Category: Modern Day

Author Q&A | K.V. Dominic answers my questions regarding one of my favourite poems from his latest collection!

Posted Thursday, 12 January, 2017 by jorielov Essential Readings & Study Guide, Essential Readings series, K.V. Dominic, Loving Healing Press, Modern History Press 1 Comment

Good morning, dear hearts!

I am happy to give a warm welcome to Mr Dominic, of whom is the poet who truly captured the spirit of convicting poetry & shared experiences of our contemporary world through his poignant eye for not only detail but for clarity of thought on how to expound and express one’s opinions in an ever-changing world!

I am thankful to re-highlight key portions of my review, which not only ascertain to the poem being featured today through our conversation but on behalf of the Professor’s writerly style and how he augments his thoughts into his poetry.

I am unsure if you remember, but in the Autumn I had the joy of reading his latest poetry collection wherein I found myself marvelling at how connected I felt to his words & to the ways in which he found a voice through prose to articulate his innermost thoughts & feelings on the topics he was disclosing. The beauty of course is the fact this collection would delight readers who already appreciate modern poetry whilst being a good introduction to those who enjoy cross-cultural expositions.

I am so very thankful to be a part of this second tour featuring his collective works and for having the honour of asking him about his poetry. Even though as you will see, I mistook the inspiration behind the poem itself, it still translates a strength & magnitude of spirit irregardless of how it impressed us on first reading.

The Professor is a deep thinker, social commentator and poetic fusion of his socio-religious beliefs, wherein he bleeds his heart into his ink. He is very much connected to the events that shape History whilst allowing for a pause of personal vexation to tip his pen towards finding understanding or at the least, an exposition of the anguish that could fill a multitude of souls. His aim is to educate and inform, to own the emotions he feels and to convey his earnest beliefs that we are all connected in his words through Man, Nature and God. A similar concept I have conveyed myself on my blog – where the natural world and our living sphere are inter-connected whilst living a faith-centred life. I appreciated his honesty and his ability to separate his ideals with his passions whilst attempting to continue the conversation forward. I believe that is the greatest hope of a poet – to get a social conversation started and to leave the readers impassioned by what they’ve just read. He prompts his readers with study questions throughout the collection as a guide left behind to encourage a hearty discussion where his topics can be dissected and conversed about openly. I felt this was a good addition, as sometimes it is hard to know where to begin when broaching topical poems and this felt to me like a good window into how a discussion could begin even in a book club who primarily reads novels.

-quoted from my review of KV Dominic’s poetry collection

Essential Readings & Study Guide
Subtitle: Poems about Social Justice, Women’s Rights, and the Environment
Source: Author via Poetic Book Tours

K. V. Dominic "Essential Readings" gathers for the first time the three most important works of poetry from this shining new light of contemporary Indian verse in English: "Winged Reason," "Write Son, Write" and "Multicultural Symphony."

A fourth collection of 22 previously unpublished poems round out a complete look at the first 12 years of Dominic's prolific and profound verse. Each poem includes unique Study Guide questions suitable for South Asian studies curricula.

Written in free verse, each of his poems makes the reader contemplate on intellectual, philosophical, spiritual, political, and social issues of the present world. Themes range from multiculturalism, environmental issues, social mafia, caste-ism, exploitation of women and children, poverty, and corruption to purely introspective matters. From the observation of neighborhood life to international events, and everyday forgotten tragedies of India, nothing escapes the grasp of Dominic's keen sense of the fragility of life and morality in the modern world.

Genres: Poetry & Drama

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781615993024

Published by Modern History Press

on 1st September, 2016

Format: Paperback Edition

Published By: Modern History Press
an imprint of Loving Healing Press (@vvolkman)

The next Essential Readings series release will feature the works of T.V. Reddy!

Read an interview feat. T.V. Reddy about his writing career!

Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #Poetry

Posted Thursday, 12 January, 2017 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Equality In Literature, India, Indie Author, Modern Day, Poetic Book Tours, Poetry

Audiobook Review | “Halfway Dead: Halfway Witchy, No.1” by Terry Maggert, narrated by Erin Spencer

Posted Wednesday, 11 January, 2017 by jorielov (Narrator) Erin Spencer, Halfway Dead, Halfway Witchy, Self Published, Terry Maggert 0 Comments

Acquired Digital Audiobook by: I am a new blog tour hostess with Audiobookworm Promotions wherein I have the opportunity to receive audiobooks for review or adoption (reviews outside of organised blog tours) and host guest features on behalf of authors and narrators alike. I started hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions at the end of [2016] during “The Cryptic Lines” tour wherein I became quite happily surprised how much I am now keen on listening to books in lieu of reading them in print. My journey into audiobooks was prompted by a return of my chronic migraines wherein I want to offset my readings with listening to the audio versions.

I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “Halfway Dead” via the publicist at Audiobookworm Promotions (of whom was working directly with the author Terry Maggert) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I am so wicked happy about tucking into a Paranormal Suspense:

I have the tendency to appreciate certain Paranormal Suspense, Mystery and Thrillers which are just this side of Cosy Horror but occasionally push the envelope to take me straight out of my personal comfort zones. This began when I was a teenager who would try to blink away the grittier scenes attached to The X-Files, smiled at the irony of enjoying Buffy the Vampire Slayer and happily enjoyed most of the Charmed series before the serial took off into a tangent of nonsense that truly was utterly pointless.

As a reader, it’s quite a hard needle to thread – which Paranormal novelists are curating stories I can handle or even find pleasure in reading when my bookish heart is quite sensitive to most overtly horrific and grisly scenes too oft found inside the genre itself!? This is why I have the tendency to lean more towards PNR (or Paranormal Romance) but even then, I am quite particularly particular; seeking out the stories where the relationships and the paranormal elements can walk hand in hand without giving me that jolt of something quite horrific or a nightmaric ghoulish feast that would leave me wrecked for dreamscapes afterwards.

The balance of course, is one part world-building to where setting, texture and sound of a narrative can fully immerse me into an ‘other place’ for the spell I send inside it but not overtly dark or without light, because I am not entirely the kind of reader who can cosy up into a Dystopian-esque world either. I like sophisticated layers and humour that is not in the gutter whilst the scenes where something quite fowl takes place can have the ability to pull-back and off-set the reality of that moment with either compassion, mercy or a somberness that befits the scene. Strong characters and a cheeky inclusion of wit or banterment would be most ideal; but I also, happen to love the ‘unexpected’. The moments you cannot foresee coming ahead of time and how the psychological suspenseful bits also can encourage you to get properly lost in the story.

Whatever it is I’m seeking as it depends on the sub-genre, the premise and the overall conjecture of what a story could elude to including – I like to seek out unique voices in fiction. I prefer to find the writers who have something intrinsically their own and a way of crafting a story that is both informative (for whichever sub-focus they include) and wicked entertaining on the other end! I like to rally behind characters who are in the middle of their journey and of whom interact with an eclectic supporting cast of people or creatures you might never suspect would become such a crucial point of the story itself.

Thus, I decided to take a chance on the Halfway Witchy series; as the author originally found me on Twitter whilst he was promoting another novel of his (Heartborn) which I was on the fence about for nearly the duration of it’s blog tour. It was only after following the tour route and reading a few incredibly personal reviews of it’s contents, I realised I was most intrigued by this author! I ended up adopting a copy of the audiobook (of which I will be featuring in a few short weeks) for review consideration and found myself pulled into the orbit of this universe – the Witchy world of Carlie.

I originally began listening to this audiobook soon after I received it and a few moments whilst my Dad was first brought home recovering from his stroke. As I mentioned on Twitter to the author, finding this series was a lovely blessing of joy; and as I move through the series, I look forward to exploring what I like about this curious section of literature which continues to draw my eye. As sometimes what appeals to me to read (or listen too) isn’t quite what you might think would be on my palette of stories but has something contained within it’s chapters that is wholly original and happily consumed. Sometimes we all have to embrace our quirky natures and as readers, I think we’re naturally quirky!

Halfway Dead
Subtitle: Come for the waffles, stay for the magic
by Terry Maggert
Source: Audiobook via Audiobookworm Promotions
Narrator: Erin Spencer

Carlie McEwan loves many things. She loves being a witch. She loves her town of Halfway, NY - a tourist destination nestled on the shores of an Adirondack lake. Carlie loves her enormous familiar, Gus, who is 25 pounds of judgmental Maine Coon cat, and she positively worships her grandmother, a witch of incredible power and wisdom. Carlie spends her days cooking at the finest - and only - real diner in town, and her life is a balance between magic and the mundane, just as she likes it.

