#TheSundayPost | XXIII | Some books, a bout of illness and Wyrd And Wonder is around the corner!

[Official Blurb] The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog. This is your news post, so personalize it! Include as much as you want or as little. Be creative, it can be a vlog or just a showcase of your goodies. Link up once a week or once a month, you decide. Book haul can include library books, yard sale finds, arcs and bought books.. share them!

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I truly wish I could say I *like!* Spring,

but each year, I find reasons why I’d rather skip it!

Jorie’s life behind the blog:

No, one truly wants to *lose!* a week from work – and I definitely hate being sick overall because it takes so long to feel well again! *le sigh* Mum was starting to have issues with her asthma and felt she should go see her doctor about it. Except apparently as there wasn’t a record of it happening (although this is a lifelong condition – even if it goes dormant for years, it is still within you!) they wouldn’t do anything about it. Until, one night I heard her really having issues with it and that morning I called off work to take her to the ER. Clearly those doctors understand asthma and now Mum has what is called: cough variant asthma so it is even harder to shake once you are in the throes of it. And, of course, now her doctor is willing to discuss her asthma issues. Oy. Not sure why a visit to the ER fixed that communication issue but that’s where we are apparently in healthcare.

I went back to work and everything was fine until a few days later when they clearly weren’t fine anymore. I remember waking up on Wednesday and feeling like I had caught the worst cold – called off sick and thankfully had some sick days I could use to cover my time off work as that was the part I worried about the most. I was hopeful in three days I would see a corner turnt and I could get back to work as it didn’t seem like it would linger. Oy. Foolish thoughts. By Friday, I felt even worse than Wednesday but my eye looked infected too and my ear was out. Oy. Turns out I didn’t have a cold at all but an aggressive case of strep throat – with antibiotics and eye drops by the weekend, I was starting to see myself turn the corner I had hoped for earlier in the week. I’m not used to being out of work for four days (I only had enough sick days to cover three) and it only happened one other time in the last two years and once before that where I was out for longer as I caught a really bad virus.

Meanwhile, Wyrd And Wonder is about to get underway and I’m still sorting out my reading route with the stories as I have some wicked wonderful ones this year to read! Every year feels that way which makes the even wickeder somehow! Laughs. I’m hopeful I can knock out some of the #bookstagram posts today, start writing the Announcement post and seeing what I can do to turn my blog back round as I’ve lost so many lovely hours this month again.

I’d rather focus on talking about the books arriving by Post, my plans for Wyrd And Wonder and limiting how much I share about being sick as honestly, I just want to be ‘over it’ at this point!

In regard to my blog and readerly life:

I sadly missed the blog tour stop for The Half-Life Empire – of which I listened to the audiobook for my blog tour book review. You can read my fuller thoughts about what took me out of the story on my Review – however, what the story did for me was to get me out of my readerly funk and back into STORIES. I credit this to both the narrator and the author – as the narrator had such a beautiful approach to her narration of the story and the characters within it whilst the author gave me such an alarmingly realistic world set in a Post-Apocalyptic America. It just wasn’t well suited to me as a reader overall due to some of the things which became inclusive of the storyline. However, I was able to give feedback on the narrator’s performance and on behalf of some of the bits of the story I felt the author did very well to anchour the reader into understanding certain aspects of her world.

Aside from finishing the post a bit delayed due to being ill – I haven’t been able to pick up a book or listen to an audiobook for the duration of my illness. The coughing made it impossible, and the exhaustion took the focus right out from under me! Oy. I was planning to be a bit more active this April in respect to reading and posting on my blog – however, some months just go a different way than we first plan them too.

I will say, I have some exciting reads planned for May – as Wyrd And Wonder is my exploration of Fantasy where I set sail into different subniches of genre and new inventive worlds to seek out as I continue my adventures into Fantasy as a whole. And, that dear hearts has me itching with excitement! Plus, we have a lot planned behind the scenes as a team of hosts and I am even more eager to see what we as a collective community of Wyrd And Wonder will be doing this year, too.

The Marriage Sabbatical
& Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding
by Lian Dolan

Table for 51 by Shari Leid

For Wyrd And Wonder:

Proxima’s Gift by Marc Peter Keane

For The Write Reads blog tour:

Hive (Madders of Time, Book One) by DL Orton

Recently, I have received a very eclectic parcel of #bookpost – from light-hearted fare by Dolan to an engaging look at eating out by Leid; to an engrossing Fantasy narrative by Keane and a Science Fiction Thriller within the pages of Hive! I am constantly open to exploring different kinds of stories and different portals of entrance through genres – which is why this particular parcel of stories has such a wide expanse of choices within it!

This is also the first time I’ve worked with the publicity team behind Pacific and Court. They sent me the copy of Table for 51 – and what I loved about the premise behind the book is how it focuses on our connectedness to each other and how through sharing a meal, we can have a more soulful conversation about what is important in life and what is important to us as a whole. There is a lot going on in this book – from the author’s own journey to what inspires the people she converses with as well. What struck a chord with me about wanting to read it was how true it is that the best way to know anyone is to talk to them and to listen. To hear their story and allow them to know a bit of yours in return. I grew up in a similar way as her experiment – on the level, that no one was truly a stranger in my life and world; they were just the acquaintances and friends I hadn’t yet met. I come from a very socially engaged family – especially in respect to my Mum. I credit this being that she’s from the MidWest and it has definitely left an impact on me. I love talking to people. Even at work – I try to make small connections whenever I can and not have it takeaway from my work, too. It is a tricky balance at times – as let’s face it, you can get caught up in the moment but overall, I have noticed that by making those connections it makes for a happier life and world outside of yourself, too.

It also has a lot to do with being vulnerable to people and to experiences. That was one of the life lessons I learned early-on as well. We have to be willing to get to know others – those who look like us and those who don’t; those who have a similar life to our own and those who live a completely different life than ours too. If we only talk to those who feel familiar, we miss out on the wider experience of life. Which is probably why to this day, I talk to everyone and anyone everywhere! Laughs.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to reading the author’s experiences and listening to her own takeaways by the journey she undertook as she travelled across the states. Being a traveller myself – that aspect of the book also appealled to me greatly as I have travelled a bit less extensively but still carved out 15,000 miles in a series of road treks with Mum over about three or four years when I was in my twenties.

HIVE was a story which uniquely perked an interest to read based on a short sampler I came across online as I sometimes can get a feel for a story based on a short extract or sampler, as I call them – as I can’t read in length digitally due to my chronic migraines but I can read the shorter snippets if you will which sometimes are great guides to knowing which stories to read or which ones to avoid. With this one – there was that compelling argument of surviving the impossible or realising you’re going to die in an impossible situation – as it wasn’t a bright outcome either way you looked at it – as HIVE has that curious backdrop of being in a biodome with humanity on the brink of destruction.

Normally, I would say I would shy away from the heavier undertones of this story and the ways in which it would play out – but something about what I had read gave me hope that perhaps this particular story might prove to be more than it first appeared. And, that was a riveting premise for me! Plus, I was curious how time travel might lend a hand in the evolving story’s arc and scientifically what was the motivation for the biodome overall. Plus, there was that question left open too about when does technology overtake common sense and when does technology become indifferent to self-preservation? Meaning, that if technology advances to such a degree that it starts to erase our humanity than is that progress or is that a shift in the wrong direction? I oft ponder those questions whenever I read a story like this one and it will be interesting to see where the author takes the series.

I’ve never had the chance to read a novel by Lian Dolan – but her stories intrigued me as much as they felt like lighter reads than I usually read as well. I enjoy lighter reads – I just so very rarely seek them out. I also LOVED the Big Fat Greek Wedding films (except the last one which seemed to have forgotten its own plot?) – as much as I love most wedding films. I seem to have found them on the big and small screens over the years – each of them holding kernels of truth in them about family and friends and life – most of them, it felt like a miracle just to see the happy couple wed as there was always a certain level of hilarity attached to those kinds of stories, too!

