Category: Historical Romance

An #HistoricalMondays Book Review | “The Dark Horizon” (The Linford Saga, Book One) by Liz Harris – a beloved author begins a new intergenerational series set in the early 20th Century!

Posted Monday, 6 July, 2020 by jorielov Heywood Press, Liz Harris, The Dark Horizon, The Linford series 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I was previously a regular reviewer and blog tour hostess for ChocLitUK which is where my path originally crossed with Ms Harris. It was through reading and reviewing their novels I came across the Historical stories of Liz Harris and simply fell in love. Two of my favourites are “A Bargain Struck” (see also Review) and “The Road Back” (see also Review). In the years since I’ve been keeping in touch with the authors I enjoyed reading – whilst I was overjoyed finding out there was a new release by Ms Harris for 2020 – as the last time I read one of her novels was in 2017! I love her passion for Historical narratives and the ways in which she creates the rhythm of her stories set in the historic past. This is the start of a new series and I was thankful to be able to host her for #SatBookChat (@SatBookChat) as well as read the novel in order to share my reflections and ruminations with my readers.

I received a complimentary ARC copy of “The Dark Horizon” from Liz Harris in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I wanted to read “The Dark Horizon” & host Ms Harris on #SatBookChat:

One of the authors I felt blessed to have discovered during my years of reading and reviewing ChocLit was Liz Harris. She has such a wonderful capacity for writing a Historical drama and it wasn’t a surprise to have learnt she is now writing a Historical Saga which intergenerationally explores the Linford family through the early 20th Century.

I knew quite immediately I wanted to read this story and to host her during @SatBookChat during its release window because of how strongly I feel attached within the scope her stories. She has a wonderful way of presenting different opinions, perspectives and in regards to internal strife within the scope of a family – she owns that niche well in Historical Fiction (especially in relation to how I felt throughout The Road Back.

She writes her heart out, and I will always appreciate that style, as it mirrors my own. I even appreciate the fact that she can move and shift through locations, time sequences, and elements of distinction between where her characters and story are set alive. She has the ability to become a chameleon as she writes one story to the next. This is a quality that is appreciated because she gives us such an intense view of her worlds and characters, with a pulse on who they are and how they lived that each story becomes an experience your willingly thankful to have had afterwards. -quoted from my review of The Road Back

I have been following the careers of all the ChocLit authors I originally read as a reviewer for the publisher – as whenever you find authors who are able to write a story you can settle inside and find joy about residing in throughout the journey of the story itself is an author you want to keep in your readerly life.

The #SatBookChat wherein I featured Ms Harris and my review for The Dark Horizon continues to be my personal path back into their stories – finding where they are currently being published and continuing my pursuit of the stories I am wicked happy to be championing either directly on Jorie Loves A Story and/or my social feeds in the twitterverse. It is an honour to continue to engage with them and to tuck closer to their stories when I have the proper chance to read them. I was truly grateful I could celebrate this new series with Ms Harris and bring the announcement of it to my readers – many of whom are Historical Fiction buffs like I am and who love a wicked good #nextread in a genre we’re mutually passionate about exploring!

Having Ms Harris as a guest on @SatBookChat is a true treat for me as a hostess – as she’s been dedicated to writing these past several years and hasn’t had a lot of free time to chat or participate in #SatBookChat – I was overjoyed we could book her the last Saturday in May – as it is within hours of the closing celebrations for the Fantasy event I co-host annually (#WyrdAndWonder). As May folded into June, I had planned to celebrate re-starting my pursuit of reading stories befitting my own readerly challenge #MyYASummer as well as sorting out which stories I want to read for #PrideMonth and taking a keen step forward in erasing my backlogue of reviews for the second half of the year. A good chunk of my backlogue quite ironically (or is it?) are Historical Fiction narratives, too! Due to health afflictions with seasonal allergies and toxic air pollution which required the need to purchase indoor air purifiers – I had to re-direct my reading goals to where I was not able to participate in #PrideMonth or #AudiobookMonth this June.

