#FraterfestRAT | Year II Concludes – find out what Jorie read and which stories are coming next to #JLASblog!

Posted Wednesday, 16 October, 2019 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

#FraterFestRAT banner created by Jorie via Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Marko Blažević

DETAILS: Read or Listen Between Midnight 10th October and ending at 11:59 pm 15th October read or listen to thrillers, mysteries, paranormal, horror, supernatural, witchy, ghostly, fantasy, or serial killer novels and novellas. (to clarify..these can be cozies and include romance. No need to sleep with the lights on if you don’t fancy a good scare!) Share your progress on Twitter or Instagram using #FraterfestRAT

Hosted by: Caffeinated Book Reviewer | @kimbacaffeinate

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What Jorie Read for #FraterfestRat [2019]:

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Death on the River by Clare Chase
(Contemporary Thriller)(audiobook)

A Nest of Vipers by Richard Storry
(Historical Fantasy Thriller)(audiobook)

Kill Shot by Susan Sleeman (Contemporary Thriller)

Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica (Contemporary Thriller)

Forget My Name by J.S. Monroe (Contemporary Thriller)

As the Light Fades by Catherine West → blog tour review forthcoming!
(Contemporary Women’s Fiction & Suspense)

The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri
(Contemporary Witchy Romance)(audiobook)

A last minute *extra!* addition: An Abiding Fire by M.J. Logue
as this is my 12th October @SatBookChat featured guest author!
I previously hosted an author interview about this novel & the series it kicked-off!

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Why I decided to participate in #FraterfestRAT this year:

I love #SpookyReads alongside the next person – give me ghosts and romance OR ghosts on a mission – I’m quite the happy reader! I love Gothic settings & ambiance – whilst I happen to love reading certain kinds of Thrillers! In this particular instance, I’ve been wanting to *jump-start!* my #SpooktasticReads wherein I’ll be disclosing which kinds of fantastical reads I’ll be digging inside for @WyrdAndWonder‘s second year of hosting a mini-event the fortnight leading into Halloween! For now, I want to focus on the stories on this particular reading list which have been languishing a bit too long on my bookshelves – most of which are also on my backlogue of reviews!

If anyone has any suggestions for Paranormal Romances, Suspense & Thrillers of the paranormal variety (even without a romance element!) or other stories which are either: Southern Gothic, Victorian Gothic or might constitute being labelled “Cosy Horror” – as it owns to the origins of Psychological Suspense without being overtly graphic and horrific – kindly leave me notes on this post!

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Let us take a closer look at how successful I was this #FraterfestRAT Year II:

When I first decided to join #FraterfestRAT this October, I was hoping it would kick-in a newfound motivation to read certain stories on my TBR shelf which I’ve been a bit anxious over reading – as I find Contemporary Thrillers to be the sort of stories I love to read *but!* only if the stories are written in a certain tone, voice and style. I’ve never been a reader for the brutality & grit of True Crime; disfavour the traditional Hard-Boiled Mysteries and prefer a sense of resolution that won’t gut your heart or soul by the time you reach the conclusionary chapters. Not that Thrillers need end on a happy-for-now plot point but you want to feel the journey you took was one you could feel satisfied over.

From the list I shared on my #FraterfestRAT TBR – there was one story in this category I already knew ahead of time I would enjoy soaking inside – that dear hearts was “Death on the River” by Clare Chase. I’ve read several of Ms Chase’s stories now to where I trust her instincts & her passion for crafting Contemporary Thrillers together. She knows how to keep me on the edge of reading a Thriller but without the worriment of fearing it might make me nausea due to visuals and/or a turning twist which falls into the sickening realms some Thrillers have the tendency of taking their character’s lives. No, Ms Chase gives you a wicked good riveting read where you need to brace yourself for the action & the revelations (of course) but in the way which is exciting for a reader as you try to attempt to sleuth out the truth ahead of Tara Thorpe!

The main stories which held my most concerns over were “Forget My Name” by J.S. Monroe; “Pretty Baby” by Mary Kubica and “Kill Shot” by Susan Sleeman. Of the three, the one which was a pleasant surprise was “Forget My Name” wherein I had a truly compelling read in front of my eyes which although sombering and sad; turnt out rather uplifting in the end due to the care & concern Mr Monroe took to tell this story. I gave him the most applause of gratitude for those choices he made in curating the dramatic climax and the conclusions therein! I truly found myself unable to put the book down – I ached to read just another chapter everyday of the readthon it was in my hands and the hours simply wicked off the clock as a result of how he continuously pulled me through the threading of his vision.

“A Nest of Vipers” is an audio read I began awhile ago now – one of the stories I had to place on indefinite hold before I could return inside its chapters (similar of course to how I was detached from “Death on the River”) – this is a curiously delightful darker Historical Fantasy Suspense from the pen of an author I’ve loved dearly since I first heard Jake Urry narrate “The Cryptic Lines” which in of itself is a #SpookyReads selection as you simply don’t know how it is going to end! Urry made such a keen impression on me during that first audiobook reading and review process – I’ve continued to seek out his narrations ever since. I have a particular eye on Richard Storry but I am slowly starting to branch out to new authors Urry is narrating if only to see how his style of narration continues to evolve as he tackles different genres & context of interest.

The two stories I didn’t make too much headway inside were “Kill Shot” and “As the Light Fades” – mostly as I was trying to keep my readings for the latter closer to when I could post my review on the blog tour and the former was a title that still made me shiver about opening because of how much the first novel of the White Knights took out of my nerves! I might have appreciated the journey after I concluded “Fatal Mistake” but what I had to read to get to that point was harrowing (at best) and freaky eerie (at worst) to journey through!

Whereas my listening of “Pretty Baby” and reading the print copy in tandem to hearing the audiobook was sidelined as I simply found “Forget My Name” #unputdownable and decided to run with reading Monroe’s novel over Kubica’s. I will have to say this is my first impression of “Pretty Baby” which truly did surprise me – as has long since been on my TBR under “cautiously optimistic but not gobsmacked if it becomes DNF” – the jury is still out as they say over whether or not I’ll finish my readings of this novel. I’m continuing forward with “Pretty Baby” inasmuch as I am continuing to read “The Ones We Trust” by Kimberly S. Belle as I’d like either conclude them both by the end of #SpooktasticReads or resolve which of them (or both) simply weren’t my cuppa. I have no way of knowing which will be which in the end as both promise to test me about where I want my Contemporary Thrillers to take me.

The extra selections – the Rachel Amphlett novel was never fetched at the library in time to make the readathon and M.J. Logue’s Historical Thriller novel “An Abiding Fire” left a stronger impression on me as a Romantic Historical Suspense novel vs a traditional Historical Thriller! The key to the story definitely was inside the relationship of Russell & Thomazine! I also noted a distinctive cross-referencing of their marriage to the relationship within The Thin Man films featuring the quirky and lovable Nick & Nora Charles! (portrayed by William Powell and Myrna Loy!)

Even though I began listening to the audiobook for “The Witch of Little Italy”, I simply ran out of the hours to get to far afield inside it. Therefore, I’ve added it to my section of #nextreads for #SpooktasticReads wherein I have a healthy focus on “Witches & Ghosts” this year!

I continued to tweet updates on where I was in the status of the stories – sharing a few insights into what my first thoughts were as I read or heard the stories themselves whilst following the tag #FraterfestRAT to see what everyone else was doing as the readthon progressed. Not to many of us participants were on Twitter sad to say – those I did find were friendly and engaging – however, I think we all had our heads down in the readathon sorting out our own routes into the stories at hand to where none of us were really exchanging our experiences within #FraterfestRAT! Laughs.

I only was able to participate in one of the challenges – the Bingo Card challenge where you have to sort out a ‘bingo’ row based on what you have currently to be read on your shelves via the prompts. Here are my responses which I felt were a clever answer as when I first saw this challenge I was quite boggled how to fill it out!

Jorie’s Bingo Card for #FraterfestRAT 2019:

Season of the Witch: Catching A Witch by Heidi Eljarbo

Superstition (Black Cat): Go for the Juggler (Magical Midway series) by Leanne Leeds (book four)

Thriller (Ghost): (audiobook) “The Haunting of Hillwood Farm” by Kathryn Knight, narrated by Kristin James

ALL of these lovelies are of course, part of my #SpooktasticReads TBR!

The second challenge I threw in the towel without trying – the which is witch maze of book covers? I could barely see the images and decided it was meant for someone else other than me to tackle it! The #bookstagram challenge didn’t apply to me but I was going to try to attempt it for #bookishTwitter except I am still having some tech issues with my camera to where I know I need to replace it whenever I can afford to do so. I miss sharing my book photography but for now, I was simply happy I could join the readathon – dig into these #currentreads I’ve been struggling with starting and finding myself #blessed for the five day block which gave me back an entrance into the stories I felt the most anxious over reading!

Moving into #SpooktasticReads this Friday, the 18th til Halloween – I feel wicked better for the hours I’ve had in #FraterfestRAT as this first readathon prepared me for the second! A sequel if you will – as the stories I’m reading next are in-line with the vibe I had established in this one! Which is aces as this means by the time 1st November floats round, I’ll have three readathons under my belt (as I was in the INSPY one for July) as I shift gears and tackle my love of Speculative Lit in relation to Science Fiction! (ie. #SciFiMonth previously known as #RRSciFiMonth)

My goals for #FraterfestRAT were quite humble – if I could open the books, sort out a thread of connection within the stories and find myself connecting to the context of those novels, I felt I had succeeded! The fact I finished reading two of the novels during the readathon and am progressing towards having reviews ready to share for three more within the next week is humbling to say the least! Those are as follows: “Death on the River”, “As the Light Fades” and “A Nest of Vipers”.

If you conclude that I read one of my library’s purchase requests (another aspect of a reader’s backlogue is how many requests went through this year in deference to how many I was able to read as they were acquired!) – “An Abiding Fire” and made amends for missing the Summer blog tour for “Forget Her Name” whilst I was able to listen concurrently with a backlogued title “A Nest of Vipers” and a delayed audiobook listening of “Death on the River” which is also on my backlogue reviews list.

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In conclusion: This is why I love participating in readathons as much as I do – in fact, I am thinking I do better with readathons on a monthly basis moreso than I do reading challenges on a yearly basis! Note to self: in 2020 only participate in RALs (readalongs), RATs (readathons) and bookish Bingo Cards! No more yearly ‘challenges’ with dearly long lists which are too hard to fill in by year’s end with selections which fit into my readerly life!

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Whose joined me this year?

And, what are your #mustreads& #nextreads for these kinds of genres of interest?

Are you joining us for #SpooktasticReads?

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Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.

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About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

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Posted Wednesday, 16 October, 2019 by jorielov in Blogosphere Events & Happenings, RALs | Thons via Blogs




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