Category: Publishers & Presses (Direct Reviews)

:Book Review: A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

Posted Wednesday, 19 February, 2014 by jorielov A Fall of Marigolds, Jim DeFede, Meredith Tax, New American Library, Penguin Group (USA), Rivington Street, Susan Meissner, The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander Newfoundland 6 Comments

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

Author’s Pin(terest) Boards: Susan Meissner

Official Author Websites: Site | Twitter | Facebook
Converse on Twitter: #AFallofMarigolds | #SusanMeissner

Genre(s): Fiction | Inspirational | Historical

[time slip] 1911 Ellis Island / Post-911 New York City

Published by: New American Library, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), 4 February, 2014

Available Format: Paperback, Hardback, & E-Book
| Page Count: 400 |

Acquired Book By:

I was contacted by the author (Susan Meissner) herself through Twitter (@SusanMeissner) back in December, 2013 about the possibility of receiving “A Fall of Marigolds” in exchange for an honest review which would be included on her official blog tour for its February release! I was beyond delighted at having been approached by her and readily agreed. As I have a non-giveaway policy for Jorie Loves A Story, this blog tour stop is not hosting the tour giveaway, but rather is solely a book review of the novel which is posted whilst the official tour is going on. I received a complimentary ARC of “A Fall of Marigolds” direct from Ms. Meissner in exchange for an honest review. In January 2014, I received the press materials from her publicist Ms. Clark at Penguin Group (USA). I am thankful for this wonderful opportunity, not only to read my first novel by Ms. Meissner but to host my first blog tour book review for Penguin Group (USA)! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read:

The inspiring moment for me is when I realised that although I hadn’t known about A Fall of Marigolds releasing February 2014, I had already planned to read Ms. Meissner’s novels! You might have noticed her name is threaded into my 70 Authors Challenge of which has a focus on Inspirational fiction!? All the authors I am reading over the 24 months of the challenge are linked to their main websites in my blog’s sidebar! The books I selected to read of hers are as follows: The Girl in the Glass, A Sound Among the Trees, and Widows and Orphans which starts the Legal Mystery series. As you will read on my 70 Authors Challenge page, I found the inspiration to select all 70 authors due to my readings of Writing for Christ, which is Ms. Casey Herringshaw’s bookish blog! She is also a stop on this tour and I feel I have come full circle from being a reader of bookish blogs to curating my very own! I am further esteemed to be in the company of an author group blog I started to hang out around in January 2013 [Southern Belle View Daily] and a reader blog I came to cherish as much as Ms. Herringshaw’s [Relz Reviews]!

I never dreamt that I would be hosting a blog tour for one of the authors I selected to read and I am humbled by the honour of having Ms. Meissner seek me out in the first place! She’s a wonderfully sweet woman and I am thankful our paths have crossed!

Book Synopsis in the Author’s words:

The book is about two women who never meet as they are separated by a century. One woman, Taryn, is a 9/11 widow and single mother who is about to mark the tenth anniversary of her husband’s passing. The other is a nurse, Clara, who witnessed the tragic death of the man she loved in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in Manhattan in 1911.In her sorrow, Clara imposes on herself an exile of sorts; she takes a post at the hospital on Ellis Island so that she can hover in an in-between place while she wrestles with her grief. She meets an immigrant who wears the scarf of the wife he lost crossing the Atlantic, a scarf patterned in marigolds. The scarf becomes emblematic of the beauty and risk inherent in loving people, and it eventually finds it way to Taryn one hundred years later on the morning a plane crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The story is about the resiliency of love, and the notion that the weight of the world is made more bearable because of it, even though it exposes us to the risk of loss.

On the significance of ‘marigolds’:

Marigolds aren’t like most other flowers. They aren’t beautiful and fragrant. You don’t see them in bridal bouquets or prom corsages or funeral sprays. They don’t come in gentle colors like pink and lavender and baby blue. Marigolds are hearty, pungent and brassy. They are able to bloom in the autumn months, well past the point when many other flowers can’t. In that respect, I see marigolds as being symbolic of the strength of the human spirit to risk loving again after loss. Because, face it. We live in a messy world. Yet it’s the only one we’ve got. We either love here or we don’t. The title of the book has a sort of double-meaning. Both the historical and contemporary story take place primarily in the autumn. Secondarily, when Clara sees the scarf for the first time, dangling from an immigrant’s shoulders as he enters the hospital building, she sees the floral pattern in the threads, notes how similar they are to the flames she saw in the fire that changed everything for her, and she describes the cascading blooms woven into the scarf as “a fall of marigolds.”

A time slip between two worlds of New York frozen in time itself:

I am not unfamiliar with the shirtwaist industry, as I previously disclosed I have read Rivington Street by Meredith Tax, of whom gives such a visceral experience through her narrative there is no illusion of the reality the girls faced in that industry. A Fall of Marigolds begins rather acutely in post-911 New York. To find myself curling into a fabric store made my crafters heart turn giddy indeed! I am plumb knitty over knitting, but what I truly want to explore in the future is quilting and sewing clothes! My heart warmed with the warmth of an internal fire whilst soaking in the first chapter as a customer murmured her gratitude for the shoppe! (My affection for quilting, mind you, grew out of my wanderings inside the world of Elm Creek by Jennifer Chiaverini!)

One of the early echoes of the novel is that for everything we see beauty inside, a story alights just outside of our view. I found myself resonating with this particular statement, as due to the nature of why I created the title of my own bookish blog: Jorie Loves A Story! Stories exist across mediums not merely hinged to the printed text of literature or even of spoken voice or motion picture. I heart the ability to seek out stories which endeavour us to step a bit closer to the greater picture of why living and experiencing everything we can bring into full focus. Stories enchant us as much as they evoke our deepest most gutting emotions. Stories have the ability to transcend time and sustain us during the roughest of seas which entreat on our everyday hours. I grew on the living histories which in of themselves were stories set into action by the voices of my grand-parents, great-grandmother, and parents. We inhabit such a small vacuüm of space whilst we’re here, but alas! The stories live past us and stitch into the tapestry of the world’s interconnected thread!

This fascination and intrepid enchantment of history and story, might even go as far to explain my personal preferences towards seeking out the skills of old world arts & crafts inasmuch as antiquing! The older a piece of furniture is in my mind is a greater chance of having the unique addition thus far amiss from a room! I like the tangibility effect of touching the past in ways that are visible in the modern age. I like wandering around antique emporiums as much as ambling through a small towne set to a pace fifty years in the past. There is a subtle nudge to slow down, breathe, and live in harmony. Pieces of stories live all around us, each day we walk outside the door and wonder, “What if? And, what does that person do? What are their experiences? Where did that particular something or other come from?” It’s in our nature to wonder, to strive towards unearthing the mysteries, to put a history inside of an explanation which sounds more like the legacy of a life told through a story!

The etching desire of both lead characters needing closure for the traumas of their past is eclipsed by their stalwart resolve to leave out of step with time. To gather their wits by being withdrawn into a world which lives a harpoon throw from the reality neither wants to approach or excavate out the memories which haunt them. A time slip was naturally going to occur for Taryn and Clara, as each of them are on the precipice of living half in stasis and half in motion.

My Review of A Fall of Marigolds:

In choking honesty, Meissner draws us backwards into the morning when the world woke up once more to a day out of step with the reality we all knew. September 11th, 2001 is a day no one will soon forget, whether or not they lived in America or whether they lived overseas. The newsfeeds overtook the channels, and for this reader in particular who had spent the aching early morning hours in knee-deep research was a groggy grand-daughter at the other end of the line whilst her grandmother urgently tried to shake her to her senses about ‘a plane went down in New York’. I was caught in the segue between deep sleep and awareness, so I truly only heard ‘a plane went down’ which I mumbled was terrible before the line clicked off and I was snoring most likely oblivious to the world’s reaction. I remember waking by four o’ clock in the afternoon, eyes full of sleep and wandering into the living room to catch a light-hearted tv show of an unremembered name. Instead, as Taryn reflects on her part of standing underneath the Towers at ground-zero, I was only a bit past a thousand miles south completely gobsmacked to numbness taking in every channel as the tv flickered into view; I was simply transfixed. I grabbed the phone without recognition and rang my grandmother. The fullness of that day I oft try to push aside and not reflect on. Images broadcasted on television left a dulling ache inside my soul, as it was all too much to process and see in vivid real-time reality. Half of what I saw was pulled as soon as it aired as it wasn’t even being filtered. Meissner deftly drew me back emotionally into the heart of that fateful day, and attached me directly into the heart of her lead character: Taryn!

The breath of realism breathed into each section touches you as the transition from Taryn to Clara arrive as mere whispers and shadows of each other. Meissner is a sensory writer giving her readers a treat to trick one’s mind into experiencing everything the characters are seeing, sensing, and internalising. The anguished heartache of Clara came propelling back to the forefront of my mind as the bits of information disclosed about the shirtwaist factory fire ignited in my memories from Rivington Street, the book I have previously mentioned reminded me that I have a sensitive heart and best tread cautiously in future readings by what I choose to internalise.

Grief wrapped up in the guilt of never knowing what could have been is one of our greatest struggles as we survive those who pass on. Whether or not, we were properly tethered to them or if they were a loved spirit who gave us joy during our days; gutting sorrow overtakes our sense of normalcy. We cannot always filter out our emotions anymore than we can filter out our memories. Our minds love to play games with us, toying us with images we witnessed as well as the incidents of terror which gripped us like a plague. Clara and Taryn are anchored by the very moments where their lives intersected with tragedy beyond logical reason. Their gutting emotional strife is brought to life in such an intoxicating manner, you’re finding your fingers pressed into the softness of the book cover nearly afeared for what you will find on the next page! Hours melt away as you drink through their lives as if you would be left adrift in not knowing where their days will lead them next.

I liked Clara as instantly as I endeared myself to Taryn, which is always a credit to the writer! Clara is one of the few bourne to find herself drawn to blood rather than bolt away from it on sight. A doctor’s daughter endued with the gift for nursing set a claim on her to find her way to Ellis Island taking care of the infirmed immigrants who felt muddled by how they were not walking ashore instead. Transposed against the brutal anguish of standing below the Towers as they fell on September 11th, my ears echoed with the pounding shock of the ‘noise’* of that day as it was heard in the late afternoon. I felt shell-shocked at four o ‘clock on the 11th, I felt as though Meissner dug into our conjoined memories of that horrid day and led us out the other end. To hold onto something more than the worst bits our centermost memories stored and tucked out of sight. The scarf of marigolds was a talisman of Hope and of Life.

The strangest realisation which washed over for me (towards the middle of the novel), is that I have purposely avoided medical dramas and medical-heavy stories for numerous years as I felt as though I needed an honest break from them. I had seen more than my fair share of medical dramas on television and perhaps, had unexpectedly burnt out from the viewings. Whilst wrapped up inside Clara’s side of the story, I nearly had forgotten she was a registered nurse on the front lines of combating diseases like scarlet fever, which of itself lends to a certain medical-esque narrative!

*noise: Here refers to all the conjoined sounds, screams, shatterments of glass, sirens, confused murmurings of the haggardly confused survivors, the intensity of the news anchors overwhelmed by anguish and grief, and the chaos of the events flickering into broad view on the television screen. Followed by eerie oblivion which characterised the silence, whilst everyone’s face and bodies were shrouded in whitish-grey. The absence of light and dark was obscured by debris falling like snowflakes. Everything merged together, everything felt oppressively real, the shock took forever to wear off, even if I was merely observing the horrors of those who were front and center.

All the emotions I had tied into my throat pummeled out of me by page 238. Overwhelming emotion and the stark despair of what Taryn realised in that pivotal moment which clouded her vision in despair. I felt her anguish and I felt it because of what I had witnessed myself on video feedback. Meissner humanised the disparity of the survivors and the observers. She breathed life into the stories of everyone we never knew before that awful morning when the world paused by the sheer terror of it all.

Life is an intricate fabric. We weave in the threads with each day we dare to breathe in and drink in all that we can learn or experience. It’s the in-between hours of when we are truly alive. The moments when we are not even realising where we are headed or how we are meant to reach our destinations. The living hours of where truth reveals itself to those willing to listen. Faith is lived best by accepting what we do not yet understand as a measure of hope for what we do. Love is the binding of our souls to help grasp the understanding which sometimes is blinded by fear, trauma, and grief. All of life has a purpose which propels us forward to greet each new day with the possibility that it will afford. Compassion. Empathy. Acceptance is the final gate we must cross through to complete the circle our footfalls led us to arrive inside.

