I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Butternut Summer” virtual book tour through TLC Book Tours. Realising this was a second novel within a series, I requested a copy of the first novel “Up at Butternut Lake” in order to understand the continuity of the characters & the story. I received a complimentary copy of the novel direct from the publisher William Morrow without an obligation to post a review. Whereas I received a complimentary copy of “Butternut Summer” direct from the publisher William Morrow, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
Stories of second chances have always held fast to my heart, as life has this beautiful way of giving us a bit more than we’re expecting it to yield most of the time. The idea that there are ways to have a renewal of our lives through a second chance or a new beginning elsewhere from whence we are currently has a very alluring appeal! I have been an appreciator of Contemporary Romance & Contemporary Women’s Fiction for a good 20 years now, as I snuggled into a fierce appreciation for Debbie MacComber originally when I first started noticing both of these genres. Sherryl Woods followed 15 years later when I discovered the small towne of Serenity, and the series the Sweet Magnolias (although I personally refer to that series as ‘Serenity’). MacComber’s Angel series drew me into her narrative arcs, followed closely by the Cedar Cove series and Blossom Street; as I appreciated her style of story and the homespun sincerity of her characters. Being that both MacComber & Woods are going to have series based off their novels on the Hallmark Channel within the next year or so, humbles me a bit as I have this history of discovering both authors ahead of their newfound popularity. I even knew Debbie MacComber’s works would find a home on Hallmark Channel, but that’s a story for another time, perhaps!
I had started to curate a List on Riffle entitled: Contemporary Romances : Returning back to the Modern Eraas I wanted to walk back into an area of literature I have started to negate reading. When I first had the opportunity to have a library card after a considerable absence, my checkout queue looked quite hyperactively complied! I simply couldn’t wait to grab this or that novel, and try this or that author! I started so many wicked awesome series by new-to-me authors, I have a list a mile long of ‘next reads’ to continue the happiness I had begun five years ago! Then, I started to shift my wanderings a bit, exploring new genres and/or committing to new styles of the craft of storytelling itself. My wanderings are always a bit decidedly serendipitous in their nature, but as much as I have a niche for being addicted to the historical past, I am equally entranced by the modern era!
I may or may not have highlighted my joy of giving back to deployed servicemen & women as much as I have a deep appreciation for the sacrifices and hard work they give whilst they dedicate their lives to others. Military fiction was a branch of literature I was attracted too as a young teen, and likewise, my passion for watching JAG, NCIS, NCIS: LA, & NCIS: NOLA originated out of my love of Jack Ryan stories (by Tom Clancy). Hallmark Channel has a lovely Romance with Lori Loughlin entitled: Meet My Mom of which I loved for bringing a realistic story to their offerings and shining a positive light on today’s military families.
As soon as I read the book synopsis, I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to read both of these novels, whilst being wicked happy the third novel: Moonlight on Butterlake releases in 2015!
In the tradition of Kristin Hannah and Susan Wiggs, Mary McNear introduces readers to the town of Butternut Lake and to the unforgettable people who call it home.
It’s summer, and after ten years away, Allie Beckett has returned to her family’s cabin beside tranquil Butternut Lake, where as a teenager she spent so many carefree days. She’s promised her five-year-old son, Wyatt, they will be happy there. She’s promised herself this is the place to begin again after her husband’s death in Afghanistan. The cabin holds so many wonderful memories, but from the moment she crosses its threshold Allie is seized with doubts. Has she done the right thing uprooting her little boy from the only home he’s ever known?
Allie and her son are embraced by the townsfolk, and her reunions with old acquaintances—her friend Jax, now a young mother of three with one more on the way, and Caroline, the owner of the local coffee shop—are joyous ones. And then there are newcomers like Walker Ford, who mostly keeps to himself—until he takes a shine to Wyatt . . . and to Allie.
Everyone knows that moving forward is never easy, and as the long, lazy days of summer take hold, Allie must learn to unlock the hidden longings of her heart, and to accept that in order to face the future she must also confront—and understand—what has come before.
Mary McNear lives in San Francisco with her husband, two teenage children, and a high-strung, minuscule white dog named Macaroon. She writes her novels in a local doughnut shop, where she sips Diet Pepsi, observes the hubbub of neighborhood life, and tries to resist the constant temptation of freshly made doughnuts. She bases her novels on a lifetime of summers spent in a small town on a lake in the northern Midwest.
Picking up the pieces : from loss & tribulations:
One of the hardest obstacles about living our lives forward without the benefit of understanding the events that will take place in the future, is being able to dig deep into our wells of strength and fortitude to accept the hope that our lives will start to turn back around. The thematics which are strongly represented in Up at Butternut Lake are an evolving exploration of Change (questions of destiny, permanence, and stability – of not only the mind, heart, and spirit but the physical locale of where your life will be lived); where each character who takes a central focus is at a turning point in their lives. Where they can choose to move forward and let go of the past that is weighing them down, or they can continue as they are without moving forward at all.
The complaisance’s of life arise out of the complexities of a cobweb’s worth of lies, spun innocently enough at the time they are created but woven into the texture of your life can become a haunting self-reminder of how untruthful of a life you’re actually living. Within the thematics of the story, this kernel of truth is an underscore that affects different characters in different ways, as the lies we tell ourselves to recover from something we feel we cannot face head-on are just as damaging as the lies which remain unspoken or proven untrue through the wrinkles of time itself.
I want to extend a warm welcome to Ms. Leslie Wells to Jorie Loves A Story, as it is not often I get the chance to interact with an Editor who is also a writer! It has happened on occasion and each time is always a blessing for me, as I find Editors have incredible insight into the changing tides of the book industry itself as well as the gift for seeing how even though a few things might change as time moves forward, a few things will always remain the same! I have been holding back a few questions in regards to the shifting climate of print vs ebooks, the addition of POD printing options (for those of us who read traditionally), and the myriad of changes in an evolving climate of today’s publishing market. I felt Ms. Wells would be the best person to address these questions, as she has had one foot in traditional publishing whilst embracing a foot inside the world of the Indies.
Her strength and achievements throughout her career in having such a blessed duality of focus is an incredible well of knowledge to pass forward, and I was thankful I had the pleasure of interviewing her and sharing the conversation we had with my readers – as some of my regulars are writers themselves, and are dipping into the Indie world of the market or attempting a more traditional trajectory.
A quick note on why I chose to participate on this particular blog tour is due to the fact that I am constantly curious about new avenues to pursue as a reader. I have my comfy niches inside the genres I routinely duck inside, but there are times where I like to step outside of that familiarity and embrace something quite a bit different yet altogether has a knitting of the heart I hope to find inside any story I come across. I have lost a foothold in the Contemporary world of story craft and when I saw this was going on tour, I simply knew I wanted to become a part of it!
I look forward to sharing my ruminations on the novel & an Excerpt of the opening bits of the story a bit lateron in October! Until then, enjoy our conversation!
Book Synopsis:
Julia is a book-loving publisher’s assistant. Jack is a famous British rock star. “Opposites attract” is an understatement.
It’s 1981. Twenty-four-year-old Julia Nash has recently arrived in Manhattan, where she works as a publisher’s assistant. She dreams of becoming an editor with her own stable of bestselling authors—but it is hard to get promoted in the recession-clobbered book biz.
Julia blows off steam by going dancing downtown with her best friend, Vicky. One night, a hot British guitarist invites them into his VIP section. Despite an entourage of models and groupies, Jack chooses Julia as his girl for the evening—and when Jack Kipling picks you, you go with it. The trouble is … he’s never met a girl like her before. And she resists being just one in a long line.
Jack exposes her to new experiences, from exclusive nightclubs in SoHo to the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood; from mind-bending recording sessions to wild backstage parties. Yet Julia is afraid to fall for him. Past relationships have left her fragile; one more betrayal just might break her.
As she fends off her grabby boss and tries to move up the corporate ladder, Julia’s torrid relationship with Jack takes her to heights she’s never known—and plunges her into depths she’s never imagined.
With a fascinating inside look at publishing, this entertaining story of a bookish young woman’s adventures with a rock superstar is witty, moving, and toe-curlingly steamy.
Author Biography:
Leslie Wells left her small Southern town in 1979 for graduate school in Manhattan, after which she got her first job in book publishing. She has edited forty-eight New York Times bestsellers in her over thirty-year career, including thirteen number one New York Times bestsellers. Leslie has worked with numerous internationally known authors, musicians, actors, actresses, television and radio personalities, athletes, and coaches. She lives on Long Island, New York.
By having the insight of a career rooted in the traditional publishing paradigm and shifting out of it into the Indie side of publishing, what is the greatest gift you received as a writer as well as a woman who opened her eyes to both platforms of literary vehicles?
Hi Jorie, thank you so much for having me on your fantastic website!
The greatest gift that I have received has been the amazing support and reviews from readers and bloggers. When Come Dancing receives a good review, I feel like I’m on cloud nine; I literally float on a tide of happiness all day long. And since I’m working on a sequel, it has been extremely helpful to me to see what readers have enjoyed in particular, and what they’d like to see more of in the second book!
I have also been so pleased that people have responded positively to Julia’s career in book publishing. I really wanted that to be a part of the novel, and not to write perhaps a more typical romance that only focused on the heat between the characters (although there’s certainly plenty of that!). The other aspect that readers have responded to is the 1981 setting, when there were no computers, no cell phones or texting, and when records were still vinyl LPs.
To me a measure of success for any writer is the level of enthusiasm from the reader(s) who start to discover the work that is left behind for them to read. However, I have noticed that more oft than not, success in the publishing industry isn’t brokered on the gratitude of the readers but against the bottomline returns. Do you notice a shift of emphasis and on acknowledgement between the different markets (i.e. Traditional Publishing, Indie Press, and/or Self Publishing platforms) or are they more akin to each other than they are different?
I respect authors need to achieve a living wage for the work they are contributing to literature but what I meant to ask is why is a readership that is dedicated to the work of an author not outweighing the size of the returns? Small, medium, or large the dedication of readers should be held in high regard as the true gift of all the stories being created are to inspire a reader to soak inside the world and heart of a character; transforming their life for the moment the pages are in their hands. How do you measure your own success as a published author?
Great question! I have definitely seen a shift in traditional publishing toward more emphasis on the bottom line, as opposed to sticking with an author throughout the natural peaks and dips in his or her career. In part, the shift is a result of conglomeration: big (non-publishing) corporations acquiring publishing houses in search of media synergy, for instance. But for even bestselling authors, this means that if one book doesn’t perform well, they may not get a contract for their next book, no matter how fantastic it is.
That’s why the option of indie or self-publishing is so terrific. I have a number of author friends who have opted to go that route, and who have been thrilled with the results. Certainly it takes more effort to self-publish; you have to create (and pay for) your own cover, book design, marketing, and so on. But the creative control is extremely rewarding.
In addition, being able to price the book as you like (which is not an aspect of traditional publishing) is a great option. For instance, I have kept Come Dancing at $1.99, because I wanted to attract the largest possible readership and make my book available to everyone. Sometimes I lower the price to 99 cents as a special promotion; again, something you can’t do if you aren’t indie published. And for me, being read by the largest number of readers who (hopefully) like the story—and also want to read the upcoming sequel—is how I would measure my success.
Did you ever worry about accidentally having a quasi non-original idea stepping into the role of a writer after being in Book Acquisitions as an Editor who had guided and nurtured other writers into their own voices of thought and creativity? I oft wondered if those who work behind-the-scenes in publishing ever have any thoughts of concern when they start to pick up the pen themselves. How did you take the Editor hat off and not approach writing from the standpoint of an Editor’s point of view?
After thirty-plus years of being an editor, one learns to entirely separate the editing from the writing. I have a totally different mindset when I’m editing, as opposed to when I’m writing; I’m always extremely careful about that. Actually many editors also write fiction—it’s kind of a tradition in book publishing!
What was the impetus which gravitated you into writing? I realize you previously disclosed it was out of the ether of a dream, yet did you have any inkling of gravitating towards writing prior to that moment? And, when did this occur?
My first novel was published in 2001 by Warner Books. (It’s very dark and literary, so I don’t connect it with Come Dancing, which is fast-paced, funny and commercial.) Then for a number of years, I didn’t have an idea that excited me until I literally woke up from a dream, and the words “Please Do Not Touch” were echoing in my head. I felt compelled to go downstairs and write the scene that became a chapter in my book, when Julia and Jack first come together romantically.
I also knew that I wanted to write about my first years in New York City, and I drew upon many of my own experiences to create Julia’s life: going out dancing in downtown nightclubs, buying funky clothes at second-hand stores, getting by on a minuscule publishing salary. And I wanted to write about the punk/rock scene in Manhattan then, which was incredibly exciting and edgy.
