One of the happiest moments for a book blogger is eagerly going to their postbox & seeing what delightfully wicked print books have arrived for their reading pleasure! I have always held a keen interest in postal mail, being a long-term postal letter correspondent which has given me such a heart of joy seeing envelopes & bundles of love arrive from dear friends around the world. Imagine my new excitement in seeing the books I am reviewing arriving by publisher, author, publicist, or literary agent! Such an exciting new chapter in postal splendor!
I have been wanting to blog about my excitement about being placed on certain blog tours and/or in receiving books for review direct from authors, publishers, or publicists. I originally came across a weekly meme on Mondays entitled Mailbox Monday and you could say, that my new feature on Jorie Loves A Story is an extended idea from the original! Except to say, with one minor switch-up! Although I attempt to write down when books arrive by Post, I am never quite as certain when the books arrive as I am always reading the next book in hand! Therefore, please join me as I get excited about the books on my shelf which are next in line to read!
I apologise I was not able to keep up with my posts for this Feature. Most of the latter half of 2014 was a bit difficult for different reasons, wherein I simply tried to read all the books I could whilst I had captured the hours to give to them. I was too wrapped up in my readings to realise I had forgotten to post about upcoming books of interest! You will happily see a resurgence of this post hitting weekly starting this Winter 2015!
I am working on completing my “End of the Year Survey 2014”:
Spring & Summer might have dissolved into each other and collided straight into Autumn, but I must confess I read a heap of beautiful writ stories! Enchanting my mind, endearing my heart, and enveloping me inside a knitted eclipse of story craft by writers who know how to give readers a pause out of their hours and a settling inside their spirits as they turn page after page of evoking narrative which never fully leaves you once you place the novel on your bookshelf!
By the time it came around for the *End of the Year Survey* to be written, I must admit I was still working on a few reviews whilst resting a bit after New Year’s as I love to watch the ball drop in Times Square! I have been compiling the survey for more than a month now, working on it off/on whenever I have a few free hours to go back over the books I read during the past year, inasmuch as sort out my final thoughts as where they might ‘fit’ into the survey itself. I plan to release my “Top Picks of 2014” and the completed survey quite soon! Stay tuned to see what truly captured my mind from last year!
I have several carry-overs from January,
of which I will be reading whilst tweeting about this week:
- Impossible by C.A. Gray (last book in the Piercing the Veil series: Book 1, Book 2, Interview)
- The Last Gatekeeper by Katy Haye (part of my readings for Sci Fi Experience 2015)
- The Gin Thief: Ep 1 by S.C. Barrus (manuscript I served as a betareader)
- First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen (part of Book Browse First Impressions)
- Up Close by Henriette Gyland (romantic suspense by ChocLitUK)
- Dance Until Dawn by Berni Stevens (vampire romance by ChocLitUK)
- A Woman of Fortune by Kellie Coates Gilbert (author contacted me about her books)
- *I will be talking about the library books I’m reading lateron in the week!
The first three I was attempting to read in conjunction with the Sci Fi Experience, as I had unfortunately lost the hours to read both Impossible & The Gin Thief during Sci Fi November! I am quite curious now how the Piercing the Veil series ends, as much as I know I need to re-read over the first two books in order to write my Series Overview Post which will alight after I conclude Impossible! Being able to work as a betareader on The Gin Thief was truly an honour and a rewarding experience, as I honestly felt I had found a way to help a fellow writer on cultivating the best he could give to his emerging story! I truly loved being able to work on this first installment of a seven episode serial! I cannot wait to receive Ep.2’s manuscript and continue to take this journey with Mr. Barrus*!
*sidenote: My ‘Friday Night Reading Series‘ will pick up again Sci Fi November 2015!
I happily received First Frost whilst participating in the Book Browse First Impressions programme and had planned to post my expanded review in January on the book’s official Pub date! However, I was a bit delayed in my re-reading of the novel, and have carried it into the first week of February instead! I cannot wait to share my thoughts as I read the book the first time around inasmuch as use that as a bridge towards conveying my fuller ruminations on why I enjoyed this book as much as I had! As I am one of the few readers I have found who appreciated this sequel over the original Garden Spells!
Up Close and Dance Until Dawn are the last ChocLitUK novels I had requested in 2014, and despite my best intentions to read them prior to now, I appear to have needed a bit of extra time with the stories! I cannot wait to see how they conclude whilst I get the chance to introduce my readers to two new ChocLit stories that were listed on my #ChocLit Next Reads List!
A Woman of Fortune was one of those happy mailbox surprises that you can receive from an author’s publicist! I have a special story to share about this book and it’s sequel Where Rivers Part as I write my reviews about each of them! The sequel is a NEW RELEASE this month!
A Woman of Fortune by Kellie Coates Gilbert via BakerPublishingGroup
I’m kicking off a SPECIAL FOCUS on #IndieAuthors for Contemporary Fiction and/or Contemporary Romance this week! The following are the books I will be blogging about before *next Monday!* when I reveal the books I’ll be showcasing straight til Valentine’s Day!
