Category: Bookish Memes

#TheSundayPost XI | A New Year, A New Readerly Approach

Posted Sunday, 13 February, 2022 by jorielov 5 Comments

#TheSundayPost banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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

  • Enter your link on the post-
  • Sundays beginning at 12:01 am (CST) (link will be open all week)
  • Link back to this post or this blog
  • Visit others who have linked up
  • Read this week’s #TheSundayPost!

A note about the format I am using to journal #TheSundayPost:

I am finding I like being able to give my readers who cannot visit my blog each time a new post, review or guest feature goes live a digest journal of what is happening on #JLASblog each week! If you are familiar with the style in which I journal my readerly adventures via #WWWednesdays (see also Archive) you’ll know why I like this journalled style for #TheSundayPost!

It’s a way of talking about what is bookishly on my mind whilst sharing where my travels in Fiction & Non-Fiction took me through the last seven or thirty days! Quite stellar – so very thankful I was encouraged to participate as I love being able to think about which stories settled into my heart and which of the stories I am most eager to see arrive by postal mail and/or via audiobook! It’s a bit of a lovely way to journal your bookish life and have a weekly reminder of the experiences of you’ve gathered and love to remember! Each Sunday Post might differ from another – wherein, I might spend a bit more time talking about ‘life behind the blog’ or about my current reads or anything that is bookishly inclined or otherwise. In other words, each Sunday Post is a snapshot of what I felt was worth sharing with my readership and visitors alike – of which, I hope is enjoyed by those who read them.

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A New Year, A New Readerly Approach

I’ve been trying to tackle my #backloguereviews,

for quite a LONG while now,

and yet, THIS year feels like the right year to achieve my goals!

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In regards to my blog and readerly life:

As you will see by this LIST of #backloguereviews, I’ve amassed quite the list of stories in need of reading and reviewing; it became a bit of a downward spiral in the first few years which is why its as long as it has become now – meanwhile, I had forgotten there were a few I had to add-on to the list for the years from 2019-2021 which of course felt nearly self-defeating until I realised nothing is ever impossible unless you begin to THINK it’s UNACHIEVABLE. Which is why last year, in the early bits of January I believe I developed my own dice game to ‘roll my genres and sort out which stories’ to be read ‘next’ rather than having me stare at my shelves and feel as if I cannot read my way out of this black hole of #backloguereviews!

You know what its like – sometimes you think, it’s not as bad as it LOOKS. You can get current – it just takes a bit of self-determination. Of course, I have that in spades — what I have struggled with is getting myself connected and/or reconnected to certain stories and if I can’t feel my way back into those stories, I get disappointed and then, like most readers I flounder a bit to find my way into a new story and to find that immersive joy I have as a reader. Thereby, although I had attempted this during my 8th year as a book blogger, it’s my 9th year which gives me the best hope to use the dice and the books on my shelves to chart my bookish life this New Year, 2022!

My first selections are already made which takes the pressure off of “what is Jorie reading next” whilst giving me a lot of leeway with genres and series and authors! It is a bit of a random selection with a roll of dice and it was inspired by other book bloggers and booktubers who have adopted similar styles of choosing their backlist or backlogue books to be read and/or reviewed. As some do it as a personal readerly challenge and others have tried to adopt it as a way to challenge their way through their backlogue. A lot of us fall behind in a variety of ways – from blog tours to NetGalley to ARCs and aren’t I a winner? I am behind on all THREE. Laughs.

#2022BacklogueReviews banner made by Jorie in Canva.

I never give up on a story but sometimes I’ve found myself unable to read a story at the time in which it first reached me to be read. Maybe your in the same boat yourself? How long did it take you to erase your own backlogue? Hopefully I’m not in the minority whose taken *years!* rather than *months!* to erase her backlogue but if so, maybe I’ll be encouraging to those who are long haulers to read the backlogue and find renewed joy in the journey. Thereby, this 2022 I’m predominately going to be reading my backlogue and seeking limited blog tours to host as I read my way off my shelves and into a renewed sense of bookish redemption. Read More

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Posted Sunday, 13 February, 2022 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Spontaneous Musings, Stories of Jorie, The Sunday Post

#WWWednesday No. XIV | Celebrating #SpooktasticReads 2021

Posted Wednesday, 20 October, 2021 by jorielov 0 Comments

#WWWednesdays graphic created by Jorie in Canva.

I ♥ the premise of this meme {WWW Wednesdays} due to the dexterity it gives the reader! Smiles. Clearly subject to change on a weekly rotation, which may or may not lead to your ‘next’ read providing a bit of a paradoxical mystery to your readers!! Smiles. ♥ the brilliance of it’s concept!

This weekly meme was originally hosted by Should Be Reading who became A Daily Rhythm. Lovingly restored and continued by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Each week you participate, your keen to answer the following questions:

  • What are you currently reading!?
  • What did you recently finish reading!?
  • What do you think you’ll read next!?

After which, your meant to click over to THIS WEEK’s WWWWednesday to share your post’s link so that the rest of the bloggers who are participating can check out your lovely answers! Score! Perhaps even, find other bloggers who dig the same books as you do! I thought it would serve as a great self-check to know where I am and the progress I am hoping to have over the next week!

Join the Convo via: #WWWWednesday

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

October has dawned,

and the witchingly spooky fortnight has finally arrived;

which means your #WyrdAndWonder team is happily hosting:

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

#SpooktasticReads 2021 banner created by Jorie in Canva.

Wyrd & Wonder is a celebration of the fantastic, but it’s a long time from one May to the next to wait for an adventure and not all fantasy reads are best enjoyed with birdsong and spring sunshine. Spooktastic Reads is Wyrd and Wonder’s autumnal ghost, 13 days to share the thrills of dark fantasy, paranormal romance, ghost stories, urban legends, all things Gothic and even a side of horror for those who dare. Lisa, Jorie and I will be curling up under blankets by candlelight with hot chocolate and the spookiest things on our fantasy TBRs (and watchlists!) as we celebrate the creepier end of the fantasy genre.

-as brilliantly described by Imyril

Whereas I made a bit of an attempt to explain it myself in 2019

  • follow the official social feeds via @WyrdAndWonder
  • tag us socially via #SpooktasticReads
  • visit Imyril & lisa to see what they are doing!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

For those of you who are NEW to #SpooktasticReads, this is the secondary annual event Imyril, Lisa and I co-host every year. We knew we needed a jolt of fantastical love between #WyrdAndWonder every year and it just happens we each fell in love with the concept for #SpooktasticReads – wherein we get to explore the more spookified niches of Fantasy! This is a quite a broad stroke of genres and sub-niches of Fantasy – it is definitely open to interpretation (as all our events are!) and if you’re like me – you might find yourself hankering everything from a wicked good ghost story, to a paranormal suspense novel or a PNR (Paranormal Romance) or perhaps you’d rather dive into the Cosier side of Horror? I know I have the penchant for those kinds of stories myself every blue moon (ie. FAE, Scarecrow, Corvidae to highlight a few). There are more in that collection by World Weaver Press I need to gather for my personal library, too!

Perhaps you might like to dive into #WitchyReads like I do? Or are magical schools your cuppa tea? When it comes to darker stories of Fantasy, I occasionally find myself haunted by those stories and dare to dip my toes into those realms too. I have a trilogy and a first novel of a series leftover from Wyrd And Wonder this year I’m going to begin reading this fortnight and see how far I can progress. The thematics of both series are quite the darker shade of Fantasy but with Light permeating through the storylines – which is why I was hooked and intrigued to read them!

And, then of course, there is the merger of Historical Fiction with Historical Fantasy – sometimes this cross-sects into Cosy Horror depending on the themes explored. This year, I knew I wanted to finish one of my selections I’ve had on my shelf leftover from a @SatBookChat conversation whilst I also wanted to dive into a Historical narrative about witches and the persecution of women who were the natural healers of their communities. They were misunderstood and mistreated by those who afeared the unknowns of their trade and that is a story in of its own.

