Book Review - The Vineyard by Michael Hurley plus Signed Book & Bookmark Giveaway - 5 Winners !!

Book Review

NEW RELEASE....

A Beautiful Island in New England.

A Time of Healing for Three Women.

A Moment of Destiny for One Man.

From Michael Hurley, winner of the Somerset Prize, comes a tale of old money, young passion, and ancient mystery.

Ten years after their college days together, three wounded and very different women reunite for a summer on the island of Martha's Vineyard. As they come to grips with the challenges and crises in their lives, their encounter with a reclusive poacher known only as "the fisherman" threatens to change everything they believe about their world--and each other.

Book Available from.....

Amazon.co.uk     Amazon.com

“Hurley writes beautifully”
- Kirkus Reviews on The Prodigal

"Hurley's eloquent, hypnotic style will have readers following, unquestioningly, to the very end." 

-ForeWord Clarion Review

Book Excerpt from Chapter 20

 It was a question that would never have occurred to her mother or to any of her mother’s friends. Of course she would marry Tripp Wallace, they would say—or wouldn’t say, rather, because the subject would never come up. But if they were asked, they would be pained to explain what was self-evident. He met all the necessary criteria. He was from a well-respected family. He had gone to the right schools, as had his father and grandfather and great-grandfather before him. He had the right friends who had gone to the same schools and traveled in the same small circles. He was accomplished at the right sports—sailing in summer and skiing in winter—and he knew how to say and do the right things at the right moment in a way that bore testament, along with his good looks, to an obvious breeding. He was tall and well-formed and not overly bright or bookish or moody or sensitive. He would love Dory with fraternal affection and a benign indifference that would immunize him from the terrible angst that afflicts the lovelorn. There would be affairs, perhaps, but he could be relied upon to keep them discreet and meaningless, and there would be no brooding or melancholy or naval gazing in the wake of their discovery. New love would falter and stumble as it invariably does, but the business of marriage would march on. There would be no mid-life forays into the wild unknown, because he was not a curious man. His life had followed a well-worn path thus far, and he would stick to that path without the danger of navigational error that comes from needless reflection. He would lead a good life, not a well-examined life, and thereby make it possible for Dory to do the same. He and Dory would produce tall, lithe, gorgeous, tow-headed children and grandchildren who, on their way to fulfilling their central role as heirs to the family’s fortune and curators of its legacy, would by their laughter and playfulness banish the awful silence that would otherwise creep into their marriage, like a pestilence.

Our Book Review
The Vineyard grabbed my attention as soon as I started reading and the first part of the book is still my favorite part of the story.  Three college friends, Charlotte, Dory and Turner reunite at Dory's place in The Vineyard ten years after seeing other.  Each with their own personal soul searching story that interlinks making the story flow together, keeping you well and truly intrigued, grasping you to read on.

As I mentioned I was drawn to one particular character in the story, Charlotte, who's sadness and despair weighed far too heavy for her that she could no longer carry on.  What happens next will have your undivided attention and gives you the understanding of the true face of suicide, the author I felt did an amazing job with this.  

The story is a lot more than the girls reunion, we also have an elusive spiritual figure known by locals as 'The Fisherman', to the girls as 'Enoch', who seems to have miraculous gifts of kindness and healing.  This innocent, beautiful soul wants peace and beauty in the world and for the people in it and he will help the girls in their time of need in ways they certainly would not expect.  Yet not everyone sees The Fisherman in good light.

There is some sexual content in the story so I would recommend this for adults.

Certainly a reminder that if we slowed down in our lives we would find the real person we want to be.  A story of faith, real friendship and mystery after mystery that keeps you reading on to find out more.

Our Rating

About the Author

Michael Hurley and his wife Susan live near Charleston, South Carolina. Born in Baltimore in 1958, he studied English at the University of Maryland and law at St. Louis University. Michael's first book, Letters from the Woods, was a collection of essays, self-published in 2005, based on wilderness canoeing expeditions with his children. It was selected as a finalist in the Nature category for ForeWord magazine's Book of the Year award. In 2013 Hachette Book Group published his memoir, Once Upon A Gypsy Moon, under their Center Street imprint. The Prodigal is his first novel.

Follow the Author at.....

Website   Facebook   YouTube   Goodreads 

Follow the Book Tour

NOW FOR THE AUTHOR'S GIVEAWAY

5 Lucky Winners will win a SIGNED Book & Bookmarks from the author

Ending on Thursday 18th December at 11.59pm EST

Open Worldwide 

Enter Below and Good Luck !!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sharon x

Are you a book reviewer or book blogger? Join our book tours reviewers team - Apply Here x

    
http://www.beckvalleybooks.co.uk 
http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com

The Vineyard by Michael Hurley plus Signed Book / Bookmarks Giveaway

NEW RELEASE....

A Beautiful Island in New England.
A Time of Healing for Three Women.
A Moment of Destiny for One Man.

From Michael Hurley, winner of the Somerset Prize, comes a tale of old money, young passion, and ancient mystery.

Ten years after their college days together, three wounded and very different women reunite for a summer on the island of Martha's Vineyard. As they come to grips with the challenges and crises in their lives, their encounter with a reclusive poacher known only as "the fisherman" threatens to change everything they believe about their world--and each other.

Book Available from.....

Amazon.co.uk     Amazon.com

“Hurley writes beautifully”
- Kirkus Reviews on The Prodigal

"Hurley's eloquent, hypnotic style will have readers following, unquestioningly, to the very end." 

-ForeWord Clarion Review

Book Excerpt from Chapter 10

 Despite the tumultuous beginning of the season and the clouds in Dory’s future, June in Edgartown was as bright as ever, and the three friends took advantage of every minute of it. There were walks down Main Street on sunny afternoons carrying giant, round mounds of mint-chocolate-chip ice cream, teetering three-high and dribbling down onto sticky fingers before it was licked gone. There were steamed little neck clams with butter sauce and fresh horseradish, served with gin and tonics on the porch of The Crew House, overlooking the harbor, and the good-looking, Italian waiter who worked there. It became Turner’s mission to see how many times she could get him to use the word “Tanqueray” in a sentence, because she liked the way he said it. There were lazy hours lying on the beach by the lighthouse and meandering hunts for the perfect cockleshell, and double-dog dares to go skinny-dipping after dark that always descended into fully-clothed refusals, recriminations, and false accusations of prudery—the truth, however, being that none of them was eager to expose great white bellies bursting with clams and Tanqueray and mint-chocolate-chip ice cream.

About the Author

Michael Hurley and his wife Susan live near Charleston, South Carolina. Born in Baltimore in 1958, he studied English at the University of Maryland and law at St. Louis University. Michael's first book, Letters from the Woods, was a collection of essays, self-published in 2005, based on wilderness canoeing expeditions with his children. It was selected as a finalist in the Nature category for ForeWord magazine's Book of the Year award. In 2013 Hachette Book Group published his memoir, Once Upon A Gypsy Moon, under their Center Street imprint. The Prodigal is his first novel.

Follow the Author at.....

Website   Facebook   YouTube   Goodreads 

Follow the Book Tour

NOW FOR THE AUTHOR'S GIVEAWAY

5 Lucky Winners will win a SIGNED Book & Bookmarks from the author

Ending on Thursday 18th December at 11.59pm EST

Open Worldwide 

Enter Below and Good Luck !!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sharon x

Are you a book reviewer or book blogger? Join our book tours reviewers team - Apply Here x

    

http://www.beckvalleybooks.co.uk 

http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com

BOOK TOUR & Giveaway - The Vineyard by Michael Hurley

NEW RELEASE.....

A Beautiful Island in New England.
A Time of Healing for Three Women.
A Moment of Destiny for One Man.

