Jill G. HallRezensionen

While I enjoyed reading the dual stories of strong, independent women - Anne in the San Francisco art world in the present time and Sally Sue, 1885, kidnapped by a bank robber - it felt like the connection with the green corset lacked strength holding it together. I always like love stories but was hoping something would tie it together more at the end. I wish the author spent more time writing about the history of women wearing corsets as it's most fascinating.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy with the book release date of October 13.

While I enjoyed reading the dual stories of strong, independent women - Anne in the San Francisco art world in the present time and Sally Sue, 1885, kidnapped by a bank robber - it felt like the connection with the green corset lacked strength holding it together. I always like love stories but was hoping something would tie it together more at the end. I wish the author spent more time writing about the history of women wearing corsets as it's most fascinating.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy with the book release date of October 13.

I absolutely loved this book. I'm a sucker for a novel with dual timelines and something linking the two people, and this nailed it.

Anne is a present struggling artist that works in collage. She finds the black velvet coat from the title in a thrift shop, along with a key in the pocket. The coat prompts her to search for the owner, and in doing so is inspired in her art...in a manner that is almost, dare I say, magical?

Sylvia is the original owner of the coat (some 50 years earlier), and her story is captivating. She is an heiress who is drawn in by a bad boy - a very bad boy - and finds herself hurtling towards a marriage with a man who isn't who she thought him to be.

How their storylines unfold, and eventually connect, is engaging and captivating. You'll be rooting for both Anne and Sylvia to find their courage and their happy endings! I devoured this book!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

An undemanding dual timeline novel. With a predictable plot having little to no surprise, the story wavered between okay and bland. Easy to read and simplistic, I think the writing in this book is geared more toward the young adult genre.

The Green Lace Corset A Historical Novel by Jill G. Hall is the third book in a series with split time periods. The Black Velvet Coat & The Silver Shoes are the other books in the series. Anne McFarland is a bohemian artist type in San Francisco. Anne buys eclectic vintage clothing that somehow links her to people in the past. Sally Sue is a very naive woman in 1885 who has a completely different personality than Anne but both have unusual adventures. Light reading for relaxation.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I appreciate the opportunity and thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read, enjoy and review this book. 4 Stars

I have read all three of the Anne McFarland books, and they are so good! If you love historical fiction and have an imagination that runs away with objects or buildings of the secrets they hold, then this series is for you! You do not have to read them in order, but I would highly suggest you do, so you can get the background on Anne’s life.

Somewhat starving artist, Anne McFarland needs a break. She needs to clear her mind, and find some inspiration. She decides to head east to Arizona, and re-connect once again with nature as well. Of course, she must hit thrift shops along the way, but she had tried to make a promise to herself, to be better with her money and purchases, that is until she see’s a beautiful green lace corset in a Flagstaff resale shop. No, she can’t! But it is beautiful! And of course, a perfect fit! In the bag it goes!

Anne wonders when she would wear something like this? It needs a few minor stitches but it looks good for how old the piece appears. She wonders what kind of woman wore this? Who was she? What did she do? What as the occasion this woman wore this for? and in the Wild West! There were tons of saloons and bar halls back then. Anne gets invited out for a night of drinks and decides she is going to wear the corset. What better chance, than out on the town?! This decisions alters Anne’s life unlike she thought would ever happen!

Sally Sue, has been sent off by her mother to care for her sick aunt. Her mother despises her as it is, and this is her chance to get ride of Sally Sue. She feels she should have been married by now, and her mother reminds her of this daily. She is still reeling after having been part of a bank robber, where she was held hostage and so leaving on a train ride on her own has her a little on edge. She still remembers those cool steely eyes of that man.

She gets on board and settles in, when a handsome man sits by her. As she slowly makes eye contact, she knows something is familiar. Something is nagging at her, and her mind is flipping through memories, and it clicks in place! How dare she have been so bold to have introduced herself, and given this man her name. Now he knows her name! Maybe he won’t realize it is her, it was just that one time.

Sally Sue has to get away from him. She cannot stand to look at him for a minute longer, as she attempts to leave her seat he stops her and makes it known she is not going anywhere! He know! What is she going to do now… scream? Run? Make a scene? That just won’t do. She will just have to get off and hurry away at her stop. Cliff makes it clear to her, that she is not going anywhere without his say. She has just told the ticket collector she is his wife! What in the heck is going on?

As Sally Sue’s decisions are made for her, and Anne is also struggling with making decisions, and the right one. She is not the only one who will be affected by the outcome. Just as Sally Sue is unsure of the outcome of what will happen to her. The two women’s lives, although a century apart are on a similar path in finding the thing they may just have needed in life, but was not looking for. One piece of fabric changed both women’s lives.

Thank you to the author, Jill G. Hall and She Writes Press for sending me an arc of this novel! I could not wait to crack it open when I received it, and it did not disappoint in continuing Anne’s story. I am really excited to see where things take Anne in life, and what the next mysterious piece will connect her to next.

The Ann McFarland, struggling San Francisco artist saga continues in another novel that I did not want to put down! Ann's career has taken off after her rabbit hole adventure of Syliva Van Dam and the story of who she was and what happened to her. Her name is out there, her pieces are selling and she is finally becoming a "true" paid artist. Her new beau Sergio lives in New York and her next adventure is from an item she finds in a thrift shop mean while visiting him.

Ann stumbles across a pair of glittering silver shoes, but she really shouldn't buy them. Yes, she can maybe afford them but does she really need them? What is drawing her to them? They are perfect though, and her size. With her large feet, hardly does she ever find beautiful shoes made in her size. The shop owner works down the price of the shoes, and Ann once again walks out of a thrift shop with her next inspiration.

As she is digging the shoes out of the box, she realizes the owner must have made a mistake, there is a string of pearls within the box as well. Those pearls were laid next to the shoes in the shop, so this isn't an accident. But there is no way she can keep them, she only paid for the shoes, and these are the real thing. She leaves them behind for Sergio to return and heads back home.

Once home, she also finds a photo in the bottom of the box. Two women, and one of them appears to maybe be the owner of said shoes. There are two names on the back and a place listed. Winnie and Claire, Rudy's 1929. What a find! After some internet sleuthing she finds out that Rudy's was a speakeasy back in the 20's.

Just as before, Ann must find out more. Who wore these? What was life like back then? What would it have been like to be part of a speakeasy? How did these shoes end up at a thrift shop? As Ann comes up with creativity and inspiration, she also is struggling with the next stop in her life with Sergio. Does she want the same as him? What does he think? What is his long term goals for life? Could she just pick up and move to New York to be with him, is that what he wants?

As Ann is struggling within her own relationship, Claire from decades earlier may have been struggling with a similar life of feeling trapped and making the right decisions. This story is once again told from Ann, current day and then Claire - owner of the silver shoes. Again, very well written story and I loved the dual storylines!

Ann McFarland is a struggling San Francisco artist who is refusing to allow herself to be so down on her luck that she will give in to move back home to Michigan. She needs inspiration to get ideas to start flowing. She has done pieces but often no art dealer with show her work. She is a nobody and has no credance anywhere at this point. But this is her passion, how could she give it all up?

While thrifting, she comes across a black velvet jacket, that she just cannot pass up. Granted she now may not afford groceries and will be short on her rent, once again, but it's almost calling to her. She cannot leave the store without it. She finds a key in the one pocket and odd things start to happen. She swears she can smell odd scents an on more than one occasion the key appears to have been warm and glowed.

The coat also came with a snowflake pin, a bonus of sorts. This stimulates her creativity and she decides to research this jackets. It is a name brand jacket and where did it come from after all. She stumbles across some new articles of a women and man who went missing the night of their engagement party and it appears the woman is wearing this same jacket, and is that a snowflake pin as well? Can't be!

Ann has now gone down a rabbit hole of inspiration and wanting to know more. What happened to this couple? Who is the woman? How did this jacket end up in a thrift store decades later, and with a key in the pocket?

Her creativity and inspiration are kicked into high gear, and Ann finds encouragement as she does everything she can to find out who this mystery woman is that is inspiring her work, and once appeared to have worn this very jacket.

A very well written story, told through Ann as well as Sylvia Van Dam, the original owner of the jacket and how things turned out to be. I highly enjoyed this novel and had to run to my book shelf for the next one, The Silver Shoes.

You can find my original review at Carlene Inspired, http://carleneinspired.blogspot.com.

4.5 stars
Many thanks to Netgalley and She Writes Press for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Anne and Sylvia are opposites in several ways and similar in even more. I related to Anne in every way, from money struggles to not knowing how to become successful with her dream. Sylvia, however, is the girl I dreamed of becoming in every way. I enjoyed reading as Anne fumbled through doing what she wanted and doing what seemed to be the right path to pick herself back up. She was headstrong, determined, and jaded by her lack of luck in life. Sylvia's story was fun to read, it tugged at my heart and I wanted a full book based on her alone. I enjoyed reading about her growth, her advents as she found out who she was, and finding her way home. They're delightful characters, facing the struggles of love, loss, and life's greatest mysteries in two separate decades, yet connected in the simplest of ways. The writing is incredibly well done and if I didn't know it was Jill G. Hall's debut novel, I would have said it was written by a seasoned author. The story has a reach plot, filled with plenty of detail to find yourself in the 1960's and then turning the page to find yourself in today's San Francisco. I enjoyed the setting, loved the minor characters that brought each moment to life, and the connection between the two had me turning pages as fast as I could. I won't give anything away, but from trips to Tiffany's to the process of creating art based on a muse from the past, this book has something for everyone looking for a little magic.

Well written, interesting storyline.

Anne is an struggling artist, hoping for her big break.

Fifty years ago, Sylvia is an orphaned heiress. She is at a turning point in her life, she's met a charming, possibly dangerous man who she quickly falls in love with and plans to marry.

These two women are tied together by a coat. Anne buys the coat in a vintage shop and it used to belong to Sylvia.
The coat inspires Anne to look into Sylvia. It becomes a mystery, a mission, and the inspiration behind her newest art series.

Minor spoiler here, I really wanted the coat to be magic. If there had been a magical element of some sort here I would have considered it 4 stars if not higher.

Jill G. Hall's novel, The Silver Shoes, tells the tale of two women connected to the titular shoes. Anne is an artist who lives in San Francisco but her boyfriend Sergio lives in New York City. On one of her visits to Sergio she visits a thrift store where she finds an amazing pair of silver shoes. They even fit her feet, which are on the large side. (Sergio affectionately calls her "Bigfoot".)

Anne wants Sergio to ask her to move in with him, or even better, to marry him. She would like to know that their relationship is moving forward, but Sergio never seems to want to have that discussion.

Anne works as a valet in San Francisco to make ends meet while she pursues her passion, her art creations. She has been getting a foothold in the art world in San Francisco having sold some of her pieces at a gallery, but she would like not to struggle so much financially.

In 1929, Clair lives with her long-widowed father at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City. Her mother died when Clair was just six, and her mother's sister June, a teacher and suffragette, has helped to raise her. (I loved Aunt June.)

At Clair's coming out debutante party, her father has declared that she will marry Farley, a man over ten years her senior whom she had not yet met. She disliked him immediately; he was a boring braggart who seemed to only care about money.

Clair meets the vivacious Winnie, a clerk at Macy's, and hiding it from her father, she accompanies Winnie to a speakeasy. At first frightened, Clair loosens up and begins to enjoy the music and dancing. Soon she is sneaking out more and more with Winnie, praying not to get caught by her father or the doorman at the Waldorf.

Everyday Clair passes a store window where she sighs over a pair of silver shoes, studded with rhinestones. How she would love those shoes- but her father would say that only floozies wear shoes like that.

Hall does a wonderful job telling both women's stories. Anne and Sergio's relationship seems very realistic, and she doesn't make Sergio the bad guy here, a guy who is afraid of commitment. I think many women will relate to Anne's situation.

Clair's story was a little more enlightening to me. You don't often think of women in the 1920's America being forced into an arranged marriage. And again, Clair's father could have been a one-dimensional character, but Hall gives him more shades than that.

I also enjoyed being immersed in 1920's New York City- the Waldorf, Macy's, the entertainment venues. I got a real feel for what it was like living at that time in the city where I now live.

Eventually, Clair and Annie are connected by the shoes, and I found that very satisfying. The ending to Clair and Annie's individual stories was more surprising to me, but they were both women who came into their own strength when they needed it most. I recommend The Silver Shoes, especially for those who enjoy books set in two different timelines.

Anne lives in San Francisco and her boyfriend Sergio lives in New York. They have been maintaining a long distance relationship for quite some time and neither one of them is quite happy with the arrangement but his job is in his city and her life is in hers. She is willing to relocate but not without a commitment from him that they will get married. On her most recent trip Anne wanders in to a vintage shop and falls in love with a pair of rhinestone covered silver shoes. They fit her perfectly and she buys them on impulse. When she gets home and looks in the box she finds some other items including a photo of two young dancers.

Clair is debutante in 1929 living with her father. Her mother is dead and her father rules her life. One day while out shopping she meets a shopgirl who is so full of life and so confident that Clair wants to spend more time with her. They soon make a plan to go out and Clair finds herself at a speakeasy! She tastes alcohol for the first time and finds herself dancing. This is a side of life she had never seen before and she wants more.

As 1929 inches towards that fateful date in October Clair’s father tells her she is to be married – but Clair does not like the man he has chosen – at all. She fights her father as much as she can but soon finds herself on the way to the altar. What will her fate be?

The books shares the stories of these two women by alternating back and forth as Anne tries to figure her life out with or without Sergio as he meets her family and she meets his. Clair finds herself as she navigates life after the crash.

This was a quick and easy read. Nothing complicated, nothing deep. I enjoyed both stories but as per usual for me I found the historical half more interesting than the modern day tale. The synopsis was a bit misleading as Anne really does not go on any kind of quest to learn anything about the owner of the shoes. What she knows she learns from the back of the photo and she really goes no further so I felt a little disappointed by that.

It was a good book to sit and read on a cold and rainy afternoon under a blanket. As I noted, it didn’t require a lot of thought but it was a nice diversion.

Anne has been struggling in a long-distance romance with long-time boyfriend, Sergio. Anne is an artist based in San Fransisco and Sergio a New York City designer. Anne wants Sergio to buckle down and commit to the relationship, but that may not be where either of their hearts lie. On a trip to New York, Anne picks up a pair of antique rhinestone shoes. With the shoes comes a strand of pearls and a hidden picture of two flappers wearing just those shoes. The shoes inspire Anne to create several art pieces as well as think about her situation with Sergio. In 1929, Clair, the original owner of the shoes, admires the footwear from the window. She knows her father would never let her own them. Although, Clair finds a friend in a performer, Winnie, who introduces Clair to speakeasies and uncovers Clair's hidden talents. When Clair's life seems to be controlled by everyone but her, Clair's father pushing her into an arranged marriage with an odious man named Farley and not allowing her to continue her college education, the stock market crashes. Clair decides to carry on and follow her heart becoming the provider of the family by secretly performing in a Broadway Review. When Anne learns of the woman behind the shoes, she takes a page from Clair's book and decides to follow her heart.

A beautifully written dual-timeline story of two women learning to follow their hearts. I enjoyed both Anne and Clair's characters and their willingness to strike out on their own, even if it took a lot of convincing. The quick flow of the chapters with switching points of view between Anne and Clair kept my reading at a good pace. Clair's story stole my attention as I was pulled in by her spirited nature and willingness to strive forward in life despite everything thrown in front of her. The ambiance of 1929-30 shown through with the extravagance of hotel living, debutante balls, speakeasies, FBI raids and the devastation felt after the crash. Anne's story was a slow journey to self realization that took more time to reel me in. Both women are wonderful examples of determination and perseverance in times of strife.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Anne is an artist living in San Francisco whose work is starting to be recognized although she still works as a valet in order to make her rent each month. She has been in a bi-coastal relationship with boyfriend Sergio for a while now and she wants nothing more than for him to finally ask her to move to New York and live with him. He runs the family shoe manufacturing company, is sophisticated and charming, and tells Anne he loves her but is strangely reticent about asking her to move in with him and has certainly never mentioned marriage. On Anne's latest trip to New York, she sees a vintage pair of sparkly rhinestone dancing shoes in the window of a store and when they fit her large feet like a glove, she buys them. They and the other contents of the shoe box will become her muses as she decides what she wants and needs from Sergio and from the rest of her life.

Clair is a towering red-headed debutante in New York City just before the Stock Market Crash of 1929. She is the doted on only child of a wealthy father but she desperately wants a friend and a bigger life than the one she lives in her gilded cage. She finds that friend in Winnie, a salesgirl at Macy's who has grand ambitions to perform on stage. It is under Winnie's bubbly and gregarious wing that Clair acknowledges her own desire to break out and perform as well. The two girls secretly frequent a speakeasy and revue owned by Winnie's boyfriend and Clair gets a taste of the forbidden and of freedom. But Clair's father has plans for her, including marrying an odious older man Clair cannot stand and nothing Clair can do can seem to change his mind. And then Black Thursday happens and Clair must somehow hold her fragile little family together.

The story switches back and forth between Anne in the present day and Clair in 1929. As is common with dual narratives, one is stronger than the other, in this case, Clair's story is far more fascinating than Anne's. Neither main character seems in charge of her own destiny though. As Anne goes through her days, including during a trip back to Michigan with Sergio to see her family and then a trip to Italy to meet his Nonna, she is constantly focused on having a conversation with him about her moving to New York and her desire to get married, noting over and over again that because of situations or reasons, there will be no discussion that day or night. As for Clair, her own lack of power is slightly more understandable given the time in which she lives but she is willing to obey her father so far as to even marry a man who repulses her despite having a beloved aunt or her friend Winnie to escape to. Such frustrating passivity in both of them! The historical details, besides descriptions of Clair and Winnie's clothes, take a backseat to the personal but every now and then there's a nice touch to remind the reader where we are, such as the a-oo-gah of the car horns. There are things that ground Anne's story in the present too, like mentioning how many likes a Facebook post got, Sergio's man bun, Anne's Michigan Trumpster relatives, and referencing a scene from The Big Bang Theory (although she calls Sheldon Sherman) but these feel gratuitous and out of place, jarring rather than organic. Anne feels very single minded about the topic of her relationship throughout the majority of the novel, only recognizing her truth in the very end. Clair and her father act unbelievably out of character in key instances to change the direction of the historical portion of the story, Clair in her encounter with Mr. X and her father in his easy acquiescence to her eventual performance and the connection between the two women, through the silver sparkly shoes ends up being incredibly tenuous. The secret revealed in Clair's story comes out of left field as well, flashing into the narrative and then out again, having ultimately changed little. Over all this was a light but quick read and although I thought there were some problems in the execution and didn't connect with it the way I had hoped, others seem to have no such qualms so you may want to search this out and make up your own mind.½

“The Silver Shoes” by Jill G. Hall is an entertaining and enjoyable novel. The Genres for this novel are Fiction , Women’s Fiction and Historical Fiction. The author describes two characters in different timelines, 1929, and the present. The author describes her characters as complex and complicated .

The two women in the novel are both searching for a sense of purpose, and something that will make them happy. These women come from different eras, and yet there are similarities and differences between them.

Clair Deveraux, lives in a New York Hotel with her wealthy father. In 1929, Clair is a debutante, and is sheltered from many things. Clair becomes friendly with Winnie, a free- loving spirited young lady that works in Macy’s and goes to Speakeasies for dance and drink. Clair now sees a different side of life than she is used to and seems to be attracted by it. When the Stockmarket crashes in 1929, Clair tries to find a way and a path to help support her family. Clair loves the silver shoes that she dances in.

Ninety years later we meet Anne McFarland, an enterprising artist . Anne likes to dress differently, and seeks out clothing in second hand shoppes. She discovers a quaint store that has a gorgeous pair of silver shoes. The owner sells her the shoes, and tells her it is important to keep the box. Anne discovers other items in the box, which lead her to look into the mystery. Anne has a cross-country romance with Sergio, her handsome boyfriend. Anne wants a commitment from Sergio.

Both characters meet with betrayals, secrets and search for their way. How do the silver shoes connect these two women? Do these women find the fulfillment and sense of purpose that they need and want?

I would recommend this novel to readers who enjoy Historical Fiction and Women’s Fiction. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

You can never predict what seemingly ordinary item will catch your fancy and not let it go. Muse and inspiration are a mystery and as individual as snow flakes. But once something has captured your imagination, following it where it leads can make surprising connections or even change the trajectory of your life. In Jill G. Hall's debut novel, The Black Velvet Coat, muse and inspiration do both.

Anne McFarland is a struggling artist in San Francisco when she sees a black velvet coat in the front window of a thrift shop. Inexplicably she spends some of the very little money she has, money she'd earmarked for her rent, on the coat and the lovely sparkling snowflake pin pinned to it. Throwing on the beautiful garment, she heads off to her job as a hotel valet, one of the small jobs she's taken to try and keep her head above water while she waits for her big break in the art world. When she stumbles across a 1960s era picture of a local heiress wearing what appears to be the same coat and pin, Anne is captivated and determined to uncover Sylvia Van Dam's story. In the picture, Sylvia is leaving her engagement party with her debonair fiance but there's something about the expression in her eyes, an unhappiness, that draws Anne to her story and she starts working on a collage series that could very well be the best thing she's ever produced.

Alternating with Anne's story is Sylvia's story and what's behind the look in her eyes. Orphaned at a young age, Sylvia is a shy and unassuming young woman. Even before her parents died, she never felt she measured up to expectations and her lack of confidence in herself is heartbreaking. When she meets the flashy and charismatic Ricardo, she is entranced, falling for him quickly and ignoring the warnings all of her nearest and dearest give her about his character. When those warnings turn out to be based in truth, catastrophe strikes and Sylvia runs from the consequences.

The novel starts with Sylvia on the run from a crime the reader knows was committed but doesn't yet understand. And its genesis will only become clear over the course of the novel. The chapters alternate between Anne in the present day and Sylvia in the 1960s. As Anne uncovers more about Sylvia's life through newspaper accounts of the time, the chapters centered on Sylvia flesh out this minimal information that Anne has read. And it is the mystery of this seemingly glamorous woman that inspires Anne in her work. Anne is still struggling, suffering from her own insecurities based on rejections from an uninspired and tradition bound gallery owner and the opinions of people who are, in truth, really only tangential to her world. She needs to learn to find an inherent internal value to herself and her art. In fact, her character is an odd combination of neediness and courage and the two didn't always mesh. Sylvia too needs to stop viewing herself through the eyes of others and recognize her own value. She is deserving of being loved, something that she only comes to appreciate in her flight and through the kindness of strangers. There are several romantic relationships in the novel, for both Anne and Sylvia, and they are rather flat and one dimensional feeling. The Sylvia story line felt much more historical than the 1960s; it almost had a Roaring Twenties air about it. The two different stories, Sylvia's disappearance and Anne's conflictedness about her life choices, were both compelling though and wondering how they'd come together keeps the reader turning the pages. The conclusion of the novel was too fast and a bit unfinished, especially given all the detail given in the beginning and middle of the novel. Full of issues like inspiration and its source, believing in yourself and creating your own happiness, learning courage, a reminder to look beneath the facade to find reality, and the grace of giving to others, over all, this was a fast and pleasurable read.