Book review on this cool book! A Matter of Happiness by Tori Whitaker
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This was a great book about Detroit and the beginning of the car industry and bourbon! Since my husband is a huge bourbon person and worked and retired from Ford, I really loved this one. It is told in two time lines, back in the 1920's and in 2018.
Melanie and her mother are clearing out her great Aunt Violet's house to get it ready to sell after her death. Aunt Violet left her 1923 Jordan playboy roadster, and it's a little worse for wear. Melanie has to decide what to do with it. She knows nothing about cars and goes about finding out her options for restoring the car. She finds a journal that her aunt left her, that Violet hopes will allow Melanie to understand her love for this car and her journey for independence.
Melanie, who works in the bourbon industry, is prepping for a huge event and researching and reading her aunt's journal.
We also get to see Violet's journey from Frankfort Kentucky to live alone and search for independence in Detroit Michigan. In Kentucky, Violet is expected to settle down, marry and have children. She wants to experience life! She moves to Detroit and lives in a boarding house, gets a job at a factory, meets new friends, who become her best friend. She also learns to drive, buys her beloved Jordan and falls in love.
It is a wonderful story of family history and love and loss. If you don't know about bourbon, you will learn lots about the industry!
Thank you @netgalley for the copy to read. This book came out November 8th, go grab it!
#netgalley
#crazybooknerd
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#amatterofhappiness

This was a compelling novel. A dual timeline brings the 1920’s to life and the 2018 great-niece learns about her great-aunts past. I was fascinated with the 1920’s Detroit and the struggles that Violet encounters on her path to being a free woman. I also enjoyed the look into distilling bourbon, both past and present. Whitaker did a great job of blending the two timelines into a wonderful tale of friendship, loyalty and family.

I always enjoy a dual timeline and this is no exception. It is told from two eras and two people. Violet in the early 1920s and Melanie in 2018. It's one you definitely do not want to miss. The second book by this author.

My favorite line from this book: THOUGH CANDY BARS MAY RAIN FROM THE SKY, LIFE WILL NOT ALWAYS BE SWEET. GO ON NEW ADVENTURES. LOVE AND BE LOVED. YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR HAPPINESS..
If you read this book you will understand that.. If not then maybe you should read this one.

We start out in Detroit, Michigan in August 1923. Violet is on a date and it's during Prohibition. Violet is a young woman who wants to be independent. She wants to earn her way in the world. In that day and time she certainly had her work cut out for her. But Violet is very strong and resilient. She knows what she wants and she goes for it. She's a hard working young woman. She has one sister who she's very close too. Her father died so it's just her mother who she feels she has to constantly prove herself too. Her mother wants her to be happy and to live her life though.

Then we meet Melanie. Melanie is Violet's great great niece and they are very close. Violet leaves her beloved car, a 1923 Jordan, to Melanie. She also leaves her journal in the trunk in a safe place so Melanie will find it and see what kind of life she had as a young woman. Melanie is working hard to get a better position in her job. To make more money and hopefully make her mother proud of her. She also feels she has to prove herself to her mother. Both her and Violet have that in common. Both are very strong and independent females who want more out of life than just a home and children. They want careers too. Why could they not have both? Maybe they could. Or at least Melanie since she is living in a much more modern era. It's 2018 after all.

What happens in this book is nothing short of beautiful and sad. It is beautifully written and it's also filled with several sad things. But not so you won't want to read it. It's just the way life happened. Things do have to feel somewhat realistic in a story and it definitely does in this one. I absolutely adored Violet. In ways she reminded me of my grandmother. Not that my grandmother ever drove a vehicle but she was a strong woman and I loved her dearly. This book brings out many emotions and has all the feels that I love in a book. I laughed and cried reading it. I rooted for a certain couple but that was not meant to be either.

This is a very good book. I promise you don't want to miss this one. You'll learn some things about whiskey and cars too. So it's a plus.

Thank you #NetGalley, #ToriWhitaker, #LakeUnionPublishing for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

5 huge stars. Grab it. I highly recommend it.

Melanie is 28 years old, working in the wonderful world of Kentucky bourbon, and recently separated from the fiancé. At a time in life where there are a lot of changes and unknowns, she discovers a journal left for her by her great great aunt Violet. Violet also willed Melanie her 1923 Packard, and now that Melanie’s mother is selling the family estate, it’s time to figure out what to do with the classic car.

Told in a dual timeline between 2018 and the 1920s, Violet and Melanie take us through history - not only of the family, but of prohibition, the roaring 20s, and the role of women in the early 20th century. Violet was a firecracker, especially in her day. She had strong opinions and craved independence.

I really loved the voice of Violet. She shared many of the bad-ass female main character traits I love. She fought for what she wanted and lost a lot along the way because of it. While I was invested in Melanie’s part of the story, the repetitive questions of “will I get the promotion?” and “can I open my heart to love again?” grated on me after a while. The audiobook was well-narrated and I loved the range of Kentucky accents over the decades and based on different cities.

Two women, two different eras, but basically the same.

Both Violet and Melanie want to be independent women.

Violet is Melanie's great, great, great aunt.

Upon her death, Violet leaves Melanie a car with a hidden journal inside.

Melanie learns a lot about her aunt from the journal and also about herself. Were they actually similar in their thoughts and desires?

A MATTER OF HAPPINESS is a lovely, lovely read that takes us from the 1920's to 2018 as we see the similarities both women faced in their personal and professional lives in each time period.

You will fall in love with both Violet and Melanie, love their strengths, and cheer for the success in their endeavors.

Historical fiction fans, women's fiction fans, and fans of vintage cars will adore this book.

Marvelous research - do not miss!! 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Set both in the 1920s and 2018, this story takes you from roaring 20s Detroit to modern day Kentucky bourbon distilleries. Finding a journal belonging to her great, great, great aunt Violet leads Melanie into the fascinating past of her aunt and her journey for happiness. Well written.

I really enjoyed this book. I don't read a lot of historical fiction, yet, when I do, I love learning about different places and time periods. This takes place in the 1920's in both Kentucky and Detroit. This alternates with 2019 and a modern day relative (Melanie) of the historical main character (Violet).

I learned a lot about Kentucky, bourbon, and prohibition. I'd never thought about the impact prohibition had on the companies that made it. I also learned about a car model designed for adventurous women- the Jordan MX Playboy.

Along with the history, there are wonderful themes of female empowerment and the tension between choosing a career and/or choosing a relationship/marriage. The themes play out in both time periods along with questions around the possibility of having it all (career, independence/freedom, and marriage) or if something always has to give. Violet also left a journal with her story. I loved the history, the characters, and the universal wonderings around finding balance in life choices. I definitely recommend reading it.

Thanks to the publisher for a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨!

This story had so much elements that I love in books that it was impossible not to like. Historical Fiction, a family saga, full of secrets, love and drama. Oh, and dual timelines with strong female chatacters, it was simply fantastic!

Thank you Suzy Approved Book Tours for this tour invite.

𝗔 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 by Tori Whitaker, Author released November 8, 2022.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

I loved the dual timeline and how they paralleled each other a little bit. Melanie connected with her Aunt when she was young and now she is going through some similar situations as she reads Violets journal. I think I liked the historical (Violets) POV a little more. I loved getting submersed into the roaring 20s. It was so fun watching Violet work towards her dreams. It was emotional at times and the switch between POV happened at key moments and kept me reading. If you enjoy strong female read you will enjoy this.

Thank you @tori.whitaker.37 @netgalley and @suzyapprovedbooktours for the gifted copy.

Melanie Barnett and her ‘Great Aunt Grape’ were simpatico in a way that Melanie and her judgmental, disapproving and disappointed mother were not. So it wasn’t at all surprising that the late and much lamented Violet Bond left her classic 1923 Jordan Playboy car to Melanie when she died.

What is surprising is the treasure trove of her personal papers and memories that Violet hid inside the car – just waiting for Melanie to check all the compartments and bring them to light.

As this story opens, Melanie is finally claiming that legacy, wishing that she had taken a look a whole lot earlier. But the time is now, and Melanie discovers the whole truth of Violet’s story just in time to help her decide the path she should take for her own.

In spite of her mother’s constant needling that Melanie’s choices are all the wrong ones. Inspired by Violet’s story, Melanie takes a good hard look at what she’s doing and where she’s going, and figures out that when it comes to the matter of her happiness the choices will have to be her own.

Just as Violet’s did. No matter what anyone else might think.

Escape Rating B+: I picked up A Matter of Happiness because I loved the author’s first book, Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish. I liked A Matter of Happiness quite a bit, but it didn’t quite match up to the first book, although I think that the nostalgia of its Cincinnati setting pulled a bit more at my personal heartstrings than this one did. But I think that’s a ‘me’ thing and not a commentary on either book. A Matter of Happiness was definitely worth the read.

Like Millicent Glenn’s story, this one also exists in two time frames – but it is also told by two rather different people. Melanie’s story is set in pre-COVID 2018 (I have a feeling that authors are going to avoid the COVID years a LOT because they were just SO WEIRD). Melanie is at a bit of a crossroads in her life. The man she thought she’d marry thought that she would be happy to give up her career for his big promotion. But that promotion was taking him to Silicon Valley, and her career is in the Kentucky bourbon industry, which necessitates that she live, unsurprisingly, in her home state of Kentucky.

And now she’s sworn off men, devoting herself to her career, pursuing a promotion to management at the company she’s been working at for several years. She hopes that if she reaches a management position that her striving, seeking, disapproving mother will finally be proud of her.

But she’s found her great-aunt’s diary in the hidden compartments of that old car. A diary of Violet Bond in the 1920s, in her 20s, at a crossroads in her own life. Going off to Detroit to get a job in the burgeoning automobile industry, living on her own by her own wits and on her own wages, pursuing a career and swearing off men – albeit for different reasons than Melanie.

Melanie sees a bit of her own journey in her beloved great-aunt’s story. And we see a bit of our own in both of theirs. And in reading about the choices and the sacrifices that her aunt made in order to live the life she wanted, Melanie finds her own way forward.

Along with a secret that changes her perspective on how both she – and her mother – see their past and their places in a family they thought they knew.

A Matter of Happiness, by Tori Whitaker, Late 20 something Melanie has recently inherited her “Grape” Aunt Violet’s 1921 Jordan MX car….and the journal that has been hidden in the cars secret compartment for years. Hence, begins the story written with a dual timeline, a literary device Tori Whitaker does so well (ie Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish). There are so many similarities in the lives of the 1920s Violet and the 2018 Melanie, that I found myself frequently forgetting whose story I was reading. The descriptions of the Jazz Age clothes, cars and entertainment venues were delightful. Violet’s struggle to maintain her independence encountered many of the same roadblocks as Melanie’s did, considering the intervening decades. I had no knowledge of the Bourbon industry before reading this book, but enjoyed learning something new , as Melanie worked in promotions for a Bourbon Distillery.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity for an early read of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#AMatterofHappiness #NetGalley

A good historical novel featuring great characters, a vivid historical backgrounds, and dealing with questions like what being a modern woman is.
Violet and Melanie are great characters, loved them and rooted for them.
This is the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I absolutely adored this story! I loved how it was a dual time line. I will miss Violet! Highly highly recommend

Melanie’s Aunt Violet has passed away and left her an old car, a Jordan. Inside this Jordan, Melanie finds Aunt Violet’s journal. This old car and this journal have a story to tell.

The novel is told in two different time periods, present day and the Jazz Age. It covers the speakeasies and the bourbon of today. Then there is Aunt Violet and her secret past. And Melanie and her worries of her job and her life. I absolutely loved these two characters, especially Aunt Violet. She really was a woman ahead of her time.

I really enjoyed this author’s first book Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish. You can see my review here. So, I jumped at the chance to read this one. And it is super! I loved everything about it! The time period, the characters, and the setting. It even had me googling the Jordan car. I can just picture Aunt Violet sporting around in it.

Need just an all around great book…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the author for a honest review.

It was a Matter of Happiness to dive into this book. I liked the split time line between 2018 and the early 1920s. Violet is a happening woman of the Roaring 20s who wants an independent life in Detroit. She finds a beau, jobs, and a beautiful car. Her great great niece, Melanie, is involved in the bourbon trade and models her life after her mentor relative.
I loved the 1920s story line the best. It was exciting and invigorating to read about Violet’s experiences and her mistakes.
It’s a sweet, compelling read.

My second historical fiction in a row! I loved A Matter of Happiness by @tori.Whitaker.37! Told between two timelines and two different generations of the same family, the book features strong independent characters that do things on their own terms.

We meet Melanie in 2018, dealing with work demands and her Great Aunt Violet’s estate after she passes away. Violet had left Melanie her 1923 Jordan Playboy car, but it’s so much more than just a car. Melanie finds Violet’s diary and reveals so much about her life. She is an inspiration to Melanie and while researching about the car, she meets Brian. She hasn’t dated since calling off her engagement, but maybe Brian is just who she needs right now.

The other timeline is the early 1920s following Violet. She gets laid off during Prohibition and movies to Detroit to work with cars. She moves into a boarding house and meets Robert, who she met previously when he was on a business trip. Violet doesn’t want to get married, but she can’t help being drawn to Robert. But she loved her independence and her new found freedom after moving away from her family.

I absolutely loved this novel! The Prohibition years have always fascinated me and I really loved Violet. She learned more about herself and her own independence when she moved away from her support system. I’ve always been a big believer in putting yourself outside your comfort zone to help expand your character. Violet is a true inspiration to all! I like Melanie’s story too; having to heal after her broken engagement. I also loved her workplace stories of competing with Mitchell at their bourbon company. 🥃

Thank you so much to @suzyapprovedbooktours, @lakeunionpublishing, and the author for my gifted copy. A Matter of Happiness is on sale tomorrow!

This book is fabulous!! It has a dual timeline of the early 1920s and 2018. There are two narrators: Violet from the 1920s and Violet’s great great great niece, Melanie in 2018.

This book discusses the complexities of being a “modern” woman in both timelines and how life like a road trip doesn’t usually have a direct route.

The read also richly details Prohibition era Detroit, a behind the scenes look at part of the Kentucky Whisky Trail, antique car restoration, and all things bourbon which I all absolutely adored.

A 1923 Jordan Playboy roadster ties the storyline together which I felt made the read unique.

Finally, the themes of family, friendship, and finding love are important in both timelines.

There is a nice little twist at the end that makes this book a beautiful combination of historical and women’s fiction.

From reading the synopsis of A Matter of Happiness, i was immediately drawn in by Kentucky Bourbon and dual timeline historical fiction.

I absolutely loved this book! Melanie is working hard for a promotion at the bourbon distillery and has just found out that love and a career don't mix. She finds a journal hidden in her great-great-great aunts Jordan MX sportscar from the 1920s.Violet bought the car when she was working in Detroit in the car boom during Prohibition, as Melanie starts to read the journal, she realizes she may be more similar to her Aunt Violet than she expected.

First, I loved the comparison to the car boom in 1920s Detroit to the current bourbon expansion and the role of women in both. The 1920s Detroit setting was well written, and in the present day, it gave me a few recommendations for restaurants to try in Louisville. I liked the strong character in both Melanie and Violet. They questioned modern womanhood in their time and what happiness really means. I also enjoyed seeing Melanie's relationship with her mom too.

Definitely recommend reading this one!

Two women..almost 100 years apart..striving to be independent.
Set in Kentucky and Detroit 1923, Violet deals with Prohibition in bourbon country. She wants to be an independent woman but what does that really mean and at what cost?
In 2018 Kentucky, her great great great niece Melanie also struggles with independence as she navigates a man's world. She inherits her aunts car and journal and so begins her awareness of what happiness can mean.

Really enjoyed the voices of these two women and they deal with life on their own terms. I particularly liked the glimpse in 1923 during Prohibition and flapper era!

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

A beautiful story of strong women. I absolutely loved this amazing book. Melanie in 2018 and her Grape Aunt Violet in the 1920s were women who knew what they wanted and didn’t let anyone dictate to them what they “should” be doing with their lives.

Tori Whitaker has written another wonderful story that will stay with me for a long long time. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this fabulous book!!!