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Book Review: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
I’ll admit I was “influenced” by Reese Witherspoon’s official book club to put Clare Leslie Hall’s book Broken Country on my TBR list. I didn’t know much about it other than it was a mystery, but I requested it on my Libby app anyway. I knew it would take a few months to become available, and that was fine with…
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Create Vivid Settings In Your Writing This Summer
I often struggle to find my writing groove in the summer. This past year, I officially became an “empty nester” with two kids away at college from August through May. Their absence has given me more time to write. When the kids were younger, I had a hard time balancing my summer schedule with pool time, enrichment activities, and work.…
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The Disappearance of Tyler Doyle from South Carolina
On January 26 of 2023, 22-year-old South Carolina resident Tyler Doyle went duck hunting off the coast of North Myrtle Beach with a friend in a 16-foot jon boat and has been missing ever since. It was a rough day on the water and there was a small craft advisory out that afternoon. He dropped his friend off at the…
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Celebrating Five Years of Podcasting!
When I started my true crime podcast Missing in the Carolinas five years ago, I thought I would be focusing solely on missing persons cases in North and South Carolina. My creative muse had other ideas. Little did my muse know that scanning old newspaper archives would lead me to intriguing crimes from the past (many with no digital footprints)…
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Who Murdered Wesley and Bonnie Mahaffey in Asheville, N.C.?
In 1986, a free vacation getaway turned into a nightmare for an Ohio couple visiting Asheville, North Carolina. Wesley and Bonnie Mahaffey, ages 33 and 29, respectively, had traveled to the area from Hanover Township, Ohio, after winning a three-day trip to Asheville through Wesley’s job. The couple had been staying at a nearby hotel, the Great Smokies Hilton, and…
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Book Review: Trespassers and Other Stories by Áine Greaney
Hello again, fellow readers! On April 5, I shared the details about author Áine Greaney’s new short story collection, Trespassers and Other Stories, and wrote about a time and place where I personally struggled to fit into a new environment. Today I’m back to share my thoughts after reading the book in support of her participation in WOW’s Blog Tours.…
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Book Review: The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner
When Jennifer Weiner announced the plot for her latest novel, The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy. Weiner is well known in publishing for her exploration of the complicated female relationships we all experience, especially as mothers, daughters, and sisters, and this book examines all that and more against the backdrop…
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Book Spotlight: Trespassers and Other Stories by Áine Greaney
Today I’m excited to participated in the WOW! Women on Writing blog tour for Áine Greaney, in support of her book, Trespassers and Other Stories. Learn more about the book below, and read through to the end to hear about a time in my life when I struggled to fit into a new place. Book Summary From coastal Massachusetts to…
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Why I Love the Libby App
When my kids were younger, I used to frequent the library almost weekly, even more during the months of June, July, and August when the summer reading programs were in full swing. During the height of the pandemic, my visits came to a screeching halt. I was focused on keeping my job as a magazine editor and trying to launch…
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Who Murdered Pamela Mitchell Hoy?
On July 25, 1990, 41-year-old Pamela Mitchell Hoy had dinner with her husband Fred Hoy at a Burlington restaurant, and then went home and packed her gray Dodge van with her clothes and grooming tables, exercise runs, and crates. Pam raised and showed Italian greyhounds and was preparing for a trip that would take her to South Carolina the next…