Author: Jeff Hampton

Day 4 of Lone Star Literary Life’s Aransas Morning Book Blog Tour brings a review from Texan Girl Reads. In the review she says:

“As you start to read this book, you think to yourself, ‘Where is this book going?’ It starts slowly and then there comes this pivotal moment that everything changes within the story, and you start to realize what’s really going on that made Sam the way he was. There is also a moment in this book that will make your heart sink for what is going on and what will happen, but you just have to read it to figure out what part I’m talking about! I also have to warn you: it will make you want to visit Port Aransas just to see how this author made this story seem so real!!”

I especially like that last sentence because, yes, you do need to visit Port Aransas. It’s a great town that has been a favorite vacation spot for generations of Texans, but it was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey in August. In true Texas style the folks down there are working hard to recover and rebuild and they’ve put out the welcome map once more. They depend on tourism for their livelihood so I’d encourage you to put a trip to Port Aransas on your calendar.

If your calendar is full, you can still visit Port A and help the town simply by buying a copy of Aransas Morning. With every purchase of Aransas Morning we are giving 75% of the proceeds to four agencies working in the region. You can buy it online from this web site as well as Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Good Reads. Go to this link for details: Aransas Morning.

Day 3 of Lone Star Literary Life’s Aransas Morning Book Blog Tour features an excerpt from the book called “Allie & Bo.” It’s an introduction to two of the main characters and a hint at one of several conflicts in the story that must be resolved. It’s a two-parter beginning at Storybook Reviews and continuing at Forgotten Winds Blog.

At both sites you’ll find the calendar with all the stops for this book blog tour. You’ll also find the link to the giveaway for signed copies of Aransas Morning. You can enter as often as you wish with different options for participating, including sending me a comment at this blog.

By the way, in my previous day’s blog I posted a picture that I took on the actual morning “when Sam met Dave” on the beach at Port Aransas and this whole story got started. As it happens, the photo on the book cover was taken at that same location exactly five years ago this week.

 

Day 2 of Lone Star Literary Life’s Aransas Morning Book Blog Tour features something that all writers crave and at the same time fear: a book review.

But Bibliotica’s Melissa Bartell definitely got the spirit of the book with these words:

“Aside from immediately putting the reader in that beachy state of mind, Hampton tells a compelling story. There’s nothing flashy in his writing – the language is pretty simple, and the characters are the kinds of ordinary people we interact with every day – and yet there’s something about Sam, Dave, Bo, Shelly, and Allie that makes you want to keep reading.

“From the first chapter, I was rooting for every character. I particularly loved that grizzled fisherman Bo had that softer side, that twinkle in his eye. Gruff characters run the risk of being stereotypes, but Hampton gave this gruff character just enough depth that he became supremely real.”

Read more from her at Bibliotica.

Day 2 also includes my own telling of how the book got started. It was a chance encounter that prompted a story that has become an amazing gift. Read more about it at Chapter Break Book Blog. The photo below was taken just a moment before that encounter at 7 a.m. on July 31, 2009.