Posted Monday, 2 October, 2017 by jorielov AJ Eversley, Self Published, The Watcher Series, Watcher 0 Comments
Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a part of the blog tour for the Watcher series hosted by iRead Book Tours. I have been trying to find a way to make enroads into Dystopian Lit for a number of years, specifically every year I’ve participated in Sci Fi November, whilst outside of the annual event as well. If anything, I have found my attempts of finding Dystopian stories I can sink my teeth into and appreciate to be a bit hit/miss or false starts. When I read about this series – I thought, it’s labelled a ‘clean YA Dystopian series’ and therefore decided to ‘try once more’ and see if I can alight into a world penned in this genre. I received a complimentary copy of CARBON direct from the author AJ Eversley in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On where WATCHER leaves off and where I hoped CARBON would continue:
Where things get more interesting is what draws Kenzie to Sawyer like a moth to a flame. In one instance towards the latter quarter (or so) of the story, I started to see an insert of familiarity and in some ways a welcome explanation for a film I never could fully understand (the Matrix). Despite all the references I’ve been making – they are only minor references in both concept, idea or execution. As for me, I appreciate Eversley style and approach in telling this story far more than I appreciated the other films. In regards to the Borg, however, those were some of my favourite Next Generation episodes because it was exploring a non-traditional enemy similar to AI which was self-governing and self-evolving without human interference. My favourite episode of course was about Hugh – where Picard helped one Borg name himself and see things from ‘outside’ the collective; thereby giving him a slice of humanity he never felt he could feel. In many ways, I think Kenzie is Hugh in this story – he was set on a course he did not choose for reasons he did not fully accept as being right but followed through because it was his path to walk. It’s a complicated arc of story – of making choices in blinks of time, effecting lives outside your own and trying to sort your way through a quagmire of a future which works against every innate instinct of humanity.
-quoted from my review of WATCHER
As I left WATCHER, I was hoping CARBON would pick up close in a time-frame which would equal the momentum I had read in WATCHER; on that score, I was not disappointed. The hard part for me stepping back into this world was how much everything had ‘changed’ as soon as Sawyer had lost her humanity (she was now a Carbon) and how dearly altered Kenzie had become because in effect, the Kenzie I knew with Sawyer was dead – this was his truer state and his truer nature coming to the surface. It wasn’t easy to read from that angle because Kenzie was such a different person in WATCHER; wells, perhaps not entirely different but different enough not to be easily recognised in CARBON.
I suppose I had hoped somehow the tides would turn round for Sawyer in a way which wouldn’t feel so very oppressively dark and unbearingly brutal from the point of view, she had already lost so much in her young life – to lose more felt almost too much for her to shoulder. I was quite attached to the story within WATCHER but as you will see, as I went into the pages of CARBON, I found myself stepping ‘out’ of the story rather than feeling firmly locked inside it.
I was delayed getting back into the rhythm of the series – I was offline for a fortnight due to personal circumstances wherein I was not reading during that time period. By the time I returnt to the series, I must admit, my experiences whilst I was absent did effect my readings now, as those experiences had a profound effect on me overall. Sometimes despite trying to step outside our literary comfort zones, we find we are not able to make the leap – at least this is true in my case, as CARBON was simply not my cuppa for Sci Fi.
Carbon
Source: Author via iRead Book Tours
Sawyer has lost everything. Her family, the man she loves...her humanity. No longer a Watcher, Sawyer must now begin a journey to understand her new identity. Carbon.
With no where left to call home, and no one left to guide her, Sawyer must rely on the help of a stranger to learn who she really is now, and how to use it to her advantage. In a world where nothing is as it seems, and who to trust is a thin line between friend and foe, Sawyer will turn to the stars that have shaped her destiny long before she even knew she had one. And the man who fate has sent her.
Book two in this epic series, Carbon will answer questions you didn't even know you had. And strangers will become the only ones who can help her. Join Sawyer as the journey to save humanity continues.
Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 978-1548927189
on 26th September, 2017
Pages: 312
The Watcher Series:
Converse via: #WatcherSeries, #Dystopian + #CleanReads + #YALit
About AJ Eversley
AJ Eversley is the author of the WATCHER series. A true north Canadian girl, AJ currently lives in Central Alberta with her husband and dog. When she’s not writing, she can be found binge watching Harry Potter, quoting various movies in every day conversation, and eating copious amounts of candy.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
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Posted Monday, 2 October, 2017 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Dystopian, Equality In Literature, Father-Daughter Relationships, Indie Author, iRead Book Tours, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Parapsychological Gifts, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Upper YA Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
Posted Wednesday, 6 September, 2017 by jorielov AJ Eversley, Self Published, The Watcher Series, Watcher 1 Comment
Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a part of the blog tour for the Watcher series hosted by iRead Book Tours. I have been trying to find a way to make enroads into Dystopian Lit for a number of years, specifically every year I’ve participated in Sci Fi November, whilst outside of the annual event as well. If anything, I have found my attempts of finding Dystopian stories I can sink my teeth into and appreciate to be a bit hit/miss or false starts. When I read about this series – I thought, it’s labelled a ‘clean YA Dystopian series’ and therefore decided to ‘try once more’ and see if I can alight into a world penned in this genre. I received a complimentary copy of WATCHER direct from the author AJ Eversley in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
View the Book Trailer which helped me feel this Dystopian story might be one of the few in the genre I’d like spending time inside,…
Watcher
Source: Author via iRead Book Tours
I knew I was not alone. They would never leave until every last one of us was gone." Sawyer Russo has sworn to protect humanity, and as a Watcher she’s done just that. But the Bots and Carbons that took her city are evolving, and they start picking the Watchers off one by one. One last rescue mission will change everything. When someone betrays them, the line between friend and foe is no longer easily drawn. Sawyer made a vow, and she will fulfill it, even if it means ending the person who deceived them, no matter who it might be. It all comes down to one choice... Who can she save? And who does she have to let go?
Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
ISBN: 9781544240282
on March 2017
Pages: 294
The Watcher Series:
Converse via: #WatcherSeries, #Dystopian + #CleanReads + #YALit
About AJ Eversley
AJ Eversley is the author of the WATCHER series. A true north Canadian girl, AJ currently lives in Central Alberta with her husband and dog. When she’s not writing, she can be found binge watching Harry Potter, quoting various movies in every day conversation, and eating copious amounts of candy.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
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Posted Wednesday, 6 September, 2017 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Dystopian, Equality In Literature, Father-Daughter Relationships, Indie Author, iRead Book Tours, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Parapsychological Gifts, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Upper YA Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
Posted Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 by jorielov Gwendolyn Womack, MacMillian Publishers, Picador, The Fortune Teller 0 Comments
Acquired Book By: Originally, as a hostess of HFVBTs (Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours) I was able to participate on the blog tour for Ms Womack’s debut novel: The Memory Painter. (see also Review) I was contacted by the author to gauge if I had interest in her sophomore release ‘The Fortune Teller’ of which I researched on her site and found the premise to be quite intriguing. I readily accepted her offer to read this for an honest review and she had her publisher send me a paperback copy of which I was grateful. I received a complimentary copy of “The Fortune Teller” direct from the publisher Picador in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I enjoyed reading this author’s previous release: The Memory Painter
Womack uses creative juxtapositions throughout her novel – where we’re with Bryan and Linz one moment, whilst being treated to a sequence of knowledge not yet introduced to the main thread of the story-line. This is where she shifts both perspective and the trisectional splitting between the main context of how Bryan & Linz are inter-connected to each other, the critical research on Alzheimer’s and the mystery History has attempted to shroud out of memory and sight from humanity. She presents her characters with a depth of being who are grounded as much as they are dimensional. You can sense their emotions, even at a first glance to how they hold themselves and how they allow themselves to interact with others. There is quite a lot bubbling just below the surface – not only of the narrative direction but through the stitchings of how her characters are moulded together.
Womack writes with a subtle accuracy of giving you just enough information per each scene or character visit to allow you to tie everything together in the larger scope of things. It’s an interesting told narrative, from the point-of-view of shifting perceptions and how you are augmented through different portals of how the story-line is moving forward. The main focus is centred on Bryan and Linz, but you have other influences moving the timeline as well as how each cross-section pertains to the two protagonists who hold the key to the whole story! You can simply let your mind alight through Womack’s graceful narrative and let yourself wander as you wonder how the author knitted the story out of the ethers!
I give a nod of excellence to Womack for compellingly giving her readers a visceral level of realism towards understanding how Bryan painted his portraits of life and death! She used words as he uses paint – you could not help but feel as if you were standing below his portraits, seeing how everything felt alive and telling in that stance you took to see what shouldn’t be able to be seen. It’s a lovely novel of depth for the world of art, as similar to music, art is at times hard to conceptionalise on the page; Womack had such an organic way of presenting the art, you could not help but appreciate it in full!
How Womack was able to intervene on History to such a level of intriguing juxtapositions, I am uncertain! As she even brought back to life the compelling argument of how sometimes not everything is fully resolved before or after death! She interwove Egyptology in such a fascinating and inventive way as to cross their Ancient History with our current timeline! It was wonderful to watch her pull her layers together, explore the details further and to watch how even her characters were a bit startled by how everything was inter-connecting straight through to the finish! Her mind truly has captured the intricacies of a plot that is told not only through multiple perspectives but through a threading of counter current lives who are affectingly drawn to each other due to how their past lives originally affected their soul’s journey. Now that’s beyond impressive for a debut novel!
-as quoted from my review of The Memory Painter
The Fortune Teller
Semele Cavnow appraises antiquities for an exclusive Manhattan auction house, specializing in deciphering ancient texts. And when she discovers a manuscript written in the time of Cleopatra, she knows it will be the find of her career. Its author tells the story of a priceless tarot deck, now lost to history, but as Semele delves further she realizes the manuscript is more than it seems. Both a memoir and a prophecy, it appears to be the work of a powerful seer, describing devastating wars and natural disasters in detail thousands of years before they occurred.
The more she reads, the more the manuscript begins to affect Semele's life. But what happened to the cards? As the mystery of her connection to the manuscript deepens, Semele can’t shake the feeling that she’s being followed. Only one person can help her make sense of it all: her client, Theo Brossard. Yet Theo is arrogant and elusive, concealing secrets of his own, and there’s more to Semele’s desire to speak with him than she would like to admit. Can Semele even trust him?
The auction date is swiftly approaching, and someone wants to interfere—someone who knows the cards exist, and that the Brossard manuscript is tied to her. Semele realizes it’s up to her to stop them: the manuscript holds the key to a two-thousand-year-old secret, a secret someone will do anything to possess.
Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
Find on Book Browse
ISBN: 9781250099778
on 6th of June, 2017
Pages: 368
Published By: Picador (@PicadorUSA) via St. Martin’s Press
imprints of St. Martin’s Publishing Group,
which is now a part of MacMillian Publishers
Available Formats: Trade Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook
About Gwendolyn Womack
Originally from Houston, Texas, Gwendolyn Womack began writing theater plays in college at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She went on to receive an MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Directing Theatre, Video & Cinema.
Currently she resides in Los Angeles with her husband and son where she can be found at the keyboard working on her next novel. The Memory Painter is her first novel.
Photo Credit: Copyright JennKL Photography
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2017 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Posted Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 by jorielov in Ancient Civilisation, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Book Trailer, Content Note, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Equality In Literature, Father-Daughter Relationships, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Modern Day, Pharaohs & Dynasties, Premonition-Precognitive Visions, Seers, Supernatural Fiction
Posted Tuesday, 25 April, 2017 by jorielov Butterfly Tree Productions, Easter Family series, Nancy Schoellkopf, Red Tailed Hawk, Yellow-billed Magpie 0 Comments
Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a part of the blog tour for “Red-tailed Hawk” hosted by iRead Book Tours. I was thankful to be on the blog tour as I originally participated on the previous release ‘Yellow-billed Magpie’ tour which is when I first read a work by the author. It is a joy to resume where I left off as this is a connected story; a duology if you will. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the author Nancy Schoellkopf in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
What I enjoyed about Yellow-billed Magpie:
I happen to love introspective stories – the kind where you can tug yourself inside a person’s soul whilst your soaking inside their life’s journey. Schoellkopf writes inter-personal narrative with a keen insight into an emotional rewinding of memory and the questions which taut you to interlope back against one’s life. She has crafted a story which has it’s own set of pacing and tone; it’s a lovely layout to read, because the paragraphs are chunky and free-form in how their delivered. A novel which is half poetic in it’s centering and artful in it’s descriptive details. You nearly feel this is partially written as a journal, as your peering through a window into Samantha’s life at a rate of acceptance she is giving you to learn of her story.
Ms Schoellkopf’s writings are a bit raw in places and openly vulnerable in others – she gives her characters breathing room to explore their emotions and the inner turmoil they are facing with an openness towards self-reflection. She finds a way to give her characters the ability to think about what they are going through in a way that translates well to the reader about where their frustrations lie and how they sometimes feel immobilised by their fears.
I enjoyed how she broke the narrative into pieces of introspective wanderings, internal musings of a woman’s dreams, and the conversations of dialogue which sparked interactions between her characters. She found a fusion between traditional story-telling and a new hybrid version where the pace of her story has it’s own rhythm and way of giving us an inside view of one woman’s journey towards self-understanding and acceptance of what her life is providing her to live through. She’s questioning everything and anything in order to make herself rooted in her experience. Taking out what she hopes is self-assurance and reconstructive criticism to rebuild her life in a new place that feels more like home than where she last laid her hat.
Schoellkopf is writing about how sometimes the journey which leads you backwards is the only method you can take to move forward. Within this space of time, is where the most learning and awakening of spirit can happen because your on the fringes of arriving inside your future. Curiously, I wrote this last sentiment about the novel chapters before the author had Samantha realise it herself!
-quoted from my book review of Yellow-billed Magpie
Red-tailed Hawk
by Nancy Schoellkopf
Source: Author via iRead Book Tours
When Mariah Easter encounters a large hawk in her urban midtown neighborhood, her father Charlie is concerned. He can see a wild and mystical path opening before his daughter, a path he himself would never be able to resist. The hawk soon reappears: engraved with its twin on a golden thimble that has been an Easter family heirloom for generations. After the thimble is stolen at a funeral reception, Mariah and her mother Samantha set off on a road trip to find it, a journey that will bring healing to the grieving family and change Mariah's life forever.
Red-tailed Hawk is a coming of age story, the tale of a young woman's quest to discover the source of her own longing and to understand the mystical legacy of her family.
Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
ASIN: B01MUGZJ8K
Also by this author: Yellow-billed Magpie
on 11th March, 2017
Pages: 177
Available Formats: Paperback
Converse via: #RedtailedHawk
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Posted Tuesday, 25 April, 2017 by jorielov in 21st Century, Autism, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, California, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Content Note, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Equality In Literature, Father-Daughter Relationships, Fly in the Ointment, Indie Author, iRead Book Tours, Learning Difficulties, Modern Day, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Native American Fiction, Parapsychological Gifts, Special Needs Children, Vulgarity in Literature
Posted Wednesday, 8 March, 2017 by jorielov (Narrator) Paula Slade, Keep On Believing, Marie Higgins, Self Published 0 Comments
Acquired Digital Audiobook by: I am a new blog tour hostess with Audiobookworm Promotions wherein I have the opportunity to receive audiobooks for review or adoption (reviews outside of organised blog tours) and host guest features on behalf of authors and narrators alike. I started hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions at the end of [2016] during “The Cryptic Lines” tour wherein I became quite happily surprised how much I am now keen on listening to books in lieu of reading them in print. My journey into audiobooks was prompted by a return of my chronic migraines wherein I want to offset my readings with listening to the audio versions.
I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “Keep on Believing” via the publicist at Audiobookworm Promotions (of whom was working directly with the author Marie Higgins) in exchange for an honest review. The difference with this complimentary copy I received is I had a 90 day window to listen and review the book whilst given a soft deadline where I could post my ruminative thoughts at an hour which worked for me on the day the review was due; this differs from a blog tour which has a more set schedule of posting. The audiobooks are offered to ‘adopt’ for review consideration and are given to readers to gauge their opinions, impressions and insight into how the audiobook is resonating with listeners. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
NOTE: I had fully intended to listen to Keep On Believing somewhere between mid-to-late December and mid-to-late January; both months proved to be quite intense, most of which I recently blogged about on my latest #StoriesOfJorie. February proved to be an upturnt month for me – I simply couldn’t motivate myself to read nor blog. As such, I am running into my deadline to post my review for this adopted audiobook rather than being ahead of it.
What initially prompted me to listen to Keep On Believing:
One of the joys of being a book blogger is discovering new niches of literature – in this particular case, I have come to appreciate ‘Fairy Tale Re-Tellings’, which I feel this qualifies for as it’s a spin on the traditional ‘Cinderella’ story, which of course, is amongst my top favourites for seeking out. I wasn’t sure if this one would be a good fit for me, but I had hoped it might be enjoyable to listen too. It’s hard to find the type of fairy-tale re-tellings I enjoy most, but as my Story Vault reflects, I do find one every so often.
Keep On Believing
Taking some of the family's jewels, Ella Spencer and her brother left the kingdom in the dead of night, escaping the clutches of their evil stepmother. Ella realized they need a different life than one of a servant. Now living in a new kingdom, Ella believes this is where they can start over again. So far, it's working - until her brother's school teacher starts poking his nose into their business. Ella cannot tell him the truth, yet deep down inside, she feels that he might be her Prince Charming after all, and be the one who will save her from danger.
Christopher Morgan is hiding secrets that he never plans to divulge. The sister of one of his students intrigues him, and he can't keep from wanting to know more about her. When a man comes around asking questions, Chris fears Ella is not safe and he needs to protect her. But he finds that he is the one in need of a dream-come-true. Can he hope that Ella will be the one to rescue him out of his life before these secrets destroy him?
Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
ASIN: B01N03DZPG
on 14th November, 2016
Length: 6 hours, 16 minutes (unabridged)
Where Dreams Come True Series:
No.1 The Witch Hunt
No. 2 Her Own Fairy Godmother
No.3 Champion
No.4 Keep On Believing
Marie Higgins | GoodReads | @mariehigginsxox | Facebook
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Posted Wednesday, 8 March, 2017 by jorielov in Audiobook, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Contemporary Romance, Indie Author, Marriage of Convenience, Premonition-Precognitive Visions, Romance Fiction, Vulgarity in Literature
