Category: Spontaneous Musings

#TheSundayPost XII | Sometimes sorrow interrupts our lives and disrupts our days

Posted Sunday, 16 October, 2022 by jorielov 2 Comments

#TheSundayPost banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Are we ever ready to say “goodbye” to someone we love?

Poetry of Sorrow by Jorie banner created in Canva.

I never thought I’d be blogging about the loss of a cat

during the year I felt couldn’t surprise me anymore

with unexpected stress and a multitude of adversities.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

In regards to my life behind the blog:

You might have already noticed my long absences online this Summer — some of which I’ve already addressed, and other notations of those absences were meant to be blogged about during #TheSundayPost but were never fully conceived nor written to be shared officially. I’ve done a lot of thinking this year about what I want to blog about but actually being able to sit down and BLOG those thoughts has been something else entirely. Sometimes our intentions to do something is more powerful than the ability to achieve them. In my defence, this is my second year of working full-time but my first year of working two full-time jobs; one by day, one by night. It has literally taken all the energy and stamina I never thought I could muster to maintain both and unfortunately hasn’t always lent a way for me to have downtime away from work.

Which of course only partially explains my absences this year, but for now, I want to focus on something else — something that has been weighing on my heart and soul for over a week now. As despite the adversely difficult September which presented two migraines and a sea of anxiety towards the end of the month where weather could have affected my life moreso than it did — I was not quite prepared for October to ring in a season of deep sorrow and soul-crushing grief. Read More

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Posted Sunday, 16 October, 2022 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Spontaneous Musings, Stories of Jorie, The Sunday Post

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

Posted Sunday, 13 February, 2022 by jorielov 5 Comments

#TheSundayPost banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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

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

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

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

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

A New Year, A New Readerly Approach

I’ve been trying to tackle my #backloguereviews,

for quite a LONG while now,

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

In regards to my blog and readerly life:

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

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

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

#2022BacklogueReviews banner made by Jorie in Canva.

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

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

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

Posted Sunday, 5 September, 2021 by jorielov 6 Comments

#TheSundayPost banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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

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

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

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

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

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

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

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

and appreciation in seeking Austen on Audio!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

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

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

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

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

And, now, how I fared in August:

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

August Blog Calendar banner created by Jorie in Canva.

BOOK REVIEWS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted Sunday, 8 August, 2021 by jorielov 4 Comments

#TheSundayPost banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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

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

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

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

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

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

IF I were to be completely HONEST.

Loads of LIFE shifts & transitions.

A HEAP of health afflictions.

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

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

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

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

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

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Before moving FORWARD – one must LOOK BACK:

cue the monthly calendar cards I created for my blog!

: all of which are customised & personalised :

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

January Blog Calendar banner created by Jorie in Canva.

BOOK REVIEWS:

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

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

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

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

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

-quoted from my review of Fly Free

Read More

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

#TheSundayPost VIII | From the misery of a cold to a revival of random bookish joy! [with a bit of an #unboxing reveal for #FindingEsme!]

Posted Sunday, 1 March, 2020 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 14 Comments

The Sunday Post badge created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography (Creative Commons Zero).

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

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

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

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

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

From the misery of a cold to a revival of random bookish joy,…

IF I had to speculate how my February would have concluded on a sour note of a severely intensive Winter cold which not only rendered me undone by a severely crippingly migraine (as it was unfortunately attached to said cold) but also incredibly *sore!* ears (wherein it affected ALL attempts at listening ot audiobooks previously highlighted via my last Sunday Post!), a throat which felt like strep and at the very end of it all – I nearly lost my voice just like Mum! She had it for just under a week and a half – whilst I’ve barely squeaked out of it under a fortnight but as its still ‘with me’ that’s not exactly conclusive yet!

I found myself getting down quite a bit about it – normally I can ride out a cold with reading but this one was unrelenting with side issues and a heap of unwelcomed fatigue; so in essence, unless it was a streaming television series (here’s looking @ Star Trek: Enterprise & Zoey’s Playlist!) odds are in great favour I passed the hours of the final weeks of February without many stories in my hands or arriving inside my headphones. The one audiobook I attempted to read didn’t work out very well and I regret I had to postpone listening to it. I’ve already requeued it to be heard this March.

Meanwhile, I also learnt a harder truth about expectations and failed inspirations in regards to Star Trek: Picard (see also my last #BookishNotBookish – updated that section!) and on a happier note, we had a ‘second chance’ Wintry weather spurt which left me wickedly happy despite how real the struggle was to embrace brisk winds (with sore ears, throat and a migraine!) and colder than ice temperatures – a part of me was trying to remember why I love grey skies, cold Wintry days and how good it felt to have a vacation from the Sun! Colds like this one muddle your senses and your ability to enjoy everything you normally *love!* – but despite that, there was one day where Mum took me out for cinnamon bagels and hot tea which reminded me to anchour into small joys and random serendipity rather than feeling curtailed by a situation I had zero control.