From Michael Hurley, winner of the Somerset Prize, comes a tale of old money, young passion, and ancient mystery.

Ten years after their college days together, three wounded and very different women reunite for a summer on the island of Martha's Vineyard. As they come to grips with the challenges and crises in their lives, their encounter with a reclusive poacher known only as "the fisherman" threatens to change everything they believe about their world--and each other.

Available to buy from...

Amazon.co.uk     Amazon.com

“Hurley writes beautifully”
- Kirkus Reviews on The Prodigal

"Hurley's eloquent, hypnotic style will have readers following, unquestioningly, to the very end." 

-ForeWord Clarion Review

Book Excerpt from Chapter 10

 Despite the tumultuous beginning of the season and the clouds in Dory’s future, June in Edgartown was as bright as ever, and the three friends took advantage of every minute of it. There were walks down Main Street on sunny afternoons carrying giant, round mounds of mint-chocolate-chip ice cream, teetering three-high and dribbling down onto sticky fingers before it was licked gone. There were steamed little neck clams with butter sauce and fresh horseradish, served with gin and tonics on the porch of The Crew House, overlooking the harbor, and the good-looking, Italian waiter who worked there. It became Turner’s mission to see how many times she could get him to use the word “Tanqueray” in a sentence, because she liked the way he said it. There were lazy hours lying on the beach by the lighthouse and meandering hunts for the perfect cockleshell, and double-dog dares to go skinny-dipping after dark that always descended into fully-clothed refusals, recriminations, and false accusations of prudery—the truth, however, being that none of them was eager to expose great white bellies bursting with clams and Tanqueray and mint-chocolate-chip ice cream.

About the Author

Michael Hurley and his wife Susan live near Charleston, South Carolina. Born in Baltimore in 1958, he studied English at the University of Maryland and law at St. Louis University. Michael's first book, Letters from the Woods, was a collection of essays, self-published in 2005, based on wilderness canoeing expeditions with his children. It was selected as a finalist in the Nature category for ForeWord magazine's Book of the Year award. In 2013 Hachette Book Group published his memoir, Once Upon A Gypsy Moon, under their Center Street imprint. The Prodigal is his first novel.

"Pop on over to my Website,  Facebook, YouTube and Goodreads pages"


Follow the Book Tour

NOW FOR THE AUTHOR'S GIVEAWAY

5 Lucky Winners will win a SIGNED Book & Bookmarks from the author

Ending on Thursday 18th December at 11.59pm EST

Open Worldwide 

Enter Below and Good Luck !!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sharon x

Are you a book reviewer or book blogger? Join our book tours reviewers team - Apply Here x

    

http://www.beckvalleybooks.co.uk 

http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com

Signed Book Giveaway - The Prodigal by Michael C Hurley - 5 Winners !!

SIGNED BOOK GIVEAWAY !!  5 WINNERS !!

5 Lucky Winners will each receive a SIGNED book of The Prodigal 
Courtesy of author Michael Hurley

Open to US/CA

Ending on Sunday 20th October at 11.59pm est

For 2,000 years, Christendom has believed that faith and penitence are the narrow gates through which all who seek heaven must pass, and that the church on Earth holds the key. What if a forgotten relic, hidden inside an abandoned ship thought to have been lost at sea more than a century ago, suddenly reappeared and cast doubt on that belief? Who would seek to use it? Who would seek to destroy it? And whose lives would it forever change?

This sweeping allegorical tale begins with the escape of a Gypsy princess and her young lover from her father’s camp in 1851, recalling the flight of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The boy steals Prodigal, a sailing ship blessed with unnatural speed, and the lovers escape to sea, leaving the father to grieve for the loss and pine for the return of his child.

 More than 150 years later on Ocracoke Island we meet Aidan Sharpe, an aging lawyer, as he rises from the sand of a remote beach after a lost weekend. In a strange foreboding, one woman gives him wine and another gives him water just as his world is about to be consumed by scandal. While struggling to rebuild his life in this lonely outpost of the Outer Banks, Aidan is caught up in a two-thousand-year-old mystery that unfolds with the sudden reappearance of Prodigal off the coast, adrift and unmanned. Its discovery will lead Aidan and those close to him into the deep, in a race between time and eternity.

Buy the book from
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble

Enter Below and Good Luck !!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  Sharon x

   
http://www.beckvalleybooks.co.uk 
http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com

Book Review - The Prodigal by Michael Hurley

About the Author

Michael Hurley and his wife Susan lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Born in Baltimore in 1958, he holds a degree in English education from the University of Maryland and a law degree from St. Louis University. His first book, Letters from the Woods, was a collection of essays compiled from eight years of wilderness canoeing expeditions with his children. It was a finalist for the Book of the Year Award by ForeWord magazine in 2005. In April 2013 Hachette Book Group published his memoir, Once Upon a Gypsy Moon. The Prodigal is his first novel.

Follow the Author

Author's Website
Facebook,

YouTube

Goodreads

Book Description

For 2,000 years, Christendom has believed that faith and penitence are the narrow gates through which all who seek heaven must pass, and that the church on Earth holds the key. What if a forgotten relic, hidden inside an abandoned ship thought to have been lost at sea more than a century ago, suddenly reappeared and cast doubt on that belief? Who would seek to use it? Who would seek to destroy it? And whose lives would it forever change? 

This sweeping allegorical tale begins with the escape of a Gypsy princess and her young lover from her father’s camp in 1851, recalling the flight of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The boy steals Prodigal, a sailing ship blessed with unnatural speed, and the lovers escape to sea, leaving the father to grieve for the loss and pine for the return of his child. 

 More than 150 years later on Ocracoke Island we meet Aidan Sharpe, an aging lawyer, as he rises from the sand of a remote beach after a lost weekend. In a strange foreboding, one woman gives him wine and another gives him water just as his world is about to be consumed by scandal. While struggling to rebuild his life in this lonely outpost of the Outer Banks, Aidan is caught up in a two-thousand-year-old mystery that unfolds with the sudden reappearance of Prodigal off the coast, adrift and unmanned. Its discovery will lead Aidan and those close to him into the deep, in a race between time and eternity.

Buy the book from....
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble

Our Book Review
One of the best books I have read in a long while from page one the reader is totally engrossed. The author creates an air of mystery.

The story revolves around the little town of Ocracoke Island where lawyer Aidan Sharpe is trying to rebuild his life when he meets the local priest father Marcus.

The reason why I loved this book was that each of the main characters had or were keeping a secret and had to learn to trust love and bind together in order for them all to reach / attain their destiny.

As he arrives on the island feeling uneasy he is put to work with Ibrahim to work on the boats which fulfills him but is shocked when he is asked to leave.

Then out of nowhere a mystery boat appears and has history back to 1851. He takes on the task to restore her and race her in a multi million pound race.

The heartache and emotions you feel as you follow Aidan's journey is unbelievable, the friendship he has to make, the trust he receives from Father Marcus and trying to find love is amazing.

The gem of this book is the authors history of the mystery ship which appears and the secrets and powers it holds.

During reading this book you will question your own lifestyle and what is really important is it money, friendship or just to be happy.  Hidden in this book is a message telling you that situations change in your life for a specific reason.

Writers rarely come along who can get you hooked on their style of wring and knowledge of personal  feelings, which this novelist does and I cannot wait to read more of his work. 

Our Rating

Follow the Book Tour

Sharon x

   
http://www.beckvalleybooks.co.uk 
http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com

Congratulations to author of The Prodigal, Michael Hurley !!

Congratulations to author of The Prodigal, Michael C. Hurley, for being chosen as a finalist along with four other novels by reviewers for the 2013 annual BookBundlz Book Club Pick contest. 

Daily voting is now taking place and the winner will be announced on September 1st. 

Good Luck Michael !! 

 To vote go here x http://www.bookbundlz.com/votingpage.aspx 

Must be registered for vote to count !!

For 2,000 years, Christendom has believed that faith and penitence are the narrow gates through which all who seek heaven must pass, and that the church on Earth holds the key. What if a forgotten relic, hidden inside an abandoned ship thought to have been lost at sea more than a century ago, suddenly reappeared and cast doubt on that belief? Who would seek to use it? Who would seek to destroy it? And whose lives would it forever change?

This sweeping allegorical tale begins with the escape of a Gypsy princess and her young lover from her father’s camp in 1851, recalling the flight of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The boy steals Prodigal, a sailing ship blessed with unnatural speed, and the lovers escape to sea, leaving the father to grieve for the loss and pine for the return of his child.

 More than 150 years later on Ocracoke Island we meet Aidan Sharpe, an aging lawyer, as he rises from the sand of a remote beach after a lost weekend. In a strange foreboding, one woman gives him wine and another gives him water just as his world is about to be consumed by scandal. While struggling to rebuild his life in this lonely outpost of the Outer Banks, Aidan is caught up in a two-thousand-year-old mystery that unfolds with the sudden reappearance of Prodigal off the coast, adrift and unmanned. Its discovery will lead Aidan and those close to him into the deep, in a race between time and eternity.

Author's Website

“Stirring, romantic, and evocative of the sea’s magic.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An intriguing, well-plotted, and multilayered novel. The supernatural elements—a religious relic, a gypsy woman out of legend—are thougtfully handled. Hurley writes beautifully, especially when depicting island and nautical life.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Hurley's eloquent, hypnotic style will have readers following, unquestioningly, to the very end. The Prodigal is a masterpiece of artistic imagination and fluid strokes of the pen. Intelligently and eloquently written, this story--where past and present meet, where one man and those near him learn to inhale life, and where wonderful and unexplainable things can be accepted only by faith--is a powerful first novel by Michael Hurley." --ForeWord Clarion Review

Michael Hurley and his wife Susan lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Born in Baltimore in 1958, he holds a degree in English education from the University of Maryland and a law degree from St. Louis University. His first book, Letters from the Woods, was a collection of essays compiled from eight years of wilderness canoeing expeditions with his children. It was a finalist for the Book of the Year Award by ForeWord magazine in 2005. In April 2013 Hachette Book Group published his memoir, Once Upon a Gypsy Moon. The Prodigal is his first novel.

"Pop on over to my Facebook, YouTube and Goodreads pages"


Buy the book from....
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble



Follow the Book Tour

  
amazon.co.uk          amazon.com

Sharon x

   
http://www.beckvalleybooks.co.uk 
http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com

Book Tour Reviewers Wanted - The Prodigal by Michael Hurley

NEW BOOK TOUR SIGNUPS - The Prodigal by Michael Hurley

Open to reviewers in US/CABook Tour in September

SIGN UPS HERE - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFUyYTJCODRwM3VTemdQa2JiY2dZRlE6MA#gid=0

“Stirring, romantic, and evocative of the sea’s magic.” —Kirkus Reviews

For 2,000 years, Christendom has believed that faith and penitence are the narrow gates through which all who seek heaven must pass, and that the church on Earth holds the key. What if a forgotten relic, hidden inside an abandoned ship thought to have been lost at sea more than a century ago, suddenly reappeared and cast doubt on that belief? Who would seek to use it? Who would seek to destroy it? And whose lives would it forever change?

This sweeping allegorical tale begins with the escape of a Gypsy princess and her young lover from her father’s camp in 1851, recalling the flight of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The boy steals Prodigal, a sailing ship blessed with unnatural speed, and the lovers escape to sea, leaving the father to grieve for the loss and pine for the return of his child.

More than 150 years later on Ocracoke Island we meet Aidan Sharpe, an aging lawyer, as he rises from the sand of a remote beach after a lost weekend. In a strange foreboding, one woman gives him wine and another gives him water just as his world is about to be consumed by scandal. While struggling to rebuild his life in this lonely outpost of the Outer Banks, Aidan is caught up in a two-thousand-year-old mystery that unfolds with the sudden reappearance of Prodigal off the coast, adrift and unmanned. Its discovery will lead Aidan and those close to him into the deep, in a race between time and eternity.

“[A]n intriguing, well-plotted, and multilayered novel. The supernatural elements—a religious relic, a gypsy woman out of legend—are thougtfully handled. Hurley writes beautifully, especially when depicting island and nautical life.” —Kirkus Reviews

SIGN UPS HERE - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFUyYTJCODRwM3VTemdQa2JiY2dZRlE6MA#gid=0

Sharon x

   
http://www.beckvalleybooks.co.uk 
http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com

BOOK TOUR & Giveaway - The Prodigal by Michael Hurley

For 2,000 years, Christendom has believed that faith and penitence are the narrow gates through which all who seek heaven must pass, and that the church on Earth holds the key. What if a forgotten relic, hidden inside an abandoned ship thought to have been lost at sea more than a century ago, suddenly reappeared and cast doubt on that belief? Who would seek to use it? Who would seek to destroy it? And whose lives would it forever change?

This sweeping allegorical tale begins with the escape of a Gypsy princess and her young lover from her father’s camp in 1851, recalling the flight of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The boy steals Prodigal, a sailing ship blessed with unnatural speed, and the lovers escape to sea, leaving the father to grieve for the loss and pine for the return of his child.

 More than 150 years later on Ocracoke Island we meet Aidan Sharpe, an aging lawyer, as he rises from the sand of a remote beach after a lost weekend. In a strange foreboding, one woman gives him wine and another gives him water just as his world is about to be consumed by scandal. While struggling to rebuild his life in this lonely outpost of the Outer Banks, Aidan is caught up in a two-thousand-year-old mystery that unfolds with the sudden reappearance of Prodigal off the coast, adrift and unmanned. Its discovery will lead Aidan and those close to him into the deep, in a race between time and eternity.

Author's Website

“Stirring, romantic, and evocative of the sea’s magic.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An intriguing, well-plotted, and multilayered novel. The supernatural elements—a religious relic, a gypsy woman out of legend—are thougtfully handled. Hurley writes beautifully, especially when depicting island and nautical life.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Hurley's eloquent, hypnotic style will have readers following, unquestioningly, to the very end. The Prodigal is a masterpiece of artistic imagination and fluid strokes of the pen. Intelligently and eloquently written, this story--where past and present meet, where one man and those near him learn to inhale life, and where wonderful and unexplainable things can be accepted only by faith--is a powerful first novel by Michael Hurley." --ForeWord Clarion Review

Michael Hurley and his wife Susan lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Born in Baltimore in 1958, he holds a degree in English education from the University of Maryland and a law degree from St. Louis University. His first book, Letters from the Woods, was a collection of essays compiled from eight years of wilderness canoeing expeditions with his children. It was a finalist for the Book of the Year Award by ForeWord magazine in 2005. In April 2013 Hachette Book Group published his memoir, Once Upon a Gypsy Moon. The Prodigal is his first novel.

"Pop on over to my Facebook, YouTube and Goodreads pages"


Buy the book from....
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble



Follow the Book Tour

SIGNED BOOK GIVEAWAY !!  5 WINNERS !!

5 Lucky Winners will each receive a SIGNED book of The Prodigal 
Courtesy of author Michael Hurley

Open to US/CA

Ending on Sunday 20th October at 11.59pm est

Enter Below and Good Luck !!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sharon x

   
http://www.beckvalleybooks.co.uk 
http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com