Especially if you factor in the in-laws and the parents – both sides of the aisle get divided by family and friends alike and that is only if everyone agrees on the wedding itself – how its planned, what their serving for food and lest we mention the colours, the flowers and the venue?! Oy. And, yet, for whichever reason I find myself seeking out these films over and over again – to relive it through another family’s memories of that day.

The premise of course behind Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding is just as cheeky – one of the Mums is a devout single Mum and swears off marriage whilst the other Mum is so set in her ways and lifestyle that it is nearly blinding her a bit. Of course, there is more than levity in this story – as there is a lot of hints about how things aren’t all that they seem or appear and that there is much more going on behind the wedding too – just the kind of story I’d hope it would be! I can’t wait to dive into this one and see what I’ll find.

Whereas with The Marriage Sabbatical the tone shifts into what do you do if you feel you need a vacation from your own marriage!? And, how does one do that as well? This is newer territory for me as I come from a family whose parents and grandparents have all celebrated big anniversaries in their marriages – without a divorce amongst them or a separation. Not that I’m a stranger to either – as I have had friends’ who have gone through those, and I know the aftereffects of those moments have lasting impacts on people’s lives. However, what I felt was captivating about this one is as it says ‘sabbatical’ would either party be willing or ready to end it and then, ‘resume’ their lives? And, if they do resume their lives – do they continue on together or stay separated?

The final book in this parcel of lovelies is Proxima’s Gift. Part of me considered this being more of a Science Fiction story – considering the foundation of the story is rooted in a solar event that changes everything in the world it is set. Yet, part of me also found it had hints of Fantasy within it as well – especially as I feel it is more of an undefined Speculative Fiction novel than a specific tied into one genre kind of story. Here is part of the synopsis to share with you ahead of my review which might hint towards what I am speaking about:

The novel takes place over the course of a year, centering on a young woman named Azami who is unable to control her empathetic connections. In order not to be driven insane by this unfiltered onslaught of all the ‘living voices’ around her, she is trying to fully and completely connect herself to the natural world and, by doing so, become one of the all-seeing oracles who have overseen and protected the Children of Proxima for hundreds of years. If she cannot, she will be driven mad in the attempt and perish.

It will definitely be a journey to undertake this month, but also one I am interested in seeing how it develops and how we journey alongside the Azami. I love novels that take us somewhere ‘else’ and give us a full realistic viewing of a life lived there. I had hoped to get into the story a bit more this April – but with all the health afflictions of my family, I just didn’t have a proper chance to settle into it. 

As I leave you this week,…

You might have caught sight of our plans by now – as we’re all getting underway with making our announcements on our blogs and socials alike – we’ve chosen the Nautical Fantasy theme this year! I’ll be exploring this through a variety of different stories and voices of Fantasy whilst I am also reading outside the scope of this themed focused too. I oft do that – as sometimes I can find certain stories which befit the theme of interest and sometimes, I find myself drawn into other stories which fit other niches of Fantasy, too. Every year for me, at least, is a full exploration of what kind of Fantasy I am interested in reading at the moment and I look forward to the adventures which await me therein.

If you’d like to join us – I’ll be making my proper announcement about the event on Wednesday, the 30th and then, the event kicks off on the 1st of May! Until then, be sure to follow us on Instagram and begin your own journey into the fantastical with us!

Let me know in the comments if you’ve decided to join us!
Whilst sharing a link if you’ve posted your plans!

Kindly read through my archives for #TheSundayPost

REMEMBER: IF you’ve read a story you feel I might enjoy myself as I love reading Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, relationship-based romances, and Mysteries — kindly leave me a comment with a link to your post/review on your blog and I’ll be glad to visit you in return.

{Sources: Synopsis for “Proxima’s Gift” provided by the author Marc Peter Keane and is used with permission of the author. Wyrd And Wonder banner created by Imyril using Mermaid image by Yuri Arcurs Photography (https://www.123rf.com/profile_peopleimages12). Used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: #TheSundayPost banner, #Bookpost collage graphic (Photo Credit: jorielovesastory.com) and the Comment Box banner.}

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