Book Details:
Book Title: A Song that Never Ends (Hamilton Place Book I) by Mark A. Gibson
Category: Adult Fiction 18 yrs +, 338 pages
Genre: Family Saga Fiction, Thriller, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Hamilton Press (Self)
Release date: January, 2024
Format available for review: print (print - softback / USA and Canada) and ebook (EPUB and PDF)
Tour dates: Feb 5 to Feb 23, 2024
Content Rating: A soft R for the following: Language, although appropriate for situation, does have a smattering (perhaps 5 uses over 350 pages) of the F-word. Sexual situations are more so implied than graphic, although there is one soft description of fellatio. There is no use of derogatory descriptions for persons, sexes or races. No graphic violence is described.
Home.
For over three hundred years, that’s what the Hamilton family has called a shrinking swath of farmland in the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina.
Home.
That’s the failing tobacco farm where Walter and Maggie Hamilton choose to raise their three children. Walter has big plans to make the farm more profitable, but his plans are interrupted by World War II and family heartbreak. Walter returns from the war a changed man, and finds Maggie, too, has changed; neither of them for the better. But at least their family is together at...
Home.
More than anything, that’s where their eight-year-old son, Jimmy Hamilton, wants to be. However, after an unspeakable tragedy, he’s sent away from the only life he’s ever known—to live with a kindly uncle in North Carolina, far from…
Home.
That’s where Jimmy is finally going to be, unless fate has plans of its own…
A Song that Never Ends is the first installment of the Hamilton Place series, an epic family saga extending from the Great Depression to present day. Through war and peace, love and loss, triumph and tragedy; follow the Hamilton family on their journey from a run-down farm in South Carolina, through the jungles of Vietnam, to the top of the world in New York City, and beyond the gardens of stone at Arlington.
Amazon
Mark A. Gibson is a physician who practices Cardiology in the mountains of rural North Georgia. He was raised on a small farm in upstate South Carolina—the last postage-stamp sized sliver of a much larger parcel granted to the family by land grant from King Charles II in 1665—and may or may not have once gotten in trouble for digging up his mom’s calla lily bed in search of the family’s long-lost charter.
Dr. Gibson graduated from the Citadel in Charleston, SC with a BS in Biology. Afterwards, he received his medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, SC. He received his Internal Medicine training through the University of Tennessee Medical System and Cardiology training through the Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center. He served for eight years on active duty with the US Air Force, before leaving the military for private practice.
Although a cardiologist by profession, Dr. Gibson is a dreamer by nature. He is a self-styled oenophile who enjoys travel and fine food. In his spare time, he builds sandcastles and dreams of distant shores.
Roses in December represents Dr. Gibson’s second offering to the world of literature, and the conclusion of his Hamilton Place Series. All previous publications have been of the professional, peer-reviewed, medical variety, and make for lovely sleep aids.
Connect with the author: amazon ~ X/Twitter
Guest Post
Why Select an Epic Family Saga for Your Next Reading Adventure?
Mark A. Gibson
Please allow me to present you, dear reader, with the followinglist:
Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds
Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude
Irwin Allen’s Rich Man, Poor Man and Beggar Man, Thief
John Steinbeck’s East of Eden
John Jakes’s The North and the South
The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett
What do these titles have in common?
First, they are all phenomenal reads crafted by authors at the top of their storytelling games. They feature strong lists of characters, fabulous locations, and epic story lines that cross genres.
Second, each of these books are fictional family sagas, meaning they focus on one or more generations of a family (or a few interconnected families), and closely follows their fates, fortunes, and passions over years or even decades.
Finally, and most unfortunately in my opinion, with the exception of Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy titles (Fall of Giants, Winter of the World, and Edge of Eternity), all were published well before 1990. Although the genre ruled the best-seller lists from the late 60s until the early 80s, those days seem to have passed us by. More shelf space today is dedicated to romancenovels, thrillers, horror, sci-fi, and books “written” by celebritiesthan to the venerable family saga. Even anime garners more acreage at my local Barnes & Noble.
Why then have I created and positioned the Hamilton Place Series, featuring A Song that Never Ends and Roses in December, within this dying genre?
It’s simple, really.
As a kid, I used to sit on my grandfather’s knee listening to tales from The Great Depression and World War II. Sometimes he told me stories that his grandfather had told him about the Civil and Revolutionary Wars. I loved it! I’d sit there totally mesmerized until my mom or dad dragged me from his side.
Who here among us doesn’t have a dotty old aunt, a great-uncleof dubious integrity, a grandparent, or elderly family friend who likes to regale listeners with tales, both real and imagined, of derring-do or life “back when?” Thus, family sagas are relatable.
Rather than a blockbuster thriller filled with explosions, terror, and suspense, the family saga provides a slow burn, a build to a climax that will leave the reader still engrossed in the characters’lives long after the final page has been turned. Instead of an exciting, supersonic flight to Paris on the Concord, the family saga is a cruise ship sailing across the Atlantic…and the cruise ship just might turn out to be the Titanic.
Fans of historical fiction, international intrigue/thrillers, and even romance novels can all find something to love within the pages of a family epic—they’ll just get there a little slower, enjoying the journey as much as the destination.
That, dear readers, is why I choose to write in the genre of epic family saga. Who knows? Maybe my little stories will someday help to trigger a resurgence in popularity?
My Thoughts
A Song that Never Ends is written by Mark A. Gibson. This is book one in the Hamilton place series. This is the first book that I’ve read by this author. I am excited to read the second book in this series. I wasn’t prepared for the emotional roller coaster this book took me on.
We meet the Hamilton family. They have not always had the best of luck throughout the years. This story will draw you in within the first few pages. I loved getting to know this rural fictional South Carolina town. The author has done a wonderful job creating realistic characters. They’ve got baggage, heartache, have gone through trials and continue to persevere.
This book looks at primarily WWII and Vietnam. It shows how the Hamilton family handles life after tragedy. We see a primary focus on Maggie and Walter and their son, Jimmy/James. Jimmy is sent to live with his uncle and he tries to write home but his letters come back to him. It was sad to see the evolution of a strong family start to shatter.
Thank you to the author, publisher and IRead book tours for allowing me to read a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
Feb 5 – Cover Lover Book Review – book series spotlight / giveaway
Feb 5 - Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / giveaway
Feb 6 – Bigreadersite – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / giveaway
Feb 7 – JB's Bookworms with Brandy Mulder –book series spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Feb 7 - Leanne Bookstagram – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / giveaway
Feb 8 – Gina Rae Mitchell – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / guest post / giveaway
Feb 8 - Country Mamas With Kids – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / author interview / giveaway
Feb 9 – The Sexy Nerd Revue – book series spotlight / giveaway
Feb 9 - Liese's Blog – book spotlight of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS
Feb 9 - Rockin' Book Reviews - book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / guest post / giveaway
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Feb 12 – Welcome To MLMOPINIONS Reviews –book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / giveaway
Feb 13 – Welcome To MLMOPINIONS Reviews –book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
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Feb 14 – StoreyBook Reviews – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / giveaway
Feb 14 - Leanne Bookstagram – book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 15 –Novels Alive – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / giveaway
Feb 15 - Book Corner News and Reviews - book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / giveaway
Feb 15- Liese's Blog – book spotlight of ROSES IN DECEMBER
Feb 16 - Book Reviews by Linda Moore – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / giveaway
Feb 16 – Novels Alive – book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 16 - Book Corner News and Reviews - book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 16 – StoreyBook Reviews – book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 19 - Rockin' Book Reviews - book spotlight of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 19- Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 20 - Connie's History Classroom – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / guest post / giveaway
Feb 20 – Gina Rae Mitchell – book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / guest post / giveaway
Feb 21 - Kim's Book Reviews and Writing Aha's – book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / author interview / giveaway
Feb 21 - @dana.loves.books - book review of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS / giveaway
Feb 21 - Connie's History Classroom – book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 22 – - Kim's Book Reviews and Writing Aha's – book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 22 -Country Mamas With Kids – book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 22 - @dana.loves.books - book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
Feb 23 –Diane’s Book Journal – book series spotlight / giveaway
Feb 23 - Teatime and Books - book series spotlight / giveaway
Feb 23 --Book Reviews by Linda Moore – book review of ROSES IN DECEMBER / giveaway
This looks really good. Thanks for hosting this giveaway.
ReplyDeleteConnie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your review of A Song that Never Ends. I hope your followers will find it an enjoyable read!
Mark A. Gibson