Category: Women’s Fiction

Book Review | “The Scarlet Kimono” (Book One of the Kumashiro Series) by Christina Courtenay via #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 16 April, 2016 by jorielov ChocLitUK, Christina Courtenay, Kumashiro series, The Gilded Fan, The Jade Lioness, The Scarlet Kimono 0 Comments

Why I feature #ChocLitSaturdays (book reviews & guest author features)
and created #ChocLitSaturday (the chat via @ChocLitSaturday):

I wanted to create a bit of a niche on Jorie Loves A Story to showcase romance fiction steeped in relationships, courtships, and the breadth of marriage enveloped by characters written honestly whose lives not only endear you to them but they nestle into your heart as their story is being read!

I am always seeking relationship-based romance which strikes a chord within my mind’s eye as well as my heart! I’m a romantic optimist, and I love curling into a romance where I can be swept inside the past, as history becomes lit alive in the fullness of the narrative and I can wander amongst the supporting cast observing the principal characters fall in love and sort out if they are a proper match for each other!

I love how an Indie Publisher like ChocLitUK is such a positive alternative for those of us who do not identify ourselves as girls and women who read ‘chick-lit’. I appreciate the stories which alight in my hands from ChocLit as much as I appreciate the inspirational romances I gravitate towards because there is a certain level of depth to both outlets in romance which encourage my spirits and gives me a beautiful story to absorb! Whilst sorting out how promote my book reviews on behalf of ChocLit, I coined the phrase “ChocLitSaturdays”, which is a nod to the fact my ChocLit reviews & features debut on ‘a Saturday’ but further to the point that on the ‘weekend’ we want to dip into a world wholly ideal and romantic during our hours off from the work week!

Acquired Book By: I am a regular reviewer for ChocLitUK, where I hand select which books in either their backlist and/or current releases I would like to read next for my #ChocLitSaturdays blog feature. I received a complimentary copy of “The Scarlet Kimono” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I want to read the Kumashiro series:

I was originally thinking of reading Ms Courtenay’s debut novel Trade Winds and the series which expanded out of it (the Kinross series) ahead of reading The Scarlet Kimono – however, I decided to read them in reverse order! One of the reasons why is because I have felt so wholly enthused by another series set in Japan which are the Shinobi Mysteries (recently renamed: Hiro Hattori Novels) by Susan Spann! I have had the pleasure of reading each of the Shinobi Mysteries as they release, starting with Blade of the Samurai and reading Claws of the Cat as I did so! Ms Spann recently changed publishers and is now represented by Seventh Street Books (of whom I am a new reviewer)! Her latest installment in this expansive and lovely series is The Ninja’s Daughter arriving in August, 2016! This series takes place one century before Ms Courtenay’s Kumashiro series – so you can see why I am so wicked happy!

We enter into the Kumashiro series in the year 1611 and by the time we step inside the third novel, The Jade Lioness the year will be 1648! Part of my inspiration to read stories set in Japan is having had close personal friends who lived there throughout my teenage years and early twenties. Our lives drifted apart, but not my sincere appreciation for their country and cultural heritage. I was also first introduced to Japanese art, culture, spirituality, music and food by my maternal grandparents who had a strong penchant for Japan; and although none of my family was able to visit the country in person, we found ways to experience Japanese culture stateside. I still have fond memories of going to Japanese Steakhouses where the foods were cooked right before your eyes, close enough to feel the flames of the fire and delight in the aromatherapy of the foods being cooked!

The only irony is that even as a youngster I was a budding vegetarian, so my fondest memories are everything that doesn’t include meat, poultry or fish! Laughs with mirth. I also fancy miso soup with daikon radish and shiitake mushrooms as an adult who has a health conscience approach to natural eating and living. I truly love emerging inside a corridor of History and thus far along, Spann and Courtenay have given me a way to entreat inside Japan with a heart full of delightful happiness! Bless them! And, imagine they each are writing about samurai and the ways in which the West affect the East!

I have been wanting to focus more on the series being published by ChocLitUK and this year, I’ve started to make en-roads towards this goal as I featured the first novel in the Charton Minster series The Silver Locket whilst following it up with The Scarlet Kimono and circling out with The Wild One which was a dearly hoped for sequel of mine on behalf of the world set in Coorah Creek!

The series I would like to treat myself to becoming acquainted with as I move forward with my ChocLit readings are: the London & Cambridge mysteries by Clare Chase; the Rossetti mysteries by Kirsty Ferry; the Emerald Isle series by Isabella Connor (all Irish lasses would be keen!); the Little Spitmarsh series by Christine Stovell; and the Emma series by Linda Mitchelmore. Whilst continuing to read the series I have in-progress as well as adding the Kinross series by Ms Courtenay, as I have a certain affection for historicals!

On my Connection to Ms. Courtenay:

Two years ago, on the 26th of April, 2014, I created #ChocLitSaturday a weekly Rom chat to celebrate the novelists of ChocLitUK but also, to expand to include book bloggers, readers and writers of Romance who have a penchant for the genre as a whole. Ms. Courtenay started to become a regular fixture, and her encouraging conversations & ability to inspire others to converse freely throughout the chats put me at ease in my new role as a ‘Hostess’. She always seemed to know how to either start a topic or how to best suggest something to break the ice! I was always so very grateful to her and I am thinking I might have forgotten to tell her directly how much gratitude I had for her in those earlier chats! Over the weeks that have followed, I have found myself attached to each of my ‘regular’ chatters during the hour, and I consider Ms. Courtenay a bookish like-minded soul, as we tend to appreciate the same types of stories!

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Courtenay through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I host #ChocLitSaturday the chat and having previously read her time slip novels. 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 or continuing to read their releases as they are available.

The Scarlet Kimono
by Christina Courtenay
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Berni Stevens
Source: Direct from Publisher

Abducted by a Samurai warlord in 17th-century Japan – what happens when fear turns to love?

England, 1611, and young Hannah Marston envies her brother’s adventurous life. But when she stows away on his merchant ship, her powers of endurance are stretched to their limit. Then they reach Japan and all her suffering seems worthwhile – until she is abducted by Taro Kumashiro’s warriors.

In the far north of the country, warlord Kumashiro is intrigued to learn more about the girl who he has been warned about by a seer. There’s a clash of cultures and wills, but they’re also fighting an instant attraction to each other.

With her brother desperate to find her and the jealous Lady Reiko equally desperate to kill her, Hannah faces the greatest adventure of her life. And Kumashiro has to choose between love and compromising his honour…

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Book Page on ChocLitUK

ISBN: 9781906931292

Also by this author: Guest Post about Time Slips, The Silent Touch of Shadows, The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight Cover Reveal, The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight Cover Reveal, Marry for Love, The Gilded Fan, The Jade Lioness, The Secret Kiss of Darkness

Also in this series: The Gilded Fan, The Jade Lioness

Published by ChocLitUK

on 29th May, 2012

Format: UK Edition Paperback

Pages: 356

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)

Available Formats:

Paperback, Audiobook, Large Print & E-Book

Read the lovely interview about The Scarlet Kimono via The Word Wenches

Converse via: #KumashiroSeries, #HistRom or #TheScarletKimono

About Christina Courtenay

Christina lives near Hereford and is married with two children. Although born in England she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden. In her teens, the family moved to Japan where she had the opportunity to travel extensively in the Far East.

Christina’s debut Trade Winds was short listed for the 2011 Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Pure Passion Award for Best Historical Fiction. The Scarlet Kimono won the 2011 Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award. Highland Storms (in 2012) and The Gilded Fan (in 2014) won the Historical Romantic Novel of the Year Award and The Silent Touch of Shadows won the 2012 Best Historical Read Award from the Festival of Romance. Christina is Chairman of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

Novels: Trade Winds, Highland Storms, Monsoon Mists, The Scarlet Kimono, The Gilded Fan, The Silent Touch of Shadows, The Secret Kiss of Darkness, The Soft Whisper of Dreams, The Jade Lioness, Marry in Haste, Once Bitten Twice Shy, Desperate Remedies and Never Too Late.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Saturday, 16 April, 2016 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 17th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Domestic Violence, East India Company, Equality In Literature, Fathers and Daughters, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Japan, Japanese Fiction, Kidnapping or Unexplained Disappearances, Life Shift, Modern British Literature, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Parapsychological Gifts, Realistic Fiction, Rebels and Rogues, Romance Fiction, Women's Fiction, Women's Rights

Book Review | “The Secret Life of Anna Blanc” by Jennifer Kincheloe

Posted Wednesday, 13 April, 2016 by jorielov Jennifer Kincheloe, Prometheus Books, Seventh Street Books, The Secret Life of Anna Blanc 1 Comment

Acquired Book By: I am a reviewer for Prometheus Books and their imprints starting in [2016] as I contacted them through their Edelweiss catalogues and Twitter. I appreciated the diversity of titles across genre and literary explorations – especially focusing on Historical Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction and Scientific Topics in Non-Fiction. I received a complimentary copy of “The Secret Life of Anna Blanc” direct from the publisher Seventh Street Books (an imprint of Prometheus Books) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I picked this as my first Prometheus Books title:

(a portion this was originally shared with the publicist who sent me my copy)

I was most enthused finding The Secret Life of Anna Blanc in Seventh Street Books catalogue via their publishing website. The allure for me to read this title is due to how much I love reading Cosy Historical Mysteries and Historical Thrillers and Suspense. It’s a special niche of the Mystery | Suspense genre that I happen to fancy and my review history reflects this as I cannot help but become excited when I find a ‘new story and a new author’ to become introduced too! Equally joyful in this regard is that Seventh Street Books found me on Twitter and thus, introduced me to this lovely new imprint for Mystery novelists! This is how I originally started to interact with the publisher Prometheus Books whilst becoming acquainted with their imprints and releases.

I happen to be a Sherlockian to boot and I love finding spunky characters with the moxie to win-over their peers by proving their salt for the field they are passionately working inside! It’s hard not to be curious about this novel!

I remember when it arrived and how much I wanted to read this back in December, however, the timing was not right for me to soak inside it’s chapters until the Spring. I personally love finding Cosy Historical Mysteries as it happens to be an active pursuit of mine – a few lovely things have happened since I received my copy of the novel, including being able to interact a bit with the author via Twitter but also, finding out a favourite author of mine has joined Seventh Street Books! Susan Spann’s Shinobi Mysteries are now *Hiro Hattori Novels* under this imprint and are set to release August 2016! I cannot wait to find out where The Ninja’s Daughter will take me as previously I have been wondrously happy inside her novels! To learn how I came to review for Prometheus Books, kindly view my End of the Year Survey, 2015. The sweet part is that as I’m revealling my impressions on behalf of Anna Blanc, Spann’s latest novel has arrived by Post! Talk about celebratory blissitude for Seventh Street Books!!

When I first started working with Seventh Street Books, I wanted to focus on their Crime Fiction, as I have a penchant for well-conceived plots and strong characters within Crime Dramas & Suspense! I am a regular reader of these kinds of stories – therefore, from the offerings of front list titles, this is the one that stood out to me because of how convincingly brilliant the synopsis sounded! I could well see why Ms Kincheloe has attached the tagline of “for readers who love Phryne Fisher” as her character, Anna Blanc is also living inside a man’s world where women are not generally allowed to pursue a career outside of what society deems is proper and right.

I’ve followed the #MissFisher Murder Mysteries solely through the adaptive serial starring Essie Davis, and had entertained reading the mysteries starting lateron this year, until through a twitterverse convo with my bookish mates, I learnt the sad truth that revealled Jack isn’t the object of Miss Fisher’s eye in the novels! To me, having gone through the serial first rather than the books, it would be too hard to back-track and thereby, I’m a Miss Fisher supporter via the adaptations only. However, having said that, if this book holds true to the sentiment that Anna Blanc is a mirror composite of Phryne by strength, ingenuity and moxie, I knew instantly I’d become her ally! We need more characters like Phryne especially set in the historical past to help illuminate how women have always tried to find a foothold towards freeing the rights we deserve to stand on equal footing as our male peers.

Notation on Cover Art Design: This is the most dearly loved cover art I’ve come across recently – not just for the image of Anna Blanc but because of it’s velvety softness upon touch! This clever cover is lovely to hold in your hands because it’s texture is truly a one of a kind original! I even loved how the typography has this fade in / fade out styling and how Anna Blanc herself is tipping her hat away from the camera as if to take the attention off herself and leave it on the story!

The Secret Life of Anna Blanc

It's 1907 Los Angeles. Mischievous socialite Anna Blanc is the kind of young woman who devours purloined crime novels—but must disguise them behind covers of more domestically-appropriate reading. She could match wits with Sherlock Holmes, but in her world women are not allowed to hunt criminals.

Determined to break free of the era's rigid social roles, Anna buys off the chaperone assigned by her domineering father and, using an alias, takes a job as a police matron with the Los Angeles Police Department. There she discovers a string of brothel murders, which the cops are unwilling to investigate. Seizing her one chance to solve a crime, she takes on the investigation herself.

If the police find out, she'll get fired; if her father finds out, he'll disown her; and if her fiancé finds out, he'll cancel the wedding and stop pouring money into her father's collapsing bank. Midway into her investigation, the police chief's son, Joe Singer, learns her true identity. And shortly thereafter she learns about blackmail.

Anna must choose—either hunt the villain and risk losing her father, fiancé, and wealth, or abandon her dream and leave the killer on the loose.

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781633880801

on 3rd December, 2015

Pages: 368

Published By: Seventh Street Books (@SeventhStBooks)

Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #SecretLifeOfAnnaBlanc

About Jennifer Kincheloe

Jennifer Kincheloe Photo Credit: Fola Akinyemi

Jennifer has been a block layer, a nurse's aid, a fragrance model, and on the research faculty at UCLA, where she spent 11 years conducting studies to inform health policy. A native of Southern California, she now lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two teenagers. She's currently writing book three in the Anna Blanc Mystery series. Book two, THE WOMAN IN THE CAMPHOR TRUNK, is coming out in Fall of 2017 from Seventh Street Books.

Photo Credit: Fola Akinyemi
Biography updated: March 2017
Links updated: August 2019

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Wednesday, 13 April, 2016 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 20th Century, Blog Tour Host, Cosy Historical Mystery, Crime Fiction, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Father-Daughter Relationships, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, Lady Detective Fiction, Prometheus Books, the Nineteen Hundreds, True Crime, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Rights, Women's Suffrage

Book Review | “The Wedding Cake Tree” by Melanie Hudson #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 9 April, 2016 by jorielov ChocLitUK, Melanie Hudson, The Wedding Cake Tree 0 Comments

Acquired Book By:

I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “The Wedding Cake Tree” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I choose this for a holiday weekend:

I wanted to read something light for Easter weekend with a strong focus on life and love (as this is what the holiday is best meant to celebrate!) – when I read the premise of The Wedding Cake Tree I immediately wanted to read it! Of course, being stateside I had to wait my turn as the print releases come after the Digital First editions and even then, there is a slight wait-time for the novels to make it across the Pond. I don’t generally mind the waiting periods, as in-between reading the new releases I get the luxury to read the backlist of titles ChocLit has been producing since it began. To me, this is an incredible blessing as I get to ‘meet’ the authors from whence they began their ChocLit tenure.

I have a particular fondness for Epistolary novels – as I’ve regularly mentioned on my blog, I’m a letter-writer IRL who loves postal mail correspondences, thus whenever I have the pleasure of finding a novel which highlights letters (or written exclusively through them as in Letters from Skye), postcards, petit bleus (as viewed inside Moonlight Over Paris) or other gestures of communication sent in transit from one sender to a receiver is true joy for me! I try to keep my eyes peeled for new stories which include bits of mail inside them, but sometimes, they arrive as if they’ve found me before I found them! (a bit of a nodding towards why I included a self-quote on my Twitter banner!) All the stories I’m reading are threaded through my Postal Mail & Correspondences category in case your keen to view them!

When I first saw “P.S. I Love You” I hadn’t realised it was based on a novel, nor was I thinking I’d one day have the chance to interact with the author via a chat on Twitter or start to collect her novels, as none of us know which doors will start to open as we seek out stories which truly attach themselves into our heart. I personally loved the character journey of the film – it was such a clever one, very non-traditional and highly emotionally charged; it’s not for watching if your under high stress in other words!

I personally love stories where mementos are left behind – such as why I am enjoying interviewing authors from Bookouture as my conversation with Renita D’ Silva in April will reveal. She used a journal to connect her characters whereas Hudson has selected using letters left behind from her heroine’s Mum. You can gather deeper inside the mind of a character by seeing their reactions to letters inasmuch as their approach to writing them; letters give us a raw honesty with ourselves and those we’re writing.

When I watched the unexpected journey Orlando Bloom’s character took inside the film “Elizabethtown” on the larkspur suggested road trip by Kirsten Dunst’s character – you could say I have an attachment to serendipitous story-lines encouraged by people who get you to ‘walk outside your comfort box’ in order to discover a period of new growth and enlightenment.

Imagine then,

my delight to dip inside The Wedding Cake Tree?

The Wedding Cake Tree
Source: Direct from Publisher

Can a mother’s secret past provide the answers for a daughter’s future?

Celebrity photographer Grace Buchanan has always known that one day, she’d swap her manic day job for the peace and quiet of her beloved childhood cottage, St Christopher’s – she just didn’t expect it to be so soon.

At the reading of her mother’s will, she’s shocked to learn that she hardly knew Rosamund at all, and that inheriting St Christopher’s hangs on one big – and very inconvenient – condition: Grace must drop everything for two weeks and travel the country with a mysterious stranger – war-weary Royal Marine, Alasdair Finn.
Caught in a brief but perfect moment in time, Grace and Alasdair walk in Rosamund’s footsteps and read her letters at each breathtaking new place. As Grace slowly uncovers the truth about her mother’s incredible life story, Alasdair and Grace can’t help but question their own futures.

Will Rosamund’s madcap scheme go to plan or will events take an unexpected turn?

An emotional, fun-filled and adventurous journey of a lifetime.

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781781892244

Published by ChocLitUK

on 19th August, 2015

Format: Paperback Edition

Pages: 384

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLitUK)

Formats Available: Paperback, Audiobook and E-book

Converse via: #ChocLit

For a smidge of a pinch of Hudson’s humour, read this blog post of hers!

View a description and photo of a ‘Wedding Cake Tree’ (otherwise known as the Giant Dogwood)

About Melanie Hudson

A Yorkshire lass first and foremost, Melanie left her native county in 1994 when she joined the Royal Air Force as an Air Traffic Control Officer.

Melanie enjoyed the nomadic lifestyle awarded by her military career. In addition to working at several air stations throughout the UK, she experienced an operational tour in the Balkans during the Kosovo Crisis in 1999, and served as air liaison officer with the British Army during their insurgence into Iraq in 2003.

In May 2004 she transferred to the Royal Navy Air Traffic Control Specialisation, the highlight of which was an exhilarating stint in HMS Invincible. Melanie had a son in 2007, before retiring from military life in 2010, after which she moved to Dubai temporarily where she finally found the time to pursue her passion for writing. She wrote the majority of her first novel, The Wedding Cake Tree, while sitting in a Japanese tea shop overlooking the Burj Kalifa.

Melanie is happiest when wandering in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands (pretending to be all mysterious and romantic). Melanie lives in Devon.

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Posted Saturday, 9 April, 2016 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 21st Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Britian, British Literature, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, England, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Fly in the Ointment, Green Publishing, Indie Author, Life of Thirty-Somethings, Life Shift, Military Fiction, Modern British Author, Modern British Literature, Modern Day, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Postal Mail | Letters & Correspondence, Romance Fiction, Scotland, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction

Author Interview | Renita D’ Silva writes a compelling Epistolary novel set in India #Bookouture

Posted Thursday, 7 April, 2016 by jorielov A Mother's Secret, Bookouture, Renita D' Silva 1 Comment

One style of novels I truly appreciate finding are the Epistolary variety, as they knit out such a heap of connection between characters – either across time and generation or intermediary within one timescape. They can take-on a variety of expressions of thought – letters, correspondences or journalled artifacts either known or found after a loved one’s passing; therein, pulling you inside the novel’s heart straight-off because you want to know more about why one of the characters has left behind such a personal part of themselves in such an extraordinary way of communicating what they intend for someone to understand.

I have appreciated Indian story-telling for several years now, as it began with a pursuit of seeking out movies from Bollywood and has extended inside literature as I purposefully seek out stories set in India and/or are a cross-over of both contemporary or historical settings in India or anchoured to India through the character’s family. India has such a beautiful historical tapestry through their cultural heritage but also, on a personal note, I fancy their spices and palette of foods! I’m quite a Foodie in general, but when it comes to cuisine from India, if it’s vegetarian-based I’m the girl who cannot satisfy her thirst for trying new combinations of what you can expect to find available. If I can one day start to master cooking Indian foods, I will perpetually be full of smiles!

Contemporary literature about India fascinates me because I like reading cross-over stories from the ancestral past and/or the historical past (depending on the focus of the story) – they give you a brilliant bridge of where a writer can take you visually and internally inside their character’s journey. I love this dimension of space a character can embark on inside a bridge such as this, as your rooted to their present life whilst being involved with the threading of choice which takes you backwards inside a portion of their life or of a loved ones’ life you’ve yet to encounter. It’s emotionally centreing, in other words, and this is one reason when I read the premise of this novel, I felt immediately connected to Jaya! I wanted to know more about her and read through her eyes how this novel unravells itself around the life of her mother’s hidden from her view!

You will be delighted to find I rooted out questions pertaining to the story and a precursory glimpse into a story I look forward to reading one day!

To gain a bit of a back-story on how I came to host Bookouture authors,

please visit my first conversation I featured with this publisher with Teresa Driscoll!

What if you discovered that everything you knew about yourself was a lie?

When pregnant Jaya loses her mother, then her baby son Arun in a tragic cot death, her world crashes down. Overcome by grief and guilt, she begins to search for answers – to the enigma of her lonely, distant mother, and her mysterious past in India.

Looking through her mother’s belongings, she finds two diaries and old photographs, carrying the smoky aroma of fire. A young boy smiles out at Jaya from every photograph – and in one, a family stand proudly in front of a sprawling mansion. Who is this child? And why did her mother treasure this memento of a regal family lost to the past?

As Jaya starts to read the diaries, their secrets lead her back to India, to the ruin of a once grand house on a hill. There, Kali, a mad old lady, will unlock the story of a devastating lie and a fire that tore a family apart.

Nothing though will prepare Jaya for the house’s final revelation, which will change everything Jaya knew about herself.

How did you find inspiration to write a story out of the ashes of personal loss to become the anchor your lead character needed to re-connect to her past? How did one event precipitate the other to happen?

D’ Silva responds: The idea for A Mother’s Secret came in the form of a mad old lady living in a dilapidated house, set isolated and forbidding atop a hill and carrying traces of past grandeur. Why was the woman there? What had happened to her and the house to make them that way, both ravaged and decrepit? Then I pictured a young woman thousands of miles away, who, while dealing with grief and personal loss finds her mother’s diaries and in doing so, is led to this madwoman haunting a tumbledown house in a country her mother shunned. It intrigued me – I wanted to work out the connection. And thus, A Mother’s Secret was born. Read More

Posted Thursday, 7 April, 2016 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Bookouture, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, India, Indie Author, Literature of India, Reader Submitted Author Interview, The Writers Life, Women's Fiction, Writing Style & Voice

Author Interview | Conversing with #HistFic novelist Natalie Meg Evans on her writerly technique to bring the past to life! #Bookouture

Posted Wednesday, 30 March, 2016 by jorielov A Gown of Thorns, Bookouture, Natalie Meg Evans 2 Comments

I have a penchant for items which curate a story out of the historical past, as there have been a few incredible pieces of historical fiction stemming out of an article of clothing – A Vintage of Affair by Isabel Wolff (a hidden gem discovered at my local library!) and A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner (of which I happily had the pleasure of reviewing!) come to mind instantly! One features a boutique of vintage clothes and the other, has a story threading through the history of a scarf – both have a particular strife attached to their back-stories, as the clothes of the first go back to the World War era and the scarf tackles a modern tragedy and the Shirt Waist Industry from the early Nineteen Hundreds.

Meissner anchoured her story with a duality of plots which fascinated me and emotionally gutted me at the very same time! Wolff entranced me by how the ‘clothes’ slipped the past into view, front and center. Between the two novels, I realised I have a passion for how objects and ‘things’ can become transportative whilst giving us a plausible step ‘backwards in time’!

This is why I continue to seek out stories which parlay on the same general themes as A Gown of Thorns the latest of which I will be reading next is The Black Velvet Coat by Jill G. Hall whilst I continue reading my challenge reads (Summer & Fall) on behalf of BookSparks this Spring. It is also why I was so wicked happy to be in a position to interview Ms Evans on her new release A Gown of Thorns as you will see in our conversation how invested I am in this topic and thankful our convo became a lively one where we explore the context of her story!

To gain a bit of a back-story on how I came to host Bookouture authors,

please visit my first conversation I featured with this publisher with Teresa Driscoll!

From the multi-award winning and bestselling author, comes a bittersweet romantic story set against the backdrop of the French Dordogne valley.

Hidden within the wardrobe’s embrace, she rifled through the folds of cloth until her fingers stopped at a gown of violet, lavender and silver-grey pleats. She lifted it off its hanger and turned towards the mirror…

Shauna Vincent arrives in the little French village of Chemignac after accepting an offer to be an au pair to the grandchildren of an old family friend.

As she begins to explore her new home at the ancient Chateau de Chemignac with it’s beautiful vineyards, she discovers a locked tower room where she unearths a treasure trove of exquisite vintage dresses. One gown feels unsettlingly familiar.

When Shauna falls asleep one afternoon in a valley full of birdsong, she has a strange dream of a vintage aircraft circling threateningly overhead. So when she suddenly awakes to find charming local landowner Laurent standing over her – Shauna wonders if he might be just the person to help her untangle this unexpected message from the past.

A Gown of Thorns draws you into a richly evocative world steeped in secrets that will mesmerize fans of Rachel Hauck’s The Wedding Dress, Kristen Hannah’s The Nightingale and Adriani Trigiani.

I love hidden secrets which unravel a portraiture of history stitched inside a historical narrative – in many ways, this is why I loved reading A Vintage Affair by Isobel Wolff because the article of clothing is a tipping stone towards the heart of the story. How did you approach developing the setting of the back-drop of your story against the gown which is the link to the past inside A Gown of Thorns?

Evans responds: An interesting question. What came first, the backdrop or the gown? When I am musing over a new story, I rarely think it out in a linear way. I tend to get a whole picture all at once. In the case of Gown of Thorns, the sun-scorched vineyards of the Dordogne simply arrived in my head and I knew I wanted to make the backdrop a wine estate. Grape growing and pressing is a piquant and lush affair, and the scents and colours of the region add layers of richness.

The dress, the Gown of Thorns, of the title slipped into my head when I envisaged a stone tower that housed a dress whose history was checkered and passionate. That it was a Fortuny Delphos gown was established after I had looked at many, many photographs of vintage evening dresses on line. It jumped out at me as a style of dress that was so alluring and simple, that it was entirely believable that three generations of women should fall under its spell. Read More

Posted Wednesday, 30 March, 2016 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Bookouture, Fashion Fiction, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, Reader Submitted Author Interview, The Writers Life, Vintage Clothes & Boutiques, Women's Fiction, Writing Advice & Tips, Writing Style & Voice