Acquired Audiobook By: I started to listen to audiobooks in [2016] as a way to offset my readings of print books whilst noting there was a rumour about how audiobooks could help curb chronic migraines as you are switching up how your reading rather than allowing only one format to be your bookish choice. As I found colouring, knitting and playing solitaire agreeable companions to listening to audiobooks, I embarked on a new chapter of my reading life where I spend time outside of print editions of the stories I love reading and exchange them for audio versions.
Through hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions, I’ve expanded my knowledge of authors who are producing audio versions of their stories whilst finding podcasters who are sharing their bookish lives through pods. Meanwhile, I am also curating my own wanderings in audio via my local library who uses Overdrive for their digital audiobook catalogue wherein I can also request new digital audiobooks to become added to their OverDrive selections. Aside from OverDrive I also enjoy having Audible & Scribd memberships as my budget allows. It is a wonderful new journey and one I enjoy sharing – I have been able to expand the percentage of how many audios I listen to per year since 2018.
I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “Winterdream” via Audiobookworm Promotion who is working with Chantal Gadoury on this blog tour in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I was excited to be listening to WINTERDREAM:
A ballet [“The Nutcracker”] I once had the pleasure of seeing on stage during Christmastide (ie. 2001) as a friend of mine surprised me with tickets. It was the first time I had seen the story come alive in this way and the beauty of the actors and dancers on stage has never quite left me! It was such a magical experience because I had known a bit about the story ahead of seeing it burst to life in front of me, I felt I had had a more enriched experience than several people sitting near me who were completely in the dark. Thus, as I move into listening to Winterdream – I feel as if I will continue to make the transitions from the perspective of a reader who already loves the story!
Fairy-tale retellings and after canon sequels, inspired-by stories or re-tellings are some of my favourites to discover as a book blogger! I have tried to seek out the after canon narratives which not only pay homage to the originals but they seek to have their own individual stamp on how to tell the story from a refreshing perspective of entrance! These are the stories which give you a wicked good read whilst endeavouring you to re-see the past in a different dimension of thoughtfulness.
Being that I spent December & January this year binge-watching my favourite (new & old) Hallmark Christmas movies – I have been trying to ‘extend!’ the joy of reading Christmas stories and/or Christmas Romances this February & March. I was originally going to cap it at Valentine’s Day but it took me a bit longer to get into the rhythm of reading this New Year whilst two of my library purchase requests are taking a bit longer to reach me via my local library! One is a Christmas story and the other is a Valentine’s romance. Therefore, shifting into Winterdream just felt like the right timing as I still haven’t ‘let go’ of Christmas!
Having said this – I wonder if any of my followers and subscribers are as attached as I am to stories which seek to re-tell a famous story? To see it from a different angle or a different era of choice? Sometimes they can even gender-bend the lead characters or move from a Historical to Contemporary setting (or vice versa) whilst sometimes even endeavouring to be explored through elements of Speculative Fiction! Whichever way you slice it – I oft wonder who else *loves!* to unearth these stories and soak into the author’s vision for them?
Winterdream
by Chantal Gadoury
Source: Audiobook via Audiobookworm Promotions
Narrator: Anne Marie Lewis
This Christmas Eve, no creature was stirring, except, maybe, a mouse.
At long last, can true love break the Nutcracker’s curse?
For Clara Stahlbaum, this Christmas means the end of her youth. A daughter of the aristocracy, Clara is expected to give up her dreams of adventures and the extraordinary for more normal days as the wife of a cruel viscount.
But when magical Uncle Drosselmeyer returns with his wondrous, dancing contraptions and one special gift for Clara, she is beckoned to the land of Winter Dream, where she is thrust into the greatest adventure of her wildest dreams.
But will she be able to break the Nutcracker's curse? Uncle Drosselmeyer’s apprentice Anton is handsome as he is mysterious. But what is it about him Clara finds so alluring?
Winter Dream is a phenomenal retelling of The Nutcracker from the eyes of Clara Stahlbaum with all the magic of the Holiday season. If you loved S. Jae-Jones’ Wintersong, you’ll fall in love with this stunning tale of love, war, redemption, and Christmas magic.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1790211678
ASIN: B083BWPQSQ
Also by this author: Narrator Interview (Winterdream)
Published by The Parliament House
on 31st December, 2019
Format: Audiobook | Digital
Length: 10 hours and 22 minutes (unabridged)
Formats Available: Trade Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook
Converse via: #WinterDream + #AudioReads, #Audiobook
as well as #ClassicLit Re-Telling of #TheNutcracker
why I am spotlighting this audiobook:
Whilst I was listening to Winterdream this week, I was struck down by a plethora of health afflictions including but not limited to a severe migraine which started as an optical migraine as well as a severely bad Winter’s cold. The cold itself is going through my family and we’re doing what we can to help bolster each others’ spirits and just make it through the days whilst we ride out the worst of the cold. One added bonus – I’ve had sore ears, affected by temperature (extreme heat or cold) and sometimes even the audible sounds of either spoken voice or music. I never had this happen whilst succumbed by a cold and it made hearing this story a bit troublesome as I could only hear short bursts of the story before my ears truly needed a rest. The migraine itself was harder to work round as removing sound from a migraine doesn’t quite dull its effects – you sort of have to withdraw from everything in order to rest and wait it out. (at least the ones I am plagued with having)
The bits I was able to hear from the story itself were rather enchanting – I liked the style of how Ms Gadoury was approaching bridging this new version of the story into the classical canon of how it was originally told. She was presenting us with seeing how Clara was caught between girlhood and womanhood – how she wasn’t quite ready at acknowledging this new role she was meant to play in her life as being the willfully obedient daughter who knew her place and knew her obligation to wed the most eligible person her family would be thankful she was married too. In a way, she is on the fringes of recognising how different her life and that of her best friend were about to take different routes – her friend saw nothing wrong with the familiar traditions – of giving oneself over to the will of the family and to maintain the honour of what was expected of them.
For Clara, I sensed there was something in her becoming a bit too repressed in that venture – she didn’t want to just feel obligated to fulfill a duty owed against her life to her family or to the society in which she lived. She wanted to live to the fullest of her potential and to see part of this extraordinary world her Uncle was infamous for sharing with her whenever he returnt from his own travels. In many respects, I felt without her Uncle’s influence, Clara might have grown up to be like her friend – never questioning the order of life and never thinking of going against the traditions set in place they must endure.
There was a moment of a glimpse into Winterdream – of this hidden world only Clara seems to be given the chance to become familiar with ahead of the story itself from being revealled. It was there we also saw her hesitation – Clara has the will to be a rebel but does she have the strength to do what her heart desires? I was questioning this as I was hearing her story as it was being narrated – as Ms Lewis did a good job at articulating the accents of the characters but also of alternating between them. The best friend had a far haughtier voice than Clara – apparently secure in her choice to wed and carry on with the life her family would expect her to find appeasing. Whereas Clara’s voice sounds like someone still trying to figure things out – to process what is happening right now in her life and to either take flight away from it or find another plausible excuse to avoid the events from crowding in on her as she couldn’t handle the pressures of this society.
I am definitely going to be finishing listening to this story – the performance is an enjoyable listening experience due to the narrative style of Lewis and the story itself is a compelling one as Gadoury has written an entrance back inside “The Nutcracker” I am most keen on exploring further!
This blog tour is courtesy of Audiobookworm Promotions:
Be sure to follow the blog tour route to see what else awaits you!
Previously I hosted an interview with the narrator for this audio tour!
{SOURCES: Book Cover for “Winterdream”, the biography of Chantal Gadoury and the narrator, Benjamin Fife as well as the blog tour banner, the audiobook promo banner and the host badge were provided by Audiobookworm Promotions and are used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Audiobook Narrator Interview banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
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