Category: Modern British Literature

A #WyrdAndWonder Book Review | featuring “Tree Magic” (Tree Magic series, Book One) by Harriet Springbett, published by @ImpressBooks1

Posted Sunday, 23 May, 2021 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

#WyrdAndWonder Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva.

Gifted Book By: Last year, I had the chance to feature this lovely series by Impress Books UK twice – for a Spotlight & Extract as well as an author interview for the tour celebrating the sequel. I enjoyed hosting for the touring company attached to these tours, but during late (2020) I decided to pull back from a few of the touring companies I was hosting and re-focus on the blog tours, publishers & authors I regularly host more often. My memory is a bit foggy if I was conversing with the publisher about ‘Tree Magic’ before or after the second blog tour. In that conversation, I was mentioning the book wasn’t yet released stateside in a print edition and I wasn’t sure (at the time) when I’d be able to purchase a copy as 2020 was quite an adverse year for my family all told. Especially for medical emergencies and/or ER visits in particular. Thereby, when the publisher offered to send me a copy of ‘Tree Magic’ when it was available in print, I thanked them for their gracious offer and knew once my migraines calmed down, I wanted to dive into this novel!

The months passed by and as 2021 started off with adversities of its own, I can honestly say, it wasn’t until May this year, during #WyrdAndWonder where I could read past the first few pages of ‘Tree Magic’!! I am overjoyed I could wait until now to talk about this novel and the series it begins as I felt such a strong attachment to this book and the world it is set in due to the showcases I hosted last year. I had eight migraines in September, 2020 after the five I had in May, 2020 – so betwixt and between both those months, I’m equally in the dark if I received this for review consideration or for my own personal readerly curiosity. 

Thereby, I was gifted a copy of “Tree Magic” by the publisher Impress Books UK without being obligated to post an honest review. I am sharing my thoughts on behalf of this novel for my own edification and a continued journey of sharing my readerly life on Jorie Loves A Story. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Note: I received the Press Materials last year from the publisher and vaguely remember asking if / when I was able to read this novel if I could re-use the materials given to me on both blog tours and being given permission to do that if / when the time arose. Therefore, this is why the Press Materials for this series are included on this review.

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Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I have had a firm attachment to the natural world ever since I was a young girl – growing up with a fascination and wonderment about nature, wildlife and especially of trees! This is why when I first saw this blog tour being announced, I was super giddy about participating on the tour because any writer who can celebrate and champion the natural world in a pro-positive way is an author I would love to feature on Jorie Loves A Story!

I could immediately connect with the premise with this novel which is why I am trying to seek out a copy of this in print through my local library – there is something quite magical about how trees are the guardians within the natural habitats we visit whilst hiking or walking in natural landscapes; they know things and they remember everything. This is partially why it is soul-crushing whenever there are huge wildfire seasons like the ones that are affecting the Western United States right now and/or the fires in Australia at the turning of the New Year. Nature grieves for the losses those fires bring to those habitats but I oft felt the trees especially are full of the grief of what could not be protected and what fell at their feet due to how the forests have not been able to withstand fire as they had in the past. I still remember hearing about the old growth forests of the Redwoods recently and of how achingly hard it was to see them aflame.

I have regularly spoken about the natural world on Jorie Loves A Story – from the stories I am reading to the context of the stories which seek to bring an ecological mindset and heart for conservation onto my blog because I believe strongly those stories are necessary for today’s world. Not just due to the climatic changes we’re all experiencing but to help re-connect readers with the knowledge about the natural ecosystems they might overlook and not be as familiar with as I have become myself. Knowledge is the first step towards change and to remain connected to the connectivity of how the natural world and our world intersect is one step closer to finding better balance in how to keep Earth a healthier place.

– previously I shared this introduction to why I was wicked curious about Tree Magic

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There is one reason I held off reading this novel –  it took me until May to reconcile how to read Tree Magic was because of a gutting loss of trees in my neighbourhood which were uncalled for and mercilessly butchered by a bulldozer rather than cut with respect with a chainsaw. The trees were sacrificed due to a ridiculous expansion of a sidewalk which had zero benefit to the neighbourhood and took out a total of seven trees for reasons NO ONE understood lest of all the trees! I will never forget that feeling of knowing the trees were trying to defend themselves and the murmuring after effects of their death. These were full-grown cedar trees – whose rings in their trunks showcased their years of life and the emptiness of their protective shade has never felt more absent than the arrival of Summer. I still feel affected by what happened and how it was done – why cities plan their designs to erase more of the natural world than preserve it is not something I’ll ever comprehend.

This is why I had to let this novel sit on my shelf even longer than planned – I just couldn’t bring myself to read about trees and our connections to them until I could deal with the loss of the majestic cedars which once stood silently against storms and sun and whose presence was a kind reminder of how quietly trees whisper to us throughout the year.

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A #WyrdAndWonder Book Review | featuring “Tree Magic” (Tree Magic series, Book One) by Harriet Springbett, published by @ImpressBooks1Tree Magic
by Harriet Springbett
Source: Direct from Publisher, Gifted

Thirteen-year-old Rainbow discovers she can communicate with trees.

But that’s just the beginning. Her magic hands can shape trees at her will, but her gift is dangerous and has fatal consequences. An accident that leaves Rainbow unconscious leads her mother to make a confession that will change Rainbow’s life forever. Are her abilities a gift or a curse? Can Rainbow really trust her mother? From England to France, through secrets, fears and parallel worlds, Rainbow’s journey to understand her powers takes her beyond everything she’s ever known.

To find the truth, she must also find herself.

Genres: Young Adult Fiction, YA Fantasy, Magical Realism



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1-911293-63-7

ASIN: B087MCBT53

Also by this author: Tree Magic, Tree Slayer

Published by Impress Books

on 2nd June, 2020

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 440

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The Tree Magic series: (a trilogy)

Tree Magic by Harriet SpringbettTree Slayer by Harriet Springbett

Tree Magic (book one)

Tree Slayer (book two)

Tree Sacrifice (book three) ← forthcoming Autumn, 2021!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Published by:  Impress Books (@ImpressBooks1)

Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #YALit, #Trees and #Magic, #MagicalRealism, #YAFantasy
as well as #TreeMagic or #Fantasy

About Harriet Springbett

Harriet Springbett

Harriet Springbett’s childhood on a small farm in West Dorset gave her an early exposure to nature, which continues to inspire her writing.

She qualified as an engineer but, during a Raleigh International expedition in Chile, she realised she preferred words to numbers. She abandoned her profession, moved to France, studied French and then worked as a project manager, feature writer, translator and TEFL teacher. She now lives in Poitou-Charentes with her French partner and their teenage children.

Since her first literary success, aged 10, her short stories and poetry have been published in literary journals and placed in writing competitions, including a shortlisting in the 2017 Bath Short Story Award.

Harriet leads writing workshops, has judged the Segora international short story competition.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #WyrdAndWonder
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Posted Sunday, 23 May, 2021 by jorielov in 20th Century, Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Book Review (non-blog tour), British Literature, Brothers and Sisters, Cats and Kittens, Childhood Friendship, Coming-Of Age, Content Note, Death of a Sibling, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Dendrology (Study of Woody Plants or Trees), Disillusionment in Marriage, Divorce & Martial Strife, Earthen Magic, Earthen Spirituality, England, Environmental Conscience, Environmental Science, Family Drama, Family Life, Fantasy Fiction, Father-daughter Relationships, Fathers and Daughters, Fly in the Ointment, Folklore and Mythology, France, French Literature, Green-Minded Social Awareness, Horticulture, Indie Author, Magical Realism, Modern British Literature, Modern Day, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Mother-Son Relationships, Nature & Wildlife, Realistic Fiction, Rescue & Adoption of Animals, Siblings, Single Mothers, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Sustainability & Ecological Preservation, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, The Natural World, Treeshaping, Young Adult Fiction

#SaturdaysAreBookish Book Review [during #FraterfestRAT] | “An Abiding Fire” (Book One: Thomazine and Major Russell #Thrillers) by M.J. Logue [#SatBookChat feat. guest, 12 October!]

Posted Saturday, 12 October, 2019 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

#SaturdaysAreBookish created by Jorie in Canva.

After launching this lovely new feature of mine during [Autumn, 2018] it is a pleasure of joy to continue to bring #SaturdaysAreBookish as a compliment focus of my Twitter chat @SatBookChat. If you see the chat icon at the top of my blog (header bar) you can click over to visit with us. The complimentary showcases on my blog will reflect the diversity of stories, authors and publishers I would be featuring on the chat itself. As at the root and heart of the chat are the stories I am reading which compliment the conversations.

#SaturdaysAreBookish throughout [2019] will be featuring the Romance & Women’s Fiction authors I am discovering to read across genre and point of interest. Every Saturday will feature a different author who writes either Romance or Women’s Fiction – the stories I am reading might simply inspire the topics in the forthcoming chats or they might be directly connected to the current guest author.

I am excited about where new guests and new stories will lay down the foundation of inspiring the topics, the conversations and the bookish recommendations towards promoting Romance & Women’s Fiction. Here’s a lovely New Year full of new authors and their stories to celebrate!

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Borrowed Book By: I borrowed a print copy of “An Abiding Fire” via my local library. Full disclosure: this was a purchase request of mine after I hosted the author for a delightful interview in conjuction with a blog promotional tour her publisher Sapere Books assembled. I am choosing to share my reflections and takeaways on behalf of this novel without obligation to post my ruminative thoughts about the story. The Press Materials shown on this post were provided by either the publisher Sapere Books and/or the author M.J. Logue and are used with permission; as I had left the door open to review this novel if my library purchased the copy I had requested post-interview. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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What drew me into wanting to read “An Abiding Fire”:

For starters, it was the curious premise behind the novel itself – secondly, it was shortly after I received the responses back from the interview I hosted with Ms Logue where I realised between her wicked sense of humour & her love for the setting in which this series is set – it felt like quite a wicked good fit! I will admit, it also felt a bit more daunting to read – as we had such an insta-connection as writer to reader (as you can clearly oversee in the convo we shared) – I was hoping I could become attached into this world & pull out the vision she had for it as it is the first of a series.

The Restoration period of London isn’t one I usually read about either – I tend to dance round specific eras and historical ‘markers’ in History; I think I know more about Revolutionary War France & America than I do about the Restorative generation of England! Laughs. Even then, I am still in need of stories – as who can ever have their fill once they find a period of time they enjoy time travelling through an author’s story? Not, I, surely. Thus the timescape in of itself was quite the allure as I do like uncovering new chapters of the historical past within the stories I am reading moreso at times than even a new hidden niche of a genre I already know to love by the stories I’ve previously read.

When you get to travel back into a timescape you’ve either only heard about loosely, never heard of previously or only have a farthering of an idea of what it could involve; you get quite a bit giddy over the prospects of how your experience within this new ‘era’ will overtake you. I think more than anything that fuelled my curiosity but as said, on the interview itself – I was also smitten by the concept of the series, the characters & the overall sense of how this series stands out from others within the sphere of Historical Mysteries & Suspense if not outright Historical Thrillers.

This is labelled more Thriller than Mystery/Suspense – per the conversation I had with Ms Logue I could understand why that distinction was made – as it parlays into the kind of decriptive narrative you are about to experience inasmuch as certain inclusionary elements which take it outside the Mysteries & Suspense threads straight into the Thriller section(s).

Even before I began reading this novel, I knew I wanted to have Ms Logue as a guest during @SatBookChat as I had a feeling – the two of us together would make a wicked good team at discussing not just her series but whichever topic which organically elects to knit itself into our conversation! Mostly though – as I was looking through the Sapere Books catalogue and also reading through their emails – not just for blog tours to host but their bookish newsletters as well for pending & current releases, this is one series I felt I could go the distance to enjoy reading.

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#SaturdaysAreBookish Book Review [during #FraterfestRAT] | “An Abiding Fire” (Book One: Thomazine and Major Russell #Thrillers) by M.J. Logue [#SatBookChat feat. guest, 12 October!]An Abiding Fire
Subtitle: Murder and Mystery in Restoration London
by M.J. Logue
Source: Purchase REQ | local library

How do you solve a murder when you are one of the suspects?

1664, London

Life should be good for Major Thankful Russell and his new bride, Thomazine. Russell, middle-aged and battle-scarred, isn’t everyone’s idea of the perfect husband for an eligible young woman but the moment Thomazine set eyes on her childhood hero, she knew they were destined for one another.

But Russell, a former Roundhead, now working for the King’s intelligence service, was never going to have a simple life in Restoration London.

Unable to shake suspicions of his Parliamentarian past, someone seems hell-bent on ruining his reputation — and his life.

Whispers about his sister’s violent murder follow him and accusations of treason abound.

When more deaths occur Russell finds himself under suspicion.

He is ready to escape from the capital, but Thomazine is determined to find the truth and clear the name of the man she loves.

But who is the real killer and why are they so keen to frame Russell?
More importantly, will they succeed?
And has Thomazine’s quest put them all in mortal danger?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1912786817

Also by this author: An Abiding Fire (Interview)

Published by Sapere Books

on 2nd January, 2019

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 285

Published by: Sapere Books (@SapereBooks)

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comThe Thomazine and Major Russell Thrillers series:

An Abiding Fire by M.J. Logue

An Abiding Fire (book one)

A Deceitful Subtlety (book two)

1666, London Thomazine and Major Thankful Russell should be enjoying married life. With one teething baby and another on the way, life at the newly-rebuilt house at Four Ashes in the Chilterns is never dull, and they’re hoping to put the debauchery of Restoration London behind them. But then the indomitable poetess Mistress Aphra Behn arrives at their door… Aphra claims to have promised to marry respectable merchant William Scot, who she met on a previous spying mission in Belgium. But he never turned up for the wedding. She’s determined to discover his fate – and she wants Thankful to help her search Bruges. Which may be how married couples behave in sophisticated London society, but there’s no way Thomazine is letting her husband loose on his own with the lovely, flirtatious Mistress Behn. It looks like the couple will once again have to put domestic bliss aside to unravel this intriguing mystery…

→ A third novel is currently the author’s WIP!

Formats available: Trade Paperback and Ebook

Converse on Twitter via: #HistFic or #HistNov + #Thriller

+ #AnAbidingFire & #MJLogue as well as #ThomazineAndMajorRussell

About M.J. Logue

M.J. Logue

M. J. Logue (as in cataLOGUE and epiLOGUE and not, ever, loge, which is apparently a kind of private box in a theatre) wrote her first short novel on a manual typewriter aged seven. It wasn’t very good, being about talking horses, but she made her parents sit through endless readings of it anyway.

Thirty-something years later she is still writing, although horses only come into it occasionally these days. Born and brought up in Lancashire, she moved to Cornwall at the turn of the century (and has always wanted to write that) and now lives in a granite cottage with her husband, and son, five cats, and various itinerant wildlife.

After periods of employment as a tarot reader, complaints call handler, executive PA, copywriter and civil servant, she decided to start writing historical fiction about the period of British history that fascinates her – the 17th century.

Her first series, covering the less than stellar career of a disreputable troop of Parliamentarian cavalry during the civil wars, was acclaimed by reviewers as “historical fiction written with elegance, wit and black humour” – but so many readers wanted to know whether fierce young lieutenant Thankful Russell ever did get his Happy Ever After, that the upcoming series of romantic thrillers for Sapere Books began.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Saturday, 12 October, 2019 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, British Literature, Crime Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Modern British Author, Modern British Literature, Sapere Books