Posted Saturday, 20 August, 2016 by jorielov Modern History Press, Saris and A Single Malt, Sweta Srivastava Vikram 2 Comments
I definitely enjoy hosting a wide variety of guest features on Jorie Loves A Story, as it helps to establish a common thread of creative expression and the conjoined joy of seeing how creatives fuse their creative voice to the works they are creating for us all to appreciate finding! This is why sometimes I yield to the author’s selection of topics, however, in this particular case I cannot remember if I picked this topic or if Ms Vikram surprised me! To be honest, I had so much happening at the time when this essay first came into my Inbox, I’ve completely forgotten!
I am delighted I could host her for a second time on the blog tour, as I found her poetry to be simply emotionally evicting of her topic of choice: the gutting reality of unexpected loss & the aftermath of putting the pieces of your heart back together whilst accepting a loved one’s ending chapter from your life. It was beyond powerful and it was underlit by hope, faith and a bent towards acceptance out of the raw emotions that consume all of us in the height of our tangible grief.
It was an honour and a pleasure to be on a blog tour to celebrate the brave hours where Ms Vikram’s pen did not fail her nor did the words fail to etch out her emotional warring heart to come to terms with letting go of ‘Mum’. It’s such a difficult transitional period for a daughter to ‘let go’ of her supportive best mate and partner. I felt she not only honoured the relationship and love both her and her mother shared but she found a way to write a truism caught inside that chaotic moment of death and loss that all daughters can personally identify as being a part of their own journey. To that end, she wrote a collection of poems we can all fuse directly into our hearts, minds and souls.
Let us take a step back from the poems, and listen to how she approaches crafting a story out of poetry of which she eloquently has found a way to communicate with us.
Saris and a Single Malt is a moving collection of poems written by a daughter for and about her mother. The book spans the time from when the poet receives a phone call in New York City that her mother is in a hospital in New Delhi, to the time she carries out her mother’s last rites. The poems chronicle the author’s physical and emotional journey as she flies to India, tries to fight the inevitable, and succumbs to the grief of living in a motherless world. Divided into three sections, (Flight, Fire, and Grief), this collection will move you, astound you, and make you hug your loved ones.
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Posted Saturday, 20 August, 2016 by jorielov in Author Guest Post (their topic), Blog Tour Host, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Equality In Literature, India, Indie Author, Literature of India, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, New York City, Poetic Book Tours, Poetry, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author
Posted Monday, 15 August, 2016 by jorielov Loving Healing Press, Modern History Press, Saris and A Single Malt, Sweta Srivastava Vikram 4 Comments
Acquired Book By: I was selected to review “Saris and a Single Malt” by Poetic Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of Saris and a Single Malt direct from the publisher Modern History Press in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
Initially I felt reading about a daughter’s emotional journey through grief was a better fit for me personally than other collections of poetry being offered to review. I’ve known grief and sorrow throughout my life as I’ve lost one family member after another; including dearly beloved companions in fur and feathers. I have an interest in Indian Literature as well and writers from India in general – therefore, I felt compelled to join this blog tour.
The depths of the human emotional plane are as wide as the seven seas and as encompassing as the cosmos, as we truly live deeply and wholly true through how we emotional perceive and feel the events of our lives. Death is one of the hardest transitional moments of our lives, as we have to find a way to have closure out of loss and how loss cannot be a window towards an erasure of memory.
I felt reading about this particular collection of poems and words, fused to the author’s own journey of losing her Mum was one I could relate too, as I have experienced the heartache of loss and the difficulty in moving forward when a loved one’s presence is no longer at hand. The hope of light flickering at the tunneling end of grief is what keeps you moving forward but it’s the resolve to hold onto the memories where love flourished and thrived is what helps us heal our hearts.
Saris and a Single Malt
by Sweta Srivastava Vikram
Source: Publisher via Poetic Book Tours
Saris and a Single Malt is a moving collection of poems written by a daughter for and about her mother. The book spans the time from when the poet receives a phone call in New York City that her mother is in a hospital in New Delhi, to the time she carries out her mother’s last rites. The poems chronicle the author’s physical and emotional journey as she flies to India, tries to fight the inevitable, and succumbs to the grief of living in a motherless world. Divided into three sections, (Flight, Fire, and Grief), this collection will move you, astound you, and make you hug your loved ones.
Genres: Poetry & Drama Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 9781615992942
Also by this author:
Published by Modern History Press
on 1st August, 2016
Format: Paperback Edition
Pages: 46
Published By: Modern History Press an imprint of Loving Healing Press
Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook
Converse via: #Poetry
About Sweta Srivastava Vikram
Sweta Srivastava Vikram, featured by Asian Fusion as “one of the most influential Asians of our time,” is an award-winning writer, five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Amazon bestselling author of 11 books, writing coach, columnist, marketing consultant, and wellness practitioner who currently lives in New York City. A graduate of Columbia University, she also teaches the power of yoga, Ayurveda, & mindful living to female trauma survivors, creative types, entrepreneurs, and business professionals.
Sweta is also the CEO-Founder of NimmiLife, which helps you attain your goals by elevating your creativity & productivity while paying attention to your wellness.
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | LibraryThing | YouTube
Posted Monday, 15 August, 2016 by jorielov in 21st Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Equality In Literature, India, Indie Author, Literature of India, Modern Day, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, New York City, Poetic Book Tours, Poetry, Vulgarity in Literature
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
Posted Tuesday, 5 May, 2015 by jorielov Rachelle Burk & Kopel Burk, The Walking Fish, Tumblehome Learning 0 Comments
Acquired Book By:
I was selected to review “The Walking Fish” by JKS Communications: A Literary Publicity Firm. JKS is the first publicity firm I started working with when I launched Jorie Loves A Story in August, 2013. I am honoured to continue to work with them now as a 2nd Year Book Blogger. I received my complimentary copy of The Walking Fish direct from JKS Communications in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
When I was first approached to read The Walking Fish it nearly felt like kismet to find science re-entering my life because I was the kind of girl who grew up in her local Science Center and ached for Summer because it meant she could spend more hours at the Center absorbing science through hands-on learning opportunities and field trips which were not available during regular school sessions. The beauty for me growing up at the Science Center is being in control of the ‘academics’ and ‘choices’ of which fields of study I could focus on without the added stress of worrying about ‘grades or homework’. You could simply go to the Center, enjoy your days, and get caught up in the joy of science without the hassles that regular school provides.
I thrived in this environment because having a curious mind was encouraging to the teachers, who loved it when we asked questions that challenged them in return to provide a plausible response. It was a mecca for science geeks – girls and boys together, whilst having a living ecosystem of sorts at our fingertips. We even had a resident boa constrictor I helped save when I was the only kid there who noticed Monty wasn’t in his cage but rather the latch on his environment was ‘unhooked’. We had resident tarantulas, an iguana I adopted, various snakes I gave a wide birth (outside of Monty, I was not keen on snakes!), and a lovely outdoor garden filled with footpath tiles and hidden nooks where you could enjoy the flowers.
I have been wanting to dig back into my readings of science, not just as an adult but to seek out titles that would stimulate a fascination for children within the realms of Children’s Lit. This branch of literature is quite dear to me, and I was thankful to be considered for a title I hope will inspire younger readers to get as excited as I had about science and the possibilities therein!
The Walking Fish
by Kopel Burk, Rachelle Burk
Source: Publicist via JKS Communications
A humorous, exciting tale of an ordinary girl who makes an extraordinary scientific discovery—a blind fish that walks.
When seventh-grader Alexis catches an unusual fish that looks like a living fossil, she sets off a frenzied scientific hunt for more of its kind. Alexis and her friend Darshan join the hunt, snorkeling, sounding the depths of Glacial Lake, even observing from a helicopter and exploring a cave. All the while, they fight to keep the selfish Dr. Mertz from claiming the discovery all for himself. When Alexis follows one final hunch, she risks her life and almost loses her friend. This is a scientific adventure not to be missed.
With great settings and vivid characters, lively and at times hilarious, this book presents the adventure of science in a way that’s sure to appeal to girls and boys in grades 4-7.
Genres: Children's Literature, Science, Middle Grade Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 978-0990782933
Published by Tumblehome Learning
on 1st April, 2015
Format: Paperback Edition
Pages: 192
Published by: Tumblehome Learning (@TumblehomeLearn)
Available Formats: Trade Paperback, Hardback
Converse via: #WalkingFishBook & #RachelleBurk
OR #MGFiction, #MGLit, #KidsLit or #MiddleGrade
About Kopel Burk
Kopel Burk is a retired physician who writes, sculpts, and remains active on the bioethics committee at his hospital. He conceived the idea for Walking Fish over 40 years ago, when he told early versions of the story to his young children, nieces and nephews. His co-author is one of those nieces. At 86, this is his first book.
About Rachelle Burk
Rachelle Burk is a children’s author, social worker, clown, and storyteller. She writes fiction and nonfiction for children, including books, magazine pieces, and poetry. Rachelle scuba dives, explores caves, and volunteers on a rescue squad. With her background as a children’s entertainer, she’s a hit in classroom visits.
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook
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Posted Tuesday, 5 May, 2015 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 21st Century, Aquaculture, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Bookish Films, Chefs and Sous Chefs, Childhood Friendship, Children's Literature, Clever Turns of Phrase, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Cookery, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Documentary on Topic or Subject, Ecology, Environmental Activism, Environmental Conscience, Environmental Science, Equality In Literature, Father-Daughter Relationships, Fishing, GeoPhysical History, Green-Minded Social Awareness, Hard Science Fiction, History, Indie Author, JKS Communications: Literary Publicity Firm, Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards, Juvenile Fiction, Literature of India, Meteorology, Middle Grade Novel, Modern Day, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Philosophical Intuitiveness, Realistic Fiction, Science, Science Fiction, Social Change, Sustainability & Ecological Preservation, The Natural World
Posted Thursday, 5 March, 2015 by jorielov Daughters of Hampshire, Howard Books, Lady Darby Mysteries, Mist of Midnight, Sandra Byrd, Simon & Schuster 0 Comments
Acquired Book By:
I was contacted by the author’s (Sandra Byrd) CBA Tour Coordinator (Renee Chaw) back in November, 2014 about the possibility of receiving “Mist of Midnight” in exchange for an honest review which would be included on Ms Byrd’s official blog tour for it’s March release! I was beyond delighted at having been approached by her and readily agreed. As I have a non-giveaway policy for Jorie Loves A Story, this blog tour stop is not hosting the tour giveaway, but rather is solely a book review of the novel which is posted whilst the official tour is going on. I received my complimentary ARC copy of Mist of Midnight direct from Howard Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. In December 2014, I received the press materials from her publicist Ms Chaw. I am thankful for this wonderful opportunity, not only to read my first novel by Ms Byrd but to host my first blog tour book review for Howard Books! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Intrigued to Read:
I unequivocally can declare when it comes to Gothic Lit & the Historical Fiction side of literature, I am unabashedly intrigued by each new story and author I stumble across! Imagine my good cheer in finding an author had found me for her blog tour? I hadn’t realised it at the time, but Ms Byrd has been on my TBR for awhile now, as I had to remind myself I had spied her Ladies in Waiting series previously!
When it comes to Gothic Lit, the reason I am caught instinctively inside the pages of stories which befall this category is because I have a passionate affection for ‘psychological suspense’ and most of what I enjoy reading within this realm of plausibility curates this experience for me! I have a penchant for the Victorian era of which I believe might be deduced by my literary wanderings time after time; however, it’s this wicked joy I have bubbling up inside me when I know I am about to plunder inside an enriched atmospheric novel I find the most inspiring! As well noted by now throughout my blog, I’m a hybrid reader (dancing through genres of literature between mainstream & INSPY markets) and I cannot even properly express how wicked happy I was to discover Mist of Midnight!
I have recently read a re-telling of Jane Eyre, entitled: Keeping Kate on behalf of a blog tour for Cedar Fort Publishing & Media; this on the footheels of having learnt there was a readalong for Jane Eyre! Mind you, my unhealthy time consumption in February solely focused on technical malfunctions and ISP unknown tech issues caused my blogging life to be put on hold for most of the month; notwithstanding, I simply lost too many hours within my personal life outside of this blog to soak inside even one book more than I managed to feature within the month just extinguished from view. I still fully intend to read Jane Eyre and go back through the readalong posts, however, sadly it was ill-fated for me to participate as a whole. Thrice this has happened to me, where I had sought out a RAL for Charlotte Bronté’s classic tale, yet it did not stop me from absorbing myself straight into Keeping Kate!
Bringing me round to what I wanted to share, as I have slated in my mind and gathered a bit of my intentions of what to read next on my tCC List in direct reflection to this curiously addictive focus I have on Gothic Lit! What comes to mind after I muse about Eyre, is how in earnest I attempted to borrow and consume the narrative within the pages of The Distant Hours by Kate Morton or even The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates; two novels continuously whetting my palette with hearty intrigue.
Now when it comes to ‘inheritance stories’ I must confess, I have a particular interest in them because they bring a swirl of excitement to central focus within the heart of where the story leads us to go as the lead character is nearly always at odds in these situations with an interloper! Someone who either has a hardened heart turnt black and whose ill will seeks to cause them extreme duress if not personal harm, has a shadowy allure to soak into your imagination due to the very nature of what pulls this context forward! You start to gather the facts inside your own mind, weigh and counterbalance what is perceived against what is known (as so oft-times the writer holds the reader in the dark and/or gives only ‘just so’ much information to leave the climax plausibly aloof) and hold a firm grasp on your emotional heart as the drama surrounding the entire tale will leave you up late into the night wicking at the flames of a candle!
Yes, I must confess, when it comes to seeking stories — the ones of which give me a hitch of wicked joy are the ones shrouded in suspense with the framework of a relationship that may or may not yield in romantic overtures. The mystery itself is well worth the wait to see how everything unfolds! With haste and felicity, I took up the pages of Mist of Midnight! Top cheers to Ms Byrd for allowing us the grace of seeing this is only one installment of a new series yet to bewitch us wholly and true!
Mist of Midnight
In the first of a brand-new series set in Victorian England, a young woman returns home from India after the death of her family to discover her identity and inheritance are challenged by the man who holds her future in his hands.
Rebecca Ravenshaw, daughter of missionaries, spent most of her life in India. Following the death of her family in the Indian Mutiny, Rebecca returns to claim her family estate in Hampshire, England. Upon her return, people are surprised to see her...and highly suspicious. Less than a year earlier, an imposter had arrived with an Indian servant and assumed not only Rebecca's name, but her home and incomes.
That pretender died within months of her arrival; the servant fled to London as the young woman was hastily buried at midnight. The locals believe that perhaps she, Rebecca, is the real imposter. Her home and her father's investments reverted to a distant relative, the darkly charming Captain Luke Whitfield, who quickly took over. Against her best intentions, Rebecca begins to fall in love with Luke, but she is forced to question his motives—does he love her or does he just want Headbourne House? If Luke is simply after the property, as everyone suspects, will she suffer a similar fate as the first “Rebecca”?
A captivating Gothic love story set against a backdrop of intrigue and danger, Mist of Midnight will leave you breathless.
Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
Series: Daughters of Hampshire,
on 10th March, 2015
Pages: 384
Published By: Howard Books (@Howard_Books)
(an imprint of Simon & Schuster: )
Available Formats: Hardback & E-Book
Converse on Twitter: #MistOFMidnight
About Sandra Byrd
Sandra Byrd is a best-selling author and has earned Library Journal's Best Books of the year pick twice, in 2011 for To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn, and in 2012 for The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr. She's twice been a Christy Award finalist, for To Die For and for Let Them Eat Cake: A Novel. Roses Have Thorns: A Novel of Elizabeth I published April 2013
Website | Twitter | Facebook
Posted Thursday, 5 March, 2015 by jorielov in 19th Century, ARC | Galley Copy, Balance of Faith whilst Living, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, British Literature, Castles & Estates, Cemeteries & Graveyards, Clever Turns of Phrase, Death of a Sibling, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, England, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Genre-bender, Gothic Literature, Gothic Mystery, Gothic Romance, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Haunting & Ethereal, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical Romance, Historical Thriller Suspense, India, Inheritance & Identity, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards, Life Shift, Literature of India, Lyrical Quotations, Military Fiction, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Orphans & Guardians, Passionate Researcher, Philosophical Intuitiveness, Singletons & Commitment, Suspense, the Victorian era, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage, World Religions
