Influencer #partner with #CrimeFictionBox | This #CrimeFicFriday is revealling what I received for the April Box!

Posted Friday, 12 June, 2020 by jorielov , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

Stories of Jorie Banner created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography. (Creative Commons Zero)

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

In keeping in step with my announcements about being a new influencer for #bookboxes & book subscription services, I wanted to take a moment to highlight the #unboxing photographs I took for my 2nd Crime Fiction Subscription Box as well as talk about my *excitement!* over which books were enclosed and why I think these are going to become wicked good reads for me as a reader who loves her journey into Cosy Crime & Crime Fiction narratives!

[ be sure to read my ANNOUNCEMENT to find out which niches of this genre
I prefer to read & which ones I am hoping to continue discovering! ]

I’ve had to sit on this news and this reveal ever since I first received the lovely #bookbox in the mail! I was able to release a vlog #unboxing video which I happily tweeted closer to the time the box arrived – however, life and tides, health afflictions and an inability to find the words to blog these past few months left this lovely post in my drafts queue to be published. I decided to create a new sub-feature of Jorie Loves A Story – to inspire me into diving back into Crime Fiction whilst at the same time, finding traction with how to blog, read and discuss the lovely #newtomeauthors the #CrimeFictionBox has delivered to my postbox!!

In case you’ve missed my first announcement –
here is what you can expect from receiving your very own #CrimeFictionBox:

Crime Fiction Subscription Box logo badge provided by Crime Fiction Subscription Box and is used with permission.

One small switch from my first announcement: The #CrimeFictionBox NOW ships within a week of being ordered! No time delays for receiving your book box!

Remember: if a customer emails and asks for specific authors and/or types of stories not to be included they will do their best to fulfill those requests. They’re a small outfit so it’s not an issue.

If someone has a bad experience with the books, we just add an additional book the following month. No returns on books received.

→ They offer monthly, yearly and a bookcase option on their Boxes Page! You can choose from receiving 2x books per month (ie. Main Box) OR 3x books per month (ie. Big Box). Those subscriptions are also calculated for yearly subscriptions vs monthly installments. There is also a Large Print #bookbox option for both!

→ One aspect of this subscription service I *loved!* most is that they champion #CanLit Authors! You can request to receive Canadian Authors in your boxes and for me that is the best component of the box itself because I’ve been wanting to source and read more #CanLit Authors for such a long time!

→ In regards to the Crime Fiction novelists being featured in the #CrimeFictionBox: I had a curious itch to know the answer to this question as I read and follow so many who write these kinds of stories – I know some might visit my post out of curiosity… the answer was a sweet one: #CrimeFictionBox is OPEN to featuring world-wide authors of Crime!! Isn’t that beyond fab!?!

Shipping is FREE for North America. Seriously. I think that’s a game changer for most considering how steep shipping and handling fees are these days!

→ Before you ask – there aren’t ‘extras’ or swag or other inclusions right now currently in the boxes. There are plans being developed towards that end – however, wait til you read my REVEAL post and realise how *fab!* these boxes are even without some of the ‘extras’ you might be familiar with in other subscription boxes. REMEMBER these are tailored to your readerly interests and thereby not the traditional subscription box service.

Father’s Day Special: 3x month subscription, 2x books per month!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

(*) Due Note: I am a promotional #partner and/or Influencer with Crime Fiction Subscription Box but similar to how I receive books from publishers, authors & publicists or early review programs – I am not being monetarily compensated for sharing my experiences, impressions, reviews or the links to their website on my blog Jorie Loves A Story nor on my feeds on Twitter (@joriestory). Nor for the coupon code which is a discount for new subscribers to the Crime Fiction Subscription Box service.

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IF you’d like to order your own Crime Fiction Subscription box,

you can use my coupon code → 25%JORIE

→ *This applies to your first order only.
And, reflects ONLY on the Main Box & Big Box Monthly subscriptions.*

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Let’s take a closer look @

the #Crimefictionbox!

IF you were following my #bookTwitter feeds, you will have already noticed I revealled a teaser vlog & a full reveal vlog for the #CrimeFictionBox April #bookbox! This was something I was attempting to do as part of my celebrations for my 7th Blogoversary (ie. 31st of March) was receiving a beautifully lovely NEW camera from my Mum & Dad! My original digital camera was a gift from them in my early twenties – wayy back in 2005! I cannot even properly put into perspective how many miles I’ve travelled, how many memories I’ve captured and how much of my life as a #bookblogger my Song camera captured during that ‘lifetime’ of taking photos it was able to give me.

This April, I am beginning anew – with a Sony Elph (which I call simply “elf”) – finding new wings with being able to create beautiful vlogs via Canva (my design app of choice!) whilst upgrading myself to Canva Pro in the process! This was an organic progression of mine as an amateur designer in Canva – I’ve itched to go Pro for awhile now and blessedly part of my 7th Blogoversary was celebrating this new milestone!

What better way to try out the new tools this part of Canva can give me than by sampling their video templates to share my readerly joy of the #CrimeFictionBox on Twitter?! For those interested, I will say, I spent the weekend cross-comparing & exploring all avenues of #booktube & vlogging platforms – for me personally, the heart of what I enjoy sharing as a social reader is the content I am producing via my blog Jorie Loves A Story and on my social feeds via Twitter (specifically @joriestory & @SatBookChat). I didn’t want to venture outside those areas of concentration and by using the video vlog templates via Canva – I am simply enhancing what I can produce across my platforms of choice.

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The April #CrimeFictionBox :

#CrimeFictionBox April Reveal collage created by Jorie in Canva.

the first selection:

featuring a Canadian Crime Fiction novelist:

“A Noise Downstairs” by Linwood Barclay (@linwood_barclay)

→ this is a one-off Contemporary Thriller

Borrow from a Public Library | Add to your shelves via LibraryThing

Subjects explored: Psychological Suspense, Mental Health & PTSD
as well as Ghost Stories, Typospherians & Typewriters
→ Whilst this is a Multi-POV novel
Setting: Milford, Connecticut

ISBN: 978-0385687188 | Pub Date: 24th July, 2018
by Doubleday Canada (@doubledayca)
an imprint of by Random House Canada (@randomhouseca)

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#CrimeFictionBox April Reveal collage created by Jorie in Canva.

the second selection:

featuring an American Crime Fiction novelist:

The Force by Don Winslow (@donwinslow)

Borrow from a Public Library | Add to your shelves via LibraryThing

→ this is a one-off Contemporary Thriller

Subjects explored: Contemporary Thrillers, Police Procedural
Hard-boiled Suspense / Thrillers
Setting: New York City

ISBN:  978-0062664419 | Pub Date: 20th June, 2018 *hardback!
by William Morrow (@WmMorrowBks)
(an imprint of) HarperCollins Publishers (@HarperCollins)

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#CrimeFictionBox April Reveal collage created by Jorie in Canva.

and, the third selection:

featuring an Canadian Crime Fiction novelist:

Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong (@kelleyarmstrong)

Borrow from a Public Library | Add to your shelves via LibraryThing

→ this is a one-off Contemporary Thriller

Subjects explored: Contemporary Thrillers, Contemporary Psychological Suspense
Kidnapping, Mumhood and Mental Health (ie. Anxiety)
Setting: Chicago suburbs

ISBN:  978-0385694681 | Pub Date: 25th, June 2019 *hardback!
by Doubleday Canada (@doubledayca)
an imprint of by Random House Canada (@randomhouseca)

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Converse via: #CrimeFictionBox, #CrimeFiction & #CosyCrime
#Contemporary #CrimeFiction and/or #Suspense, #Thriller and #CanLit

as well as #CrimeFicFriday (ie. Jorie’s NEW featured Crime Fiction posts!)?

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Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Jorie’s first impressions as she revealls

her #25PagePreview for the APRIL #CrimeFictionBox:

NOTE: #25PagePreview is a tag and a feature on behalf of jorielovesastory.com shared via Twitter.All thoughts and initial impressions on behalf of the books I’ve received via the April #CrimeFictionBox via being a partner with the Crime Fiction Subscription Box are for my own personal edification. I was not obliged to post my reflections on behalf of these novels, as I simply wanted to extend sharing my experience of receiving the boxes themselves. Likewise, I was not compensated for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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A Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay:

→ My immediate thoughts when I unearthed a bit about the premise of this story reminded me INSTANTLY of “Mr Murder” by Dean Koontz.

We find ourselves on the highway overhearing a concerned friend consider the ramifications if the person he thinks is in the car ahead of him could be in dire need of assistance. It is one of those moments where as a concerned (and compassionate driver) you notice someone isn’t quite driving within the lines of the road. You see them struggling to keep in their lane and if you believe you know them – the question evolves into should you open yourself to be vulnerable to the state you might find them in if you were to take preventive measures to assist?

And, then of course right in the middle of the Prologue I found myself questioning if I could handle this novel because it went a bit Koontz on me! Meaning, that I oft found reading a Dean Koontz novel was such a strong level away from where I regularly read Crime Fiction that it takes a special storyline to hook me because otherwise I’m too worried about turning the pages – because of ‘what comes next’ might not be something I either a) want to read, b) want to see or c) wish to handle as a reader. I had this moment whilst trying to get into Chapter One – it wasn’t the scene was especially graphic but being a Thriller it does involve a rather uniquely lit crime scene.

Verdict? I reached page sixteen. That was a feat of itself!

I might have to try re-approaching this one when I’m in a better mood for this kind of Hard-Boiled Contemporary Thriller. I struggled a bit with some of the visuals but I think I would have been better off if the blood hadn’t been a factor of physical descriptions when it came to the nightmare Paul was having as he described it in detail to his therapist. There are sprinkles of strong language here and there; intermittently thus far and truly the key wrinkle for me is this might be a bit too gritty. And, by grit I mean – visually graphic and a bit too violently depicted.

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The Force by Don Winslow:

→ This hardback edition is a beaut! Red cover, black spine, white bold spine title letters – with ‘wm’ embossed on the lower right side! And, the spine letters are raised! As soon as I began reading it – my mind immediately and I mean IMMEDIATELY jumped back into my twenties when I was binge watching Law & Order (ie. all 3x series) simultaneously via USA Network. Specifically though – it had the feel of Criminal Intent.

What I was enjoying about how Winslow sweeps you through the reason behind the story of “the Force” as they are a group of people rather than a broad stroke mention of anyone who wears a badge as I initially had thought it might be inferring – is how he captured a way of sharing background information as if you were reading about someone’s autobiography. Yet, rather than a person or a set of persons at the head of it – its reflective of the city, of NYC and how everything inside it – from the streets, to the businesses to the pulse of the underground – this ‘force’ was in the mix of it all.

The most compelling part of reading the initial pages of this novel is how eloquently and raw Winslow writes this story. He wants you to feel compassionate for his character, even though at the moment you’ve chosen to meet him, you’re unsure – is he ethically honest or is he morally grey? I yield on the latter. Yet, as Winslow takes you into his life, you start to see how the layers were built. The choices he was making and why he was living this kind of a life despite being a family man.

Despite my misgivings – I might continue on with this one – because what is haunting about how Winslow writes this story is how you don’t really want to take your eyes out of his character’s life! You want to see what is going to come out of this – even if you have a sense about how it couldn’t possibly be positive in the end. He pulls you in – even if there are some wrinkles of angst reading it (if your readerly preferences mirror mine) – there is just something about how he builds the tension, revealls his character’s vulnerabilities – and dear hearts, I had all of that affecting me and I only reached page four! It doesn’t take long to feel anchoured when you find a writer who knows how to hook you into an emotionally driven arc!

Verdict? a bit less vulgarity would have been nicer.

This one left me wanting for ‘more’ narrative & introspective passages and a load less vulgarity – which is why I didn’t to far along in my preview of the story. In several paragraphs alone I could have had less explicit words because the author’s own instincts for dramatic prose and how he sets the tone for his Crime drama was aces! He truly gets you emotionally connecting to his characters right out of the gate – but goodness, he likes them to curse like its all the rage! Still. Let’s get real – you know I’m going to read more of this in bite sized pieces… Winslow has a keen style and I want to see more of it even if I have a few wrinkles of angst about his choice in language.

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Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong:

The grief and the anguished remorse wash over you as you enter into this woman’s life – she’s full of regrets and hindsight guilt. She knows what dismantled her life, she even could quote you the moment she made one fatal error in judgement which took her life into a cascading spiral where it now lay bare before her – a shell of what she once had. Armstrong can articulate the depth of this woman’s grief within only a fingering amount of narrative – you don’t need extra space to fully feel enclosed into her mind, to peer through her soul and to see her heart. You understand her loss without even knowing all the details because it bleeds out of her and she is wounded.

There is such an ache for wanting to be better than she is – of how she feels less than others and her inadequacies are affecting her more deeply than she wants to admit possible. It was quite sad really – how her childhood influenced her adult choices, and how as an adult who became a Mum, she was like a boat without an anchour. She didn’t know how to guide herself into this new stage of her life – she had no moorings from her own upbringing to use as points of reference. Instead, she felt she was treading water and failing to achieve what she felt she needed to do for her daughter.

Armstrong eclipses the psychological effects of a Mum experiencing a crisis of self in the midst of a divorce which isn’t progressing very well at all. She wants to do more but how to achieve that when it sounds like everyday is a hurdle of its own just to live?

Whomever felt the word ‘whiplash’ describes the pacing of this novel was right on the money! I truly felt the pages were dissolving too quickly to consume them – I reached the twenty-fifth page and hadn’t wanted to put the book down! Especially because of the layers of how Bree is being developed at this stage of her story – about how she’s attempting to better herself as a Mum and how she’s getting misunderstood in the process of becoming a better Bree. By the time the police were involved in the incident she oversaw, you really felt for her because what Bree needed then was a wicked good friend who could not just bolster her spirits but defend her actions to the police who quickly were swinging suspicion in a wholly different direction than you were expecting them too. That’s what makes reading Psychological Thrillers intriguing – you seriously never know how their going to end! I felt this author reminds me dearly of why I love reading JS Monroe! (see also review)

Verdict? I will definitely be finishing this one!

I knew almost immediately when I started reading this one I’d stay inside it for the long haul. There was something quite remarkable about how Armstrong chose her anchours – how she wanted us to emotionally connect with a character we were meeting at the very last moment before their despair overtook them completely. She is borrowing for mercy and asking for grace – in that emotional conduit of self-seeking resolution, you cannot help but want to peer more into her life and see if any of it can become resolved.

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Whilst in closing I wanted to re-share what I said in March:

I felt #subscriptionboxes might take off right now – as they are a) portable b) mailable and c) you can order from the comfort of your home whilst d) it arrives by Post and is left for you outside. Zero contact and pure blissitude! Plus, it is another way to help an Indie business and to help authors from a genre you love to read as you get to read their stories and see which Crime Fiction authors are your newly discovered favourites!

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This post is courtesy of being a social influencer & blogger
for Crime Fiction Subscription Box. I became an influencer March, 2020.

Crime Fiction Subscription Box April 2020 Photography Credit: © jorielovesastory.com.
Crime Fiction Subscription Box April 2020
Photography Credit: © jorielovesastory.com.

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In Closing,.. what is coming up next on Jorie Loves A Story:

I am quite EXCITED to LAUNCH my new showcased feature #CrimeFicFriday wherein I will be tucking into reviewing Crime Fiction – Contemporary to Historical and all routes inbetween!! I have several of these lovelies on my backlogue whilst at the same time, I never had the proper chance to dive into my #CrimeFictionBox novels either! The first half of *2020!* felt overwhelming for us all, however, I’m spending the next six months happily consumed by reading past favourite Crime novelists (ie. Susan Spann, Clare Chase, Terry Shames, Larry D. Sweazy, Charles Todd) whilst entertaining new ones as well.

Be sure to re-visit me on Fridays as I’ll be featuring a review by a different author each week – starting on Friday, 19th of June! And, yes, it will be one of the #CrimeFictionBox selections I’ve received! Eek.

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I can’t wait to hear from you, dear hearts!

Have you heard about #CrimeFictionBox?

IF so, what was your favourite box you’ve received?

IF not, does this sound like the kind of box you’d enjoy receiving?

What are your personal experiences with #bookboxes!? I’d love to know!

You have to dish – WHO are your FAVOURITE #CrimeFiction novelists!?

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Help me spread the word by clicking this s/o tweet to your followers:

I just found out about #CrimeFictionBox via Jorie Loves A Story! This #bookblogger has a coupon code for one of their #bookboxes! Find out what came in the APRIL Box! Click To Tweet

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{SOURCES: All Crime Fiction Subscription Box March 2020 Photography Credit: © jorielovesastory.com. Stories of Jorie banner created by Jorie using Unsplash.com photography. (Creative Commons Zero) via Canva. Crime Fiction Subscription Box banner provided by crimefictionsubscription.com and is used with permission. Coupon Code 25%JORIE was given to me by crimefictionsubscription.com as I am an Influencer / promotional partner of theirs for their book subscription boxes (I do not receive monetary compensation). Post dividers provided by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.

I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #CrimeFicFridays

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)

read more >> | Visit my Story Vault of Book Reviews | Policies & Review Requests | Contact Jorie

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Posted Friday, 12 June, 2020 by jorielov in #25PagePreview, #CrimeFicFridays, #CrimeFictionBox, #Unboxing BookMail, Book Subscription Boxes, Jorie Loves A Story Features




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