Book Review | “The Storm Sister” (Book No. 2 of the Seven Sisters series) by Lucinda Riley The second installment took me directly into the heart of why the sport of sailing is an enthralling passion full of courage and the healthy respect for the sea.

Posted Tuesday, 30 January, 2018 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

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Borrowed Book By: I’ve known about the Seven Sisters book series for quite awhile now, however, I haven’t had the proper chance to dig into the series – therefore, when I was approached by the publisher to considering being on the blog tour this February, I decided it was time to borrow the books via my local library! Although, as a member of the blog tour I was receiving the fourth release “The Pearl Sister” for my honest ruminations, I decided to back-read the entire series ahead of soaking into the newest installment – my personal preference is to read serial fiction in order of sequence; even if sometimes I find myself bungling the order, I love to see how the writer has set the stage for a series which becomes progressively engaging! To start at the beginning is the best way to see how they laid down the foundation for both the series, their writing style and how the characters first make their entrances into our lives.

I borrowed the second novel in the Seven Sisters series “The Storm Sister” in hardback edition from my local library. I was not obligated to post a review as I am doing so for my own edification as a reader who loves to share her readerly life. I was not compensated for my thoughts shared herein.

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On how I felt after I read the first installment of the series:

I mirrored the sentiments of Maia – of feeling especially blessed for not having the gift of foresight to know the events of our lives ahead of their arrival. In this particular case, she’s referring to the news of her father’s passing – reflectively, as I’ve loved, lost and buried most of my living family – I can understand her sentiments. Each time I had to ‘let go’ of someone quite dear to me, if I had knowing about when their lives were to end this chapter of their lives, I am unsure if it would have helped the healing process or made each day leading up until ‘the day’ that much worse – knowing ahead of time how absent the hours would feel after they had moved into the next life. We’re dearly attached to those in our immediate orbit – we feel deeply and like to encourage memories out of the hours we share together – despite the epic loss, the memories remain, but the absence of their presence is never fully resolved as we still find reasons why we miss them even decades lateron.

So very acutely accurate – when crises arise in our lives, there is a vacuum effect on our persons; we feel as if we’ve become sequestered outside our ‘ordinary life’ but rather than having a marked change in our appearance or any outward suggestion of a radically altered moment threading into our hours – everything appears as normal as it had before we realised how altered we felt. Grief and trauma run concurrently similar in how you approach them – if your someone who likes to tackle life’s unpredictably curious curve balls head-on, you muddle through at first, a bit loss for how to process it all and then, eventually, you make sense of it – before you accept whatever it is which has happened and continue to find the strength to move forward.

My heart felt full upon finishing this story,.. so much so, I worried I wouldn’t be able to properly articulate exactly why I loved reading it! Smiles. It isn’t just the breadth of what Ms Riley wrote into the background of the seven sisters nor the lush landscapes of Rio, Paris and Geneva – it is the soulfulness of her intuitive murmurings of the human heart and the spirit of the soul – to first find resonance out of grief, freedom from fear and the mirth of joy after years of self-doubting uncertainty. This is a story which seeks to find the truth about the choices we all make and the ways in which our minds have trouble realising the greatest gift we have to give ourselves is forgiveness.

-quoted from my review of The Seven Sisters

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comNotation on Cover Art: I have been wicked fascinated by the Northern Lights for most of my life; there is something about the colours within the phenom of the lights themselves and the ways in which they dance across the night’s sky which I think gives us the most joy to watch their displays of glory. There are some places on this world which feel wholly unique of their own making – where you can literally feel and sense the division of Heaven and Earth; of seeing the curvature of the Earth itself and observe a quiet awareness of how ancient the stars truly are by standing beneath a sky which reveals more of itself with each passing Season. I truly was captured by this artwork of how Ally seemed to be at peace with herself; perhaps for the first time?

Book Review | “The Storm Sister” (Book No. 2 of the Seven Sisters series) by Lucinda Riley The second installment took me directly into the heart of why the sport of sailing is an enthralling passion full of courage and the healthy respect for the sea.The Storm Sister
by Lucinda Riley
Source: Borrowed from local library

Synopsis on the Inside Flap:

Talented sailor Ally D' Apliese is in the midst of preparations for one of the world's most challenging yacht races when she receives news of her beloved father's death. Saying goodbye to the love of her life, a man her family knows nothing about, she rushes back to her childhood home, an enchanting chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva where she and her five sisters - each adopted as infants - were raised.

When new tragedy strikes on the high seas, pummeling Ally yet again with a terrible and unexpected loss, she turns her back on the water and instead follows her own North Star - an intriguing clue left by her father that leads her to Norway, with the promise of unmasking her origins. Surrounded by the majestic beauty of an unfamiliar homeland, Ally discovers the century-old story of a remarkable young woman named Anna Landvik, a talented singer with an astonishing link to compose Edvard Grieg and his celebrated musical accompaniment to Henrik Ibsen's iconic play Peer Gynt. But as All learns more about Anna, she also begins to question who her father, Pa Salt, really was - and why her seventh sister remains missing.

Lucinda Riley's captivating story brings together two resilient women, decades apart, weaving their stories into an unforgettable examination of family, love, and identity.

Genres: Adoption & Foster Care, Biographical Fiction, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Epistolary | Letters & Correspondences, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, Time Slip and/or Time Shift, Women's Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Find on Book Browse

ISBN: 9781476759920

Also by this author: The Seven Sisters, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister, The Moon Sister

Also in this series: The Seven Sisters, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister, The Moon Sister


Published by Atria Books

on 22nd March, 2015

Format: Hardcover Edition

Pages: 501

 Published By: Atria ()
{imprint of} Simon & Schuster (

I *love!* finding videos by authors who love to engage with readers about the inspiration behind their stories – this truly is a wonderful way to find yourself immersed even further into the settings as by catching small glimpses of the characters your reading about – you start to re-align what you’ve read with what they are seeing with their own eyes whilst feeling thankful the author took a very immersive path into the heart of this book series!

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The Seven Sisters Series: of whom are Maia, Ally (Alcyone), Star (Asterope), CeCe (Celeano), Tiggy (Taygete), Electra and Merope – the series is based on the mythology of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades – interestingly enough, this is a constellation in close proximity to Orion*.

The Seven Sisters : Maia’s Story (Book One) | (see also Review)

The Storm Sister : Ally’s Story (Book Two)

The Shadow Sister : Star’s Story (Book Three) | Synopsis

The Pearl Sister : CeCe’s Story (Book Four) | Synopsis *forthcoming review 1st of February, 2018!

Available Formats: Hardcover, Audiobook, Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #SevenSistersSeries

#whoispasalt ← I advise not visiting the second tag on Twitter as it tends to reveal a few things ahead of reading the stories themselves.

About Lucinda Riley

Lucinda Riley Photo Credit: Boris Breuer

Lucinda Riley is the #1 internationally bestselling author of sixteen novels, including Hothouse Flower and The Seven Sisters. Her books have sold more than ten million copies in over 30 languages. Lucinda divides her time between West Cork, Ireland, and Norfolk, England with her husband and four children.

Photo Credit: Boris Breuer

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on where we alight within the second installment:

This is how I had hoped the second installment would begin,… to go directly into the thoughts of Ally – of seeing where she was before she learnt the tragic news of Pa Salt’s death and prior to knowing why Maia needed to journey to Brazil. The style of this narrative is a lovingly conceptionalised arc where you move in and out of the story-line per each sister whose time to shine and grow within her own ‘story’ within the series becomes revealled; for this is Ally’s turn, to be as raw in her emotions as Maia had been in Rio; to seek the strength to uncover the past (be what may) and to find within herself the missing pieces of her own life – either through hidden truths only she could understand of herself or the information she never had known about her birth origins. It is here, we arch back a bit – casting an insightful glimpse into how happy she was at sea, how wrapped in love and joy she had felt and how being pulled out of this reverie truly did have an impact on her soul.