This felt like the best way to close out Wyrd And Wonder (and by extension ‘May’) whilst opening the window into Summer (and by extension my #SummerReads and goals) – the conversation and the discussion which would flow into #SatBookChat was a wicked sweet moment of personal joy, too. As I love connecting readers with authors and if it is a #newtomeauthor for them, I’ve passed forward the joy of what I’ve discovered myself to encourage another reader to find what I did and hopefully walk away with the positive reactions to the story itself.

It might have taken me a bit of extra time to finish reading The Dark Horizon as I had two migraines in mid-June and a series of migraines clustered at the end of June leading into July – but I am wicked thankful the first review to be featured for #SatBookChat this July will be a saga writ by one of my favourite Historical Fiction authors who has such a clear voice in the niches she occupies to allow us the grace to follow in her stead to the historic past.

On my Connection to Ms. Harris:

I have been hosting #SatBookChat chats on a regular basis for six years now. Eleven in the morning of a Saturday, has become a favourite hour for me to exchange conversation and joy with everyone who shows up to participate in a chat centered around Romance, Women’s Fiction and new for 2020 – Feminist Lit and strong female characters across genres of interest.

Similar to my previous thoughts I shared about Ms. Courtenay, I have come to appreciate chatting with Ms. Harris, either through #SatBookChat chats or privately. She is most giving of her time and I have appreciated the opportunity to know the writer behind the stories I enjoy reading! She always shares her happy spirit in the chats too, and her insights into why she enjoys writing the books that speak to her the most.

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Harris through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I host #SatBookChat (or as it was previously known #ChocLitSaturday) the chat as well as privately; I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time. Similarly this applies to spotlighting new books by an author I appreciate such as this one.

The Dark Horizon
Subtitle: Secrets, schemes and deceit simmer beneath the surface, but love, loyalty and passion are no strangers
by Liz Harris, Ms Liz Harris
Source: Direct from Author

From the award-winning author of The Road Back comes the first in a sweeping saga set between the wars, which introduces the Linfords, a family simmering with secrets, schemes and lies.

Oxfordshire, 1919

The instant that Lily Brown and Robert Linford set eyes on each other, they fall in love. The instant that Robert’s father, Joseph, chairman of the family’s successful building company, sets eyes on Lily, he feels a deep distrust of her.

Convinced that his new daughter-in-law is a gold-digger, and that Robert’s feelings are a youthful infatuation he’d come to regret, Joseph resolves to do whatever it takes to rid his family of Lily.

As the young couple are torn apart, the Linford family is told a lie that will have devastating consequences for years to come.

The Dark Horizon is perfect for readers of The Thorn Birds
and the Cazalet Chronicles, and the novels of Fiona Valpy and Santa Montefiore.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Modern British Literature, Realistic Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1913687007

Also by this author: A Bargain Struck, Guest Post (A Western Heart) by Liz Harris, Guest Post (The Road Back) by Liz Harris, The Road Back, Book Spotlight w/ Notes (The Lost Girl), Evie Undercover, Guest Post (The Lost Girl) by Liz Harris, The Art of Deception, The Lost Girl

Published by Heywood Press

on 14th April, 2020

Format: UK Edition Paperback

Pages: 346

Published by: Heywood Press

Formats Available: Paperback & Ebook

Genre(s): Historical Fiction | Family Saga | World War era

Converse via: #LinfordSaga, #TheDarkHorizon and #LizHarris
as well as #HistRom, #HistFic, #HistoricalFiction

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2020 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Monday, 6 July, 2020 by jorielov in #HistoricalMondays, 20th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Book Review (non-blog tour), British Literature, Family Drama, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Intergenerational Saga, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Realistic Fiction, Taboo Relationships & Romance, the Nineteen Hundreds, the Roaring Twenties, Women's Land Army (Land Girls) Britain

INSPY Blog Book Tour | “The Earl’s Winning Wager” (Lords for the Sisters of Sussex, Book Two) by Jen Geigle Johnson

Posted Tuesday, 9 June, 2020 by jorielov Jen Geigle Johnson, Lords for the Sisters of Sussex series, Pride and Prejudice, Self Published, The Earl's Winning Wager 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I have been hosting blog tours with Cedar Fort Publishing and Media for several years now, wherein their new blog tour publicist (Ms Sydney Anderson) also runs her own publicity touring company: Singing Librarian Book Tours (or SLB Tours for short!). I happily joined her team of book bloggers as a hostess in late Spring, 2018 wherein my first tours with her as a hostess began Summer, 2018. I appreciate reading INSPY literature and was happy to find these are most of the stories she is showcasing through SLB Tours! Most of her authors are published through Cedar Fort, though she does work with authors who are either Self-Published or Indie published through different publishers as well.

I received a complimentary copy of “The Earl’s Winning Wager” direct from the author Jen geigle Johnson in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

I had the lovely opportunity to read the first novel in this series which was “The Duke’s Second Chance” late last year wherein I found Ms Johnson’s writing style to be quite lovely for those of us who are seeking INSPY Romances set in the Regency. As a Romance reader – I regularly move between the Regency & Victorian eras – whether I am reading mainstream and/or INSPY.

Let’s look back and find out what stood out to me as I first ‘met’ this series:

It isn’t easy to find a writer who can tap into that emotionally wrecking moment of personal loss – to find a way to entreat inside the gutting realisation that you’ve just lost the love of your life and to write it so eloquently within that static moment of disbelief – I found the way in which Johnson handled Gerald’s intense grief and the shocking blow it took on his soul to be beyond realistic because it is the moment he was in a heightened state of euphoria – the expectations of joyful celebration on the cusp of his spirit; his heart was not prepared for the news the doctor had to reveal to him and thus, his reactions to this newbourne child was one I felt keenly realistic to how Johnson presented his reaction. You cannot even begin to judge his words nor his responses because how can anyone fully understand the moment of that kind of loss? It would take time to heal and further time to resolve what is unthinkable to have happened. I felt Johnson excelled in this moment of hypersensitive awareness of a husband’s reaction and of a father’s unwillingness to see the positive out of the shock of despair.

As gentle as a cloud Johnson moved us from the point of loss into a teahouse – a place where you expect the serenity of time to drift against tea leaves and conversations but for Gerald this would mark the moment he would accept his heart needed to heal. I was thankful the route Johnson took to show how Gerald was making progress – the slowness of his healing and the purposeful intention he still had to honour his wife but with the unfortunate leaning towards denouncing his child. It was here in an unexpected place such as a teahouse where you first see how someone can interact with a grieving widower in such a way to break through that tide of anguished grief. His family and even Morley were just tip-toeing round him to the point of allowing him to wallow without letting him face what he needed to face head-on. This woman named Amelia was touching the cornerstones of his soul, allowing his mind to catch-up with his grief and for his spirit to allow someone else to linger over the words he needed to say even if he wasn’t the best at accepting the responses they would receive. It was a marked moment for Gerald and one I felt was written with the same earnest honesty as the death scene of his wife.

The confidence Morley shares with Amelia was one of my favourite scenes because it shows the interesting way a commoner can have a slight influence on the ton but also how the ton are not entirely shunning of the commoners! Johnson intermixed the social standings of her characters in such a way as to allow for a meet-cute situation to occur but in a unique fashion of interference. She built off that first meeting with an impromptu reaction on Amelia’s part and when it came time to respond to that obstacle, it was Morley who interfered next on the Duke’s behalf. I gathered Morley was the character who held the Duke’s conscience in his heart and as his best mate, attempted to steer Gerald on a course the Duke would lateron not regret. In that, Johnson held firm to the Regency – the traditions and the social classes notwithstanding but also the little ways in which even in the Regency, rules can become broken if will was fiercely strong as fire!

Such confounding ire to have in a dust-up just when you are attempting to give your best of impressions – at least, this is how I found Lady Rochester to be in front of Gerald! She was such a wretched woman who had her own issues to wrought out in front of him that I am uncertain if even Morley could’ve protected him from this disgrace if he had known first-hand of her nature! I admit, Johnson played the scene so dearly well – it was like I had mentioned previously, a play before your eyes as if the characters were on stage, taking their queues and entertaining you with a dramatic romance set in the Regency! This woman much to her ails was the fitting fool to besiege an audience with her lunacy but more to the point, half the time you’re observing her you’d think she was the one with the goose up her sleeve in an ill-attempt to pool the wool over the Duke’s eyes and to justify herself in sitting herself on a newly devised throne!

There is such a quick pacing of this story – before you even realise it you’ve reached the ending and part of the ending involves the curiously inherited sisters which I felt still have a place in the series! Finding out Lord Morley’s story is the sequel to The Duke’s Second Chance is rather fittingly brilliant because his story is the one I was most curious about seeing expanded! Anyone who would go to such lengths as himself to not just protect but aide a friend like Gerald deserves to have more of his own story told! Not to mention perhaps a bit of dashing happiness cast his way?

Johnson has written a wonderfully dramatic romantic comedy set in the Regency as at first I thought it was mostly a drama but in the end, it had such beautiful strokes of comedy which turnt it quickly into a dramedy! Laughs. You get swept into the lives of Amelia and Gerald; their slow-burning romance, the friendship which sparks something more between them and the world outside their rendezvous is equally fetching when you factor in his Mum and sister, her father and the extended relations of her grandparents. Everyone rounds out this feast of relationships and follies to be a wicked good reading for the romance reader who is seeking a lightly spun Sweet Romance with a touch of INSPY to guide them through the deeper context of the scenes!

-quoted from my review of The Duke’s Second Chance

The Earl's Winning Wager
Subtitle: Lords for the Sisters of Sussex
by Jen Geigle Johnson
Source: Author via Singing Librarian Book Tours

Lord Morley's life will change forever when he wins a game of cards
and a family of sisters to go along with it.

Miss Standish in none too pleased to have become the responsibility of yet another Lord, even if he is full of charm and goodness. Her responsibilities are to her sisters first.

With the repairs on the castle moving forward nicely and concerted efforts in a season in Bath made to find suitors for them all, Miss Standish and Lord Morley must determine where duty stops and matters of the heart take over.

Read this warm tale of family, sisters, loyalty and love to get a huge dose of the best part of a regency romance fans of Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer would enjoy.

Genres: Historical Romance, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Sweet Romance

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1734128826

Also by this author: Author Interview Jen Geigle Johnson (Regency House Party), The Duke's Second Chance

Also in this series: The Duke's Second Chance

Published by Self Published

on 22nd April, 2020

Format: POD | Print On Demand Paperback

Pages: 204

This is a Self-Published Novel.

Formats Available: Trade paperback and ebook

The Lords for the Sisters of Sussex series:

The Duke’s Second Chance (book one)

The Earl’s Winning Wager (book two)

Her Lady’s Whims and Fancies (book three)
← a Digital First Release August 2020!

Suitors for the Proper Miss (book four)

Pining for Lord Lockhart (book five)

The Foibles and Follies of Miss Grace (book six)

Converse via: #LordsForSistersOfSussex as well as #INSPYRomance
#INSPY or #CleanRomance + #HistRom & #Regency or #RegencyRomance

About Jen Geigle Johnson

An award winning author, including the GOLD in Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, Jen Geigle Johnson discovered her passion for England while kayaking on the Thames near London as a young teenager.

She once greeted an ancient turtle under the water by grabbing her fin. She knows all about the sound a water-ski makes on glassy water and how to fall down steep moguls with grace. During a study break date in college, she sat on top of a jeep’s roll bars up in the mountains and fell in love.

Now, she loves to share bits of history that might otherwise be forgotten. Whether in Regency England, the French Revolution, or Colonial America, her romance novels are much like life is supposed to be: full of adventure. She is a member of the RWA, the SCBWI, and LDStorymakers. She is also the chair of the Lonestar Ink writing conference.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2020 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Tuesday, 9 June, 2020 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 19th Century, Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Family Drama, Historical Romance, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, INSPY Realistic Fiction | Non-Fiction, Romance Fiction, Singing Librarian Book Tours, Sweet Romance, the Regency era

#SaturdaysAreBookish | “The Highlander’s English Bride” (Clan Kendrick, Book Three) by Vanessa Kelly

Posted Saturday, 6 June, 2020 by jorielov Clan Kendrick series, Kensington Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., The Highlander's English Bride, Vanessa Kelly, Zebra Books 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! HFVBTs is one of the very first touring companies I started working with as a 1st Year Book Blogger – uniting my love and passion with Historical Fiction and the lovely sub-genres inside which I love devouring. Whether I am reading selections from Indie Authors & publishers to Major Trade and either from mainstream or INSPY markets – I am finding myself happily residing in the Historical past each year I am a blogger.

What I have been thankful for all these years since 2013 is the beautiful blessing of discovering new areas of Historical History to explore through realistically compelling Historical narratives which put me on the front-lines of where History and human interest stories interconnect. It has also allowed me to dive deeper into the historic past and root out new decades, centuries and millenniums to explore. For this and the stories themselves which are part of the memories I cherish most as a book blogger I am grateful to be a part of the #HFVBTBlogTours blogger team.

I received a complimentary of “The Highlander’s English Bride” direct from the publisher Zebra Books (an imprint of) Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I wanted to read “The Highlander’s English Bride”:

It has been a bit too long since I’ve tucked into a traditional Romance novel such as this one – wherein, there is a saga unfolding between installments and there is a continuity threading within the context of the stories as well. I used to read quite a few authors who wrote series like this one and then, for whichever reason I abandoned reading them. I’ve meant to delve back into them over the years but never found the time.

When this blog tour came round – I thought for sure I could listen to the first two novels in the series via Scribd but the months dissolved too quickly off the clock for me to dive into them. I decided to begin this as a new reader might – picking up the storyline on the third in a series rather than starting at the beginning. I’ve had my eye on stories about the Highlands for many years – as I don’t oft get to read stories set in Scotland. My favourite series set there is “Monarch of the Glen” which is a delightful series involving one very eccentric Scottish family and their estate.

Quite soon after I started reading this story, I realised not having read the previous installments was doing me a bit of a favour because there is so much to process and enjoy in this installment! If I’d have had enough time to go through the audiobooks for the series, I think I would have enjoyed the lead-in into the third storyline but without that back-history, the beauty of starting here is seeing where Graeme and his family intersect with Sabrina’s timeline. The fact that Kelly writes a cleverly spun tango of intrigue is part of what rooted me into her story whilst the humour is what kept me in laughter!

The Highlander's English Bride
Subtitle: Clan Kendrick | United in Desire
by Vanessa Kelly
Source: Publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

In this dazzling new novel from bestselling author Vanessa Kelly, the wildest member of Clan Kendrick has found his purpose as a government agent. Now he must also meet his match…

Lady Sabrina Bell has never been so embarrassed in her life. Not only did her new suitor fail to appear for their morning rendezvous in Hyde Park, but a thief pushed her into the Serpentine. Being rescued by a burly Highlander just adds to her humiliation. Nor is he content with rescuing her just once. Even when Sabrina travels to Edinburgh as part of King George’s entourage, Graeme Kendrick is there, interfering, exasperating, and so very tempting…

Once notorious for being the most unruly Kendrick brother, Graeme now runs dangerous missions for the King’s spymaster. Yet nothing has prepared him for Sabrina. The only child of a wealthy earl, and the pampered goddaughter of the king himself, she is stubborn, impetuous, and far too good for him. He doesn’t deserve her, but he can protect her and then send her safely back home. But the bonny Sassenach has her own ideas—and a plan for seduction that no red-blooded Highlander could resist…

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance Fiction

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781420147056

Published by Zebra Books

on 26th May, 2020

Format: Paperback ARC

Pages: 448

Clan Kendrick series:

The Highlander Who Protected Me (book one)

The Highlander’s Christmas Bride (book two)

The Highlander’s English Bride (book three)

Published by: Zebra Books
an imprint of Kensington Books (@KensingtonBooks)

Available Formats: Trade paperback and Ebook

In regards to the ‘heat’ of sensuality & sexuality explored in this novel,
I felt I ought to let my readers know this one was a bit more intense than your regular Romance novel.

