Category: Sexually Explicit Content (Erotica)

An Audiobook Blog Tour | “Search for the Holy Grail” (Volumes: 1-3 Boxed Set) produced by The Audiobook Empire, writ by MJL Evans and GM O’Connor

Posted Saturday, 27 August, 2022 by jorielov (Narrator) Anne Marie Lewis, Audiobook Empire, GM O'Connor, MJL Evans, Search for the Holy Grail 0 Comments

Acquired Audiobook By: I started to listen to audiobooks in [2016] as a way to offset my readings of print books whilst noting there was a rumour about how audiobooks could help curb chronic migraines as you are switching up how you’re reading rather than allowing only one format to be your bookish choice. As I found colouring, knitting and playing solitaire agreeable companions to listening to audiobooks, I embarked on a new chapter of my reading life where I spend time outside of print editions of the stories I love reading and exchange them for audio versions.

Through hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions (which is now Audiobook Empire*), I’ve expanded my knowledge of authors who are producing audio versions of their stories. Meanwhile, I am also curating my own wanderings in audio via my local library who uses Overdrive and/or CloudLibrary for their digital audiobook catalogues. Aside from my libraries, I also enjoy having Audible & Scribd memberships as my budget allows. It has been a wonderful journey and one I enjoy sharing – as I am now fully expanding how many audiobooks I listen to per year whilst enjoying being a part of the LibroFM ALC programme and an audiobook reviewer for NetGalley as well.

I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “Search for the Holy Grail” via Audiobook Empire who is working with the author on this blog tour in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

NOTE: (*) The Audiobook Empire is run and owned by Jess @ Audiobookworm Promotions; as a reviewer and book blogger with her promotions company for audiobooks, audio publishers, narrators and authors – it felt like a natural transition to find titles I would be interested in reviewing via Audiobook Empire. Some of those reviews will run during audio blog tours and some will run outside of them. In 2022, she decided to merge the promotional side of Audiobookworm Promotions into Audiobook Empire rather than maintain the two separately.

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I am starting to dive back into reading per my latest #WWWWednesday wherein I discussed my unexpected sabbatical from reading, blogging and engaging whilst mentioning that it is through audiobooks and Cosy Mysteries, I am starting to make my journey back into stories and the joys they have always given me as a reader. For today’s post, I am taking part on an audiobook blog tour – one of my first in a long absence from hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions which is now known directly as Audiobook Empire. Jess made the transition this year to merge her promotional side of her business into her audiobook producing company which I felt was a fantastic move on her part as everything is inclusive and together now.

It is a credit to Jess @ the Audiobookworm who first tipped my hat into considering to listen to audiobooks and to this day is one of the key reasons why I fell in love with audiobooks as much as I have throughout the past six years. By participating on her blog tours, I’ve developed a good sense of narration styles that I prefer and have found many beloved narrators who unexpected walked into my life through their audiobooks which arrived in my ears! It has been such a clever journey – to re-discover the artfulness of a story through an audio presentation.

Thereby this marks my first listen as a returning audiobook listener and my first blog tour as a returning blog tour hostess. If you haven’t yet heard of the Audiobook Empire, I encourage you to check out their website and also, if you’re a book blogger who is just getting familiar with audiobooks, I encourage you to consider hosting for the Empire, too. If you’re already a huge fan of audiobooks, the Empire is where you want to become a part of as a listener.

Search for the Holy Grail
by MJL Evans, GM O' Connor
Source: Audiobook Empire
Narrator: Anne Marie Lewis

Every pirate in the Caribbean is searching for The Holy Grail - a ship carrying the treasury of Hanover and the countess Aurora of Calenberg, suspected of orchestrating the theft. Prinz Maximilian will stop at nothing to catch her and regain the fortune, even if it means following her into the deepest, darkest recesses of Samaná Bay. With pirates and cutthroats at every turn, will she be reunited with her handmaiden, Helena and her portrait painter, Dodo? Aurora’s only solace is in a bottle of Cognac with a chaser of coca-leaf powder in this vibrant, fast-paced chase through the Caribbean.

Genres: Action & Adventure Fiction, Pirate Fiction, Historical Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ASIN: B0B6RSD9Y6

Published by Audiobook Empire

on 18th July, 2022

Format: Audiobook | Digital

Length: 19 hours and 20 minutes (unabridged)

Published by: The Audiobook Empire (@AudiobookEmpire)

Converse via: #HistoricalFiction, #HistFic or #Pirates
as well as #TheAudiobookEmpire

Posted Saturday, 27 August, 2022 by jorielov in 19th Century, Audiobook Empire, Blog Tour Host, Content Note, Fly in the Ointment, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, Sexually Explicit Content (Erotica)

Book Spotlight | “The Jinni’s Last Wish” by Zeonbia Neil

Posted Thursday, 29 November, 2018 by jorielov Self Published, The Jinni's Last Wish, Zenobia Neil 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “The Jinni’s Last Wish” direct from the author Zenobia Neil in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I was interested in reading this novel:

Ever since I read The Golem and the Jinni, I’ve been interested in reading about the Jinn. I’ve been trying to seek out new stories involving the Jinn and also, eras specific to when the mythology of the Jinn are explored – either of themselves or interacting with others in a larger scope of world-building where they not just interact but they are only one dimension of the story at hand. This particular story, I thought might transfer me backwards in time to where the Jinn were very well known, if not feared by some for the powers they held within them to affect a person’s life or destiny whilst being within the period of the historic past, I thought would offer keen insight into cultural traditions I haven’t yet explored in more detail.

I honestly thought this was going to be more of a historical overlay involving the cultural texture of society during the Ottoman Empire with threads of the Jinn and the maids of the sultan intersecting through the narrative, where the empathsis was more on the fantastical elements of how the Jinn might mitigate events or situations to inter-step through the characters’ lives whilst giving us a strong impression of how the society of the Empire was formed, structured and organised during the time of the sultan’s rule. As with most historical specific narratives, I was interested in the history being brought to life and stepping into a new era I hadn’t visited as regularly as others.

A bit similar to how I found Stephanie Thornton’s Daughter of the Gods – where I literally felt like I had left modern life and re-entered the Egyptian past. Sadly, this wasn’t quite the story I found inside and I wasn’t able to re-adjust into the narrative I found as it was too starkly outside the stories I regularly read.

The Jinni's Last Wish
by Zenobia Neil
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

As a eunuch in the Ottoman Imperial Harem, Olin has already lost his home, his freedom, and his manhood. His only wish is for a painless death, until he meets Dark Star, a beautiful odalisque who promises to give him his deepest desire. He refuses to believe her claim to possess a jinni in a bottle. But when Dark Star is accused of witchcraft, Olin rubs the bottle in desperation and discovers she’s told the truth.

Olin becomes the jinni’s master to save Dark Star, but it’s not enough. In the complex world of the Topkapi Palace, where silk pillows conceal knives, sherbets contain poison, and jewels buy loyalty, no one is safe. With each wish, Olin must choose between becoming like the masters he detests or risk his life, his body, and his sanity to break the bonds that tie them all.

Genres: Ancient Civilisation, Historical Fiction, Historical-Fantasy

Places to find the book:

ASIN: B07FLDRY4V

Also by this author:

Published by Self Published

on 13th September, 2018

Format: POD | Print On Demand Paperback

Pages: 224

The Jinni’s Last Wish

The Odalisque’s Wish (companion short story)

I’ve been placing flames on those stories which are more sensually charged narratives – this one however, I felt left the ‘romantic’ side of Historical Romance & Historical Fantasy and went straight into Historical Erotica due to the elevated nature of the sensuality being explored in the story-line. It was more than a bit of surprise as mentioned on my review and unfortunately, was the key reason I was drawn out of the story itself as there wasn’t a lot left to remain invested in the plot.

Converse via: #HistoricalFantasy & Historical Erotica

Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook

About Zenobia Neil

Zenobia Neil was named after an ancient warrior queen who fought against the Romans. She writes about the mythic past and Greek and Roman gods having too much fun. Zenobia spends her free time imagining interesting people and putting them in terrible situations.

She lives with her husband, two children, and dog in an overpriced hipster neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2018 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Thursday, 29 November, 2018 by jorielov in Ancient Civilisation, Blog Tour Host, Content Note, Excessive Violence in Literature, Fly in the Ointment, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, Sexually Explicit Content (Erotica), Women of Power & Rule

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