Posted Friday, 25 October, 2024 by jorielov (Narrator) Jake Urry, (Narrator) Katie Marchant, #SpooktasticReads, #WyrdAndWonder, Alyssa Roat, Mountain Brook INK, Wraithwood 0 Comments
We LOVE challenging each other during #WyrdAndWonder and #SpooktasticReads with prompts which inspire responses which can be taken literally by the words of the prompt itself or become explored more creatively by what sparks a response from the reader, blogger or social Fantasy lover to share with us during the months of May and October. This year, I’ve decided to post complimentary discussions featuring the prompts I am responding to via Instagram on our @WyrdAndWonder feeds. As it was a goal of mine last year but not one that I could fulfil properly.
Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I have been curious about ‘haunted houses’ the whole of my life – despite the fact, I very rarely go inside ‘haunted houses’ because I am always on the brink of believing they are simply too much for me to experience! Mostly, as whenever I’ve gone to Halloween parties or events – they have the tendency of taking the fear factor a bit too far afield for me. More Horror than Halloweeny and definitely more scare than fright! It is good to have a bit of fright in your life at this time of the year but not to the point where you think your heart will fail. I love the lighter side of Halloween – which sort of plays out in the types of stories I gravitate towards reading as well.
My favourite ride at Disney World is The Haunted Mansion and likewise, I love the accompanying film by the same name – especially how it ends, and all the ghosts go to Heaven. It is a beautifully scripted film and has such a wicked ending. I also love the film The Canterville Ghost (the one with Neve Campbell) – as it also plays into the theme of hauntings as does the silliness of the plot within High Spirits. Whereas my favourite tv series was The Ghost Whisperer (starring Jennifer Love Hewitt).
When it comes to books however, I am less versed in hauntings except for when there are ghosts present whenever I read a Paranormal or Witchy story as ghosts tend to take centre stage in those kinds of stories. This is why I wanted to tackle this prompt this year – to seek out the stories which befit this prompt and how the prompt can be answered in different ways as you approach stories which speak towards it.
I elected to select two backlogue review copies I’ve had for audiobooks – seeing if I can finally attach myself inside their stories and focus on reviewing them before the end of the year. I’d love to know if anyone has heard either of these themselves or what their takeaways were as well.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Posted Friday, 25 October, 2024 by jorielov in #25MinutePreview, #SpooktasticReads, Jorie Loves A Story
Posted Wednesday, 23 October, 2024 by jorielov (Narrator) Justine Eyre, #SpooktasticReads, #WyrdAndWonder, Cinders and Sparrows, Stefan Bachmann 0 Comments
We LOVE challenging each other during #WyrdAndWonder and #SpooktasticReads with prompts which inspire responses which can be taken literally by the words of the prompt itself or become explored more creatively by what sparks a response from the reader, blogger or social Fantasy lover to share with us during the months of May and October. This year, I’ve decided to post complimentary discussions featuring the prompts I am responding to via Instagram on our @WyrdAndWonder feeds. As it was a goal of mine last year but not one that I could fulfil properly.
Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I am a HUGE appreciator of #WitchyFiction – as I am quite sure many of followers and bookish friends online can attest as I regularly feature them during both #WyrdAndWonder and #SpooktasticReads annually! This year, I decided to seek out new voices in this niche of Fantasy I adore to discover – one was a recommended read by a fellow book blogger and reviewer I’ve known for quite a long time now, Maelia. She also used to be a regular chatter when I hosted @SatBookChat (on Twitter) every week and then, bimonthly, until I had to take a sabbatical from hosting the chats due to my work schedule the last few years. We’ve both crossed paths with the author Emma Jackson – as I previously read her novel The Devil’s Bride (which was a featured review during #SpooktasticReads 2021).
This time round, I am soaking into the audiobook version of her novel “Witch You Weren’t” which sounds like a delightfully lighter read than the previous one! And, a bit of a cheeky plot, too, which is right up my street this year! As I try to find a balance between the more dramatic stories and the lighter ones which give me more laughter than tears. Spooky reads to me are the kind of stories which are more Cosy than Horrific and give a cheeky glimpse into the paranormal realms moreso than they scare me out of my mind. Laughs. We all approach this readathon and concentration of stories differently but for me, I love seeking out the magic and delights moreso than the chilling stories which chill your bones!
