Category: Young Adult Fiction

ISBN: 9780007488391

Genres: Art & Art History, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Literary Fiction, Suspense, Time Slip and/or Time Shift

Published by Harper Books, HarperCollins UK

on 6th August, 2013 (USA) | 15th August, 2016 (UK)

Format: Paperback Edition

Pages: 382

Published By: Harper (@harperbooks),
an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers UK (@HarperCollinsUK)
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook

The UK edition released 9 days after the 6th of August, 2013!

The American debut was published by Simon & Schuster!

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Author Links: Site | Twitter | GoodReads | wicked good Interview!

more insight behind ‘the book’ | Book Discussion on Book Browse w/ Author Q&A

Converse via: #GravityOfBirds + #TimeShift

Posted Sunday, 6 August, 2017 by jorielov in #HistoricalFix, 20th Century, Art, Art History, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Birthdays & Blogoversaries, Blog Tour Host & Reviewer, Book Browse, Book Review (non-blog tour), Bookish Films, Coming-Of Age, Debilitating Diagnosis & Illness, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Fly in the Ointment, Good vs. Evil, Inspiring Video Related to Content, Literary Fiction, Poetry, Suspense, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, The Seventies, The Sixties, Time Shift, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, Vulgarity in Literature, Wildlife Artwork, Women's Health

Blog Book Tour | “The Heartbeat of the Bitteroot” by Janice Mineer

Posted Friday, 16 June, 2017 by jorielov Cedar Fort Inc, Heartbeat of the Bitterroot, Janice Mineer, Sweetwater Books 1 Comment

Acquired Book By: I have been a blog tour hostess with Cedar Fort for the past two years, wherein I took a brief hiatus from hosting before resuming this August 2016. I appreciate the diversity of the stories the Indie publisher is publishing per year, not only for fiction and non-fiction but for healthy eats within their Front Table Books (cookbooks). I appreciate their dedication to writing general market, INSPY reads and LDS focused stories across the genres they publish.

I was selected to be a part of the “The Heartbeat of the Bitterroot” blog tour wherein I received a complimentary copy of “The Heartbeat of the Bitterroot” direct from the publisher Sweetwater Books (an imprint of Cedar Fort Inc.) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why this particular setting interested me to explore:

Throughout Spring 2017, my family and I have been dearly attached to binge watching Heartland which is family television drama from Canada (CBC). We’re blessed to be able to see this via NetFlix – I cannot even begin to tell you how difficult it was to reach Season 8 realising this was the final season we could see for quite a long time – as S9 + S10 have not yet been released to NetFlix whilst S11 is currently filming! I sometimes check the feeds on Twitter – spying photographs of the current production and hopefully not running into a spoiler which will give me advanced information as I have tried to remain in the dark about this series since we first started to watch it! I truly can shout #iloveheartland!

Although this series takes place just north of Montana – in High River, Alberta Canada – the location of the series and the strong presence of cowboy culture and natural horsemanship being the key principle interests in the background lifestyles of the lead characters, I have seen the Rockies in a different ray of light inasmuch as I have a firmer understanding about how interconnected Montana (and the rest of the Upper tier states) and Alberta are to each other. Especially in regards to the circuit for rodeos and/or Equestrian events or horse training. You cannot watch Heartland and not feel a deep attachment for Montana – even if previously I felt connected to Montana via The Horse Whisperer despite the fact the ending in the novel crushed my soul. (I prefer the ending in the film!)

The first time I learnt of the Rockies, I was a young child – listening with earnest to my Mum’s stories of her travels out West. I have mentioned it a few times on my blog in the past, how awe-inspiring my Mum’s travelogue stories have charmed my heart and have inspired me to go West as soon as I’m able too – if only to see remnants of what she once saw herself. I first fell in love with Wyoming, Colorado and Montana through the Westerns I would read a young reader – vying an affection for Westerns and Cowboy Fiction at a young age whilst learning how to ride myself. It was quite fitting to read a Western novel whilst at keepaway camp for horse riding girls! Laughs.

I personally researched the Bitterroot Valley ahead of reading this novel – as similar to the rest of Montana, I hadn’t heard too much about this particular area previously. I was quite chuffed by what I found – it’s a hidden gem of an oasis! The natural beauty and the over abundance of natural joy bursting through the valley of the Bitterroot is quite impressive to say the least! If you hop on YT you’ll find videos which will make you wish you were on holiday there! It was my intention to run an interview in connection with this review – however, this pre-dates my Spring allergies and my bouts of unwellness through the Spring months as a result of how wrecking my allergies became this year. I am hoping I can still get in touch with the author post-review and see if I can still bring her joy of the valley to my readers through a setting focused interview of her lovely valley. I would love to still introduce you to the beauty and charm of what is so very compelling about this part of Western Montana!

The Heartbeat of the Bitterroot
by Janice Mineer
Source: Direct from Publisher

And so, it followed me, this dream. It launched me on a journey. But I never imagined that the journey would nearly cost me my life.

Jenna Clark tries to keep her bleak childhood memories buried in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, but a newfound secret about her father's identity forces her to dig into her past. With the help of Michael Callahan - the charming man she meets at her uncle's ranch - she delves deeper into a history that would rather stay hidden. When harmless pranks quickly turn into aggressive threats, Jenna must decide whether to run away one more time or face her past with courage and finally let love into her heart.

Places to find the book:

ISBN: 9781462120291

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Sweet Romance, Western Fiction

Published by Sweetwater Books

on 13th June, 2017

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 311

Published By: Sweetwater Books (@SweetwaterBooks),
an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc (@CedarFortBooks)

This title was previously released as Secret Heart of the Bitterroot (2015) – Self Published

Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook

Converse via: #Romance or #SweetRomance

About Janice Mineer

Janice Mineer was born in the state of Washington. She graduated from Brigham Young University and later taught English, allowing her to spend quality time with something she loves - the written word. A hopeless Romantic, Janice has played harp for weddings, even for one that took place on the edge of a cliff over a river. Because of her first husband's long illness, Janice and her family spent extended time away from home to be near the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. When her husband passed away Janice dedicated herself to work with the Ronald McDonald House to provide a home away from home for families who need medical care for their children. Janice is the author of a children's book Gingerbread from the Heart. Heartbeat of the Bitterroot is her first novel.

Janice lives in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana with her husband Randy. Between them, they have five children and eleven beautiful grandchildren.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Secondary Site

Posted Friday, 16 June, 2017 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host & Reviewer, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, Coming-Of Age, Contemporary Romance, Indie Author, Life Shift, Modern Day, Romance Fiction, Small Towne Fiction, Sweet Romance, Western Romance

Blog Book Tour | “The Belle of Two Arbors” by Paul Dimond feat. poetry by Martha Buhr Grimes

Posted Thursday, 1 June, 2017 by jorielov (Poet) Martha Buhr Grimes, Paul Dimond, The Belle of Two Arbors 3 Comments

Acquired Book By: I have been hosting for Poetic Book Tours for a few years now, where I am finding myself encouraged to seek out collections of poetry or incredible fiction being published through Small Trade publishers and presses. I have an Indie spirit and mentality as a writer and I appreciate finding authors who are writing creative works through Indie resources as I find Indies have a special spirit about them. It is a joy to work with Poetic Book Tours for their resilience in seeking out voices in Literature which others might overlook and thereby, increasing my own awareness of these beautiful lyrical voices in the craft. I was thankful to be selected for the blog tour featuring a unique combination of historical fiction, poetry and a saga of one woman’s life lived through the story within ‘The Belle of Two Arbors’ as it sounded like such an original concept to be explored in Historical Fiction. I received a complimentary ARC copy of the book direct from the publicist of Paul Dimond in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I felt inspired to read this novel:

Through my literary wanderings hosting for Poetic Book Tours, I have come to expand my Contemporary Poetry readings whilst continuing to seek out Indie Fiction by writers who may or may not become widely known in the bookish community. I love finding the innovating voices who write inspiring novels but one thing I also like to seek out are the writers who bend genre to their own will. One of my favourite sub-niches of literature are the genre-benders – where there is a fusion of influences from more than one genre or thematic of story-telling being bridged into one singular story or the arc of a character’s journey told through a series.

What intrigued me about this release is how it’s a story which is not only told from narrative prose but through poetic insight into the character’s internal mind. Poetry is a personal release of emotion, vision and imagination. Purporting through a styled layout of lyrical insightfulness, poetry can transcend a wide field of emotional range. I was inspired to seek out this title if only to see how poetry and narrative scope could interlink to each other and expound upon the telling of a character’s journey.

Interestingly enough, I knew this story was set in Michigan, however, it wasn’t until I started reading the story I learnt where in Michigan the story takes place as I didn’t look up the specifics until I was already inside the chapters. I have known about Ann Arbor for most of my life, as it’s a progressively diverse city and has been on the forefront of political liberalism for years. It’s a University city but moreso than that, it’s a city which likes to stand on it’s own – curating it’s own mind about things and taking a stand against what goes against it’s core beliefs. In effect, it’s been a rockstar city for the state. However, the other half of the story is set further North, just before you get to Sault Ste. Marie, there is this little tucked away corner of the Michigan Coast where the Traverse Bay region resides. I know a great deal about this portion of the state even if I haven’t stepped foot on her shores. This is partially why as I read more of the story, it tugged at my heart knowing about all the recent changes happening up there and around the rest of the state as a whole. I hint about this a bit but as the focus is not about Environmental Science, Geology or the cause for concern over contaminated water basins – I opted to yield to focusing on the literary side of the book rather than the grief I have felt over the issues most at hand for Michigan’s residents.

The Belle of Two Arbors
by Paul Dimond
Source: Publicist via Poetic Book Tours

Born at the turn of the twentieth century in Glen Arbor, near the dunes of Northern Michigan, young Belle is the first child of a gruff stove works boss and a crippled mother who weaned Belle on the verse of Emily Dickenson. When a natural disaster results in her mother’s death and nearly takes the life of her younger brother Pip, Belle creates a fierce, almost ecstatic farewell song. Thus begins her journey to compose a perfect Goodbye to Mama.

At 21, Belle ventures south to Ann Arbor for university, with teenaged Pip in tow. There, she befriends Robert Frost, Ted Roethke and Wystan Auden and finds that her poetry stands alongside theirs, and even with that of her hero, Dickinson. Her lyrics capture the sounds, sights, and rhythms of the changing seasons in the northern forests, amidst the rolling dunes by the shores of the Great Lake.

Despite the peace she finds, Belle also struggles in both homes. Up north, she battles her father who thinks a woman can’t run the family business; and clashes against developers who would scar the natural landscape. In Ann Arbor, she challenges the status quo of academic pedants and chauvinists.

Belle’s narrative brings these two places to life in their historic context: a growing Midwestern town driven by a public university, striving for greatness; and a rural peninsula seeking prosperity while preserving its natural heritage. Through the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Post-War Boom, Belle’s story is hard to put down. Her voice and songs will be even harder to forget.

Places to find the book:

ISBN: 978-1943290215

Also by this author: Author Interview: Paul Dimond

Genres: Biographical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction

Published by Cedar Forge Press

on 4th April, 2017

Format: Paperback ARC

Pages: 696

Published By: Cedar Forge Press

Available Formats: Paperback

Read the article about the author via The Ann Arbor News

Converse via: #BelleOfTwoArbors

About Paul Dimond

Since birth Paul Dimond has shared his time between Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan, and Glen Arbor amidst Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern Michigan.

Prior to researching and writing The Belle of Two Arbors, Paul Dimond served as the Director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, tried several major race case that divided the U.S. Supreme Court and served as the Special Assistant to President Clinton for Economic Policy. He has also practiced law, chaired a national real estate firm and continues to spend his time between the two Arbors. He is an alumni of Amherst College and the University of Michigan Law School.

Website | Blog | Goodreads | LibraryThing

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2017 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Thursday, 1 June, 2017 by jorielov in 20th Century, ARC | Galley Copy, Astronomy, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host & Reviewer, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Content Note, Cultural & Religious Traditions, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Equality In Literature, Family Drama, Family Life, Father-Daughter Relationships, Fly in the Ointment, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, Inheritance & Identity, Life Shift, Literary Fiction, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Native American Fiction, Poetic Book Tours, Poetry, Realistic Fiction, Single Mothers, Singletons & Commitment, Small Towne USA, Sports, Sustainability & Ecological Preservation, Swimming & Competition, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, the Forties, the Great Depression, the Nineteen Hundreds, the Thirties, The World Wars, Upper Mid-West America, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction, Women's Health, Women's Rights, World Religions

#BonnieAndClydeVersary | Featuring two excerpts from debut novel”Becoming Bonnie” by Jenni L. Walsh which is a Biographical Historical Fiction novel about ‘Bonnie before she met Clyde’!

Posted Tuesday, 23 May, 2017 by jorielov Becoming Bonnie, Jenni L. Walsh, MacMillian Publishers, TOR 0 Comments

On the #PubDay for ‘Becoming Bonnie’, I talked about what implored me to become interested in reading this particular debut novel which is part of a special duology on the life behind #BonnieAndClyde told from a unique perspective by Ms Walsh. Today, is the 83rd Anniversary of the day Bonnie and Clyde died quite tragically and where their lives turnt from legend to lore. There is a lot of unknowns about the crime duo, including different accounts of whether or not Bonnie herself played a pivotal role in the crime sprees or if she was merely Clyde’s accomplice who was treading water in the deep end of a situation she could not exit. I’ve been doing a bit of light research into her life, similar to what I did after I read Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald as there are some authors out there who simply find an incredible way to tap into the heart of the living person they’re broaching into fiction.

Although, I am still awaiting my copy of the audiobook for ‘Becoming Bonnie’, being able to bring to my readers select excerpts from the novel itself has clued me into a small portion of how Ms Walsh transitioned the legend, the lore and the woman of ‘Bonnie’ into her novel. She had a lot of groundwork to cover and a lot of research to wade through, but each time I read a passage from the novel on one of my posts, the closer I feel to Bonn herself. I impart this to the depth of understanding Ms Walsh has achieved in believing not only in Bonnie herself but in the process she took to unearth a part of Bonn’s life we might not have expected to uncover.

This is one reason I dearly love reading Biographical Historical Fiction – you get to take a critical step into a life of someone you might not have felt you could understand in any other way, because the way in which writers use this thread of literature is to be wholly representative of a living person’s life. Whether or not they take creative liberties to tell their stories or shift time or setting to make a working theory of their lives is unknown, but what I do know is my firm appreciation for the work they put into their stories. You will find a lot of stories which fall under this category of interest in my Story Vault, as it’s happily one of my favourites to devour!

Becoming Bonnie
Subtitle: The Crash of the Century: When Bonnie Met Clyde
by Jenni L. Walsh

From debut historical novelist Jenni L. Walsh comes the untold story of how wholesome Bonnelyn Parker became half of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde duo.

The summer of 1927 might be the height of the Roaring Twenties, but Bonnelyn Parker is more likely to belt out a church hymn than sling drinks at an illicit juice joint. She’s a sharp girl with plans to overcome her family's poverty, provide for herself, and maybe someday marry her boyfriend, Roy Thornton. But when Roy springs a proposal on her and financial woes jeopardize her ambitions, Bonnelyn finds salvation in an unlikely place: Dallas's newest speakeasy, Doc's.

Living the life of a moll at night, Bonnie remains a wholesome girl by day, engaged to Roy, attending school and working toward a steady future. When Roy discovers her secret life, and embraces it—perhaps too much, especially when it comes to booze and gambling—Bonnie tries to make the pieces fit. Maybe she can have it all: the American Dream, the husband, and the intoxicating allure of jazz music. What she doesn't know is that her life—like her country—is headed for a crash.

She’s about to meet Clyde Barrow.

Few details are known about Bonnie's life prior to meeting her infamous partner. In Becoming Bonnie, Jenni L. Walsh shows a young woman promised the American dream and given the Great Depression, and offers a compelling account of why she fell so hard for a convicted felon—and turned to crime herself.

Places to find the book:

ISBN: 9780765390189

Also by this author: Becoming Bonnie

Genres: Biographical Fiction, Historical Fiction

Published By: Forge (@torbooks) | Read their incredible BLOG

Available Formats: Hardback and Audiobook Read More

Posted Tuesday, 23 May, 2017 by jorielov in Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host & Reviewer, Bonnie and Clyde, Book | Novel Excerpt, Book Spotlight & Announcement, Coming-Of Age, Historical Fiction, Reader Submitted Q&A

#PubDay Q&A w/ Excerpt | Celebrating the debut #HistFic novel “Becoming Bonnie” by Jenni L. Walsh

Posted Tuesday, 9 May, 2017 by jorielov Becoming Bonnie, Jenni L. Walsh, MacMillian Publishers, TOR 2 Comments

It isn’t often you cross paths with a debut novelist who found your bookish blog via a random Google search, however, this is *exactly!* what united my path with debut novelist Jenni L. Walsh – of whom is the author of a duology about the scandalous and infamous couple: Bonnie + Clyde! I can almost hear your murmurings… is that a story Jorie would normally lean towards embracing? Actually, technically your right, it’s not generally my cuppa tea, except for one unexpected element which was stitched into the writings of Walsh: she took on the legacy of the duo through a sociological pair of intuitive eyes to seek out the reasons why Bonnie not only joined in alliance with Clyde but what motivated her to seek out an outlaw lifestyle after having such a traditional upbringing.

When I first received notice of this release (‘Becoming Bonnie’) – I must admit, the first thing I remembered was how one of my dearest friends in the UK had had this incredible interest in sourcing biographies and historical perspective narratives about Bonnie and Clyde. It was a keen interest of hers and one I enjoyed hearing about as she was trailing behind them by what was historically known and what was being inserted into their life’s story by the pieces and threads of what researchers and historians alike were able to re-knit back together. I never forgot her dedication nor her curious attachment to them. Admittedly, I had a certain interest in the collective works of Mario Puzo, so you could say our conversations were quite interesting all the way round!

When it came to deciding how to *celebrate!* the #PubDay for #BecomingBonnie, I knew I wanted to host a conversation with Ms Walsh – noodling out some of the curiously curious details I was itching to find out about myself once I was able to dig into the narrative directly. Thankfully, I will be soon listening to the audiobook – whilst sharing my ruminative thoughts on how Walsh was able to articulate her goal in humanising Bonnie and giving us a strong impression of how Clyde influenced Bonn to live a life dangerously on the fringes of both society and the law.

What I respected the most though – is how Walsh changed her first trajectory angle of the story – as she was going to start on the sequel before writing the prequel (if you look at it from that perspective). I was thankful this first installment of the duology hinges on alighting ourselves into the shoes of Bonnie before she became an outlaw’s girlfriend and before she took the tentative steps towards exiting the life she once knew and embraced living dangerously on the edge. It reminded me of why I was keen to watch ‘Road to Perdition’ as it wasn’t told from a point-of-view your expecting but rather approached it from the sociological underpinnings of what led to the choices and the lifestyle of title character. In a way, I felt this was what Walsh had done with Bonnie – and that is why I accepted showcasing this new release. I wanted to know how she found a channel into the psyche of Bonnie whilst owning the truth of her journey and remaining unbiased by the actions Bonnie took once she bonded herself to Clyde.

If life is ultimately about choices – you have to wonder, if Bonnie and Clyde had taken an alternative series of steps towards their futures, what would their life stories tell us now? Or to put it a different way – what fractured their lives to such a degree of broken dreams, they had no other recourse than the path they took? I doubt we will ever fully understand the choices they made – but if a writer can knit out the heart of an infamous girl like Bonnie, than surely Ms Walsh is the one who rooted out Bonnie’s voice and left behind an authentically altruistic impression about her life.

Becoming Bonnie
Subtitle: The Crash of the Century: When Bonnie Met Clyde
by Jenni L. Walsh

From debut historical novelist Jenni L. Walsh comes the untold story of how wholesome Bonnelyn Parker became half of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde duo.

The summer of 1927 might be the height of the Roaring Twenties, but Bonnelyn Parker is more likely to belt out a church hymn than sling drinks at an illicit juice joint. She’s a sharp girl with plans to overcome her family's poverty, provide for herself, and maybe someday marry her boyfriend, Roy Thornton. But when Roy springs a proposal on her and financial woes jeopardize her ambitions, Bonnelyn finds salvation in an unlikely place: Dallas's newest speakeasy, Doc's.

Living the life of a moll at night, Bonnie remains a wholesome girl by day, engaged to Roy, attending school and working toward a steady future. When Roy discovers her secret life, and embraces it—perhaps too much, especially when it comes to booze and gambling—Bonnie tries to make the pieces fit. Maybe she can have it all: the American Dream, the husband, and the intoxicating allure of jazz music. What she doesn't know is that her life—like her country—is headed for a crash.

She’s about to meet Clyde Barrow.

Few details are known about Bonnie's life prior to meeting her infamous partner. In Becoming Bonnie, Jenni L. Walsh shows a young woman promised the American dream and given the Great Depression, and offers a compelling account of why she fell so hard for a convicted felon—and turned to crime herself.

Places to find the book: