Month: October 2019

#TopTenTuesday No.8 | Top Twelve Authors Who Deserve More Recommendation (feat. their characters I loved discovering!)

Posted Tuesday, 8 October, 2019 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday blog banner created by Jorie in Canva.

[Official Blurb] Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature / weekly meme created by The Broke & the Bookish. The meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke & the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your Top 10 Lists! In January, 2018 this meme is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

[ Topic of 8th October, 2019:
Character Traits I Love;
Personality Traits I Love to See In Book Characters:
Things That Make Me Love a Character ]

Which works brilliantly into a Top Ten Tuesday post
I originally wrote to coincide with the Topic of 2nd July, 2019:

We needed to discuss *characters!* with an OPEN THEME/CHOICE:

Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recommendation
(and their characters I loved discovering!)

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Today’s entry was inspiring to me for the following reasons:

As avid readers, we meet so many dearly incredible characters throughout our bookish journeys – it would make sense, somewhere over the score of time – we are going to come across authors & characters who leave imprinted impressions on our bookish hearts which not just effect us through time and space but they leave such a distinction of presence on our readerly lives. Sometimes they never quite leave us – as there is a part of them inside us still – all these hours after they’ve left our thoughts, because for each character we’ve met in a story, their life and their experiences have bled into our own; their memories are now our memories as for each story we read, there is a potential there to live another life, through another person’s shoes irregardless of their gender; their essence affects us because we’ve breathed in their life.

It is hard to even speculate which characters in the *six years!* I’ve blogged have staid with me the longest and which stories I ache the most to re-read and re-visit alongside – those are goals and dreams I have for Winters long spent by fireside cosy nooks of space where knitting needles, hot tea and scones await me as cats linger in dreamscapes and snow gently falls outside frozen windows. Until then, when I’m granted the joy of a seasonal experience outside of volcanic Summers and blink-you-missed-it Winters, I happily appreciate the hours I have to spend with the characters as their stories ‘greet’ me on the pages their writers left me to find.

As a genre dancer – it is even harder to pin down the characters I regularly interact with as they could be a fantastical creature, a science fiction adventurer, a Magical Realism time bender or they’re living Contemporary or Historical lives – they could be young, old, or somewhere between; sorting out their lives or re-defining a second career or tackling adversity inasmuch as they are giving love a second chance. I love stories and for all the lovelies I regularly read there are still so many more horizons out there in the literary realms I desire to explore further, read harder and read particularly closer to the eras of time I love exploring most.

Whilst at the same time, if I can disappear into my favourite eras such as the Victorian, Regency & Edwardian periods of England – the Highlands of Scotland and criss-cross through a time portal which skips round the historical past from Ancient times to present-day on all the continents of curiosity and interest; wells, you can see where the well of possibilities deepens greatly!

Narrowing down this list of choices was a bit of a curiously serendipitous experience – I went with the inspiration at the moment and as this was originally composed in July, I dearly had to break the 11 references into 12 as – oh, my dear sweet bookish heavens – those Spinsters have left me hungering for more of their stories! I cannot wait to re-invest into their lives as I move into the second novel having consumed (er, devoured?) the first and fourth!

It goes without saying but I will remind you: brew your favourite cuppa & get comfy as this is a seriously long post about the stories and authors I hope might encourage a few new choices on your TBR Lists!Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

DUE NOTE: all the books featured on this Top Ten Tuesday post were complimentary books sent to me for review consideration and/or were sent in exchange for an honest review at some point or another over the past few years. I received them from publishers, publicists, authors and/or blog touring companies. I was not obligated to feature them on this Top Ten Tuesday post but wanted to feature them due to how incredibly attached I became to their narratives, characters and the immersive experience I felt as I read their stories.

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Posted Tuesday, 8 October, 2019 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Top Ten Tuesday

Blog Book Tour Spotlight | “As the Light Fades” by Catherine West

Posted Monday, 7 October, 2019 by jorielov , 2 Comments

Stories in the Spotlight banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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.

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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!

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Blog Book Tour Spotlight | “As the Light Fades” by Catherine WestAs 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.

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Women's Fiction



Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

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

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.

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Posted Monday, 7 October, 2019 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, Indie Author, Prism Book Tours, Women's Fiction

#HistoricalMondays showcasing #HistRom series | The Spinster Chronicles by Rebecca Connolly feat. “The Merry Lives of Spinsters”

Posted Monday, 7 October, 2019 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

#HistoricalMondays blog banner created by Jorie in Canva.

I’ve launched a new weekly featured concentration of book reviews on Jorie Loves A Story which celebrates my love and passion for the historical past! For those of whom are regular readers and visitors to my blog, you’ll denote a dedicated passion for reading Historical Fiction (and all the lovely segues of thematic therein) – I am a time traveller of the historical past every chance I get to disappear into a new era and/or century of exploration. There isn’t a time period I haven’t enjoyed ruminating over since [2013] and there are a heap of lovely timescapes I’ve yet to encounter.

This feature was inspired by the stories I’ve read, the stories I’ve yet to experience and the beauty of feeling interconnected to History through the representation of the past through the narratives being writ by today’s Historical Fiction authors. It is to those authors I owe a debt of gratitude for enlightening my bookish mind and my readerly heart with realistic characters, illuminating portals of living history and a purposeful intent on giving each of us a strong representation of ‘life’ which should never become dismissed, forgotten or erased.

I am began this feature with the sequel to a beloved historical novel I first read in [2013] – it was one of the first ARCs I received and it was the first year I was a book blogger though it was through a connection outside my life as a blogger. I celebrated K.B. Laugheed’s literature to kick-off this feature and hopefully will inspire my followers to take this new weekly journey with me into the stories which are beckoning to read their narrative depths and find the words in which to express the thoughts I experienced as I read.

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Acquired Book By: I have been hosting blog tours with Cedar Fort Publishing and Media for several years now, wherein their new blog tour publicist (Ms Sydney Anderson) also runs her own publicity touring company: Singing Librarian Book Tours (or SLB Tours for short!). I happily joined her team of book bloggers as a hostess in late Spring, 2018 wherein my first tours with her as a hostess began Summer, 2018. I appreciate reading INSPY literature and was happy to find these are most of the stories she is showcasing through SLB Tours! Most of her authors are published through Cedar Fort, though she does work with authors who are either Self-Published or Indie published through different publishers as well.

There is a bit of a long gap between when I first received these novels for review consideration and when I am actually reading them for review. I cannot remember exactly what took me away from reading them – however, I have a suspicion it was due to migraines and health afflictions as throughout [2018] I had ten months of health issues and severe bouts of high frequency of migraines to battle through – whilst [2019] has gone better in that regard, I have still had issues dealing with migraines despite the fact this year has had a more limited frequency of them compared to last year. When I learnt this author was going on a blog tour for the fourth novel in the series – I knew this was a second chance to redeem myself and properly bring the series to Jorie Loves A Story. Therefore, I am reading all four novels and reviewing them within the week of the blog tour.

I received a complimentary copy of “The Merry Lives of Spinsters” direct from the author Rebecca Connolly in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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The reasons why this particular series of Historical Romance (ie. #HistRom) charmed me:

IF you’ve been visiting with me for awhile now, you’ve noticed a particular appreciation for Historical Fiction & the lovely niche of Historical Romance floating into my archives here at Jorie Loves A Story! This is because I was charmed by the Historical past eons ago in childhood wherein I first picked up my very first #HistRom round the age of eight or nine – the exact year alters depending on which day I remember gathering those Victorian & Regency Christmas novella anthologies! Those gentle stories of yesteryear centred inside two eras of British History I fell head over heels in love with at *first sight!* became the moment where my bookish heart could not get enough Historical Romances in my life!

I believe Historical Romances should keep in mind the people in power, the situations of the world during the specific time period being explored and of course, keeping mindful of living persons whilst having the internal time-line of the story altered in scope against the known one in History. Some writers alter historical time for literary time which is generally alright for me if it is done in such a way to be believable within their story.

When it comes to Historical Romance, I am not reading it strictly to learn about ‘history’  per se but rather want to feel caught in the joy of the relationship being built against the historical backdrop it is placed. Which tracks well with the choices I make in which Historical Romance authors draw my eye towards their works of literature! In this particular instance, what drew me into a curiosity about the Spinster Chronicles is the curious point of entrance into the women whose lives are at the centre of the series! It is a unique perspective but also an interesting premise – of how thread a series out of a particular set of circumstances and yet, leaving the door ajar for these women to find their happier-ever-afters as well!

Last Autumn, I had the pleasure of joy learning more about the writer’s (Ms Connolly’s) writing process and a few insights into her series (the Spinster Chronicles) when I shared my interview which was featured during the “Spinster and I” blog tour. This Autumn, I am happily reading the series which inspired the conversation – the stories which have charmed me from afar and of which I was happily soaking inside as the Regency is one of my top favourite #HistRom settings to settle inside!

May your #AutumnReads be as excitingly awesome as mine this year!

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#HistoricalMondays showcasing #HistRom series | The Spinster Chronicles by Rebecca Connolly feat. “The Merry Lives of Spinsters”The Merry Lives of Spinsters
Subtitle: How do you solve a problem like a spinster? | A Spinster Chronicles Romance
by Rebecca Connolly
Source: Direct from Author

Spinster is as Spinster does...

Georgina Allen is a spinster and everybody knows it. She also happens to be one of the writers for the Spinster Chronicles, and everyday knows that as well. She's accepted her lot in life, and, along with the other spinsters in her circle, takes great pride in the articles she's writes and the influence she has. Then Captain Anthony Sterling infiltrates their group, and her life, and Georgie impossibly begins to hope once more.

Tony Sterling had no idea what to expect when he agreed to break up the Spinsters for his cousin, but he certainly did not expect Georgie Allen. From the very first meeting, she upends everything he thought a spinster would be, and her beauty and wit keeps him on edge in thrilling ways. The more he gets to know the Spinsters, the less he wants to break them up. And the more he wants Georgie in his life. Permanently.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Feminist Historical Fiction, Historical Women's Fiction, Historical Romance, Sweet Romance



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781943048533

Also by this author: Author Interview Rebecca Connolly (Spinster Chronicles), My Fair Spinster

Series: Spinster Chronicles


Also in this series: My Fair Spinster


Published by Phase Publishing

on 1st May, 2018

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 284

Reflections from My Fair Spinster, Book Four:

I read the fourth novel concurrently to reading the first due to the blog tour – it is also why some of my reflections on behalf of Grace co-merge between the two reviews.

At the heart of the Spinster Chronicles, there is an undercurrent theme which runs through all the stories – friendship alongside the love and concern for your fellow peers of whom you might not have realised would become your best mates through serendipitous first meetings. I love how Connolly evokes us to take a close look at her characters – through their associations, their personal friendships and how they understand their own duties within their given families. She also has the knack for showing the ‘other side’ of the Regency – the roguish rakes and the men of whom think they’re every woman’s gift to be unwrapped. She does this quite cleverly against the main backdrop of showing honourable gentleman who may or may not realise how ready they are to tackle marriage and a life with a wife who has taken them by charm, wit and a sophisticated level of independence.

Interlinking this novel with the first was a good turn of surprises, as throughout the series you get so dearly attached to previous characters, you want to seem them continue to ‘step forward’ into future installments. Anchouring Aubrey to Sterling (ie. Georgie’s husband) also gave a unique perspective on why Sterling and Georgie make such a winsome match themselves; as they truly always shared much more in common with each other than they first realised, though the evidence was there it is more present to be observed when you see how Sterling himself fathered his mates as much as Georgie attempted to mother hers. They were each the unexpected hero who looked out for others and tried to look out for themselves in the process and that is one of the most admirable traits within the Spinster Chronicles – don’t just own your individual truths and the path your life is taking but do something with your hours outside of your own endeavours, too.

Connolly has a champion way of enticing us into her plots – just when we think we understand the pattern or direction a particular installment is going to take, she re-knits us close to her heroine and hero, giving us a measured joy in carting off after them to see what shall unite them further together. In this story, what is truly wickedly engaging is how indifferent Aubrey is to the scheme he is employed to undertake and how willingly Grace is attempting to thwart her father’s plans. They were quite literally thrown back together again and that in of itself was the brilliant stroke of luck Connolly could have given them!

-quoted from my review of My Fair Spinster

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The Spinster Chronicles:

The Merry Lives of Spinsters by Rebercca ConnollyThe Spinster and I by Rebecca ConnollySpinster and Spice by Rebecca ConnollyMy Fair Spinster by Rebecca Connolly

The Merry Lives of Spinsters (book one) – Georgie

The Spinster & I  (book two) – Prue

Spinster & Spice (book three) – Izzy

My Fair Spinster (book four) –  Grace
(see also my review)

Published By: Phase Publishing (@PhasePubLLC)

Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #SpinsterChronicles, #Regency and #HistRom

About Rebecca Connolly

Rebecca Connolly

Rebecca Connolly writes romances, both period and contemporary, because she absolutely loves a good love story. She has been creating stories since childhood, and there are home videos to prove it! She started writing them down in elementary school and has never looked back. She currently lives in the Midwest, spends every spare moment away from her day job absorbed in her writing, and is a hot cocoa addict.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Monday, 7 October, 2019 by jorielov in 19th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Romance Fiction, Singing Librarian Book Tours, Sweet Romance, the Regency era

#HistRom series book review | The Spinster Chronicles by Rebecca Connolly feat. “My Fair Spinster” (Book Four) of a #Regency series I find delishly #unputdownable and wickedly addictive to be #amreading!

Posted Saturday, 5 October, 2019 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

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

Acquired Book By: I have been hosting blog tours with Cedar Fort Publishing and Media for several years now, wherein their new blog tour publicist (Ms Sydney Anderson) also runs her own publicity touring company: Singing Librarian Book Tours (or SLB Tours for short!). I happily joined her team of book bloggers as a hostess in late Spring, 2018 wherein my first tours with her as a hostess began Summer, 2018. I appreciate reading INSPY literature and was happy to find these are most of the stories she is showcasing through SLB Tours! Most of her authors are published through Cedar Fort, though she does work with authors who are either Self-Published or Indie published through different publishers as well.

There is a bit of a long gap between when I first received these novels for review consideration and when I am actually reading them for review. I cannot remember exactly what took me away from reading them – however, I have a suspicion it was due to migraines and health afflictions as throughout [2018] I had ten months of health issues and severe bouts of high frequency of migraines to battle through – whilst [2019] has gone better in that regard, I have still had issues dealing with migraines despite the fact this year has had a more limited frequency of them compared to last year. When I learnt this author was going on a blog tour for the fourth novel in the series – I knew this was a second chance to redeem myself and properly bring the series to Jorie Loves A Story. Therefore, I am reading all four novels and reviewing them within the week of the blog tour.

I received a complimentary copy of “My Fair Spinster” direct from the author Rebecca Connolly in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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What I am enjoying about the Spinster Chronicles:

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My Fair Spinster quote badge provided by SLB Book Tours and is used with permission.

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There is a wicked sense of ease of alighting inside the Spinsters novels by Ms Connolly – in fact, she charms you outright with her sense of pacing, direction of insight she gives her characters and the fact, that as a whole she uses the turns of phrase you’d expect to find in a Regency Romance. I love the fact that this is an atypical Regency Romance in that traditional regard, as there is much more to the plot than a trajectory of interest which would lead into a settled relationship. No, there are layers here to pull apart and appreciate – as Ms Connolly has written a very modernly apt series re-positioned into the Regency where we find lovely young women who are as independently minded as we are today (and I am quite sure, there must have been a few back then as well!) who are determined to right their own fates against what they deem is right for themselves. What isn’t to love about a Historical Romance series like this one? Feminist driven story-lines, wholly curious characters and the entire backdrop of the series is an era you feel most at home re-visiting as it has become a favourite mainstay of your readerly life – or at least, it has been for me!

I loved at the start of each of the chapters are portions of the Spinsters column – you can denote what is most fetching on their minds by what they are disclosing to their readers; those observations also serve as a foreshadow of what the chapter will next reveal within their lives – a bit of a clever way of nudging you along their thought-process and to better understand their motivations overall. They were a bit more complicated and complex than you first imagine them to be as there are hidden layers which are earnestly drawn out as you read further into the context of the novel.

You have to give credit where its due and that lies in the cheek and frankness of Lady Hetty! She has this clever way of speaking truth when you aren’t suspecting she’s still observing enough of the singletons to know of their ‘secrets’ or at least, what they are attempting to hide from others; for her eyes, she sees them as they are and of whom they are rather than what they wish to mask. She’s one of the supporting cast members who truly strikes your fancy because she is as affirmative as Maggie Smith on Downton Abbey but with a bit less abrasive moxie! She’s also the type of person you would like to strike a conversation with yourself – if only to preen the observations she can grant you and give you something to chew over whilst you contemplate how the tea in your cup was brewed.

Connolly takes us into the balls, the places where the dances, the conversations and the choices in fashion are only part of the story being played out – the other half, the slight murmurs of a match, the potential suitors striking out to find their winsome partners and the girls’ themselves either ready to embrace that next stage of their life or not, find themselves in the march towards courtship. It is here where Connolly develops the keenest of insight into her characters’ – to put on display what is instinctively motivating Sterling to advocate for the Spinsters and where Georgie most feels like the Queen Protector for all the girls’ who may or may not know of her existence.

Watching them as you do – being swept into the intrigue of the scene ‘behind’ the ball itself and having Lady Hetty ready on the sidelines to pull back the veils of what is hidden from the surface, you have a ready made drama to soak inside. It isn’t just the fact the Spinsters consider themselves necessary to be present at these kinds of events for the sake of future knowledge to impart lateron in their articles but it is earnestly their desire to be more visible to those girls’ they are trying to impress upon the better sensibility they wish they had had someone give to them at their younger ages. And, that dear hearts is the beauty of the novel itself – how women who have lived their lives caught up in the motions of tradition, duty and expectation wish to give back to the generation behind them. In that, you become one of their cheerleaders, second only to Sterling.

There are little nudges of insight threading through the narrative – something you start to notice as you dive deeper into the heart of the first installment The Merry Lives of Spinsters – Connolly has left behind a lovely little world for you to entreat inside. You get to enjoy the aspects of Pride and Prejudice which whisk you into new variants of the novel whilst giving you a wholly refreshed view of the Regency with characters who were penned with an honesty of purpose and position. I loved how Connolly re-visits an era I readily read but re-illuminates it through a door not oft opened.

-quoted from my review of The Merry Lives of Spinsters

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#HistRom series book review | The Spinster Chronicles by Rebecca Connolly feat. “My Fair Spinster” (Book Four) of a #Regency series I find delishly #unputdownable and wickedly addictive to be #amreading!My Fair Spinster
Subtitle: Oh, what a beautiful spinster... | A Spinster Chronicles Romance
by Rebecca Connolly
Source: Direct from Author

The spinster next door…

Grace Morledge is a failure. Or so her father believes, as she is unmarried despite her advantages. In his mind, Grace must have significant flaws to be a spinster and something must be done about them. To her mortification, he demands she be fully examined and all flaws recorded. And the man he chooses is the worst possible candidate of all.

Aubrey Flint, Lord Ingram, has known Grace since childhood, but he never anticipated Lord Trenwick demanding he examine her for flaws. How can perfection have faults? Reluctantly, he accepts the assignment, and finds far more than he bargained for, and perfection becomes more and more tempting.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Feminist Historical Fiction, Historical Women's Fiction, Historical Romance, Sweet Romance



Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781943048885

Also by this author: Author Interview Rebecca Connolly (Spinster Chronicles), The Merry Lives of Spinsters

Series: Spinster Chronicles


Also in this series: The Merry Lives of Spinsters


Published by Phase Publishing

on 1st October, 2019

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 298

The Spinster Chronicles:

The Merry Lives of Spinsters by Rebercca ConnollyThe Spinster and I by Rebecca ConnollySpinster and Spice by Rebecca ConnollyMy Fair Spinster by Rebecca Connolly

The Merry Lives of Spinsters (book one)

The Spinster & I  (book two)

Spinster & Spice (book three)

My Fair Spinster (book four)

Published By: Phase Publishing (@PhasePubLLC)

Published on: 1st November, 2018 | ISBN: 9781943048700

Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #SpinsterChronicles, #Regency and #HistRom

About Rebecca Connolly

Rebecca Connolly

Rebecca Connolly writes romances, both period and contemporary, because she absolutely loves a good love story. She has been creating stories since childhood, and there are home videos to prove it! She started writing them down in elementary school and has never looked back. She currently lives in the Midwest, spends every spare moment away from her day job absorbed in her writing, and is a hot cocoa addict.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Saturday, 5 October, 2019 by jorielov in 19th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Romance Fiction, Singing Librarian Book Tours, Sweet Romance, The London Season, the Regency era

#SaturdaysAreBookish Sampler | Discovering the collective works of #SatBookChat feat. guest [5 October] Kimberly S. Belle!

Posted Saturday, 5 October, 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!

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Borrowed Book By: I first discovered the collective works of Ms Belle in [2015] when I featured a guest post for her novel “The Ones We Trust” when I was a blogger working with TLC Book Tours. I wasn’t able to request the book for review consideration which is why I oft mused about when I could read the novel as my local library hadn’t yet purchased a copy to read. Fast forward through the years, as I tipped @AudioShelfMe (a podcast which grew into a booktube and bookstagram channel) towards her collective works – I noted how well Brad & Britney had taken a hankering to her stories as they would frequently showcase her novels. I caught their podcasts, happily interacted with the three of them on Twitter and re-thought about how to get a hold of Ms Belle’s novels myself! This is why over the Summer of 2019, I decided to see what was available at my local libraries these four years later. I happily found two novels in print and one in audiobook; though technically, “Three Days Missing” and “Dear Wife” were also available at different intervals but I’ll discuss those within the context of this post.

I borrowed a print copy of “The Ones We Trust” and “The Last Breath” whereas I borrowed an audiobook copy of “The Marriage Lie” via my local libraries. The audiobook was courtesy of their OverDrive digital libraries which I was thankful to find as they can be streamed rather easily. I am choosing to share my reflections and takeaways on behalf of these novels without obligation to post my ruminative thoughts about them. The Press Materials shown on this post were provided by the author Kimberly S. Belle and are used with permission; as these stories were a focal point of a recent @SatBookChat wherein the author was a featured guest on 5th October, 2019. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

As you might have spied via my bookish feeds on Twitter – via both @joriestory + @satbookchat, my lovely guest author this weekend is none other than Contemporary Women’s Fiction novelist : Kimberly S. Belle! A delightful author I first crossed paths with during a [2015] TLC Book Tours showcase for her second novel “The Ones We Trust” which at the time left quite the strong impression on me even without having had the chance to read it.

Our paths re-crossed on #bookishTwitter, especially when I nudged the hosts of #AudioShelf (@AudioShelfMe) to give her stories a whirl and see if they might be a good ‘fit’ for their bookish podcast. I happily enjoyed listening to their journey into her collective works, whilst looking forward to the day where I could begin my own!

This Summer I had earmarked myself to read her novels in reverse order – starting with her latest release “Dear Wife” and moving backwards into “The Last Breath” which was her debut release in [2014]. However, as life continues to prove, our best plans end up needing a bit of an adaption when some curve-balls enter into the fray! I had some serious health issues post-May due to those 5x cluster migraines I succumbed too during #WyrdAndWonder whilst life became a smidge adverse with numerous plumbing fiascos which included 2x major *flooding* incidents! Woo was Jorie this Summer!

Needless, I kept :pushing: forward my readings of Ms Belle’s novels, eagerly looking forward to seeing my turn in the queue lines dwindle down to where I could pick them up (either the physical copies and/or the digital audiobooks via OverDrive for my libraries) – a few separate times I saw myself having either the audiobook for “Dear Wife” or the print version on my loans shelf – whilst it took a bit more time to track down print copies of “The Ones We Trust” & “The Last Breath” as I waited in queue for the audiobooks of “Three Days Missing” and “Dear Wife” to boomerang back into my loan shelves!

To be honest – the narrator for “Dear Wife” did not convince me to listen to the novel – there was something I was simply not connecting with in how the story was being delivered through the narration itself and this can and does happen to me, dear hearts. There are some narrators of whom I dearly want to *love!* listening narrate a story but in the end, I find they are not the right fit for me in the context of that story at all. Other times, they woo me to read an author I might not have connected with in print; so it just depends, really. I also found the story a bit more jolting – it had more abrasive language and the context in the beginning wasn’t very appealling to me either but I think that had to due to the situations & the subjects explored moreso than anything else. Some story-lines are just not a good fit for me and this one fell into that category.

Likewise, the narrator for “Three Days Missing” was a rough go for me – I couldn’t even put my finger on what was wrong listening to this novel until I started listening to “The Marriage Lie” and recognised the differences between all three audiobooks. The narrator’s approach in this third novel ropes you in rather immediately – from her accent, to how she is articulating the story and personalising your reading experience by how she’s presenting her characters – it felt full and expressive and that kind of narration is my favourite – so even if the story was a punch-gut hit to the dramatic, it was a story I felt I might honestly enjoy hearing due to the narration & how Belle would walk us through a rather remarkable plot!

Overall, the three novels I selected to showcase this weekend and to begin the discussion into how she curates her tone, narrative style & the convicting story-lines of her Contemporary Women’s Fiction Suspense Thrillers is to focus on the trifecta of her collective works which for me were novels one, two & three! The second as mentioned I had a special reason of wanting to read it having hosted the blog tour; the debut as I love to see where a writer begins their writerly career and the third, quite literally was decided due to the narrator who breathed a breath of life into the book as it funnelled its way into my ears!

I lost the hours to properly devour each of these lovelies in full – but as you will see, even with my method of ‘previewing’ the stories ahead of #SatBookChat, I have quite a heap to share about what I am finding inside them; which either meant I was curiously hopeful about what would happen next or I was so dearly chilled by what I found inside the story itself, I realised I could not pursue it further.

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Without further adieu,
I give you my first “#SatBookChat sampler”
ahead of conversing with the author whose penned these chilling stories of Women’s Fiction!

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The Contemporary Women’s Fiction novels of Kimberly S. Belle

I sampled ahead of #SatBookChat’s conversation!

The Last Breath by Kimberly BelleThe Ones We Trust by Kimberly BelleThe Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle

The Last Breath (2014)

The Ones We Trust (2015)

The Marriage Lie (audiobook) (2016)

 → forthcoming release: Stranger in the Lake (2020)

About Ms Kimberly Belle

Kimberly Belle

Kimberly Belle is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of five novels, including the newly released domestic suspense, Dear Wife (June 2019).

Her third novel, The Marriage Lie, was a semifinalist in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Mystery & Thriller, and her work has been translated into a dozen languages.

A graduate of Agnes Scott College, Belle divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comConverse via: #AudioReads + #AutumnReads with #KimberlyBelle
also #WomensFiction #Suspense or #Thriller

Be sure to stay tuned to @SatBookChat for the transcript post-chat in ‘Moments’ – where I am housing our chat archives after having lost years worth of conversations to Nurph & Storify. Also, if you would like to share or respond to ANY of the chat’s talking points, kindly add our tag #SatBookChat and carry on the convo with us! Likewise, visit our Info Page.

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Posted Saturday, 5 October, 2019 by jorielov in #SaturdaysAreBookish, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Contemporary Thriller, Disillusionment in Marriage, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Realistic Fiction, Suspense, Women's Fiction