Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I wanted to dive a bit #behindthebook today with my guest post featuring a debut author’s release “The Diary of a Late Bloomer”. I was a competitive swimmer when I was younger which is why I get excited whenever I see swimming is one of the sports being featured in today’s fiction whilst at the same time the way I developed a passion for cooking was through the adventures of *baking!* For those reasons, I felt this novel might be a good fit for me despite the fact I rarely read New Adult releases – as I tend to read YA or Upper YA instead.
Between the quirkiness of the design on the cover art and the inclusion of octopi in the threads of the plot, I knew I had quite a bit of clever fodder to ask the author for my day on the blog tour! I love when writers are endeavouring to give us different variants of plots within a Contemporary world which hugs us into activities and/or hobbies which are not generally highlighted by other writers. It keeps fiction a bit more refreshed and the ways in which we can read about a different kind of lifestyle gives us more encouragement to continue reading outside our zones of comfort as we endeavour to read more widely and diversely as well.
I personally loved how the author took my topic of interest and broke down the components of it bit by bit – I think it gives a wonderful ‘introduction’ to her character Lo and to the plot behind her novel. I am hoping after you’ve read this guest feature you might have a better sense about what this novel details through its story as much as I have myself. Especially as I think there is a strong life lesson about not judging people or animals we might not have encountered previously because they just might surprise you. I love the reason in other words why she choose to highlight the octopus and how this became a theme behind the story.
Also – I personally LOVE the smell of bread and I haven’t met a baked good I’ve tried which I haven’t swooned over in joy having discovered! I’d love to learn how to bake my own homemade cinnamon rolls however you need quite a bit of space to roll out the dough! Baking is blissitude because of how cosy comforting the art of baking can be and how dreamy your space smells afterwards. I definitely have a baker’s soul!
If this is your first visit to my blog – guest features & convos are best accompanied with your favourite cuppa & brew – where you can settle in, enjoy the feature and stay a spell visiting with me and my guest author. May this new release have a plotting which will tempt your readerly heart as much as it has mine.
The Diary of a Late Bloomer
Subtitle: A quirky coming-of age novel
by L.M.L. Gil
Every wallflower blooms at their own perfect time, but some like quirky Lo, take longer than others.
Lo is a sheltered 20-year-old who loves baking, manga/anime, and octopi. When she spots her college swim team’s tryout flyer sporting her favorite sea creature, an octopus she knows it’s a sign that she must join the Flying Octopi. The only things standing her way are her social awkward nature and the fact that she just learned to swim.
Will Lo find her place to shine or will her social anxiety DQ her dreams?
Late Bloomer is a new adult novel that is a cross between Bridget Jones’s Diary, Baywatch and Kuragehime.
Places to find the book:
ASIN: B087YSYCC7
Published by Self Published
on 29th June, 2020
This novel was featured as a manuscript via Swoon Reads (@SwoonReads)
This is a Digital First release.
Converse on Twitter via: #YALit & #Contemporary
as well as #DiaryOfALateBloomer and #XpressoBookTours
I love to bake myself and love how you’ve incorporated baking as one of the passions Lo has in her own life. What kind of things does Lo love to bake and what do you personally love to experiment with in your own kitchen as I know you share the passion? Also, the manga was an interest I could see having but how did you get inspired to have Lo attached to octopi?”:
Lo has a big sweet tooth so she loves to bake desserts. In one of her attempts to create a healthy, yet yummy treat she came up with coconut chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (she shared the recipe here). She was elated because her family never figured out the cookies were healthy.
Like Lo, I love food. While I enjoy eating food, making it adds another layer of pleasure. As with writing, I cook to make people smile and feel happy.
I have always thought of cooking as magic, especially baking “bready” goods. Making a basic bread requires just a few ingredients–flour, yeast, warm water, salt and sugar–and yet the result is delicious.
If you ever had the pleasure of smelling freshly baked bread you know there is something heart warming about it. It is the epitome of home for me. The scent triggers memories of cozy times with my family.
I’m obsessed with cinnamon rolls lately. I have a bit of a sweet tooth like Lo, so these bready and gooey treats are something I want to master. I am currently experimenting with different flavors. So far, I have tried pumpkin and apple. I plan to try a banana flavored one next.
For me highlighting the sometimes-hidden, special things in the world is important. When I chose the animal Lo related to I wanted a sea creature that most people ignore. It couldn’t be a dolphin, a shark, or even a sting ray because they are always in the limelight. The octopus, however, is overlooked even though it is a great swimmer, strong, highly intelligent and unique. Lo is like the octopus because she is a wallflower who is quirky, smart, and stronger than she looks.
Thank you so very much for everything.
Enjoy viewing the Book Trailer:
This blog tour is courtesy of:
Be sure to visit the rest of the tour for more guest author features & a lovely array of insightful observations by the bloggers who’ve reviewed the story & shared their key takeaways on behalf of this story.
Find others hosting via @XpressoTours!
I am enjoying being a hostess for:
NOTE: Similar to blog tours wherein I feature book reviews, book spotlights (with or without extracts), book announcements (or Cover Reveals) – I may elect to feature an author, editor, narrator, publisher or other creative person connected to the book, audiobook, Indie film project or otherwise creative publishing medium being featured wherein the supplemental content on my blog is never compensated monetarily nor am I ever obligated to feature this kind of content. I provide (98.5%) of all questions and guest topics regularly featured on Jorie Loves A Story. I receive direct responses back to those enquiries by publicists, literary agents, authors, blog tour companies, etc of whom I am working with to bring these supplemental features and showcases to my blog. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them: I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers. Whenever there is a conflict of connection I do disclose those connections per post and disclose the connection as it applies.
{SOURCES: Book cover for “The Diary of a Late Bloomer”, author photograph of L.M.L. Gil, author biography, blitz tour banner and host badge were provided by Xpresso Book Tours and are being used with permission. The book trailer was embedded due to codes provided by YouTube. Post dividers 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: Writerly Topics banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
Comments via Twitter:
Great post ladies! Thanks for being on the tour! :)