#MidnightChocLit No.2 | #JorieReads a novella by Henriette Gyland of whom she *loved!* reading “UP CLOSE”!

Posted Friday, 23 December, 2016 by jorielov , , , 1 Comment

#MidnightChocLit banner created by Jorie in Canva. Book Photography Credit: Jorie of jorielovesastory.com.

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 “Blueprint for Love” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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

#MidnightChocLit No.2: Jorie’s second reading of Henriette Gyland

Knitting & #PocketChocLit. Book Photography Credit: Jorie of jorielovesastory.com.

An hidden talent of Jorie’s: K N I T T I N G!

IF your just joining me for #MidnightChocLit and want to know why I conceived this wicked #awesomesauce of a readathon – please direct your attention to #MidnightChocLit No.1: You’re the One that I Want.

I was fascinated by the Rom Suspense styling of Ms Gyland when I first read her incredible novel: Up Close! (see also Review) It was quite literally one of my favourite ‘introductions’ to a Rom Suspense novelist – as Gyland has such an incredible gift for telling a story you’re seriously uncertain about how in the end, any of the characters will make it out of the circumstances they’ve been consumed by! You’re emotionally connected to the heart of the story – dearly on pins for the ending and quite eager to set your sights on reading more of her collective works!

When I saw this novella tucked into the #ChocLitChristmas parcel I received, I was #aboveandbeyond elated! I’ve been itching to read another suspenseful cuppa of Gyland – how fitting I get a happy dose of her fiction at Christmas! Talk about being enveloped in a lot of Christmas joy this year (more on this soon, promise!) as stories are finding their way into my hands!

You might be curious – why is there a ceramic knitting bowl with a UFO (unfinished object) cast-on inside being featured with Gyland’s novella?! So happy you’ve asked! If you have caught sight of my pepperings of joy via Twitter about being a ‘Knitty Whovian’ wherein I randomly share bits and bobbles of my knitty life through the twitterverse – you  might have caught-on to the fact I have a hidden talent: I can knit! And, knit I do quite quirkily, too! You see, I knit a hybrid style of American & Continental – yes, it’s attributed to my dyslexia (not that I allowed that to stop me!) but more to the point, knitting has opened a door of creativity connecting me to Old World Arts & Crafts whilst digging into the fascinating world of textiles & fibre arts!

Most knitters are avid readers – however, this knitter loves to knit at libraries whilst chatting up patrons about my #currentreads whilst talking about natural fibres & amassing an affinity for UFOs & knitting patterns! Makes proper sense then, to find portable stories to nip into our knitting bags or knitting bowls a story to soak inside during a ‘break’ from our stitches flying into our rows! Audiobooks are quite infamous amongst knitting groups, but I think #PocketChocLit is just the ‘right size’ for knitters who want to sippa cuppa java, tea or wine whilst in-between being chatty & knitty! (here I refer to the ‘sit & knits’ meet-ups we’re equally infamous for attending!)

Hence why tonight I focused on the #stockingstuffing brilliance of these novellas for anyone who has a knitty friend mad for fibre & handmade crafts!

Join me whilst I read *six!* ChocLit novellas Christmas Week & New Year’s – as we read through the holidays with a ‘pocket of ChocLit’ in our hands! Remember: I’m tweeting LIVE as I read ahead of posting these reviews! Tweet me your reactions & add your commentary on the posts!

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

 #MidnightChocLit No.2 | #JorieReads a novella by Henriette Gyland of whom she *loved!* reading “UP CLOSE”!Blueprint for Love
Subtitle: Blueprint for love or blueprint for danger?

Blueprint for love or blueprint for danger?

Hazel Dobson is pleased when she gets temp work at Gough Associates -an architectural company based in a beautiful manor house in Norfolk. Whilst it’s a far cry from the bright lights of London, Hazel is keen to get away from a mundane job with a lecherous boss, and to spend some time with Great Aunt Rose, her only surviving relative.