I read in an interview you gave that part of the inspiration for Come Dancing was directly due to the fact that a particular portion of modern history still had a bubble of safety for those who wanted to enjoy the nightlife without the flash of cameras and the tracking of lives through the press. I applaud you for tackling a modern slice of contemporary life and fusing it into a modern historical window of the past – as more often than not, historical glimpses go further back in time, say to the World War eras and beyond. Do you find there is an absence of writing that captures how life is being lived in the latter half of the 20th Century and beginning of the 21st where anecdotal stories like this one could breathe new life into Contemporary fiction?
I definitely agree, and I think that is why Come Dancing seems to have really captured people’s imaginations. So many readers have commented that they loved the Eighties setting, and the reminder that not so long ago, people had to use landlines and phone booths. Back then, when you went out to a nightclub, there was much more open mingling between celebrities and regular people, because everyone didn’t have a camera (ie, a cellphone) with them 24/7.
I do think there is a dearth of contemporary fiction that takes place in modern times, yet not the 2000s. (“Contemporary Romance” and “Contemporary Fiction” are defined as fiction that takes place after 1950.) I hope that Come Dancing helps to fill that gap.
What are your favorite tools to use whilst writing? And, where do you write to gain the most inspiration?
Usually I get up very early in the morning (between 3 and 4 am) to write. I bring my dog into my home office, have a cup of coffee, and write on my computer until I have to get my kids up for school. My daytime hours are spent editing other people’s books.
What do you think the publishing world has lost with the addition of ereaders and the ebook industry? And, what do you feel it has gained?
I love to read hardcover and paperback books, so I’m a little sad that the next generation of readers will probably do most of it on ereaders. I also wonder about the future of brick and mortar bookstores, if print books are on the way out in future decades. That said, I’m thrilled that more people than ever seem to be reading, and I do think that the inexpensive nature of ebooks has helped with this increase in the number of books downloaded.
As I am a reader who does not own an ereader and will not be crossing into the emarket of literature, how do you feel the industry reacts to those of us who are traditional readers whilst caught up in a world bent towards a digital age? As some of us cannot read the breadth and length of stories on digital formats, do you find there is a shift in perception of who a reader is in today’s world?
Like you, Jorie, I read print books (hardcovers/paperbacks) when I read for pleasure. Because I work on a computer all day with my editing, I don’t want to stare at a screen at night. I do know that publishers are in something of a catch- 22 with the increasing ebook readership. They can see ebook reading increasing every year, yet they still need to print and publish hard copies of books for those who don’t use an ereader. How many copies to print (ie, the book’s first print run) has always been somewhat of a guessing game, based on the orders that the sales reps get from bookstores before publication. A publisher can be left holding the bag if they vastly overestimate how many copies will be sold; it’s also bad to underestimate and not have enough books to fill the orders, because a reprint takes time to print, ship, and then stock in the stores. And obviously creating a print copy is much more expensive than a digital version—so those are some of the issues facing publishers in terms of format.
The best blessing for me is finding stories released straight into ebooks originally are eventually being released into POD and/or traditional print editions six months to a year after their original publishing dates. Is this the new route books are taking in publication, as originally hardback editions pre-empted a paperback release? And, with the resurgence of the Indie Bookshoppe spreading like wildfire across the country, have you noticed a turning back towards more traditional markets whilst the explosion of the emarkets starts to hit its peak?
I do think that print on demand (POD) will become increasingly popular, so that readers who want a print version can immediately obtain it. I believe that people who want to read a hard copy will always find a way to do it, and independent bookstores are great about ordering hard-to-find books. The great thing about POD is that a book never needs to go out of print, whereas in previous years, if it went OP, you’d be hard-pressed to find a copy.
At the heart of Come Dancing is a woman wrapped inside of an awakening within her soul and of the choices she is choosing to elevate her position in her career. What enticed the make-up of Julia’s outside persona and internal conflict of character to become explored in this first installment of a story which continues in a forthcoming sequel? What drew you inside this part of Julia’s life to be revealed as a way for a reader to understand her?
The early 1980s was when I first got into publishing in NYC, and it was a magical time for me personally: coming to the city from a small town in Virginia, and being exposed to so many different experiences for the very first time. In some ways, I wanted to relive that very exciting time in my own life, and explore it through the fictional character of Julia.
Whilst building the arc of the central characters together, you put an emphasis on trust, communication, and friendship to become nurtured first in the beginnings of Jack & Julia’s growing relationship. Why do you think these traits are oft-times absent in Contemporary Romance stories, yet the true path towards having a meaningful relationship that is not hinged to physical attraction alone?
I very much wanted Julia and Jack’s relationship to start off a bit slowly, because I knew that Julia was not the kind of person to trust someone with such a bad-boy rocker reputation. She would have been very cautious in getting physically involved with someone like that, frankly suspecting that he would want a one-night stand and then move on to the next willing girl. Also, unlike her friend Vicky (who was such a fun character to write about), Julia wasn’t into bed-hopping. And she had just been badly burned in her previous relationship; not to mention having general issues about trust after her father abandoned her mom when Julia was fourteen. So for all of those reasons, she wanted to get to know Jack as a person (as opposed to his superficial superstar image), and needed to trust him before she got closer to him. Then, once they did get physically involved, the sparks really flew because of the buildup!
The start of the sequel presents a change of location for Jack and Julia (as they go to England), did you originally conceive a bicontinental setting for the story to evolve into after the first half was told or did the sequel grow out of the years spent with the characters whilst writing Come Dancing? Is this going to be a full-on series or limited to two installments?
The sequel takes Julia and Jack to England to meet his Mum over the holidays, then it moves right back to New York City and continues from there. I really had fun writing the scenes where Julia interacts with Jack’s mother and sister; there are some very funny misunderstandings based on British slang (hint: a “kip” is having a nap—not having sex!). Right now I’m responding to requests from readers and reviewers that I write a sequel (which made me feel great!). If the same demand exists after the second novel, I may well write another.
If someone was meeting you for the first time, what would be a surefire clue you were bookish and happily geeky whilst being a champion of stories and the craft of creating them? What would you share with them to encompass this part of who you are?
The greatest clue that I love books would be my favorite question to ask people once I get to know them a little bit: “What kinds of books do you like to read?” I’m always so interested in the answers, and have discovered so many great books that way! And I would share that I’m a book editor who truly loves what I do.
Thank you so much for these fascinating and thought-provoking questions, Jorie!
Warmly,
Leslie
I would like to thank Ms. Wells for being especially keen to answer my thought provoking questions inasmuch as she gave us a hint of what is yet to come for Julia & Jack! I must confess, I am always on a bit of pins to know whether or not I should disclose my own thoughts on potential sequels, as I have generally taken the route of holding back a bit in this regard. Reading her responses in this interview has led me to change my opinion on this, as the next time I am reading a novel where I feel there is a window of an opening towards a sequel or a succession of books in a series that could carry forward what had become rooted in the story I have read, I will include a small notation on my forthcoming reviews! I am even going to keep in mind as I continue to read Come Dancing on potential reflections on behalf of what I hope is expanded in the sequel!
Ah! Yes, I can give a bit away about my own findings of joy in Come Dancing, where I felt it was wickedly brilliant there was a backwards focus on ‘other pieces of tech’ outside the sphere of the digital age where all of our lives have grown a bit muddled in the pursuit of ‘now’ and ‘immediate’ replies and/or material possessions. The slower pace of previous decades where you had to wait for a phone call whilst darting back home to see if a message was on your answering machine fit well with the pace of my own life now in the 21st Century. No smart phones for me, in other words! And, more than a handful of my followers on Twitter are oft-times surprised I tweet traditionally as I am always on a computer when I am tweeting out my Joyful Tweets!
I will keep a bit of a surprise on my reaction to the book world for my review, but I simply wanted to say as far as technology is concerned, the story proves that even thirty to thirty-three years into the past; life carried on quite well without all the instant gratification and gadgetry of 2014! I did have a computer in the early 80s, so I am not sure when that came to be — I do know I had one a year after the story is set as by 1982 I was a savant at using one! As far as the internet is concerned, I didn’t hop on the web until at least 1990 or thereabouts. My life is a time capsule of the technologic age apparently!
I did find it disheartening the shift in the paradigm of traditional publishing — yet, I have witnessed this happening left, right, and sideways; especially with authors I have followed as I read their releases to conversations I’ve had with authors who were eager to sort out a non-traditional path that might allow them a more positive return on creative freedom and liberty to tell the stories they want to see flourish rather than losing the control of where their stories are being led. My heart simply warmed with a bright glow when I read Ms. Wells express this:
And for me, being read by the largest number of readers who (hopefully) like the story—and also want to read the upcoming sequel—is how I would measure my success.
I had to smile inwardly when she touched on one aspect of publishing I had already considered myself as a way to circumvent the wave of ebooks — to seek out the releases via POD editions, whilst acknowledging there is a developmental change yet not resolving that all my next reads can only be occupied by what was published in the past. I do believe we will start to see niche market publishers rise up a bit as well — to carry forward the traditional writers who want to publish in print and opt-out of the ebook trade completely.
I am not as worried about brick and mortar bookshoppes after seeing the Indies take back the physical selling and trade market of the industry. Even states where the Indies died out to near extinction are starting to see a re-surge in the economy where new Indie booksellers are re-defining the passion for traditional bookshoppes outside the scope of the conglomerates. I believe this is happening due to the same reason more writers are opting for non-traditional publishing platforms (especially on the level of Self-Published, Hybrid, and/or Indie Press & Publishers) to create a path that is not readily known but provides the most blissitude in the end.
I personally am applauding the path towards Jack & Julia’s relationship being developed in Come Dancing as it is quite literally non-typical given who Jack is and the background of his previous relationships. The story itself parlays it’s own unique voice and attributions on a part of celebrity centered limelight that fuelled my interest as each time I turnt a page, I was drawn more into seeing where these two budding lovebirds were going to go next! They are writ individualistically strong and they have conversations to ignite a proper sense of where each of them stand in their relationship instead of opting only for physical desires and pleasures. I applaud this as I am a reader who appreciates reading relationship-based Romances where the story is explored through the choices the couple makes in order to be together or to live apart; as sometimes you do not always get a happy ever after. Thankfully, knowing a bit about the sequel of Come Dancing before I started it, I knew a resolution I might appreciate could be waiting for me in the end! Yet, the bits in-between the beginning and the end!? Ooh, now that was the wicked bits for me to explore!
Yes! I know exactly what you mean about a confusion of British expressions — as if someone is especially vexed and flaming red in anger, an American might say “you’re quite pissed aren’t you?”. Yet, across the Pond this particular expression of anger has nothing to do with emotional signals but a must-need desire to visit the loo! Although, I also found that it can mean a person drank a bit too much alcohol and is decidedly drunk. I love reading across the countries because it gives a level of realism for realising that even though we are only separated by the North Atlantic, we are a bit of a world apart as far as how we use language and words to reflect different meanings out of ordinary life situations. I loved seeing how you inserted certain British words to reflect Jack’s origins yet grounding him with a bit of American English as he has grown used to being over here as well. You found a good balance between where he came from and where his career is starting to grow.
I had a good bubble of a laugh reading your last response — I am always at a plumb loss as to know which story to mention first as I have the tendency of being deeply passionate about more than a small handful all at once! My tweets this month will start to reflect that, as I want to shine a book cheerleader light on some of the most beautiful and captivating stories I’ve read this past Summer! I wasn’t always able to tweet past my tour stops, so I want to spread a bit of bookish cheer now that Autumn is winking it’s way into our lives — a happy respite from the angst and fiery weather!
I want to thank you for giving such hearty answers and for being pleasantly forthright about your observations! I appreciate your insight and the joy you bring to your readers by remaining insightful and mindful of our reading differences. You have a keen eye for finding your readers and for allowing them the grace of inspiring you with the stories your continuing to pen. I pray you will always remain open and responsive, as this is one attribute I appreciate the most in the writers I have found along my literary wanderings! I love to interact and I love to share my thoughts on what I loved inside of a book a writer has written that left me with a head full of heady thoughts and an imagination of warm memories!
Similar to blog tours, when I feature a showcase for an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog.
I positively *love!* comments in the threads below each of my posts, kindly know that I appreciate each thought you want to share with me and all the posts on my blog are open to new comments & commentary! Short or long, I appreciate the time you spent to leave behind a note of your visit! Return again soon!
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Come Dancing”, Leslie Wells Books badge, book synopsis, author photograph of Leslie Wells, author biography, and the tour host badge were all provided by Book Junkie Promotions and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Tweets were able to be embedded by the codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}
I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Vintage” virtual book tour through TLC Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the publisher William Morrow, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
I hadn’t realised my hardback copy of “Vintage” was damaged until I started to read the novel itself, where pieces of the pages started to rip apart and shred right off individual pages of the novel. I found the culprit but could not do anything to stop it from continuing to happen as on page 155 all the pages were glued together! A sticky substance had attached itself to the top of the pages and therefore, try as I might to be gentle & delicate – the pages would not yield nor would they budge without causing them to rip either in full chunks or strips. Of course the worst part is that page 156 & 157 were glued *together!* and by pulling them apart I lost whole words, sentences, and saw all the ink obscured completely! :( I grieved for this novel at that point. I had tucked it’s story into my heart and although I was breathing in love with each page I had turnt, the novel simply was starting to fade away from me due to ‘glue’. When this happened, I knew I would lose the beautiful pace of what I was reading,… how could I not with ‘whole pages’ stuck to each other that could not be undone without ripping the book apart? I had to stop pulling page 156 – it was just too heart-wrenching. Part of the page was so thin in the upper paragraphs you could see right through the paper! :( I ended up missing an epic fight between April & Violet as pieces of the top pages of 158 & 160 ripped apart so I could start Chapter 15.
I decided not to let this deter my reading enjoyment but it proved to be quite of a challenge as it is the first time I received a book whose damage was quite literally making it difficult to read the story. Prior to page 155 each page I read had this unique slant to it, as it wouldn’t release from the top inside binding; therefore, I read this in a very creative way all the way around!
The hardest pill to swallow is that when I read novels which are new when they reach my hands, I’m the kind of gentle reader who can read the book without leaving a trace I’ve read the story. No bent pages in the upper corners (I use bookmarks), no writing inside the book (I couldn’t even do that with textbooks!), no eating of food that could transfer through my fingers (you’d be surprised what people eat whilst reading library books!), and I barely arch the spines in order to view the words on the page! Not only for hardbacks but the paperbacks — my ChocLit novels & my William Morrow P.S. Edition paperbacks are a good cases in point; they do not show any evidence I read them in this way because I treasure keeping books in a condition that honours their texts. Even when I purchase second-hand novels and non-fiction books I’m always trying to keep the stability of the book in its current condition.
This is wretching experience for a book lover whose own heart was bleeding with the characters and wanted to know all of their thoughts without skipping over pages stuck together without any hope of being undone. And, sadly I haven’t had the pleasure of taking book binding lessons and book recovery classes to know how to fix this if there were a plausible and affordable way to undo the damage. My reading slowed down considerably as I had to peel each page as best as I could to read the rest of the novel. I will omit mentioning how long it took for me to free the pages in order to read them. The top of Chapter 22 really suffered: it looked like someone took a bite out of the page!
Inspired to Read:
I had an impression of an idea what I would find within the pages of Vintage, as I devoured A Vintage Affair by Isobel Wolff via my local library a few years prior to when I first learnt about this new release by Susan Gloss. I fancy stories which are centered around the history and enriched life of clothes and the personal items that occupy our hours alongside the time in which we walk our path on Earth. I oft wondered about the secret histories of second-hand copies of novels could speak inside of a whisper of my ear and the same can be said for vintage clothing boutiques who re-sell clothes previously worn yet gently returned back into the wild for someone else to find them. There is such a hearty treasure to seeking clothes from previous generations, and I for one, am a happy hearted vintage clothes shopper! Mind you, I haven’t gone into the true posh boutiques yet, but the re-sell shoppes for everyday living are quite splendid!
I love the textural experience of wandering from row to row and hanger to hanger, sorting through the ingredients of the clothes (in my particular case, avoiding most synthetics), and noting the styles I am finding being offered. I love the fact that you can pull shirts, skirts, dresses, and bottoms straight-off the rack and know for a start your not about to see anyone soon wear the same ensemble. We’ve become a bit cookie-cutter in our society, and although I cannot fathom why everyone wants to dress like everyone else, I’ve always celebrated individual style and a personal awareness of what types of clothes and articles of fashion make me wicked happy to have them alight in my closet!
I love pulling from different styles of thought, mixing in my own take on an old trend and/or re-inventing a style that is uniquely my own by fusing pieces that might not seem alike but smashingly look brilliant in combination! I love a comfortable fit, I avoid high heels like the plague (they are seriously not a method of wellness for foot), and I like finding a nodding towards the past by finding pieces that match an eloquence of femininity that is nearly all but lost in today’s world of fashion. I’m vintage but I’m alternatively creative in my choices, I love Bohemian for instance, but I like to add a bit of funk to my colour palette and the alternative styles that might be on the fringes of punk. I love cargo pants but I like a nice comfortable pair of washed denim jeans. The accessories are always a happy delight as generally speaking in any second-hand clothing shoppe or boutique, your bound to find estate sale keepers alongside costume jewelry sparklers! The true mirth of joy is being able to go shoppe to shoppe and find pieces of your spirit drifting in through the clothes which speak to you to wear!
I am not sure why I never came round to borrowing Vintage from my local library, but because I hadn’t, it allowed me to be on the blog tour!
Quite simply, how could I not love a novel entitled Vintage?
When it pertains to clothes and a vintage sensibility of style?!
And. shh! One of my secret places to observe wicked alternative fashion is ETSY!
Rock on, dear hearts! Be uniquely defined by what enlivens your own spirit!
A small-town girl with a flair for fashion, Violet Turner had always dreamed of owning a shop like Hourglass Vintage. But when faced with the possibility of losing the store to an unscrupulous developer, she realizes that despite her usual self-reliance she cannot save it all by herself.
Eighteen-year-old April Morgan is nearly five months along in an unplanned pregnancy when her hasty engagement is broken. When she returns the perfect vintage wedding dress to Violet’s shop, she forges an unexpected bond with women who won’t let her give up on her dreams.
Betrayed by her husband, Amithi Singh begins selling off her vibrant Indian silk dresses. After decades of housekeeping and parenting a daughter who rejects her traditional ways, she fears her best days are behind her . . . until she discovers an outlet for her creativity with a needle and thread.
Vintage is a charming tale of possibility, of finding renewal, love, and hope when we least expect it.
Susan Gloss is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Wisconsin Law School. When she’s not writing fiction, Susan can be found working as an attorney, blogging at GlossingOverIt, or hunting for vintage treasures for her Etsy shop, Cleverly Curated. She lives with her family in Madison, Wisconsin.
A Triptych of Insight:
Violet, April, and Amithi (along with Betsy who plays a supporting role as much as Lane) are the key characters in Vintage, who nestle into your heart as you read their stories unfold. What I found so striking about this particular story is the differences in their ages and the differences of where they are in their lives. April is just starting out on her own path as she’s a teenager on the fringes of college and motherhood, whereas Violet has lived quite a life of woe intermixed with the happier moments she carved out for herself in the world of business. Amithi is the classic housewife whose illusions of a happy marriage are shattered and irrevocably set her course on a new line of sight. They provide a triptych of insight into how life shapes us each day that we breathe and accept to take in the new experiences that cross our path. Whether or not we react well or unkind to how our lives change, it is our own attitude of how we approach life that can determine how much we can enjoy and how much we can appreciate the journey.
Gloss shifts backwards and forwards through the story alighting on chapters which highlight the specific observations and emotions of each of the three women as you soak into Vintage. This unique point-of-view lends itself a unique lens to get into the heart of the novel, which I had originally fell in love with whilst reading Rosamunde Pilcher’s The Shell Seekers as a teenager.
My Review of Vintage:
The name of the vintage shoppe inside the novel Vintage is Hourglass Vintage, a beckoning title of alluring to how time may be of the essence or a direct factor to off-set the harmony of the characters inside its pages. I like how writers choose names to give their readers a curiosity about what they will find as they read along and discover more of where the narrative is about to take them. Half the time I worry I might read a bit too much into the selections of names, but oft-times I find myself realising writers have a heap in common with songwriters; each etch into their creative works a tell; a signal left behind for someone to recognise and knowing feel museful.
Violet is the proprietor who happily loves to lead an unconventional life despite the fact she has very traditional (and quite conventional) aspirations she wants to fulfill. I never understood how some women feel that if you wanted to be a Mum your life automatically becomes traditional: white picket fence, two story house, traditional job, and your children play soccer whilst you drive a mini-van. There are a lot of stereotypes and stigmas that I think cloud over the quite curiously wicked alternative, non-traditional, and unconventional families who thrive in the creative arts and/or create their own independence by pursuing a career that matches their passion. There are so many different roads to travel down, I am never certain why we all feel pigeon holed into one or two. Even motherhood is not hinged to marriage, as so many women tend to believe as well.
April is at a crossroads in her life as she is attempting to sort out how to attend college whilst facing the reality of being withchild; cast alone in the world since her Mum died her sole support system is anchored by a scholarship which is run by people who genuinely care and want to help her. She’s at that unique spot in life where you have to make grown-up choices and realise somewhere inside you there is a well of strength you never knew you had. I like how she has a strong head on her shoulders, embracing a bit of no nonsense carefree attitude when her hormones are not affecting her emotional sensibility and a rock of determination that defies her circumstances. She’s a bit caught in-between childhood and adulthood, stepping as brave as she can into where the future has led her but unsure of how she’s going to get to where she wants to be.
Amithi is in transition of realising her daughter has no interest in maintaining family traditions nor in keeping close ties to her extended family in India. Amithi did not have the same freedom of choice for her marriage or her life when she was the same age of her daughter, and it is how she is shifting through this transitional period of her life that endeared me to her as a character. She was raised in a traditional Indian home and had hoped part of her heritage and culture would have affected her daughter, yet each time she thought she made a bit of progress the daughter would rebel and walk a different path away from her parent’s background.
The beauty of reading Vintage is the allure of second chances and second beginnings when life at first doesn’t seem to take you down the path you’ve been wanting to walk. All three women have a unique path in life they are walking as we meet them in the story and all of their lifepaths are starting to collide into each other as well. They are three extraordinarily different women, but at the heart of who they are they are incredibly alike. The story takes on a time slip arc as each new kernel of insight into each of the women’s past is revealed; we go from the present into a slip of the past as a flirting glimpse into how each of them was moulded into who they are now.
On the writing style of Susan Gloss and why I love her approach to this novel:
Outside of my flexing of a disparaging opinion on language in the ‘fly in the ointment’, my readers I believe know by now that on occasion I can overlook these blemishes and blights to see the story outside of the wrinkling of my nose. I cannot always overlook language, especially if it is threaded into each or every other paragraph, but if its sprinkled in such a way as to remind me of flies on a picnic; I become invested in the story itself. What I appreciated the most about Gloss’s style to tell the story is her infusion of using the time slip arc, to allow us the added benefit of seeing Violet, April, and Amithi as a younger version of themselves — writ right in line with the present day goings-on. It is a unique vehicle to carry-on the unknown elements of each of their past, whilst giving the reader the breadth of what makes them who they are in the present. I love time slips as much as I love life shift narrative arcs (and I believe this qualifies in triplicate) or time travel sequences. They give added dimension outside the general scope of where a story fits inside its sub-genre and happily allows us to soak in information in a way that feels as though we are conversing with the characters ourselves.
Fly in the Ointment:
Recently whilst I was reading Someone Else’s Love Story and I Shall Be Near to You, I had mentioned how finding such brass language inside novels being released was growing tiresome. I must contend, my disdain hasn’t altered now that I’ve picked up Vintage, as I am seriously starting to wonder how to advocate for word usage changes and how to get back into the heart of how to write a novel without dropping words which singe ears and wrinkle brows. I read a lot of heart-warming fiction, including the YA novel The Strength of Ballerinas yesterday which begs to reason most novels can hold their salt without abrasive words flittering into the pages at the most inconvenient times. I am starting to wonder if I am amongst the few who uses her words to express her emotions and her thoughts in a way in which does not yield to the gutter.
And, why is strong language used in such a strong way in the start of a novel if only to disappear to a near blink of omission lateron? Why include it at all if the pace and style fit so well without it being added? I am always so puzzled by how language and vulgar words are being used in novels. It is nearly as if you’d have to remind yourself this novel *had!* abrasive words in it as after awhile they are simply ‘gone’. At least until they unexpectedly re-arrive back into the plot during an argument. Sighs.
I’ve said my peace but I wish I had a slice of apple pie. This novel is a comforting Southern slice of bravery in the midst of life being upturnt unexpectedly, yet it takes place in the North; strangely for me the location never felt like Madison, Wisconsin (I ought to know I’ve been there) but rather somewhere down South, like Charleston or Greenville South Carolina. A place where the beauty of embracing a vintage lifestyle and the clothing boutiques like Hourglass Vintage would be happily inter-spaced in-between the more modern shoppes of fashion. I simply didn’t get the vibe this was a completely Mid-Western story nor did I feel it ‘fit’ Madison. Even though I realise the author lives there, when I visited the city I walked away with an entirely different point-of-view.
Before anyone asks me:
The reason I didn’t seek this novel out at my local library is because ever since Thursday night and the wee hours of Friday morning my neighbour has been in the hospital – at first under pre-caution for pneumonia (in the ER), then downgraded to bronchitis (after admitted), and then, today due to complications of the antibiotics and treatments she is being held over a week before being moved into a nursing home / rehab center. I’ve been completely distracted by going back and forth to the hospital and attempting to keep up with my reading & blog schedules. She’s more like an Aunt than a neighbour, so I honestly didn’t even think of seeking a different copy to read for the review, as my focus has been on her and my family, as there are other things going on personally at the same time which have distracted me as well. (I briefly mentioned a bit of this on my post about Early Decision) To be honest, it didn’t even dawn on me until about an hour ago the hours I lost today due to a terrible lightning storm (in which I visited my neighbour as I knew going on the computer was out of the question to write this review) and the time it took to pull the pages apart — as my eyes drew to the clock worried I’d be late in posting that a library copy would have saved me a bit of grief. Of course, my library is not the one that is open 10 minutes before 9pm! These are the moments you make lemonade out of lemons and carry-on.
Despite the faulty copy I received, I was overjoyed it was a hardback edition, as I was only expecting a paperback copy. I’m still joyful I have a hardback copy of Susan Gloss’s debut novel — I loved watching her and the other Debs at the blog take their turns in the bookish spotlights during the year, and it was an honour to host my ‘second’ Deb as I hosted Ms. Heather Webb (for Becoming Josephine) in January. I am enthused I have a whole new year of Debs to get to know and greet into the literary fold! My copy of Vintage is worn in and loved all the same — just like the beautiful clothes featured in the novel itself.
I positively *love!* comments in the threads below each of my posts, and I have happily made sure that I could reacquire the WP Comments where you can leave me a comment by using: WP (WordPress), Twitter, Facebook, Google+, & Email! Kindly know that I appreciate each thought you want to share with me and all the posts on my blog are open to new comments & commentary! Short or long, I appreciate the time you spent to leave behind a note of your visit! Return again soon!
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Vintage”, author photograph, book synopsis and the tour badge were all provided by TLC Book Tours and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Buy links on Scribd excerpt are not affiliated with Jorie Loves A Story. Book Excerpt was able to be embedded due to codes provided by Scribd.}
I am so loving how lightning storms are interfering with my #bookblogger joy of reviewing #novels this Summer! Bring on Autumn w/o rain! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) September 22, 2014
Love how #VINTAGE (the #novel) has this alluring Southern charm about it; it feels so much more like #SouthernLit than a Wisconsinite locale
Okay That was seriously #beyondyum & a lovely #randomjoy of a food surprise! :) Pasta & ground meat w/spinach & a sinful slice of cheesecake
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) September 22, 2014
I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “Romancing the Soul” from ChocLit via IPM (International Publisher’s Marketing) in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
The idea of past life regenerations and regressions is a topic of interest of mine for quite awhile now. I haven’t read a story set against the practice but I oft wondered what the ramifications would be if someone went back to a life they were not yet prepared to accept as their own? The idea of finding the one your truly meant to be with the rest of your life by having a marker set in the past which links the two of you together in the future is an idea I’d like to explore! The suspense alone would be brilliant to engage in, whilst the characters are sorting out where they stand and what they can drink in as plausible!
Rachael Jones hasn’t exactly chosen an average career path. She’s a ‘past-life regressionist’ and is now hoping to help her clients find their Soul Mates through reconnecting them with their past lives. But despite her best intentions, there are problems. Rachael made the mistake of regressing her best friend, Susie Morris, who has since been haunted by events that occurred in her past life.
When Susie meets Hollywood actor, George Silbury in unlikely circumstances, she is completely unprepared for her reactions. There’s an intense mutual attraction that neither can explain nor ignore.
Can George help Susie to overcome the sense of desolation she feels as the result of her past-life regression or will history’s habit of repeating itself ruin all chances of her finding happiness?
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.
Author Biography:
Sarah Tranter lives in Wiltshire, England with her very supportive husband and her two boys. The family includes Rufus the dog, two cats, five chickens, countless pet spiders and an assortment of bugs (courtesy of her youngest). Sarah has been a Constituency Researcher for a Labour Member of Parliament, a Political Lobbyist and a London Publicist, before turning her career to writing.
Sarah’s novels include: No Such Thing as Immortality and Romancing the Soul (January 2014).
Past Lives & Past Lives Regressionists & the New Age spin of the novel:
The beauty of the linchpin inside the novel is that it is a measure of transference of belief, faith without evidential support, and the instinctive nature of knowing something you know is true without a foundation of how you came to the conclusion originally. The elemental notations on past lives by definition and by personality alter as you read the novel, as the story is an interjectional conversation from various points of view and by a motley crew of believers intermixed with those who are hedging bets to disprove any of it has any bearing on reality. The premise is quite a bit more New Age and paranormally inclined at the jumpstart, but the further you alight inside the pages, you realise Tranter wrote a very intellectually stimulating narrative that is not quite as it appears to be.
On that level I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was nibbling away in the recess of understanding the methodology used to visualise the transitions and the queues from the past to the present, until a lightbulb went off and I started to process this through a knack for science and the scientific cross-analysations that purported the plot into its truest light. Honestly by approaching a bit of this from the arm of science and threading it back through the Contemporary nature of the Romance genre, I found myself wholly entertained! Read More
Converse on Twitter: #ILookedForTheOneMyHeartLoves & #FranceBT
Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “I Looked for the One My Heart Loves” virtual book tour through France Book Tours. I received a complimentary ARC copy of the book direct from the publisher Open Road Media, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Anne and Alexis are separated by war as children and reunited later by destiny. A powerful and dramatic love story that spans decades in spite of its seeming impossibility.
Anne, 9, and Alexis, 11, grow up together in the Montmartre area of Paris. While she has a major crush on him, he merely sees her as his friend’s little sister. After WWII begins, the two are separated as their families flee Paris to avoid the German occupation. When they say goodbye, Alexis promises to always protect Anne.
Anne holds on to this promise for years as she constantly thinks of Alexis, wondering where he may be. Anne grows up, finds works in an art gallery, and marries a kind, devoted man with whom she has two children. But her heart still belongs to Alexis and she never stops looking for him. Their paths cross fatefully one day in Brussels many years after they were separated.
Alexis, living in Canada and soon to be moving to San Francisco, has a family of his own; a wife in constant depression and a son. Despite their responsibilities to family and the geographical distance that keeps them apart, Anne and Alexis find a way to love one another, secretly yet passionately.
But after all this time, will they ever manage to be truly together, completely?
Dominique Marny was raised in a family that loves art, literature, adventure and travels. In addition to being a novelist, she is a playwright, screenwriter, and writes for various magazines.
A shortened & condensed reading of a World War:
One of the gifts Marny gives her readers is a shortened and condensed reading of a World War, by attaching a full historical enriched scope of the French side of World War II. Knitted into the arc of the chapter which begins in 1939 is an intact re-creation of all the pertinent moments which had the most impact on French families and citizens. She approached this section of her novel with an intensity yet intermixed a warmth of hope and love of family, as she focuses on Anne as a central figure to highlight the discrepancies as you would observe them. By focusing on Anne during this time, we see the war through the eyes of an innocent child whose wishful thinking and dreams are nearly curtailed by the haunting realities of what war can bring into your world view.
Marny does a considerable job at bringing us right into the heat of the bombings flying over Paris to the lesser known anguished moments of separation from school friends and the family members who live too far away to commute to see when living under German occupation. I appreciated seeing everything Anne saw and breathing in a side of the war I had not yet felt touched in other stories.
My Review of I Looked for the One My Heart Loves:
As the story opens centered on a family living in France on the fringes of World War II developing into their lives, we peer into the young life of Anne, of whom we greeted at a cemetery decades later before warming into her years of childhood. The transitional shift left me curious to know not only of whom the grave marker belonged too, but who the curious stranger was in front of her visiting the same grave! As a young child, Anne felt the full measure of anguished sorrow for how a new Great War would impact her life and the ones she cared about the most. She was at the impressionable age where knowing about what feared adults was enough to fear a child. Her brother Bernard was like a typical brother, bent on teasing his sister and tormenting her with either embarrassment in front of their peers or telling her things she would rather not know at all. The two were caught up in the tides of a changing world – where freedom and the sanctity of family would be tested.
The mass exodus out of Paris into safer areas of France is depicted with equal measures of heightened alarm for safety and the arduous tension in walking or biking hours at at time reach a destination. Although I had known Paris and London were left behind for only those who could brave the war which arrived on their doorsteps, I had not yet read of what Parisians had gone through during the developing days leading into World War II. I have oft read war dramas from the perspective of the British during this war, and therefore, am a bit remiss on knowing more about the French. When I read Letters from Skye, I learnt a great deal about the front lines and the intensity of staying hopeful amidst uncertainty. Marny and Brockmole have a way of placing us into the heart of the French people and the plight of France during the war itself in such a way as to feel as though we lived the hours ourselves.
The entire first section of this novel is a beautiful eclipse of how war affects a young girl and how her life is different by living through war as it altered her neighbourhood and disrupted the lives of everyone she knew. She held a candle lit for the young boy she held an infatuation of concern for during the bombings of Paris; never knowing where his family had fled a few years before when Paris was starting to feel the blitz of the bombers. The bond she felt for Alexis and the growing love she knew was in her heart for him is what helped her endure. She cast her thoughts on his own well-being and although they lived apart during the war, her spirit was tied to his.
After the war, Anne started to fuse her passion for art into a passionate career, all the while curious about where Alexis had gone inside his own life’s adventure. She was not one who strove to entertain the idea of marriage, but rather was found in the throes of loving a man who genuinely loved her in return. Her life took on a rhythm part of her choosing and part of choosing to live a life that might become expected of her to curate. Because she elected to make choices in her life based on where society and convention were guiding her to tread, she ended up closing the door on her own heart’s desire. Anne’s life because a swirling sea of art acquisitions and galley showings featuring artists both renowned and starting out to gain an audience. As the years started to encompass her hours, even motherhood did not tether her heart to happiness.
It was always a nudge inside her mind that she had missed something, or rather that she had missed the opportunity to be with someone she always felt was more her equal and her other half. Alexis was only a boy when they departed from each others’ lives, yet the candle that once flickered for him turnt into a fiery flame renewed through happenstance which led them into that daring twist of fate where deciding which path you take in life can either be your downfall or your unexpected blessing.
I was a bit betwixt myself as I read this novel if I agreed with her choice to follow after Alexis; and I credit this vacillation to a previous novel I read in August Lemongrass Hope, of whose thematic of choice parallels I Looked for the One My Heart Loves. In many ways, what left me feeling a bit aghast is that the lead character in Lemongrass Hope found beauty and joy inside being a mother – to consider leaving her children even if she had chosen to live a different life than she dreamt for herself was a cross she was not willing to bear, yet the path she chose to live was one that surprised me in the end. Anne on the other hand is career-driven and is not willed to her children as Kate was to hers and this in of itself shows the differences within motherhood and the connection a mother shares with her children. However, for me personally, I felt Anne came off more self-centered and selfish than Kate, as Kate was caught between fate and true love. Anne never had the luxury of experiencing what Kate had with Ian, and therefore, in this instance I sided with Francois over Anne. On a lot of levels, Francois and Anne were identical to each other: each were dedicated to their professions to where they approached marriage and children second to their career.
Lemongrass Hope matches this novel for exploring the fragility of the human heart and the yearnings of a powerful mind bent on pursuing its own convicting motivation. For me, although I enjoyed reading this novel, I found myself a bit wanton of wanting to dig back into Lemongrass Hope. In a lot of ways I felt Impellizzeri had won me over for how she handled the truism of a conflicted heart and soul. Whereas Marny gave me a breath of insight into the French who survived the war and the carefree approach to living I always felt the French embraced as a celebration for life itself.
On writing a unique Romance set against time, memory, and war:
I appreciated the honesty and raw emotions that Marny stitched into her novel, as she has written a very unique Romance set against time, memory, and war. The initial reactions I felt to the story of Anne and Alexis were two people caught up in each others’ lives who drifted apart out from war. Yet, when I soaked into the story, I started to see the complexity of understanding who we choose to love and who we might have let go from our life without realising they were the ones our heart had chosen to love before our mind even realised the connection. Both of Marny’s characters made choices to marry against their own will in some ways, because neither was quite ready for what marriage would bring into their life.
The honesty within their thoughts and the actions they took after their reconnection warmed me to their story, because life as in fiction, choices can determine the fate of where we end up in our lives. And, not everything is straight-up right nor wrong, there are in-between places as well. The one I felt a bit sorry for in the story were Anne’s husband Francois, who truly loved Anne in a way she could not quite reciprocate. This is not merely a Romance novel but a literary novel centered on human emotions and the conflictions of understanding the line between desire and adultery.
I always appreciate seeing a video about an author I am about to read, and in this one I appreciated getting to know someone who speaks a different language than I do, because through the sub-titles and the way in which Ms. Marny describes the story she’s written, I felt connected in a way that would lend a curiosity to read her novel. I hope you appreciate seeing her inside this short introduction as much as I had originally.
Virtual Road Map for
“I Looked for the One My Heart Loves” Blog Tour:
Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:
via my
{SOURCES: Cover art of “I Looked for the One My Heart Loves”, book synopsis, author photograph of Mr. Malaval, author biography, and the tour host badge were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. The introduction video of author Jean-Paul Malaval by Open Road Media & Bordeaux travelogue by TravelTherapyTV had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Tweets were able to be embedded by the codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Bookish Events & France Book Tours badge created by Jorie in Canva.}