Month: February 2019

Cover Reveal w/ Notes | “A Modest Independence” (Parish Orphans of Devon, Book Two) by Mimi Matthews

Posted Thursday, 7 February, 2019 by jorielov , , , 4 Comments

Stories Sailing into View Banner created by Jorie in Canva.

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I am unsure if you saw my admiration for “A Holiday in Gaslight” in recent months via the twitterverse, but everyone I know in the bookish world had the lovely chance to read this recently and I was caught up in the excitement myself! This was the first time I realised the collective works of this Historical novelist was one I hadn’t had the proper chance to explore or become acquainted with personally – which is why I am hoping to seek out “A Holiday in Gaslight” through my local library this year. I had meant to submit a purchase request in December for the story however, with a five week virus and three migraines afterwards in January, you could say that plan was postponed!

I vaguely remember seeing the blog tour and reviews on behalf of the first novel in this series “The Matrimonial Advertisement” – it was a story which at the time I wanted to seek out a bit more about but as life moved forward, it simply disappeared from my radar until now. This is why I was thankful I saw my bookish friends and fellow book bloggers excitedly discussing “A Holiday in Gaslight” as it brought the focus back to Mimi Matthews and gave me a new curiosity for her series of Historical narratives!

I am delighted today to be a part of the Cover Reveal Team via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours – as I love promoting, celebrating and championing works of Historical Fiction (across all sub-genres of interest) with Ms Bruno as she truly has a knack for giving those of us who love time travelling through the historic past a keen edge on modern Historical Fiction. It has been through hosting with her these past five (nearly six years) I’ve become enchanted, delighted and wickedly engaged with History.

Although this appears to be a Digital First release – I am confident a print release will be forthcoming as the rest of Ms Matthews stories are cross-released into other formats. As you might already realise, I can’t read ebooks due to my chronic migraines but I love celebrating new stories, even if they are Digital First releases as the promise of a print copy down the road is what encourages my bookish heart to realise one day, I can discover the stories I wish to be reading today.

Thankfully, two of her previous releases “The Lost Letter” and “The Viscount and the Vicar’s Daughter” are available in audiobook editions via Scribd. As I am a subscriber to Scribd for audiobooks, I’m looking forward to listening to these stories this year.

As you know, I love Feminist Historical Fiction narratives inasmuch as I love adventurous romantic fiction. This particular series seems to combine both of my loves and I can’t wait to start to dig into “A Matrimonial Advertisement” in order to understand what is coming next in today’s spotlighted new release!

If you are a reader of Ms Matthews stories, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this Spring Release but also, what has given you the most joy about reading her collective works!

Without further adieu, here is today’s featured release,…

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Posted Thursday, 7 February, 2019 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Cover Reveal, Book Spotlight of E-Book (ahead of POD/print edition), Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Romance Fiction

Blog Book Tour | “Silver Hollow” (Borderlands Saga, Book One) by Jennifer Silverwood This is a prime example of how you can nearly have dreamt a world into formation and then, by a lovely unexpected surprise get to transition directly into the world you’ve talked about for a year!

Posted Wednesday, 6 February, 2019 by jorielov , , , 3 Comments

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

Acquired Book By: I’ve only been hosting for Xpresso Book Tours for a short period of time – mostly as a book spotlighter and/or author interviewer as most of the stories Xpresso Books takes on a blog tour are either Digital First releases or the review copies are strictly available in ebooks without print or audiobook availability. This doesn’t bother me as I already submitted one purchase request to my library (ie. “Jaclyn and the Beanstalk”) which was accepted and added to the library’s catalogue whilst other stories are either being sourced through my local library or being put on a gathering list of #mustreads once I’m able to purchase copies of those stories myself.

For this particular blog tour, I was encouraged to join the review tour by the author herself, as we’ve forged a friendship whilst I’ve been hosting her blog tours (ie. for Prism Book Tours) which I’ll disclose in a moment before my review. I was overjoyed I could host my first Xpresso Book Tours for a review stop as I keep hoping one of the forthcoming blog tours I find I love to either spotlight or host a guest feature will be available in audiobook which I can source through my subscription to Scribd. Til then, quite happily – this blog tour holds special meaning to me as I feel as if I’ve been caught up inside the journey of “Silver Hollow”‘s new release campaign and can finally read the story to see for myself what is inside!

I received a complimentary copy of “Silver Hollow” by the author Jennifer Silverwood in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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Why I wanted to read “Silver Hollow”:

When I first discovered Silver Hollow, it was the genre-bending styling of the author which implored me the most to read the story. At the time, Silver Hollow was being re-released and the only version currently available back then in print was the older version. Sadly, despite my efforts to secure that copy by inter-library loan had failed. It had remained a story I dearly wanted to read and through this particular blog tour the novel has alighted in my hands – to be experienced and to be read.

This bridge between the fantastical and the mythological is what made me keenly curious about Silverwood’s writing style. I wanted to see how she used the bridge itself, as generally speaking I do have a penchant for Urban Fantasy nowadays but each writer I read within that branch of literature has their own unique spin on how to make ‘modern’ settings warmly conducive to Fantasy realms. Finding myself dearly enchanted by how she brokered a story out of the roots of Greek Mythos is only the tip of the iceberg I feel I shall be finding within her collective works!

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However, a short glimpse into a convo we exchanged during #WyrdAndWonder 2018 shows more pointedly what was encouraging me into “Silver Hollow”:

Silver Hollow was originally released in 2012 and was meant to be turnt into a series. The original book is still available in public libraries whilst the newest release has been expanded both in length and as the first of a series installment. How did you initially choose to re-visit this story and to expound upon your idea you had to develop it into a fuller series past where it was originally published? What are the key differences between the 2012 novel readers might be familiar with already or might seek out ahead of the newest one being released through their libraries?

Silverwood responds: Despite its flaws, Silver Hollow has always been one of my favorite books and worlds to explore. I always knew I wanted to return. However, when I decided to finally began the sequel, I realized my writing voice had changed. And the more I read of the original, the more I wished to do things with the narrative I didn’t have the writing chops to pull off before. I began revisions by updating and smoothing out dialogue between characters. I also took out many confusing plot bunnies which never go anywhere (while leaving a few for future books ). One night I brainstormed what the revised Silver Hollow could look like and quickly outlined two more books. I had so many fresh ideas I wanted to explore and that was the deciding point. No matter how intense the expanding and revision process has been, I haven’t looked back.

As for noticeable changes, I actually have a long list of minute and major tweaks. A few major ones are changing “Eddie” to “Freddie” to better fit his true, secret name. I also brought back both twins at the end of this new novel, because I have big plans for them and their perspectives in the future. A few other changes are the shift from Xcalibure to Caerleon, to better fit known Arthurian myths. I also brought a heavier emphasis on Amie’s Pendraig heritage and gave many nods to Arthur’s Welsh origins. While many things have changed, the core bones and heart of this novel have not. I hope everyone enjoys the increased action and romance elements as well. It was so much fun to write.

This is partially what interested me in your story – how it arches back into Arthurian myth and lore – whilst finding it’s own roots within a fantastical world being built out of what you envisioned for your characters! I can definitely understand the growth you experienced as a writer re-visiting her original novel – as a fellow writer who went through Nanowrimo in 2008, the journey I took within the challenge was a journey back to ‘self’ wherein I re-discovered or rather, I re-claimed my own writerly soul! Sometimes, the best thing we can do as a writer is to take a firm step back and then, re-emerge into our fictional worlds years later and finding both the story and our imaginations renewed!

There are a few different genre designations attached to Silver Hollow – from ‘Magical Realism’ (a personal favourite) to Urban Fantasy (another lovely genre to explore) to Fantasy Romance – for readers like myself and others who move in and out of these genres, what can we expect to find which hones in on these three particular ones the most? In essence, how did you bring elements of Magical Realism into an Urban Fantasy experience with overtures of Fantasy Rom?

Silverwood responds: That’s a very good question! I didn’t originally set out to encompass all those things, but as this new edition grew, so did the themes. For example, the book begins very snugly in the Magical Realism genre. Amie is a normal woman with a normal life, living quietly in a sleepy town in East Texas. The magic appears in little hints until the defining moment that prompts her to action. This is also the point we begin to shift into Urban Fantasy, as Amie is fleeing the people out to kill her. The oddities around her increase as she is rescued by Emrys and led into Silver Hollow. The romance is much stronger in this edition, which I felt appropriate due to Amie’s age and her forgotten past. Perhaps the most fun aspect of Amie’s journey is how she begins in perfectly ordinary circumstances and ends in a fantasy stranger than fiction.

I truly did feel you were genre-bending this tale – of giving it true flight to become it’s own incantation on thematics, purpose and the dimensional shifts of how it would purport itself through it’s own thread of narrative guided by the characters who are on a quest of their own!

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And, of course, I was happy to hear about the sequels – the first of which is *forthcoming!* lateron in Autumn 2019!

As we start to watch you develop the Borderlands Saga – how many novels can we expect to see develop the series and are you planning on inserting novellas or shorts which work concurrently with the novels? Whose story is next in sequence and what can you share about the second release? As there is a hinting about a companion story involving the Blackbriar twins?

Silverwood responds: Like I mentioned before, I already have two sequels outlined and planned, but the scope of these characters and potential to explore other gates, even the other side of the veil are limitless. I would love to be writing this series ten years from now. I would love to include several short stories to tie into the main series. While I originally planned a companion novel about the Blackbriar twins, I’ve planned to give them a much bigger part to play in the sequel. It will be titled Blackbriar Cove and explore the Unseelie side of the story, featuring the twins’ perspectives alongside Amie as they’re drawn into the next stage of the Seelie vs. Unseelie conflict. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to write the twins’, especially Faye. She’s such a fun, direct character.

If I hadn’t read an anthology about the Seelie Court a few years back, I might not have realised exactly what you were referencing here – as previous to my reading of the anthology, I hadn’t known there was such a dichotomy of differences within fey culture, tradition, personality and the worlds in which they lived! They can be readily seen as ‘good’ or ‘evil’ but both classifications do not do them true justice in revealling their true natures either! Hence the differences in which Court they belong!

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During December, I happily shared keen insight into Silver Hollow from a linguistics and language viewpoint, which proved how much Silverwood and I have in common in regards to the stories we’re attracted to read and to write. This journey I’ve taken to understand “Silver Hollow” from the outside before becoming a reader of the story has been a beautiful one – when the #bookmail arrived with my copy of Silver Hollow, I was overjoyed and touched truly that the day had finally arrived to where I could soak my imagination inside this novel I had all but dreamt alive of the past year!

This is why I love seeking out stories of Fantasy – they take us on this otherworld journey – we get to purport ourselves out of our ordinary lives and enter into the fantastical – where anything and everything can happen. It is through reading Fantasy I find myself lit alive with a keener sense of wonderment and a lovely breath of curiosity for the unexpected. Fantasy has a way of deepening our understanding of modern reality as much as it eludes to the overtures of literature itself – where its the stories whose characters teach us the most about how to live.

The only thing I wished I could have done was taken a pause to allow the first part to soak through me a bit more and then return after a proper rest. Because of my recent blight with a supernova (ie. four day beastly migraine) as disclosed when I reviewed the latest Rocky Mountain Cowboys novel – I wasn’t able to linger within the story. I didn’t get to begin reading Silver Hollow until night fell on Tuesday and morning started to ink its way towards dawn on Wednesday morning. The joy for me though was having a head clear enough to read and a novel imaginatively intriguing which re-drew me out of the fog I felt I had lived in during the migraine! Both of these novels were well-timed from that point-of-perspective because they gave me an anchour back into STORIES.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect once I finally picked up Silver Hollow – as the reality of it was this was a story I had discussed the components and elements of to such a degree of familiarity, I simply wanted to pull back the curtain a bit – settle into the context of the novel and attempt to forget what I had learnt previously and re-enter this world with a hopeful expectation of the wondrous. Reading is a lovely journey and for me, I couldn’t wait to cross into the Borderlands!

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On my connection to Jennifer Silverwood:

When our paths first crossed, Ms Silverwood and I shared a mutual interest and connection; however, our friendship did not form for awhile afterwards. It was truly after the interview went live and after I noticed I was reading her blog as much as she was reading mine – where I realised we shared a lot of commonalities in our reading lives as well as our writely lives! We decided to stay in touch and it is an honour to find someone who understands the bridge between reader, blogger and writer.

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Ms Silverwood through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I hosted her Silver Hollow blog tour and privately as well. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time or continuing to read their releases as they are available. This also applies to hosting a guest feature by the author I share a connection.

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Blog Book Tour | “Silver Hollow” (Borderlands Saga, Book One) by Jennifer Silverwood This is a prime example of how you can nearly have dreamt a world into formation and then, by a lovely unexpected surprise get to transition directly into the world you’ve talked about for a year!Silver Hollow
Subtitle: Madness begets madness...
by Jennifer Silverwood
Source: Direct from Author

“I shouldn’t have to tell you this isn’t a fairy story…”

After her parents’ car crash ten years before, Amie Wentworth trusts books more than people. She may be a writer, but she believes in reality over fiction. She ignores the unexplained mysteries surrounding her, never mind the dreams of a past life, or the fact she can fry technology with a touch. Not even a timely invitation from her long-lost uncle in England gives Amie incentive for anything other than ire.

Until she is stabbed in an alley and brought back to life by a handsome stranger. Soon Amie is dragged into the very sort of tale she is used to selling. To make matters worse, the man who saved her life keeps turning up and her would-be-murderer is still at large.

After crossing the Atlantic to her father’s homeland, she discovers a world beyond imagining. Silver Hollow is a place of ancient traditions and supernatural dangers, where everything is the opposite of what it seems and few escape sane. Faced with an impossible choice, Amie is forced to confront a deadly family legacy while remembering a life she soon wishes to forget.

**Previously published in 2012.
This NEW EDITION has been FULLY REVISED AND EXPANDED.
The original novel is now no longer available.**

Genres: Fantasy Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Mythological Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Epistolary | Letters & Correspondences, New Adult Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781513636887

Also by this author: Author Interview: Jennifer Silverwood (Silver Hollow), Stay, Book Spotlight: Borderlands Saga, Book Spotlight: Blackbriar Cove

Published by Silverwood Sketches

on 22nd May, 2018

Format: Hardcover Edition

Pages: 436

Published By: Silverwood Sketches

Formats Available: Hardback, Trade Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #SilverHollow &/or #BorderlandsSaga
+ #DarkFantasy, #FairyTale and #UrbanFantasy

About Jennifer Silverwood

Jennifer Silverwood

Jennifer Silverwood was raised deep in the heart of Texas and has been spinning yarns a mile high since childhood. In her spare time she reads and writes and tries to sustain her wanderlust, whether it’s the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania, the highlands of Ecuador or a road trip to the next town. Always on the lookout for her next adventure, in print or reality, she dreams of one day proving to the masses that everything really is better in Texas. She is the author of two series—Heaven's Edge and Wylder Tales—and the stand-alone titles Stay and Silver Hollow.

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Posted Wednesday, 6 February, 2019 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Dark Fantasy, Earthen Magic, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Faeries & the Fey, Fairy Tale Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Genre-bender, Good vs. Evil, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, High Fantasy, Indie Author, Near-Death Experience, New Adult Fiction, Texas, Urban Fantasy, Vulgarity in Literature, Xpresso Book Tours

#PubDay Book Review | “Winning the Cowboy’s Heart” (Book Five: Rocky Mountain Cowboys) by Karen Rock I am wicked thrilled to be returning back to the Cade Ranch and re-entering a series which already won over my heart!

Posted Tuesday, 5 February, 2019 by jorielov , , , , 4 Comments

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

Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. I am unsure how many books I’ll review for them as most are offered digitally rather than in print but this happily marks one of the blog tours where I could receive a print book for review purposes. Oft-times you’ll find Prism Book Tours alighting on my blog through the series of guest features and spotlights with notes I’ll be hosting on behalf of their authors.

I received a complimentary copy of “Winning the Cowboy’s Heart” direct from the author Karen Rock in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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Why I love reading the Rocky Mountain Cowboys series:

I had planned a special series marathon read for this blog tour – wherein, during #ContemporaryJanuary I wanted to celebrate a family of cowboys who had won over my heart and had become one of my favourite romantic and family dramas in Contemporary Fiction – however, what sidelined that particular goal was an extended recovery from my five week virus (the one I had before, during and after Christmas) whilst I also had three migraines in three weeks – the last of which was from this past Friday til Monday – a four day supernova migraine which rendered me offline, unable to read and which I nearly thought I was going to lose the joy of reading the book for the tour – as these kinds of migraines take the longest to ‘leave’ and have the harder recovery time when it comes to reading & blogging.

Thankfully, I spent Monday resting offline which allowed me to get up with the roosters on Tuesday morning to where I could settle into the fifth novel of this series and feel the pulls of the migraine were no longer with me – they might be hovering in the background but at least I could finally start to read again which was a joy of its own. Its nice to ‘come back’ to a series you love after such an ordeal and for me, the Rocky Mountain Cowboys is a series I fell in love with reading ever since I first started borrowing the books through my library – adding ‘Christmas at Cade Ranch’ to my local library as they accepted my purchase request and having the joy of hosting a few of the blog tours connected to the series which led me to celebrating the fifth release today!

There is a sixth novel on the horizon for this year – coming up later in the Spring which is why I’m going to be rescheduling my re-readings of this series for *March!*, whilst giving me the proper chance to dive into “Bad Boy Rancher” for the first time ahead of seeing “A Rancher to Remember” released!

You might be wondering what draws my eye into this series and to the writer’s style of story-telling if this is the first time you’ve seen one of my posts about the Rocky Mountain Cowboys – one of the best joys for me as a reader, outside of my love of the Cade family and the men of the series is where Ms Rock set the series to reside: deep in the heart of the Rockies! There is something about mountain living and the atmosphere of ranching that uplifts a girl’s soul!

Ms Rock does a great job of taking you into the heart of addiction – first through the opinions of family who feel they are being helpful but in reality their falling a bit short with a few good observations. Secondly, she takes you into an NA meeting to hear the stories of other addicts who are struggling just like Sofia to quash their innermost doubts and to remain above the pains of addiction whilst re-setting their lives free of the substance of their choice. It was in one of those meetings where Sofia felt both ashamed to be present and rather awkwardly at first, comfortable amongst those who she could relate too.

Ms Rock also highlights what it is like to have a controlling personality – someone who is unable to yield or bend – this was spoken about in regards to Sofia’s father but in the present time-line of the series it is mostly directed towards James who has a definitive way of ‘taking over’ and claiming roles he was not meant to lead because doing so would jeopardise another person’s sense of self.

One of my favourite parts of the story is how closely Sofia and Joy (the Cade siblings mother) bonded over being in such close quarters whilst she was recuperating. Joy still had quite a bit of spunk left in her and she had a right to want to keep living her life to the fullest she could. Sofia inspired her in equal measure of Joy inspiring Sofia to take new risks and to keep bettering herself for her future and her son’s (Javi). Javi was an impressionable child but he also understood what was important in his young life. I can see why Sofia stressed about how he might react around James and why being around James for both of them was proving to be a bit too difficult.

One of the beautiful things about this series is how redemption and second chances permeate through the stories. Erstwhile, you are becoming closer in acquaintance with the Cade family themselves – the ranch they live on becomes the anchour to their lives, the place where they gather and they grow; where love nurtures their present and where it breathes hope into the future. Each installment of this series builds on the last story in sequence – thereby, by the time you start at A Cowboy to Keep whilst reading each new story thereafter, you are given a wonderful portrait of a resilient family. A family whose honest about the hardships in life and where good or bad, this is a family who remains evermore true of themselves.

Everything comes full circle in the Rocky Mountain Cowboys series – you get to see where loose ends knit back together and the one beautiful thing about this series is you get to have continual updates about all the characters you’ve loved reading about in prior installments! If you take the title of this one for a second to ruminate – you’ll find the word “pride” speaks volumes towards understanding where this story was leading you to venture. It isn’t just the pride of the current cowboys in the Cade-Loveland families but of all the cowboys within their mutual lineages who led to the current heroes of the series.

One of the things I admire most about how Ms Rock writes her stories is the continuity aspects of her series – where you can move from one installment to another in a seamless transition. I’ve started reading this series from the prequel into the first and second novels – before arriving into the fourth ahead of the third. I almost thought that was a mistake on my part, as I wasn’t sure if this fourth installment would pick up directly out of the third or return to an earlier conflict. The beauty of reading this series slightly out of sequence is how compelling it was for the feud to take precedent and thereby allowing me to continue the continuity I have been appreciating by reading this fourth novel.

The feud itself was established in the earlier stories – setting down the foundation of how both families are at war with each other – not just over the water rights (though those are a valid reason for the ill will between them) but it goes back to a matter of principle and honour. Of the circumstances relating to the original feud’s origins and how unsettling it is for the details which have remained behind paint a rather dark portrait of their ancestor’s lives.

Through all of this, Ms Rock has rooted us into the Cade and Loveland families – showing us how human each of the families are and how vulnerable the members of their families are to the adversities of life. In many ways, both the Cades and Lovelands have each endured a lot of obstacles and have made their own sacrifices over the years – over and beyond the feud which has always stood between them. Ms Rock makes this a living reality for us as readers – as you don’t have to get too far into the stories to feel the tension coming the Cades or the Lovelands – their natural reactions to each other is out of spite and anger; fuelling the feud and deepening the chasm between them.