Converse via: #HistFic or #HistNov
+ #ClanKendrick and #HFVBTBlogTours

About Vanessa Kelly

Vanessa Kelly is a USA Today Bestselling, award-winning author who was named by Booklist, the review journal of the American Library Association, as one of the “New Stars of Historical Romance.” Her Regency-set historical romances have been nominated in a number of contests, and she has won multiple awards, including the prestigious Maggie Medallion for Best Historical Romance. Her books have been published in nine languages.

Vanessa’s first Clan Kendrick book, The Highlander Who Protected Me, was a USA Today, Barnes & Noble, and BookScan bestseller. The Highlander’s Christmas Bride, her latest book, hit the top 50 on both the Barnes & Noble mass-market bestseller list and on BookScan. The Renegade Royals Series was a national bestseller, as was The Improper Princesses Series. My Fair Princess was named a Goodreads Romance of the Month and is a USA Today and BookScan bestseller.

When she’s not dreaming of plots for her next Regency novel, Vanessa is writing USA Today Bestselling books with her husband, under the pen name of V.K. Sykes.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2020 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Saturday, 6 June, 2020 by jorielov in 19th Century, Blog Tour Host, Equality In Literature, Fly in the Ointment, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, Romance Fiction, Romantic Comedy, the Regency era, Vulgarity in Literature

Author Interview | In conversation discussing Titanic and setting a #HistRom inside the historical background of its living history as we converse about Jina Bacarr’s newest Historical novel “The Runaway Girl”!

Posted Thursday, 19 March, 2020 by jorielov Boldwood Books, Christmas Once Again, Jina Bacarr, The Runaway Girl 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

At the close of [2019] I had the pleasure of JOY reading a delightful war drama entitled “Christmas Once Again” – this was a time travelling Historical Romance wherein the method of travel was through the component of a ‘train’. I joyfully talked extensively about this during my #SatBookChat whilst I happily also engaged with my readers talking about the finer points of what made this Historical Romance such a beautifully evocative read! Meanwhile – it was a wicked sweet joy to highlight today’s new release “The Runaway Girl” on my #TopTenTuesday List for Most Anticipated Reads for 2020.

When it comes to reading Historical Romances – I happen to *love!* when a writer captures the truer heart and atmosphere ‘behind’ the romance wherein we get to peer into History’s window and seek out the era of the age in which these characters are alive. We get to understand the breadth of their living realities whilst gaining a foothold into how they are living their lives with the shadow of historical events behind them. Whenever a writer can intersect History with a compelling realistic #HistRom, I am definitely the kind of reader who is oft in search of their collective works because I want to consistently reside in their stories!

This is why when I first learnt about “Christmas Once Again” & “The Runaway Girl” – I knew I wanted those to be purchase requests at my local library. Not just for the joy of my own readerly pleasures but to help other patrons in my local community find inspiration out of a story I personally *loved!* absorbing! You see, I didn’t just read “Christmas Once Again” – I felt convinced I had stepped through its theshold and lived those hours as if I had inhabited the characters directly. I love feeling that pull of narrative – where you are so wholly engaged into a story it doesn’t feel fictional but a realistic impression of a life which is still being lived. Literature is powerful that way and whenever you can find Historical voices of the craft pulling us into the windows of where history and human interest stories can intersect is a wicked wonderful way to spend your readerly hours!

Thus, when I first hear a whispering about “The Runaway Girl” – of how this story was anchoured to Titanic and my own literary and science interest in Titanic – as I loved learning the real-life story of how Titanic was discovered on the ocean floor and the journey of its recovery – I knew immediately that I wanted to live inside this new novel! There is something alluring about Titanic – not the tragedy of how everyone died but how hard they fought to survive – how even in the direness of their hours as the sinking was erasing the calm of where they felt they would be embarking on a new life abroad was instead replacing it with a darkness of uncertainity – they still rallied, they fought the ocean and they tried to make peace with their fate.

