Blog Book Tour | “There is always a Tomorrow” (Book No.9 of the Graham Saga) by Anna Belfrage with reflections on the debut novel in this series “A Rip in the Veil”!

Posted Thursday, 21 December, 2017 by jorielov , , , 1 Comment

Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography (Creative Commons Zero).

Acquired Books By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “There is always a Tomorrow” direct from the author Anna Belfrage in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

In regards to my paperback copy of “A Rip in the Veil” this was a gift from my Mum after she learnt the struggles I was having borrowing this through my local library. I am sharing my thoughts on behalf of reading this first novel in a series of nine for my own edification whilst sharing the back-story of why I was enjoying this first installment of the series overall to my readers.

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Why this Time Travelling series caught my eye & how I tired to borrow it:

Prior to accepting this blog tour, I quickly conferred with my library’s inter-library loan catalogue to see if the series was in part or in full available to borrow. I was happily surprised to find the series was in fact, listed in libraries I could borrow from and set out to do just that. However, after two months of trying to borrow the series through ILL’ing – I nearly lost all hope of even being able to read the first novel A Rip in the Veil.

As you might already realise, I have a preference when it comes to epic series – I love to read them start to finish, irregardless of how many are connected and threaded through the series duration. After all, I spent three years reading the nine novels within the Hard Science Fiction series: The Clan Chronicles. However, in this instance – I was running into obstacles I could not fully sort out without making a few independent enquiries on my own behalf. My librarians were no longer seeking out our inter-library loans, it was all self-directed by us, the patrons and thereby, they could not help me sort out the technical issues or borrowing issues therein. Each time I tried to borrow the books in the series, my requests would fall away. No reason given but they would be removed.

Therefore, not to be left out of understanding this further, I called a few out of state libraries who had the first novel and enquired directly if there was an issue in receiving this through inter-library loan or other issues I wasn’t aware of in my request to ILL the title. I had a lovely conversation with two librarians out of state, of whom told me from their end, it didn’t seem like the request should have any trouble being fulfilled but they would check into it. They asked me to resume my request which I did, only it fell off again and I let it go. I resolved I’d just have to read the 9th novel and hope for the best.

I knew I couldn’t purchase the series at this point in time, and although, I tried to see if my library could purchase A Rip in the Veil – I hadn’t learnt if they had or hadn’t by the time the hours were missing off the clock to read it. It was then – in early December where Mum surprised me – the book was enroute at long last and it would only take a week and a half. This pushed my readings of the series a smidge too close for comfort to my blog tour dates – however, as I was having health issues earlier in the month, I hoped for the best. Perhaps my health and the migraines would stop plaguing me and I could focus on reading the stories. I was more confident in understanding the breadth of the story now I could read the first novel; as per my experience, first novels in series set the standard – the tone and the girth of what a writer intends to impart throughout the series as it develops and evolves. I also like to see how a series begins, if only to understand what motivated the successive chapters within the characters lives, better acquaint myself with the serial continuity and understand the writing style of the writer as well.

All of this made for interesting folly, however, I’ve known about the Graham Saga for at least three, if not four of the four and a half years I’ve been a book blogger! I’ve admired the tours featured on HFVBTs all these years – each year, I hoped I could have participated but the timing was never right for me and the tours were quite popular so even if timing hadn’t been an issue, I am unsure if I could have joined in the celebration of the series until now. As I will share shortly, the series took on it’s own rhythm and although, I couldn’t quite hold myself inside the 9th installment – the first story – the one which placed Alex and Matthew on a collision course, shall remain my favourite – especially in how the theory behind time travel exists in this world whilst the will of man and love to circumvent all else is the backbone of the series itself. And, you know how much I love reading a wicked good love story! (ie. Sira and Morgan, remember!)

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Blog Book Tour | “There is always a Tomorrow” (Book No.9 of the Graham Saga) by Anna Belfrage with reflections on the debut novel in this series “A Rip in the Veil”!There is always a Tomorrow
Subtitle: The Graham Saga (9)

There is Always a Tomorrow is the ninth book in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.

It is 1692 and the Colony of Maryland is still adapting to the consequences of Coode’s Rebellion some years previously. Religious tolerance in the colony is now a thing of the past, but safe in their home, Alex and Matthew Graham have no reason to suspect they will become embroiled in the ongoing religious conflicts—until one of their sons betrays their friend Carlos Muñoz to the authorities.

