Category: Village Life

Blog Book Tour | “A Valentine Surprise” by Emily Murdoch a novella anchoured to ‘A Christmas Surprise’, two of the #Regency Roms by Ms Murdoch

Posted Tuesday, 14 February, 2017 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography (Creative Commons Zero).

Acquired Book By: I am a hostess with Writerly Yours PR – which is run by my dear friend Priya of whom I met during a blogger panel. We have become friends through our collaborations and it has been an honour to work with her on her publicity projects for Indie authors – most of whom I have been featuring a guest author feature as I cannot read digital copies of books. In this particular instance, I was allowed to print the PDF in order to read in full for which I was thankful to the author for allowing me to do so in lieu of a paperback copy to read.

This particular blog tour was anchoured by Twitter chats wherein we attempted to break the novella down into collections of chapters and discuss the story via Twitter whilst finalising our book club discussions with a special Q&A with the author – which is scheduled to run during the blog tour itself.

I received a complimentary copy of “A Valentine Surprise” direct from the author Emily Murdoch in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I was keen on reading this story:

I originally had intended to release my review on behalf of the previous release ‘A Christmas Surprise’ anchoured through my #ChristmasReads selections this past holiday season. I setting things up to run the week after Thanksgiving with a few featured over Thanksgiving weekend – however, as most of my dedicated followers already realise, this was the weekend my Dad had his stroke (see also this post and this post). Concurrently, I’ve been struggling to find my way back into my blog – in reading regularly and blogging regularly as I am now my father’s main caregiver. To say I am seeking a bit more balance in my life at the moment is putting it mildly. However, despite the imbalance of my reading life and the gaps in my blogging life – I can attest, I’ve cured one thing recently: I re-fell in love with cooking! lol All it took was a return to the local farmer’s market wherein you can hand-select and cut your own fresh produce.

Whilst signing up for this blog tour, I was excited as I came to appreciate the writer’s style whilst reading ‘A Christmas Surprise’ – which is still going to be featured on my blog – even if it’s a few months shy of Christmas; I have a few leftover Christmas selections to release and hopefully help readers find a few to tuck away for the holidays next year. I was thankful this new novella follows the timeline of the first one – if in effect you look at it from a unique angle, this could actually serve as a back-story on how the characters are inter-connected – specifically, by way of Lady Audrey and Jonathan.

I still find it wicked amazing how the author has been threading her stories through novellas, selecting a shorter arm of narrative to tell her stories whilst still giving the reader something hearty to chew on whilst they read her stories. This is something I tried to highlight through the latest Twitter ‘book club’ chat regarding ‘A Valentine Secret’ – of which I’ll include at the bottom of this review – offering everyone on the blog tour a chance to click-through to Twitter tweet by tweet and add their commentaries to the discussion questions awaiting them. For readers who are not a part of the blog tour – I welcome your responses, as these are everyday themes which are cross-relatable to all.

 Blog Book Tour | “A Valentine Surprise” by Emily Murdoch a novella anchoured to ‘A Christmas Surprise’, two of the #Regency Roms by Ms MurdochA Valentine Surprise
Subtitle: A Regency Romance

The course of true love never did run smooth…

Jonathan Brodie, the only son of Sir Roger and Lady Brodie, has lived in the village of Maplebridge his whole life.

Penelope, the daughter of the local florist, was adopted by the Baldwins when she was just a baby.

They could not be more different and yet, one blustery January morning, their paths collide in a chance encounter that is destined to change their lives forever.

Jonathan soon discovers that Penelope is far from the quiet wallflower that she first seems, but rather a beautiful rose just waiting for its chance to bloom. After spending more and more time together, it’s not long before their feelings for each other begin to blossom.

However, when Jonathan starts investigating Penelope’s past, in order to present her with the truth about her biological parents, his grand Valentines gesture threatens to destroy any hope of a future with the woman he has grown to love.

Penelope begins to doubt Jonathan’s motives.

Is he only concerned with placating his domineering father and convincing him that she is worthy of the Brodie name?

Despite his good intentions, will Jonathan’s Valentine Secret ruin everything?

Or are two people from opposite ends of society simply destined to remain poles apart forever?

A Valentine Secret is a charming regency romance novella about never giving up on true love. ​


Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

Find on Book Browse

ISBN: 978-1523659098

on 21st January, 2016

Pages: 112

Self-Published Author

Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #HistRom, #HistoricalRomance + book tag: #AValentineSecret

#Regency or #IndieAuthor + #ValentineRomance

About Emily Murdoch

Emily Murdoch

Emily Murdoch is a medieval historian and writer. She has authored a medieval series and a regency novella series, and is currently working on several new projects. To stay updated on her writing and upcoming books, follow her blog and on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.

Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • 2017 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
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Posted Tuesday, 14 February, 2017 by jorielov in Adoption, Blog Tour Host, Historical Romance, Singletons & Commitment, the Regency era, Village Life, Women's Fiction, Writerly Yours PR

Day One: Bout of Books, 8.0! And, she’s off!

Posted Monday, 19 August, 2013 by jorielov , 0 Comments

Bout of Books Readathon
Day Two: Bout of Books, 8.0.

Day One: Larkrise to Candleford by Flora Thompson, which unbeknownst to me is actually a collection of three of her novels re-formatted as a trilogy omnibus originally debuted in 1945! The original titles were as follows: Lark Rise (1939), Over to Candleford (1941), Candleford Green (1943). Nor did I realise that this particular new found trilogy was an early pitch into what I call most  endearing “biographical fiction” whereupon most of the context and contents are fictional re-representations of a living soul’s life and the experiences they incurred therein.

A more starting revelation: She was bourne 5 December 1876 passing from this life on 21 May 1947. This is pertinent to me because my parents were wedded in May and my Mum was bourne in ’47! I always get a hitching of excitement when I notice numerological coincidences OR dare I say, connective threads that interlace through all of our lives if we keep our eyes open to notice them. Further still, the sequel to Lark Rise to Candleford appeared in 1979, the year of my birth!

Motivation to Read: In part due to the BBC mini-series of the same name: Lark Rise to Candleford which afforded appreciators of period dramas four series to settle into this lovely community that has spun itself into our conscienceness.

Acquired Book By: Purchased in a used book shoppe in a small towne tucked away in a yester year atmosphere that resonated with my sense of nostalgia. I used to wander around soaking in the quiet solitude of a towne un-caught up with the pacing of the modern world, having alighted its rhythm to an unseen sense of un-clocked suspension. Circa 2010.

Oh, Monday, sweet Monday! The Read-A-Thon has begun!

Number of Pages Devoured | Out of : 48 |537

Tally of Pages Read Thus Far: 48; slight difficulty in reading as this is more of a sociological accounting of real life, rather than a purely fictional piece of literature. it reads more like an observationist’s journal, crafted specifically not to let one detail go unnoticed or unwrit! in the beginning, i nearly felt i could not finish this one, as it was harkening back my nightmares of boredom with Robinson Crusoe!! thankfully, it fluttered away from those grievations!

Book in Progress |continuing onward |happily consumed: 0 | 1 | 0

A six word summary of today’s reading: a throbbing sense of real life

Best Chapter? *loved!* the Introduction by H.J. Massingham! specifically, page 1, paragraph 1, opening sentences & the bottom of the paragraph! on page 2 i appreciated his sentiments on Lark Rise and the way in which the author reveals the setting and story.

Favourite Character? have yet to determine; leaning towards Laura; as she’s a little bookworm who overcame her learning difficulties by never giving up on learning as she went with each word she came across! she did the same thing i did when i was younger: read the context to understand the words!

Challenge Participation? |unofficial: Pairathon| *to be added soon!*

|official: Bookish Bucket List| Q: What is one bookish thing you want to do before you die? OR what is one thing you want to do that was inspired by a book you read!?

I saw this go ‘live’ last night/early morn today, but it’s taken me this long to return in order to compose my thoughts properly! I have a rather extensive ‘bookish bucket list’, not that I ever attached myself to that terminology before, but it’s true enough! I think it would have to be a spilt between following in Jane Austen’s footsteps by taking a full-on Regency touring of her life + world! From being able to ‘step in’ to the literal footprints of where her stories came alive for her and what real-life counterparts are still visiable and able to be experienced! As much as to get into the core of who she was a woman, as a living person! Aside from Ms. Austen, I’d love to follow a Downton Abbey inspired tour — complete with a guided tour of Highclare! I am not sure if this last bit counts, but Julian Fellowes did release the ‘scripts’ which are in bound-book form, so perhaps by a hair?! Laughs. Most of my bookish dreams are forevermore hinged to England! {or the Highlands of Scotland!} I already accomplished the inspired by a book tick off the list: as a young woman first coming into her own, I discovered the parfum “Chanel No. 5” via Rosamunde Pilcher’s “The Shell Seekers”!! That’s a prime example of fiction bleeding into the real world! [entry for Book Depository book!]