As we alight into how Ally and Theo crossed paths – you see a different side to Ally from how she was presenting herself at Atlantis in The Seven Sisters; this Ally was slightly unsure of herself, a bit closed to her emotions and for whichever reason, was uncertain how she felt about having a beau in her life like Theo. She took her profession seriously – she was a competitive sailor after all (something I admire in the athletes I watch on television esp during the Summer Olympics or other such events which are broadcasted) where in her line of work, women are especially scrutinised for their skill sets and their ability to perform in the company of men. It is as much an uphill climb towards Equality as any other sport where men dominate and women are trying to make a niche for themselves to prove sports should be openly gender neutral and available to everyone who has a desire and passion for them.

There are several passages which repeat the sequence of events – of how the sisters deal with the news of their deceased father to receiving the letters and clues of their birth origins which he had left them in the wake of his death. The difference of course, is seeing Ally’s internal reactions to these events and moments; of seeing how her mind was attempting to process what she was hearing whilst her emotions were spilling out of her soul all the same. She felt unmoored, as Pa Salt was the anchour and guiding light (such as a lighthouse) in his daughter’s lives,… she was unsure about how to proceed with him, how to find balance and confidence in being in a future without the love of a father she never felt she would have to ‘let go’ of so soon as now. As her mourning period began, so too, did the lapses in time – her heart was full of remorse – for the conversations she would miss with Pa Salt and for the anguish of how the happier memories made his passing ever more real.

My Review of the storm sister:

As an aside – I cried and felt emotionally moved by the entirety of Master and Commander (the movie) whilst I still remember how I felt watching how the film was set before my eyes, mastered against the soundscape of its breath-taking musical score – observing the musical nod within The Storm Sister I felt immediately brought back to how I internalised the film upon seeing it with my father in a darkened theater during its debut.

I was a bit surprised when Ally started to recoil from Theo’s investigative intuition about her name (first and last) and how he nearly diverged the truer name of her father, Pa Salt. I had learnt the anagram of his name from one of the videos I had seen by the author – having heard it, everything fit together in my mind about the series and the beautiful arc of how dramatically stirring this series would become – as it not only honed in on the Mythos and the back-stories of the Seven Sisters themselves but it gave gravity to the story set in such a beautiful tempo of revelation – of how these characters were put together into the same family. I suppose though, as she was still in the height of her grief, having a supposed stranger (if not recently one who was fastly coming her intimate partner) sort something out so dearly personal about her, put Ally outside a zone of comfort she had built round herself and her sisters. As each of them have reflected on different occasions – they had taken their childhood and upbringing as a given fact of their lives; they never questioned who they were or where they had originally come from – to them, Atlantis and Pa Salt were everything they would ever need. And, rightly so – as they were a family true to bone but as circumstances have a way of changing when we’re in the midst of living our lives (such as things are) – sometimes, the moments which affect us most are the ones we’re not expecting to find on our path. I did smile recognising what their last name referred too – it was something I was trying to sort out myself but I was never very good at word games like anagrams or initials or other such shortened references; having read the revelation, things naturally ‘clicked’ together and I had my second ‘a ha’ moment in the series!

Observing Ally with Theo, reminded me of the trust Maia had placed in the writer who became her soul mate – of giving something of herself she could entrust would be respected by the man she chose to lose her heart too. Both sisters had trust issues with men, finding they were not as easily able to love nor to extend a portion of themselves to another; they both needed encouragement to find the confidence to be with the ones who romanced them into believing a happier life could be attainable for them. In this way, both Theo and the writer were helping the girls’ heal from a period of their lives where they felt they would have to walk alone; without someone by their side or with someone who understood their natures.

As we shift back to Atlantis when Ally returns home for a short furlough, it is a welcome sight to see it is after Maia has returnt from Rio; moving directly towards where the first novel left us awaiting the arrival of Ally’s story. I was curious where the transition would take root and happily I didn’t have to wait too long,.. the gutting bit of it is though is how anguishing it is to give your heart to someone you truly feel comfortable with and realising there are no certainties about your future with them. True to the nature of her characters, Ms Riley doesn’t hold back from telling an authentic story about the passionate ways in which her characters live their lives,… of how they proceed towards their desires irregardless of the risks and own their choices; even if it has a profound effect on those they leave behind. Your heart is pulling at you in this one, as Ally’s soul feels spliced in half for she’s moving in and out of grief at such a fast clip of frequency her heart has not fully healed from the first shock of loss.

