Posted Friday, 27 February, 2015 by jorielov Hachette Book Group Inc., Jericho Books, Rev. Becca Stevens, The Way of Tea and Justice: Rescuing the World's Favourite Beverage from it's Violent History 2 Comments
Acquired Book By:
I was selected to be a tour stop on the “The Way of Tea and Justice” virtual book tour through JKS Communications: A Literary Publicity Firm. I received my complimentary copy of The Way of Tea and Justice direct from JKS Communications in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
Ever since I first started watching Law & Order: SVU I’ve been keenly aware of non-profit organisations that reach out to women in need as much as women who need help to turn their lives around after domestic violence or tragedy. Even before my watching of the series, there were segments on a life-changing non-profit knitted into Walker, Texas Ranger where Alex (Walker’s future wife) would reach out to the women in her community and help them get a fresh start to their lives. The lead actress in SVU was inspired through her character to create the Joyful Heart Foundation to help women in real-life the show depicts through the gritty story-lines. I became a strong advocate for Gimme Shelter before it was releasing in the theaters, as I had stumbled across the real-life story of the woman who founded the center where unwed mothers could find safe harbour for themselves and their unbourne children. By the time I caught sight of The Way of Justice and Tea it simply felt like the right book to read at the right time as I love celebrating how women are empowering other women to carry forward after devastating adversity.
– I originally expressed this earlier in the month on Jorie’s Box of Joy
The Way of Tea and Justice: Rescuing the World's Favourite Beverage from it's Violent History
by Rev. Becca Stevens
What started as an impossible dream-to build a café that employs women recovering from prostitution and addiction-is helping to fuel an astonishing movement to bring freedom and fair wages to women producers worldwide where tea and trafficking are linked by oppression and the opiate wars.
Becca Stevens started the Thistle Stop Café to empower women survivors. But when she discovered a connection between café workers and tea laborers overseas, she embarked on a global mission called “Shared Trade” to increase the value of women survivors and producers across the globe.
As she recounts the victories and unexpected challenges of building the café, Becca also sweeps the reader into the world of tea, where timeless rituals transport to an era of beauty and the challenging truths about tea’s darker, more violent history. She offers moving reflections of the meaning of tea in our lives, plus recipes for tea blends that readers can make themselves.
In this journey of triumph for impoverished tea laborers, hope for café workers, and insight into the history of tea, Becca sets out to defy the odds and prove that love is the most powerful force for transformation on earth.
Genres: Current Events, Non-Fiction, Women's Studies Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
Published by Jericho Books
on 4th November, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Published by: Jericho Books (@JerichoBooks)
an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. (@HachetteUS)
Available Formats: Hardback, Trade Paperback, & Ebook
Converse via: #TeaAndJustice
About Rev. Becca Stevens
Becca Stevens is one of the premiere preachers and speakers in the United States proclaiming love as the most powerful force for social change. She is an Episcopal priest and founder of Magdalene, residential communities of women who have survived prostitution, trafficking and addiction. She founded Thistle Farms in 2001 which currently employs nearly 50 residents and graduates, and houses a natural body care line, a paper and sewing studio and the Thistle Stop Café. She demonstrates that love is good business and raises millions of dollars annually for the organizations she runs.
She is a prolific writer and has been featured in the New York Times and on ABC World News, NPR, PBS, CNN, and Huffington Post and named by the White House as one of 15 Champions of Change for violence against women in 2011. She was recently named 2014 Humanitarian of the Year by the Small Business Council of America, has been inducted into the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame, and was conferred an honorary doctorate by Sewanee: The University of the South.
In fall 2013, Stevens launched the first Thistle Farms national conference welcoming attendees from over 30 states. Her newest book, “The Way of Tea & Justice: Rescuing the World’s Favorite Beverage from its Violent History,” will release in 2014. Stevens lives in Nashville with her husband, Grammy-winning songwriter Marcus Hummon, and their three sons.
{ Excerpt taken from her Press Release Q&A }
Why was a café your next step to expand your current initiatives with Thistle Farms and Magdalene?
Thistle Farms, as a national model for social enterprises run by survivors, began in 2012 to welcome more than 1,000 individual per year coming to immerse themselves in our model. It made sense to open a café and offer healing tea, while at the same time expanding employment opportunities for some of the residents and graduates of the residential program called Magdalene.
Why do you think tea is so powerful? What is it about tea in particular that brings people together?
Tea can’t help but draw people together as the kettle is heated and the tea is steeping. Some tea connoisseurs have referred to tea as an elixir of the gods! It is calming and invigorating. It is warm and healing.
Hundreds of teacups were donated to the café, each with a story attached. What is one of your favorite “teacup stories?”
There are so many stories of survivors that are inspiring. I love the Japanese cup from a survivor of an internment camp during World War II who was in her 80s, and wanted to remind the women of Thistle Farms to never lose hope.
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook
Posted Friday, 27 February, 2015 by jorielov in 21st Century, Balance of Faith whilst Living, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Clever Turns of Phrase, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Domestic Violence, Eco-Friendly, Environmental Activism, Environmental Conscience, Environmental Science, Equality In Literature, Green-Minded Social Awareness, History, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, JKS Communications: Literary Publicity Firm, Lessons from Scripture, Lyrical Quotations, Memoir, Mental Health, Modern Day, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Non-Fiction, Philosophical Intuitiveness, Poetry, Political Narrative & Modern Topics, Realistic Fiction, Social Change, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Sustainability & Ecological Preservation, Tea History, The Natural World, Trauma | Abuse & Recovery, Travel, Travel Narrative | Memoir, Travel Writing, Vignettes of Real Life, Women's Fiction, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage, World Religions
Posted Tuesday, 17 February, 2015 by jorielov Collins-Young Publishing LLC, L.G. O' Connor, The Angelorum Twelve Chronicles, Trinity Stones 2 Comments
It isn’t often you find the feedback you’ve given on behalf of a book you beloved but not of the form it was released has a way of serendipitously re-entering your life! Such as Trinity Stones has boomeranged back into my life on the *launch!* of it’s adaptation into Young Adult! Let me share with you a portion of my review on behalf of the adult version I previously read, as this is the foundational reason why I was spellbound by the artistry and breadth of Ms O’ Connor’s vision for the series itself:
Trinity Stones : the Trinity of Faith:
One of the interesting bits of the story for me is how the Trinity Stones are assembled and kept together; three halves of a whole which interconnect to work in tandem for protection, discovery, and enlightenment of destiny. The reason this was of a curiosity to me is because I’m a spiritualist who enjoys studying world religions. I found it incredible how O’ Connor managed to take religious thought and transmorph it into a paranormal romance & urban fantasy setting to where the theory of the Stones themselves hinge directly back into religion. I found it intriguing to watch where she took her mythology and where it dissected with mystic spirituality. The background research she must have conducted would have unearthed a great deal of insight and historical mysteries to last throughout the four-book series!
The way in which she represents the soul as an orb of energy as much as how each living soul has the choice to walk its own path during a lifetime spent on earth was truly along the lines of my own beliefs. I enjoyed the gentle guidance of the Angels, who took on different roles within the story: Guardians, gatekeepers, and administrative types of whom strived to maintain order from the ensuing chaos. The flip-side of representing the light of good is being as real and honest about the darkness and evil. I think she struck a balance to where those of us who walk in the light can respect the darkness as its presented in the story but with the encouragement of knowing that however fragile the balance; light pushes back the dark each chance that it can.
– quoted from my book review for Trinity Stones
As you know, I can only read books in print editions (or listen to their audiobook counterparts) therefore, this particular interview means a lot to me because I am attempting to put readers on the alert of a *new!* edition of a novel that I cannot even read unless the audience proves the point that stories for younger readers are not only valid but necessary for our bookish culture.