In the midst of feeling quite unwell, I did have a turning bit of tide in regards to how I recaptured some bookish JOY this week! I had to stack all my #bookpost into different piles – flat parcels together, bundled boxes together and it became a bit of a tricky situation as I wasn’t sure if any of the short piles would fall! lol I definitely have drawn a bit of curiosity from postal workers lately and I can’t wait to reveal a few thoughts of joy to the one who enquired about a few recent arrivals. She’s one of the few who enjoy chatting to me and hearing snippets of my life as a book blogger – which makes getting #bookmail ever more exciting when you can talk about it with others.

There was a keenly hidden SURPRISE though this week as I entered a bookaway whilst I was taken ill and to be quite honest, had FORGOTTEN all about it! I was visiting with a bookish friend of mine whose also an author of the stories I enjoy reading in her Speculative worlds of interest: Jennifer Silverwood (via her blog) when I noticed a curious review about a Middle Grade Fantasy novel called: Finding Esme! Wait til you discover the happiness this #bookmail brought into my life! I mean, talk about a total 360 experience from feeling taken under by the cold and being lifted in pure joy by what the author sent me!! I can’t remember getting quite a bookaway like this before except for one which I won from Jane Porter prior to being a book blogger.

Whilst I have some bookish updates regarding being an influencer and book ambassador with the Once Upon A Book Club subscription box service! Further updates are arriving this Tuesday and next Tuesday respectivefully! I also might have another bit of news to share next Sunday in regards to a new opportunity which came into my life this weekend – however, mum’s the word as I am still finalising the details.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Parajunkee Designs

*UPcoming!* blog & Twitter milestones:

(celebrating my 7th Year as a book blogger and joyful tweeter : dates to remember!)

I created my blog on the 31st of March, 2013 – my blogoversary!

I launched it LIVE to the world on 6th August, 2013 – my blog’s birthday!

I waited til the 13th of November, 2013 to join Twitter – my #twitterversary!

To help celebrate my #blogoversary @ the end of the month – I’ll be tweaking, blogging and finishing my edits for my *End of the Year Survey, 2019* – thereby allowing me to dig into the past years which were unable to be featured previously and will be time capsules of the recent past about the stories and authors I loved discovering, reading and spending time with as a reader! Due to stay tuned for this special post arriving on 31.March!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Some updates about where my bookish adventures took me this final week of February and what I am planning to do my first week of March as a bit of a renewal of resuming where I left off with the stories and books themselves. I feel like I lost so many *hours!* and yet, despite that well of inactivity I had quite a busy week overall! Even though technically speaking you’ll find that my #bookpost stacked up a bit to where I had the joy of revealling a heap of loveliness all at once!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Callisto Publishing Club : what Jorie requested in February

Will be reading this coming week:

  • The Story of Frida Kahlo: A Biography Book for New Readers by Susan B Katz
  • The Easy 5 Ingredient Vegan Cookbook: 100 Healthy Plant Based Recipes by Nancy Montuori
  • Super Green Smoothies: Veggie-Based Recipes to Boost Your Health and Well-Being by Danielle Omar
  • → [arriving this week] Essential Vegetable Fermentation: 70 Inventive Recipes to Make Your Own Pickles, Kraut, Kimchi, and More by Kelly McVicker

Sort of goes without too much saying that when your under the weather as severely as I was (and of which the main details are not shared!) reading or viewing food isn’t exactly going to be your top priority! I could barely eat most days be as it were! However, within the last day or so I’ve started to go through my #bookpost and I’ve had the joy of rediscovering these Callisto books which arrived! I am overjoyed truly because the cookbooks are beyond budget friendly and the biography is awe-inspiring on so many levels – plus I love the graphic design and bright colours they used to illuminate Frida’s life as a young girl.

The one which is still enroute is the Veg Fermentation – I have my eye on the kimchi section as I’ve heard such good things about that over the years. Plus, if I can finally slay the mystery of fermenting my own foods I’m one step closer to my self-sufficiency goals as I eventually want to harvest my own garden of fruit, veg, herb and cut flowers whilst canning for Winter, etc. I have appreciated the concept of eating macrobiotically since my early twenties and fermented foods are a part of that lifestyle. I’m definitely leant more towards a macro-vegetarian vegan and GF lifestyle any other way of eating as those are the foods which I have found help my health and wellness the most. Thereby you’ll be seeing me requeue my #TheBookishFoodie sections on Jorie Loves A Story as we move into Spring and I can start reviewing cookbooks again! Read More

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Posted Sunday, 1 March, 2020 by jorielov in #bookclubVIP, #Unboxing BookMail, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Birthdays & Blogoversaries, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Book Subscription Boxes, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie's Box of Joy, Library Loot, Once Upon A Book Club, Photography of Jorie, Spontaneous Musings, Stories of Jorie, The Sunday Post