About the Book
Book: A Spring at the Greenbrier
Author: Sandra Merville Hart
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release Date: April 30, 2024
Marilla will sacrifice anything for her family. So when her sister’s doctor suggests daily sulphur spring baths, an amenity her family could never afford, Marilla takes a job at The Greenbrier resort bathhouse in order to give her sister the care she needs. When her sister befriends another girl staying at the resort with a similar health condition, Marilla finds herself crossing paths with the girl’s handsome, charming, older brother. And despite their growing attraction to each other, courting Wes must remain a dream. After all, resort staff cannot court guests and Marilla will not risk her sister’s health for her own happiness.
Wealthy resort guest, Wes Bakersfield, has dreams for a future and plans to make his family’s business his own. And while he finds himself drawn to Marilla, despite their differing social classes, he can’t help but wonder if she is really interested in him, or in his wealth.
Can the couple find the trust to help their love succeed, or will their differences pull them apart?
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About the Author
More from Sandra
In A Spring at The Greenbrier, Book 7 in Romance at the Gilded Age Resorts Series, Marilla, our heroine, is as desperate as her mother to find healing for her younger sister’s polio. When the doctor recommends daily bathing in the sulphur springs, her family cannot afford the cost. Marilla transfers to the bath wing at The Greenbrier where her new boss allows her to bring her sister at the end of each day after the guests have finished their bathing sessions. It makes for a long day yet the sacrifice is worth her exhaustion if the springs can help her ten-year-old sister.
The Greenbrier, a beautiful and elegant resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, first received its fame from healthy benefits of drinking the sulphur springs and bathing in its waters.
Both the hero and heroine in A Spring at The Greenbrier have younger sisters who can benefit from heated spring baths.
The bulk of my research for this story was for the springs and what illnesses benefit from them. I had to discover the illnesses for which doctors recommended the baths historically.
Soothing soaks in hot springs are recommended even today. They can boost blood circulation, reduce pain, improve skin conditions, reduce stress, decrease inflammation in joints, and detoxify the body.
Most resort guests in the early days drank tumblers of the water before each meal. A resort doctor in the 1800s cautioned taking a maximum of 12 glasses daily. Health benefits for the bowels, liver, kidneys, and skin most often appeared between three to six weeks. The resort began to sell it in bottles at drug stores. It was labelled as A Natural Laxative.
Major renovations were done by new owners for a grand reopening in September of 1913. Marilla, our heroine, begins working at the Women’s Department of the new bath wing. Female guests enjoyed heated sulphur spring baths in bathing rooms. Doctors sent their wealthy patients to the springs with a recommended regimen of bathing that might also include drinking the spring water. The temperature of the water, the frequency, and the length of the baths were set by their doctor.
Folks suffering from a variety of ailments sought benefits from the spring waters, including gout, rheumatism, arthritis, neuritis, dyspepsia, jaundice, scurvy, hay fever, malaria, bronchitis, asthma, and chronic diseases of the skin, stomach, bowels, and liver.
Mineral waters can harm people with aneurisms in the heart and large arteries, cancer, tubercular consumption, and some brain complaints.
The springs were of great benefit for folks suffering from chronic complaints. These benefits happened so gradually that patients started to feel better “without being able to account for it.”
So there were a lot of conditions to choose from for my two ailing girls in my story.
A Spring at The Greenbrier is a nostalgic story set in 1914. I invite you to read the whole series!
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, May 1
Book Looks by Lisa, May 1
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 2
Devoted To Hope, May 3
Texas Book-aholic, May 3
Locks, Hooks and Books, May 4
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 5
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, May 5
Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, May 6 (Author Interview)
She Lives To Read, May 7
Books You Can Feel Good About, May 7
Blogging With Carol, May 8
Simple Harvest Reads, May 9 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)
For him and My Family, May 9
Blossoms and Blessings, May 10
The Lofty Pages, May 11
Bizwings Book Blog, May 11
Connie’s History Classroom, May 12
Holly’s Book Corner, May 13
Pause for Tales, May 13
Life on Chickadee Lane, May 14
Cover Lover Book Review, May 14
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Sandra is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/2b35d/a-spring-at-the-greenbrier-celebration-tour-giveaway
My Review:
I have really enjoy the first six releases from the Romance at the Gilded Age Resorts series and was looking forward to the seventh installment, A Spring at The Greenbrier. I do not live far from the Greenbrier and loved the author's historical vision of what it was like many years ago. It was sweet how Marilla and Wes different backgrounds still brought them bond together. I wanted to keep reading until the very end to see what would become of them.
I am giving A Spring at The Greenbrier five stars. I highly recommend it for readers who love to read clean historical romance. i look forward to continuing the Romance at the Gilded Age Resorts series with the eighth book, Denise Weimer's A Summer at The Niagara of the South.
I received a copy of Sandra Merville Hart's A Spring at The Greenbrier from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.