Matthew Graham does not leave his friends to rot—not even if they’re papist priests—so soon enough most of the Graham family is involved in a rescue attempt, desperate to save Carlos from a sentence that may well kill him.

Meanwhile, in London little Rachel is going through hell. In a matter of months she loses everything, even her surname, as apparently her father is not Master Cooke but one Jacob Graham. Not that her paternity matters when her entire life implodes.

Will Alex and Matthew be able to help their unknown grandchild? More importantly, will Rachel want their help?


Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

ISBN: 9781788039666

on 5th November, 2017

Pages: 400

Published By: Silverwood Books + Timelight Press

The Graham Saga badge provided by HFVBTs and used with permission.

To better understand Maryland during this time-line read this Wikipedia Article as it outlines a lot of the key events and issues stemming out of this chapter of History set as a backdrop to where Alex and Matthew are being found in this section of their journey.

Converse via: #HistFic, #HistoricalFiction + #HistRom & #TimeTravel

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my thoughts on behalf of a rip in the veil :

the first novel of the graham saga:

There is a certain believability about how Alex is time travelling – the fierce lightning storm, the unease of how the weather is changing the landscape it’s erupting over and of how the place itself feels altered to those who are present to observe the storm. Alex is late for a meeting at work but more to the point, she is just in ‘time’ to shift backwards through a portal she hadn’t chosen herself and for reasons she was not even aware of – but her situation isn’t as random as it appears. Shortly after she shifts backwards, another colleague of hers shifts away – there were two in her search party but only one was left behind. Of the two, Sanderson was clued into what was happening – he felt it – knew something was about to effect him and then, sadly, he was gone. As quickly and as curiously as Alex – leaving their work colleague agape to understand any of it.

What is interesting is how the wicked fierce storm was present in both Alex’s 21st Century and in Matthew’s 17th Century – a victim of an apparent lightning attack, Alex is not entirely sure she understands how to proceed when she realises her companion-in-circumstance isn’t a hermit or a recluse but rather your ordinary bloke of the 1600s who just happens to find women in jeans and bras a bit outside his zone of comfort! He had to help her wrap her ribs whilst her stomach hurled her into a frenzy of illness and her head thundered louder than the storm outside the cave! Matthew was quick on his feet – to recognise despite appearances, she was a woman in need of his assistance but when it became more apparent how different they were – it was interesting watching how Belfrage pointed out those differences – either through his long-held belief anything hinting at ‘magic’ was something to distrust (an incident with matches) or how he couldn’t rightly excuse her blatant way of disregarding how to speak properly without speaking in vain. Religiously they were opposites – something which would test their relationship on more than one occasion.

They were an odd couple by most counts – neither of them knowing enough about the other to make a lasting impression but they were stuck together due to the situation at hand. The soldiers who were seeking Matthew (or others like him) were presenting the constant danger to their seclusion but it was the alarmingly reality of realising Alex couldn’t ‘go back to the future’ to be with her son Issac which stung the most. She was a woman out of time and country – re-settled in Scotland, with an outlaw for a companion and a despairing cell phone which could send texts back to the 21st Century but it couldn’t receive anything in return. There was a passage about this cell phone I felt was quite brilliant – as it showed how time is translucently approachable from two distinct entry points – the past and the present and how both can encircle each other on a fixed point of entry.

There is a bit of suspense surrounding what became of Alex’s mother Mercedes – as her father hasn’t put to rest the disappearance of his wife – whilst finding his daughter is now exclusively ‘elsewhere’ from his time-line. I wasn’t sure if this was linked to a particular work-interest of Alex’s or if something Alex was doing in her field was linked to the time travelling bouts or if something else was happening altogether. Either way, you at least knew mother and daughter were gone from their respective lives without any solace of reason as to ‘why’ for their loved ones to understand their plight.

Your heart aches for Mercedes – her fate and her life were set to course by Hector – a vile man, with a thirst of power and a unwelcoming desire to hurt those he felt he could overtake by his own hand. He wronged Mercedes family in the past – during the Medieval Ages where she was originally from and decidedly so, once events were set into motion – his fate became entwined with Mercedes – meaning, once he fell through time, she followed. Or, rather they followed each other – in an ever-evolving escapade of lives, eras and moments in History. It reminded me a bit about an episode I saw on ‘Quantum Leap’ where Sam kept re-living one particular life connected to another – almost as if he was living inside a loop shown from different perspectives and angles. Each time, he was just ‘this close’ to understanding the reason he kept leaping in and out of that one lifespan of ‘hours’ til finally the truth let out and he was free of it. In some ways, I wondered – what would set Mercedes free and what would finally become the end of Hector?

The idea behind how she shifts through time due to the paintings she creates with her own hand was wicked clever because it shows how she fused foresight into art and how the art itself was the portal in which to ‘shift in time’ outside of the time nodes – which is what Alex used to reach Matthew. The interesting bit is how layered the story becomes – of how the ancestral line of Alex is caught inside Spanish & Swedish lineage – of long lost secrets and of cleverly spun ancestral heritage linking Alex to the time travellers within her family’s line. Some parts of this story also reminded me of the Daughters of La Lune series by M.J. Rose as far as how some talents reincarnate through one family’s lineage of women.

There is a feisty bout of joy percolating too – especially in the quieter moments between Alex and Matthew – such as the berries and frogs – the close quarters in the branches of the willow and of how they both understood each other better the longer they were in each others company. They had a quiet romance moving through their hearts – of how circumstance and situations can sometimes lend themselves a truer impression of the measure of a man (or woman) – lending a truth towards a soul and heart’s desire for companionship and intimacy.

My Review of There is Always A Tomorrow

Interestingly, as I had to modify how I was reading this series – I found it nearly streamlined from the 1st installment to the 9th installment! In fact, there was a lot of the same overtures where history was repeating itself – someone betrayed a person of whom most considered honourable whilst the tides quickly turnt against said person and placed them in grave danger. The ancestral map included in the opening of the novel helps lay down the foundation of how the Graham clan expanded through the nine children Alex gave birth too – I am unsure if each child has their due in each of the nine novels – or if the synchronicity of the numbers (children per volumes) is a coincidence.

I even loved the continuity of the small carvings Matthew bestowed to Alex – generally on special occasions like her birthday – he was an artist in his own right. This story picks up the saga with the Graham household in the Americas where we are alighting inside early Colonial History where the first colonists took up residence on the Eastern shores between Massachusetts and Maryland. It was interesting seeing this unveiled as I knew it fit the time-line of the Salem Witch trials but also, I thought it was clever to bring Alex ‘back’ to America even if out of sequence with her own life 300 years into the far future. Having read the first installment of the series, I felt in-step with Alex and Matthew – the years betwixt the two volumes is recounted in certain narrative passages of importance – such as Matthew’s absence from family due to his abduction – sounded positively horrid, but then, as you resume reading ‘where’ they are now, you see the life they’ve built together. Two lost souls amongst the moors who not quite randomly found themselves put together to survive the bands of soldiers prowling for those who had crimes against the law still on the books (ie. Matthew back then was escaping capture even though he was innocent of the charges against him; nay, his brother held a vengeance of scorn for him). They forged a bond so strong during their days (months, even) on the run, it could not easily be broken but it could be tested.

As we move through the time-line, we find the tensions between the colonists and the Native Americans is still on uncertain ground of resolution; it was so soon after we disrupted their lands, claimed too many lives in our blind pursuit of taking everything in sight. This is re-told through an encounter Alex has with the man who was responsible for the loss of one of her sons; he had chosen to live with the Indians and disown his own family whilst he embraced a different life amongst the tribe a lot of his kind did not understand or wish too. It was emotionally difficult for Alex – she was constantly losing her children – either by time itself, by circumstance or through tragedy. She kept trying to make right by them, to encourage them – keep them educated and give them the opportunities to succeed in a world she was still attempting to understand without always laying her modern ideals over the knowledge of old. Her children were flung far and wide – some were with her and Matthew in America and others, were still in Europe – in England specifically – whilst time kept shifting forward, Alex had found anchour in the past. Guided by Matthew and a few keenly insightful women who spoke like seers who understand without needing details what she had sacrificed for this life with Matthew and what she had gained by her love of a man she originally misunderstood.

There are developments in regards to Alex’s ancestral heritage – there are characters heard about in the first novel which now knit together into her tapestry of ancestral heritage – the interesting bit is how they are all ahead of her in the time-line but no one can know she’s from the future, marking her a descendant and not an equal contemporary within their own era. It would be a bit like walking backwards through your family tree – rather than reading what is left behind to find, you step through the tree itself, re-alighting where your ancestor was at that particular time in their life and spending hours near them or by them; re-living the family history you never knew or finding new insight into the persons whose names left you curious about who they could have been whilst alive. Some of the people Alex is related did surprise me – especially on the level of Luke, the brother of Matthew who is his worst nemesis and the brother who re-inhabits the horrors of Cain and Able.

The breadth of the story hinges on History itself – of how Alex and Matthew traverse through their living hours whilst History is there – beckoning to them, to both acknowledge the state of the world and the mindset of the time. They each have evolved through their relationship – trusting each other with their humbled truths and of their deepest insights of where they stand on religion and politics; as applied to the past and to the (lost) present of where Alex once resided. Ferreting in references to that (lost) future are nuances of a contemporary modern life – everything from yoga to certain expressions of phrase, which off-set Alex in this historical setting to being someone of an original thinker and speaker. She isn’t always trusted by her relations or those outside her newfound family but what she has is a strength of mind which sees her through most of the upheavals. Even her sons who question her realise her mind is a hive of knowledge and one they respect even if they don’t completely understand her without the foreknowledge of who she is and how she came to live in the 17th Century.

I did struggle a bit here or there – of sorting out all the children, of where they were in their lives and the reasons they were being inclusive to this part of the story’s fuller scope – however, I credit Ms Belfrage for helping a reader move in and out of her stories with better ease by filling in the gaps between the novels and re-asserting certain key bits of knowledge which allow us to gather the gist eventually. The key issues truly were the misunderstandings between Protestants and Catholics in this installment of how religious freedom was not even a whisper in the winds during this part of (early) Colonial America (during the time of the Protestant Reformation) and how dearly this affected everyone’s life. The courts were ruled more by hearsay than truth; condemning men based on supposition moreso than fact and where there was very little room to reverse a decree of justice which had no justice in it’s actions.

All in, it was a very dark period of history to re-examine due to how much superstition ran people’s lives and how little credence they had for each other – if they were different in opinions or in philosophy or religious beliefs, their lives were dearly put in jeopardy just by being present amongst the other colonists. Prejudice ran high but so too, did ignorance. The latter of which was the worst to overcome as you see play out in this 9th installment where Alex and Matthew attempt to right a wrong against a Catholic Priest.

After this happened though – I found myself falling in and out of the story-line – there seemed to be a return of a sinister undertone – it was present in the 1st novel as well – where I wasn’t quite sure if the main focus was meant to be on Alex and Matthew or rather something more untoward. I couldn’t find my footing in this 9th story as well as I could in the 1st; there were a lot of switching of scenes – specifically, the narrative jumped quite a bit between the different children, where they were with their lives and somewhere in this constant segue of interest – I found myself properly lost. I think if more of the foundation had been laid on where we were with Alex and Matthew in the here and now, the jolts would not have tucked me out of the pacing of this 9th story.

Overall, it just felt at this point in their lives – as they were in their early sixties, they were not just plagued by adversity, they nearly felt cursed. Their lives were still overshadowed by those who wished them grave harm if not death – they could not outrun their adversaries and it seemed like they kept regenerating enemies moreso than friends. Some of this felt a bit too redundant as you’d have hoped with all the distances in time and life and experience – at some point, their lives might have levelled out a bit to allow them to simply ‘live’ and ‘breathe’ the joys of their shared moments as they embrace the lives and changing times for their children. There were parallels a bit about how they came across as ‘star-crossed’ as Sira and Morgan (ie. The Clan Chronicles) but where the previous series had a lot of light in the threadings of their love story unfolding, Alex and Matthew seemed to always have to fight nail and tooth just to be free to live – or forsake the life they tried to forge altogether.

