The long-awaited sequel to bestseller and book club favorite It All Comes Back To You has arrived!

Violet Glenn. Everybody loved her. In 1946, that included her boyfriend’s best friend, Sam Davidson.

Ronni Johnson wrote a book about Violet. It changed her life. Now she’s back working as a registered nurse at Fairfield Springs, loving her patients and her job. She doesn’t have another book in her.

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A mysterious email arrives from Chet Wilson’s son, asking Ronni to tell “the truth” about his dad. She ignores it.

Sam Davidson’s family becomes inextricably linked with Ronni, though, and through them she learns a story that must be told.

Ronni finds herself back at the keyboard, determined to share the long-held secrets revealed to her. And once again, Violet is reaching back through the years to touch Ronni’s life.

Dark Enough To See The Stars is a story of human resilience and fragility; of joy and sorrow; of our ability to find family in one another. Alternating chapters between Sam’s world in the distant past and Ronni’s in the present, readers will witness lives woven together, hearts bound forever in surprising ways.

My Review

First of all I must comment on how much I love the cover – it’s absolutely beautiful.

I knew I wouldn’t get to the end of a Beth Duke novel without crying at least once and I did. Admittedly right near the end. It’s so beautiful and evokes such emotion. I love Ronni as much as I did in the first book, but this time I warmed to her husband Rick – I didn’t the first time round.

She is surrounded by some beautiful characters (I prefer the ‘now’ parts to the flashbacks to Sam’s story), like Deanna, Samuel, Maddie and little Violet.

I swore a few months ago that I would never read a book that included references to Covid, but in this case, firstly I didn’t see it coming and secondly it was totally relevant to the story. Wherever a book starts, if it comes up to date, you can’t ignore the pandemic. It happened, and became part of everyone’s lives.

“‘..Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars’ – Martin Luther King, Jr. This quote has a lot of truth and meaning to it because humans have to go through the darkness in order to see the beauty in life, like the stars in the night sky.”

However, the original quote: ‘When it is dark enough, you can see the stars,’ is actually attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Ronni’s book about the original Violet Glenn was a huge success. Everyone wants her to write another one, but she doesn’t feel inspired. Of course they all have suggestions. You should write about this…or that …or the other. When she is ready, the story will come.

However, when a mysterious email arrives from Chet Wilson’s son, asking Ronni to tell ‘the truth’ about his dad, she ignores it. Rick tells her to ignore it. But through Sam Davidson’s family, she learns that not everything in her book was correct, and this might be the time to revisit Violet’s life and the lives of the people around her. And through the darkness she finds that family isn’t always about blood, it can also be ‘in our ability to find family in one another’. A truly beautiful book.

Incidentally Tapestry was one of my four favourite books of 2022 and It All Comes Back To You is my fourth most popular review of all time.

Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

PS a little add-on. The characters in the book are fictional but the Berman Museum in Anniston (where the book is mostly set) is real.

The Modern Warfare gallery features personal artifacts, memorabilia, and weaponry from WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam War, including Adolf Hitler’s tea set, though no full Nazi uniforms (as donated in the story).

In the Danger, Deception and Disguise gallery, you can explore the mysterious world of espionage, which pays homage to the founders, Farley and Germaine Berman, both spies during WWII. This exhibit presents those who risked their lives serving undercover and the objects used in covert actions taken as a result of intelligence gathering and analysis.

About the Author

Beth Dial Duke is an Amazon #1 Best Selling author and the recipient of short story awards on two continents. She is eyeing the other five. Beth lives in the mountains of her native Alabama with her husband, one real dog, and one ornamental dog. She loves reading, writing, and not arithmetic. Baking is a hobby, with semi-pro cupcakes and amateur macarons a specialty. And puns–the worse, the better. Travel is her other favorite thing, along with joining book groups for discussion. If a personal visit isn’t possible, she is fluent in Zoom.

Please visit bethduke.com for more information, to request a book club visit, and to see photos of the most beautiful readers in the world!

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5399106.Beth_Duke
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onlythebethforyou
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Website : bethduke.com
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Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65973853-dark-enough-to-see-the-stars

Buy Link – https://geni.us/7zkPLK