Acquired Book By: I’ve been hosting for Prism Book Tours since September of 2017 – having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. As I enquired about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. 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 when I’m not showcasing book reviews on behalf of Harlequin Heartwarming which has become my second favourite imprint of Harlequin next to my beloved #LoveINSPIRED Suspense. I am also keenly happy PRISM hosts a variety of Indie Authors and INSPY Fiction novelists.
I received a complimentary copy of “As The Light Fades” direct from the author Catherine West in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On what draws my eye towards reading Women’s Fiction:
I’ve been reading selections in Women’s Fiction and Contemporary Fiction for only the years I’ve been a book blogger – as prior to blogging my readerly life, I wasn’t finding these stories as readily as I am now. Part of my journey as a book blogger was enabling me to open doors of literature I might not have come across as readily IRL as I could cross paths with as a blogger – this is due to the blogs I would regularly visit, the feeds throughout bookish Twitter and the various blog tours I would host and/or follow to seek out new authors to read.
The paths we take as readers is an evolving state of awareness for what is being regularly released and written in today’s book world. What draws me into reading Women’s Fiction overall is the journey of the character herself – as it knits into the emotional, psychological and evolution of her path as a woman – across all facets of her life and unlike reading Romance, Women’s Fiction isn’t locked into a ‘happier ever after’ ending as sometimes, life is far too muddled to have resolution found at the end of the story.
When I first read the premise behind As The Light Fades – I must admit, it had quite a profound effect on me, as it stood out as being not just an emotional read but one which would be an interesting plot to sink my teeth into as it is addressing the curious ways in which your life evolves and how sometimes right in the middle of living your life – you can get blindsided by events which seek to alter your perspective about everything you once knew to be true.
My love for this genre sparked founding my own Women’s Fiction & Romance chat called @SatBookChat – which I host regularly on Saturdays in the twitterverse. I focus on a lot of different sub-niches of interest as well as stand-by favourites like dramatic crime novels, Historical Romances and Contemporary Women’s Fiction.
I have been focusing more on relationship-based Romances moreso than reading Women’s Fiction of late, as I admit, I was smitten by the romantic plots a bit more recently – especially if you’ve noticed my musings about Harlequin Heartwarming, Love Inspired: Suspense and a curiously delightful Regency series #SpinsterChronicles! This particular blog tour allowed me to re-settle into Women’s Fiction and dig back into a genre of interest I love discussing online with fellow readers, bloggers, writers, and anyone who is bookishly engaged with stories about women!
As The Light Fades
by Catherine West
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
Sometimes we’re placed in the strangest of circumstances for the most important reasons.
After her carefully constructed life crumbles, Liz Carlisle finds herself back on Nantucket, picking up the pieces. With the family estate under renovations, the solitude she craves seems out of reach.
Matthew Stone intends to steer clear of his new tenant. She’s carrying a load of baggage, but as long as she pays the rent, he’ll let her be. He’s got enough to deal with caring for his wayward niece, Mia.
Liz doesn’t have time for teenagers and her track record with men is abysmal, but an unlikely friendship forms between the three.
When her former boyfriend is charged with assault, Liz is called to testify against him. But he knows the darkest secrets of her life—secrets she’d hoped to keep buried forever, and he’s ready to reveal them. Telling the truth is the right thing to do, but it may cost her everything she’s worked so hard for, and all she’s come to love.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1091453234
Also by this author: As The Light Fades
on 8th September, 2019
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 362
Converse via: #WomensFiction, #Contemporary Fiction
as well as #RealisticFiction
Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook
About Catherine West
Catherine West is an award-winning author of Contemporary Women’s Fiction. When she’s not at the computer working on her next story, you can find her taking her Border Collie for long walks or reading books by her favorite authors. She and her husband reside in Bermuda, and have two adult children and one beautiful granddaughter.
Catherine is the winner of the 2015 Grace Award (Bridge of Faith) and the Romance Writers of America’s Faith, Hope & Love Reader’s Choice Award (The Things We Knew). Where Hope Begins released May 2018, and her latest novel, As the Light Fades, released September 2019.
A little over a week ago now, I had a rather severe migraine – the kind of migraine which renders me unable to read, blog or tweet. This past Saturday, I hosted my chat for the first time since that migraine overtook my week and it wasn’t until the latter half of the week leading into the weekend where I could resume reading overall. Somewhere along that path of recovery out of the migraine, I misplaced when I was meant to be reading As The Light Fades – as I was caught up within the Spinster Chronicles thinking I still had a week before I was meant to be reading this lovely novel.
Unfortunately, the error is mine – which is why I am featuring a spotlight today to announce my intentions to read the novel whilst giving a bit of a glimpse into my thoughts during the first twenty-five pages (similar to what I shared on Saturday for the novels by Kimberly S. Belle). Likewise, I’ll be concluding my reading of this novel and sharing my full review before the tour ends.
As The Light Fades pulls you emotionally into the story within the Prologue due to how familiar the scene being set reminds me of my own past with aged relatives who were living in either assisted living facilities or nursing homes. There is a familiarity of those environs which never truly leave you – a stamped imprint on your heart and of your nose; as like the author mentions, they have their own swirled mosaic of scents; some of them are pleasant, most are sterile and the other kinds, you try to dismiss before you recognise them. It was an interesting place to begin the novel – almost as if a final note of memory before the light fully fades – which could be a whispered clue towards the title and the story about to unfold.
There is a sudden shift into the life of Liz – a lawyer whose walking her dogs and suddenly finds herself witnessing a near-accident involving a cat, a Jeep and a teenager. The interesting bit there is how realistic it was written as you could definitely believe how easily it would have happened IRL. Especially considering even the teen herself was acting rather stand-offish, not wanting to own the circumstances of the near-miss and then, of course, there was the question of the ownership of the car itself. I think the greater loss were the roses – though, if I had been the teen in the car, I would have been much more rattled by two things: being asked so many questions by a stranger and nearly hitting a cat!
For Mia’s sake (as we learnt her name) I was thankful Evy had a bit more of a calming attitude than Liz who seemed to want to lock her in a cell moreso than she wanted to learn her story. It was Evy, the owner of the roses who saw something in Mia – something which struck a chord that she needed to mother her a bit, encourage her to talk and to take her under her wing. I laughed a bit seeing how that distressed Liz but sometimes, there is more to what happens in life than what is seen on the surface of those events. Apparently Evy had foresight into that kind of awareness and I believe that is what prompted her to wrap Mia round some good old-fashioned hospitality and conversation.
Liz is at a cross-roads in her life – although, it is only hinted at a bit round the edges, something has taken her away from her former routine in New York. She was a lawyer who enjoyed the high life of the city not the slower paced existence she was learning to embrace now with her brother’s family on Nantucket. I, for one, wouldn’t have minded the exchange – as Nantucket has its own appeal with the beaches, the community of the setting and just having a down-turn switch-up from bright lights and harried souls. Who wouldn’t want that kind of a change in their life? But, of course, if Liz was the kind of lawyer we love to watch in legal dramas on television, she was an ace at her job and an asset in her field. Not that I know the kind of law she practiced but you can tell she took it seriously, owned the lifestyle it provided her and this new life she was trying to cobble together wasn’t quite as soothing nor as enticing as the one she left behind. Yet, something is holding her here and I felt it was something keenly important.
As she talked with her brother, you were given snippets of her past – of where things started to unravel with her relationship and why being here, right now, was more important than any choice of career. Her brother was realistic about the topic they were discussing – he wasn’t trying to push her to make any concrete plans nor to influence her thoughts but you could tell he was concerned. After what he was discussing with her – anyone would feel empathetic to his concerns and cheer for the fact he was rallying behind his sister when she needed him the most.
I felt pulled into this story – Liz is holding back so much in the opening chapters – she is questioning her own actions and the course she needs to take to resolve her current problems. There the kind of problems that make you shudder as there are no hard and fast answers to circumvent them but she has this grit about her where she wants to move forward. I felt the worst for her brother – how to help a sister in need but how to juggle your children, wife and family, too?
I have a feeling this is going to be a roller-coaster of emotional angst but I am eager to see how Liz starts to put the foundation back together on her life. She has a chance to change how she’s living and she has a small niche of a community in which she can find strength and healing. Seeing how all these characters move in and out of each others lives will be interesting – as I am quite sure this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Mia nor Evy. I shall eagerly await to see what the next chapters shall tell me and how entangled all of their lives will really become as the story continues to unfold.
This blog tour is courtesy of:
{SOURCES: Book cover for “As The Light Fades”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Catherine West, the tour host badge and Prism Book Tours badges and/or banners were all provided by Prism Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers and My Thoughts by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Stories in the Spotlight banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.
I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life
Blog Book Tour Spotlight | “As the Light Fades” by Catherine West https://t.co/ZUp7dmsbxg pic.twitter.com/Bfqc7sdixK
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) October 7, 2019
Comments via Twitter:
What a pretty cover!
— HistFic Virtual Book Tours 📚 (@HFVBT) October 7, 2019
For a #WomensFiction novel, I felt the cover fit well with where we are in the transitional moment of Liz’s life – almost like highlighting the calm before the storm? It is set on Nantucket – I felt pulled in emotionally just w/in the opening chapters due to how Liz is introduced
— Spooktastically, Jorie ?? (@joriestory) October 7, 2019
Although, I was also hopeful the cover represented the ‘after’ picture for Liz rather than the ‘before’; where her life has the hope of finding resolution and serenity even after the upheaval of situations she is about to go through; thanks for your lovely feedback!??
— Spooktastically, Jorie ?? (@joriestory) October 7, 2019
Thanks for hosting As the Light Fades! If you are able to share your thoughts on Amazon and/or Goodreads, I’d really appreciate it!
Hallo, Hallo Ms West,
I apologise for the late response to your question & enquiry. I have a cross-posting policy on my blog – where it is my discretion which of my reviews I’ll be cross-posting to LibraryThing (as I elected to join the LT community over GoodReads as it was a better fit for me as a reader). However, I did lengthen my ruminations on behalf of your book – giving it a proper review and wrote about what worked for me and what didn’t as I read the story. I am not sure if you swung back to see the fuller review however, it did post a few weeks after I shared the Spotlight for the blog tour.