When a blond stranger sits at the diner counter and calls her by name, that balance is gone. Major Pickford asks Carlie to lead him into the deepest shadows of the forest to find a mythical circle of chestnut trees, thought lost to forever to mankind. There are ghosts in the forest, and one of them cries out to Carlie across the years. Come find me.

Danger, like the shadowed pools of the forest, can run deep. The danger is real, but Carlie's magic is born of a pure spirit. With the help of Gus, and Gran, and a rugged cop who really does want to save the world, she'll fight to bring a ghost home, and deliver justice to a murderer who hides in the cool, mysterious green of a forest gone mad with magic.

Genres: Cosy Horror, Ghost Story, Sci-Fantasy, YA Fantasy, YA Paranormal Suspense, Young Adult Fiction

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ASIN: B013KLF9HO

Also by this author: Halfway Bitten, Heartborn, , Halfway Hunted

Also in this series: Halfway Bitten, Halfway Hunted

Published by Terry Maggert

on 7th August, 2015

Format: Audiobook | Digital

Length: 7 hours and 15 minutes (unabridged)

the halfway witchy series:

A photo posted by Terry Maggert (@terrymaggert) on Sep 27, 2016 at 12:58pm PDT

About Terry Maggert

Left-handed. Father of an apparent nudist. Husband to a half-Norwegian. Herder of cats and dogs. Lover of pie. I write books. I've had an unhealthy fascination with dragons since the age of-- well, for a while. Native Floridian. Current Tennessean. Location subject to change based on insurrection, upheaval, or availability of coffee. Nine books and counting, with no end in sight. You've been warned.

Posted Wednesday, 11 January, 2017 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 21st Century, Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Apothecary, ArchDemons or Demonic Entities, Audiobook, Audiobookworm Promotions, Author Found me On Twitter, Balance of Faith whilst Living, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cats and Kittens, Charmed, Classic Motion Pictures, Clever Turns of Phrase, Coming-Of Age, Conservation, Cosy Horror, Cosy Horror Suspense, Dreams & Dreamscapes, Earthen Magic, Earthen Spirituality, Environmental Activism, Environmental Advocacy, Environmental Conscience, Environmental Science, Equality In Literature, Faeries & the Fey, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Ghost Story, Ghosts & the Supernatural, Good vs. Evil, Gothic Literature, Gothic Mystery, Horror-Lite, Humour & Satire in Fiction / Non Fiction, Immortals, Indie Author, Light vs Dark, Methodology of Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy, Modern Day, Nature & Wildlife, Parapsychological Gifts, Parapsychological Suspense, Philosophical Intuitiveness, Political Narrative & Modern Topics, Premonition-Precognitive Visions, Preservation, Realistic Fiction, Seclusion in the Natural World, Shapeshifters, Small Towne USA, Sociology, Speculative Fiction, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, Suspense, Sustainability & Ecological Preservation, The Natural World, Upper YA Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Vulgarity in Literature, Walking & Hiking Trails, Werewolves, Witches and Warlocks, Writing Style & Voice, YA Fantasy, YA Paranormal &/or Paranormal Romance, Young Adult Fiction

#MidnightChocLit No.6 | “The Art of Deception” by Liz Harris Jorie is gobsmacked she’s read SIX #PocketChocLit novellas over the holidays! How could they be devoured! already!? More, please #ChocLit!?

Posted Monday, 2 January, 2017 by jorielov ChocLitUK, Liz Harris, Pocket ChocLit, The Art of Deception 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I am a regular reviewer for ChocLitUK, where I hand select which books in either their backlist and/or current releases I would like to read next for my #ChocLitSaturdays blog feature. As of June 2016, I became a member of the ChocLit Stars Team in tandem with being on the Cover Reveal Team which I joined in May 2016. I reference the Stars as this is a lovely new reader contribution team of sending feedback to the publisher ahead of new book releases. As always, even if I’m involved with a publisher in this sort of fashion, each review is never influenced by that participation and will always be my honest impression as I read the story. Whether the author is one I have previously read or never had the pleasure to read until the book greets my shelf.

I received a complimentary copy of “The Art of Deception” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

#MidnightChocLit No.6: a farewell to ChocLit novellas for now by ending with a beloved #HistFic novelist of Jorie’s who wrote a Contemporary Suspense novella that held her on the edge of her seat!

apparently well-timed with the return of #SherlockPBS, too! imagine!?

And, so my hours spent devouring #PocketChocLit Novellas ends as it began: a bookish girl with her wickedly delightful ChocLit tee, a star tattooed teddy and a ChocLit story to curl up inside to wick off hours of delish reading blissitude! This American ChocLit reader signs-off with a hopeful nod at seeing more #PocketChocLit in the future!

When I conceived of this idea – not just to coin these novella print editions by ChocLitUK with a quirky poem which speaks to the heart of what these portable editions represented to me personally, but the whole scope of what this particular blog series #MidnightChocLit encompassed gave me a leeway of showcasing not only a smidge of my bookish life ‘behind’ the blog but allowed me to delight in the wicked awesome joy of being a traditional reader (print or audio) who *finally!* could read the ChocLit novellas she’s dreamt of reading for two full years!

I cannot even properly express the burst of JOY fuelling my heart when I first opened my #ChocLitChristmas parcel – seeing all these lovely editions all tucked into a bubbler was a gift of happiness during a point in my life where reading & blogging (even tweeting, let’s face it!) was at a record ‘low’. These curiously portable Roms re-inspired me and re-invigorated me to pick up reading again after a wicked awful medical emergency in my family. I am not saying this lightly either – but #PocketChocLit gave me back my bookish joy!

What was incredible for me as a reader, was watching the difference between trying to read a novel (cannot tell you how many times I tried to read You’re the Cream in my Coffee) whilst still feeling the weight of the emotional trauma and stress still ever-present on the edge of my soul and not really truly feeling motivated to read at all. Then, these curious editions *pop!* into my life and the next minute, I’m grabbing my digital camera and the whole *blog series!* itself spun round the poem & tag of #MidnightChocLit was bourne!

In many ways, ChocLit novels have re-fuelled my spirit time and time again these past two years I’ve been a reviewer for the publisher. The uplift of reading Romances in today’s ever complicated and uncertain world is a bolt of #unputdownable joy for me. I have always loved reading Romances; even before my teen years as I hinted about previously I started reading Roms quite young (around eight or nine years!) and their ability to fuse relationship-based Romances into my bookish life has been a lifelong burst of joy. Finding ChocLit was a delish encounter and I am truly blessed to continue my journey with this publisher as the New Year emerges into view – as I embark into my 4th Year as a Book Blogger, I begin my 3rd Year as a ChocLit Reviewer!

Therefore, this blog series was a small way of ‘giving back’ some of the joy ChocLit authors have been giving me all along whilst trying to inspire more American Rom readers the delightful glee of finding realistically brilliant Romances for today’s voraciously particular reader! It also granted me a chance to share a bit more of a personal side of who ‘Jorie’ is and a small bit of her readerly life. Thank you for following me and taking this #MidnightChocLit journey with me!

IF your just joining me for #MidnightChocLit and want to know why I conceived this wicked #awesomesauce of a readathon – please direct your attention to #MidnightChocLit No.1: You’re the One that I Want.

I read *six!* ChocLit novellas Christmas Week & New Year’s – ~~reading~~ NO! devouring a healthy dose of Rom through the holidays with a ‘pocket of ChocLit’ in my bookish hands! Remember: I tweeted LIVE as I read ahead of posting these reviews! Do tweet me your reactions & add your commentary on the posts if your just discovering them for the first time! All posts are anchoured with the *live tweeting sessions* too for easy reference or sharing!

The Art of Deception
Subtitle: All is not as it seems, beneath the Italian sun

Jenny O’Connor can hardly believe her luck when she’s hired to teach summer art classes in Italy. Whilst the prospect of sun, sightseeing and Italian food is hard to resist, Jenny’s far more interested in her soon-to-be boss, Max Castanien. She’s blamed him for a family tragedy for as long as she can remember and now she wants answers.

But as the summer draws on and she spends more time with Max, she starts to learn first hand that there’s a fine line between love and hate.

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

Find on Book Browse

Book Page on World Weaver Press

ISBN: 978-1781893593

on 4th November, 2016

Pages: 160

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)

Available Formats: Pocket Paperback + Ebook and Audiobook

Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance + #ChocLit

#RomSusp or #RomanticSuspense + #PocketChocLit (Jorie’s idea!)

Put some ChocLit,

in your pocket!

#PocketChocLit

(little rhyme I came up with to celebrate these editions!)

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

#WYChristmasReadathon

Posted Monday, 2 January, 2017 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, British Literature, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, England, Indie Author, Italy, Modern British Author, Modern British Literature, Modern Day, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event

#MidnightChocLit No.5 | “Only True in Fairy Tales” by Christine Stovell

Posted Sunday, 1 January, 2017 by jorielov ChocLitUK, Christine Stovell, Only True in Fairy Tales, Pocket ChocLit 0 Comments

I received a complimentary copy of “Only True in Fairy Tales” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

#MidnightChocLit No.5: a New Year’s treat of a quirky magical story

read by a girl who LOVES Fantasy & Magical Bits & Bobbles

Even my resident dragon is eagerly spying a snippet of this novella as a wicked good #nextread of his own! Astride his back is one of my favourite “Mum gifts” as when I was feeling especially poorly after foot surgery (in my late teens) she found a way to lift my spirits by giving me this beautifully lovely Angel Bear! The wings are so iridescent as much as the lovely star she’s holding, too! Hence why I thought it was rather a fitting shot – my Angel Bear holds a star, my dragon wants to snag this read for himself and all my #currentreads are ‘photo diving’ into the shot via the corner of one of my bookcases!

It should be known – when I started off as a book blogger, I had several bookcases stuffed to the gills with books from my personal library; although not the full collection; not even by half. I’ve been collecting books since I was knee high to a grasshopper, so you can well imagine the collection a bookish soul such as myself might acquire? However, 15 months ago I had to scale back my shelves and pack away most of my dearly beloved bookish friends til a new day when they meet each other again in the future; thus, I have two bookcases now: one for reviewing & one for my personal library selections.

There are seven ‘shelves’ if you count the fact I’m using the top shelf of the case itself as an ‘overflow’ area (laughs): the bottom is actually ‘spare space’ where I stored the one series I anguishing couldn’t finish collecting from Guideposts because despite being a subscriber to said series and told I’d get all the books; they quit printing the series and all of us were left with a non-completed set! The series is Mysteries of Sparrow Island and I think it will take me most of my life to find copies of this beautiful series readers have discarded as I have a nearly full set myself! I believe this is a full list of the series – my own copy a lovely clerk at Guideposts faxed to me years ago in an ill-attempt to secure the rest of series for me was found on one of my favourite sites for scouting out Cosy Mysteries! I promptly cancelled my second subscription for the Church Choir Mysteries and discarded all hope of picking up their other series as what is the point if they can just quit their subscriptions up out of the blue?! I digress.

The two shelves up from Sparrow Island are my ‘re-reads’ of review books I dearly want to re-soak inside and re-appreciate as soon as time and life allow me the pleasure of their returned company! The next two shelves are ‘current review books’ in-part as I have housed a lot of my ChocLit novels & novellas tucked into one half of one of the shelves (the other half of my ChocLit novels are on my second bookcase; those I never pack away!) and my Julie Lessman Library (feat. the Daughters of Boston series; 3x trilogies, plus a prequel), my Brenda S. Anderson Library (feat. the Coming Home series), my Dee Henderson books (starting with Full Disclosure; her previous series are packed) and my growing collection of stories by the lovelies of Southern Belle View (i.e. Lisa Wingate & Beth Webb Hart).

The top shelf (in theory, if you discount the upper shelf!) is housing my Science Fiction & Fantasy #currentreads (i.e. leftover from #RRSciFiMonth and being feat. in #SciFiExperience this January), my Ghost Harrison collection (by Heather Graham) and an assorted array of Suspense & Mystery novels I intend to finally dig inside in 2017 (either before or during October!). Which brings me to the upper shelf – two stacks deep occupy my #BacklogueReads (see this Riffle List), the middle stack are more Sci-Fi & Fantasy books and the last stack are books I’ve gathered to send-off to a dear friend who used to be a book blogger.