A second audiobook which I read about by a fellow book blogger and bookstagrammer (of whom I’ve forgotten offhand!) leant me the impression that I might enjoy “The Crescent Moon Tearoom”. Whereas there was something enchanting about “Cinders and Sparrows” and I purchased the audiobook during one of Audible’s sales this end of Summer.
I am appreciating having a subscription to Everand again, as it helps me re-align back into audiobook stories and seeking out different genres of interest which they have in their catalogue of audioreads available to listeners. Whilst with my membership with Audible, I can purchase audiobooks as well as listen to others in their Plus catalogue which also consume a lot of the bookish interests I have in respect to genre and niches of literature I routinely seek out to read.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Posted Wednesday, 23 October, 2024 by jorielov in #25MinutePreview, #SpooktasticReads, Jorie Loves A Story
Posted Wednesday, 16 October, 2024 by jorielov #WyrdAndWonder, A Marvellous Light, A Psam for Wild Built, A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, Aiden Thomas, Auralee Wallace, Axie Oh, Becky Chambers, Cemetery Boys, Freya Marske, Garden Spells, In the Company of Witches, Kaylnn Bayron, Sarah Addison Allen, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, The House in the Cerulean Sea, This Poison Heart, TJ Klune 0 Comments
We LOVE challenging each other during #WyrdAndWonder with prompts which inspire responses which can be taken literally by the words of the prompt itself or become explored more creatively by what sparks a response from the reader, blogger or social Fantasy lover to share with us during the month of May. This year, I’ve decided to post complimentary discussions featuring the prompts I am responding to via Instagram on our @WyrdAndWonder feeds. As it was a goal of mine last year but not one that I could fulfil properly.
Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
You might be wondering if you’ve travelled back in time to May, and fear not, you have! Or, at least via the portal of my blog – as I’ve decided to finally reveal the lovely prompts, I answered this year during #WyrdAndWonder in a more comprehensive manner of exploration! I meant to release these alongside the prompts as they went live on #bookstagram, however, May clocked off faster than I could type and alas, I felt it was more fitting to re-explore the prompts as a chase-up to our lovely Autumnal event: #SpooktasticReads!
For those of you who are unfamiliar with our lovely mini-event – we host 13 days every October to devour and read as much spookified reads we can lock eyes and hands upon which give us a bit of a chillingly fantastical read within the pages of Paranormal Fantasy, Cosy Horror intermixed with Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, stories of the Fae which might prove to be more Unseelie than Seelie as well as any darker corridor of Fantasy realms which might celebrate the darker veils of Autumn. It is a time to get our spook on and walk alongside witches and familiars as well as explore the stories which befit the season of changes as Summer’s wrath has led into a lovely respite of cooler weather!
Thereby, this is the first #WyrdAndWonder Wednesday post I’ll be sharing which discusses the books on my radar to read betwixt and between 2025’s Wyrd And Wonder as I discovered them during 2024’s #WyrdAndWonder and/or am celebrating having read them in previous years. Let’s see which stories I’m settling into might entice and encourage you to read as well. If you’ve previously read any of the lovely stories yourself – kindly drop me notes in the comments and let me know your takeaways and reactions, too! Especially if you think I’ll share a similar reaction after I’ve concluded the stories myself. Happy to visit you if you have a link to a post on your blog as well. Whilst more details about #SpooktasticReads will be in the footer of this post!
And, now, without further adieu: On the fourteenth day, I took a different path – I wanted to research the prompt fully and find out if there were ANY stories I had previously become aware of which were truly ‘Cosy Fantasy’ and thereby, curate my own Cosy Cottage in the process OR if this was one part of the genre I haven’t yet explored. My initial reaction to the prompt was of the thought this was meant to celebrate the Cosier side of Cosy Mysteries fitting into the world of Fantasy – such as the stories I love to devour by Jeannie Wycherley (as mentioned on my #WitchyWednesdays post).
Yet, whilst I was researching the term ‘Cosy Fantasy’ – no one was broaching the idea of Cosy Fantasy Mysteries but rather, tucking closer to the mindset of having the following inclusive of the stories:
* Found Families
* Slice of Life
* Centred on Community or Family
* No Violence or Overt Tension or Strife
Which of course takes you a different pursuit altogether! Of the stories I discovered through all my cross-referenced research, only a few stories bubbled to the top of those recommendations which weren’t previously known to me. I was quite gobsmacked to realise that quite a number of my own #nextreads fit into this category selection and that made me wicked happy for the discovery! I simply never knew they held this designation.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Posted Wednesday, 16 October, 2024 by jorielov in #25MinutePreview, #WyrdAndWonder, Jorie Loves A Story
Posted Wednesday, 8 May, 2024 by jorielov #WyrdAndWonder 0 Comments
#WitchyWednesdays is a curated collection of #WitchyReads this Wyrd And Wonder on Jorie Loves A Story. I have long held a fascination with Paranormally inclined stories involving witches and wizards as well as magic schools. I read either Contemporary or Historical releases as well as completely fantastical worlds featuring a Witchy premise and storyline. This year for Wyrd And Wonder, I’m focusing on specific stories I’ve been wanting to share and discuss either during our annual event in May OR our sister event #SpooktasticReads in October. Every Wednesday there will be a new Witchy story to discover as I share my readerly adventures into Witchy Fiction this month. I am considering keeping this a mainstay of focus both during May & October for our events for Wyrd And Wonder.
In regard to the name I chose for this showcase of reviews, I sort of stumbled onto the name when I was deciding which day of the week I wanted to feature Witchy Reads this year. I thought it was original until I ran a search online, I saw others use the #WitchyWednesdays tag however, I did not source an origin of the tag – only a collective recognition for it attributed to different creative projects or venues whilst I didn’t find an actual meme origin for it on a blog or website. If someone knows who started it – kindly let me know so I can add attribution.
Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I am choosing to expand on my curiosity for #WitchyReads this seventh year of Wyrd And Wonder and use my first #WitchyWednesdays to showcase the Witchy stories which encompass my #stackofdoom! Meaning, I have a rather LARGE stack of books which befit this category of Fantasy – and despite my earnest attempts to whittle it down every year, it seems to continue to grow into a much larger list of #mustread stories and/or series!
For me though, I don’t oft look at things in a negative way – so although the prompt does stipulate a ‘stack of doom’ for me it’s more of an encouraging list of #nextreads that just happens to be a bit of a mile long and involves multiple series and authors! Laughs. Sometimes our stack of reads can become quite all-compassing and consuming but this particular list for me has been one that has become a bit self-motivating and self-directing to seek out a particular styling of Witchy Fiction.
I thought it might be a good segue into the month, as this day marks the beginning of Wyrd And Wonder – to not only show the selection of stories on my mountain of Witchy fiction yet to be consumed but to discuss a bit about what drew me into these particular stories, series and the world-building allure of their authors. It would be brilliant if throughout the month visitors and readers alike could offer a few selections of their own musings and wanderings – as I could use those as a footpath and guide into future reads of my own.
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Posted Wednesday, 8 May, 2024 by jorielov in #WitchyWednesdays, #WyrdAndWonder, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Loves A Story Features
Posted Friday, 3 May, 2024 by jorielov #WyrdAndWonder, Harlequin's Riddle, Rachel Nightingale, Tales of Tarya 0 Comments
We LOVE challenging each other during #WyrdAndWonder with prompts which inspire responses which can be taken literally by the words of the prompt itself or become explored more creatively by what sparks a response from the reader, blogger or social Fantasy lover to share with us during the month of May. This year, I’ve decided to post complimentary discussions featuring the prompts I am responding to via Instagram on our @WyrdAndWonder feeds. As it was a goal of mine last year but not one that I could fulfil properly.
Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
By the third day’s prompt, there was ONLY one series in particular which I felt best befit the category of choice – as it was meant to be focused on a narrative and/or characters’ arc you simply did not want to remove yourself from and thereby, make either an immediate return or revisit it as oft as you dare shortly after having concluded your stay within the story or stories. For me, the bar was set especially high by the writerly wisdom and clarity of serial arc within this narrative by Nightingale herself. There are other series out there where I have felt an equally strong affection for and oft return inside multiple times to carry-on with the rhythm of their tales and the adventures of their characters – but for me, in particular, this series is quite the special experience and I felt was celebrating the theme of being ‘swept away’ into the straits of Nightingale’s imagination and not quite knowing if I knew the way back into our own world by the end.
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Posted Friday, 3 May, 2024 by jorielov in #WyrdAndWonder, Jorie Loves A Story
