And I aim to tell a lot of those stories, including Katelyn’s Choice that tells the Pullman Island story and now, ten other stories including my latest, A Summer at Thousand Island House.
From 1872 until 1914 the Thousand Islands Gilded Age brought tens of thousands of visitors to the enchanting summer resort. Grand hotels popped up. The rich scooped up islands and built fancy mansions and castles they called cottages and hunting lodges. The middle class bought small parcels of land along the mainland and built simple cottages.
And tourism took off.
The railroad expanded to bring in tourists and landowners. Large side-paddle steamboats toured passengers around the islands, and distinguished visitors made it the summer resort to visit. They came from New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and many other places.
Several of the amazing castles and beautiful summer homes you can still tour today including Boldt Castle and “The Towers” on Dark Island (now called Singer Castle) which is the setting for Devyn’s Dilemma, and many others.
About A Summer at Thousand Island House
By Susan G Mathis
She came to work with the children, not fall in love.
Part-nanny, part entertainer, Addison Bell has always had an enduring love for children. So what better way to spend her creative energy than to spend the summer nannying at the renowned Thousand Island House on Staple’s Island? As Addi thrives in her work, she attracts the attention of the recreation pavilion’s manager, Liam Donovan, as well as the handsome Navy Officer Lt. Worthington, a lighthouse inspector, hotel patron, and single father of mischievous little Jimmy.
But when Jimmy goes missing, Addi finds both her job and her reputation in danger. How can she calm the churning waters of Liam, Lt. Worthington, and the President, clear her name, and avoid becoming the scorn of the Thousand Islands community?
ABOUT SUSAN:
Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than twenty-five times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has ten in her fiction line including, The Fabric of Hope, Christmas Charity, Katelyn’s Choice, Devyn’s Dilemma, Peyton’s Promise, Sara’s Surprise, Reagan’s Reward, Colleen’s Confession, Rachel’s Reunion, Mary’s Moment andA Summer at Thousand Island House. Her book awards include two Illumination Book Awards, three American Fiction Awards, two Indie Excellence Book Awards, and four Literary Titan Book Awards. Reagan’s Reward is a Selah Awards finalist. Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, two children’s picture books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan makes her home in Colorado Springs and enjoys traveling around the world but returns each summer to enjoy the Thousand Islands. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction for more.
Buy links: Amazon | Barnes&Nobles | Wild Heart Books
August 8, 2023
Freedom’s Price by Pegg Thomas
Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart
Path to Freedom, Book 1
By 1798, Gwen Morgan has been an indentured servant for two years, with five more years until she earns her freedom. She’s a maid to a businessman’s spoiled daughter, who becomes pregnant with a ship captain’s child while courting a rich aristocrat.
Gwen had been sold to a different family than her sister when the orphans arrived in America. Gwen’s greatest desire is to find her sister.
Thomas and Betsy Baldwin can’t abide in New Bern any longer. Laws now prevent the Quakers from buying slaves to grant their freedom. They make preparations to go western territory around the Ohio River where slavery is prohibited.
When Gwen is given a chance for freedom in exchange for an oath, she jumps at the chance. Maybe she can finally find her sister. She doesn’t plan on falling in love with Micah.
But the oath comes with high price when an enemy from the past threatens her new life.
My attention was riveted from the first chapter. Likeable characters deal with believable problems from the beginning. The mother and her baby tugged at my heart. The grandparents who quickly accept them both into their home made me love them.
I enjoyed this poignant story that held many surprising twists. Not everything was completely resolved in this first book in the series, leaving me to wonder what happens in the next book. The ending is both exciting and satisfying.
Faith is a strong component in this story. The author blends that easily a part of the plot. This book was a page-turner for me!
Recommended for readers of inspirational historical romances!
I was given a copy of the book by the author. A positive review was not required. The opinions expressed are my own.
August 1, 2023
Knock-Knock Jokes for Kids by Rob Elliott
Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart
My young grandchildren love for us to tell them knock-knock jokes. We remembered a few but then drew a blank.
So when I found this delightful joke book geared to children 6 – 9, I snatched it up. The children have enjoyed it as much as I’d hoped. In fact, the seven-year-old reads them to us!
I recommend this fun book for children 5 – 9.
July 25, 2023
Hoping for Treasure by Bettie Boswell
Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart
A Sequel to On Cue
Current Day—Ginny discovers a hidden compartment in an old desk soon after her marriage to Scott. The ancient typewriter and some manuscripts inside snagged my interest immediately.
In 1946—A WWII soldier boards in the boarding house where Betsy lives and works. She likes Dale but his family owns a farm. No way is she returning to the farm life that was her childhood. Yet she secretly is attracted to him.
