Book Review: Palmetto Moon, A Lowcountry Novel by Kim Boykin @AuthorKimBoykin #pumpupyourbook

I am so pleased to be part of another Pump Up Your Book tour, especially since Palmetto Moon by Kim Boykin is set in my adopted neck of the woods!  I live half way between the two main settings in the book, Charleston, SC and Round O, SC and that made this book so much more fun to read, but even if you don't live in the South, I am going to recommend you pick it up!  You should also pop back by on October 15th and check out Kim Boykin's guest post "FINDING PALMETTO MOON IN THE ETHER" which will share part of her journey in finding Round O.

From the Publisher:

June, 1947. Charleston is poised to celebrate the biggest wedding in high-society history, the joining of two of the oldest families in the city. Except the bride is nowhere to be found…Unlike the rest of the debs she grew up with, Vada Hadley doesn’t see marrying Justin McLeod as a blessing—she sees it as a life sentence. So when she finds herself one day away from a wedding she doesn’t want, she’s left with no choice but to run away from the future her parents have so carefully planned for her.

In Round O, South Carolina, Vada finds independence in the unexpected friendships she forms at the boarding house where she stays, and a quiet yet fulfilling courtship with the local diner owner, Frank Darling. For the first time in her life, she finally feels like she’s where she’s meant to be. But when her dear friend Darby hunts her down, needing help, Vada will have to confront the life she gave up—and decide where her heart truly belongs.

My Review:

This book conveys both an innocence and a sense of coming of age in a time of bigotry and social expectation, while telling a love story.  I can see Vada, fresh from a liberal college education, being forced into a mold developed by years of segregation and elitism that prevailed in the South, and particularly in Charleston's elite circles for many centuries.  I love that within the first few moments in the book, she breaks free of other peoples expectations and takes a risk to create the life SHE wants, rather than the life her parents expect her to have.

The book draws you in to Vada's time and makes you feel like you have been transported back to the post-war ear.  Youi slip seamlessly into her world and can easily visualize characters like Rosa Lee, Desmond, Justin, the Hadleys, Claire, Frank Darling and even Miss Mamie, who runs the Round O boarding house.

If you like historical fiction, with a good, sweet romantic storyline, than you will enjoy reading Kim Boykin's latest novel; Palmetto Moon

About the Author:

Kim Boykin was raised in her South Carolina home with two girly sisters and great parents. She had a happy, boring childhood, which sucks if you’re a writer because you have to create your own crazy. PLUS after you’re published and you’re being interviewed, it’s very appealing when the author actually lived in Crazy Town or somewhere in the general vicinity.
Almost everything she learned about writing, she learned from her grandpa, an oral storyteller, who was a master teacher of pacing and sensory detail. He held court under an old mimosa tree on the family farm, and people used to come from all around to hear him tell stories about growing up in rural Georgia and share his unique take on the world.
As a stay-at-home mom, Kim started writing, grabbing snip-its of time in the car rider line or on the bleachers at swim practice. After her kids left the nest, she started submitting her work, sold her first novel at 53, and has been writing like crazy ever since.
Thanks to the lessons she learned under that mimosa tree, her books are well reviewed and, according to RT Book Reviews, feel like they’re being told across a kitchen table. She is the author of The Wisdom of Hair from Berkley, Steal Me, Cowboy and Sweet Home Carolina from Tule, and Palmetto Moon, also from Berkley. While her heart is always in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, she lives in Charlotte and has a heart for hairstylist, librarians, and book junkies like herself.
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