Category: Bookish Discussions

A #SciFiSundays #SciFiMonth Author Guest Post | Let’s travel into the Silly Hat Verse with E. Chris Garrison!

Posted Sunday, 19 November, 2023 by jorielov Alien Beer and Other Stories, E. Chris Garrison, Reality Check, Silly Hat Books, Silly Hat Universe, The Multiverse Blues, Trans-Continetal series 1 Comment

Why I’ve chosen to showcase the Silly Hat Verse this SciFiMonth, 2023:

As far as years go, [2022] had been a brutally difficult year for myself and my family. No season was without it’s own share of adverse circumstances to transition through but last November, six years after my father’s stroke and surgery, he was hospitalised twice. The first time we were a bit more fortunate as it was scary as heck to go through but had a simple solution to rectify. On a Tuesday, everything changed in that regard and we almost lost him overnight. By Wednesday, we had a bit of Hope we could find a workable solution and worked towards sorting out aftercare post-hospitalisation — only to have that dissolve into a wreck of emotions by day’s end. I partially blame the doctors & nurses for not having better supportive care and response for families at the hospital — something they’ve lacked this year vs six years ago. But, I digress.

That’s where my heart/mind was focused last November as I had this small hope of a goal of bringing my LOVE and JOY of reading E. Chris Garrison stories into the life of the party for #SciFiMonth last year as a way of helping to further introduce her stories to other readers who are seeking the same kind of Sci-Fi I am. Most of you will already recognise the name as I have fond memories and showcases featuring her Urban Fantasy stories – of which populated throughout my blog over the years, including during #WyrdAndWonder.

As another year has passed through my hours, I have been reflective of late of how many hours I’ve lost betwixt and between trying to sort my way through the continuing changes in our lives. For those of you who are new to Jorie Loves A Story, kindly read through my collection of #TheSundayPost to become up to speed on the goings on of events in respect to my father and our continuing advocacy on his behalf now that he is in long-term care. Meanwhile, the struggle to find and capture a better work/life balance is something I hope to have mastered or at least, maintained in better frequency over the next twelvemonths as I have completely failed to do so over the last year.

The JOY I had reading this lovely guest feature last November as the hours were elapsing off the clock for SciFi Month is hard to put into words. It felt like a wonderful capture of the series itself – as it isn’t necessarily a series per se, but as you will soon find out for yourself – it is a succession of stories which are interconnected and tethered together through a rather ingenious thread of thought by Ms Chris herself. I love how this guest feature also celebrates Science Fiction and the many different avenues an author can take to thread their own needle through a genre which is constantly expanding and redefining itself through each new person who takes on the adventure of writing a story within its realms of exploration.

I had intended to read this Silly Hat Verse series throughout November (in 2022 and in 2023) and have the capstone become this lovely guest feature wherein I knew my own curiosities about the multiverse she’s created might tip interest in others to learn about themselves. I still intend to share a review from the Silly Hat Verse before the close of November (this year) and will be continuing my reviews of the stories therein during my SciFi Sundays features, too. Let this be the beginning of a wonderful shared journey into an expanse of stories which have wickedly captured my curiosity!

What I have to share is a wicked brilliant guest post wherein she dives us into the heart of the multiverse she’s created, explains the origins of how it was created and also, the future of where the next stories will generate forward from here as well.

Join me as we dive straight into a multiverse world –
which will implore you to read each story in turn and savour the discovery therein.

On my connection to Ms Chris (aka E. Chris Garrison):

My path first crossed with Ms Chris through a podcast sponsored by an Indie Speculative Fiction publisher which led me to hosting blog tours which celebrated her stories. Since our first encounter with each other, we’ve developed a friendship I am blessed to have and I appreciate getting to know a bit more about an author whose not only developing a unique style in the world of Fantasy but is receptive to the thoughts readers have as they gain impression by reading the stories themselves.

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Ms Chris through our respective blogs, the twitterverse, the podcast world, and privately. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time. For more information, I disclosed a bit more on my first 10 Bookish, Not Bookish Thoughts (read No.7!).

Posted Sunday, 19 November, 2023 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Bookish Discussions, Futuristic Fantasy, Hard Science Fiction, Indie Author, Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Space Opera, Speculative Fiction

#SpooktasticReads | Year V : A 13-day celebration of the spookier side of Fantasy!

Posted Wednesday, 19 October, 2022 by jorielov Catching A Witch, Dead as a Dodo, Heidi Eljarbo, Jeannie Wycherley, Leanne Leeds, Star of Sage and Scream, The Owl Star Witch series, Weird Wedding at Wonky Inn, Wonderland Detective Agency series, Wonky Inn series 0 Comments

Welcome, Welcome to #SpooktasticReads Year V

Happily visit my lovely co-hosts:

Lisa @ Dear Geek Place

+ Imyril @ There’s Always Room for One More

+ Annemieke @ A Dance With Books

+ Ariana @ The Book Nook

A bit of back-history on SPOOKTASTIC READS:

In Autumn [2017], I conceived of this idea to re-start my readings into the spooktacular worlds of chilling Thrillers, Suspense, Mysteries and the Paranormal (with just a dash of love for Cosy Horror!) – wherein I conceived of spending a fortnight reading such lovelies and enjoying a personal readathon leading into Halloween! I fell a bit short of my goals in [2017], even though I took it as a success – as not only did I read some rather spookified tales but I found myself wholly intrigued by the stories I was selecting to read!

By [2018] whilst helping develop and co-host @WyrdAndWonder, I put forth the idea to name our first mini-event for #WyrdAndWonder – wherein I was hoping to let this small idea I had in [2017] take flight, reach a bigger audience and find readers who might find their own definition of #SpooktasticReads befitting their own readerly life! Which of course meant – re-defining it to include what it celebrates now as a mainstay: Cosy Horror, Paranormal Fantasy, Witchy Reads, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy and even Gothic Romance or other such tales. I still have the tendency to read Cosy Crime, Suspense and Thrillers throughout Autumn and into Winter as well.

Some of the stories of course play the theme up quite a bit for the spookier side of the genres, some of which may or may not directly (or indirectly) relate to Fantasy per se but this is one of those readathons which is open to both interpretation and the joy of having free reign to enjoy the readathon in a way each reader wants to approach it. The truer beauty of Wyrd And Wonder and SpooktasticReads is the ability for each participant to find their own readerly path and find what gives them JOY to celebrate the events we’re hosting through social and the book blogosphere.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

#SpooktasticReads 2022

Posted Wednesday, 19 October, 2022 by jorielov in Bookish Discussions, Cosy Historical Mystery, Crime Fiction, Ghosts & the Supernatural, Gothic Literature, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Parapsychological Gifts, Supernatural Fiction, Suspense

#SciFiMonth Space Opera Anthology Review | “Far Orbit: Apogee” (Speculative Space Adventures) edited by Bascomb James (by World Weaver Press)

Posted Thursday, 26 November, 2020 by jorielov (Editor) Bascomb James, Far Orbit: Apogee, World Weaver Press 0 Comments

Acquired Book by: Did you ever grow curious about a new publisher who produces science fiction, fantasy, and horror genre selections in both novel length and short stories? Did you ever decide to enquire with the publisher you’ve found to see if they were open to book blogger requests to read and review their selections!? This is the situation I found myself in as I was quite mystified by the offerings of World Weaver Press! Such a delightful discovery on my behalf [in 2015] with a website full of inspiring reads across SFF!

Since I started reviewing with World Weaver Press [in August, 2015] there has been a changing of the guard behind-the-scenes where there is a new owner & publicity team. I am wicked happy to see the legacy and tradition of WWP has been carried forward by this lovely new team! I am honoured to work with them continuing to showcase World Weaver Press through reviewing their titles and hosting future guest features by their authors! Except to say when my personal health afflictions and adversities overtook my ability to concentrate on the stories with successive delays in posting my reviews suddenly became the norm, I withdrew making new requests from the publisher as much as it pained me to admit I was falling further behind. I enjoyed the time I had as a reviewer for this publisher and I will continue to seek out the stories by the authors I’ve discovered along the way. I especially want to continue to gather the anthologies by Rhonda Parrish to round out my collection!