At least this is what I observed and understood whilst researching Titanic and of having taking the walking exhibit where I had a third class ticket where someone had gone down with the ship. It was a harrowing walk through because of the way they told the story but also how they left you with haunting reminders of the fragilty of our lives and the uncertain balance of how we all are living with uncertain futures. A sombering contemplation on a good year and a intuitive one during a world crisis.

There is so much I love about the premise of “The Runaway Girl” and it is a pleasure of absolute for me to host my final blog tour hosted by the publisher Boldwood Books to go out with a bit of a signal boost on this novel and a wicked engaging conversation with Ms Bacarr – wherein through our conversation you’ll find notations about the story, her process of writing and the allure of Historical Fiction by a writer as bemused about her own stories & characters as the reader behind Jorie Loves A Story!

This marks my third of three featured posts I’ve be sharing on behalf of Boldwood Books this Spring, 2020. I recently interviewed Jessica Redland on behalf of her Whitsborough Bay series as well as having featured Rosie Clarke to begin this series.

Brew yourself a lovely cuppa

and journey back to Titanic with us today as we uncover “The Runaway Girl”!

The stories I’m keenly intrigued & excited about by Ms Bacarr:

Christmas Once Again (see also Review)

The Runaway Girl (listed as one of my Top Anticipated Reads of 2020!)

Published by: Boldwood Books (@BoldwoodBooks)

Available Formats: Trade Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook

Converse via: #HistoricalRomance or #HistRom
as well as #Titanic and #JinaBacarr

Posted Thursday, 19 March, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Book Spotlight, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Romance Fiction

Book Spotlight | featuring an author Q&A with Jessica Redland about her Whitsborough Bay series! Including audio extracts from Books 2-4!

Posted Tuesday, 17 March, 2020 by jorielov Boldwood Books, Coming Home to Seashell Cottage, Finding Hope at Lighthouse Cove, Jessica Redland, Making Wishes at Bay View, New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms, Whitsborough Bay series 1 Comment

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

As you know, I love reading Romance & Women’s Fiction stories – I like to hug into series as well which allow you to get to know the characters of a small towne setting wherein you get to interact with everyone in the community and have a lovely feel for the towne itself. Settings like those are amongst my favourites because of the community atmosphere and the ways in which the community itself will band together whenever someone needs assistance. I also like seeing how interconnected small townes are and of course, the natural environs which are surrounding them.

When it comes to this particular series – what first drew me towards wanting to interview the author is the fact it is set near water as those townes are especially keen to visit in stories as the whole sequencing of time is at a different pace than one that would normally be the rhythm of a series set round a larger city. I definitely wanted to ask about how the writer wrote the finer points of the setting – how we might even recognise the IRL towne it is named after and is thereby a composite setting of where people actually live whilst trying to gain a bit of an overview of the series, too.

I’d be curious to learn what kinds of series within either Romance or Women’s Fiction draws your eye when it comes to Contemporaries and what gets you excited if a towne is set by the sea? Is it the setting itself, the pace of living or something more imploring about small towne life that draws you into these kinds of stories overall?

You’ll find extracts from three of the stories in this series attached to this post – which cleverly are not text extracts but rather extracts being featured via YT. These are taken from the audiobook editions of the novels and give you a bit of a glimpse at the narrator’s style of performance whilst also giving you a bit of a sampler of the stories themselves.

This marks my second of three featured posts I’ll be sharing on behalf of Boldwood Books this Spring, 2020. I will be interviewing Jina Bacarr on behalf of her new release “The Runaway Girl” which is dramatic Historical set round Titanic (listed as one of my most anticipated reads for 2020) as well as having featured Rosie Clarke to begin this series.

Brew yourself a lovely cuppa

and enjoy what is revealled about the Whitsborough Bay series!

Whitsborough Bay series: