Posted Sunday, 1 February, 2015 by jorielov A Woman of Fortune, Amy Durham, Asher's Mark, Becca Stevens, Berni Stevens, Brenda S. Anderson, C.A. Gray, Camille Eide, Chandice Probst & Tana Besendorfer, Dance Until Dawn, First Frost, Gluten-Free On A Budget, Henriette Gyland, Impossible, Katy Haye, Kellie Coates Gilbert, Letters to my Future Husband, Like There's No Tomorrow, Lisa McKendrick, Marilee Jackson, Midnight Runner, Pieces of Granite, S.C. Barrus, Sarah Addison Allen, Stephen J. Valentine, The Gin Thief, The Last Gatekeeper, The Lazarus Game, The Way of Tea and Justice, Up Close 2 Comments
One of the happiest moments for a book blogger is eagerly going to their postbox & seeing what delightfully wicked print books have arrived for their reading pleasure! I have always held a keen interest in postal mail, being a long-term postal letter correspondent which has given me such a heart of joy seeing envelopes & bundles of love arrive from dear friends around the world. Imagine my new excitement in seeing the books I am reviewing arriving by publisher, author, publicist, or literary agent! Such an exciting new chapter in postal splendor!
I have been wanting to blog about my excitement about being placed on certain blog tours and/or in receiving books for review direct from authors, publishers, or publicists. I originally came across a weekly meme on Mondays entitled Mailbox Monday and you could say, that my new feature on Jorie Loves A Story is an extended idea from the original! Except to say, with one minor switch-up! Although I attempt to write down when books arrive by Post, I am never quite as certain when the books arrive as I am always reading the next book in hand! Therefore, please join me as I get excited about the books on my shelf which are next in line to read!
I apologise I was not able to keep up with my posts for this Feature. Most of the latter half of 2014 was a bit difficult for different reasons, wherein I simply tried to read all the books I could whilst I had captured the hours to give to them. I was too wrapped up in my readings to realise I had forgotten to post about upcoming books of interest! You will happily see a resurgence of this post hitting weekly starting this Winter 2015!
I am working on completing my “End of the Year Survey 2014”:
Spring & Summer might have dissolved into each other and collided straight into Autumn, but I must confess I read a heap of beautiful writ stories! Enchanting my mind, endearing my heart, and enveloping me inside a knitted eclipse of story craft by writers who know how to give readers a pause out of their hours and a settling inside their spirits as they turn page after page of evoking narrative which never fully leaves you once you place the novel on your bookshelf!
By the time it came around for the *End of the Year Survey* to be written, I must admit I was still working on a few reviews whilst resting a bit after New Year’s as I love to watch the ball drop in Times Square! I have been compiling the survey for more than a month now, working on it off/on whenever I have a few free hours to go back over the books I read during the past year, inasmuch as sort out my final thoughts as where they might ‘fit’ into the survey itself. I plan to release my “Top Picks of 2014” and the completed survey quite soon! Stay tuned to see what truly captured my mind from last year!
I have several carry-overs from January,
of which I will be reading whilst tweeting about this week:
- Impossible by C.A. Gray (last book in the Piercing the Veil series: Book 1, Book 2, Interview)
- The Last Gatekeeper by Katy Haye (part of my readings for Sci Fi Experience 2015)
- The Gin Thief: Ep 1 by S.C. Barrus (manuscript I served as a betareader)
- First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen (part of Book Browse First Impressions)
- Up Close by Henriette Gyland (romantic suspense by ChocLitUK)
- Dance Until Dawn by Berni Stevens (vampire romance by ChocLitUK)
- A Woman of Fortune by Kellie Coates Gilbert (author contacted me about her books)
- *I will be talking about the library books I’m reading lateron in the week!
Read More
Posted Sunday, 1 February, 2015 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Book Trailer, Bookish Discussions, Bookish Films, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Cookery, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Down Syndrome, Equality In Literature, Gluten-Free Foods, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, INSPY Realistic Fiction | Non-Fiction, JKS Communications: Literary Publicity Firm, Jorie's Box of Joy, Life Shift, New Adult Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Royal Social Media, Science Fiction, Special Needs Children, Steampunk, Street Team for Author, Time Travel, Time Travel Adventure, Women's Fiction
Posted Saturday, 24 January, 2015 by jorielov ChocLit Treats, ChocLitUK, Christine Stovell, Janet Gover, Julie Stock, Kate Johnson, Lisa Kirazian, Liz Harris 0 Comments
Bookish Topic of Discussion:
Short Stories, Novellas, & ChocLitUK Treats
How do you fuse character & story to be capture a reader
in Short Story, Novella, & those ChocLit Treats!
I wanted to jump start a conversation about the wicked awesome promotional ‘shorts’ ChocLitUK puts together for their established readership inasmuch as their emerging growth as an Independent publisher of quality relationship-based Romance for readers who want to temper the heat in Romance with a solid grounding of a relationship-driven story! I have also held a special appreciation for writers who can curate a ‘short’ breadth of a story within the shortened expanse of ‘short story’, ‘novella’, and then, there are these one page wonders of ‘ChocLit Treats’ which is an email subscription-based story delivery of romantic loveliness!
You can subscribe to the ChocLit Treats via email send the subject ‘Treat’
to info(at)choc-lit.co(dot)uk. (as mentioned in this tweet)
Chat Archive | Participant Stats | Replay the Chat
278 convo tweets exchanged | 3 RSVP (+1 unseen) | 9 logged #Nurphers
{ I found closer to 350-400 tweets }
As of the 28th of January, this chat was replayed 27x!
Special ChocLit’er who contributed “ChocLit Treat” insight: Ms Janet Gover!
Chat Co-Hosted by: Juli @universeinwords | Book Blogger | Freelancer
Attendees of the Chat:
Ms Liz Harris | @lizharrisauthor | Archive of Posts featured on JLAS
Ms Janet Gover | @janet_gover | Archive of Posts featured on JLAS
Christine Stovell | @chrisstovell | Author Blog (see also Review)
Kate Johnson | @K8JohnsonAuthor | Author Blog (see also Review)
Lisa Kirazian | @kirazian | Author-Director Blog
Julie Stock | @wood_beez48 | Author Blog
{ Main Conversation Threads }
- ChocLit Treats | Little ‘glimpses’ of ChocLit Author’s writerly voices!
- Bringing back the lead male character from “The Untied Kingdom” by Kate Johnson*
- The Great British Bake-Off series on PBS | Lead-in to a convo about “British words”
- Strawberry Sweet Vidalia Onions
- Coorah Creek series by Janet Gover (review of Book 1)
- Cover Love on behalf of Berni Stevens, cover artist/designer for ChocLitUK
- Celebrating the new book cover for “Evie Undercover” by Liz Harris
*listed on Jorie’s Next Reads for ChocLitUK Read More
Posted Saturday, 24 January, 2015 by jorielov in #ChocLitSaturday (Weekly Chat), A Universe in Words, ChocLitUK, Jorie Loves A Story Features
Posted Saturday, 10 January, 2015 by jorielov Amanda James, Berni Stevens (Illustrator), ChocLitUK, Somewhere Beyond the Sea 2 Comments
Acquired Book By:
I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” from ChocLit via IPM (International Publisher’s Marketing) in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On being an enthused ChocLit Reader:
Soaking inside a ChocLit novel is a lot of joy for me, as I know going in a few things I am going to enjoy finding are strong female and male lead characters, a stirring drama or a rib breaking comedy with a high concentration on relationships and the entanglements we find ourselves tied up inside when we elect not to trust the person we’ve anchoured our lives too. In Somewhere Beyond the Sea the pages evaporated before my eyes, as I was moving at such a clip to consume this novel, I daresay, I did not leave my comfy cosy reading nook til nearly reaching the last quarter of the novel!
I was on page 150 when I realised I hadn’t even written anything down to explain the intensity of what had me rooted to the page, whilst hoping against hope this could have an ending that I could handled being revealed! It is the type of suspense novel that pulls you into it’s vortex, giving you a fullness of the fright and the fear that Karen Ainsworth is attempting to forestall knowledge of (both to you, the reader and to her husband, Tristan) whilst everything in/around her life is starting to spiral a bit out of control!
It was at a luncheon with my Mum and Da, I started to become a bit animated talking about this story, the evoking of psychological suspense against the back-drop of a cat-mouse game of personal identity and past anguish from domestic violence intermixed with bullying. The further you delved into the heart of the novel, the more curiously inspiring it was on one level (as Karen’s life is anything but predictable nor dull) and a bit stomach churning on the other, as I am thankful after reading this story none of my bullies from childhood came back to haunt me as an adult!
At one point, as we had dined out that day, I took to notice those who were eating near us had become quite quiet, and I have a feeling they were eavesdropping on the conversation! I am not sure what they thought of what I was relaying, as if they hadn’t heard the bit about ‘the book’ or ‘my recent ChocLit read’ they could quite literally think it was ‘just another current news story going viral’. Ironically, I always smile when someone asks me, “Did you just say you read chocolate?” To which I love responding, “Yes! I most certainly do read ChocLit! I prefer it over most ChickLit!” Their facial expressions are quite priceless at that point!
Somewhere Beyond the Sea
by Amanda James
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Berni Stevens
Source: Direct from Publisher
When love begins with a lie, where will it end?
Doctor Tristan Ainsworth has returned with his family to the idyllic Cornish village close to where he grew up. The past has taught him some hard lessons, but he’ll do anything to make his wife happy – so what’s making her so withdrawn?
Karen Ainsworth daren’t reveal her true feelings, but knows her husband has put up with her moods for too long. A chance to use her extraordinary singing voice may set her free, so why shouldn’t she take it? Surely her past can’t hurt her now?
As a tide of blackmail and betrayal is unleashed to threaten the foundations of their marriage, Karen and Tristan face a difficult question. Is their love strong enough to face the truth when the truth might cost them everything?
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
Also by this author: A Stitch in Time
Published by ChocLitUK
on 7th April, 2014
Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLitUK)
Formats Available: Paperback & Ebook
Converse via: #ChocLit & #SomewhereBeyondTheSea
NOTE: Did you see the “Public Library” link? Along with “Add to Riffle” these are new additions to my blog! They will slowly populate through the archives, however, “Public Library” re-directs to the holdings of each book on WorldCat! The world’s largest public library directory (and one of Jorie’s favourite haunts!) per where you’re located you can see if there are holdings nearby to borrow from your local library system! Quite wicked, eh? For instance there are listings for this novel in: Virginia, Ohio, Texas, New York, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and California! If your local library (for those readers of mine stateside) allow you to ILL (inter-library loan) outside your city and state, you can borrow “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” today! Fireworks of cheers are surely exploding, right!? IF you cannot ILL outside your city/state, remember: SUBMIT a purchase request for books you want to read! I always do! This helps your library grow and your collection to become quite eclectically reflective of the booklovers in your community!
Cover Art Design by: Berni Stevens @circleoflebanon | Writer | Illustrator
About Amanda James
Amanda James was born in Sheffield and now lives in Cornwall with her husband and two cats. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, singing and spending lots of time with her grandson. She also admits to spending far too much time chatting on Twitter and Facebook! Amanda recently left her teaching role (teaching history to sixth form pupils) to follow her ambition to live her life doing what she most enjoys—writing.
Amanda is a published author of short stories and her first novel with Choc Lit, A Stitch in Time was chosen as a Top Pickin RT Book Reviews magazine in the US in July 2013 and won a 2013 Reviewers’ Choice Award from Single Titles.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | LibraryThing | FantasticFiction
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Posted Saturday, 10 January, 2015 by jorielov in 21st Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Blogs I Regularly Read, Bookish Discussions, Bullies and the Bullied, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Domestic Violence, Family Drama, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Fly in the Ointment, Green Publishing, Indie Author, Mental Health, Modern Day, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Oh the Books!, Psychological Abuse, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, School Life & Situations, Suspense, Sustainable Forest Certification, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, Trauma | Abuse & Recovery, Vulgarity in Literature
Posted Saturday, 27 December, 2014 by jorielov Amanda James, Berni Stevens, ChocLitUK, Dance Until Dawn, Henriette Gyland, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, Up Close 1 Comment
Last year, in late 2013 I made quite the extraordinary discovery, as I had found this wickedly delightful Indie Publisher for Romance Novels hailing from England called ‘ChocLitUK’! I started to host for them as a book reviewer, and quickly realised that I wanted to host their lovely authors as well, which is why I started to offer Guest Posts and Author Interviews! I had meant to keep the author features running in conjunction to each ChocLit novel I was reviewing, but due to different reasons I mostly posted the book reviews without the extras!
Then, in Spring 2014 in the middle of my weekly chats in the twitterverse, I had this scathingly wicked idea! Perhaps I should help promote my #ChocLitSaturdays book reviews & guest author features by hosting my own hour-length (an approx. time, we do like to chat past noon!) weekly chat! I will be forever grateful to the inspiring encouragement of the collective known as #StoryDam as they not only helped me realise what my idea involved but they were the ones who originally turnt me onto using Canva for creating my own blog banners, Twitter cards, and other badges you see throughout my tweets and bookish blog! (such as the main header’s on Twitter like the new one for #ChocLitSaturdays!)
The main idea behind creating #ChocLitSaturdays was explained previously, but what I wanted to explain today is why I am separating the two hashtags: #ChocLitSaturday vs #ChocLitSaturdays! The main hashtag I used from the beginning was #ChocLitSaturdays, as a way to encourage romance readers & romance writers to realise I was celebrating a genre I am truly passionate about on the weekends! However, when it comes to Twitter chats, the only way to safeguard your hashtag is to create a supporting account, hence why I created @ChocLitSaturday! You’ll notice the ‘s’ is missing? Apparently, the name ‘ChocLitSaturday’ is the full amount of available letters your allowed to use! Thereby, no one can ‘take’ the tag in theory as there is no way to create an account to lock it in! I was thankful to have this safeguard in place for both #ChocLitSaturdays and as a back-up #ChocLitSaturday!
One of the hiccups in hosting a chat on Twitter, is that due to the fact hashtags are public and able to be used by absolutely anyone who finds them, I started to notice a lot of non-kosher tweeting happening on the weekends for #ChocLitSaturdays, on interests outside the scope of where a book blogger like myself would like to see the tag promoted! I am not entirely sure why the weekends are a bit dicey at times for promoting “Romance Novels” as this has only been after the popularity of the chat #ChocLitSaturdays started to have more tweets & convos flying through the twitterverse! Laughs.
I have known about #Nurph (@Nurph) ever since I started chatting regularly with #LitChat (@LitChat) where readers & writers of fiction across the board (with a direct empathsis on literary fiction) meet-up to converse with each other on Wednesdays. Nurph is a pro-positive platform for tweet chats because if the host (such as myself) has any issues whatsoever, all I have to do is ‘tweet’ @Nurph and I have immediate assistance! Nurph also monitors the hashtag and tries to only keep the chatters in the visible stream! Chatters can RSVP through the “Upcoming Chats” section and I can alert those who attend #ChocLitSaturdays of when new chats will be hosted in quite an easier way than having to CC everyone on Twitter!
Nurph also allows a ‘replay’ option when chats have ended which help for archiving purposes, but I also know they are easier to find if I archive them myself, which is a bit of why all my archiving time has been lengthened for nearly half a year! In truth, there have been a lot of technical issues between Summer & Autumn; making it quite hard to archive the chats and I sort of fell behind to be honest! It is hard to archive a chat if you cannot even get a ‘tweet’ to stick inside a transcript! A few chats are still amiss, but I’m going to be releasing all the ones I have up to this point!
One of the hardest things to remember when tweeting in a weekly chat is to ‘add the hashtag’ and this is why I previously advocated for platforms such as Twubs, or tchat.io or even TweetDeck. However, in the months since I hosted my first #ChocLitSaturdays, I have discovered a few things:
- Twubs has (supposed) email support with a support team who never responds back!
- Twubs is easy to set-up but if a problem occurs your blocked from entering again!
- Twubs was simply abandoned due to never being able to login!
- tchat.io was brilliant until I realised my account was nearly hacked & compromised! ack!
- TweetDeck is quite lovely but has become unstable & unreliable in high volumes!
In regards to using Nurph, I have never experienced anything but a soothing chat, where you can easily click the “favour”, “re-tweet”, or “quote” options per tweet as the chat is happening! It is easy to login as you just click the link and authorise Nurph to be used. The hashtag is auto-added to your tweets and therefore it provides any easy streamlined experienced! The main reason I hadn’t used Nurph originally is due to not opening the supporting account on Twitter until late Autumn, early Winter 2014! I also wasn’t sure if I should change the hashtag or spilt the tag between the blog features & the weekly chats, until I realised it was getting difficult to separate the two from each other!
At long last, I feel the best way I can help promote my passion and love for ChocLitUK is simply to have two different channels of threaded conversations:
- #ChocLitSaturdays | tweeted mostly through @JLovesAStory will anchour my book reviews and author guest features (which are resuming in 2015!)
- #ChocLitSaturday | is the new hashtag for the weekly chat on Saturdays which is explained here:
JOIN US:
http://nurph.com/choclitsaturday
Full Archive of #ChocLitSaturday Chats via my blog
- To be added lateron today! Drop back when you see my updated tweet!
I look forward to hosting #ChocLitSaturday throughout the coming New Year, and seeing where the bookish conversations take all of us next! I am welcome to suggestions for topics of discussion which can be pitched to me in the comment threads below! Be sure to bookmark the new Nurph Channel for visiting & chatting with us on Saturdays! And, I will be tweeting out the book reviews via this account as well as a cross-promotion between my blog’s Twitter account and this one for the chats!
I have a special surprise for everyone who is enjoying my ChocLitUK book reviews! I am going to be posting my final three book reviews for ChocLit in 2014 between today and New Year’s Eve! The books you will be finding threaded through my @JLovesAStory tweets and my blog are as follows:
I am truly blessed with getting to know three authors I haven’t previously read, with the exception of Ms. James as I previously posted my book review on behalf of her time travelling series A Stitch in Time with the first novel “A Stitch in Time”! Her sequel published in December 2014, Cross Stitch!
I cannot think of a better way to close 2014 than by expressing my thoughts on these lovely novels! I am going to be reading through the library of Christina Courtenay throughout January & February as I have her full collection of historical novels set during the high sea epics I adore reading so very much! There is a lot to celebrate with ChocLit, including the lovely ‘ChocLit Treats’ or super short stories which you can receive by email direct from ChocLitUK! I have somehow managed to forget to blog my bliss with these lovelies, so if you want a bit of ‘ChocLit’ in your Inbox, be sure to sign up to receive their ‘ChocLit Treats’!
{Sources: #ChocLitSaturday header created by Jorie in Canva Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sebastian Boguszewicz. #ChocLitSaturday 2015 badge created by Jorie in Canva. Book covers for “Somewhere Beyond the Sea”, “Up Close”, and “Dance Until Dawn” were provided by ChocLitUK and used with permission. Twitter Header Banner for #ChocLitSaturday created by Jorie in Canva. Photo credit: Sebastian Boguszewicz (Public Domain Image via UnSplash).}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014
Posted Saturday, 27 December, 2014 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK
Posted Monday, 1 December, 2014 by jorielov All Our Yesterdays, Anthony Russo, B.R. Maul, Berni Stevens, Blood for Blood, Brenda S. Anderson, C.A. Gray, Camille Eide, Christina Courtenay, Coming Home series, Cristin Terrill, Crown of Dust, Dance Until Dawn, Dare to Kiss, Deborah Heal, E. Chris Garrison, French Toast, French Twist, Glynis Astie, History Mystery Trilogy, I Walter, Laura Brown, Like There's No Tomorrow, Lila's Choice, Mari Passananti, Mary Volmer, Mike Hartner, New England Rocks, Paranormal Texas, Paul Mark Tag, Pieces of Granite, Piercing the Veil series, Portals Passages & Pathways, S.B. Alexander, S.C. Barrus, S.K. Rizzolo, Science Thrillers Trilogy, Sharon Cameron, Sinking Down, The Dark Unwinding, The Dragon of Unrest, The Gin Thief, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken, The Rose in the Wheel, Trade Winds, Tui Snider, Unexpected Texas 1 Comment
Each of us who joyfully blogs about books will find at times, even our best laid plans to host concurrent blog events can sometimes become a bit hard to juggle when our personal lives intercede on the time we had scheduled to devout to the events themselves. I found myself in this particular pickle last Sci Fi November, but this year, I felt I had shifted a few things around to where I had more hours to give and thereby could redeem myself from what I could not put together last year. Suffice to say, a few unexpected issues arose the least of which were a knock-out of my internet connection by a severe lightning storm and a broken toe of which looked far worse than the injury itself yet gave me enough wincing pain to forestall my blogging.
I was able to jump dive into the #RRSciFiMonth chat at the very tail-end of the conversation, whereupon I happily enjoyed speaking with Ms. Czerneda, Asti, Ana, and Rachel Noel (@Silelda & Purple Owl Reviews)! It was during this part of the convo, I expressed my desire to carry forward into December the posts I was unable to contribute during the last fortnight of SFN: 2014! I was happily surprised to find others were in agreement; November for whichever reason had become a bit of a quagmire for a lot of us, and I was not the only one wanting to extend the celebrations!
*I received a bit of a surprise whilst getting the link for Rachel Noel’s blog! (read: 2014 Thanks) I have always appreciated the randomness to my conversations with Rachel Noel on Twitter & I had always meant to expand our connection by visiting her blog. To see my name listed as a part of a note of gratitude of whom gave her the most joy and support in 2014 was simply an unexpected blessing to discover. Our lives touch each other in ways we do not always realise have an impact that gives us all a boost when we need it most. I can attest the same in return! Read More
Posted Monday, 1 December, 2014 by jorielov in #IndieWriterMonth, #SciFiReadathon, Blog Tour Host, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Book Junkie Promotions, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Cosy Historical Mystery, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Dystopian, Fantasy Fiction, France Book Tours, Go Indie, Hard Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, INSPY Realistic Fiction | Non-Fiction, JKS Communications: Literary Publicity Firm, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Local Libraries | Research Libraries, Memoir, Month9Books, Non-Fiction, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Royal Social Media, Sci-Fi November, Science Fiction, Seventh Star Press, SFN Bingo, Small Towne Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Steampunk, Sweet Romance, Time Travel, TLC Book Tours, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, Western Fiction