Celebrate Little Victories - Cathy Maxwell, Sabrina Jeffries, and Mother Marianne Cope

Kalaupapa, Moloka'i

Join me in celebrating three events ....

1.  Last night, I finished Cathy Maxwell's THE SCOTTISH WITCH ... within 24 hours of receiving a print copy from Avon Romance.  I could not put this book down - I posted my review on Goodreads at this link.   It is a heartfelt Regency romance with the glory of Scotland, the magic of Oz, and the mysticism of India.  It even has a hint of Christmas cheer.  Thank you, Cathy, for letting Harry love!  Come back on Wednesday, October 31, when I giveaway a copy of THE SCOTTISH WITCH:

When a Chattan male falls in love, strike his heart with fire from above . . .

Portia Maclean believes she is beyond love and marriage. Then one moonlit night, while attempting a daring masquerade in a desperate bid to protect her family, she finds herself swept off her feet by a powerful stranger. But what will he do once he discovers she has betrayed him?

Harry Chattan is fighting for his family. For two hundred years the Chattan men have been destroyed by love . . . and now he's come to Scotland on the hunt for a witch to break the curse. Instead he finds himself bewitched by Portia. Harry has vowed to fight the demons that torture him.

But will that battle destroy her as well?

1.  Yesterday, I received received a special package from Gallery Books - Sabrina Jeffries' 'TWAS THE NIGHT AFTER CHRISTMAS:

Dear Sir,

. . . I feel I should inform you that your mother is very ill. If you wish to see her before it is too late, you should come at once.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Camilla Stuart

Pierce Waverly, the Earl of Devonmont, has led an unabashed rogue’s life, letting no woman near his heart. Inexplicably abandoned as a child to be raised by distant relatives, he never forgave his parents, refusing to read any of his mother’s letters after his father’s death. Then came a letter that shook his resolve. A Christmas visit to Montcliff might prove his last chance to discover the truth of his past, and come to terms with the stranger he calls “Mother.”

But two surprises await him at Montcliff. His mother is perfectly healthy, nowhere near a deathbed, as her meddling lady’s companion led him to believe. The second is Camilla Stuart herself, a lively vicar’s widow, too bright and beautiful not to arouse the scoundrel in Pierce. Though she alone is reason enough to prolong his stay, he is soon faced with other tantalizing riddles: What secrets lie in his mother’s past to explain his childhood abandonment? Why is the captivating Mrs. Stuart so determined to mend the breach between mother and son? Meanwhile,

Camilla herself is caught up in love’s complications since the arrival of the irresistible earl. As his bold flirtation and suggestive whispers draw her dangerously close, can anything protect her vulnerable heart? If they are destined to share real happiness, there must be honesty between them—yet telling him the truth about her own life may shatter that chance.

None of them can predict the startling revelations to come. Or the secrets, both heartening and shocking, divulged between a mother and son, and between two lovers haunted by their respective pasts, that will make Christmas night at Montcliff one to remember—and the glorious night after, one to treasure for a lifetime.

Come back to SOS Aloha on Monday, October 29, when I giveaway a copy of 'TWAS THE NIGHT AFTER CHRISTMAS.

3.  Today the Vatican is canonizing Mother Marianne Cope.   She is revered in Hawaii for caring for the patients with Hansen's Disease who were banished to the isolated peninsula of Kalaupapa on Moloka'i.   To learn more about Mother Marianne, check out this link from our local news.   The news is covering the procession of Hansen's patients to Mother Marianne's home church in New York and onto the Vatican where leis will be plentiful.   I posted pictures of my visit to Kalaupapa on ALOHA ON MY MIND at this link.

Mother Marianne on Kalaupapa
(Wikipedia)

Robert Louis Stevenson visited Kalaupapa and wrote a poem for Mother Marianne:

To see the infinite pity of this place,
The mangled limb, the devastated face,
The innocent sufferers smiling at the rod,
A fool were tempted to deny his God.

He sees, and shrinks; but if he look again,
Lo, beauty springing from the breast of pain!—
He marks the sisters on the painful shores,
And even a fool is silent and adores.

Let's celebrate love.

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawaii

Sea cliffs isolate Kalaupapa