New York | a backdrop I love:

I am uncertain if I have ever disclosed on Jorie Loves A Story, if my affection for New York City has been attached to me as long as I have watched motion picture set inside the city from my youth!? The fanciful synergy of a city bent on creativity and indulgence in an all-inclusive playground has held my esteem attention! Transferring off the screen into the world of print books and hearty narratives by wordsmiths who paint the city aflame with a pulsating heart where the story of success and of love go together in tandem! Mysteries eking out of the shadows and humbling stories of humanity which surround your soul in a respite of rumination. My journeys have not yet taken me to the city I’ve read about to the level I have, but a part of me feels as though I have been there. Lived a bit even. As the old saying tends to go, if you have a book in hand, you have a compass point in your soul! Travel doesn’t always have to be walked through the soles of your feet. There are times when the light of a novel can illuminate a specific setting and locale in a crystal of reason unseen by a living experience. Novels transport us beyond where time and space have earthly limits. We enter into the conscience linings of characters and in part, take out a piece of them into our own wanderings of imagination. Perhaps then, the essence of the city of New York has always held such a strong grasp of my yearnings.

It’s the city’s tenacity and resilience to overcome what befalls her that gives all of us the greatest hope of all for seeking a community of such unfaltering strength. They rally and bolster each other up whilst dealing with the impossible, soldiering through unspeakable horrors and rebounding together as though they had risen out of the ashes as one entity rather than thousands. New York City’s greatest blessing is the ability to hold onto Hope in the midst of devastation and rise again as a Phoenix.

A note of gratitude to Ms. Meissner:

I am full of gratitude to the author for writing a convincing story without pushing the envelope past what this particular sensitive heart can endure. The sequences in which she gave riveting and honest accounts of the scenes Clara experienced after the shirtwaist factory fire and of ground-zero for Taryn were bang-on brilliant in their conveyances. I applaud the choices Meissner made in eluding to the horror without having to take us there completely by imagery. What was included was expected as some living horrors can only be spared so far, but in her gentle grace of knowing the limits of tender heart readers, her own heart shined. The stories of Taryn and Clara evoke the realities of women like them who lived a life counterpart to their fictional ones. Meissner has writ a story with the softness and grace of a historian but with the ease of a novelist. I am forever grateful she approached me, as I feel our paths would surely have intersected if she hadn’t. Her writings draw me into the depth of where she is leading us and I feel blessed to have read this story of New York as my first Susan Meissner novel!

Extending into the heart of 9/11: There is a book I have been meaning to read which illuminates a singular unspoken moment of compassion and humanity where one small town in Newfoundland found their airport was in dire need of re-directing inbound flights on September 11th, 2001. The book is called: The Day the World Came to Town and its the main reason my original fascination about the hearty compassionate souls who reside in Newfoundland made me curious about their maritime province!

This book review is courtesy of the author: Susan Meissner

I give my gratitude to Ms. Meissner & to Penguin Group (USA) for allowing me the honour to be a stop on the “A Fall of Marigolds” blog tour! I was happily delighted I could participate! I hope I will be able to participate in future blog tours if the opportunity were to arise! Until then, please drop by my Bookish Events Featured on JLAS to see what is coming up next!

**Please Note: This is a non-giveaway stop on the blog tour. I do not host giveaways or bookaways of any kind on Jorie Loves A Story (as you can read in my Review Policy). Which is why my blog is not included in the giveaway hop via the author’s website. I agreed only to host a review stop whilst the tour was in-progress. Therefore, I do encourage you to leave me a comment but it will not be counted as an entry in the tour’s giveaway. Thank you for understanding!**

{SOURCES: Cover art of “A Fall of Marigolds”, Susan Meissner’s photograph; snippets of the book synopsis (taken from the Press Kit Q&A section), were all provided by Ms. Meissner’s publicity agent at Penguin Group (USA) and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Tweets were able to be embedded by the codes provided by Twitter.}

Comments Left on Twitter:

@JLovesAStory I’m looking forward to reading A Fall of Marigolds by #susanmeissner too- very much enjoyed your review!

— Kristin Fields (@writingkristin) February 19, 2014

“Life is an intricate fabric. We weave in the threads with each day …” @JLovesAStory Beautifully composed review at http://t.co/j9hgbcH60P

— Susan Meissner (@SusanMeissner) February 19, 2014

Posted Wednesday, 19 February, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, 21st Century, Author Found me On Twitter, Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Diary Accountment of Life, Ellis Island, Geographically Specific, Historical Fiction, Immigrant Stories, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Medical Fiction, Modern Day, New York City, Nurses & Hospital Life, Penguin Group (USA) Publicity, Post-911 (11th September 2001), Shirtwaist Industry, the Nineteen Hundreds, Time Slip

+SSP Week+ Book Review: The Brotherhood of the Dwarves by D.A. Adams

Posted Tuesday, 11 February, 2014 by jorielov D.A. Adams, Seventh Star Press, The Brotherhood of the Dwarves, The Brotherhood of the Dwarves series 4 Comments

[ The Brotherhood of Dwarves series ]
Book One: The Brotherhood of Dwarves {book synopsis}
Book Two: Red Sky at Dawn {book synopsis}
Book Three: The Fall of Dorkhun {book synopsis}
Book Four: Between Light and Dark {book synopsis}

D.A. Adams page for reviews of all the books in sequence.

Published By: Seventh Star Press, 7 February 2012 (softcover edition)
Official Editor Websites: Site | Twitter | Facebook
Converse on Twitter: #BrotherhoodofDwarves
Artist Page: Bonnie Wasson @ Seventh Star Press
Available Formats: Softcover and E-Book
Page Count: 238

Acquired Book:

I am a regular blog book tour hostess for Tomorrow Comes Media, whereupon in conversations with Stephen Zimmer about enjoying high fantasy over other aspects of the genre, I was offered to receive a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review direct from the publisher Seventh Star Press. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Initial Thoughts:

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect whilst looking over my copy of The Brotherhood of the Dwarves, as I had revealed inside Mr. Adams’s Guest Post on writing the series that I had first thought the inspiration behind his creation was due to the dwarves in The Lord of the Rings. Although, I have started to pick up my interest into reading the realms of science fiction & fantasy late in 2013, previous to my wanderings thus far along I hadn’t actually delved into stories or authors who focused on dwarves! My entire knowledge going into reading this book is based mostly on my memories of Gimli! Therefore, this is my first example of dwarves in fiction as I entered the sage of Gimli through the motion pictures not the text! (the complete Histories of Middle Earth & Lord of the Rings are on my tCC TBR list!)

Author Biography:

D.A. Adams was born in Florida but was raised in East Tennessee. He received a Master of Arts in Writing from the University of Memphis in 1999 and has taught college English for over a decade. His first novel, The Brotherhood of Dwarves, was released in 2005 and has been described as a solid, honest work about camaraderie, bravery, and sacrifice, a very personal journey, more interested in the ways that a person is changed by life’s events than in epic battles and high magic. In 2008, the sequel, Red Sky at Dawn, was released to the exaltation that this novel thunders along, at times with dizzying speed. The action is visceral and imaginative without being gratuitous. Book three, The Fall of Dorkhun, came out in 2011, followed by book four, Between Dark and Light, in 2012.

In terms of writing style, Adams exhibits an effortless narrative voice and a masterful balance between richly detailed descriptions and tightly worded minimalism. The pacing of his stories is breathtaking, with relentless action and captivating plot twists that keep readers riveted page after page. But his true talent as a writer lies in character development. Readers find themselves empathizing with, fearing for, and cheering on the characters as they overcome their personal shortcomings and grow as fully rendered individuals.

Adams is also the father of two wonderful sons and, despite his professional accomplishments, maintains that they are his greatest achievement in life. He resides in East Tennessee.

Understanding the order of Dwarves:

Adams does a great job at introducing the reader to the world within The Brotherhood of the Dwarves by outlining the differences of each tribe therein. I appreciated seeing the slight differences in both appearance, personality, temperament, and tone of living. Being an artist and a writer myself, I was leaning towards Roskin’s kingdom of Kiredurk as they focused on art and beauty rather than savage battlements of war. I lit up a bit within the intricate descriptions of the underground city as the engineering feat it would take to create such a structure piqued my interest! (after having read The Race Underground recently for a Book Browse First Impressions selection)

The pace picks up a bit whilst understanding the rite of passage within the hierarchy of the dwarf system. I was reminding myself of the Amish who are allowed to choose whether or not to remove themselves from their Order whilst travelling in the world of the English, or if they choose to take their place within their own society. In this story, young Roskin believes his destiny is attached to not only sorting out the mysteries of his past, but in seeking a long forgotten relic of treasure which is the namesake of the book series! Quite clever when I realised this revelation!

My Review of the Brotherhood of the Dwarves:

The Brotherhood of the Dwarves is set within a well-envisioned world, where each of the individual tribes of dwarves adhere to their own rules and regulations of order. There are dwarves who consider bloodshed and battle the mark of a true dwarf and of strength of their people. Whereas there are other more peaceful dwarves who feel that the pursuit of battle completely is not the best plausible way to live. (I happen to agree with the latter sentiment!) It’s Roskin’s pursuit of unearthing his ancestral roots that interested me the most due to his status as half dwarf and half elf.

Torkdohn is a guiding force in aiding young Roskin in the opening bits of his journey, not only in the sage advice he imparts upon the lad but in the knowledge of the lands outside Roskin’s native Kingdom. Torkdohn is the type of character you wonder if you can trust. The journey Roskin is undergoing is a twist on coming-of age, where he will have to settle out his thoughts and beliefs as far as how he wants to live and the manner in which he applies the lessons he is gaining. He isn’t one to play the fool nor is he one to relish in ignorance. His strength lies in sorting out the middle ground between being a dwarf who can hunt and kill without conscience of the consequences and being a dwarf who embodies the principles of only killing what one needs for subsistence; or for self-defense if need be.

I was quite surprised that I could settle into the narrative as the context dips between the psychological and emotional imagery of the life of dwarves to where the reader is front-row center to the action. There is a necessity of caution between the Kingdoms as distrust and broken alliances are clearly evident. What kept me in the story was Roskin himself who was very much a seeker on an adventure to discover more about himself as much as what it meant to be caught between worlds of the dwarves and elves. As the skirmishes evolve in the story, a few of the sequences were a bit much for me, but given the wager between the incidents was life or death, it stood to reason the battle would be heroic bloodshed or the grave! At one point I was wondering if most of the story was going to be hinged to battle, as although I respect warfare and enbattlements; there are times where I prefer more dialogue and narrative of the back-story or forward motion of the characters.

One of my favourite sections of the novel is when Red and Roskin are sent into exile with a hermit in the mountains named Kwarck. I eased into this section because I appreciated the interactions of the land with the labouring of the characters attempting to pay retribution and gratitude to their host. The inner demons of their conscience hearts were on trial throughout the story as each man had to learn how they would best wrangle out a resolution for their haunted memories. It was here in these passages that I felt were the strength of The Brotherhood of the Dwarves, as it laid the groundwork for why friendship, loyalty, and forgiveness are so very important to grab a hold of.

A sociological conscience is threaded throughout the narrative:

One of the things I appreciated the most about the writing style of Adams is that he lights the undertone of the novel The Brotherhood of Dwarves with a sociological conscious. Where for every cause and effect there is a conscience desire to sort through the internal strife of battlefield emotions tempered with the clarity of seeking a way to avoid confrontation. The way he interweaves the history of the dwarves themselves with the network of experience each dwarf must tackle is a way of endearing the race to the reader. Giving you a window into the reasoning for their differences but also empathy for why they make the choices they do. I think for those who appreciate high fantasy strong in warfare and survival based on hand-to-hand combat action will thrive in this setting because Roskin and his friends give a lot towards that end. For me the violent exchanges bordered on the excessive but another reader might feel they were more mild in nature. I think it depends on your personal levels of acceptance.

Fly in the Ointment:

Despite my own surprise of finding a niche in the story, The Brotherhood of the Dwarves bends a bit too much towards bloodshed for my own heart’s sensitivity. I readily enjoyed the engaging dialogue between the secondary characters and the main protagonists but I quickly surmised that what I enjoyed within the story itself was countered by another battle right around the corner. I think I could have fared better if those who were hunting Roskin had taken different paths to find him, allowing him the flexibility to travel on his journey without as many incidents of mayhem and death. Afterall, there is only so much one can stomach back-to-back.

This marks my sixth post in contribution of:

2014 SciFi Experience — (“Strength and Honor” by Stephan Martiniere, used with the artist’s permission)

You can follow along on the official Sci-Fi Experience site!

Cross-listed on: Sci-Fi & Fantasy Fridays via On Starships & Dragonwings

{SOURCES: The 2014 Sci-Fi Experience was granted permission to use the artwork by Stephen Martiniere in their official badge for all participants to show their solidarity during the event! The Brotherhood of the Dwarves cover art, D.A. Adams photograph & biography provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and used with permission. Post dividers were provided by Shabby Blogs, who give bloggers free resources to add personality to their blogs. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs.}

Posted Tuesday, 11 February, 2014 by jorielov in Book Review (non-blog tour), Coming-Of Age, Debut Novel, Excessive Violence in Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Fly in the Ointment, Folklore and Mythology, Heroic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Indie Author, Seventh Star Press, Seventh Star Press Week, The Sci-Fi Experience, Tomorrow Comes Media, YA Fantasy

+SSP Week+ Author Guest Post “On writing Ave within the Fires of Eden series” by Stephen Zimmer

Posted Monday, 10 February, 2014 by jorielov Crown of Vengeance, Fires of Eden series, Matthew Perry (Illustrator), Seventh Star Press, Stephen Zimmer, The Chronicles of Ave: Vol. I 4 Comments

Proposed Topic for Stephen Zimmer How did you create the world of Ave initially and did you foresee Ave being shaped into a full-on series? What is the back-story of the research you discovered as you went along &/or what were your methods of deciding the texture of the world? Was there a key moment which left the impression of which direction Ave was heading? How did everything evolve forward past conception of the idea?

The Chronicles of Ave — Artwork Credit: Matthew Perry

As you might recognise, I asked Mr. Zimmer to return to Jorie Loves A Story by featuring an Author Guest Post to discover the early days of conceiving the idea for “Ave” the world in which the “Fires of Eden” series resides. I previously reviewed the “Chronicles of Ave: Volume 1” (the first anthology of the series) which served as my unorthodox introduction to the series! As you will see from that particular post, I was most intrigued by what I found inside! So much so, that it has led me to reading “Crown of Vengeance” of which will be brought to life in a review going live on Wednesday! Be sure to drop back to see my recollections! I also had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Zimmer whilst participating in the Chronicles of Ave blog tour! Blessedly for those of you who are already wrapped up inside this world, there are many more stories yet to be revealed! Let us now yield to Zimmer who will provide the ‘genesis’ of how Ave was first created.

The Genesis of Ave

Ave is in my heart and has been from the beginning of the road of its genesis that began in the early 1990’s. The origin of this story and how it has grown comes from one of my own personal fantasies. I’ve always imagined and dreamed of what it would be like to go through the wardrobe, to use a Narnia reference, and enter a fantastical world such as the one found in my books.

The entire story involving Ave really did begin on that simple, singular premise, and the idea of an ensemble of characters, all with different backgrounds and circumstances, going into a new world moved it forward as far as a concept for an epic fantasy series. The question of why they are pulled into that world, and what their part is within it, led me to what became the core plot of the series. Before I started writing the first page, I knew the ultimate destination of the series.

I’ve always been drawn to the medieval period, especially the earlier period, including the so-called Dark Ages (I say this as there were a lot of places that continued on a course of progress, from the Byzantines to China, to name a couple). As such, Ave takes on a medieval texture, with a modest presence of magic, as I didn’t want magical or supernatural elements to be too overwhelming in this series (though both play a significant part).

Ave grew into my own personal playground, as far as having everything I would love to see in a fantasy world. It has a full range of cultures , lands, and geographies, with many inspired by historical periods in our own world, and some that are entirely inventive.

One of the challenges of writing this series has been making sure the organic realism of the fully original cultures like the Trogens and Unguhur resonate just as strongly as the ones reflecting a historical inspiration, like the Saxans, Midragard, Avanor, and others. They all need to have the same kind of depth and comprehensive portrayal.

With the historically inspired cultures, I wanted to be sure that there was a strong presence of societies and cultures not commonly reflected in epic fantasy. Readers will see that right from Book One, Crown of Vengeance, when they discover the Five Realms and the five tribes that comprise it. Based upon the Iroquois, the Five Realms and the story of the tribal people within it are a major part of the series.

To bring cultures like the Five Realms to life, research has become a very important aspect of this series. Interestingly enough, in the late 1990’s, when I had the first version of what would become Crown of Vengeance done, one of the biggest reasons I did not try to get an editor or publisher at that time was that I realized that I had not done enough in the area of research to give the books the kind of depth and organic realism that they deserved. It led to several years of immersion into research and rewrites, but at the end of that road I ended up with a book that I was confident in taking onward.

The extended research also honed my thinking and perspective when it came to developing an original culture like the Trogens. Subtle touches about their culture, beliefs, and history added a full dimension to my depiction of them, where before they were coming off as more fantastical than real. In ultimate effect, engaging in serious levels of research developed my thinking process, in a way that truly strengthened this series.

Writing a large-scale series such as this, one that has the kind of depth where I can do short story collections right alongside it, does require some structure, but at the same time I leave myself open to new ideas and adventures that can crop up during the writing of a new title. Having an idea of the core plot of the series, and its ultimate destination, keeps it on a track so that it does not drift or derail into a problematic situation.

Yet at the same time, Ave is truly a playground, and all manner of new creatures, lands, characters, and sub plots can emerge at any given time, and I do want to take advantage of those opportunities. The last thing I wanted to do was box myself in without any flexibility during the process.

I think this is what has led me to using a multi-threaded character-focused style for the Fires in Eden Series. Having multiple story threads does add some complexity to the series, but I also feel it adds a lot of texture and added dimension too. There are layers, there are all sorts of seeds being planted for future payoffs, and for the reader I give a trove of material to enjoy and savor with this kind of depth.

Granted, not all readers may enjoy this approach, and want something more simplistic and linear, but to use a rock band metaphor, there are those who like a more complex and layered musical act like Rush, and those who like a simpler and more straightforward act like ACDC, and there are those who like both. As a reader (and as a rock fan!) I happen to like both complex and straightforward approaches, being in the mood for one or the other at given times. Hopefully, the readers that like the kind of scope I offer will find their way to the world of Ave.

For those that do enjoy this, I have an entire world to explore, one that is being unveiled gradually in the series and in the short stories of the Chronicles of Ave collection. There is so much more ahead and I invite readers along for the grand adventure!

You can follow Stephen Zimmer’s continuous journey with Ave and other stories at: Stephen Zimmer’s website & blog.

Honestly, I knew a lot of thought had gone into Ave, from the moment I first stepped inside its dimension of space and time, it felt as though every inch of Ave had been thought about with care! You have a way of bringing the reader into Ave unaware of its origins and its history, by making the world itself accessible and visually stimulating! As those are what staid with me after I put down the Chronicles! I was quite curious what your method of process would be for creating the multi-layered universe in which Ave resides, and in this lovely Guest Post you have given myself and my readers alike something hearty to ponder! I knew too, there would be hidden depths to the reasonings behind why you elected to create certain classes of people in Ave as much as why there were certain names being used to express who they were. I love how you were studying ancient civilisations in order to have Ave thrive in the past way possible! And, the inclusion of using the Middle Ages as a staging arena for the world itself I think was a classic move on your part to give your world a rooting in our own timeline of reflection. It was especially a time where the world saw the most growth, change, and enlightenment coming out of a period of unrest, uncertainty, and ignorance.

As a writer of whom appreciates writing serial fiction herself, I can understand why you wanted to create a world in which would be limitless in regards to where to expand the threads of Ave’s tapestry and as far as how far you could take your audience! It’s always a lovely gesture to become so well acquainted with your own created world that you can see extensions of the original plot passages igniting new ones down the road! I must confess, although I see my own writings in full view of where I want them to go, I have not yet formulated the fullness of the worlds therein. As in reference of seeing the final destinations of where the characters and the story itself will be ultimately going towards. I give you credit for being able to focus on Ave in a way that befits the benefit of having such a clarity of mind in its creation! I, perhaps, might yield to the fact that my writings have been percolating for the better part of twenty years and have been writ at different intervals of time therein. One of these days I’d love to see everything fall together in a way that will honour my own story.

Your essay here on how Ave knitted together, I think will give all writers (regardless of genre preference) a lot of hope in what they will achieve in their own goals once the bones of what they want to write is out in the open. I can understand what you meant about the difference preferences of readers, where some might prefer the depth vs the low-key approach of subtle nudging, but I for one, tend to choose the complexities of a well-plotted story when I want to soak into epic sagas because it’s the layers in which I get caught up inside which bring me the most joy! They also provide endless hours of reading bliss in order to see how all the connections of lead and supporting cast make off in the installments that follow suit! I always get a kick out of remembering the wholeness of whom is residing in these wicked fantasy stories, because sometimes its nice when the layout is not limited to a cluster of a few but held together with the fullness of an army!

This Seventh Star Press focus week was brought together with the help of Tomorrow Comes Media, of which I am a blog tour hostess and book reviewer. To keep up to speed with which authors and books I will be featuring on Jorie Loves A Story in the near future via Tomorrow Comes Media, please check out my Bookish Events! Similar to blog tours, when I feature a showcase for an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog.

This marks my fifth post in contribution of:

You can follow along on the official Sci-Fi Experience site!

Cross-listed on: Sci-Fi & Fantasy Fridays via On Starships & Dragonwings

{SOURCES: The 2014 Sci-Fi Experience was granted permission to use the artwork by Stephen Martiniere in their official badge for all participants to show their solidarity during the event! The Chronicles of Ave: Volume One cover art provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and used with permission. I requested an Author Guest Post on the topic of writing the back-story of Ave’s creation and received the essay direct from the author Stephen Zimmer. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Blog News badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs.}

Posted Monday, 10 February, 2014 by jorielov in Anthology Collection of Stories, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Heroic Bloodshed, Heroic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Indie Author, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author, Seventh Star Press, Seventh Star Press Week, Sword & Scorcery, The Sci-Fi Experience, The Writers Life

+Book Review+ Dangerous Decisions by Margaret Kaine #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 8 February, 2014 by jorielov Berni Stevens (Illustrator), ChocLitUK, Dangerous Decisions, Margaret Kaine 0 Comments

Dangerous Decisions by Margaret Kaine

Author Connections:

| Personal Site | Pin(terest) Board |

| Facebook | Twitter |

Converse via: #DangerousDecisions

Illustrated by: Berni Stevens

@circleoflebanon | Writer | Illustrator

Genre(s): Fiction | Romance | Historical

Edwardian | Romantic Suspense

Published by: ChocLitUK, 7 December 2013

Available Formats: Paperback, E-Book, Large Print & Audiobook Page Count: 400

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 “Dangerous Decisions” from ChocLit via IPM (International Publisher’s Marketing) in exchange for an honest review! The book released on 7th December 2013. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read:

This perked my ears up a bit because one of my favourite tv serials on right now (although I borrowed the serial dvds through my local library until Series 4 which I am watching on Masterpiece Theater via PBS!) is “Downton Abbey”! I seriously didn’t realise how affected I am by the depth of drama and romance set in the Edwardian era! Although, surprisingly I hadn’t realised this as I have a big attachment to life during the 1920s-1940s! I liked the fact the premise ‘sounds familiar’ as far as the initial set-up is concerned but the writer has written in a twist (at least the premise alludes to it!) that will tip the story on its heel and give the reader a hearty story to absorb! Love that!

Book Synopsis:

Have you ever ignored a sense of unease?

Helena Standish knows that a good marriage would enhance her father’s social status but she’s wise enough not to accept any handsome fool. The wealthy and enigmatic Oliver Faraday is considered an ideal match, so why does Helena have faint misgivings? Nicholas Carstairs has little patience with frivolous pleasure-seekers or an upper class that closes ranks against outsiders. Why then is he entranced by the lovely ‘girl in the window’ – a debutante who would appear to be both of those things? A champagne celebration at Broadway Manor marks the start of a happy future for Helena, but no one can predict the perilous consequences of her decision or the appalling danger it will bring.

Author Biography:

Born and educated in the Potteries in Staffordshire, Margaret Kaine now lives in Leicester. Her short stories have been published widely in women’s magazines in the UK, and also in Australia, Norway, South Africa and Ireland. Ring of Clay, her debut novel, won both the RNA’s New Writer’s Award in 2002 and the Society of Authors’ Sagittarius Prize in 2003. She has now published seven romantic sagas about life in Staffordshire between the 50’s and 70’s. Dangerous Decisions is Margaret’s debut novel with Choc Lit.

Serendipitous Rendezvous & the Musings Therein

Very few novels are bold in giving you a precursory insight of the depth of pathos two characters are willing to take themselves forward out of their familiar territories. Insofar as to supposition the nature of the life they are each viewing through a pixel of glass! I oft wondered if those who engage in people-watching ever bemuse their time in expounding on what they feel the person they’ve watched might actually do in real life or if they limit their musings to flights of fancy instead. It’s quite a wicked way to begin the introduction phase of Dangerous Decisions as it gives the reader a nodding of a clue towards each character’s personality trait.

When does mild curiosity start to turn into a genuine concern about another person’s welfare!? When do causal interactions yield to wanting to spend actual time in one’s company?! How much can you yield through a focused gaze into each others eyes without foreknowledge of each others lives!? The curious heart-strings of when attraction knits a bond between two souls seeking love is one of the questions put forth by Kaine. A world can nearly be lived within the nanoseconds of a first glance. It’s whether or not, each parties share a willingness to acquaint themselves with the other that lends the mystery aspect of the story. Do you listen to your instincts or do you refuse to accept that your thoughts of warmth towards the person are anything but flickerments of wishes; extinguished before they were aflame?

My Review of Dangerous Decisions:

I am a self-taught nature and wildlife photographer, gaining experience by walking in nature and watching water fowl and birds of prey alight near me. This is why one of the most striking inclusions of the book cover art for Dangerous Decisions is the white pelican! I nearly had the opportunity to see white pelicans off the coast of Cedar Key last year, but I wasn’t able to visit during their annual migration as planned! But, oh! The grace of beauty in the one who is on the cover is beyond inspiring! Quite the curious addition for a novel set in the Edwardian era!

Helena is a young woman after my own heart! She’s concerned about the scullery maid who is darting out of the house like a mouse worried over where the cat was last seen! Her heart for the downtrodden and the working class is a blessing to see, especially considering that she was bourne into a sect of notoriety and conventional expectations. Her life appears to have been sheltered to the hilt and its her desire to seek out life experiences to make up for the fact she’s been eluded the truth of the age due to how she was raised. Her desire to protect the welfare of those in need as much as animals without the voice to protect themselves endeared me to her forevermore!

One of the underlying life lessons inside the story is being able to accept your intuitive sensory perception as an accurate barometer of knowing when your entertaining the wrong suitor! Listening to the inner voice which reconciles logic within a balance of reasonable doubt is a necessary tool for all singletons whilst broaching the brink of marital bliss. There is a direct difference between the pursuit of love in its purest of sense and the pursuit of love for sake of wealth, security, and compromise. You have to realise where you stand on the merits of which avenue of matrimony your going to step into and this is where I feel Helena is a bit green around the ears! She makes reading her story enjoyable because your starting to want to root for her to transcend her ignorance of men and listen to the logic of her heart thundering in her head in quiet whispers!

In this story, marriage life is not quite a fit of bliss, joy, and love, but rather a girl who entered marriage with the presumed belief that her husband would be endearingly loving; slowly started to find cause to the murmurings of caution. Her marriage was an illusion she was not willingly able to give credence to being true. There is a twist in the story I kept trying to nibble away at with each passage of narrative. I nearly felt I had stumbled across it but it wasn’t until a pivotal moment in Helena’s life did I finally see the full measure of what the truth revealed! Oy vie, oh my! Kaine etches into Dangerous Decisions a dialogue of intrigue that leaves you rather full of suspense until you have it all sorted out! Its not the type of book you can read in two sittings! You must reach the conclusion in one!

Cacaphobia (fear of ugliness) is presented in a very careful manner so not to over-cede the story but rather to give the audience a vital case to substantiate one character’s behaviour indiscretions. I must admit, I haven’t come across this particular phobia beforehand and how it manifests itself to exclude even the most basic semblance of everyday life and living is truly difficult to process. And, yet, for those who are afflicted by this condition I would presume would rather not feel aghast in situations where they’d rather see what others see rather than what their mind is projecting them to see.

Edwardian England & whisperments of the Turn of the 20th Century:

As the 19th century faded into a new chapter called the 20th, ordinary lives were starting to have rippling effects of change intersect through their lives. The shadow play of posh ton society was going to take a hit as women would start to shake free of convention and find their voice to assert what they would be willing or unwilling to accept as commonplace. Etchings of women’s liberation could be felt as the old ideas were no longer measuring up to the demands for civil rights and liberties, most especially the rights and needs of women. The interesting bit to Dangerous Decisions is how Kaine is interweaving sub-plot and secondary characters into the threadings of the main story arc! She’s giving whisperments of hushed society a bit of a revealing edge to the undertone of the novel. You are whisked off the posh streets of London to duck into the darkened streets where ladies in red tend to tread as much as cloistered women on call live in lofty flats.

The living situations of those below stairs has always fascinated me, as though through tracing my roots in history I haven’t uncovered anyone who lived in service, I am always approaching the narrative of those lives with compassion. The understairs staff always had such a lot to weigh on their shoulders and the blight of living ‘below’ station in most of the ton‘s eyes was not a favourable view of mine! Kaine has a way of getting you into their inner world as they work, converse about rumours of change, and settle into their duties. I felt as though it was Sunday night on Masterpiece Theater as I am raptly viewing Downton Abbey! And, with the knowledge I have gained through reading period dramas (both in historical & romance fiction), as well as what I have viewed in period adaptations & originals,… there is a proper sense of excitement for being moved up in position as much as finding a companionable match in marriage. The servants strive to obtain all the blessings of life as those upstairs but with a strict line of separation between them.

Repleat of course in hearing murmuring echoes of the voices of Mrs. Patmore (in lieu of Cook) and Mr. Carson (in lieu of Bostock! There is such a lively connection between Helena and her staff, that I had inklings of reminders of how much Mary (Grantham) appreciated her staff as well! At least whilst Helena was at Broadway Manor; Graylings is a bird of a different feather completely!

Oliver Faraday & Nicolas Carstairs: a Comparison

Whilst the compassionate heart of a doctor whose long hours and dedication to his patients weary him thin on pleasantries of everyday joy in life, Mr. Carstairs still has a winking of a curious heart inside him. Whereas Mr. Faraday still recovering from the sudden death of a close friend is matrimonially inclined due to realising that without an heir his beloved estate could falter out of his ancestral line. Both men intrigued me for different reasons. Carstairs had a depth about him; lit by the mannerisms and observations he was keen on making during his short entrance. Faraday on the other hand nearly came across as a bit superficially composed, where his agenda to populate the circuit of the London Season felt obligatory rather than sincere. Yet. I felt at their first greetings there was far more to each of these lovely blokes than meets the eye!

For a singleton who appreciates a good romance to read, ChocLit never fails to give their readers blokes to swoon over! Each of the characters I have come across prior to Faraday & Carstairs were always wholly true to their own ideals and owned their own stations in life. They are built strong and given the freedom to have a strong footing in the story-lines rather than causal afterthoughts. And, likewise are given the full reign of allowing the reader decide who is truly a friend and who is a foe!

NOTE: I added “romantic suspense” to the genre listing above due to the nature of how the story unfolds,…

This book review is courtesy of ChocLitUK,

check out my upcoming bookish event and mark your calendars!

NEWSFLASH : This marks my fourth #ChocLitSaturdays, where I will be spotlighting a book published by ChocLitUK! Coordinating bonus features will alight on my blog in forthcoming weeks! Previous reviews include: The Reluctant Bride by Beverley Eikli; A Bargain Struck by Liz Harris; and Close to the Wind by Zana Bell!! Future installments of ChocLitSaturdays will be forthcoming and announced through the hashtag section on Twitter! Stay Tuned!

Jorie Interviewed Ms. Kaine on ChocLitSaturdays : 22nd, March 2014!

{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, Book Cover, and ChocLit Reviewer badge were provided by ChocLitUK and were used by permission. The book trailer by Animoto had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Jorie Loves A Story badge created by Ravven with edits by Jorie in FotoFlexer.}

Posted Saturday, 8 February, 2014 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Britian, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Debut Novel, Downton Abbey, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Literary Adaptations, London, Modern British Literature, Nature & Wildlife Photography Antidotes of Jorie, Photography, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, the Edwardian era

+Wicked Valentine’s Readathon+ Because Jorie cannot help but join a readathon!

Posted Saturday, 8 February, 2014 by jorielov 0 Comments

I am not entirely sure about you, but when I start to see a heap of tweeting conversing about #wwreadathon, and nearly all of said tweets are flying through the twitterverse by bookish blogosphere friends & acquaintances, wouldn’t you be a wee bit curious as to what *everyone!* is clued into save you? Yes. Wells, add-on the fact your editing your #ChocLitSaturdays post for 8th of February whilst sorting through your Home Feeds on Twitter, and you have my Friday Night Special! Cheers! Whoa? There is a sweet readathon surrounding one of me favourite holidays?! Who knew? Not I! No! IF I had known I’d have been better prepared! Wouldn’t be writing this completely off the cuff in other words! Laughs with a hoot in her voice!

The fact that this particular *readathon!* started on the 7th of February is coincidentally the very day I was meant to compose a “Stories of Jorie” post to get myself started off on the right foot in 2014 by journalling my bookish blog experiences! The 6th of February marked my seventh month as a book blogger! *Leaping Lizards!*

+ Motivations & Goals +

I truly want to sit back and relax into some wicked sweet romances which celebrate St. Valentine’s Day essence of friendship, romance, and relationships! Valentine’s Day is for friends & lovers alike as it’s a holiday which celebrates the joy of having ‘love’ in our lives! Love can be platonic or it can be romantic; the greatest gift is the reception of love and the gift of love. I have a few titles in mind but as I pick off books from both my personal library shelf and my library shelf, all I want to do is soak into a narrative which carts me off someone quite fantastically absorbing,… to where the hours slip past me and I nearly forget to blog because the characters have held onto me so tight and thick, I dare not let them go! This will serve as my journal update master post, but I am most likely going to be blogging as the days go by as well as tweeting up quite a storm (via @JLovesAStory!)! Give me a wink or a nod if you’re participating! I appreciate conversations here on Jorie Loves A Story, so please scroll through my Story Vault if your stuck on what to read! Kindly drop me notes throughout the readathon & I’ll be returning the favour in kind! Let’s all get bookish and geeky this St. Valentine’s!!

Rather than counting the days of the readathon itself,

I will be journalling the days I can participate!

Day 1: 7th February 2014 A brilliantly wicked day for Jorie who received quite a heap of good news via her Inbox on the bookings of near-future blog book tours! To see what is evolving on Jorie Loves A Story during the months of April, May, June, & July kindly click over to Bookish Events! Smashingly exciting! A brief walk in misty grey skies and ethereal Wintry rain, revealed a pair of woodpeckers absent-mindly but rather productively tapping into trees; barely aware of Jorie standing in rapt awe shooting digital stills! Rather than reading, she spent time editing her bookish blog! And, considering she was unaware of the readathon, she considers Friday a ‘free’ day!

Day 2: 8th February 2014: The day began by editing her ChocLitSaturdays feature post “Dangerous Decisions” by Margaret Kaine (a ChocLitUK author!) as well as assembling the latter days of Seventh Star Press Week! I was re-reading passages of the novel, but for the most part I was blogging my impressions & getting the post ready to go live.

Day 3: 10th February 2014: I am finishing reading “The Brotherhood of the Dwarves” by D.A. Adams & reading book one of the “Fires of Eden” series “Crown of Vengeance”. Both are fantasy novels from Indie Press Seventh Star, and each will have a featured review on my blog! Tuesday & Wednesday respectively! D.A. Adams guest posted his inspiration on writing on dwarves & Stephen Zimmer stepped forward with his inspiration behind Ave, the world in which “Fires of Eden” resides. After I conclude both books, I am going to be stepping outside review reading and engaging in a book I have been itching to read since it arrived from the library! Shh! Its a surprise! :)

Day 4: St. Valentine’s Day 2014: I have been progressing a bit slower than I had hoped with both the readathon and my reading adventures! I am still wrapped up inside “Crown of Vengeance” by Stephen Zimmer, looking towards posting the review on *Monday!* whereas I had previously had hoped to post my review this past Wednesday or Thursday at the latest! I don’t want to rush the narrative, as this is a High Fantasy story with a full-bodied world! I am torn between what book to read next, as I am itching to dive into “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy (reading alongside LitChat; the twitter chats I duck into on Mondays/Wednesdays), “The Spymaster’s Lady” by Joanna Bourne (one of the dear Word Wenches!), and “The Ladies Paradise” by Emile Zola (one of my Back to the Classics selections). I had mistaken the date of when “Under the Wide & Starry Sky” by Nancy Horan was due to go back to the library. Therefore, whilst it boomerangs back I’m in a re-queue waiting pattern of 10th position! Which isn’t too bad, actually! I simply adore finding *biographical fiction* selections & this one appealed to me as I know very little of the author it focuses on: Robert Louis Stevenson! Previously (prior to Jorie Loves A Story) I had read “Girl in a Blue Dress” by Gaynor Arnold, which I am including on my list for Bree’s “Rewind Challenge 2014!” (note to self: complete list for rewind challenge!) A bit envious of Audra being able to read it over Valentine’s weekend! :)

I had a bit of a wickedly bookish week, as two review books came in which I was most delighted in seeing up close & personal:

Such a delightful St. Valentine’s to receive a book in the Post, eh!? The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte arrived in Monday’s Post, but I had the delightful pleasure of receiving Citadel on 14.2.14!!

I also discovered there is a wicked sweet readathon beginning the very day “Wicked Valentine” concludes:

I ended merging out of Wicked Valentine straight into Love for Books!!

Best update is revealed in my No.3 WWW!

This marks only post in correlation

with “Wicked Valentine’s Readathon”

Hosted by:

My Self Confessions

(blog is no longer available: Summer 2017)

{SOURCES: Badges for “Wicked Valentine’s Readathon” & “My Shelf Confession” were provided by My Self Confession’s blog. Permission granted due to the embed codes provided. Blog dividers are provided by Shabby Blogs. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. So Many Books, So Little Time book badge provided by Squeesome Designs; who give free resources for bloggers.}

Posted Saturday, 8 February, 2014 by jorielov in Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Books for Review Arrived by Post, ChocLitUK, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Seventh Star Press, Seventh Star Press Week, Wicked Valentine's Readathon