The strength Celia had within her was incredible but moreso, it was how she knew how to reach out to Ally to provide her with both shelter and safety during this very difficult time for them both. Only a mother could understand how to comfort someone without having to say anything at all – of finding a leeway through mutual grief but also, how to celebrate the life they both loved and felt they knew with every inch of their soul. Celia has a very kind heart – she took in Ally at her most vulnerable and it is how these passages are written to reflect the fragility of human grief, the uncomfortable remorse and regret of losing a loved one through tragedy and the slow transition into a period of healing,.. Ms Riley doesn’t forsake any part of the journey but rather, finds a way to honour the hardship of living authentically everyday of one’s life even if all we have is today rather than a lifetime of tomorrows.

The time shift transitions are my favourite in this series – for they are through the tangible remains of each of the sisters’ ancestors – in this particular case, it is a biography about a Norwegian artist (a singer) of whom could plausible shed light on Ally’s origins of birth – for this is how the foundation is set for each daughter of Pa Salt – he gives them scant clues on which to built a legacy of origin wherein they must rewind time quite a bit in order to see the truth of the hours threading forward into where their Mums intercede with the story which acts as the ‘portal’ to their past. It’s quite fascinating as it parlays into my favourite past-time Ancestral Sleuthing!

Ally is reading the story about Anna who lived in Norway during 1875 – her story happily being given a new translation in order for Ally to read through it and like any story which holds our heart’s attention, she couldn’t wait to dive deeper inside Anna’s. I could claim the same throughout the hours I’ve been spending with the Seven Sisters myself – you simply do not want to extract yourself until you consume each of their tales; to understand their histories but also, as each history becomes known how this cross-relates to their present and futures. In the past, I’ve had close friends in Norway – I know a bit about the country’s histories as well as their culture and the foods they love to eat. It is such an interesting country overall and I look forward to seeing what new things I can gleam as I eagerly get to know Anna!

Anna was a country girl who was used to chasing after lost cows, singing to them the songs she knew would entertain them but also be a bit of a calming balm to her own worries which she could not reduce from percolating inside her mind. Anna was the kind of girl who was never given the option to dream of a life outside her circumstances – she simply carried on with what was expected of her, from the chores around her parents dairy to not being overly concerned she was not fetching the attention of single men in her district. Anna hadn’t quite come out of her own shadow – she was still innocent of the world even though some of her own observations were more or less inquisitively accurate in some aspects of life she wished she were better versed. It was her voice though which separated her from others and of which, gave her an opportunity to study in a city far from her home. Despite the good news and change of fortune to pursue her art, I knew she would grieve the loss of Rosa when it came time to let go of her beloved cow who was more like a companion than a farm animal.

In a similar vein as Bel who was being positioned into marriage prior to her journey to Europe, Anna was being arranged into her own marriage of convenience with a man she did not love anymore than Bel loved her fiance; there was a certain cruelty in seeing history repeat itself. Even though of course, these kinds of arrangements were quite popular during the 19th Century (or even in centuries prior to then) where families wanted to ensure a winning match for their daughters and not allow them to reach the stage of ‘old maids’. I found it interesting how the back-stories of the sisters’ were tracking to have such heart-wrenching threads of commonalities whilst still feeling wholly original in their own right how lives were affected by the choices of the past.

Whilst Anna is learning the ways of the city and of the world within music, Jens a young musician whose father can’t understand his talent as well as his Mum takes a few tentative steps towards seeing if he can pursue his own musical dreams. The interesting bit is he is meant to play the instruments which will accompany Anna’s voice – even if her voice isn’t going to be showcased in the manner in which she felt it would be – she is being given a chance like Jens to seek out her path – a gift both of them never felt they would be bestowed. Your heart feels a wonderful uplift of joy seeing two young people who felt their destinies were already written be given a ‘second chance’ at understanding what their truer path might involve. They both come from humble backgrounds – of being told what to expect out of their lives vs. dreaming of what they can achieve with their musical natures. Theirs is a story and path a lot of artists can relate too even today, because music is still not amongst the career choices a lot of parents would give credibility of choice – why it is hard to accept still is a wonderment to me especially given how many hours I personally enjoy listening to an eclectic array of sound and song.

The irony of course is seeing how transformed Anna had become within her tenure of tutelage wherein her return trip home proves to be even more illuminating when she finds the comfort of her house isn’t quite what it had been a year before her stay in the city. For her world has expanded past its humble origins and she was finding, sometimes the one thing you cannot oft do is return back to your roots; for she was a girl transformed by what her life had yielded elsewhere. She was not the country girl of her youth, she was developing into a woman who loved performance, the bustling of a city’s pulse and the creature comforts of a certain lifestyle could provide her whereas her parents’ home felt as rural as the setting in which they lived.

As Star starts to reveal a bit of herself away from CeCe, we see an inverted woman who is introspectively private about herself – even around Ally, she holds back from sharing too much of what is currently on her mind. You feel for Star, truly, because for whichever reason she has chosen to keep mute about things which her sisters’ wish she would be more open about sharing with them. They would like to help her if she would only allow them into her world – I know her story is going to be one of the more interesting ones to read – to see what hides behind the silence but for now, I, chose to take Star at ‘hallo’ just like her sisters Maia and Ally. After all, sometimes you have to wait for people to disclose what they want to say in their own timing of disclosure. I do love seeing how the ‘next’ sister in line of the sequences to be read makes her own ‘entrance’ of sorts within the current time-line.

As Ally intuits more of the back-history of Anna’s life, she starts to realise a part of her own spirit was put on ‘hold’ over the years – the pursuit of her own musical interests, as she shares a passion for the flute just like Jens before her except she opted to take to the open sea instead. There was a reflection by Pa Salt which made quite a bit of sense when he was talking about how to encourage our children and how it is a fine line which route we give a loving nudge for them to take-on as their main thread of interest – especially if the child in question has multiple interests or passions. Ally, up until this point in her life hadn’t really taken a critical look at her personal life – of seeing if the choices she had made in her career of sailing was truly sustaining her happiness or if the absence of a relationship was giving her second thoughts. By the time she had met Theo, it felt like any missing piece of her life was finally found; which of course, made the course she was on to walk that much more despairing to read.

It wasn’t until Ally met Thom my heart felt renewed a bit by how there are certain people who are placed on your path who either help you heal a part of yourself you felt was beyond repair or who can help you re-tap into a gift you put on the back-burner; feeling you couldn’t reclaim a love of an instrument (in this case) you had forsaken too many years ago. Ally and Thom shared a mutual background of angst and anguish – in some ways, their heritage nearly read identical, as there were missing chapters of Thom’s life inasmuch as there were out of the pages of Ally’s! What was further interesting is how well he accepted where she was right now – of moving in and out of grief, all the whilst attempting to trace her origins and feeling as if she no longer had a place in the world in which to call ‘home’. Except things are never quite how they first appear,…

My heart surely was rejoicing watching all the pieces of Ally’s past knit back together in the present; she had a lovely tapestry of ancestral history co-merging into her living reality. The layers in which her past had influenced her present is quite interesting to see intersect, but personally, I loved how the secondary characters of Celia and Thom had such an impactful presence on her current life. Of course, having grown used to the process now well-established in the series, I knew I had to shift my own heart to focus on Star; as she was revealling a portion of what she needed to impart to us about herself in the ending chapter of The Storm Sister. As she did this, I mused to myself some of the clues I was picking up from past chapters were re-alighting to mind – of what Star hadn’t said or wasn’t willing to disclose might now have their day to shine a light on how the one sister no one felt they knew for sure was the one sister who intrigued me the most to become acquainted with next!

A note on the threads of Adoption within the novel:

Each installment of this series has a very pro-positive focus on Adoption and the journey adoptees go through to uncover their origins of birth – the series does not flinch from the honest reflections of what these journeys can encounter – as sometimes they are positive, sometime they are enlightening and other times, they are quite devastating; however, in the carefully intricate world of the Seven Sisters series, each sister who chooses to seek out her origins is given a beautiful story in which to discovery.

Similar to real-life adoption stories – not every birth child who tries to reconnect with their birth family finds a willing and receptive person at the end of their journey – or if they do, sometimes they have to put it into perspective – of how their family was the one which adopted them rather than the one they are related by blood. Both families are theirs but the family who was there for all the hours of their growing years is the one they oft time realise were the important people who helped defined who they are – not always, but generally this is the case.

What I loved most about this series is how all of this is threading into the background of the series – all the muddling emotions and the confusions about how to seek out your identity and not overlook the family who raised you. It is a very honest account of what goes on after ‘the adoption’ is finalised even well after the age of maturity.

on the historical writing styling of lucinda riley:

Despite the repeated passages within the first quarter (or less) of this novel, I felt this was a wholly original story-line in it’s own right – had I not spent five days in succession to read the novels in this series, I would have happily celebrated in seeing the recapture of the events! As the more distance between readings might have let me ‘slip’ a few of the finer details past my own recollections. In this, I thought there was a carefulness about how this sequel was written, how Ms Riley shifted focus off of Maia and re-affirmed the new focus onto Ally; giving us both a repeat glimpse of how the sisters reacted whilst they stayed at Atlantis to brave the news of what Pa Salt had left behind for them and how they individually were reacting to his passing.

As Riley highlighted the life of Anna and Jens – we were taken back into a world where the dedicated pursuit of one’s artistic gift held within it the hardships all artists can face when their families are not always willing to take the journey with them. They lived during an age where you had to travel great distances to be educated in the discipline you were passionate about but it was more than this, truly which defined their dedication. They would oft live without their family’s consent, caught up in joys of deepening their awareness of their talent but without the fail-safe assurances of having a family to turn for support or encouragement. It is a hard life to conceive when you come from a family who believed in both the arts and sciences; of encouraging your own instincts for the fields you were interested in pursuing and of being your champion supporter.

The courage it would take to defy your parents (such as Jens) and of having to turn away from a person who vowed his devotion (Lars) is a strength not oft respected because of how it could be negatively perceived as selfish. However, to me, the choices Jens and Anna were making for themselves were owning to the legacies of artists who had to believe so fully in their ability to trust if they moved closer in the direction of their dreams they could achieve anything which could be dreamed into reality. Riley does a great job of enveloping us in this world – whilst cross-referencing portions of these revelations back into the Contemporary arc where Ally is tucked into their lives from the point-of-view the biography she is reading is allowing her to step into their shoes.

A short note on the continuity of the series & development of the Seven Sisters:

I hadn’t realised the series had it’s own website until I was drawing close to the ending of this novel – however, it was on this site, where I learnt some of the origins of how the Mythology of the Sisters and the realism of Pa Salt’s daughters were being beautifully captured by Ms Riley; for instance, Maia had chosen to live in solitude and took on the role of ‘mama bear’ to her sisters – which is reflective of the Maia we know so well in the series. Ally on the other hand, was ill-fated to find love as her soul mate’s death was writ by the anger fuelled by Zeus out of a deception he felt justified his wrath.

I had started off reading the series blind to the mythological overlays as I wanted to find traction within the series on my own. However, as I move through the installments, I am finding I am appreciative of this series website for digging a bit further into the Mythos whilst seeing how the elements of the Sisters in Greek Myth cross back over into Ms Riley’s vision for her Sisters. It’s a wonderfully conceptionalised series – the continuity alone is champion and I am finding myself enchanted by how she wrote such a spell-binding series which crosses both generation and time with a curious question hovering throughout the narrative: not only #whoispasalt but who is the person the sisters start to ‘hear and see’ making their heart clasp in anticipated emotion for having seen the one person they afeared was lost to them forever? I think the greater revelation in the end is finding out why Pa Salt was both absent and present in their lives at the same time they were discovering their truer identities.

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whilst reading, i was listening to #pandoraradio:

As you might have noticed throughout the past few years, I’ve been talking about #amlistening to music whilst I #amreading – it has started to thread through my readerly tweets as well (being a social reader) as I like to give credit where it’s due especially as I’ve been trying out different (free) online platforms for listening to music. Each time I’ve ‘switched’ to a new platform is due to either a major buffering issue or I simply moved on to seek out a more balanced listening experience. Generally speaking, I do like to highlight how I listen to music as I might in effect help another reader find a space online they can trust to help give them a better reading experience.

Lately, I’ve been finding Pandora a better app per se for those of us who use Win10 – as it works well in the ‘background’ whilst we’re #amblogging (for instance) whilst it’s easy to manipulate as well. The app is lovely for those of us who have an eclectic mood for music whilst owning to the fact we listen to a variety of songs or classical selections depending on what we’re doing – for instance, I listen to a heap of Rock Alternative or Pop selections for actively tweeting, reading my Twitter feeds or commenting on blogs; conversely, when I’m reading, I’m generally seeking out Classical selections. I used to only be able to listen to Ambient and Trance Electronica (courtesy of my favourite “Hearts of Space” website (hos.com) but it’s a subscription based site and I had to let it go a few years ago) when I am reading – apparently, I’ve evolved!

I listen to a particular brand of Country music (mostly Outlaw Country or variants therein for Contemporary artists with a few Classic Country selections thrown in for good measure) for the Marjorie Trumaine Mysteries I love reading – but in regards to my mainstay for reading? I have the tendency not to be able to listen to ‘words or lyrics’ and have a keen preference for chords of music which might hint towards popular hits but are classical in nature of delivery.

This is why finding a new station like “Classical for Studying” has been such a huge benefit to me whilst reading the #SevenSisterSeries! It has the epic vibe of Broadway Musicals and Sound for Motion Picture interspersed with selections I’d appreciate out of my Electronica roots – it has this cinema-tropic vibe too – of something larger than the music itself as it develops this musical backdrop to the words within Ms Riley’s series. Thereby curating it’s own musical thread of ‘place’ and intuitively works like an organic soundscape for my reading hours! (that’s the best part!)

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Some of the selections which I felt were welcome additions to my readings were:

Cinema Paradiso by William Joseph

Gracie’s Theme by Paul Cardall

Cristori’s Dream by David Lanz

Darkness Falls by Philip Wesley

Mt. Shasta by Laura Sullivan

Chandelier by Brooklyn Due

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Reader Interactive Question:

What are your favourite reasons for dipping into a story which ‘shifts’ through time – happily residing in dual timelines of both the present and the past whilst engaging you in a multi-generational saga which expands and contracts through the experiences and journeys the key characters are undertaking throughout the story itself?

If you’ve been reading the Seven Sisters series,

What encourages your heart whilst reading this kind of Historical Fiction?

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UPCOMING this week:

[more ruminations about #TheSevenSisters series!]

leading into my blog tour featured review for #ThePearlSister on the 1st of February!

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2018 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge badge created by Jorie in Canva.

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{SOURCES: The book covers for “The Seven Sisters”, “The Storm Sister”, “The Shadow Sister” and “The Pearl Sister”; the author photograph of Lucinda Riley and the author biography were provided by the publisher; all of the Press Materials as well as the inside flap blurb is being used with permission of Simon & Schuster. Tweets embedded due to the codes provided by Twitter. YouTube videos featuring the author Lucinda Riley talking about the Seven Sisters series was embedded due to codes provided by YouTube. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Review Banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Frank McKenna, 2018 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and the Comment Box Banner.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2018.

I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life
This first tweet is the start of a *thread on Twitter where I quite literally micro-blogged my journey reading this novel “The Storm Sister”.

Happily these tweeters are sharing the joy of reading this post:

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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 Tuesday, 30 January, 2018 by jorielov in 19th Century, 21st Century, A Father's Heart, Adoption, Ancestry & Genealogy, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Bookish Films, Childhood Friendship, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Equality In Literature, Family Drama, Family Life, Father-Daughter Relationships, Fathers and Daughters, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, History, Immigrant Stories, Inheritance & Identity, Inspiring Video Related to Content, Library Find, Library Love, Life Shift, Local Libraries | Research Libraries, Marriage of Convenience, Modern Day, Multi-Generational Saga, Orphans & Guardians, Passionate Researcher, Post-911 (11th September 2001), Simon & Schuster, Single Fathers, Sisterhood friendships, Time Shift, Unexpected Inheritance, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage




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