I received a complimentary copy of “Far Orbit: Apogee” direct from the publisher World Weaver Press in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I’ve been dearly keen on reading this lovely Anthology:

It is fair to say, one of my favourite sections of Science Fiction are the realms within Space Opera & the infinite array of how we can not only explore Spacer lifestyles but delve into the myriad dimensions of how evolving life in Space can become for intrepid explorers, traders & colonists who dare to live offworld. It’s a place where due to the variety of entrances you can make as a writer – the reader, can become treated to different perspectives of life in Space inasmuch as the complex complications which go along with interstellar travels.

I originally wanted to read this during #RRSciFiMonth 2017 – as that is when I last updated the draft for this review. However, it was the year my father recovered from his stroke and the following year [2018] I had over 10+ months of health afflictions and a higher frequency of my chronic migraines. Last year [2019] was the first year I started to find relief from the migraines but also, the first year I could re-address my backlogue reviews whilst self-motivating myself through a few challenges which help re-inspire our self-directed goals such as #BeatTheBackList.

I made some positive enroads towards that personal goal of mine of erasing my backlogue of reviews, however, to be fair, I had less migraines this 2020 but more adversities to overcome as well. Such as the medical emergencies of my parents which included two ER visits in March (non-covid related) wherein I was alerted to be prepared if my Mum might have had a TBI and that would have left me as the carer of both my parents for the foreseeable future. She had sustained a series of bad injuries in an accident and thankfully after a few months recovered and healed from them all. It was an unexpected blessing and one we cherished receiving – yet, from January to May I was migraine-free only to have them return May-October.

I realise now my backlogue goals were set a bit too high to reach and thereby I’ve reset my goals to simply be “pick up a book on the backlogue, read it, sort out my thoughts for the review and let time be the chooser of when it is erased”. It speaks to how sometimes our goals are more long-term than short-term and how sometimes if you have health afflictions, you can maintain your optimism but sometimes you have to be more realistic with how quickly you can accomplish the goals you dearly want to achieve. Thereby, it is a pleasure of JOY being able to share this review during #SciFiMonth 2020! *whew!* What a long, long route I took to diving into FAR ORBIT: Apogee!

It goes without question, I will one day purchase copies of FAR ORBIT (the original collection) and FAR ORBIT: Outpost (if I can find where it was published and when).

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

#FuellYourSciFi
#SciFiMonth 2020
2020 Backlogue Reviews

Posted Thursday, 26 November, 2020 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Futuristic Fantasy, Hard Science Fiction, Indie Author, Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Space Opera, Speculative Fiction, World Weaver Press

#WWWWednesdays No.12: On how Jorie found readerly inspiration during the Christian Fiction Reading Safari and restored her readerly life!

Posted Wednesday, 9 September, 2020 by jorielov 2 Comments

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 WWWWednesdays 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: #WWWWednesdays

What are you currently reading!?

(Wednesday 9th September to Wednesday 16th September)

The books I am reading for review:

My Mother’s Kitchen by Meera Ekkanath Klein
Rescuing the Rancher by Claire McEwen
Elizabeth Obstinate Headstrong Girl (anthology) audiobook by the Quill Collective
The River Jewel (prequel The Letter series) by Kathleen Shoop

My Mother’s Kitchen is one of my #SatBookChat guests novels from this Summer which unfortunately was detained from being read and finished for review due to my increasing migraines from May-August. I went five months without them (Jan-May) and then, unfortunately they returnt with such a fierce hold I thought I’d never shake them until September arrived. I am hopeful for another long hiatus from having them gripping me in their vise! Towards that end, I am starting to re-queue the stories I was meant to be reviewing for #SatBookChat – this is the first one I wanted to finish and share from my Summer guests whilst I am also re-queuing all guests from 2020 I’ve fallen behind on finishing due to various postponements within my readerly life this year.

You’ll be seeing an uptick in #SatBookChat reviews from September to December as I believe I’ll have just enough to spread out throughout the last quarter of the year to conclude the year on a clean slate of being fully caught up with all guests and their stories. I also want to finish the archives for the chats and the rewind posts – threading through Jorie Loves A Story (back-posting) to reflect the day of each of the chats themselves. The full transcripts (archives) will be housed in the Moments of @SatBookChat.

Rescuing the Rancher is the fourth novel in one of my beloved Harlequin Heartwarming series Heroes of Shelter Creek which I’ve had the pleasure of discovering whilst hosting blog tours with Prism Book Tours. This time round, I noticed the author announcing via Twitter she was seeking book bloggers who wanted to read and review her fourth novel in the series – happily I made the cut and was able to request both the second and fourth novel for review!! Eek. I was beyond overjoyed as I had missed the second whilst I read the third! Harlequin Heartwarming is one of the few imprints who publishes series I can move forward and backwards within reading and never feel I’ve lost traction with both the stories and the characters; however, having said that – whenever I have the chance to back-read one of the series I’m invested into the characters’ lives is a chance I cannot pass up as I definitely want to see how everyone’s story evolved through the series!!

Ahead of writing this #WWWednesdays post you’ll notice that I finished reading the second novel After the Rodeo by Ms McEwen and how it became one of my favourite reads! I was attempting to finish reading Rescuing the Rancher this past weekend and week, however, with Mum’s medical emergency and other issues which came about – I must admit my focus was quite ‘off’. Plus, once the new week began – I’ve been consumed with wildfire news via streaming livestreams off YT or catching the news as it breaks on Twitter. My heart is with everyone in those evacuation zones as much as I quite literally either have personal friends, family friends or know authors I’ve loved reading in every affected Western state! It makes it soul crushing to know how widespread the devastation is whilst not knowing if someone you know personally is either evacuating or is in a zone of safety away from the fires. I need to read this book for the positive outcome it inspires to have in the ending – but at the moment, my heart has just felt ‘full’ with IRL fires.

I was able to listen to the Foreword by Tessa Dare and the first short story within the audiobook of Elizabeth: Obstinate Headstrong Girl as I blogged about my ruminations on behalf of those sections of the book for my blog tour stop on the 5th of September. Thankfully, I have the rest of September to fully enjoy the beautiful collection ahead of hosting the editor Christina Boyd during @SatBookChat on the 3rd of October! I cannot wait to dive back into this collection as I felt so wonderfully attached inside it due to the narration by Elizabeth Grace!

Kingdom Above the Cloud I’ve been attempting to read all Summer and something distracts me from starting the story! I previously hosted a book spotlight about the story ahead of #WyrdAndWonder Year 3 as I truly felt I was going to be reading it shortly after the spotlight ran – sadly if my migraines hadn’t returnt I might have accomplished that goal! I even put it on my shortlist of #mustreads for the Christian Reading Safari this year as I thought it might be a good time to read an INSPY Fantasy novel – however, in that regard, my readings were cut short by severe lightning storms and thus, it has shifted into September wherein I am not just recapturing the joy of my leftover #WyrdAndWonder TBR reads (will be announced next week) but I am also participating in #SelfPublishedFantasyMonth which I will disclose today as well. Ergo, this is one of the next books of Fantasy I want to be reading early this month.

Alaskan Dreams was delayed reaching me initially for the blog tour (wherein I hosted a spotlight) and had the unfortunate timing to be with me in May. As foresaid the migraines marched back into my life and took out a lot of hours of readerly joy – this is a story I cannot wait to dive into as I love the author’s collective works and this is a series I am enjoying bit by bit! Honestly – I never have a bad reading hour when I’m tucked into a Harlequin Heartwarming Contemporary Romance! These romances have given me back a lot of joy since my days of reviewing ChocLit.

#CFSRS20 leftovers & stories I’m finishing this week
& into the rest of the year:

[ as disclosed via my Announcement Post ]

→ Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish

A snippet of insight from my forthcoming review:

[ return on 20th September for my stop on the blog tour! ]

Hadley Beckett has this internal sunshine about herself wherein even when she’s stressed to the max – she’s still a champion of trying to focus on the small things and not allow others round her to tip her over the edge of her own sanity. That is of course until this Max fellow who comes off as quite the cad as he doesn’t give two figs about Hadley whilst displaying his ego as if he were the most important chef in the world. Mind you, they were involved with a cooking show sequencing a competition for the ‘Culinary Channel’ (which in my mind was either Food Network or Cooking Channel) but the entire time the cast and crew are attempting to film what needed to get in the bag that day, Max with his less than gracious ego kept butting heads and making filming adversely difficult for all involved!

Hadley was betwixt a rock and a hard place knowing how to tap dance round Max – he infuriated her and those round him by his antics but it was a bit more personal for Hadley! She had admired the man and appreciated his work ethic and the accomplishments he’d made – but in person? She couldn’t be any closer to being oil to his water! They simply locked horns like mountain goats and didn’t have a lot of common ground. To add further insult to her injury, the whole crew treated Max like he could do no wrong and that if you tried to stand up for yourself? You only came to the conclusion that you didn’t even have to be in the room anymore. I felt for Hadley – here she was trying to be professional and everyone is bending over backwards for the jerk in the chef’s hat!

What endeared me the most about how Turner wrote Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish is that if you needed a wicked respite from everyday life, this is a novel writ in a tone of narrative that not only makes you feel like you’re on a self-directed holiday but you can’t help but soak into her words, the twists of phrase she uses to illuminate the drama and to feel yourself relaxing into the story. If you are blessed to be able to hear this story in audiobook with the delightfully brilliant Aimee Lilly its a sweetened journey for you because Ms Lilly performs as if this were a one woman play bringing to life every nuanced moment of the story and giving you a narration that feels larger than life! I loved the intimacy of this performance – of how Lilly hugged so dearly close to the words of Turner and how in combination of each other, they built this beautifully sophisticated world ‘behind’ not only celebrity chefs and the cookery arts but behind how the path for any woman to find success in a field of men is one incredible Mt Everest to climb!

This has to be one of the best treasured discoveries of my readerly wanderings during the Christian Fiction Reading Safari this year as I was just not expecting the depth of comedic timing etching through the narrator’s performance nor the breadth of dramatic comedy oosing out of the writerly styling of Ms Turner! (big smiles)

I’ve had this on my shelf since I participated in a social takeover tour with a blog touring company I hosted a few times this Spring, 2020. The book was sent to me in order to take part in the social outreach by the publisher and thereby I was not obliged to post a review during that time window or thereafter. I wasn’t sure when I could get into the novel per se but I knew after having spent a few minutes looking over the plot and getting a vibe of the author’s style – I had a sneaky feeling she’d be one of my #mustread favourites for Contemporary INSPY!

How true my intuition proved!

I also had a suspicion I’d enjoy this one as a ‘book in hand, audiobook in ears’ kind of reading – which is why I pulled up the audiobook via Scribd. I made it through the first hour or so on Scribd before I had to put my membership on pause – happily I found my regional library has this audiobook via their CloudLibrary which is how I am resuming listening and reading the book! They happen to have a large repository of INSPY Lit on audiobook – so you might see me grabbing more than one of those to be listening to in the coming weeks and months.

The performance of the narrator is such a champion of authenticity of a character that you are truly rooted in her voice and the whole journey of Hadley Beckett just bursts alive in your ears! I cannot wait to finish my stay within this world and yet, part of me is remorseful of having to exit it! Oyy.

I was enjoying myself so dearly much when I saw the announcement for the blog tour I decided to withhold sharing my review and pushed it forward into September. I hadn’t foreplanned postponing finishing the story but you can credit the lightning storms for that unexpected shift!
Read More

Posted Wednesday, 9 September, 2020 by jorielov in Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Discussions, WWW Wednesdays

A Jane Austen Conversation | featuring Collins Hemingway in discussion about his Marriage of Miss Jane Austen series

Posted Wednesday, 15 January, 2020 by jorielov Collins Hemingway, Self Published, The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts,

I am not entirely sure if everyone who reads my blog is aware of my admiration for Jane Austen or the fact, I consider myself a #Janeite. I have loved the author’s style of narrative for many years, in fact, I wrote an Essay about it during 2017’s #AustenInAugust and couldn’t help but gush over the reading of the first novel in this trilogy as well.

