Category: TLC Book Tours

+Blog Book Tour+ A Matter of Mercy by Lynne Hugo

Posted Tuesday, 30 September, 2014 by jorielov , , 1 Comment

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A Matter of Mercy by Lynne Hugo
Published By: Blank Slate Press (@blankslatepress) | Blog
Official Author Websites:  Site | @LynneHugo| GoodReads | Facebook
Available Formats: Trade Paper

Converse via: #AMatterOfMercy

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Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a tour stop on the “A Matter of Mercy” virtual book tour through TLC Book Tours. I received a complimentary ARC copy of the book direct from the publisher Blank Slate Press, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

+Blog Book Tour+ A Matter of Mercy by Lynne HugoA Matter of Mercy
by Lynne Hugo
Source: Direct from Publisher

Caroline Marcum thought she’d escaped the great mistake of her life by leaving Wellfleet harbor, but is forced to face it when she returns, reluctantly, to care for her dying mother. Ridley Neal put his past-and his prison term-behind him to return home to take over his father’s oyster and clam beds. Casual acquaintances long ago, when a nor’easter hits the coast, Rid and Caroline’s lives intersect once again. When Rid and two other sea farmers are sued by the wealthy owners of vacation homes who want to shut them down, and Caroline accidentally meets the person she most wronged, they each must learn to trust-and love.

Inspired by a 1996 lawsuit, A Matter of Mercy is a riveting novel about treasuring the traditional way of life in the shallows of beautiful Cape Cod bay by discovering where forgiveness ends. And where it begins.

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945)



Places to find the book:

Published by Blank Slate Press

on 1st August, 2014

Pages: 278

Author Biography:

Lynne Hugo

Lynne Hugo is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship recipient who has also received grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. She has published five previous novels, one of which became a Lifetime Original Movie of the Month, two books of poetry, and a children’s book. Her memoir, Where The Trail Grows Faint, won the Riverteeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Born and educated in New England, she and her husband currently live in Ohio with a yellow Lab feared by squirrels in a three state area.

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My Review of A Matter of Mercy:

The pull of narrative evoking out of the initial chapters of A Matter of Mercy propell the reader into a haunting ether-world between reality and the expanse of the next life past the one we walk on Earth. The emotional tug of understanding a daughter is on the precipice of saying good-bye to her mother, whose walk is ending through cancer is magnified by the subtlety of the setting being as serene and calm as a whisper of hope. You walk straight into the anguish of near-loss, ebbing out of the shadows of a recovered life being lived first by the daughter and then by an unknown secondary character who alights unexpectedly across the page during a random visit to the beach. You gather a foreboding sense there is an enriched history within the pages of the novel – stemming out of the place it is set as much as the characters who occupy it’s heart.

Although I had known the story was etched out of a daughter watching over her dying mother’s last days, reading the emotional taut passages choked my mind with the despair and the distraught feelings Caroline was facing as she tried to be brave in the face of uncertainty. There is no guideline to follow when your loved one is terminally ill and her character is writ with realistic truth of how a daughter musters the strength to deal with the routine of caregiving and the fleeting worry of unspoken conversations which emerge out of the fog of morphine.

Whilst reading about the tenacity the shell fishermen curate out of the angst of breathing a living out of a gamble against stacked odds made me re-value the delicacy of seafood; wild, caught, and captured by those whose belief in their trade outweigh the logic of the tides. A living brokered against the will to survive on less than a living wage whilst building their harvest is the measure of true grit and true iron spirit of survival. I was quite impressed with the interworkings of the way in which all of this takes place just offshore and away from land and sand. An entire world of a hard-won livelihood barely known to those outside the place in which the world exists.

I struggled to put my finger on the tone of the novel – the elusive narrative tone guiding the story forward at first felt like reading a realistic interlude of one woman’s story being interrupted through grief. On the opposite hand it felt like a grueling realistic quick-paced exploit of a law pervading through the hardworking men and women who lived off the grants for fishing off the shores where private land owners were attempting to upsurge their claims. I am normally not one who appreciates blatant and raw narratives, and although there were elements within this story I could appreciate and alight inside, there were full chapters where I had wished the roughness was polished out a bit more.

This is a story that aches with raw emotional tides of upturnt lives and washes out against the backdrop of two lives coming together from opposite backgrounds. The sincerity of their relationship felt stilted to me, as if they were simply being together out of necessity rather than any sort of honest attraction or mirth of reconciling their past. I felt myself pulled in and out of the story as it  proceeded to shift forward as I couldn’t find an anchor to keep me rooted in caring about how their lives were either going to continue to spiral out of control or find a bearing to make things right for once in their lives. I think it would be best for a reader to pick this novel up who appreciates stories that are more brutal in honesty and raw in intensity; whereas I appreciate stories that are rounded out a bit more and where the climax doesn’t feel as overpowering.

A direct appreciation for dedicated research & how a writer enhances their story:

Lynne Hugo deserves to be commended for the level of research she conducted to breathe authenticity into A Matter of Mercy, as even without a direct point of reference to clarify a few images wrought out of the trade of shellfishing, what I was able to grasp was the hardened life of those who walked the shores hoping their traps would yield a harvest they could live on. The certainty of how the imbalance of variables they cannot control ultimately wreck their fates was even more wrenching than realising how much joy they have in their work. Farmers of all backgrounds (by sea or land) are at the mercy of nature and the endurable buoyancy of trust and belief in what their able to harvest out of their endurance. It is a novel which breeches past the plate of where their toils end and humanises the reality of where the delicacies are procured.

Fly in the Ointment:

There was an undercurrent of abrasive language edging around the dialogue of the story, a bit intermittent and a bit unexpected in where it alighted in the thread of the narrative itself, but a presence that I cannot say added to the story itself but rather was inserted here or there. The only time I felt it might have relevancy is when Caroline’s mother started to use certain expressions in her conversations with her daughter – but rather than blame it on her terminal illness, it was blamed on a divorce. I had heard that sometimes people can change their personalities due to medications and due to life altering illnesses, so for me that felt more apparent of why she suddenly changed her spots for language rather than merely living a life alone without her husband.

I felt the entire arc of the story was hinged by two lost souls who were attempting to repair the damage they wrought out of bad choices and the sins of wrongs they could never fully find forgiveness for as the aftereffects ran too deep. What I hadn’t sorted out is why their emotional baggage was dispersed with a bit of recklessness and without a consequence or an emotional response. When Caroline first started to tell Rid for instance how she caused the fatality which took the life of a child, I found his sudden exit out of the scene and out of the conversation a bit circumvent and convenient. I was expecting an emotional response not a grab my clothes and leave without any hint of what his reaction could have been; as if she hadn’t spoken anything gutting at all.

I also had a small issue with Rid’s name itself – Rid I am sure makes sense to some who read this story, but for me, it felt like an annoyance, as though he had half a name rather than full name? Short for Ridley I must say I preferred the fullness of his name over the shortened nickname.

This blog tour stop was courtesy of TLC Book Tours:

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I positively *love!* comments in the threads below each of my posts, and happily CommentLuv only requires Email to leave a note for me! Kindly know that I appreciate each thought you want to share with me and all the posts on my blog are open to new comments & commentary! Short or long, I appreciate the time you spent to leave behind a note of your visit! Return again soon! 

{SOURCES: Cover art of “A Matter of Mercy”, author photograph, author biography, book synopsis and the tour badge were all provided by TLC Book Tours and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Tuesday, 30 September, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, Aquaculture, ARC | Galley Copy, Based on an Actual Event &/or Court Case, Blog Tour Host, Cape Cod, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Fly in the Ointment, Geographically Specific, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Indie Author, Life Shift, Literary Fiction, Modern Day, Realistic Fiction, Terminal Illness &/or Cancer, TLC Book Tours, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Health

+Blog Book Tour+ The Angel of Losses by Stephanie Feldman

Posted Wednesday, 24 September, 2014 by jorielov , , , 2 Comments

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The Angel of Losses by Stephanie Feldman

Published By: Ecco (@eccobooks)

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (@HarperCollins)
Official Author Websites: Site@sbfeldman  | Facebook
Available FormatsHardcover, Ebook

Converse via: #TheAngelOfLosses

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Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a tour stop on the “The Angel of Losses” virtual book tour through TLC Book Tours. I received a complimentary ARC copy of the book direct from the publisher Ecco, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read:

I am always seeking stories which will challenge my mind and take me somewhere completely outside of where I have travelled before in literature. I had a sense that this was a story that I would devour — a story which would alight inside the vast plane of my imagination and give me something hearty to chew on afterwards. It was a premonition of a reaction long before the ARC ever arrived by Post. Do you ever find yourself stumbling across an author or a novel that you simply ‘know’ will leave an etched impression on your mind?! This is what I felt when I read the premise of Feldman’s novel and as I read the final words cast on the final page of the last chapter, I knew my premonition was true.

A notation on the cover art design:

The cover art for The Angel of Losses is a mosaic of the visual representations and clues of where the story leads you to follow it’s epic conclusion and of whom you need to pay particular attention to as the story evolves. Pictorial stimulating clues that you will only recognise as you alight on the pages in which give you the insight to understand the circle of their presence. The story is nearly a riddle when all is said and told – a riddle of a theory and a puzzle of an ancient truth aligning forward out of history.

+Blog Book Tour+ The Angel of Losses by Stephanie FeldmanThe Angel of Losses
by Stephanie Feldman
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

The Tiger’s Wife meets A History of Love in this inventive, lushly imagined debut novel that explores the intersections of family secrets, Jewish myths, the legacy of war and history, and the bonds between sisters.

When Eli Burke dies, he leaves behind a mysterious notebook full of stories about a magical figure named The White Rebbe, a miracle worker in league with the enigmatic Angel of Losses, protector of things gone astray, and guardian of the lost letter of the alphabet, which completes the secret name of God.

When his granddaughter, Marjorie, discovers Eli’s notebook, everything she thought she knew about her grandfather—and her family—comes undone. To find the truth about Eli’s origins and unlock the secrets he kept, she embarks on an odyssey that takes her deep into the past, from 18th century Europe to Nazi-occupied Lithuania, and back to the present, to New York Stephanie FeldmanCity and her estranged sister Holly, whom she must save from the consequences of Eli’s past.

Interweaving history, theology, and both real and imagined Jewish folktales, The Angel of Losses is a family story of what lasts, and of what we can—and cannot—escape.

Author Biography: Stephanie Feldman is a graduate of Barnard College. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and her daughter.

Genres: Magical Realism



Places to find the book:

Published by Ecco

on 29th July, 2014

Pages: 288

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Elements of Folklore, Mythology, & the Craft of Stories within a Story:

One of the most beautiful additions to a story I am reading is the otherworld presence of either folklore, mythology, or the craft of how stories are told as they are passed down from one generation to another; oft-times referred to by myself as ‘living  histories’ as they truly are ‘the living history’ of a particular family. Inside Feldman’s novel, you gather a proper sense of time, place, and the stability of connection between the sisters and their grandfather was unified through the genesis of his art for story-telling. Their connective bond was untethered as they grew apart as they aged, but what I loved is seeing how the grandfather’s stories took such a central focus and method of shifting the story forward as I read deeper into the novel itself. To the level that his handwritten stories and prose scribbled into his notebooks were shared with the reader from one chapter into another. It felt very natural to go from an ordinary day out of Marjorie’s life, straight into a piece of this story she only had a peripheral knowledge of before finding one of her beloved grandfather’s notebooks.

My Review of The Angel of Losses:

Such a haunting and riveting opening of a Prologue for The Angel of Losses as we are caught inside of a memory of two sisters who are transfixed and spellbound by their grandfather’s tale of a land far away where a magician knows part of the truth of a missing son of a King. What implored me forward from there is this sense of foreboding, where did the tale leave off from the lore of the bedtime story and where did reality step forward out of the tale? I love feeling an undercurrent of suspense when I read a novel, and as this is my second Magical Realism with an under thread connection to Judaism (as the first was The Golem and the Jinni) I was mesmerized! Entering the story out of the Prologue, time has shifted forward for both sisters, as Holly (the one who was horridly afraid of her Grandfather’s story) switched religions and lived an orthodox life whereas her sister had grown into a bittersweet version of her younger self soured on how the loss of her sister has affected her heart. Her sister is still living, mind you, but the version of Holly as an adult is a far cry from the sister Marjorie knew as a child. The two are living worlds apart rather than mere blocks or cities separated by streets and the swirl of modern life between them.

I loved seeing the larger sense of their familial bond being tested by how one half of their connection is being shattered by the inability to have compassion outside of religious grounds. In this instance, I am referring to Holly’s husband is not accustomed to a non-Jewish family nor does he condone non-religious texts inside his home. A home that was inherited to Marjorie but on loan to Holly; the mere fact that Marjorie has to refer to Holly as Chava is another wrinkling thread of Marjorie’s disfavour of Holly’s choice in husband. You gather the sense at this point in the story where Marjorie is attempting to lock a hold of her past into her present, that the sister’s disconnection was already occurring long before Holly made her choice in marriage. There is an absence of words and an absence of sisterly compassion between both of them, and it points to a larger issue at hand that is slowly unfolding in the narrative itself. I like being caught up inside of a family drama, watching everything unravell as the story unfolds on its own timeclock.

Feldman has a gift for narrative voice stemming out of a wordsmith’s spirited soul for visceral imagery – she innately has gifted us with a special treat of a story, giving us a full-on adventure as we hug to the coattails of Marjorie as she pieces together the legacy and the history of a fabled Magician and the true meaning behind where the lore was always meant to take a believer; the latter of which she never felt she could ascertain on her own behalf. It is a true quandary of a problem – how to root out the history of a theory she has nibbling inside her own mind which other scholars were equally mystified about themselves? Her journey towards understanding edges her further into the mythes and pathos of ancient ruminations.

There are moments whilst I am reading I have gathered a proper sense on how each novel I consume is a building block for another yet to be known novel I will pick up in the future. As if I were stitching a tapestry woven exclusively with the threads and stitches of knowledge itself and of wisdom flowing out of the stories by which have enchanted my mind and enraptured my heart. Each story which slips into my mind’s eye has allowed me to grow, to transcend where I was before I read the story and to appreciate a bit more than I had already before the characters had lived their lives as a shadowy presence inside my own spirit. As I went deeper inside this story, I noticed little nuances of memory flittering through my internal memory files; automatically opening, closing, and filtering as I read Feldman’s prose. I had not realised I had amassed enough knowledge of the religious past to propel myself forward through this story at such an alarming clip of a pace! I cannot wait to re-read this novel when time is not extinguishing off the clock whilst a deadline was passed and overdue.

The researcher in me was happily appreciating the sections devouted to Marjorie’s attempt to research her thesis as much as research further into the legacy of her grandfather’s story. As she was always on the brink of realising that the story itself was much more than it first appeared to be. Being hunkered inside a library, piles of books atop of a table, and pages littered with bookmarks, post-it notes, and notebooks clotted full of scribbled ‘spur of the moment’ notes is what makes my own writerly heart go aflutter! Research is in part how I fell in love with writing, and it is research of another writer I treasure whilst I am reading their own stories cast out into the world for us to find. There is an electricity of excitement reading The Angel of Losses,…

At some point I started to read on autopilot, willing myself past sleep and choking myself a bit on exhaustion, but I simply needed to know how this story, this novel was going to end. I was a bit worried it might end on a cliffhanger, as I never take too kindly to ambiguous endings of stories; especially without the foreknowledge of a pending sequel. Two hours blinked off the clock and I’m at a loss for words — I’m so absorbed into this story, I feel as though I am the one pursuing the research to understand what is just outside of my own memory. This story is not like any other I’ve read and I will never quite forget it either. It is meant to be absorbed and illuminated inside the reader’s mind without revealing everything to the next reader who comes across it. For each of us has to read it ourselves and satisfy our own curiosity,… especially if we’re a seeker of stories and understand the greater meaning of what stories can give us all.

Stephanie Feldman gives her readers a window into a portal of time:

We are stepping through a veil slit into a portal of time made available through an opened window which is the novel inside your hands as your reading The Angel of Losses. Two stories came to mind as I started to read this fantastical journey: The Golem and the Jinni (novel) and The Neverending Story (film) as they are akin to how it feels to step through this world Feldman has provided us to discover. She gave us the same vehicle Bastian had in The Neverending Story, to become one within the story as it unfolded and to live as one with the character as she found where she was going herself. I loved this aspect of the novel because all of reality around me dissolved as I was wholly consumed by the voice of the evoking narrator and the clarity of Feldman’s vision for this unique novel which bent genre and illuminated the world half out of mystic history and half out of the truism of where faith can take anyone if only they were to believe in what is not yet seen.

On the footheels of consuming The Ghost BrideI felt honoured to have had the chance to read Feldman’s tome of esoteric concentration of mystic Judaism cross-sected with religious ancient truths. The suspension of reality and the generous backstories of where the mytho origins of the story can be traced was a treasurement to fall in front of my eyes. I devourted this novel as readily as if I were astride a thunderbolt – even knowing I was outside my intended deadline (as the moon had long since waned and the midnight hours had tilted into a crescendo) I could not yield to sleep. I had to consume the text as quickly as I could process the words on the pages themselves, as my mind was lit aflame by the creativity and the ingenuity of how the historical arc was interlaced into the present of the character’s lives.

Fly in the Ointment:

I counted the words this time and there were less than a dozen splintered out across the whole of the novel. I wasn’t happy to find them; this is an intellectually stimulating piece of literary fiction and they felt misplaced amongst the rhetoric. I am not even sure why they were included in such a brilliant spec of literary voice. They degraded the quality in my eyes, as not only could this stomach their expulsion it was necessary to keep in tact the gift Feldman had writ.

A small explanation on my tardiness:

I had lost hours whilst being needed at the hospital in visitation of my neighbour (as previously disclosed here & here) as much as I was out of the house on another appointment that could not be detained. I attempted to revive the lost hours and run into my deadline without passing through it — but alas, I am quite human and not as immortal as the character inside this novel. Time can be bent but time cannot be recaptured once lost. I apologise for the delayed response, but my tweeting at least was a small clue at my enjoyment whilst I read. I am attempting to make the rest of my scheduled book reviews & tour stops to be alight earlier in the day / evenings from here on out; barring any further unexpected life emergencies, crises, or unplanned events such as lightning storms. 

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This blog tour stop was courtesy of TLC Book Tours:

TLC Book Tours | Tour Host

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I positively *love!* comments in the threads below each of my posts, and although I had happily made sure that I could reacquire the WP Comments where you can leave me a comment by using: WP (WordPress), Twitter, Facebook, Google+, & Email a java glitch disrupted my plans to have these activated! Therefore, I had to re-instate CommentLuv, which only requires Email to leave a note for me!

Kindly know that I appreciate each thought you want to share with me and all the posts on my blog are open to new comments & commentary! Short or long, I appreciate the time you spent to leave behind a note of your visit! Return again soon! 

Reader Interactive Question:

Have you ever alighted inside of a novel that you unexpectedly were swallowed up inside? Taken root inside the shoes of the character, where their life was full of emotional upheaval and partially an exploration of how to create a life shift that will alleviate their disillusion with where their life was heading; to find a different way of living and carve out their own little peace of happiness? Did you ever read a novel that surprised you?

{SOURCES: Cover art of “The Angel of Losses”, author photograph, book synopsis and the tour badge were all provided by TLC Book Tours and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

The ‘live reading’ tweets I shared as I read & reviewed “The Angel of Losses”:

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Posted Wednesday, 24 September, 2014 by jorielov in Agnostic (Questioning & Searching or Unsure), Angels, Biblical Fiction, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Browse, Book Cover | Notation on Design, Bookish Discussions, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Dreams & Dreamscapes, Equality In Literature, Family Drama, Family Life, Fantasy Fiction, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Fly in the Ointment, Folklore, Folklore and Mythology, Genre-bender, Ghost Story, Ghosts & the Supernatural, Good vs. Evil, Gothic Literature, Gothic Mystery, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Haunting & Ethereal, Historical Mystery, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Inspired By Author OR Book, Judaism in Fiction, Judiasm, Life Shift, Light vs Dark, Literary Fiction, Local Libraries | Research Libraries, Magical Realism, Modern Day, New York City, Psychological Suspense, Reincarnation, Religious History, Siblings, Sisters & the Bond Between Them, Superstitions & Old World Beliefs, TLC Book Tours, Unexpected Inheritance, Vulgarity in Literature, World Religions

+Blog Book Tour+ Vintage by Susan Gloss

Posted Monday, 22 September, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , 8 Comments

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Vintage by Susan Gloss

one of The Débutante Ball bloggers of 2014 | the Blog & their Tweets

Published By: William Morrow (@WmMorrowBks),
an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (@HarperCollins)

Official Author Websites: Site | @susangloss| Facebook | Etsy Shoppe | Blog
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, & Ebook

Converse via: #Vintage

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Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Vintage” virtual book tour through TLC Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the publisher William Morrow, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

I hadn’t realised my hardback copy of “Vintage” was damaged until I started to read the novel itself, where pieces of the pages started to rip apart and shred right off individual pages of the novel. I found the culprit but could not do anything to stop it from continuing to happen as on page 155 all the pages were glued together! A sticky substance had attached itself to the top of the pages and therefore, try as I might to be gentle & delicate – the pages would not yield nor would they budge without causing them to rip either in full chunks or strips. Of course the worst part is that page 156 & 157 were glued *together!* and by pulling them apart I lost whole words, sentences, and saw all the ink obscured completely! :( I grieved for this novel at that point. I had tucked it’s story into my heart and although I was breathing in love with each page I had turnt, the novel simply was starting to fade away from me due to ‘glue’. When this happened, I knew I would lose the beautiful pace of what I was reading,… how could I not with ‘whole pages’ stuck to each other that could not be undone without ripping the book apart? I had to stop pulling page 156 – it was just too heart-wrenching. Part of the page was so thin in the upper paragraphs you could see right through the paper! :( I ended up missing an epic fight between April & Violet as pieces of the top pages of 158 & 160 ripped apart so I could start Chapter 15.

I decided not to let this deter my reading enjoyment but it proved to be quite of a challenge as it is the first time I received a book whose damage was quite literally making it difficult to read the story. Prior to page 155 each page I read had this unique slant to it, as it wouldn’t release from the top inside binding; therefore, I read this in a very creative way all the way around!

The hardest pill to swallow is that when I read novels which are new when they reach my hands, I’m the kind of gentle reader who can read the book without leaving a trace I’ve read the story. No bent pages in the upper corners (I use bookmarks), no writing inside the book (I couldn’t even do that with textbooks!), no eating of food that could transfer through my fingers (you’d be surprised what people eat whilst reading library books!), and I barely arch the spines in order to view the words on the page! Not only for hardbacks but the paperbacks — my ChocLit novels & my William Morrow P.S. Edition paperbacks are a good cases in point; they do not show any evidence I read them in this way because I treasure keeping books in a condition that honours their texts. Even when I purchase second-hand novels and non-fiction books I’m always trying to keep the stability of the book in its current condition.

This is wretching experience for a book lover whose own heart was bleeding with the characters and wanted to know all of their thoughts without skipping over pages stuck together without any hope of being undone. And, sadly I haven’t had the pleasure of taking book binding lessons and book recovery classes to know how to fix this if there were a plausible and affordable way to undo the damage. My reading slowed down considerably as I had to peel each page as best as I could to read the rest of the novel. I will omit mentioning how long it took for me to free the pages in order to read them. The top of Chapter 22 really suffered: it looked like someone took a bite out of the page!

Inspired to Read:

I had an impression of an idea what I would find within the pages of Vintage, as I devoured A Vintage Affair by Isobel Wolff via my local library a few years prior to when I first learnt about this new release by Susan Gloss. I fancy stories which are centered around the history and enriched life of clothes and the personal items that occupy our hours alongside the time in which we walk our path on Earth. I oft wondered about the secret histories of second-hand copies of novels could speak inside of a whisper of my ear and the same can be said for vintage clothing boutiques who re-sell clothes previously worn yet gently returned back into the wild for someone else to find them. There is such a hearty treasure to seeking clothes from previous generations, and I for one, am a happy hearted vintage clothes shopper! Mind you, I haven’t gone into the true posh boutiques yet, but the re-sell shoppes for everyday living are quite splendid!

I love the textural experience of wandering from row to row and hanger to hanger, sorting through the ingredients of the clothes (in my particular case, avoiding most synthetics), and noting the styles I am finding being offered. I love the fact that you can pull shirts, skirts, dresses, and bottoms straight-off the rack and know for a start your not about to see anyone soon wear the same ensemble. We’ve become a bit cookie-cutter in our society, and although I cannot fathom why everyone wants to dress like everyone else, I’ve always celebrated individual style and a personal awareness of what types of clothes and articles of fashion make me wicked happy to have them alight in my closet!

I love pulling from different styles of thought, mixing in my own take on an old trend and/or re-inventing a style that is uniquely my own by fusing pieces that might not seem alike but smashingly look brilliant in combination! I love a comfortable fit, I avoid high heels like the plague (they are seriously not a method of wellness for foot), and I like finding a nodding towards the past by finding pieces that match an eloquence of femininity that is nearly all but lost in today’s world of fashion. I’m vintage but I’m alternatively creative in my choices, I love Bohemian for instance, but I like to add a bit of funk to my colour palette and the alternative styles that might be on the fringes of punk. I love cargo pants but I like a nice comfortable pair of washed denim jeans. The accessories are always a happy delight as generally speaking in any second-hand clothing shoppe or boutique, your bound to find estate sale keepers alongside costume jewelry sparklers! The true mirth of joy is being able to go shoppe to shoppe and find pieces of your spirit drifting in through the clothes which speak to you to wear!

I am not sure why I never came round to borrowing Vintage from my local library, but because I hadn’t, it allowed me to be on the blog tour!

Quite simply, how could I not love a novel entitled Vintage?

When it pertains to clothes and a vintage sensibility of style?!

And. shh! One of my secret places to observe wicked alternative fashion is ETSY!

Rock on, dear hearts! Be uniquely defined by what enlivens your own spirit!

+Blog Book Tour+ Vintage by Susan GlossVintage
by Susan Gloss
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

A small-town girl with a flair for fashion, Violet Turner had always dreamed of owning a shop like Hourglass Vintage. But when faced with the possibility of losing the store to an unscrupulous developer, she realizes that despite her usual self-reliance she cannot save it all by herself.

Eighteen-year-old April Morgan is nearly five months along in an unplanned pregnancy when her hasty engagement is broken. When she returns the perfect vintage wedding dress to Violet’s shop, she forges an unexpected bond with women who won’t let her give up on her dreams.

Betrayed by her husband, Amithi Singh begins selling off her vibrant Indian silk dresses. After decades of housekeeping and parenting a daughter who rejects her traditional ways, she fears her best days are behind her . . . until she discovers an outlet for her creativity with a needle and thread.

Vintage is a charming tale of possibility, of finding renewal, love, and hope when we least expect it.

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Women's Fiction



Places to find the book:

Published by William Morrow

on 25th March, 2014

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 320

Read an Excerpt of the Novel:

Excerpt from Vintage by Susan Gloss by WilliamMorrowBooks

Author Biography: Susan Gloss

Susan Gloss is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Wisconsin Law School. When she’s not writing fiction, Susan can be found working as an attorney, blogging at GlossingOverIt, or hunting for vintage treasures for her Etsy shop, Cleverly Curated. She lives with her family in Madison, Wisconsin.

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A Triptych of Insight:

Violet, April, and Amithi (along with Betsy who plays a supporting role as much as Lane) are the key characters in Vintage, who nestle into your heart as you read their stories unfold. What I found so striking about this particular story is the differences in their ages and the differences of where they are in their lives. April is just starting out on her own path as she’s a teenager on the fringes of college and motherhood, whereas Violet has lived quite a life of woe intermixed with the happier moments she carved out for herself in the world of business. Amithi is the classic housewife whose illusions of a happy marriage are shattered and irrevocably set her course on a new line of sight. They provide a triptych of insight into how life shapes us each day that we breathe and accept to take in the new experiences that cross our path. Whether or not we react well or unkind to how our lives change, it is our own attitude of how we approach life that can determine how much we can enjoy and how much we can appreciate the journey.

Gloss shifts backwards and forwards through the story alighting on chapters which highlight the specific observations and emotions of each of the three women as you soak into Vintage. This unique point-of-view lends itself a unique lens to get into the heart of the novel, which I had originally fell in love with whilst reading Rosamunde Pilcher’s The Shell Seekers as a teenager.

My Review of Vintage:

The name of the vintage shoppe inside the novel Vintage is Hourglass Vintage, a beckoning title of alluring to how time may be of the essence or a direct factor to off-set the harmony of the characters inside its pages. I like how writers choose names to give their readers a curiosity about what they will find as they read along and discover more of where the narrative is about to take them. Half the time I worry I might read a bit too much into the selections of names, but oft-times I find myself realising writers have a heap in common with songwriters; each etch into their creative works a tell; a signal left behind for someone to recognise and knowing feel museful.

Violet is the proprietor who happily loves to lead an unconventional life despite the fact she has very traditional (and quite conventional) aspirations she wants to fulfill.  I never understood how some women feel that if you wanted to be a Mum your life automatically becomes traditional: white picket fence, two story house, traditional job, and your children play soccer whilst you drive a mini-van. There are a lot of stereotypes and stigmas that I think cloud over the quite curiously wicked alternative, non-traditional, and unconventional families who thrive in the creative arts and/or create their own independence by pursuing a career that matches their passion. There are so many different roads to travel down, I am never certain why we all feel pigeon holed into one or two. Even motherhood is not hinged to marriage, as so many women tend to believe as well.

April is at a crossroads in her life as she is attempting to sort out how to attend college whilst facing the reality of being withchild; cast alone in the world since her Mum died her sole support system is anchored by a scholarship which is run by people who genuinely care and want to help her. She’s at that unique spot in life where you have to make grown-up choices and realise somewhere inside you there is a well of strength you never knew you had. I like how she has a strong head on her shoulders, embracing a bit of no nonsense carefree attitude when her hormones are not affecting her emotional sensibility and a rock of determination that defies her circumstances. She’s a bit caught in-between childhood and adulthood, stepping as brave as she can into where the future has led her but unsure of how she’s going to get to where she wants to be.

Amithi is in transition of realising her daughter has no interest in maintaining family traditions nor in keeping close ties to her extended family in India. Amithi did not have the same freedom of choice for her marriage or her life when she was the same age of her daughter, and it is how she is shifting through this transitional period of her life that endeared me to her as a character. She was raised in a traditional Indian home and had hoped part of her heritage and culture would have affected her daughter, yet each time she thought she made a bit of progress the daughter would rebel and walk a different path away from her parent’s background.

The beauty of reading Vintage is the allure of second chances and second beginnings when life at first doesn’t seem to take you down the path you’ve been wanting to walk. All three women have a unique path in life they are walking as we meet them in the story and all of their lifepaths are starting to collide into each other as well. They are three extraordinarily different women, but at the heart of who they are they are incredibly alike. The story takes on a time slip arc as each new kernel of insight into each of the women’s past is revealed; we go from the present into a slip of the past as a flirting glimpse into how each of them was moulded into who they are now.

On the writing style of Susan Gloss and why I love her approach to this novel:

Outside of my flexing of a disparaging opinion on language in the ‘fly in the ointment’, my readers I believe know by now that on occasion I can overlook these blemishes and blights to see the story outside of the wrinkling of my nose. I cannot always overlook language, especially if it is threaded into each or every other paragraph, but if its sprinkled in such a way as to remind me of flies on a picnic; I become invested in the story itself. What I appreciated the most about Gloss’s style to tell the story is her infusion of using the time slip arc, to allow us the added benefit of seeing Violet, April, and Amithi as a younger version of themselves — writ right in line with the present day goings-on. It is a unique vehicle to carry-on the unknown elements of each of their past, whilst giving the reader the breadth of what makes them who they are in the present. I love time slips as much as I love life shift narrative arcs (and I believe this qualifies in triplicate) or time travel sequences. They give added dimension outside the general scope of where a story fits inside its sub-genre and happily allows us to soak in information in a way that feels as though we are conversing with the characters ourselves.

Fly in the Ointment:

Recently whilst I was reading Someone Else’s Love Story and I Shall Be Near to You, I had mentioned how finding such brass language inside novels being released was growing tiresome. I must contend, my disdain hasn’t altered now that I’ve picked up Vintage, as I am seriously starting to wonder how to advocate for word usage changes and how to get back into the heart of how to write a novel without dropping words which singe ears and wrinkle brows. I read a lot of heart-warming fiction, including the YA novel The Strength of Ballerinas yesterday which begs to reason most novels can hold their salt without abrasive words flittering into the pages at the most inconvenient times. I am starting to wonder if I am amongst the few who uses her words to express her emotions and her thoughts in a way in which does not yield to the gutter.

And, why is strong language used in such a strong way in the start of a novel if only to disappear to a near blink of omission lateron? Why include it at all if the pace and style fit so well without it being added? I am always so puzzled by how language and vulgar words are being used in novels. It is nearly as if you’d have to remind yourself this novel *had!* abrasive words in it as after awhile they are simply ‘gone’. At least until they unexpectedly re-arrive back into the plot during an argument. Sighs. 

I’ve said my peace but I wish I had a slice of apple pie. This novel is a comforting Southern slice of bravery in the midst of life being upturnt unexpectedly, yet it takes place in the North; strangely for me the location never felt like Madison, Wisconsin (I ought to know I’ve been there) but rather somewhere down South, like Charleston or Greenville South Carolina. A place where the beauty of embracing a vintage lifestyle and the clothing boutiques like Hourglass Vintage would be happily inter-spaced in-between the more modern shoppes of fashion. I simply didn’t get the vibe this was a completely Mid-Western story nor did I feel it ‘fit’ Madison. Even though I realise the author lives there, when I visited the city I walked away with an entirely different point-of-view.

Before anyone asks me:

The reason I didn’t seek this novel out at my local library is because ever since Thursday night and the wee hours of Friday morning my neighbour has been in the hospital – at first under pre-caution for pneumonia (in the ER), then downgraded to bronchitis (after admitted), and then, today due to complications of the antibiotics and treatments she is being held over a week before being moved into a nursing home / rehab center. I’ve been completely distracted by going back and forth to the hospital and attempting to keep up with my reading & blog schedules. She’s more like an Aunt than a neighbour, so I honestly didn’t even think of seeking a different copy to read for the review, as my focus has been on her and my family, as there are other things going on personally at the same time which have distracted me as well. (I briefly mentioned a bit of this on my post about Early Decision) To be honest, it didn’t even dawn on me until about an hour ago the hours I lost today due to a terrible lightning storm (in which I visited my neighbour as I knew going on the computer was out of the question to write this review) and the time it took to pull the pages apart — as my eyes drew to the clock worried I’d be late in posting that a library copy would have saved me a bit of grief. Of course, my library is not the one that is open 10 minutes before 9pm! These are the moments you make lemonade out of lemons and carry-on.

Despite the faulty copy I received, I was overjoyed it was a hardback edition, as I was only expecting a paperback copy. I’m still joyful I have a hardback copy of Susan Gloss’s debut novel — I loved watching her and the other Debs at the blog take their turns in the bookish spotlights during the year, and it was an honour to host my ‘second’ Deb as I hosted Ms. Heather Webb (for Becoming Josephine) in January. I am enthused I have a whole new year of Debs to get to know and greet into the literary fold! My copy of Vintage is worn in and loved all the same — just like the beautiful clothes featured in the novel itself.

This blog tour stop was courtesy of TLC Book Tours:

click-through to follow the blogosphere tour:

TLC Book Tours | Tour Host

See what I am hosting next:

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I positively *love!* comments in the threads below each of my posts, and I have happily made sure that I could reacquire the WP Comments where you can leave me a comment by using: WP (WordPress), Twitter, Facebook, Google+, & Email! Kindly know that I appreciate each thought you want to share with me and all the posts on my blog are open to new comments & commentary! Short or long, I appreciate the time you spent to leave behind a note of your visit! Return again soon! 

{SOURCES: Cover art of “Vintage”, author photograph, book synopsis and the tour badge were all provided by TLC Book Tours and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Buy links on Scribd excerpt are not affiliated with Jorie Loves A Story. Book Excerpt was able to be embedded due to codes provided by Scribd.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

The ‘live reading’ tweets I shared as I read & reviewed “Vintage”:

{ favourite & Re-tweet if inspired to share }

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Posted Monday, 22 September, 2014 by jorielov in 21st Century, Adulterous Affair, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Breast Cancer, Cancer Scare, Coming-Of Age, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Disillusionment in Marriage, Equality In Literature, Fashion Fiction, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Fly in the Ointment, Library Find, Life Shift, Literature of India, Old World Arts & Crafts, Realistic Fiction, Scribd, Second Chance Love, Sewing & Stitchery, Singletons & Commitment, Time Slip, TLC Book Tours, Unexpected Inheritance, Unexpected Pregnancy, Vintage Clothes & Boutiques, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Right to Choose (Health Care Rights)

+Blog Book Tour+ Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Posted Friday, 19 September, 2014 by jorielov , , , , 2 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jcakson

Published By: William Morrow (@WmMorrowBks),
an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (@HarperCollins)
Original publication date: 19th November, 2013; this is the paperback reprint

Official Author Websites: Site | @joshilynjackson| Facebook
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Ebook

Converse via: #SomeoneElsesLoveSory

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Someone Else’s Love Story” virtual book tour through TLC Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the publisher William Morrow, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

A notation on the Unexpected Extras:

The edition of Someone Else’s Love Story is the special “P.S.” edition of which I happily expressed my enthused response in receiving on behalf of: The Ghost Bride. In this particular case, it drew to light my collection of music is also stored inside of a box at the moment, as I would have happily pulled out my Indigo Girls albums to play in the background once I learnt that Ms. Jackson listened to them whilst creating this novel! (apparently they were excellent for cluing into Shandi) How lovely! Now when she said William’s song was “Gone Gone Gone” by Philip Phillips I nearly couldn’t believe my eyes — it is simply one of my favourite songs by Phillips! And, I’m always especially grateful he performs live on television as I happily have seen him a few times, most recently during the Capitol Fourth celebration on PBS! Further glee for me was reading Walcott is represented aptly through “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers! Seriously!? I can so dig this author! And, I hadn’t even picked up the novel to read yet! Just by saying Paula would be a vocal hybrid of Pink & Regina Spektor (of whom I have seen live in person!) made perfect sense to me — even though I had yet to see her in the story! Laughs.

I am as connected to music as Jackson, and therefore, all these little hints about which musicians and artists would best represent them in song and musical threads of creative voice felt right to me! And, this is what I am saying about the “P.S.” editions by William Morrow, they give you such a hearty insight behind the pen as to allow you to learn a bit more than you were expecting to be able to know!

I listened to each of these ahead of reading the story:

I am always happily surprised by the enclosures I find within the review books I receive in the Post; this particular one was a finished copy and therefore I am not expecting to find an enclosure unless the publicist includes the Press Sheet for the author and novel. This time I was more than happily surprised to find a *bookmark!*, and yes, you can definitely believe me when I tell you that I get quite giddy finding *bookmarks!* enclosed with books for review! I have quite the lovely collection of bookmarks I’ve collected over the years since I was a young child, however, all of those are stored in a box and not readily easy to pull out. Imagine my surprise joy to find this bookmark is for the novel: All You Could Ask For by Mike Greenburg! A novel I have heard a considerable amount of praise as much as I have been on the fence if I can handle reading it or not. Mostly as I know its going to be an emotional read and learning on this bookmark he’s donating all proceeds of the novel to Breast Cancer Research is incredible! He even set up his own foundation (Heidi’s Angels) in order to re-direct the funds to The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

I do state my hesitation to read stories where cancer is front and center on my Review Policy, as I simply have a sensitive heart and I am always being careful about the level of emotional drama I can handle reading. Recently, the novel which truly gutted me emotionally was actually a war drama (I Shall Be Near To You) which was both a surprise and a wake-up call to be a bit more cognisant of the story-lines I’m reading right now. I think my heart is always quite open to stories, but whether or not I’m able to handle their contents is another matter entirely. I always celebrate writers who donate their proceeds to a worthy cause and therefore, I am thankful to William Morrow for enclosing this bookmark and drawing my eye towards the beautiful generosity of this author. Even if I may or may not be able to read the novel, I’ll always know a novel I can give as a gift and perhaps lift someone else’s spirits in the process.

I happily used the bookmark to read Someone Else’s Love Story!

+Blog Book Tour+ Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn JacksonSomeone Else's Love Story
by Joshilyn Jackson
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

For single mom Shandi Pierce, life is a juggling act. She’s finishing college, raising precocious three-year-old Natty, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced parents.Then she gets caught in the middle of a stickup at a gas station and falls instantly in love with William Ashe, when he steps between the armed robber and her son.

Shandi doesn’t know that William’s act wasn’t about bravery. When he looked down the barrel of the robber’s gun he believed it was destiny: it’s been exactly one year since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn’t define destiny the way other people do—to him destiny is about choice.

Now William and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head-on, making choices that will reveal unexpected truths about love, life, and the world they think they know.

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Southern Lit, Women's Fiction



Places to find the book:

Published by William Morrow

on 5th August, 2014

Format: Paperback

Pages: 336

Author Biography:Joshilyn Jackson

Joshilyn Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, including Gods in Alabama and A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty. She lives in Decatur, Georgia, with her husband and their two children.

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Listen to an Excerpt of the Novel : Read by Joshilyn Jackson

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

On listening to the Excerpt after reaching page 8:

Normally I seek out an Excerpt on either SoundCloud or Scribd long before I pick up a novel to read, however, I started to get a hankering for hearing how the character of Sandi might be read aloud which had me googling the title of the novel with “SoundCloud” as part of the search feature! I’ve found that is a much quicker route to getting to where your going on SoundCloud at least until I can restore my links in my sidebar which haven’t materalised since I self-hosted in late August; as it requires a re-organisation of the categories. Listening to the author reveal the voice for Shandi was as ingenius of my listening to The Ghost Bride for each of these authors Choo & Jackson have such a distinctive gift for reading aloud their own works of fiction!

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Posted Friday, 19 September, 2014 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Child out of Wedlock, Domestic Violence, Drugs & Alcohol, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Fly in the Ointment, Modern Day, Realistic Fiction, The Deep South, TLC Book Tours, Trauma | Abuse & Recovery, Unexpected Pregnancy, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction

+Blog Book Tour+ Desire Lines by Christina Baker Kline

Posted Monday, 15 September, 2014 by jorielov , , , , 6 Comments

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Desire Lines by Christina Baker Kline

Published By: William Morrow (@WmMorrowBks),
an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (@HarperCollins)
Official Author Websites: Site@bakerkline | Facebook
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook

Converse via: #ChristinaBakerKline

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Desire Lines” virtual book tour through TLC Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the publisher William Morrow, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

The reason I wanted to be on the tour : as revealed on my review of Sweet Water

There are moments in our lives where our paths cross with a novel that we have a near-sixth sense about how we will enjoy reading it. This is exactly what happened to me whilst I won a copy of Orphan Train from a contest from Shelf Awareness and received the novel from the author herself. The bits and pieces of my life from that moment in April 2013 to a full score year later were one of the most consuming experiences thus far along on my lifepath. I always had the intention of reading Orphan Train close to when I had received it. Yet. Life ebbed away and took my focus off the novel that I felt I was meant to read. It was one of those books I knew I would acquire even if I had not been able to receive one from the author. I never had the proper chance to follow-up with Ms. Kline; nor explain my absence but to attempt to explain why I had not yet read the story that captured my attention front line and center.

When I learnt of two novels by Kline going on tour with TLC, I knew I had found my way of redeeming myself and of a way back to Orphan Train! Part of the reason I had ended up holding off reading the novel is because I knew it was going to be an emotional read for me as I’m a Prospective Adoptive Mum. The fate of orphans is very near and dear to my maternal heart, and the plight of those children who were sent out on orphan trains always tugs at the core of my soul.

I had felt a connection to not only the story within the sleeper bestseller but I had felt one with the writer who penned the story, which is why I had written her a heartfelt personal note at the time. This entire year I’ve been a book blogger I have learnt how to yield to stress and how to read stories which are emotionally gutting yet intellectually satisfying whilst going through incredible circumstances that otherwise might only lend themselves to beach reads and uplifting romances. I found that I have the ability to write with a clarity that I had not had in previous years whilst juggling through intense personal stress and I found that the best grace in the world as a writer and reader is the direct focus of stories and the writers who create them.

Christina Baker Kline is one writer who crossed my path at a time I could not devout my heart to read her stories, nor approach them with a mindfulness they deserved. It is only one full year later, but this is my way of not only thanking her for the work she has put forward and into the hands of all of us, but a small gesture of acknowledgement from a reader who was captivated by her sincerity, creativity, and immersive research she conducts to breathe life into her characters and stories. I am the blessed one this year, as this is my second chance at discovering what is inside Kline’s body of work.

Note: There are a total of four novels by Christina Baker Kline on tour with TLC Book Tours, however, Orphan Train is not amongst them. I am going to read Orphan Train in September for my own edification and pleasure. I want to take my time to absorb into it and soak through the emotions I know I shall greet when I open the pages of a story I have not stopped thinking about since it arrived.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

+Blog Book Tour+ Desire Lines by Christina Baker KlineDesire Lines
by Christina Baker Kline
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

Genres: Literary Fiction



Places to find the book:

Also by this author: Sweet Water

Published by William Morrow

on 12th August, 2014

Format: Paperback

Pages: 384

Book Synopsis:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train comes a novel about buried secrets and the redemptive power of forgiveness

On the night of her high school graduation, Kathryn Campbell sits around a bonfire with her four closest friends, including the beautiful but erratic Jennifer. “I’ll be fine,” Jennifer says, as she walks away from the dying embers and towards the darkness of the woods. She never comes back.

Ten years later, Kathryn has tried to build a life for herself, with a marriage and a career as a journalist, but she still feels the conspicuous void of Jennifer’s disappearance. When her divorce sends her reeling back to the Maine town where she grew up, she finds herself plunged into a sea of memories. With nothing left to lose, she is determined to answer one simple question: What happened to Jennifer Pelletier?

 

Author Biography:Christina Baker Kline

Christina Baker Kline was born in England and raised in Maine. The author of five novels, including the runaway bestseller Orphan Train, Kline has taught literature and creative writing at Yale, New York University, and Fordham. She lives outside of New York City.

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Small Towne Maine:

The undertone of the novel is a unique one, as it is not necessarily underlit with a positiveness about small towne Maine life nor is it especially neutral or negative; Kline has a way of fusing her character’s (Kathryn) emotional state into the underbelly of the narrative itself, giving a unique perspective to the locale. Small townes are always notorious for having the ability to find caring neighbours and close-knitted communities where strangers are infrequent and the care of being in the know about each person’s life is simply a matter of towne pride and goodwill. There is an unsettling harbouring though of the unknown and the unresolved of what can haunt a towne like Bangor on the aftermath of a disappeared teen. The ripples of how one girl can dearly affect a towne and how the people she left behind were stumbling to find any sense of how to proceed forward after she was gone.

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Posted Monday, 15 September, 2014 by jorielov in Adulterous Affair, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Bookish Discussions, Brothers and Sisters, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Disillusionment in Marriage, Divorce & Martial Strife, Drugs & Alcohol, Family Drama, Family Life, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Kidnapping or Unexplained Disappearances, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Life Shift, Literary Fiction, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Psychological Suspense, Scribd, Small Towne USA, TLC Book Tours, Vulgarity in Literature