On the world-building surrounding time travel:

The most interesting bits is how Ms Belfrage had two portals of thought within her series – crossroads at precise angles of interest were her version of ‘ley lines’ calling them instead time nodes – where you could literally spin yourself backwards into time by ‘crossing through’ the invisible barrier or veil if you will between your time and the previous one(s). Whilst at the other side of this travelling of shifting forward and backwards in time, you had the paint on canvas portals – where certain women were gifted by the sight of the future or past, able to etch into their canvas a vacuum of time wherein you could fall directly into the time being shown. It was originally passed through a grandfather but Mercedes had passed the legacy on into Alex; who later saw the talent emerging through her children as well. It hadn’t surprised me the fate which had befallen her son from her original time-line as the gift in her family was not one with guarantees of longevity. If anything, she had beat the odds and love had given her the longevity she might otherwise have never had.

The one key difference between this version of time travelling is the wear and tear on the person themselves – of how the body cannot keep up it’s appearance or it’s healthful stasis of well-being whilst criss-crossing through time – as seen by the villain in the series who quite literally was becoming ‘less human’ the longer he lived.

Fly in the Ointment: Content Note & vulgarity

There were sprinkles of passages within the first novel I was not expecting to find contained in the story-line – such as the gravity of abuse & domestic violence turnt against Alex whilst she was captured – as told through flashbacks to Matthew as she purged her memories only into his heart and mind. Blessedly, the details were just this side of what I could handle – as at one point, I thought they might have dipped into the realms of ‘Citadel’ (see also Review) by which would have made the reading more uncomfortable. There was also alarming scenes of fierce person on person battles – I could have dealt with a nose not being sliced off – but blessedly, again, Ms Belfrage held back before I felt it was overtly described.

Then there were segue points which confused me a bit – as some of what was happening felt out of sync with the main backbone of the story-line which was the slow brewing romance and sturdy bond growing between Alex & Matthew. They were both fractured in spirit and heart – by circumstances and strife which had befallen both of them and in each other, they healed what had sought to shatter their very will to see the joys in living again. In each other, I felt was the story’s strength – plus, I did like the midwife’s inclusion as she lends herself a unique perspective about neighbourly love, unconditional acceptance and the will to stand up for people who should not be punished out of hand with judgments they do not deserve.

Still. There was the odd passage here or there which I felt might be ‘just over the line’ of where I wanted to read a Historical novel to take me. And, in regards to the choices in language – for most of the first novel they were quite randomly placed and sprinkled. Then, they took up a higher level of frequency to where I was growing tired of seeing the bluntness of the remarks & the vulgarness of their inclusions. It took me out of step with the rhythm previously established which did not rely on the harshness of the language but rather, the scope of how Alex & Matthew were trying to resume their lives after finding themselves dealt a hand they almost thought they could not face – either alone or with a partner in comrade.

In the 9th novel, there was less vulgarity outright – in fact, I don’t remember seeing much of it at all – which was quite ironic! On the ledger of scenes which were difficult to get through – there were a few, plus a few moments where I hoped the story would recede or pull back rather than diverge directly into the horrors of what could happen (ie. floggings) but this was a period of History where bad things happened quite frequently – Belfrage does keep in step with historical accounts even if at times, I find reading about them to be daunting and uncomfortable. There are times I like some of it to be glossed over a bit more – I don’t need all the specifics, just the illusions of what transpired is sometimes enough to gather the fuller scope of the drama unfolding for these individuals. It’s not hard to imagine how horrific their lives turnt and how horrid it was to live in an age whose cruelty and punishment went unchecked.

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This blog tour is courtesy of: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

There is always tomorrow blog tour via HFVBTs
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{SOURCES: Cover art of “There is Always a Tomorrow”, book synopsis, Graham Saga book series collage, author photo & biography of Anna Belfrage and the tour badge were all provided by HFVBTs (Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours) and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Review Banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Frank McKenna and the Comment Box Banner.}

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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 Thursday, 21 December, 2017 by jorielov in 17th Century, 21st Century, Ancestry & Genealogy, Blog Tour Host, Catholicism, Christianity, Cultural & Religious Traditions, Early Colonial America, Family Drama, Family Life, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, History, Homestead Life, Kidnapping or Unexplained Disappearances, Life Shift, Loss of an unbourne child, Medical Fiction, Mental Health, Midwife | Midwifery, Midwives & Childbirth, Modern Day, Multi-Generational Saga, Psychological Abuse, PTSD, Realistic Fiction, Religious History, Second Chance Love, Speculative Fiction, Time Slip, Unexpected Pregnancy, Women's Fiction, World Religions




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