There’s also a Civil War element to this story. That’s not part of the time slip element yet is still a thread in the story.
I enjoyed this time slip story. The author weaves a multi-layered tale that binds the present to the past through a beautiful historic home. Each era holds its own tragedy. Realistic, lovable characters snagged my interest from the first chapter and held on.
Recommended for readers of historical romance, time slip, and nostalgia.
July 18, 2023
Our God is Bigger Than That by Michelle Medlock Adams and Eva Marie Everson
Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart
I love this sweet story!
Different animals on the farm have real fears and their mamas remind them that God is bigger than all their fears.
A little girl is frightened of the dark and her father reminds her that God is bigger than all her fears.
A great book to read to young children at bedtime!
The book is geared toward children 2 – 8.
July 12, 2023
Female Telegraph Operators Create a New Genre
by Sandra Merville Hart
It was fun to invite readers on this book’s journey with an aspiring writer and a female telegraph operator!
To those who lived in the 1880s, venturing into the newly-settled and largely-unsettled West had become much safer—though not without danger—with the system of railroads already in place. I enjoyed taking readers to Chicago, Omaha, Oakland, Ogden, and Sacramento, as well as frontier towns along the journey such as Cheyenne.
Our heroine is a telegraph operator. She temporarily leaves her job to escort a little girl to her ailing mother in San Francisco.
My research about telegraph jobs taught me quite a bit of terminology.
For example, a clatter arises when another operator “calls.” The call begins with something like “B m—X n”, which means the B m is the station receiving the call and X n is the caller.
B m must signal a reply that she’s ready to receive the call.
The Sounder receives sounds of the alphabet in dots and dashes. Some operators sent messages too rapidly to understand. When this occurs, the receiving operating asks for it again with a Break (she opens her “key” to break the circuit) and interrupts with “Please repeat.”
“G.A. the—” means “Go ahead” and “the” was the last word she understood.
Operators end every message with his/her own private “call” as well as the office’s call and “O.K.” at the end of each message.
Wired Love, which was written by telegraph operator Ella Cheever Thayer in 1879, provided many insights about the job’s daily tasks.
One of them was the lack of privacy on the lines. She can hear the messages sent to other wires but only offices on the same wire. In Wired Love, operators heard messages sent to and from twenty offices.
By the way, the public grew so fascinated with the role of women in telegraphy that it became the topic of romance novels and short stories, creating a new genre called “telegraphic romance” in the latter 1800s. That’s a little-known fun fact for you!
I enjoyed writing this series. I invite you to read the whole “Second Chances” series beginning with A Not So Convenient Marriage, Book 1, A Not So Persistent Suitor, Book 2, and A Not So Peaceful Journey, Book 3.
July 11, 2023
Don’t Close Your Eyes by Bob Hostetler
Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart
A Silly Bedtime Story
Different animals in the forest fight to stay awake as the moon appears in the sky.
The author reminds each one not to close their eyes in this delightful children’s storybook.
A great book to read to young children at bedtime!
The book is geared toward children 2 – 6.
July 4, 2023
Silver Prairies by Pegg Thomas
Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart
A More Perfect Union, Book 3
Kenna McCrea has been helping her pa raise her siblings since she was twelve. Her family runs a diner in San Antonio and her pa has earned the reputation of being the best cook in the area. Kenna feels like an old maid at twenty and figures it’ll stay that way because her youngest sister is ten.
The War Between the States ended two years ago. Benjamin Warley wants to forget his part in it for circumstances had driven the South Carolinian to fight for both sides. He’s been pretty good at failing…he’s ready to succeed. He’s working on a business venture to move cattle from Texas to Abilene, Kansas, when he meets Kenna, who immediately captures his attention.
The adventure they all make on what was to become the Chisholm Trail takes a dangerous toll on all of them.
The story pulled me in from the first page. Attitudes of the time are portrayed as part of the novel, showing prejudices and how those change.
Realistic characters that readers will care about face danger and hardship. The long, arduous journey they all take together binds them together. Many twists and turns in the story kept me turning pages!
Thomas beautifully portrays how everyone continued to struggle even after the Civil War ended.
A beautifully written fast-paced adventure. Well-done!
Recommended for readers of westerns and historical romance!
I was given a copy of the book by the author. A positive review was not required. The opinions are my own.
July 2, 2023
Ice Cream Cake with Chocolate Mousse
by Sandra Merville Hart
I made an ice cream cake last summer using my sister’s suggestions. My grandson has been asking to make one again. This time, we made the cake with a layer of chocolate mousse in the middle.
I made the mousse following the recipe from an earlier blog post the night before. I only needed about ½ the chocolate mousse for my ice cream cake. I froze it in a cake pan lined with parchment paper for easy removal.
Below is the list of ingredients I used for our ice cream cake. Change them for your family’s preferences. 
Ingredients
Fudge brownies—make from scratch or use a mix
½ gallon chocolate ice cream
½ gallon cookies and cream ice cream
10-12 Oreo cookies, crushed
Sprinkles
chocolate mousse, prepared the day before and frozen in a lined round cake pan
Use a springform pan to layer this dessert.
Bottom layer—prepare a brownie recipe and cook it in the springform pan. Allow it to cool.This morning, my granddaughter and I prepared a batch of brownies. About a 1/3 of the dough was baked in a springform pan as the bottom layer for the ice cream cake. The rest was baked in an 8×8 pan to serve as plain brownies.
Allow the brownies to cool.
Second Layer—Take the carton of chocolate ice cream from the freezer and dip about ½ the contents into a bowl. Allow it to soften a couple of minutes. Using a spoon, poke and prod the ice cream until it softens enough to layer it on top of the brownie layer. (The ice cream layer should be about an inch thick or so to allow room for the upper layers.)Third Layer—Remove the prepared mousse from the freezer and place it on top of the ice cream.Tip: Freeze the cake before adding the second layer of ice cream.
While the cake is refreezing, crush the Oreo cookies (or whatever cookie you’ve selected) and set them aside. I used a mortar and pestle to crush the cookies but a blender or food processor will work nicely also.Four Layer—Remove the cake and cookies-and-cream ice cream from the freezer. Sprinkle a layer of crushed cookies over the mousse.Fifth Layer—Spoon a layer of softened cookies-and-cream ice cream over the crushed cookie layer. Smooth it out.The children will love adding some sprinkles on top. It will give a festive look to a dessert that certain to be a hit!Freeze until ready to serve.
This was a little messy with young children but it was worth it. What fun! Their creative side came into play and, well, let’s just say the sprinkles ended up in a heap. I didn’t mind at all.
When it came time to serve the cake, I allowed 30 minutes of thawing time.
Delicious! As if it could be anything else with 2 kinds of ice creams, fudge brownies, Oreos, mousse, and sprinkles!
What a great summertime activity with the kids! Be prepared for a bit of a mess and have fun with it. Creating a cake using flavors your family will love is half the fun.
Suggestions for alternatives: Instead of brownies as a bottom layer, substitute with large chocolate chip cookie layer.
Substitute the crushed Oreos with your favorite cookie.
Enjoy!
June 28, 2023
Author Shares Inspiration for A Rebel in My House on 160th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg
by Sandra Merville Hart
As dusk fell on a fall evening, staring out over the fields crossed by Pickett’s Charge from Cemetery Hill tore at my heart. Grassy fields are now calm, serene—yet the land still tells the story. Something significant happened on the farms outside Gettysburg in 1863.
I contemplated the scene before me as the sun sank beyond the horizon. My imagination soared, sparked by park rangers on various battlefield talks as well as my own research about those who fought there.
Once I discovered the significant events that took place within the borough of Gettysburg and how Confederates occupied the town, I knew I wanted to tell their story in A Rebel in My House.
To my delight, I found Tennessee Regiments, including the Seventh Tennessee, that opened the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1st and ended it on July 3rd at Pickett’s Charge. It seemed fitting to place our hero in a regiment that history deemed so important.
Our heroine is a fictitious Gettysburg seamstress. Actual Gettysburg residents, such as Sallie Myers, are used in very minor roles in the story. The battle, setting, and events are as historically accurate as possible. I studied the history and then dropped my characters in the middle of the action.
To write this story, I had to try to go back in time. I strolled the streets of Gettysburg. I walked the battlefields. I read monument inscriptions, soldier accounts, citizen diaries, and many research books until I felt like I experienced those horrible events in some small way.
Writing this novel changed me.
Research proved that heroes sprang up everywhere, both soldiers and citizens. Tragic events demanded more strength than folks believed they possessed, yet somehow courage rose to face the turmoil. The fear before the battle pushed folks to their limits. Learning their stories inspired me.
Firestorm at Gettysburg quotes Gettysburg resident, Sarah Broadhead, as saying after the battle, “We do not know until tried what we are capable of.”
My gaze riveted on that “no-man’s land” that became Pickett’s Charge as I stood on Cemetery Hill at dusk. A dozen emotions ripped at my heart.
I left, knowing I had a story to write.