What implored me truly to read this after canon selection on a theory of Jane Austen’s life is my affection for the author herself. I love reading after canon works based on her collective works but I also like to entertain readings of stories which relate directly to the writer, herself. Previously, I have explored this through the Jane Austen Mysteries a series I look forward to re-visiting, as I hadn’t had the time to re-read the first novel nor continue with the rest of the stories which followed suit. This was initially my goal whilst reading the first volume in this series – however, in the past few years, my readings of Austen Literature has taken a few interesting hiatuses.

Whilst noting this is a novel of an evolving theory based on what ‘could have been’ in accord to Ms Austen’s life, I felt it warranted exploring because after all, how much do any of us know about the Classical authors we love to read? In this, I had a curious thought – what if this novel had a foundation of grounding based on one of the author’s own works? This is something which came into better clarity as I read the novel directly and one in which, I had wondered if other readers on the blog tours had noted themselves.

Directly though – I was dearly curious to continue reading this series due to these
ruminative thoughts I had shared after finishing Volume Two:

As I re-entered Jane’s life as a married woman, I was happy to find Cassandra was beside her, news of the Napoleonic War held good news for her family (especially in regards to her brother) whilst her new life was still one she was settling into accepting. Ashton provided a step-up in social standing for Jane, including how they lived and what they had within their environs. You can see her a bit uncertain how to handle the luxuries of this life compared to what she was used to previously with the Austens, who lived a humbled existence.

Jane is the newly minted Mrs Dennis in the household – a duty and station which comes with a litany of obligation, responsibility and a foresight of understanding for social trademarks for a hostess. It is here where we first start to notice how Jane’s own upbringing fell short of what she would have to endure as a married woman. How her mother-in-law wouldn’t hesitate to point out her faults and where her sister Cassandra would provide a moral anchour to her nerves. It is here we find Jane attempting to do the biding of her husband but without the fuller knowledge of what a disaster it could become if she would blindly follow his advice without taking into consideration the suggestions of his mother, the other ‘Mrs Dennis’.

It is interesting to see how Jane would approach married life – how she is open to discussing things with Ashton or of finding ways to engage him in the romantic gestures she endeavours to instigate. Nothing is seen as this was inspired by Jane Austen and thus, Hemingway happily kept her style of narrative intact without deviating out of the tastefulness of a romance which made her infamous for the genre; yet what was interesting is how he gave a bit of freedom of expression to both Jane and Ashton. They were happily enjoying their married lives – all facets of it but most importantly the ways in which they were endearing each other in their more intimate moments.

There is a bit of cheeky humour threading into the backbone of this installment – how Jane is reflectively musing about how she’s surprised at how natural being a married woman has come to her and how she enjoys being with her husband. There are other sides to Jane as well, such as the woman who is not yet ready to lead a household but of whom, is attempting to remain outside her comfort zone if it means improving her connection to her husband, her staff and her mother-in-law. This is a story of growth – of seeing Jane move away from her years of youth and of embracing this new chapter where she is writing the hours as they arrive.

As Jane started to see how marriage loomed ahead of her, her one regret truly was the lack of hours in which to be creatively engaged with her pen. She spoke of this to Ashton, of whom did not see why she was upset (not really, though he attempted to try) as she had chosen to be with him, to be a wife and to have responsibilities that would naturally come out of the union. Quite a typical response, except that it fell short of realising from a husband’s perspective, how sometimes a woman in a marriage was not realising they were sacrificing a part of themselves for the sake of being with the man they loved. I think in this instance, Jane had become caught inside the romance and hadn’t fully thought about how her life might become altered if she followed course.

A lot of truth in those worries of Jane as I readily observe how not all husbands are supportive of their wives (especially if their writers) and how it would appear that women are still even now needing to defend why they write or why they want to be economically engaged outside of their marriage. This was a moment of reckoning for Jane, as it wasn’t just putting aside her desires to write which plagued her conscience but certain aspects of marriage itself; which also acted as a conflict with how she was raised and the more sheltering views of being a clergy’s daughter.

Similarly, Hemingway was not shy to highlight the other tensions in their marriage – such as the blunderment Ashton made in deference to Jane in private conversation. It shows how he was effectively examining their marriage from an outside vantage point which had the pleasure of seeing the more intimate moments of their private hours. In thus, he pulled back the layers of what was shielding them from the outside world – drawing them out, letting them reveal their raw emotional thoughts and to speak plainly how they felt about not just one another but the topical issues of their era. They were together for most things but they struck a chord apart on deeper issues I think bemused both of them to notice they truly were two passionate souls who each had their own individual mind. To which end, there were some aspects of their disagreements which were worth owning and there were others worth realising they would never agree on the finer points which separated them.

They do remain united in their ability to draw back together after their differences are shed – for they have a strong marriage built out of trust and truthfulness. It is through their discussions they realise certain aspects of their business and their personal lives are coming to a head of discourse. They cannot continue to engage in partnerships which go against their own minds and hearts which reflect the current events – from slavery to the promise of war, they are keeping on the fringes of what is reflective in the papers. This causes disruptions for them naturally but at the heart of their marriage is a union sparked out of love and united in a fond respect for each other, the world at large and the auspicious emblems of living a life with ethical morals.

As we peer more into Jane and Ashton’s world as a married couple, we start to see how difficult it is for both of them – how they must learn to yield to one another and draw a closer circle of strength to tackle what is awaiting them. There is a joyful revelation in this installment – one that further enlarges our scope of understanding for how Jane is fully lit alive by her experiences as a wife and how by embracing these subtle changes she is finding herself radically new and altered. Jane is happily introspective throughout the story – owning to her pursuit to understand herself and her environment but also, to acknowledge how each new year of a life lived is a chance to see the milestones of the experiences you’ve gained.

This particular installment ends on a happy note but one which is guarded for the future – for not everything is certain and there are a few key reasons for Ashton and Jane to feel as if the future yet to come might prove to be far more taxing than the hours that they have just passed through. It is a keenly intriguing series and one I hope more Janeites discover as it truly is a unique testimony about how a modern writer can re-tap into the life of Jane and bring her out so wholly original and true of her person to give us a near-living testimony of how she would have lived had she taken the paths and passageways he’s explored in this trilogy.

It is hard to put into words how much this trilogy has taken up a cosy niche of joy in my heart – as I first started reading this beautiful sequence of Jane Austen’s life in January 2018. The past two years has given me a lot of heartfelt joy to reconnect to Austen in a plausible and believable way of re-introducing myself into her world and the ways in which this sequence of her life could have been lived. I have felt from the start, Hemingway himself was channelling a special entreaty into her life and world – the ways in which he instinctively knew how to write about her innermost thoughts, the way he tucked in letters and correspondences into the trilogy and how he captured the heart of the Regency as an era and background to the story itself.

His capacity to tell this story has been a heartwarming experience for me and I am truly thankful I could close out 2019 with reading the finale installment which brings our experiences with Jane in this beautiful trilogy to a close.

The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen
Subtitle: Volume Three
by Collins Hemingway

The Stunning Finale to Jane Austen’s Saga

In the moving conclusion to “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen,” Jane and her husband struggle with the serious illness of their son, confront a bitter relationship with the aristocratic family who were once their friends and face the horrific prospect of war when the British Army falters on the continent. The momentous events of the Napoleonic wars and the agonizing trials of their personal lives take Jane and Ashton to a decision that will decide their fate—and her future—once and for all.

Genres: After Canons, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Re-telling &/or Sequel

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

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ISBN: 9781979472760

Also by this author: The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen : Volume One, The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen : Volume Two, The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen

on 4th November, 2017

The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen trilogy: