The Writing Desk

GIVEAWAY

HAUCK, RACHEL
THE WRITING DESK

Tenley Roth's first book was a runaway bestseller. Now that her second book is due, she's locked in fear. Can she repeat her earlier success or is she a friend who has run out of inspiration?

With pressure mounting from her publisher, Tenley is weighed with writer's block. But when her estranged mother calls asking Tenley to help her through chemotherapy, she packs up for Florida where she meets handsome furniture designer Jonas Sullivan and discovers the story her heart's been missing.

A century earlier, another woman wrote at the same desk with hopes and fears of her own. Born during the Gilded Age, Birdie Shehorn is the daughter of the old money Knickerbockers. Under the strict control of her mother, her every move is decided ahead of time, even whom she'll marry. But Birdie has dreams she doesn't know how to realize. She wants to tell stories, write novels, make an impact on the world. When she discovers her mother has taken extreme measures to manipulate her future, she must choose between submission and security or forging a brand new way all on her own.

Tenley and Birdie are from two very different worlds, but fate has bound them together in a way time cannot erase.

My Review:

I finally understand what everyone has been raving about! I may be a late bloomer but I'm definitely on The Writing Desk's cheer team now! Especially cheering because this is a dual timeline story. Birdie with all the pressures of belonging to the upper class during the Gilded Age and Tenley with the pressures of living up to the expectations that come from belonging to a literary family. There are interesting parallels in these two heroine's stories though a century separates them. Difficult mother/daughter relationships and both chasing dreams as they find the courage to be true to themselves.

And then there are the men in their lives. Blissful sigh. Elijah in the historical timeline and Jonas in the contemporary one. Men of integrity and faith. Elijah determined to do the honorable thing for his family's estate despite his love for Birdie. Be still my heart. This star-crossed lovers story had me on tenterhooks!

I'm still having heart palpitations over steadfast, easy-going, steeped-in-faith Jonas. And I'm guilty of feeling like Tenley didn't deserve him in the beginning. But Jonas proved me wrong and humbled me in the process. Because he looks past the baggage and insecurities and sees Tenley as the beautiful daughter of God she is. Their witty dialogue still has me smiling. So much fun in the give and take between these two. But so much heartache too. And so much hope as Tenley finally begins to grasp the concept of grace and the hope it can bring to her future.

The Writing Desk is the kind of novel you want to savor and share and read over again just because it makes you feel alive and hopeful and inspired to live out your dreams the way Birdie and Tenley do.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of The Writing Desk, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add your email to a comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday January 14 2018. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck.