Hope Between the Pages (Doors to the Past)
Hope Between the Pages (Doors to the Past) book cover

Hope Between the Pages (Doors to the Past)

Paperback – April 1, 2021

by
Price
$9.29
Format
Paperback
Pages
256
Publisher
Barbour Fiction
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1643528267
Dimensions
5.4 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
Weight
8.8 ounces

Description

“Enchanting from the first page, readers will be swept along on a journey that proves true love isn’t just a fairy tale to be found in books. Romance and charm are around every corner as two people find that differences mean nothing when they share the same heart.”xa0xa0 –J’nell Ciesielski, author of The Socialite and Beauty Among Ruins “A hauntingly beautiful dual-time story laced with the elegance of the Vanderbilts and the lure of a cozy bookstore. Pepper Basham entrances readers with a love story that will linger long after they tuck the book gently back onto their shelf. This is a story of love, of challenge, and most of all, legacy.”xa0xa0 –Jaime Jo Wright, author of Christy Award-Winning The House on Foster Hill , and Christy Award-Nominated Echoes Among the Stones “An amiablexa0escape into the beloved world of books. Splitting time between the present and the past, Basham creates vivid historical landscapes to transport the reader to the age of the Great War and to the lavish world of the famed Vanderbilts’ mansion. Paired with modern-day jaunts from a storied bookshop to the famed Asheville estate and the charm of the English countryside, vintage-loving heroine Clara’s uncovering of her own hidden past will leave readers wishing they’ve walked in the characters’ footsteps themselves. Hope Between the Pages is a love letter to libraries and literature. . .to books and their quaint little shops. . .and to the timeless stories they tell—a fairy tale of a journey that will invite readers to fall in love with their favorite stories all over again!” –Kristy Cambron, Christy Award–winning author of The Paris Dressmaker and The Butterfly and the Violin Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance peppered with grace and humor with southern Appalachian flair. Both her historical and contemporary novels have garnered recognition in the Grace Awards, Inspys, and ACFW Carol Awards. Her historical romance, The Thorn Healer, was a finalist in the 2018 RT Awards. Her historical romance novels, My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge and The Red Ribbon , and her contemporary novels, the Mitchell's Crossroads and Pleasant Gap series, showcase her Appalachian heritage, as well as her love for humor and family. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is the mom of five great kids, a speech-language pathologist to about fifty more, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, hats, and Jesus. You can learn more about Pepper at her website http: //www.pepperdbasham.com or connect with her on FB, IG, or Twitter

Features & Highlights

  • Uncover the Story Behind a One-Hundred-Year-Old Love Letter
  • Walk through Doors to the Past via a new series of historical stories of romance and adventure.
  • Clara Blackwell helps her mother manage a struggling one-hundred-year old family bookshop in Asheville, North Carolina, but the discovery of a forgotten letter opens a mystery of a long-lost romance and undiscovered inheritance which could save its future. Forced to step outside of her predictable world, Clara embarks on an adventure with only the name Oliver as a hint of the man’s identity in her great-great-grandmother’s letter. From the nearby grand estate of the Vanderbilts, to a hamlet in Derbyshire, England, Clara seeks to uncover truth about family and love that may lead to her own unexpected romance.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(239)
★★★★
25%
(100)
★★★
15%
(60)
★★
7%
(28)
★
-7%
(-28)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Dual time

This dual time story definitely gives you in two for one in many ways. In true Basham fashion it of course gives you double the romance (and kisses!) but it also gives you a story set both at and near the Biltmore and also across the pond.

This book is also a good combination of history and mystery as the main character searches for answers for her future in her family's past. It was the perfect amount of intrigue to keep me turning the pages.

Dual time stories are always slow reads for me because I always feel so interrupted, but don't let that sway you if you love them.

I did really enjoy the stories and felt like the romance was perfect.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This is my honest review.
4 people found this helpful
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A Must Get!!

Wow, wow, wow!! You know when you finish a book and it leaves you in a state of just wow... yeah that's how that book was. And I use that word because I don't know quite how to describe my state of feeling. This book was everything I needed I didn't know I wanted. Let's start with the setting. I don't know if you follow Pepper Basham on her Instagram (you totally should) but she captures the Biltmore Estate quite beautifully in her photographs. Makes it truly magical. I have never been even though I only live 3 hours away but after reading this book it went up on the ranks of my bucket list. She brings that magic to this book. I could picture the library that Sadie works in and the grounds as she walks in them, oh and Blackwell's Bookshop, gosh who wouldn't love a bookshop like that!!

This is a dual time line story, so there are different sets of characters in each time period. Pepper Basham has a gift with characters. She made them so realistic, I felt like I was right there with them experiencing everything with them. Both Sadie and Clara are the perfect bookish friends, kindred spirits to be exact and you will definitely cheer them on and live through their journey and find their own story. They storyline itself is dreamy and definitely SWOON-WORTHY!! Goodness is the book swoony!! But with that there is also a little mystery, love and hope. There are tears you will shed, so keep the tissues handy. But there are moments that you will sigh that dreamy sigh we all get when reading a good book. Oh and that's not all... the author has interweaved faith throughout this book in such a way that its subtle but beautiful. As a Christian you can tell it is there and flows with the story quite well. By that I mean that it wasn't something that was forced or had to be written in. It was very realistic in its placement of it.

I don't want to ruin the book for you by telling you too many details because this is definitely one of those books that cannot be missed. Pepper Basham has outdone herself with this one! Go and grab it now! I promise, you will love it!

I received this book from the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
1 people found this helpful
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I Adored This Story!

This will EASILY be one of my favorite 2021 reads. I loved all the elements of this dual timeline story. Blackwells Book Shop, The Book Goblin and Book Fairy, England, Max, they all combine to make a beautiful story. I loved everything about this read from all the bookish things mentioned to the mystery within its pages. A pretty much perfect read. Don't miss it!!
1 people found this helpful
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A wonderfully intriguing page turner!

Any story that begins with a library is bound to be an excellent tale. What an awesome first sentence! This story took me right into the Biltmore Estate & kept me enthralled. It was equally interesting when Clara had to dig into the history of the Blackwell Book Shop to find the missing deed for proof of family ownership. Clara's search turns up a whole lot more than the missing deed! I really enjoyed this book!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review
1 people found this helpful
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Two Epic Love Stories

I’m not a great fan of dual time stories, but Basham has so intertwined the two stories in Hope Between the Pages that I never felt like I’d been interrupted in either story. I’d call this a magical feat. It’s about hope and how love can set us free. The characters are all so likable, and you’ll care what happens to them. Oliver and Sadie’s story is an epic love story, and you’re going to need at least a box of tissue for them. Clara and Max’s love story mirrors the couple from the past, but in the present day Clara is Oliver and Max is Sadie. Max and Sadie both had limited expectations for a happily-ever-after. Sadie felt her station in life prevented her from being with the love of her life, and Max thought his appearance made him unlovable. The most beautiful moments in the book are when Oliver and Clara make it clear they see only the heart of the one they love and nothing more. It’s a story of faith and hope in the One who sees our hearts and loves us despite everything else.
1 people found this helpful
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Pepper Basham’s best yet!

"Books and imagination brought me love. Love inspired my hope, and hope led me to purpose...to serve others through generosity, kindness, and...books."

Crafted with care and attention to detail, infused with nostalgic and captivating words, filled with noteworthy and unforgettable characters, and sprinkled with fairy dust and sense of wonder, this time-slip novel by Pepper Basham will entrance you from the first page. This is just what my heart and soul needed after a dreary week of rain. The author's mastery of words comes alive as she creates two very distinct yet connected worlds in 1915 and present time. The love of books and the enchantment of fiction draw all four characters together; each character encourages imagination, hope, unswerving faithfulness, and the ability to really see others as they are. Faith element rings true, especially in Sadie and Oliver's lives in 1915.

Sadie, a servant who tends the Vanderbilts' library in their estate, and Oliver, a wealthy Englishman on holiday, completely captured my heart. Their story is told in Sadie's first person voice and has all the heart-wrenching elements of star-crossed lovers. Clara is the present day descendant of Sadie who's struggling to keep the family bookstore viable and her story is mostly in third person. Her romance with her hero doesn't start until halfway through the book and that worked out well to distinguish the two romances. Kindness and self-sacrificing love thread through all four of these lives and I loved each of these characters. There is also a bit of mystery that needs to be solved but Clara learns so much more about herself and her family history when she embarks on the journey to solve it.

It's a must-read novel that will leave you with tears of empathy and smiles of pure joy. I received the book via Celebrate Lit Tours and was under no obligation to post a positive comment. All opinion is solely my own.
1 people found this helpful
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Past meets present

Tears and more tears. This is what happens when you make such a connection with the characters that the words on the pages become more than just simple words. The character become your family the mother becomes your mother, the sister is your sister,the grandmother who loves and feeds delicious meals is your grandmother, the lost love becomes your lost love and you feel the pain.
This time split novel has all you could possibly need from a library in the Biltmore House in North Carolina to a guard house that is castle like living quarters in scenic England. A bookstore that a modern woman is fighting to keep in her family leads to discovering a breathtaking past she had never known of, uncovering secrets that will touch your emotions.
This book is whimsical,full of joy,full of hope and will make you a better person for having read it.

Pub Date 01 Apr 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.
1 people found this helpful
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A Story for Book Lovers

** “I looked up into a sky of early autumn azure and offered an impossible prayer, because if hope lived anywhere, it was with the One who wrote the stories in the stars.” **

Sometimes a book touches you so deeply that you just have to sit quietly, soaking it in upon completion. Such is Pepper Basham’s “Hope Between the Pages,” the second novel in the Doors to the Past series.

A time-slip novel, “Hope Between the Pages” tells the story of two related women living a century apart — Sadie Blackwell, the “book maid” at the Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., and Clara Blackwell, who currently owns Blackwell’s Books.

Alternating chapters tell how Sadie finds herself in love with Oliver Camden, a guest at Biltmore and fellow book lover, and Clara’s journey to save her great-grandmother’s bookshop from a ruthless business owner who is related to the shop’s original owner. As both women’s journeys take them to England, they both find love as well as personal strength and courage.

Basham does an incredible job of interweaving the two stories together to tell a lovely story with great themes, like the importance of having a dream, even if they seem impossible (“Some dreams require hard work. Others require miracles.”); those who live with grief must still live; don’t let grief steal your life; doing the expected versus the spontaneous; with God all things are possible; God is already in our future; and we are healed by healing.

A huge theme is the concept of story — the magic of stories, stories matter, and our lives are our stories. As Mrs. Vanderbilt says about her husband: “George used to say that stories carry their own special magic every time you turn a page.”

Bibliophiles will love this book, as well as fans of authors like Katherine Reay, Kristy Cambron, Jaime Jo Wright and Kate Morton, and historical fiction fans.

Due out April 1, “Hope Between the Pages” is a delightful breath of fresh air.

Five stars out of five.

Barbour Publishing, Inc. provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.
1 people found this helpful
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Time slip at its best

Ms. Basham has delivered a fantastic time slip novel. Two great stories woven together perfectly. Great character dynamics and a beautiful Biltmore setting. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance ebook. This is my unbiased review.
1 people found this helpful
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The Loveliest of Stories!

"I didn't want you to be alone."

"Dear Library Fairy, I've always believed in fairies but feel a library is the perfect abode for such a fantastical creature." . . . . and just like that, Sadie Blackwell becomes acquainted with the Book Goblin, and a rather handsome book globin at that. He did have another fine name, Oliver Camden, and his family was visiting the grand Biltmore Estate where she worked behind the scenes as the "book maid", making sure that the elegant two story library stayed in pristine condition for its guests. Could a fairy and a goblin dream the impossible dream; sharing a future together, one that extended far beyond clever conversations tucked between the pages of a book? Sadie Blackwell might be more adventuresome than she thinks. And braver.

Years later Clara Blackwell is on the brink of despair. Her family's historic bookshop located in the heart of Biltmore Village in Asheville, North Carolina has hit a major roadblock in determining ownership. The deed to the property appears to be missing, and without it, Clara has no chance of saving the business from a nasty takeover by her greedy uncle. Clara is certain that her grandmother Sadie owned the shop, but then again her grandmother was reticent to ever discuss the details. The hunt for answers takes her on an unexpected adventure across an ocean and onto the very property where the Camden estate once thrived. . . .. where just perhaps she will find her own "hope between the pages".

Such a lovely, imaginative, almost whimsical story that lands one of the most memorable endings that I have ever read. "Love . . . has the strength to change hearts, restore broken lives, bring healing from grief, and provide courage to push us beyond our self-defined limits. Love makes us brave."

I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher. I also purchased a copy to donate to my church library.
1 people found this helpful

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