The elements that differ between the two editions will be evident as this conversation I created between the author and myself; yet I encourage each reader who alights on this interview to take a moment to read my book review for the adult version of Trinity Stones before they exit my blog. The fuller scope of what Ms O’ Connor has created within the series and how she’s given us such a hearty read through the first installment is still worth reading about. I might have disagreed with the content on principle, but I never disagreed with the heart and soul of the novel itself.
I knew from the very first moment I read Trinity Stones I had stumbled across something quite remarkable — it was a kismet moment where a reader nestles inside the grace of what an author’s left behind for us to discover and has given us such a compelling drama of life spilt out on the page to encourage our imagination and challenge our minds to not only accept the world she’s created but to re-examine how we look at the world in which we live.
I love books which instinctively challenge us, especially when they are faith-based and whose origins of mythological and/or transcendental or mysticism backgrounds give us something unique to perceive and to give way to a conversation based on what is known, what is theorised, and what can be imagined. Previously, outside of my readings of Trinity Stones, the novel that conveyed a bit of the essence of how we can be angels for each other was revealed on my review of Proof of Angels.
These kinds of stories enrich our world view and engage us into conversations that step outside our comfort zones whilst grounding us in the beauty that surrounds us in the everyday. Light and love, peace and chaos are whispers of a breath away from us at all times, and it is how we seek out which path to follow that determines more than we realise.
Trinity Stones
Angelorum Twelve Chronicles Synopsis:
The struggle between good and evil is eternal, but modern science offers an opportunity to upset the balance. Set in a refreshingly current environment, Trinity Stones: The Angelorum Twelve Chronicles by L.G. O’Connor, is the thrilling first story in this series about humans and angels brought together to fight a final battle against the Dark Ones.
Trinity Stones Synopsis:
New York investment banker, Cara Collins, has little to smile about on her 27th birthday. Her boss is a misogynistic pig and the love of her life is married to someone else. Top that off with a creepy man in the subway and then a homeless woman on the street grabbing her and asking to be healed, and Cara’s panic disorder rears it’s ugly head. Cara wonders if things could get any worse until a mysterious letter arrives announcing she’s inherited $50 million–which must remain secret or those close to her could die.
As Cara unravels the truth surrounding her inheritance, she makes a startling discovery: angels walk among the living, and they’re getting ready to engage in a battle that will determine the future of the human race. In the midst of these revelations, she meets the mysterious and sophisticated Simon who stirs her sleeping heart and offers her another chance at romance. But when the love of her life and his daughter are kidnapped by dark forces, Cara must choose: accept her place in a 2,000-year-old prophecy foretold in the Trinity Stones as the First of the Twelve who will lead the final battle between good and evil . . . or risk losing everything she holds dear.
Captivating and thrillingly romantic, Trinity Stones captures the eternal struggle of good and evil and the occasional need to bend the rules for the most important force of all: love.
Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
Series: Angelorum Twelve Chronicles,
Also in this series: Trinity Stones (Adult Edition)
on February 2015
Converse via: #AngelorumTwelveChronicles & #TrinityStones
Available Formats: E-book Exclusive to Amazon for 90 Days; Print TBD
Page Count: 453 Read More
Posted Tuesday, 17 February, 2015 by jorielov in Angels, ArchAngels, ArchDemons or Demonic Entities, Crowdfunding Project, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Novel, Equality In Literature, Fallen Angels, Fantasy Fiction, Genre-bender, Good vs. Evil, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Indie Author, Life Shift, Light vs Dark, Methodology of Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy, Passionate Researcher, Reader Submitted Author Interview, Romance Fiction, Science Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, Supernatural Fiction, Suspense, The Writers Life, Uncategorized, Urban Fantasy, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage, World Religions, Writing Style & Voice, YA Fantasy, YA Paranormal &/or Paranormal Romance, Young Adult Fiction
Posted Wednesday, 4 February, 2015 by jorielov Imago Chronicles, Imago: A Warrior's Tale, Lorna Suzuki, Self Published 0 Comments
An unexpected encounter after #IndieChat with an Indie Novelist whose book series has been pitched and accepted into motion picture adaptation, led me on a bit of an unexpected foray into a series that is both challenging (as it is outside my comfort levels on one score) as it is empowering (as it is told from the point of view of a female warrior); thus I stumbled into the world of “Imago” by Lorna Suzuki.
Acquired Samplers By:
Chapter Samplers for her Imago Novels provided for free download by the author, Lorna Suzuki via her Smashwords Author’s Page. The samplers are complimentary of the author, Ms. Suzuki to encourage readers to become familiar with her writing style, character, and the breadth of where her fantasy novels will lead a reader to journey ahead of purchase. I was not obligated to post a review nor share my opinions of the chapter samplers I downloaded; as I elected to do this for my own edification. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why my curiosity was piqued:
When I noted the series was referred to as being similar in style and voice as “Lord of the Rings” I knew it was quite the epic story; a High Fantasy with a compelling arc of narrative and driven by character. Character driven stories are my absolute delight to read, however, being that the lead protagonist is a warrior I was quite prepared to encounter a woman with an arduous past rife with potentially intense trauma and recovery; psychologically speaking, I knew most characters writ inside stories of this nature have an uphill climb to recover from what they were afflicted by in their lives.
Mind you the mash-up of saying this was a LOTR + 300 equates out to The Last Samurai; half of me wondered what honestly appealed to me personally as I would run in the complete opposite direction of the 300 film series even if I happily watched the first three Lord of the Rings per release month! (including a *midnight!* release!) There were sequences within the Trilogy (LOTR) films that were a bit mind-numbing (i.e. the battle scenes, for starters) but it was the overall journey of the characters that left me speechless and hungry for each new installment. My heart shattered at the conclusion, as despite knowing where Frodo and Gandalf would end their journey, it still uncorked my emotional heart’s ability to spilt out tears as the credits rolled.
No, what I think drew me to becoming curious about this series was the author’s approach to inspire a reader’s attention, which quite ironically has left her in a sea of controversial feedback! ?? I seriously do not understand the reading public at times. I am a firm believer in ‘more information upfront’ when it comes to stories and the contents of novels. A quick blurb or a shorter showcase (a traditional book review) isn’t going to sway me one way or another because the bones of the story are left to your imagination; that’s a dicey slope! How do you know if you are going to soak inside the story and/or appreciate the tone of the writer’s voice? What if the undertone is underlit too dark? What if there isn’t enough light to hold you into their vision?
I often lament IRL (and as the occasion arises virtually) the reason I was drawn to being a book blogger is because I wanted to blog my heart out about the stories that soak inside my imagination. I want to write down the bones and flesh out the pulse of what inspired me to ‘stay within’ the writer’s world. To cultivate an open conversation about what moved me, what staid with me, but most of all, how I was left impressed by the characters, the arc of the character’s journey, and what was left within me once the story was put down. (or you could read what I said on my Introduction Post!)
If something takes me ‘out of the story’ or if the pace and/or flow of the narrative itself is disrupted by an oppressively heavy amount of vulgarity (read my Review Policy) or there are choices where the level of (graphic) violence sickens me to my stomach rather than curates a plausible reason for inclusion (clarified: violence in moderation for sake of action/trauma/plot point/back-story etc; not explicit for explicitness sake!); then I will equally be as open about these ruminations as I am gushing about why the story left me with pieces of it’s essence firmly etched into my memory.
