Congratulations Anne
on the recent release of
Violet is Blue!
Violet is Blue by Anne Shaw Heinrich
Family Life Fiction, 292 pages
Published June 16, 2025 by Speaking Volumes LLC
Violet Sellers is blue, and for good reason. She’s repressing a shocking secret she won’t tell anyone, especially her comfortably middle-class parents. When she makes a new friend in school, Jules Marks, who lives on the “other side of the tracks” with his five little sisters, she is introduced to a dark world of self-abuse.
As Violet learns about Jules and his shifty mother, Lee, she retreats further into her shell. Her parents, Gloria and Skip, are horrified and do their best to find out what happened to their adolescent daughter while bending over backward to keep the whole town from knowing their business. Jules has an aunt and uncle who know his desperate story, and they finally get a chance to free him and his sisters from a loveless world of poverty.
Meanwhile, a spinster named Margaret Burns watches and waits. She knows all about redemption and she’s got a master plan up her sleeve. Margaret and most of the quirky characters in Violet is Blue eventually learn to dance between the worlds of the “haves” and the “have nots” in ways none of them ever anticipated.
Welcome to Book 2 in The Women of Paradise County Series.
My thoughts about Violet is Blue ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)
First lines—"If you are a stranger and you're lucky, this town will chew you up and spit you out. If you aren't lucky, you'll get stuck in its teeth or swallowed whole."
I fell in love with the quirky, dysfunctional characters I discovered in book one of this amazing series. And I was excited to go back and visit the community again. This story has plenty of drama and covers some hard topics but the strength and determination of the characters kept me going.
Violet is Blue introduced my to a whole new set of characters while also throwing in visits from some of the people I met in the first book, God Bless the Child. I loved this overlap of storylines as I got a better feel for the whole town and its residents.
While parts of this story were hard to read because of the trauma the characters were enduring, it was uplifting to see how the 'good guys' stepped up to help those in need. I will remember everyone from this story and I hope you fall in love with each of these unique characters like I did.
Violet is Blue is book #2 in The Women of Paradise County series. I'm not sure if the author has more stories planned for the future but I sure hope so! I highly recommend it!
I received Violet is Blue from the publisher and this is my honest opinion of the book.
Book 1 of The Women of Paradise County series.
Read my thoughts here.
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About the author
Anne Shaw Heinrich has written features and marketing copy for newspapers, the health and nutrition industries, higher education and not-for-profit organizations. A graduate of Eureka college in Eureka, Illinois with an English degree, she previously served as the society and entertainment editor for a suburban Chicago newspaper.
Besides reviewing local and national touring theater productions, she also interviewed celebrities such as Debbie Reynolds, Judy Collins, and Opera great, Beverly Sills. One of her essays, "Grandma's Big Secret" appeared in Marlo Thomas's book " The Right Words At The Right Time Volume 2: Your Turn!" ( Published by Atria Books, 2006).
In addition to her consulting work, Anne wrote a monthly column called " Small Talk" in the small town newspaper of Dwight Illinois, where she formally lived with her husband and three children. Anne has also contributed a chapter in " Chicken Soup For The Soul: The Cancer Book."
Anne is currently working in the fundraising/public relations department for City Academy. A private school that admits under privileged students on full scholarship. Anne also has two completed rough draft novels waiting to be published and several side projects are always in the works. ~ Goodreads
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