-quoted from my reviews of “Christmas at Cade Ranch”,
“Falling for a Cowboy” and “A Cowboy’s Pride”

As you can see – I am truly emotionally attached to this beautifully lovely series and I am honoured I get to be on the blog tour to welcome in the fifth installment of a series which gives me so much love & joy to be reading!

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#PubDay Book Review | “Winning the Cowboy’s Heart” (Book Five: Rocky Mountain Cowboys) by Karen Rock I am wicked thrilled to be returning back to the Cade Ranch and re-entering a series which already won over my heart!Winning the Cowboy's Heart
by Karen Rock
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

Jewel Cade wants two things --

One is Heath Loveland

The Rocky Mountain cowgirl has her heart set on becoming range boss of the Cade ranch. But first she has to accompany the son of her family’s longtime enemy—and her off-limits secret crush—on a cattle drive across Colorado. Discovering Heath shares her attraction only makes for a rockier road. Because Jewel has a sneaking suspicion that if she drops her guard, the cowboy might ride off with her heart.

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Ranches & Cowboys, Romance Fiction, Western Fiction



Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1335510532

Also by this author: A League of Her Own, Author Interview (Christmas at Cade Ranch) Karen Rock, A Cowboy's Pride (Spotlight w/ Notes), A Cowboy's Pride, Christmas at Cade Ranch, A Rancher to Remember

Also in this series: Author Interview (Christmas at Cade Ranch) Karen Rock, A Cowboy's Pride (Spotlight w/ Notes), A Cowboy's Pride, A Rancher to Remember


Published by Harlequin Heartwarming

on 5th February, 2019

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Pages: 379

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming

Converse via: #Contemporary #Western + #Romance

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The Rocky Mountain Cowboys series:

A Cowboy to Keep (Prequel) (see also Review)

Christmas at Cade Ranch (Book One) (*reviewed)

Falling for a Cowboy (Book Two) (*reviewed)

Bad Boy Rancher (Book Three)

A Cowboy’s Pride (Book Four) (see also Review)

Winning the Cowboy’s Heart (Book Five)

Forthcoming release: A Rancher to Remember (Book Six) April 2019!

(*) Christmas at Cade Ranch and Falling for a Cowboy
were reviewed in-line with A Cowboy’s Pride

About Karen Rock

Karen Rock is an award-winning YA and adult contemporary romance author. She holds a master’s degree in English and worked as an ELA instructor before becoming a full-time writer. Currently she writes for Harlequin Heartwarming and her first novel for the line, WISH ME TOMORROW, has won the 2014 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, the 2014 Golden Quill Contest and a finalist in the Published Maggie Awards. The first novel in her co-authored YA series, CAMP BOYFRIEND, has been a finalist in the Booksellers Best and Golden Leaf awards.

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Posted Tuesday, 5 February, 2019 by jorielov in 21st Century, Action & Adventure Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Contemporary Romance, Farm and Ranching on the Frontier, Indie Author, Modern Day, Prism Book Tours, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Small Towne Fiction, Small Towne USA, West Coast USA, Western Fiction, Western Romance

#SaturdaysAreBookish Book Review | “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen” (Vol.2) by Collins Hemingway

Posted Saturday, 2 February, 2019 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

#SaturdaysAreBookish created by Jorie in Canva.

After launching this lovely new feature of mine during [Autumn, 2018] it is a pleasure of joy to continue to bring #SaturdaysAreBookish as a compliment focus of my Twitter chat @SatBookChat. If you see the chat icon at the top of my blog (header bar) you can click over to visit with us. The complimentary showcases on my blog will reflect the diversity of stories, authors and publishers I would be featuring on the chat itself. As at the root and heart of the chat are the stories I am reading which compliment the conversations.

#SaturdaysAreBookish throughout [2019] will be featuring the Romance & Women’s Fiction authors I am discovering to read across genre and point of interest. Every Saturday will feature a different author who writes either Romance or Women’s Fiction – the stories I am reading might simply inspire the topics in the forthcoming chats or they might be directly connected to the current guest author.

I am excited about where new guests and new stories will lay down the foundation of inspiring the topics, the conversations and the bookish recommendations towards promoting Romance & Women’s Fiction. Here’s a lovely New Year full of new authors and their stories to celebrate!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book 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 “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Volume 2” direct from the author Collins Hemingway in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Why I was interested in the premise behind this novel:

I am not entirely sure if everyone who reads my blog is aware of my admiration for Jane Austen or the fact, I consider myself a #Janeite. I have loved the author’s style of narrative for many years, in fact, I wrote an Essay about it during 2017’s #AustenInAugust and couldn’t help but gush over the reading of the first novel in this trilogy as well.

What implored me truly to read this after canon selection on a theory of Jane Austen’s life is my affection for the author herself. I love reading after canon works based on her collective works but I also like to entertain readings of stories which relate directly to the writer, herself. Previously, I have explored this through the Jane Austen Mysteries a series I look forward to re-visiting this year, as I hadn’t had the time to re-read the first novel nor continue with the rest of the stories which followed suit. This was initially my goal whilst reading the first volume in this series – however, in the past few years, my readings of Austen Literature has taken a few interesting hiatuses.

Whilst noting this is a novel of an evolving theory based on what ‘could have been’ in accord to Ms Austen’s life, I felt it warranted exploring because after all, how much do any of us know about the Classical authors we love to read? In this, I had a curious thought – what if this novel had a foundation of grounding based on one of the author’s own works? This is something which came into better clarity as I read the novel directly and one in which, I had wondered if other readers on the blog tour had noted themselves.

Directly though – I was dearly curious to continue reading this series due to these
ruminative thoughts I had shared after finishing Volume One:

You can understand Jane’s assessment of country vs city living – of how within the harriedness of a city, you cannot help but feel drowned out by the blare of it’s noise and bustle; yet in the country, there is a slower pace, where the gentleness of nature can still affect you. Thus, I felt grave for their circumstances now – having been placed in Bath, a city bursting out of its own route of perimeters and having relations like their Aunt, who felt it was their duty to re-insist the dependence they knew they were in debt to her without giving credit to their own independence. For the girls were not past marrying age but their Aunt seemed to take the family’s financial affairs as matters cast in stone; unchanging and thereby, she goaded the girls’ whenever she could with things they hoped to have but could not readily afford. Their Aunt was the kind of woman who would be considered a miser, for she did not easily depart with her coffers nor give thought to those of whom she became indebted.

IF it weren’t such a serious infraction in the eyes of her parents (although, admittedly, Mr Austen has a more forgiving conscious and heart than Mrs Austen) – you could almost presume the balloon adventure could have been seen differently; as a blissful jaunt in the skies, where everything heavenbound could be observed. If only it could have had this conclusion for dear Jane! I truly felt for her as her vexations were presented and known. It was through these sequences where I was at first fraught with anger at the story and the way in which it was being told whilst curiously trying to bade my anger a bit to see if it would become quelled by a change in mindset or circumstance; Hemingway did not disappoint on either score!

Sometimes I think the best stories writ in the Classical style evoke stronger emotions – the words used, the phrases chosen, the absurdity of having societal opinions thrusted on young people and taken as truth; the idiocy of women not being aloud to have a strong voice and opinion of their own,… I digress. Still, what drew me further into the story was how much this still leaned into the narrative within Pride; to which I concluded, did Mr Hemingway himself draw a connecting line between Pride and how Miss Austen might have felt in real life in matters of her own life and heart? It is something I have oft considered myself – was it more of a portrait of her own life rather than a figment of imagination. She dipped into her own well of observational thought throughout her canon, but which of the stories struck a balance of being closer to Jane as she once lived herself; that is the curious question! Perhaps, in this entreaty of narrative, we have our response to an unspoken question? It was as I pondered these thoughts I wondered if my dear fellows of literary wanderers in #theclassicclub had come across this trilogy?

I must confess, throughout reading this novel I found my feelings on its behalf vacillated; I was either wholly engaged with its direction, utterly at a loss for words to describe my disappointment or so betwixt knowing how I felt, I nearly put it down completely! In essence, it was a story which gave me a pensive amount of contemplation – a near wrestling of feelings and on Jane’s behalf, I found her even more lovable than before! In fact, my favourite part of this novel is the enlightenment ringing true on behalf of Jane Austen – as I myself, have fashioned her to mind whilst reading of her, reading her canon or whilst engaged in after canon readings based on her collective works; there are many incantations of Jane which strike through everything interconnected to her person.

In the ending chapters, I smiled. I smiled because the theory I was ferreting through my own thoughts was threading into the author’s own theory of deduction! I might have missed a considerable amount of exchanges in the letters (see below) however, blessedly, Hemingway knitted together the missing bits by re-addressing what was previously disclosed throughout Part III. It was here, I continued to smile because despite everything, I truly felt he had substantiated his theory of why he told the story in the manner in which he had – part of me hoped other readers would see Darcy and Lizzie in this novel. Of recognising what Hemingway has done with this story and how it inter-relates back to Pride.

Now, dear hearts, I must sort out a way to get Volumes II and III,… for you see dear hearts, the gentleman who wrote this understands Miss Austen! Consider him the David E. Kelley for #Janeites!

Being that I spent the last #SatBookChat discussing a re-telling of Jane Eyre, it felt rather fitting to begin February discussing an after canon work of Jane Austen. I love discovering Historical Romances and finding an author who has charmed me by his dedication to bridging what we know of Austen with what we might never have suspected without his muse guiding us is something to celebrate.

February is also the month most known for Romances and I am dearly enthralled by the ones I’ll be highlighting on Saturdays, including my continuation of reading the Seven Sisters series which will alight on the 23rd. Ahead of that, I will be focusing on two more Historicals – one of Women’s Fiction and one of Romance which I think will lead to fascinating conversations. Here’s to keeping February wickedly Historical as I continue to champion the authors who are drawing my bookish eye onto their stories.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

#SaturdaysAreBookish Book Review | “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen” (Vol.2) by Collins HemingwayThe Mariage of Miss Jane Austen : Volume Two
Subtitle: A novel by a gentleman, Volume Two
by Collins Hemingway
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

Jane Austen Lived a Quiet, Single Life-Or Did She?

Tradition holds that Jane Austen lived a proper, contemplative, unmarried life. But what if she wed a man as passionate and intelligent as she-and the marriage remained secret for 200 years?

The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen resolves the biggest mystery of Austen’s life-the “lost years” of her twenties-of which historians know virtually nothing.

• Why the enduring rumors of a lost love or tragic affair?

• Why, afterward, did the vivacious Austen prematurely put on “the cap of middle age” and close off any thoughts of finding love?

• Why, after her death, did her beloved sister destroy her letters and journals?

The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen trilogy answers these questions through a riveting love affair based on the history of the times and the details of Austen’s own life.

Genres: After Canons, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Re-telling &/or Sequel



Places to find the book:

ISBN: 978-1535444958

Also by this author: The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen : Volume One, The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen, The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen

Also in this series: The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen : Volume One, The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen


Published by Self Published

on 8th August, 2016

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 332

Self-Published Author

Converse via: #HistFic, #HistoricalFiction + #JaneAusten

About Collins Hemingway

Collins Hemingway

Whether his subject is literature, history, or science, Collins Hemingway has a passion for the art of creative investigation. For him, the most compelling fiction deeply explores the heart and soul of its characters, while also engaging them in the complex and often dangerous world in which they have a stake. He wants to explore all that goes into people’s lives and everything that makes tThe hem complete though fallible human beings. His fiction is shaped by the language of the heart and an abiding regard for courage in the face of adversity.

As a nonfiction book author, Hemingway has worked alongside some of the world’s thought leaders on topics as diverse as corporate culture and ethics; the Internet and mobile technology; the ins and outs of the retail trade; and the cognitive potential of the brain. Best known for the #1 best-selling book on business and technology, Business @ the Speed of Thought, which he coauthored with Bill Gates, he has earned a reputation for tackling challenging subjects with clarity and insight, writing for the nontechnical but intelligent reader.

Hemingway has published shorter nonfiction on topics including computer technology, medicine, and aviation, and he has written award-winning journalism.

Published books include The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen trilogy, Business @ the Speed of Thought, with Bill Gates, Built for Growth, with Arthur Rubinfeld, What Happy Companies Know, with Dan Baker and Cathy Greenberg, Maximum Brainpower, with Shlomo Breznitz, and The Fifth Wave, with Robert Marcus.

Hemingway lives in Bend, Oregon, with his wife, Wendy. Together they have three adult sons and three granddaughters. He supports the Oregon Community Foundation and other civic organizations engaged in conservation and social services in Central Oregon.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Saturday, 2 February, 2019 by jorielov in #SaturdaysAreBookish, 19th Century, After the Canon, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Christianity, Family Drama, Family Life, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, Inspired By Author OR Book, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Pride & Prejudice Re-telling, Second Chance Love, Siblings, Sisters & the Bond Between Them, the Regency era, Women's Fiction, World Religions