Jonathan Gough is the owner of Gough Associates and despite his wealth and good looks, he has a tragic past to equal Hazel’s, having been left with the responsibility of two young sons.

There’s a real chance that within each other, the pair could find the family they crave. But there is something strange going on at Combury Manor- and some people just don’t want Hazel and Jonathan to be happy…


Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

Find on Book Browse

Book Page on World Weaver Press

ISBN: 9781781893555

on 4th November, 2016

Pages: 112

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)

Available Formats: Pocket Paperback + Ebook

Converse via: #Contemporary & #Romance

#RomSusp OR #RomanticSuspense + #ChocLit

OR #PocketChocLit (Jorie’s idea!)

Put some ChocLit,

in your pocket!

#PocketChocLit

(little rhyme I came up with to celebrate these editions!)

About Henriette Gyland

Henriette lives in London but grew up in Northern Denmark and moved to England after she graduated from the University of Copenhagen. She has worked in the Danish civil service, for a travel agent, a consultancy company, in banking, hospital administration, and for a county court before setting herself up as a freelance translator and linguist.

Expecting her first child and feeling bored, she picked up the pen again, and when a writer friend encouraged her to join the Romantic Novelists’ Association, she began to pursue her writing in earnest. Her debut Up Close won the New Talent Award in 2011 from the Festival of Romance and a Commended from the Yeovil Literary Prize.

Novels: Up Close, The Elephant Girl, Blueprint for Love & The Highwayman’s Daughter

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

My review of blueprint for love:

What is a girl to do!? Hazel had one of those bosses who felt he was in the right to take certain liberties with his secretaries (i.e. imagine that scene between Elle Woods (Legally Blonde) when she learns her mentor is a cad of a toad!) – only one thing she could do – raise her hand for an immediate transfer when things started to escalate! Enter the placement for a secretarial position hugged close to where her Great Aunt Rose lives at a nursing home; endeavouring her to firm together their relationship since it had been such a long while since she could visit regularly. Family is everything in life.

Mind you – it wasn’t quite the best day to begin her new assignment – the weather blundered all hope of making a smart ‘first impression’ wherein her new boss (Jonathan) nearly carted her off into the afterlife when her hasty choice to ‘walk’ to Combury Manor was ill-fated by half! Had she not been wearing fire engine red, she might have been more than shell-shocked by the grill of his SUV nearly kissing her exterior! The brolly carted itself into the winds and fields; whilst her nerves never quite settled down to where she could extract the crisis out of the alarm of fright choking off her breath!

Jonathan for his part rebounded quite quickly – ushering her into the vehicle and making haste to the  Manor if only for Hazel to have a proper reprieve from wearing more rain than skin! Properly drenched and nearly fetching a cold for her woes, Hazel had to admit, this wasn’t quite the opener of a new ‘leaf’ being turnt over she had expected. Jonathan in contrast was fit to be tied by what he thought of her on sight – he nearly short-changed her by superficiality before changing his opine mid-sentence and seeing her in a better (more kind) light. Hazel was a bit ill for thought thinking how unfair it was her new boss was fetching in physicality but how unwelcome a romance would be right now in her life. She merely wanted honest work for honest wages. Nothing extra, nothing fancy nor complicated.

Right-off, Hazel suspected there were more than a few curious mysteries lurking just below the surface of Combury Manor; if not for the absence of details from Jonathan (he slighted her on not mentioning he was a single father) it was the curious manor in which those details revealled themselves. Such as the gruffy and slightly scruffy entrance of Jonathan’s own father in the kitchen whilst the housekeeper herself seemed to have a few ills to bark against Hazel without much reasoning behind her bite. Then there was that notion of non-traditional coloured lighting out of doors by nightfall and the unexpected arrival of Jonathan’s sons; of whom hadn’t yet met a girl like Hazel who was one-part bookish and one-part adventurously keen on outdoor sports.

Hazel learns quite a heap about local speculation about what is happening on the grounds of the Manor through her tactful and observant Great Aunt Rose! It’s such a charming scene – where Hazel gleams far more than what she felt she might by the highly astute and keenly in the know Aunt who is looking out for Hazel’s best interests. It’s simply how the information she passes along to her niece has a way of worming out speculations of her own that left Hazel rather pensively confused about the goings-on with Jonathan’s (supposed) strictly architectural company.

One unexpected turning of tide would be how Jonathan’s father isn’t as difficult to speak with as he first appeared – guarded and reserved he might be, but there is a softer side to him under that gruffness, too! Hazel wooed him a bit with a proper lunch and a good conversation – lending each of them the ear about the other, whilst gaining traction to keep the peace. He eluded to how Jonathan doesn’t like to talk shop to most and how guarded he is about his emotions; perfectly understandable given the tragedy of how his wife passed on. Hazel started to pull details together about her boss and the growing uncertainty hinted about by her Great Aunt; yet not all the pieces were easy to pierce together.

Jonathan and his father (George) are keeping secrets from everyone; but it’s when Hazel’s curiosity and genuine concern on their behalf intersects with their suspicious minds about who to trust and whom to distrust is when Gyland turns the tables on everyone. She included something you wouldn’t have thought would be the center ping of interest and it was such a clever inclusion; quite brilliant for today’s interests in green technologies and a dislike of the dirtiness of fuell. Gyland kept her narrative on the forefront of changing science and innovative technology whilst dancing round the issues of how research and industry changing discoveries can place friction on even the most guarded of companies. Secrets such as these are best to be left ‘unaware’ of the general public to not encourage industrial espionage but there’s the rub; how to know when you’ve been had and when you’ve been saved?

why i continue to love reading henriette gyland:

When you pick up a Gyland Romantic Suspense novel – this is what I stated as being my favourite takeaway of her crafting of the niche I love to dissolve inside:

Gyland’s pen for psychological suspense if incredible! She has a sophistication in her selection of conveying the elements you’re expecting to find inside a Rom Suspense novel, but it’s elevated quite a heap because your tucked into these beautiful blocks of narrative prose; half introspective, half hauntingly ethereal (nearly paranormally inclined!), and creatively intriguing! You soak inside Up Close so readily your eyes are hungry for the next words to wash over your mind and carry you further into the heart of the novel itself!

I haven’t even touched on some of the other bits of thematic you’ll discover, because Up Close is dramatically writ for the modern reader, who will find a culling sense for contemporary life and the woes that stem out of circumstances that take us unawares. This is a style of Romantic Suspense where the layers of the story knit inside you as you read.

Gyland takes you on a journey through the mind – where memory, illusion, and extra-sensory perception are key elements used to elicit a ‘knowing sense’ of where she wants you to traverse and how there is quite a heap of unknowns for us to put aside and simply absorb through the portal in our hands!

She continues to needle the psychological bits quite aptly through Blueprint for Love; as your never quite ahead of the plot, as she allows the layers she’s written into the story to take their time and turn to be revealled to the reader. She charms you with winning characters who are caught up in the thick of their own lives whilst finding that sometimes love is arriving rather gently as if you’ve become touched by butterfly wings.

Similar to my excitement in finding the wicked sharp humour in Britnell’s novella (You’re the One that I Want) yesterday, I am finding the Briticisms inside this novella to be of equal enjoyment. There is something quite magical about how a British Rom is assembled and voiced. I quite literally drink in British Lit with a joyfulness in my soul because all the mannerisms and expressions are so fittingly brilliant! There is humour inside this one as well – but it’s the sociological undertones and the psychology of needling out the underscored dramatic thread of interest that carries you onward until more can be revealled.

