Palmetto Moon by Kim Boykin... A Review

Pour yourself a Sweet Tea and relax… 

Palmetto Moon by Kim Boykin is like a welcoming breeze on a warm summer day. When I opened the book for the first time, I stepped into Charleston, South Carolina and didn't look back until the last page. Kim Boykin's writing is inviting, engaging and wonderful.

Vada Hadley is a sweet Southern girl, just out of college, from a wealthy family, who is destined to marry drop dead gorgeous Justin McLeod to solidify the ties of these two wealthy families. But it's just a marriage of convenience, with Justin, quite a ladies man, who doesn't intend to change his ways and Vada not really liking Justin at all. On the eve of her wedding, Vada's Murrah, Ruth Lee, the woman who practically raised her from birth, comes up to her bedroom with her suitcase, giving Vada the option no one else wants to give her - a way out. Without any money of her own, and a handful of her designer dresses, Desmond, Ruth Lee's husband, whisks Vada off to anyplace she wants to go to escape. Vada chooses Round O, a small rural South Carolina town about 50 miles from Charlestown, where she was offered a teaching job after graduating from college. No way her family would look for her there. And so, Vada starts life as a working girl, living in a run down boarding house with a bitter old woman as a land lady, and a handsome hunk running the local diner. Hmmm, maybe things aren't so bad… romance, friendship and a wonderful portrayal of the South, Palmetto Moon is more than I could have wanted when I opened the book for the first time. Even though the year is 1947, the book has a contemporary feel to it, and it just draws you in. The romance starts very sweet (1947), but the embers underneath are HOT and don't disappoint!

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this book. But there are two things I can tell you…

1. I'm going to be reading more of Kim Boykin ( and I just downloaded an advanced copy of her Christmas novella, Just in Time for Christmas coming out later this month.)

2. If you like romance novels and/or Southern fiction, YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!

I give Palmetto Moon by Kim Boykin a 5 Sweet Tea rating!

I want to thank Pump Up your Book Tours for sending along a copy of Palmetto Moon by Kim Boykin for an honest review! Thank you, I loved it!

**Kim stopped by Chick with Books to us what inspired her to write Palmetto Moon… Here's the LINK!

Guest Post with Kim Boykin... The Story Behind Palmetto Moon

Kim Boykin is an accomplished writer with 4 published novels under her belt. She has always received great reviews, written about strong Southern women,  and according to RT Book Reviews, 'her stories' feel like they’re being told across a kitchen table. Chick with Books is thrilled to have Kim Boykin stop by today to share a bit of herself and insight into her writing her novel, Palmetto Moon! Join me in a warm welcome to Kim!

The Story Behind Palmetto Moon

If I could wish ANYTHING for you, other than unlimited good health and happiness, it would be to experience that ethereal place I write from. It’s a place I learned to trust implicitly a long time ago.

With Palmetto Moon, I wrote about Round O, South Carolina as if I knew it like the back of my hand. I’d never been there before and had only driven through Walterboro, another town in the book, on the way to Edisto Island over thirty years ago. So, before I turned the Palmetto Moon manuscript into my editor, last summer, I decided I should visit to make sure I got the places right.

I was pleasantly surprised and then shocked at one of those ethereal moments. Dana and Bonita Cheney, the nice couple from the Colleton County Historical Society who showed me around Walterboro, offered to show me Round O. To be honest, with the majority of the story taking place there, and having never been there, I was more than a little nervous.

I’d sent Dana and Bonita a synopsis of Palmetto Moon, that mentioned Miss Mamie’s Boarding House. When we got to Round O, which really is a crossroads community (for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a crossroads with a few houses, maybe a church, a little store,) Dana asked me if I’d like to see Miss Mamie’s Boarding House.

There on the corner was a dilapidated two-story clapboard home that very well could have been Vada’s home in 1947. I was amazed. Then he asked me if I wanted to see what it looked like in 1947. He eased down the road about 100 feet and there was the EXACT house I’d pictured when I was writing the book. I know this picture is a little cockeyed but I was completely stunned.

A few weeks later, I approached Dick Elliott, the owner of Maverick Southern Kitchens, and nationally renowned SNOB in Charleston about contributing recipes for the book. I wanted to use them in lieu of Reader Questions. Turns out the executive chef’s name at SNOB is Frank Lee, and my hero’s name is Frank Darling. Coincidence? Maybe, but I’m tagging it as a gift from the ether.

Thank you, Kim for sharing the story behind your newest book, Palmetto Moon! And thanks for the great post!

A Little About Kim... 
Kim Boykin was raised in her South Carolina home with two girly sisters and great parents. She had a happy, boring childhood, which sucks if you’re a writer because you have to create your own crazy. PLUS after you’re published and you’re being interviewed, it’s very appealing when the author actually lived in Crazy Town or somewhere in the general vicinity.

Almost everything she learned about writing, she learned from her grandpa, an oral storyteller, who was a master teacher of pacing and sensory detail. He held court under an old mimosa tree on the family farm, and people used to come from all around to hear him tell stories about growing up in rural Georgia and share his unique take on the world.

As a stay-at-home mom, Kim started writing, grabbing snip-its of time in the car rider line or on the bleachers at swim practice. After her kids left the nest, she started submitting her work, sold her first novel at 53, and has been writing like crazy ever since.

Thanks to the lessons she learned under that mimosa tree, her books are well reviewed and, according to RT Book Reviews, feel like they’re being told across a kitchen table. She is the author of The Wisdom of Hair from Berkley, Steal Me, Cowboy and Sweet Home Carolina from Tule, and Palmetto Moon, also from Berkley 8/5/14. While her heart is always in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, she lives in Charlotte and has a heart for hairstylist, librarians, and book junkies like herself.
                                                               *****************
Kim Boykin stopped by Chick with Books today as part of her Virtual Book Tour hosted by Pump Up Your Book. You can learn more about Kim at her website, KimBoykin.com, and you can also read an excerpt of the first chapter to Palmetto Moon HERE!