An INSPY Contemporary Romance author I crossed paths with whilst participating in the twitterverse support on behalf of the #Hearties fan base for Hallmark Channel series “When Calls the Heart”, approached me about her Indie Pub release Like There’s No Tomorrow! I originally started to read this in the Autumn months, however, hours dissolved off the clock a bit too quickly for me to finish my readings of this novel. I inspired myself to come up with a way to read a certain selection of Indie novels to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and this one felt like a good place to kick-off the celebrations for Indie Writers who write quality stories whilst taking the Indie route of publishing quite seriously! I was even quite impressed with the Cover Art for this novel and the symbolisms of what hummingbirds tend to reveal about ‘hope’ and ‘promise’. It has a Scottish tie to the story-line and quite an interesting set of circumstances for the lead characters to work through!
You will find my review of Like There’s No Tomorrow arriving on TBA!
Following next will be my second reading on behalf of Ms. Anderson of whom I originally brought to your attention through my review of her debut novel Chain of Mercy! I interviewed Ms. Anderson twice now, once for the debut novel and most recently on behalf of the Coming Home series! I have been quite ecstatic to continue to read the stories involved with her book series because she writes convicting narratives grounded in realistic contemporary settings for INSPY fiction! She has a way of conveying the most hard hitting topics and subjects in such a way as to give you a hearty read whilst providing you with hours of pensive thoughts long after you put her books down! Ms. Anderson recently made the transition from being traditionally published through a small Indie Publisher to flying solo at the helm of her own Indie Press Vivant!
You will find my review of Pieces of Granite arriving on TBA!
You might recall I hosted Ms. Durham in Summer 2014 whilst awaiting the pub date for Asher’s Mark? She was the author who turnt my eyes around towards finding a new reason to soak inside ‘New Adult Fiction’ without fearing what I might find inside the stories, as previously I felt a bit burnt on NA to be honest! It was through her wicked awesome Guest Post on New Adult vs Young Adult that truly opened my eyes to what this section of fiction could offer to readers! I had previously hosted her Cover Reveal for this novel as well! I cannot even express the visual joy I had when a curiously large bookish parcel arrived to me over the Christmas holidays — one of the books inside that parcel was ASHER’s MARK!
Ooh boy! What absolute delight for me! I felt like I had become a part of this book’s journey to pub!
You will find my review of Asher’s Mark arriving on TBA!
Return next Monday to see the next batch of Indie Authors I’m featuring for Valentine’s Day!
I am already writing next Monday’s Jorie’s Box of Joy & hopefully will not have as long of an absence as I did in 2014! I positively love my bookish mail arriving in the postbox and each time I receive one book or multiple book parcels in one day, I feel positively blessed to continue to read stories which enchant me, stories which challenge me, and the ability to attempt to keep an open mind whilst I navigate through new releases and a dance of genres I may already be delighted about reading or trepideriously engaging in and finding my feet inside them quite unexpectedly! Reading is such a beautiful journey and I’m thankful I have the opportunity to receive books for review which open my horizons to new & emerging authors I might not have found as quickly if I were not a book blogger. I love sharing my bookish joy and I hope these installments of my bookish mail are a joy for you too!
UPCOMING Blog Book Tours in February I am Excited About:
{ click the banners to read more about the books & find tour routes! }
Review forthcoming on 6th February, Friday!
My review on behalf of this cookbook from Front Table Books has me quite excited because I am always on the look-out for how to make ‘Gluten-Free’ foods & sweets without breaking the budget! It was quite ironic that the author of the book added ‘budget’ into the title because I rarely say ‘breaking the bank’ and/or ‘breaking the wallet’, as I tend to talk in generalities that I think relate to everyone; so being we all have a food budget, the word felt more akin to what is relatable to me! I have some wicked awesome GF ingredients I want to use and I’m hoping I’ll be inspired to try one or two of the recipes inside! This marks my third *gf!* cookbook to review! Too exciting for words!
(Click to view my Archive of Posts on behalf of Front Table Books)
Review forthcoming on 13th of February, Friday!
When you click the tour banners I’m sharing today, you can pull up the book synopsis for each of the books, however, what interested me the most about Midnight Runner is the fact the lead character is orphaned and attempting to right her stars so to speak by taking on impossible odds! I liked the feel of this partially due to the fact it’s historically set in the Medieval Ages and partially because I had a feel the author was going to write in quite a heap to explore as far as Moira’s character’s growth and how we would feel after reading her story about the world in which she lives. That’s powerfully compelling!
s/o for the author (love supporting them!)
Still room for more bloggers on my book blog tour http://t.co/7xLlD4KHl5 #bookbloggers
— Marilee Jackson (@marilee_jackson) January 20, 2015
I am truly amazed at the spots that are left open for *Cedar Fort’s blog tours!* They are a truly amazing Indie Publisher delivering time after again inspiring reads, convicting narratives, emotional character arcs, and a sweetness to Romance! I love the diversity of their stories, the compelling way in which their writers pen their stories, and the incredible array of releases they have per annum! Best bonus? You know going into a book published by them it’s going to be a ‘clean read’!
The last two books I reviewed for them were:
Keeping Kate by Lauren Winder Farnsworth : a Jane Eyre re-telling you MUST READ!
{ quite kismet really, I found a new JANE EYRE RAL! }
Eruption by Adrienne Quintana : science fiction with teleportation via time travel
Review forthcoming on TBA!
Immediately after I read the title of this Contemporary Sweet Romance, I had an inkling of a feeling I would appreciate reading it! What singleton wouldn’t want to read it!? I liked the unexpected nature of how the story felt to reflect one woman’s desire to seek out a bit of hope for her own romantic heart finding it’s match whilst giving her a bit of pause of reflection on what she truly wants in a soulmate.
My review is forthcoming on 17th February, Tuesday!
As I had mentioned whilst blogging about Eruption, I have a particular interest in ‘techno-thrillers’ which is a genre I used to read quite a heap of whilst I was a teenager as I was drawn into the worlds penned by Tom Clancy & Michael Crichton. I loved the stimulating environments they created but more to the point, I appreciated the quasi-ethical narratives that sought to question the choices humanity was making as a whole by what technology we were electing to progress forward developing and what the ramifications would be if we yielded to it’s power. Thrillers by nature inspire you to think about the world as a whole and the conditional aftereffects of where technology can muddle our everyday lives if it is used against the will of the greater good. Therein lies the appeal to see where each author will take his/her story!
My review is forthcoming on 27th of February, Friday!
Ever since I first started watching Law & Order: SVU I’ve been keenly aware of non-profit organisations that reach out to women in need as much as women who need help to turn their lives around after domestic violence or tragedy. Even before my watching of the series, there were segments on a life-changing non-profit knitted into Walker, Texas Ranger where Alex (Walker’s future wife) would reach out to the women in her community and help them get a fresh start to their lives. The lead actress in SVU was inspired through her character to create the Joyful Heart Foundation to help women in real-life the show depicts through the gritty story-lines. I became a strong advocate for Gimme Shelter before it was releasing in the theaters, as I had stumbled across the real-life story of the woman who founded the center where unwed mothers could find safe harbour for themselves and their unbourne children. By the time I caught sight of The Way of Justice and Tea it simply felt like the right book to read at the right time as I love celebrating how women are empowering other women to carry forward after devastating adversity.
Cross-posted with Mailbox Monday (a weekly meme) on Monday, 1st of February where book bloggers & readers alike share their inbound books for review, newly purchased books, or otherwise added to their shelves to read. Conversing via: #MailboxMonday My feature was inspired by Mailbox Monday, however as I am always in throes of reading books for review and/or borrowing books from my library, I am never quite as certain which week the books have arrived!
Which books I’ve mentioned this Monday whet your palette of interest to read!?
Which books are you settling inside this week!?
{SOURCES: Jorie Loves A Story badge created by Ravven with edits in Fotoflexer by Jorie. Pieces of Granite book cover was provided by Brenda S. Anderson for both review and promotion; used with permission. The blog tour banners were given to me to use for promotion ahead of my blog tour stops by Lola’s Book Tours, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, and JKS Communications. Asher’s Mark book cover was provided by Amy Durham for both review and promotion; used with permission. The book cover for Like There’s No Tomorrow was provided by Camille Eide for both review and promotion; used with permission. The book trailer for A Woman of Fortune via BakerPublishingGroup had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
I liked First Frost just as much as Garden Spells. Perhaps some readers preferred GS because it was the author’s first novel and it was a delight. I loved it and look forward to her next book.
Hallo, Hallo Mary!
My apologies for the long absence between your lovely comment and my response! I admit, over the ensuing years I’ve been a book blogger I haven’t always had the ability to respond to comments. A large part of that was due to my chronic migraines & health afflictions; this February 2020 I’m going through my archives and am starting to make amends by finally getting the chance to respond to all the kind commenters who gave me such a lot of joy by their presence through the years! I’m about to enter my seventh year as a book blogger and I know when I originally posted this post – that seemed so dearly far off!
I didn’t get the chance to maintain these Jorie’s Box of Joys posts for very long – I tried to insert them into my #TheSundayPost selections but had to take a hiatus from writing up meme posts until this past December when I finally could resume my #TopTenTuesday posts! As 2020 progresses, my features & memes will start to have a better presence again on my blog. Part of which, I’d like to resume talking about the books I’m receiving within The Sunday Post as I had hoped to have maintained.
In response to your thoughts – I never had the chance to pick up either novel: First Forst or Garden Spells; the former is on my backlogue list to bring to blog to expand my thoughts on it and the latter is one I need to borrow through my library. I was hoping I might be able to listen to them on audiobook – as I’ve grown an attachment to audiobooks since 2016. Like you, I am hoping to continue to read her novels and sort out which ones are my favourites to have discovered.
I look forward to visiting your blog and find out what you’re currently sharing from your own bookish adventures! Thanks again for leaving me a response and a kind note to let me know you had visited.