Reviews for A Bit of Candy in Hard Times
Chanticleer Book Reviews
"Blaine Beveridge’s initial foray into the world of fiction is a winner with his smooth, confident, and engaging writing style....A Bit of Candy in Hard Times starts with a bulls-eye and enthralls to the last page. It’s tough to put down, so arrange your schedule accordingly. You’ll be waiting for Beveridge’s next book."
Check out the entire Chanticleer Review
Daniel Casey - Misanthropester Reviews
A Prohibition Era novel (1920s), A Bit of Candy in Hard Times is well researched historical fiction while also being a wonderful bit of modern local-color writing as Beveridge captures the Pacific Northwest in vibrant detail. Lovers of the television series Boardwalk Empire as well as those who enjoyed David Guterson’s novel Snow Falling on Cedars will find Beveridge’s novel engaging and palpably unaffected....
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This is at once a modern lament of a man growing older but when set in a time when there was no Social Security, where men and women literally worked until their death, it takes on a deeply haunting air. This is what is strongest about Beveridge’s novel, the story is deeply and intimately tied to not just its place but the era yet still manages to feel brazenly contemporary. Readers are given compelling characters who due to their circumstances have a moral flexibility mirroring the works of the great Realist writers of the late-19th and early 20th centuries. Click here for full review.
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Amazon Reader Review
“If You Liked Boardwalk Empire - This is Better
First of all, it's a terrific story, set in the Prohibition era of the 20's, and the specific subset of running booze from Canada to the USA in the Northwest....The array of disparate characters are fascinating, well drawn by Mr. Beveridge - as colorful as any of those seen in Boardwalk Empire or Chinatown. But in many ways, it's even more compelling, as it deals with regular folks up against the machinery of the day, terrific and fiendish crooks. It is loaded with obviously well researched and extremely intriguing details of the era, its workings, special "rules" only for the heartiest of souls, the thrilling atmosphere, and the special the geography of northern Washington state. The expertly written, breezy style, with good humor, poignant drama and not a little of that suspense and danger makes for a terrific read."