All good things come to an end!

Wishing a good Monday to you! 

I've had an incredibly exciting extended 15-strong family weekend full of updates, laughter with the next generations (ages 4 -14),  and plenty of reminiscences. I also fitted in attending a Craft Fair where I sold my novels on Saturday (couldn't be cancelled) and last Friday was the final day of my Tailored Truths Blog Tour with the Coffee Pot Book Club.

I visited 7 blogs on Friday where there was a variety of ways to share  Tailored Truths; 

Click the links if you need to catch up with what was shared. 

Mary's Bookcase Spotlight

https://marysbookcase.blogspot.com/

The Historical Fiction Company Excerpt

https://www.thehistoricalfictioncompany.com/hist-fic-chickie-blog

Yarde Reviews & Book Promotion Spotlight

https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com

Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots Guest Post

https://mythslegendsbooks.blogspot.com/

Linnea Tanner’s Official Blog Review

https://www.linneatanner.com/blog/

The Whispering Bookworm Interview

https://thewhisperingbookworm.blogspot.com/

When Angels Fly Guest Post

https://whenangelsfly.net/

My thanks to Linnea Tanner for posting the following review last Friday- 

Tailored Truths chronicles the family saga of Margaret Law. a young woman striving to find her herself and to survive in 19th Century Scotland at the height of the Industrial Revolution. Sweeping technological changes in production are having dire consequences on the environment and family dynamics as women enter the workforce. Though highly educated, Margaret faces obstacles trying to find work as a single woman, most often paid lower wages than a man. She shares her hopes with Jessie, her sister-at-heart, with daily conversations in Dundee. However, their close friendship alters when Jessie's fortunes change and she marries an engineer and moves to Glasgow. Thereafter, the two women occasionally visit each other and exchange letters.  Margaret's aspirations to be independent and to support herself in a job using her talents are fulfilled when she is hired as the head seamstress at a tailor shop. She become smitten with Sandy Watson, a tailor in training who lavishes gifts and affection on her. As their relationship deepens, she shakes off  gnawing feelings that he has a secret, darker side to him. She marries Sandy and moves with him to a northern Scottish town where his dysfunctional family lives.  

Author Jardine Jardin immerses the reader in the everyday worlds of upper and working class Scottish people facing dynamics changes in the environment and to their family structure. Even though Tailored Truths is the second book in the series, there is sufficient backstory to read the novel as a standalone, but loose ends will need to be resolved in another book. Vivid descriptions of various locations add to the historical authenticity. The story offers insight in the challenges faced by both men and women whose livelihoods are heavily impacted by rich industrialists. One of the more interesting aspects of the tale is how sewing machines were introduced into tailor shops.

This is a character-driven story centered on themes of friendship, social issues pertaining to gender roles and expectations, and survival. Margaret Law is an engaging character whose fate is determined by unfortunate circumstances and limited options presented to her. The potential for Margaret to steer her own life as a seamstress at the tailor shop is shattered when she moves to Peterhead to live with her husband's parents in Peterhead. Nonetheless, her determination to make the best of the situation and her resilience shines through the shadows. It should be noted that phonetic spelling to capture the strong Scottish dialect sometimes drew me out of the story to decipher the dialogue.   

Tailored Truths is a poignant story of a Scottish woman's struggle for self-reliance in the wake of misfortune and social injustice during the Industrial Revolution. 

If you have read and enjoyed Tailored Truths, placing a short review on Amazon or Goodreads will really help to bring the novel to the attention of that algorithm that boosts visibility.

I'm now looking forward to getting on with a good bit more of Book 3 of my Silver Sampler series this coming week! 

Enjoy your reading...

Slainte!