There are a small handful of audiobooks I’ve been striving towards finishing the past few years as well and I am hopeful I can snatch away enough hours during #SpooktasticReads to finally release long awaited reviews for those stories. Especially as one of them in particular I LOVED listening too but never could re-attach myself into the story in such a way to pay proper homage to the character and the story I had heard with such affectionate joy. This kind happen at times – as there is another such audiobook I am re-exploring this year during #SciFiMonth which is in the same category of this one – wherein, I heard it, I loved it and yet, my review never was able to be completed in the way I had hoped it could be shared.

I might post small snapshots of what I’m reading these next few weeks – rather than focus on longer reviews – as you might have noticed my reviews have taken a bit of a backseat lately as my work life has sort of taken over my blogging hours. I’ve missed the hours I used to be able to spend reading and blogging whilst engaging with the bookish communities I enjoy online – however, I’ve been going through a new season of my life this year – and for whichever reason, I have found 2021 a far harder year than 2020. If you pull down the sidebar menus for both years, you’ll see the keen differences and how much less I’ve been active on my blog in regards to monthly averages for posts. The fact you’ve stuck by me and continue to visit my blog means a lot this year and I am hoping as Autumn and Winter start to take hold –  perhaps, I can carve out a few more hours to read as my schedule starts to find its own rhythm and offer a bit of graceful respite to soak into stories.

Mostly — my goal is to read and listen a bit to the stories each day/night and blog my progresses whilst remaining museful of what awaits me as I progress forward! Maybe I’ll entice you into seeking out one of the stories yourself, too. Wouldn’t that be grand?!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

So, what exactly is on my #SpooktasticReads TBR?

Let’s just say I took the 13x days
AND spun it into a 13x story readathon!

I won’t be revealling ALL 13x titles at once,
but you’ll find them being featured throughout the fortnight!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #SpooktasticReads 2021
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Posted Wednesday, 20 October, 2021 by jorielov in #SpooktasticReads, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, WWW Wednesdays

#WWWednesday No. XIII | #Mythothon Reading List for Round V – a wicked lovely readathon hosted by Louise @foxesfairytale

Posted Wednesday, 8 September, 2021 by jorielov 2 Comments

#WWWednesdays graphic created by Jorie in Canva.

I ♥ the premise of this meme {WWW Wednesdays} due to the dexterity it gives the reader! Smiles. Clearly subject to change on a weekly rotation, which may or may not lead to your ‘next’ read providing a bit of a paradoxical mystery to your readers!! Smiles. ♥ the brilliance of it’s concept!

This weekly meme was originally hosted by Should Be Reading who became A Daily Rhythm. Lovingly restored and continued by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Each week you participate, your keen to answer the following questions:

  • What are you currently reading!?
  • What did you recently finish reading!?
  • What do you think you’ll read next!?

After which, your meant to click over to THIS WEEK’s WWWWednesday to share your post’s link so that the rest of the bloggers who are participating can check out your lovely answers! Score! Perhaps even, find other bloggers who dig the same books as you do! I thought it would serve as a great self-check to know where I am and the progress I am hoping to have over the next week!

Join the Convo via: #WWWWednesday

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Guess who hasn’t revisited THE ODYSSEY since seventh grade!?

Any guesses!? Anyone!? Laughs.

Wait to you find out what changed my mind about a book I refused to ever re-read!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

#Mythothon banner created by Jorie in Canva.

During Round One in [2018], I had the joy of discovering this lovely & beautiful readathon #Mythothon hosted by a bookish mate of mine, Louise @ Foxes Fairy Tale – wherein she encouraged all of us to seek out re-inspired tales straight out of Greek Mythology and to take ourselves visually to a hidden sub-niche of Speculative Fiction – across genres and stories of interest, as there are many Gods & Goddess within Greek Mythos to be explored. You can re-visit the Reading List I composed for #Mythothon Year One – whilst you might want to re-visit the reading list I compiled for the second year.

Remember why I wanted to dig into #Mythothon originally in [2018]?

In truth, I’ve been toying with the idea of adding Classical Mythos & Mythos retellings to my Classics Club List – as much as the fact, there are rare moments where I have ventured into Mythos whilst reading as a book blogger. Some were misses for me – one rather became an #epicfail of EPIC proportions whilst the other one let me down for the potential I saw inside it.

And, now I shall reveal – what motivated me to revisit a book I had such a strong aversion towards reading. It was all due to the extra offerings & free audiobooks via Audible which swayed the scales in favour of re-visiting THE ODYSSEY this September for me! You see, there was an adverted new release wherein *Claire Danes* narrated a new adaptation of the Classic text and story; it took on a more direct impression of the story itself *and!* took out a lot of what I never liked about it, too! In fact, this particular version of the story felt more authentic to me even before the interview vlogs with Ms Danes mentioned the same observation!

THE ODYSSEY originally entered my life as a 7th Grader whose English Lit teacher was so enthused by the original story and the original translations of it, he couldn’t understand why ANY of us could not get just as excited as he was  about it and for the same reasons. I tried to explain it to him, about what turnt me off the text, what wasn’t working for me as a reader and why the whole project of going into Greek Mythology at that junction in my life just wasn’t the right time to pursue it. Somehow I made it through that class with a passing grade but I was at odds with him the entire year and it was exhausting. Sadly, I was the only one in my class who refuted his lesson plans and tried to get us to change course.

I knew then it would be a very hard sell for me to find my way back into reading or listening to any variant of THE ODYSSEY as he just spoilt any chance of me liking it at all. Blessedly, all these years forward now into my fourth decade, I do not remember the specifics of what I disliked and can re-attach myself back into this story with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective. However, I do believe it has a lot to do with Claire Danes and the new translator of the piece itself. Sometimes you can get a bad vibe off a book without delving too far afield into it and that’s okay. Not every book is going to be a huggable book and its okay to admit sometimes the best loved books are just not the ones for us personally. In this regard, I’m hoping I can overcome that 7th Grade reaction and find both peace and resolution in re-discovering this version of THE ODYSSEY.

And, for that – I am in full gratitude to Lou. As without #Mythothon, I might never had even chanced listening to those vlog interviews by Danes or considered purchasing a copy of the audiobook. Lou planted the seed of interest and allowed me to gain such a fierce curiosity about Mythology that I must admit, its been one heck of a journey these past few years!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Now without further delay,
let’s dig into what #JorieReads during the fifth cycle of #Mythothon!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #Mythothon 2021
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Posted Wednesday, 8 September, 2021 by jorielov in #Mythothon, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, WWW Wednesdays

#TheSundayPost X | After August, a renewed appreciation for Austen and the return of #Mythothon in my life!

Posted Sunday, 5 September, 2021 by jorielov 6 Comments

#TheSundayPost banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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

  • Enter your link on the post-
  • Sundays beginning at 12:01 am (CST) (link will be open all week)
  • Link back to this post or this blog
  • Visit others who have linked up
  • Read this week’s #TheSundayPost!

A note about the format I am using to journal #TheSundayPost:

I am finding I like being able to give my readers who cannot visit my blog each time a new post, review or guest feature goes live a digest journal of what is happening on #JLASblog each week! If you are familiar with the style in which I journal my readerly adventures via #WWWednesdays (see also Archive) you’ll know why I like this journalled style for #TheSundayPost!

It’s a way of talking about what is bookishly on my mind whilst sharing where my travels in Fiction & Non-Fiction took me through the last seven days! Quite stellar – so very thankful I was encouraged to participate as I love being able to think about which stories settled into my heart and which of the stories I am most eager to see arrive by postal mail and/or via audiobook! It’s a bit of a lovely way to journal your bookish life and have a weekly reminder of the experiences of you’ve gathered and love to remember!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

I’ve had the honour of writing my 2nd Austen in August Guest Post,…

Once in [2017], I tackled my journey discovering Jane Austen,

whilst four years later, I’ve written about my renewing interest

and appreciation in seeking Austen on Audio!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

AUGUST. It was meant to be the first month wherein I could finally announce my goals for #MyYASummer for 2021 and begin a bit of a hand-selected journey back into reading stories about and centred round Jane Austen’s canon. I have long held a fierce appreciation for her stories – both in the original manner in which they were written and in the visions of those who have stepped forward after her own life to re-tell and re-spin her characters’ lives in such a way which both pays homage to Austen and renews our appreciation for the Regency overall.

On that note, I’ve had a passionate eye on reading Regency & Victorian stories since I first picked up my first Romance story at the age of nine – it wasn’t a full length novel but rather two anthological collections of Christmas Romances: one set in the Regency, one set in the Victorian era. From those early readings, I was definitely on a path towards embracing Austen as well as Historical Romances which tucked me back into both eras of interest. In the ensuing years of being a book blogger I’ve come to love reading about the Edwardian era as well which is a new timescape of interest which blessedly goes hand-in-hand with stories set from the early 1900s into the late 1940s. I consider that the capstone years in my readerly life as its a nice block of time to journey into through Historical Fiction and/or through Historical Romance.

When it comes to Austen directly, as you will see in my guest post this year – I’ve entertained a few different variants of interest now as a Janeite which I might have previously avoided. For instance, to put Austen’s world into a fantastical setting might have felt a bit too far forward for me earlier in my adventure seeking out her collective works and after canons. These days? It seems quite fittingly brilliant and having seen how two different authors are approaching it, I am thankful to see two different lens into the same entreaty of blending Austen and Fantasy (with dragons!) together. The latter of which is a new release this year and one I am hopeful to pick up before @SatBookChat in November, 2021.

However, I’m getting a bit far afield,… before I resume chattering about what I was able to do during the #AustenInAugustRBR event, I wanted to go back over what I was able to do as a book blogger this August, which sadly, was a bit less than I expected to accomplish overall. It was definitely the footnote on Summer being one of the worst of the last eight years and a bit of a disappearing block of hours which led to little reading and less blogging.

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And, now, how I fared in August:

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

August Blog Calendar banner created by Jorie in Canva.

BOOK REVIEWS:

  • The Twin Stars by Bridgette Dutta Portman (see also Review) *my first #MyYASummer read!
  • The Texas SEAL’s Surprise by Cari Lynn Webb (see also Review)

The Twin Stars by Bridgette D. PortmanThe Texas SEAL's Surprise by Cari Lynn Webb

If someone were to tell me how lean of a readerly month I’d have in August, coming off of June and July, I would have felt it would be quite impossible to continue through Summer without the ability to read and blog my bookish life to the same level I’m used to sharing. However, August on a whole was quite a hard month both personally and professionally; whilst it also brought its own share of strife and adverse circumstances to work through. To be honest? I’m wicked grateful the month is OVER and September has now begun! It is best to walk forward than to stay waddling through the quagmire of chaos, eh? I’m also grateful a lot of the stressful bits were worked through and with a new month, comes new possibilities of where perhaps Autumn might become a kinder season than Summer which truly sought to take my ever last nerve.

Therefore, to walk out of a month like August and have two lovely reads behind me – felt like an accomplishment of its own! The first, was meant to launch my showcases and featured stories for a little event I’ve created called #MyYASummer, which this year was meant to be co-hosted by Peyton @ Word Wilderness. I’m not sure if either of us succeeded this Summer. Though I still am hopeful to read at least 4x of the books on my list for #MyYASummer this September before folding the rest into 2022’s event.

When I first found out about The Twin Stars, I was truly overly curious how the author would handle the narrative – from the presumption this world was set a bit like the world inside The Neverending Story wherein the lead character is reading and/or creating the world in which they will one day experience was quite the clever twist on a Fantasy novel. Once I entreated inside this world, I had quite strong reactions to both the world itself and the characters within it. The ending and the last 25% of the novel were the hardest for me to read through – mostly as I hadn’t quite agreed with the direction of the story and series at that junction nor did I feel one of the characters had had a justified conclusion to that part of their own storyline. It was immensely hard to reconcile and I left the book a bit on the fence about how I felt overall because of how hard the end of it was for me. It became a very emotional read in other words and although there are very strong reasons why I loved it, there are a few reasons why I’m worried about the sequel.

Read More

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Posted Sunday, 5 September, 2021 by jorielov in #Unboxing BookMail, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Birthdays & Blogoversaries, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Photography of Jorie, Spontaneous Musings, Stories of Jorie, The Sunday Post

#TheSundayPost IX | The first two quarters of 2021 : a #bookblogger retrospective! Plus, the return of #AustenInAugustRBR!

Posted Sunday, 8 August, 2021 by jorielov 4 Comments

#TheSundayPost banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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

  • Enter your link on the post-
  • Sundays beginning at 12:01 am (CST) (link will be open all week)
  • Link back to this post or this blog
  • Visit others who have linked up
  • Read this week’s #TheSundayPost!

A note about the format I am using to journal #TheSundayPost:

I am finding I like being able to give my readers who cannot visit my blog each time a new post, review or guest feature goes live a digest journal of what is happening on #JLASblog each week! If you are familiar with the style in which I journal my readerly adventures via #WWWednesdays (see also Archive) you’ll know why I like this journalled style for #TheSundayPost!

It’s a way of talking about what is bookishly on my mind whilst sharing where my travels in Fiction & Non-Fiction took me through the last seven days! Quite stellar – so very thankful I was encouraged to participate as I love being able to think about which stories settled into my heart and which of the stories I am most eager to see arrive by postal mail and/or via audiobook! It’s a bit of a lovely way to journal your bookish life and have a weekly reminder of the experiences of you’ve gathered and love to remember!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

The first quarter of 2021 has been a rollercoaster of angst & fatigue,…

IF I were to be completely HONEST.

Loads of LIFE shifts & transitions.

A HEAP of health afflictions.

And a sombering END to WINTER and a predicted return of MIGRAINE(S).

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

JANUARIES… some years, like 2020 + 2021, January is a difficult transitional month for me as a reader. I find myself vacillating between wanting to read + blog with feeling a bit indifferent about it all – either due to the international crises of 2020 (ie. wildfires of Australia first & foremost, the earthquake of Puerto Rico second & a few other things as well) OR the personal woes of 2021 wherein our holiday season was spliced into a new variant of the holidays due to Mum’s insane work schedule of Christmas & New Year’s – which frankly left all of us more stressed than JOLLY. Both Januaries were hard-won months for reading – yet, despite the upheavals of 2020, I was in a better position to read + blog than I was in 2021.

Ironic or not? I felt like 2020 was a year I happily survived and came out of a lot of personal crises and emergencies (ie. my parents rotated in and out of the ER more times than I care to remember) with the added worries over low yield supplies of necessities (ie. #toiletpaper you all!) which prompted rising as early as roosters to secure a PACK of toilet paper (oy!) by mid-March; and yet, overall, my 2020 wasn’t affected by the pandemic. If anything, as Mum was an essential worker throughout the year, our lives progressed forward in and round the new guidelines but overall? It was just another adversely challenging year but not one without its own rays of sunshine and joy.

This year? JANUARY just felt oppressively exhausting and I think that’s partially why I’ve been stumbling a bit this first quarter of the New Year with my readings. I have always tended to hug close to deadlines – sometimes even smashing straight into them (if I were to be truly transparent!) but eh. This year? I admit, I’ve lost my readerly inclinations more than 10x due to ‘life behind the blog’ and health afflictions which have set my heart and mind elsewhere than this blogosphere space I love to engage with the bookish community. Ergo, my post stats for JANUARY are decidedly at my lowest over a stretch of eight years!! *le sigh* Though nothing prepared me for the lightning storms of Summer wherein July truly tested my own patience as I only could share 3x posts!

Whilst at the same time, I returnt to work full-time in February which proved to be challenging in of itself and a new work/life balance ensued. I admit, I didn’t quite balance work and downtime very well in those last fleeting months of Winter nor has the weather & climatic patterns of Summer allowed me to pick up the renewing energy I felt during #WyrdAndWonder (in May) — but I’ve never been a person to throw in the towel when things get difficult! I just find a way to persevere even if a way forward isn’t always optional or within sight of a bout of adverse circumstances. One thing I can say, despite all the ups/downs I’ve experienced within this first quarter of the year, I still found INCREDIBLE storytellers, memorable characters and stories which LIFTED MY HEART in times where I needed a lovely distraction from the chaos of my life. Plus, of course I was quite exhausted and fatigued whilst working double shifts (which I continue to do) which was an adjustment of its own during the first quarter of the year as well.

Also it should be noted: despite what seemed to be a return to normal with my migraines by mid-Summer, I had reflected on the fact that my migraines have truly taken an absence in my life in comparison to last year and especially the more difficult years of 2018/19 where I felt their wrath the most. For that bit of relief, I have been truly blessed and I am hopeful it is my new ‘normal’ where I am not blighted and burdened with migraines to the extent I used to be every season.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Before moving FORWARD – one must LOOK BACK:

cue the monthly calendar cards I created for my blog!

: all of which are customised & personalised :

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January Blog Calendar banner created by Jorie in Canva.

BOOK REVIEWS:

There is a clear winner from this grouping of stories – aside from my rapt enjoyment of discovering the cosiness of McGovern’s Cosy Mysteries (which I’ll address in a moment) there was another author who truly charmed me by her fantastical storytelling and of whom, I intend to re-read this #WyrdAndWonder year and perhaps offer a few more insights into why FLY FREE truly stole my heart in January!! However, until that moment arrives, I can definitely offer a snippet of insight into why this novel affected me so much as a reader and why I hope it might entice you to pick up a copy yourself to see the beauty of what Ms Rose gave us all to read!

Fly Free blog tour banner provided by Storytellers on Tour and is used with permission.

I positively love character centric stories and within the opening chapters of Allison Rose’s Fly Free we are treated to a beautiful overlay of seeing the fey and understanding where we are entering their lives in regards to the issues they are currently facing with an illness sweeping through their ranks. The ways in which Rose identified her fey and how their markings told a bit about them as an individual was wickedly classic as it opened the door into the fey by showcasing how individualistic they are and how they each respond differently to moments of crisis and drama.

Rose entreats us to explore this world of the fey of the Day Court through a growing discourse of unease as this particular group of fey are succumbing to a disease and an affliction which could overtake their race. Rose doesn’t wait long to showcase how far reaching the effects are of this condition either – as the fey are connected to the earth and the earth to the fey – proving the symbiotic connection they equally share is also part of their destruction. The fey have to feel the lifeblood of the earth in order to survive and by all accounts thrive – yet when this is placed in jeopardy it puts their lives in a vice against time.

Similar to the reasons why I loved reading To Court A QueenFly Free is an eclipse of life behind the veil of where the fey live and how they find balance out of their court of rule. You get to see glimpses of how they set themselves to high standards, how they suffer no fools and to deceive when your a fey is a straight ticket into the kind of trouble no one would broker for themselves. And yet, this is exactly what Rose is exploring as both Jae and Sevelle are putting themselves on the frontlines of where danger and deception co-mingle together.

-quoted from my review of Fly Free

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Posted Sunday, 8 August, 2021 by jorielov in #Unboxing BookMail, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Birthdays & Blogoversaries, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Photography of Jorie, Spontaneous Musings, Stories of Jorie, The Sunday Post