Ms Gyland truly sharpened the poignancy of her suspenseful novella by finding the small ways in which to elevate the drama to where the reader and the characters could form an accord of solidarity. Walking alongside Hazel and Jonathan, it was hard to know which way the plot would turn and twist; all the better, because the best way to entertain me is to give me a plot I cannot easily unwind until the very last whisper of a breath in the ending chapter!

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

I happily review for ChocLitUK!

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 (recently upated!)

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.

#MidnightChocLit Schedule of Readings & Reviews:

*accompanying the reviews are LIVE readerly tweets starting @ midnight per date listed; reviews will go LIVE after the live tweeting sessions approx. one hour later. trying to keep the live reading reflections to an hour to give a small ‘taste’ of what is inside each novella!

You’re the One that I Want by Angela Britnell (22 DEC) (review)

Blueprint for Love by Henriette Gyland (23 DEC)

Grand Designs by Linda Mitchelmore (Christmas Eve)

Marry for Love by Christina Courtenay (Christmas)

Only True in Fairy Tales by Christine Stovell (New Year’s Eve)

The Art of Deception by Liz Harris (New Year’s Day)

*ChocLit Reviews of Novels return January, 2017 to Jorie Loves A Story!

Tell me: did I tempt you to ‘put a little ChocLit in your pocket’?

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

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!

IF you love chatting about Romance novels, #amwriting adventures and being in a wicked good circle of writers and readers joyfully sharing their writerly & bookish lives, I invite you to join us for #ChocLitSaturday which is an extension of my reviews & guest features on behalf of ChocLitUK! All are welcome! Visit @ChocLitSaturday for more details!

Our chats resume January, 2017.

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

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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Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com Writerly Yours Christmas Readathon 2016

I am cross-promoting my Christmas readings this year via the #WYReadathon of which was put together after I had envisioned my own Christmas selections! I felt it was quite kismet on the timing of it all, and looked forward to engaging with other readers who were going to blog their readerly delights this Thanksgiving and Christmas season! I find that I am the most comfortable reading Christmas Stories between Thanksgiving and Twelfth Night (in January); as the stories just appeal to me to be read during this short period of time where the fullness of the season is not only apparent but can be felt by spirit, mind and heart. I look forward to sharing more of my selections with you as I proceed forward with my readings! Happy Christmas!

More #WYReadathon selections including “Kissing Father Christmas” and “A Very Blessed Christmas Colouring Book” are arriving before Christmas. Christmas weekend is a *25!* colouring book journal special feature wherein I will start blogging my journey with this special devotional journal where colouring & mindfulness walk hand in hand. I had to amend my #ChristmasReads schedule due to my father’s stroke (see also this post).

This marks my 3rd #WYChristmasReadathon post –

  1. Read my initial joy over reading Christmas Stories on my review of “Finding Father Christmas”!
  2. You’re the One that I Want by Angela Britnell (review)

What are you reading this Christmas Season?

Do you love soaking into Roms as much as I do for Christmas!?

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{SOURCES: Author photograph of Henriette Gyland, Cover Art for “Blueprint for Lovet”, Author Biography, Book Synopsis and ChocLit Reviewer badge were provided by ChocLitUK and were used by permission. Post dividers by  Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo and Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. #WYReadathon badge provided by Priya of Writerly Yours and is used with permission.  Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: #MidnightChocLit banner and the Comment Box Banner. Book Photography Credit: Jorie of jorielovesastory.com.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.

I’m a social reader | I love sharing my reading life

(tweets returning soon)

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Sharing the JOY of #MidnightChocLit via Twitter:

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Comments via Twitter:

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #WYChristmasReadathon

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)

read more >> | Visit my Story Vault of Book Reviews | Policies & Review Requests | Contact Jorie

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Posted Friday, 23 December, 2016 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, British Literature, Castles & Estates, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, England, Indie Author, Library Love, Modern British Literature, Modern Day, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Siblings, Single Fathers, Small Towne Fiction, Suspense, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event




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