Bout of Books blogs I visited: quite frankly, I lost count! laughs! :) i was on such a sweet roll, that i didn’t really keep a tally! i will attempt to sort out a rounded # to post! i will take better notes on the morrow! :) :)

Tick Tock, there goes the clock:

07:15a: woken up by a siren! what is up with alarm clocks! sighs!! sat straight up like i was flinching from a bolt of lightning! the dreamscapes dissolved faster than you can say, “poof!” i was hoping the morn would be delayed [somehow] a wee bit, as i didn’t get to clock off until 2am!

07:16-08:07: scouting more Bout’er blogs! [too much talk, not enough music! c’mon KISS Boston! ack! the Sox were creamed!] i think i NEED a chai!! can you order those in!? from an indie coffeehouse!? apparently you can!! bairbre rocks!! erm, should i have made that an espresso latte, instead!? hrmm,…  [newsflash: my bookish blog is writ on EVERY order book in a mad dash to get the ‘name’ right! now that’s positive ‘word of word’ signage!]

09:00-11:35: ? projected time to start reading ? hey, its the first day! i can be be a bit behind the eight ball! actually, i was noshing on a fried egg, homemade hummus, & paul newman salsa sammie! :) i’m getting a bit of a late start, but i have the bout’er blogs set up {will have to check back when the sign-ups close for latecomers!}, and as I embark on my rounds, i will continue to clean up the ‘quick reference’ wordage per blog!! :) :) i feel good, and that’s the best way to go into a read-a-thon!

now then, check out this wicked sweet blog badge for bookish girls + blokes like us:

Book badge provided by Squeesome Designs and used with permission.

i am forgetting which Bout’er had it on their blog, but i will sort that out lateron!! :) its more to reflect that i am taking a hiatus from: the netherspheres, email stalking, radio rockin’, cats who act like toddlers [smiles fondly], the telly, and everything in-between, including the plumber pounding away! for all visitors + Bout’ers alike: kindly drop me notes! during my breaks i’ll approve them + drop a note back!! peace to readers everywhere!!

official start time: 11:40am!!

1:53p: [short break!] i am running into things that are more confuselment than enjoyable! need to do a bit of digging online to sort through it! lovely depictions of country life, though! my mind is darting about making cross-comparisons in both literature & film! :) received confirmation that my First Impressions [ARC] choice will be sent to me! [overjoyed!!] KISS Boston is back on whilst i haul into research! :)

3:30-4:30p: [short break] began to compose my review for Lark Rise to Candleford

7p-8:32: [dinner break]

8:33p-10p: [longer break, a bit under the weather!] touring the Bout’er blogs, slowly catching up the comment threads + enjoying ‘meeting’ other bookish bloggers! added more wicked awesome {FREE!} bookish love badges from squeesome! check it out!

10:01p-03:00am: reading Lark Rise to Candleford. instead, i felt like getting full of INK! i monked around with my distress inks, washi tape, and vintage ephemera, created envelope art, and followed it up with finishing my letter to CaffienatedLife! will have to key in my daily totals after I put the book down for the evening! i wake up! :) overall, it was not a bad first day! i wish i had felt better [overall], but i feel good in what i am accomplishing which is the only part that matters! :) despite not getting too far into the book, my mind was lit alive with things to write about, which is why my [review!] impressions of the book are off to a hearty start!

Reflections shortly after the ending is revealed:

will come back and enter in my thoughts once I finish the book!

Review: Betwixt Lark Rise and Candleford will update when my post goes live!

All the posts interlinked to *Bout of Books, 8.0* are a work-in-progress post! Therefore, what you read on one visit, might alter/change or be added to by the time you swing back!!

In closing, if you have read “Lark Rise to Candleford” or the books in their individual volumes, what did you find the most difficult to get used to as you read them!? OR, did you find that they were easy to swallow and wished there were more volumes!? Is this a book that appeals to you to read, if you haven’t yet read it!? Did you watch the mini-series instead!? Will you watch the mini-series if you read the book(s)!?

{SOURCES: The Bout of Books badge was created by Jorie in Canva! Seriously wicked bookish badges {entirely FREE!} provided by Squeesome Designs!}

 Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

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Posted Monday, 19 August, 2013 by jorielov in 19th Century, England, History, Industrial Revolution, Village Life