Book Review | “Some Veil Did Fall” (Book No.1 of the Rossetti Mysteries) by Kirsty Ferry #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 30 July, 2016 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

ChocLitSaturdays Banner Created by Jorie in Canva.

Why I feature #ChocLitSaturdays (book reviews & guest author features)
and created #ChocLitSaturday (the chat via @ChocLitSaturday):

I wanted to create a bit of a niche on Jorie Loves A Story to showcase romance fiction steeped in relationships, courtships, and the breadth of marriage enveloped by characters written honestly whose lives not only endear you to them but they nestle into your heart as their story is being read!

I am always seeking relationship-based romance which strikes a chord within my mind’s eye as well as my heart! I’m a romantic optimist, and I love curling into a romance where I can be swept inside the past, as history becomes lit alive in the fullness of the narrative and I can wander amongst the supporting cast observing the principal characters fall in love and sort out if they are a proper match for each other!

I love how an Indie Publisher like ChocLitUK is such a positive alternative for those of us who do not identify ourselves as girls and women who read ‘chick-lit’. I appreciate the stories which alight in my hands from ChocLit as much as I appreciate the inspirational romances I gravitate towards because there is a certain level of depth to both outlets in romance which encourage my spirits and gives me a beautiful story to absorb! Whilst sorting out how promote my book reviews on behalf of ChocLit, I coined the phrase “ChocLitSaturdays”, which is a nod to the fact my ChocLit reviews & features debut on ‘a Saturday’ but further to the point that on the ‘weekend’ we want to dip into a world wholly ideal and romantic during our hours off from the work week!

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

Acquired Book By: I am a regular reviewer for ChocLitUK, where I hand select which books in either their backlist and/or current releases I would like to read next for my #ChocLitSaturdays blog feature. As of June 2016, I became a member of the ChocLit Stars Team in tandem with being on the Cover Reveal Team which I joined in May 2016. I reference the Stars as this is a lovely new reader contribution team of sending feedback to the publisher ahead of new book releases. As always, even if I’m involved with a publisher in this sort of fashion, each review is never influenced by that participation and will always be my honest impression as I read the story. Whether the author is one I have previously read or never had the pleasure to read until the book greets my shelf.

I received a complimentary copy of “Some Veil Did Fall” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. It should be noted ‘Some Veil Did Fall’ was requested prior to the two teams I joined on behalf of ChocLitUK. I simply have become more active with the Reveal Team & begun my journey as a ChocLit Star in-between receiving this novel and the day my review posts.

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

Why Jorie has such a hearty penchant for time slips & ghost stories:

For as long as I can remember, I have entertained a healthy appetite for the paranormal – especially in regards to Southern Gothic Literature, Paranormal Romance and Ghost Stories most definitely being at the top of the list of ‘must reads’ for my literary wanderings! It has taken quite a long while to sort out which authors truly whet a thirst of interest for me to read, as when I found the Ghost Harrison series by Heather Graham, I was truly thankful for the respite I found inside my ‘first!’ Graham novel: Ghost Walk set in New Orleans! Imagine my good fortune!? A ghost story and a romance all in one!

When I came to find out that Edith Wharton wrote ghost stories, I must say, I was rather chuffed to have found a copy of her paranormal stories through my local library’s ILL catalogue! As you can tell by the review I composed, I was quite wicked happy for the readings! More recently, I explored why I find the supernatural so very alluring when I reviewed Southern Haunts, an anthology series of Southern Gothic stories set in the realms of the paranormal! There simply is something to be said for that ‘elsewhere’ vibe to stories that bend time, setting, place and living history behind the backdrop of what cannot be seen but can surely be felt as being as real as the breath you see catch in a Wintry sky.

Now, when it comes to time slips, I’m equally motivated to soak inside a story that is hinged between timescapes and/or generational time intervals where characters or circumstances are equally tied together. One of the best impressions I had of how time can slip and affect characters so substantially as to directly affect the reader was within the story A Fall of Marigolds. If you want to read a story by an author whose conquered this genre with equal dexterity for writing convincing paranormal attributes into their back-stories, look no further than Christina Courtenay! My first reading by her was of The Silent Touch of Shadows wherein I was pleasantly taken for a wicked twist of an ending!

More recently I explored this theory in practice by my reading of The Memory Painter, where I was only slightly disappointed for the direction of the story’s core of heart, as it was the predictable route to go rather than the route less taken where I had hoped I’d venture instead. What gets me invested in both styles is the curious ‘unknowns’ that occupy the spaces between understanding what is physically happening to the character and how the mind can entreat inside an experience far outside the scope of where physical reality or science can explain it. This is one reason why I love watching episodes of The Ghost Whisperer as it’s a whole series in full pursuit of what walks between the veils of what is seen and unseen.

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

Notation on Cover Art: I shrank this image down for my readers – as the copy of the cover art to use on my review is such a blaring bright pink, it hurts your eyes in the larger format! The interesting bit is that IRL the book is lovely to hold & to look at as it’s not glaring! I even loved how it’s a combination of hot pink with blocked black imagery – I know it’s a particular style of art but for the life of me it’s eluding me right now to remember what it’s called! Laughs. I’m not a pink girl either – so hats off to Ms Stevens for creating a cover that made me smile!

 Book Review | “Some Veil Did Fall” (Book No.1 of the Rossetti Mysteries) by Kirsty Ferry #ChocLitSaturdaysSome Veil Did Fall
by Kirsty Ferry
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Berni Stevens
Source: Direct from Publisher

What if you recalled memories from a life that wasn’t yours, from a life before…?

When Becky steps into Jonathon Nelson’s atmospheric photography studio in Whitby, she is simply a freelance journalist in search of a story. But as soon as she puts on the beautiful Victorian dress and poses for a photograph, she becomes somebody quite different…

From that moment on, Becky is overcome with visions and flashbacks from a life that isn’t her own – some disturbing and filled with fear.

As she and Jon begin to unravel the tragic mystery behind her strange experiences, the natural affinity they have for each other continues to grow and leads them to question … have they met somewhere before? Perhaps not just in this life but in another?

Genres: Gothic Literature, Ghost Story, Romantic Suspense, Thriller



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Book Page on ChocLitUK

ISBN: 9781781891612

Also by this author: The Girl in the Painting

Published by ChocLitUK

on 1st November, 2014

Format: Paperback Edition

Pages: 288

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)

Available Formats: Paperback, Audiobook, Large Print & E-Book

Order of Sequence of Rossetti Mysteries:

Some Veil Did Fall | Book One | Read more on Author’s blog

The Girl in the Painting | Book Two (Synopsis) | Read more on Author’s blog

Converse via: #RossettiMysteries + #ChocLit

About Kirsty Ferry

Kirsty Ferry

Kirsty lives in the North East of England with her husband and son. She won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition in 2009 and has had articles and short stories published in Peoples Friend, The Weekly News, It’s Fate, Vintage Script, Ghost Voices and First Edition.

Her work also appears in several anthologies, incorporating such diverse themes as vampires, crime, angels and more.
Kirsty loves writing ghostly mysteries and interweaving fact and fiction. The research is almost as much fun as writing the book itself, and if she can add a wonderful setting and a dollop of history, that’s even better.
Her day job involves sharing a building with an eclectic collection of ghosts, which can often prove rather interesting.

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

When the veil between worlds starts to collide:

One of the pleasurable joys of reading Some Veil Did Fall, is being caught up in the momentum of how the past bleeds into the present through the scope of narrative that revealled itself through Ms Ferry’s imagination! Such a clever concept and threading of how certain ripples in time can intersect with others’ whilst granting some people an experience they shall not soon forget! I loved how Ferry lead-in to what was happening to Becky and Jonathan with a slow pace of giving you the pleasure of seeing how those small stitches of the past were starting to intrude on the present. It was both subtle and brilliant to watch happen, because the more you caught on to what was going to be revealled next, the more alluring it became to read further into the novel!

The whole back-story truly is a theory on concept about how time can ‘slip’ forward and backwards whilst entertaining notions of Quantum Physics or without them. I personally love stories that are either a theory of their own without the hard science fiction elements or are a cross between both styles; where fact and fiction can blur into their own genre of exploration. It’s quite compelling to explore too, how memory and time can affect a person’s rational mind.

My Review of Some Veil Did Fall:

As an aside, I found my Persephone bookmarks (at long last!) as I received their catalogue by postal mail for a few years – and each catalogue included a wicked original bookmark! This one features the British flag, I felt it was fitting to start to use this to read my ChocLit selections!

We begin walking through the crowd of Whitby’s Gothic Fest – which I would have loved to have gone too, as Victorian Gothic fashion is a keen interest of my own! I liked how you can become lost in the crowd, whilst admiring how everyone put together their outfits whilst photographers tried to track you down for the odd reflective piece to share lateron in the press. This is how we greeted Becky, who was one of the journalist on scene, caught up in framing the right photographs for her story when she bumped into someone from her past: Jonathan Nelson. It would be hard to say who was more surprised to see the other, too!

What happens from that random meet-up of someone you never felt you’d run into again, leads to a curiously spontaneous photo shoot back at Jonathan’s studio! He has a bit of a talent for focusing on period photographs for those who are seeking a historical edge to their portraits, and it’s within this treasure chest of vintage clothing, he removes a dress that seems to beckon to Becky to not only try on, but you gather the sense there is ‘something’ going on that is hidden between the veil of her reality and a fracture of time just out of sight. She’s murmuring things that she shouldn’t know about – including the discovery of a hidden compartment of a vintage writing slope (an old fashioned portal writing desk), which should have surprised Jonathan! I know it surely surprised me! Except to say, I had a curious thought: what if the person who wore a dress similar to this one (as it was a reproduction of the original) had their spirit attached through the dress and/or through an ancestral line of Becky’s? Whose to say if the past cannot step forward into the present if you tap into something you weren’t expecting to have such a close connection to another person’s life? Right here, is where Ms Ferry caught me lock, square and center! I was enraptured by her emerging thread of narrative and could not wait to see where she would take me!

I was so very caught up inside how everything was starting to collide together – as the slipping is not limited to Becky and Jonathan, but can be felt by others, like his sister Lissy. Almost as if the people of the past have a specific intent and have chosen whom they want to use as intercessors! Adding to the intrigue is how Lissy is using ancestral research options to sort out who the people from the past were and how that relates directly to what their experiencing; as partially it feels like your living through a waking dream of someone else’s life. The mystery surrounding who was learning sign language was quite a champion twist to add-in to the search as well! I even had to smile when Jonathan was not appreciating his fingers move on their own accord to empathsis the point!

This isn’t your typical haunting where you can visually see those who have gone before you, but rather more akin to living outside of yourself in lieu of exchanging your thoughts for the person of the past who ‘steps through your own conscience’ in order to effect how you think, see, sense and feel in your own reality. It’s a full-on sensory experience where the longer your around those who lived before the less you feel your living your own life. Even their instincts and knowledge of things that you are not supposed to be familiar with comes into play.

I appreciated how Ferry incorporated the ghosts speaking to her characters by streaming their thoughts and conversations in-line with the narrative context. She put their words in italics in order to juxtaposition their presence alongside Becky and Jonathan directly. You truly could feel the fusion of both realities – the one from the past, bridging into the present and where the present was still gainfully moving forward unaware of any interruptions at all. The fact Becky felt faint or less than herself during periods of time where her ghost Ella was transfusing herself into her energy field was quite believable because it takes a lot of energy to affect a living soul by one whose crossed before them. Although Ella has the center focus, Adam comes forward to affect Jonathan just as much if not moreso in certain scenes where both blokes feel protective of Becky.

We make the full slip into Ella and Adam’s past by the second half of the novel, at which point I was beyond curious to know what the harbinger was to knit everything together! Jonathan, Becky and Lissy all took the clues of what was being guided to them to find but how it would lead them to understand the fully picture, I knew we’d have to step backwards to gleam how to understand how their lives truly connected. We entreat to learn Ella’s battle of wills to find her voice isn’t lost amongst her peers when all they can see is a girl who cannot hear and observes them more than she can express her own mind. If only they weren’t so very judgmental and see the beauty of who she is irregardless of how she communicates. There is a hidden message about not judging others and about compassionate acceptance for people’s differences whilst finding a way to move past superficial jealousies.

Adam loved Ella for every reason a man should, but her lack of confidence in her ability to be the confident wife he needs holds her back from understanding why he would pick her to be his betrothed. She was used to public scorn and was tired of being humiliated by things she could not change or the indirect way in which people would dismiss her out of hand. Yet, right by her side was Adam – the bloke who only saw her with his heart and celebrated everything she could give in return.

Such a tangled web was pushing through the window of the past, such disturbing truths that were needling their way forward desperate to become known. For that is the thing about hidden secrets from the past, they have a way of wanting to be heard or at the very least observed to be true, especially in order for those who are involved to find any measure of peace. What I loved most about this story is how Ms Ferry tied the past with the present and presented a very clearly written legacy of hearts and souls who were forevermore in love.

Such a beautiful Romance to read whilst caught up inside the duality of it’s setting: first your smitten by the two contemporary individuals who never felt they’d meet someone who quite understood them and then, you meet the two Victorians who had quite the tragically beautiful love story to impart on your heart. There is so much I loved about this story and most of all, I loved how it was told! You get to take the journey with Becky & Jonathan whilst being privy to the lives of Ella & Adam. It’s one of those wonderful discoveries where love & souls are entwined together through eternity.

I especially loved the secret Ms Ferry kept from us until the very end,… in regards to Becky and Ella most directly. It was such an incredible surprise ending!

On the PNR | Paranormal Rom style of Kirsty Ferry:

I was happily surprised to find a few clues towards how this story knitted together for the author, simply by the poetry selection we’re greeted with in the beginning! This is the beginning of the Rossetti mysteries and it’s a Rossetti poem that holds the key towards what the title truly is eluding too by the expression ‘some veil did fall’. I, myself, was thinking it referenced something quite on par with the poem, as ‘there is a veil between worlds’ as everyone knows to be true! Ergo, it would make sense that if a person in the modern age suddenly felt connected to another life lived in the past, it was a slipping of the veil where time bled into another era; knitting closer how each time lived is evermore connected to the following in sequence whilst owning to the fact time is temporal. I liked this poem – it held within in enough questions to proposition you forward and a curiously daring supposition about where the story could enfold!

Kerry unfolds the paranormal elements so interconnected to her lead characters, you do not necessarily see the effect of what is happening until they are affected by what is happening; if this makes sense? She wrote it quite organically to take shape in the background and allow the reader to absorb into the experiences at the very same time the characters are starting to acknowledge what is happening to them personally. It’s a personal approach, to give levity to the startling realism that your life is now co-partnered to souls of the past and how to sort out the fuller effects this could be causing you on a personal level of concern? She even continued to keep the continuity with the origin inspiration of the Rossetti poem by having her characters inter-lay it’s message into the sequencing of the story’s arc.

I love when writers or film-makers even, allow the ‘elsewhere’ bits to run so counter-current to the mainstay scene of action, you nearly have to blink to see how it was all added-in to be observed as normal everyday occurrences! In this vein, she reminded me of the style by Ms Courtenay as read in The Silent Touch of Shadows.

On #EqualityInLit and deaf culture:

I appreciated seeing Ms Ferry highlight deaf culture and how a girl who is hearing impaired would want to be seen on equal ground to everyone else. She first brought this to focus with the piece of paper found in the writing slope that articulated how to finger spell words for someone who was hard of hearing or had lost their hearing altogether. I, personally, am in various stages of learning ASL – as it is something I took a liking towards learning as a teenager, where my classmates helped me learn the alphabet and simple phrases. I’ve tried over the years to become more fluent in ASL but I am not oft finding lessons are readily available in local communities where there isn’t a large deaf or hearing impaired population. I do hope one day to master the art of communicating in both full conversation and abbreviated phrases, as I do find enjoyment in being able to ‘talk’ in a language other than the one I regularly speak.

Ms Ferry truly treats the subject with respect and compassion, and this is a good step forward for readers who applaud the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement for showcasing authors who are getting it right in regards to bringing characters to life who may not be as frequently seen in today’s literature.

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

This book review is courtesy of:

ChocLitUK Reviewer Badge by ChocLitUK.

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

In case you’ve missed my ChocLit readings:

Please follow the threads through #ChocLitSaturdays!

And, visit my ChocLit Next Reads List on Riffle

to see which stories I fancy to devour next!

I celebrated my 3rd Blogovesrary on 31st of March, 2016 wherein I revealled my Best of the Best Reads for 2015 via my End of the Year Survey. More than one ChocLit novel made the cut and received a special Award from me to acknowledge how lovely it was written!

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

My ChocLit readings late Spring | early Summer:

 The Legend of the Gypsy Hawk | No.1 of the Ile of Sainte Anne series | by Sally Malcolm (review)

You Think You Know Me | No. 1 of the London & Cambridge Mysteries | by Claire Chase (review)

The Golden Chain | No. 2 of Charton Minster series (see No.1) | by Margaret James (review)

Some Veil Did Fall | No.1 of the Rossetti Mysteries | by Kirsty Ferry

*Part of my focus on serial ChocLit Fiction!*

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Recent Chats:

| *Nurph’s archives were deleted and cannot be replayed |

Topic: Contemporary Rom (focus Kathryn Freeman) & Choosing unique backstories for characters!
Chatted about on 2nd July, 2016 

Topic: Writing #HistRom and what eras interest us the most to read or write; we also segued into talking about time slips, time travel & time shift stories! Chatted about on 16th July, 2016 

Topic: “How about insta-love vs slow growing love?” My Co-Host Juli stepped in as I was unable to attend this chat at the last minute. Chatted about on 23rd July, 2016

Topic:  “Historical accuracy when writing historical fiction?” How do you find balance between authenticity & a compelling story? Chatted about on 30th July, 2016 

RSVP: nurph.com/choclitsaturday/home

I hope we’ll see you chatting with us! Spread the joy of #ChocLitSaturday to your bookish friends! Visit my post on #ChocLitSaturdays vs #ChocLitSaturday for more information! And, the words I expressed about #ChocLitSaturday on my spotlight for The Wild One by Janet Gover. We regularly meet-up directly on Twitter following the tag #ChocLitSaturday. You can use TweetDeck to follow the conversation or tweetchat.com where the app auto-adds the tag for you!

Remember you can also drop in on the conversations are your able too!

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I look forward to reading your thoughts & commentary! Especially if you read the book or were thinking you might be inclined to read it. I appreciate hearing different points of view especially amongst bloggers who picked up the same story to read.

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{SOURCES: Cover art of “Some Veil Did Fall”, Author Biography, Book Synopsis and ChocLit Reviewer badge were provided by ChocLitUK and were used by permission. Author photograph of Kirsty Ferry provided by the author Kirsty Ferry and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.

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About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

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Posted Saturday, 30 July, 2016 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 19th Century, 21st Century, Art, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Britian, British Literature, Castles & Estates, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Deaf Culture in Fiction, England, Equality In Literature, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Ghost Story, Ghosts & the Supernatural, Gothic Literature, Gothic Mystery, Gothic Romance, Green-Minded Publishers, Haunting & Ethereal, Indie Author, Modern British Author, Modern Day, Paranormal Romance, Parapsychological Suspense, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, the Victorian era, Time Slip




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