As you can see this small slice of my bookish life, I’m a girl who *devours!* literature in all it’s splendor of genre & thematic glory! I borrow quite a heap from my local library, too, per annum which rounds out the books not yet on my personal shelves but one day shall be! I segued away from my prompt though – as I was keen on saying, I love Magical Realism stories – including lighter fares of where the modern world enters into the Fantastical with little nudges, pushes and jolts. I love how Fantasy can be re-invented, re-bent and re-shaped per each writer’s vision of how a fantastical ‘something’ can be inclusive to a story-line, even if that particular story-line isn’t entirely Fantastically spun!

A bit like how one of my favourite films starring Sean Patrick Flanery (see also this Review) was the quirky Contemporary Rom Simply Irresistible. To this day, I have no clue how my tweets about his debut novel rang in so many favourites and re-tweets; my Twitter blinked into oblivion back then! Ironically or not, this particular film was his least favourite and it’s my personal favourite aside from his Young Indy films as he plays such a horrid bloke in The Dead Zone! He does redeem himself a bit though with a Contemporary Rom lead in a Hallmark Channel film – interestingly enough.

Ergo when the premise of this lovely novella mentioned ‘fairy tale’ truths – I was curiously drawn to wonder – was there a bit of magic spun into this tale or was it a play on words to where ‘as you least expect it, life shall surprise you’. Either way – if there is a spot of the magical or if it’s merely an uplift of hope for what hasn’t yet happened but will unexpectedly take the character unawares into a bit of blissitude, the story definitely caught my eye as soon as I turnt over the cover & read the blurb!

Join me whilst I read *six!* ChocLit novellas Christmas Week & New Year’s – as we read through the holidays with a ‘pocket of ChocLit’ in our hands! Remember: I’m tweeting LIVE as I read ahead of posting these reviews! Tweet me your reactions & add your commentary on the posts!

Only True in Fairy Tales
Subtitle: It's never too late to believe in fairy tales

It’s never too late to believe in fairy tales…

Eloise Blake has been fascinated by Prospect House, the shadowy romantic Gothic house opposite, ever since she moved to the village of Hookfield.

When its new owner turns out to be best-selling crime author, Ross Farrell, whose work is grounded in gritty reality rather than happy endings, Eloise is determined to concentrate on her tapestry design business and her rescue dog, Gracie.

She’s already given up on knights in shining armour and happy ever afters. Love, she thinks, is only true in fairy tales – even when Ross keeps appearing just when she needs help most. But is he the Prince Charming she thought didn’t exist – or is he a beast in disguise?

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

Find on Book Browse

Book Page on World Weaver Press

ISBN: 978-1781893562

on 4th November, 2016

Pages: 112

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)

Available Formats: Pocket Paperback + Ebook and Audiobook

Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance + #ChocLit

OR #PocketChocLit (Jorie’s idea!)

Put some ChocLit,

in your pocket!

#PocketChocLit

(little rhyme I came up with to celebrate these editions!)

About Christine Stovell

Christine Stovell Photo Credit: Tim Jones

Winning a tin of chocolate in a national essay competition at primary school inspired Christine Stovell to become a writer! After graduating from University of East Anglia, she took various jobs in the public sector writing research papers and policy notes by day and filling up her spare drawers with embryonic novels by night.

Losing her dad to cancer made her realise that if she was ever going to get a novel published she had to put her writing first. Setting off, with her husband, from a sleepy seaside resort on the east coast in a vintage wooden boat to sail halfway round Britain provided the inspiration for her debut novel Turning the Tide and Follow a Star. Turning The Tide was a top 100 Bestseller with Amazon Kindle and spent months in the Top 10 Chart for Adult Contemporary Romance. Christine has also published numerous short stories and articles. Christine lives in Wales. Christine novels include: Turning The Tide, Move Over Darling and Follow a Star (July 2014).

Photo Credit: Tim Jones

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

#WYChristmasReadathon

Posted Sunday, 1 January, 2017 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, British Literature, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, England, Indie Author, Modern British Literature, Modern Day, Romance Fiction, Romantic Comedy, Small Towne Fiction, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event

#MidnightChocLit No.3 | “Grand Designs” by Linda Mitchelmore the writer behind a ChocLit series Jorie is reading in January!

Posted Saturday, 24 December, 2016 by jorielov ChocLitUK, Grand Designs, Linda Mitchelmore, Pocket ChocLit 0 Comments

I received a complimentary copy of “Grand Designs” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

#MidnightChocLit No.3: a #newtomeauthor & a girl’s love for her Royal

Jorie’s preferred method of #amwriting her novels & stories: a vintage Royal typewriter from the late 1930s & early 1940s

There is a wicked sweet story *behind!* how I came into possession of this incredible machine – my dearly loved Royal, however, tonight I wanted to share my love of *typewriters!* and my growing aversion towards using traditional technologist resources to write stories! It began by a succession of computers which not only died behind the infamous ‘blue screen of death’ but due to the fact I never understood the best method towards ‘saving’ a backup of my files until I became a book blogger!

Remember: I’m old enough to remember *floppy!* 5 1/2 discs and their cousin, the 3 1/2! I am sure other GenX writers out there know what I’m referencing, too!

Then, there is the whole connective connection to writing by typewriter vs. a computer – mind you, I will always have a computer in my life, but the advantage of having a typewriter is complete immersion into the writerly process without the distractions of social media (which ahem! sometimes distracts me as a blogger!) or the curiously curious features that comes with a Win10 upgrade! I’ve gone through bouts of gaming since October, collecting ‘apps’ (oh, dear!) and had a serious addiction to “behind-the-scenes” of new tv dramas via the Win store, too! (oy, oy) A girl can get properly addicted to these new lovelies due to how user-friendly they are and how much you can honestly do on them.

I am unsure which method of writing Ms Mitchelmore used to compose her words inside her novella or in her novels, but all my future stories will be composed on my Royal and a few more retrofitted vintage typewriters I have yet to collect! There is a growing sub-culture of writers who are wicked addicted to typing their stories rather than using a more 21st Century method – the #Typosphere is calling me, too. Where you literally ‘type’ your blog posts? I will be exploring that sometime in the future – I simply need to get my Royal serviced, spruced up a bit and gather a small collection of necessary items, such as INK + PAPER. Laughs.

Trivia of Jorie: She began writing on an electric typewriter not a computer when she was writing her Science Fiction novel as a teenager – however, her earliest writings as a child were on a Commodore owned by her maternal grandfather.

I picked Ms Mitchelmore’s series to begin next as one thing I have enjoyed over the course of *2016!* is becoming further introduced to serial ChocLit! My readings of To Turn Full Circle begin in January – thus, imagine how keenly happy I was to spy this novella in my #ChocLitChristmas parcel of joy!? An early ‘preview’ if you will of an author I have been eagerly awaiting to read!

Grand Designs
Subtitle: You can change the house but can you change the man?

You can change the house but can you change the man?

Carrie Fraser is an interior decorator and cannot believe her luck when she is invited to work at Oakenbury Hall – a beautiful manor house in the heart of the English countryside. Nor can she quite get over the owner of Oakenbury – the gorgeous (not to mention, completely loaded!) Morgan Harrington. Morgan appears to have it all, but his previous life is clouded with sadness and heartache, which Carrie can relate to only too well. He is intent on running away from his troubled past to a glamorous, celebrity-filled existence in Cannes, but there’s a problem…

Morgan is bound by his late father’s wishes to keep Oakenbury Hall within the family and have children, and the more time Carrie spends with him, the more she yearns to be the woman to fulfil this wish. But the likes of Carrie Fraser could never be enough for a high-flying businessman like Morgan … could she?

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ISBN: 9781781893579

on 4th November, 2016

Pages: 128

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)

Available Formats: Pocket Paperback + Ebook + Audiobook

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About Linda Mitchelmore

Linda has had over two hundred short stories published worldwide. She has also won many short story writing competitions – Woman’s Own, Woman & Home and Writespace to name but three. In 2004, Linda was awarded The Katie Fforde Bursary by the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and has a story in their 50th Anniversary Anthology. Linda also won Short Story Radio Romance Prize 2010. Having started her writing career doing a short story course with Writing Magazine, she has now come full circle and is a preliminary judge for their short story competitions. Linda lives in Devon and is married with two grown-up children.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Saturday, 24 December, 2016 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, British Literature, Castles & Estates, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, England, Indie Author, Modern British Literature, Modern Day, Romance Fiction, Siblings, Small Towne Fiction, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event