Like most readers, I have my own barometer — I have stumbled across stories that on the surface contradict what I wrote inside my Review Policy; as there are ‘exceptions’ to this rule of mine, as most will find they have their own exceptions to the general advisory of which stories they will accept whilst reading and which stories they cannot read, irregardless of the story’s best intentions to capture your interest. I attempt to keep an open-mind on which stories alight on my path, either due to the ‘timing’ of their discovery and/or the storyline itself; there are numerous inter-connections between one story to the next, to see the path of our reading lives intersecting with our path at a moment where a story was meant to be read or put down for another time. It is a mindfulness to become aware of stories giving us this tangible connection to the world’s creative conscience inasmuch as the art of the craft behind how the stories are written and revealed to us. Read More
Posted Wednesday, 4 February, 2015 by jorielov in Book Spotlight of E-Book (ahead of POD/print edition), Bookish Discussions, Bookish Films, Canadian Literature, Cliffhanger Ending, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Domestic Violence, Elves & the Elven, Equality In Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Folklore and Mythology, Heroic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Inspiring Video Related to Content, Light vs Dark, Lyrical Quotations, Martial Art History, Methodology of Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Psychological Abuse, Realistic Fiction, Sampler Chapters &/or Excerpt of Novel, Self-Published Author, Sudden Absence of Parent, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, Supernatural Fiction, Suspense, The Deep South, Trauma | Abuse & Recovery, Writing Style & Voice
Posted Sunday, 1 February, 2015 by jorielov A Woman of Fortune, Amy Durham, Asher's Mark, Becca Stevens, Berni Stevens, Brenda S. Anderson, C.A. Gray, Camille Eide, Chandice Probst & Tana Besendorfer, Dance Until Dawn, First Frost, Gluten-Free On A Budget, Henriette Gyland, Impossible, Katy Haye, Kellie Coates Gilbert, Letters to my Future Husband, Like There's No Tomorrow, Lisa McKendrick, Marilee Jackson, Midnight Runner, Pieces of Granite, S.C. Barrus, Sarah Addison Allen, Stephen J. Valentine, The Gin Thief, The Last Gatekeeper, The Lazarus Game, The Way of Tea and Justice, Up Close 2 Comments
One of the happiest moments for a book blogger is eagerly going to their postbox & seeing what delightfully wicked print books have arrived for their reading pleasure! I have always held a keen interest in postal mail, being a long-term postal letter correspondent which has given me such a heart of joy seeing envelopes & bundles of love arrive from dear friends around the world. Imagine my new excitement in seeing the books I am reviewing arriving by publisher, author, publicist, or literary agent! Such an exciting new chapter in postal splendor!
I have been wanting to blog about my excitement about being placed on certain blog tours and/or in receiving books for review direct from authors, publishers, or publicists. I originally came across a weekly meme on Mondays entitled Mailbox Monday and you could say, that my new feature on Jorie Loves A Story is an extended idea from the original! Except to say, with one minor switch-up! Although I attempt to write down when books arrive by Post, I am never quite as certain when the books arrive as I am always reading the next book in hand! Therefore, please join me as I get excited about the books on my shelf which are next in line to read!
I apologise I was not able to keep up with my posts for this Feature. Most of the latter half of 2014 was a bit difficult for different reasons, wherein I simply tried to read all the books I could whilst I had captured the hours to give to them. I was too wrapped up in my readings to realise I had forgotten to post about upcoming books of interest! You will happily see a resurgence of this post hitting weekly starting this Winter 2015!
I am working on completing my “End of the Year Survey 2014”:
Spring & Summer might have dissolved into each other and collided straight into Autumn, but I must confess I read a heap of beautiful writ stories! Enchanting my mind, endearing my heart, and enveloping me inside a knitted eclipse of story craft by writers who know how to give readers a pause out of their hours and a settling inside their spirits as they turn page after page of evoking narrative which never fully leaves you once you place the novel on your bookshelf!
By the time it came around for the *End of the Year Survey* to be written, I must admit I was still working on a few reviews whilst resting a bit after New Year’s as I love to watch the ball drop in Times Square! I have been compiling the survey for more than a month now, working on it off/on whenever I have a few free hours to go back over the books I read during the past year, inasmuch as sort out my final thoughts as where they might ‘fit’ into the survey itself. I plan to release my “Top Picks of 2014” and the completed survey quite soon! Stay tuned to see what truly captured my mind from last year!
I have several carry-overs from January,
of which I will be reading whilst tweeting about this week:
- Impossible by C.A. Gray (last book in the Piercing the Veil series: Book 1, Book 2, Interview)
- The Last Gatekeeper by Katy Haye (part of my readings for Sci Fi Experience 2015)
- The Gin Thief: Ep 1 by S.C. Barrus (manuscript I served as a betareader)
- First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen (part of Book Browse First Impressions)
- Up Close by Henriette Gyland (romantic suspense by ChocLitUK)
- Dance Until Dawn by Berni Stevens (vampire romance by ChocLitUK)
- A Woman of Fortune by Kellie Coates Gilbert (author contacted me about her books)
- *I will be talking about the library books I’m reading lateron in the week!
Read More
Posted Sunday, 1 February, 2015 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Book Trailer, Bookish Discussions, Bookish Films, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Cookery, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Down Syndrome, Equality In Literature, Gluten-Free Foods, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, INSPY Realistic Fiction | Non-Fiction, JKS Communications: Literary Publicity Firm, Jorie's Box of Joy, Life Shift, New Adult Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Royal Social Media, Science Fiction, Special Needs Children, Steampunk, Street Team for Author, Time Travel, Time Travel Adventure, Women's Fiction
Posted Monday, 26 January, 2015 by jorielov Bonneville Books, Cedar Fort Inc, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, Keeping Kate, Lady Darby Mysteries, Lauren Winder Farnsworth 4 Comments
Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “Keeping Kate” direct from the publisher Bonneville Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
Originally I had it in mind to finish my readings of the original canon of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronté, as I had begun to read the classical novel during *Septemb-Eyre, 2013*! I even managed to articulate my thoughts on behalf of the first chapter sections as assigned by the hostess of the event itself! However, proceeding forward from there because a bit of a spiraling muddlement of bookish angst — I simply couldn’t put my thoughts back into Jane Eyre! I re-attempted to capture the joy whilst willing to re-read the original portion I had consumed and thus carry forward with the story alongside Maggie @ Macacroons & Paperbacks inasmuch as I wanted to start to make a positive head-way on my *Books of Eyre* reading challenge (also begun in 2013!)
When I found the blog tour for Keeping Kate, Autumn had barely winked into view, and I felt as my tour stop would be far, far ahead into January, surely I’d have enough days, hours, and weeks ahead of that particular day to read Jane Eyre? Sadly, I did not. Therefore, despite my willingness to keep a promise I made to myself about reading original canons ahead of after canons, I am once again reading them out of order! I must admit, when I read Sense & Sensibility during *Austen in August* 2014, I did not regret my choice of ‘when I read it’!
The best we can do is to attempt to read books in the order of preference we ideally have for each story, but sometimes, life has a better plan in store for us! I always felt stories arrive in our lives at the right moments in time where we’re meant to drink in their beauty; perhaps I was meant to read Keeping Kate ahead of Jane Eyre; because one thing I know for sure, I couldn’t get out of my own headspace to continue with the previous undertaking! I kept thinking I’d fall short as I continued to read the story, that I wouldn’t be able to resume where I had left off with my ruminations, etc. Sometimes we just need to ‘break out’ of our thoughts on a particular story and save it for a day that allows it to re-alight in our lives when the joy resumes within the discovery of the text!
I am looking forward to talking about this after canon with both Charlene @ Bookish Whimsy + Maggie, as they both adore Jane Eyre! I, myself came to discover Ms. Eyre through her motion picture adaptation, so you could say my entire history has been bent a bit backwards towards the printed page! Laughs.
Keeping Kate
by Lauren Winder Farnsworth
Source: Direct from Publisher
"Don't you love me, Kate?" Has everything you ever felt for me really disappeared in less than ten minutes?"
"I do love you," I said woodenly. "I always will. But you'll never hear it from me again."
Kate Evans has never had a real family -- and she's never dreamed of falling in love. But when she gets a job taking care of a little girl on a lonely Utah ranch, Kate's determined to make a life for herself.
Right up until the moment she meets her irritable employer. . .
Sparks fly in this LDS twist on the classic Jane Eyre. Equal parts suspenseful, entertaining, and romantic, it's an addicting read that's sure to capture your heart.
Genres: After Canons, Classical Literature Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
Published by Bonneville Books
on 13th January, 2015
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Published By: Bonneville Books (@BonnevilleBooks),
an imprint ofCedar Fort, Inc (@CedarFortBooks)
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook
Converse on Twitter via: #KeepingKate
About Lauren Winder Farnsworth
Lauren Winder Farnsworth was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is an avid reader, a chocolate enthusiast, a musicophile and a CPA…who somehow also finds time to indulge in her real obsession—writing. She obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Utah, and the only entity that holds more of her heart than her alma mater is her husband, Bryan. Lauren currently lives in South Jordan, Utah, where she spends entirely too time watching Gilmore Girls and looking for excuses not to clean.
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
On the similarities and differences of Jane Eyre:
From the first moment Kate Evans walks across the page, I felt a tightening in my heart towards her, as her spirit of self-awareness and of place within the folds of her life were very true to course! Kate is the kind of character I am oft-times in search of uncovering; not merely in Classical Lit but within the Contemporary realms as well! She has a captivating way of giving you just enough of a pause of thought on what is happening to her as to ground you within her scope of the story itself. She hasn’t had the easiest of lives but she’s not despondent about it either! No! She’s as bold and direct about her circumstances fate has dealt her as Eyre with the moxie of her predecessor for digging deep into her faith and placing a firm foothold into a future that surely must lead to something not quite as darkening as her childhood!
Rather than being taken to a Gothic estate set far away from active society, Kate is led to a small mountain towne in Utah, where the community she felt she would uncover would be quite ordinary turnt into an extraordinary settled development where estates were more regular than cabins! Tucked away from most conveniences, her new dwelling was a far cry of being the center of modern life and had a more natural bent towards embracing the natural world of which surrounded the ranch where she was accepting employment.
Thornfield Hall is turnt into ‘Thorne Field Ranch’, where Adele becomes Addie, and Mrs. Fairfaxes name receives a change of ‘firsts’. The ambiance of the place remains intact, to where opulence and finery outweigh sensible style and pleasure. Rochester has surely met his match in Mr. Thorne! I never thought you could quite elicit out a duality of whom Rochester was in both origin and spirit, but Tyler Thorne has nailed him in such a justifiable way as to honour him through reincarnation!
The main difference of course, is that instead of a dark secret in the attic that causes the most angst in the climax of Jane Eyre, in Keeping Kate Tyler Thorne is betwixt knowing how to shift forward in life after his wife abandoned him, claimed infidelity, and straddled him with a child of whom she insisted was not his own. Yet dealing with the reality of this situation and the layers in which are knitted into the in-between moments where Kate and Tyler find themselves quite bemuseful of each other’s company, therein lies the best choices Farnsworth gave the novel!
She doesn’t allow this to be a ‘quick fix’ nor does she make the situation feel ‘contrite or predictable’. She took the harder road — to show realistic choices, raw human emotion, and levelled it with honesty about the depth of the human heart. The pace of the story is the most beautiful aspect of Keeping Kate because it allows you to let the tides of the narrative wash over you, lull you into the shoes of the main characters, and take a reprieve from your own affairs. Read More
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Posted Monday, 26 January, 2015 by jorielov in 21st Century, After the Canon, Austen in August, Balance of Faith whilst Living, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Blogs I Regularly Read, Bookish Discussions, Bookish Whimsy, Books of Eyre, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, Classical Literature, Contemporary Romance, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Jane Eyre Sequel | Re-telling, Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards, Life Shift, Macaroons & Paperbacks, Modern Day, Mormonism, Psychological Abuse, Re-Told Tales, Romance Fiction, Septemb-Eyre, Sweet Romance, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
