Chart Your Course | A Wyrd And Wonder #bookstack as #JorieReads her Year 8 selections!

Posted Wednesday, 7 May, 2025 by jorielov 3 Comments

Wyrd And Wonder 2020 banner created by Imyril. Image Credit: Flaming phoenix by Sujono Sujono from 123RF.com.

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!!

You might have wondered where Jorie has been this first week of Wyrd And Wonder! I must admit, the first week of May did not quite play out the way I had thought it would – as I was gathering books from my local library which parlay into our lovely theme this year of #NauticalFantasy whilst I was happily diving inside the #bookstack I selected to read this May. Those stories are not quite within the theme, but one series is adjacent to the theme which was a happy surprise!

On the 2nd of May, late at night that Friday, my Mum went to the hospital – she had intense back and stomach pains and was truly uncomfortable. I was beside myself as I didn’t know how to help or what to do other than to drive her to the ER as I knew the answer had to be at the hospital. This is on the foot heels of her addressing her asthma which resumed after a long absence in her life. We have been sorting out with her doctors and insurance how to get inhalers and a nebulizer which seems to take longer than necessary to resolve but we were making progress. Then, that Friday, after I was home from my second job I knew something was wrong. We were in the ER from 10p to 130a and when they released her as she still had those same pains, but they were a bit reduced from when we arrived – I did question if they should run more tests and see what was causing the issues. They were convinced it was something more minor and would resolve on its own as her heart and lungs were cleared by the tests they had already run.

I was too exhausted to contemplate it further at that point and we went home. By 1045a Saturday morning we were back in the ER and why it took them *six!* hours to sort out it was her gallbladder causing all the pain and discomfort I am unsure. However, she was admitted to the hospital and surgery was scheduled for Sunday. Except that on Sunday, the 4th her levels were too elevated for surgery, and they had to push the surgery forward to Monday. I took off work on Saturday but went in on Monday as the timing of the surgery was originally scheduled for when I would be at work and afterwards, I could see her in her room as she recovered. Ironically, that didn’t quite go to plan!

Blessedly my boss let me go early as he knew I was growing worried about not knowing what was going on with Mum. The text alerts from the hospital never worked for me and so, I was in the dark. I arrived shortly before 2p and was stunned to find she wasn’t in her room. Apparently, her surgery time had shifted, and I was to hurry to the basement to see her before she went into the OR. On arrival in the family waiting room, I was informed I couldn’t see her as I missed my time window. I was about to leave and go home to return a bit later as I needed to check on my cats and change clothes, etc as I had come straight from work. I also needed to let my night boss know I couldn’t come in as I was going to be at the hospital waiting to speak with the surgeon post-op and to see Mum after she returned to her room. Thankfully that elevator is truly slow moving – as another nurse popped her head out of another door and said, “Come with me”. Somehow, I was able to see Mum after all right before she went into the OR and it was a blessing for both of us!

One interesting bit to note is that when it was time to ride the elevator it wasn’t arriving at all. There was someone from the hospital waiting with me and he said, “Where are you going?” I said first floor and he said, “Come with me” – we went through the secured door and through another one and I found myself in a steep staircase and then, promptly after two flights told “Here you go!” I was so dearly winded as that was more exercise than I usually get during a week – I said, “Thank you.” I had to get directions as I was on the ‘staff’ side of floor one and in a winding route, I made my way back to the front entrance. When I turned to thank him for his kindness again, he had already disappeared.

I returned about an hour later and spoke to one of the surgical nurses who went to find the nurse who had taken me back to see Mum. She let me know everything had gone well even though the surgery took a bit longer than expected (nearly two hours!) and that the surgeon would be out to see me as soon as he could. It would take another hour for me to see Mum as she was still in recovery. I might not have had alerts from the hospital, but I felt buffered by the kindness of nurses and staff who were looking out for me and Mum.

The surgeon was wicked kind and explained everything to me – he was thankful he had taken the case as it was an interesting one from the fact her gallbladder was so dearly inflamed. It was a living testament of prayer and divine interventions – I felt watched over from the moment we entered the hospital to the moment Mum was discharged. Everything just fit into place – she had wonderful and attentive nurses and most of them had wicked humour which helped loads! Including her doctor in the ER who not only helped her with this issue but with her asthma in the weeks prior to her surgery. We were truly blessed and to have her home now recovering is the best bit of all.

Thereby, my Wyrd And Wonder started off with a medical emergency and a rotation of visits to the local hospital – whilst I dreamt of fantastical worlds and characters I couldn’t wait to meet. I did play loads of hours of Puzzles and Spells (ie. the Harry Potter mobile game) — so I was still keeping a toe step into Fantasy, you could say! Laughs. I also put more books on hold at my library. Overall, it was a very intense week, and I am thankful calmer waters are arriving now. I hope if anyone has to go through something similar, they feel as supported as I did by the nurses as they truly are the unsung heroes of hospitals. They not only help patients, but they are the supportive shoulder for families, too, and it was especially kind how they helped me as I was navigating this alone. It was another new experience as I am used to having someone with me – they will have my gratitude forever.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Journey with me into #WyrdAndWonder:

Wyrd And Wonder Prompt Challenge graphic created by Imyril using Mermaid image by Yuri Arcurs Photography (https://www.123rf.com/profile_peopleimages12). Used with permission.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com Read More

Divider

Posted Wednesday, 7 May, 2025 by jorielov in #25PagePreview, #WyrdAndWonder, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Stories of Jorie, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event

#WyrdAndWonder Year 8 | Come sail with us as we celebrate NAUTICAL FANTASY!

Posted Wednesday, 30 April, 2025 by jorielov 0 Comments

#WyrdAndWonder Nautical Fantasy graphic created by Jorie in Canva.

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!!

You would expect me to know this particular niche of Fantasy a bit more than I do. I l have held a long affinity of wonder and joy for the oceans and oceanic life. Yet, when it boils down to reading stories set at sea or tucked into stories about creatures of the sea – I’m a bit limited in my wanderings. Ideally, I had hoped to gather a heap of lovelies from my local library during the chase-up weeks into the event this May. Less ideal of course was waiting to the very last golden hour to find everything. Of course, you know which route I took – the latter one of course!

As I revealled during #TheSundayPost – I needed something to distract me from falling ill and losing a week of work from both my jobs! The only hidden blessing was having some sick days to offset the absences a bit but it wasn’t completely covering all the lost hours. Except, my initial searches at my local library via their card catalogue proved futile. As I found a few titles – by few, less than five? And, I couldn’t sort out why that could be – as in past years during Wyrd And Wonder I have had such a bevy of enlightening choices to choose amongst that I nearly run out of hours to endeavour to chase into each and every story I’ve discovered! I decided this year might be different for me and that was just going to have to be okay!

Each May feels like a holiday for me (ie. a vacation) as I get to settle into adventuring into fantastical worlds and explore who lives there. It is such an uplift for me each May – even, if the last few years have been lean on books read vs books sampled, I have been having a heap of fun along the way towards finding #newtomeauthors and future beloved reads. One of the key reasons I love co-hosting Wyrd And Wonder is a continued celebration of a genre which bewitches me and a community of readers and the socially bookish who all mutually share a love for the same genre and kinds of stories I enjoy seeking out myself. It is one *big!* happy party every May – especially if you visit our blogs and find our posts – from discussions to lists to reviews to a bit of everything and anything you can think of which allows the blogger to discuss Fantasy.

Be on the lookout on my #bookstagram feeds via @joriestory3 where I will be posting more content (especially the bookish variety!) throughout the month! I will also be sharing content and images for our main @WyrdAndWonder Insta feeds, too. I have found my rhythm on #bookstagram at long last and am enjoying my journey on the social platform. I might not be able to post as regularly as some, but I take it at my own pace and post as it suits me to post inasmuch as finding ways to share my bookish and readerly life which compliment my blog.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

After having a bit of a panic attack over nearly losing my blog on Tuesday due to a technical error on my part and not realising I made it – wells, let’s just say, that took HOURS to reset my heart – as I hadn’t even known my blog was down let alone in jeopardy of existing! I needed a way to avert my emotions and distract my mind – which is why I embarked on a second trip through my library’s card catalogue and found some rather extraordinary stories – ALL of which befit our theme this year and I was so shocked as I had looked previously and only found a handful?

Now, I can participate in a few more prompts from our challenge than I thought I could whilst happily having more fun with the original ones I elected to host on our main #WyrdAndWonder feeds via #bookstagram! I couldn’t believe my good fortune – especially as nearly all the lovelies I found are wickedly diverse reads and happily encompass Nautical Fantasy from a heap of lovely new angles of insight and entrance!

For those who might be eager to know which topics I’m focusing on ahead of time, they are as follows:

Which of these prompts inspires you as well as reader!? Do you have any books or authors you’d like to recommend to me? I have been enjoying the discovery process as much as I’ve been enjoying re-finding the stories which befit the prompts, too.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

And, here are the prompts I am going to see if I can work on outside of the official ones:

  • #MapMonday: 5 May
  • Sea Serpents: 7 May
  • Foreign Climes: 22 May
  • Standalone Isle: 23 May

I’m not sure if I can join these on the original days their scheduled but I’m going to give it a bit of a go and see how I can sneak in a few more of the prompts! I might have others I can participate with as well – I will have to see how May trudges along as I’m reading and what I’m finding in the stories! I have a full set of stories I picked to read this month alongside exploring our theme of choice, too.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

May has always held a special joy for me as a book blogger and social reader. I am wicked thankful that our community of Wyrd And Wonder continues to grow and encompass so many different routes of exploring the genre of Fantasy and celebrating what gives us such a fantastical presence in our lives. From books to films to games to music and everything else in-between.

Are you ready to start the fantastical celebration?

What do you want to do this Wyrd And Wonder? And, will you join us?!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Wyrd And Wonder banner created by Imyril using Mermaid image by Yuri Arcurs Photography (https://www.123rf.com/profile_peopleimages12). Used with permission.

Fantasy truly is much more than a genre – it is an exploration of hidden worlds & themes which are universally appealling to a wide audience – crossing through all boundaries and uniting everyone together who finds a niche of Fantasy their jam. This is why we wanted to create a happy space to celebrate this wicked wonderful section of Speculative Fiction – to find the joy in what others are finding for themselves & uniting together to highlight every which way to Sunday Fantasy gives us a burst of #randomJOY and lifts our souls!

Read More

Divider

Posted Wednesday, 30 April, 2025 by jorielov in #WyrdAndWonder, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event

#TheSundayPost | XXIII | Some books, a bout of illness and Wyrd And Wonder is around the corner!

Posted Sunday, 27 April, 2025 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

#TheSundayPost banner created by Jorie in Canva.

[Official Blurb] The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog. This is your news post, so personalize it! Include as much as you want or as little. Be creative, it can be a vlog or just a showcase of your goodies. Link up once a week or once a month, you decide. Book haul can include library books, yard sale finds, arcs and bought books.. share them!

  • Enter your link on the post-
  • Sundays beginning at 12:01 am (CST) (link will be open all week)
  • Link back to this post or this blog
  • Visit others who have linked up
  • Read this week’s #TheSundayPost!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

I truly wish I could say I *like!* Spring,

but each year, I find reasons why I’d rather skip it!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Jorie’s life behind the blog:

No, one truly wants to *lose!* a week from work – and I definitely hate being sick overall because it takes so long to feel well again! *le sigh* Mum was starting to have issues with her asthma and felt she should go see her doctor about it. Except apparently as there wasn’t a record of it happening (although this is a lifelong condition – even if it goes dormant for years, it is still within you!) they wouldn’t do anything about it. Until, one night I heard her really having issues with it and that morning I called off work to take her to the ER. Clearly those doctors understand asthma and now Mum has what is called: cough variant asthma so it is even harder to shake once you are in the throes of it. And, of course, now her doctor is willing to discuss her asthma issues. Oy. Not sure why a visit to the ER fixed that communication issue but that’s where we are apparently in healthcare.

I went back to work and everything was fine until a few days later when they clearly weren’t fine anymore. I remember waking up on Wednesday and feeling like I had caught the worst cold – called off sick and thankfully had some sick days I could use to cover my time off work as that was the part I worried about the most. I was hopeful in three days I would see a corner turnt and I could get back to work as it didn’t seem like it would linger. Oy. Foolish thoughts. By Friday, I felt even worse than Wednesday but my eye looked infected too and my ear was out. Oy. Turns out I didn’t have a cold at all but an aggressive case of strep throat – with antibiotics and eye drops by the weekend, I was starting to see myself turn the corner I had hoped for earlier in the week. I’m not used to being out of work for four days (I only had enough sick days to cover three) and it only happened one other time in the last two years and once before that where I was out for longer as I caught a really bad virus.

Meanwhile, Wyrd And Wonder is about to get underway and I’m still sorting out my reading route with the stories as I have some wicked wonderful ones this year to read! Every year feels that way which makes the even wickeder somehow! Laughs. I’m hopeful I can knock out some of the #bookstagram posts today, start writing the Announcement post and seeing what I can do to turn my blog back round as I’ve lost so many lovely hours this month again.

I’d rather focus on talking about the books arriving by Post, my plans for Wyrd And Wonder and limiting how much I share about being sick as honestly, I just want to be ‘over it’ at this point!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

In regard to my blog and readerly life:

I sadly missed the blog tour stop for The Half-Life Empire – of which I listened to the audiobook for my blog tour book review. You can read my fuller thoughts about what took me out of the story on my Review – however, what the story did for me was to get me out of my readerly funk and back into STORIES. I credit this to both the narrator and the author – as the narrator had such a beautiful approach to her narration of the story and the characters within it whilst the author gave me such an alarmingly realistic world set in a Post-Apocalyptic America. It just wasn’t well suited to me as a reader overall due to some of the things which became inclusive of the storyline. However, I was able to give feedback on the narrator’s performance and on behalf of some of the bits of the story I felt the author did very well to anchour the reader into understanding certain aspects of her world.

Aside from finishing the post a bit delayed due to being ill – I haven’t been able to pick up a book or listen to an audiobook for the duration of my illness. The coughing made it impossible, and the exhaustion took the focus right out from under me! Oy. I was planning to be a bit more active this April in respect to reading and posting on my blog – however, some months just go a different way than we first plan them too.

I will say, I have some exciting reads planned for May – as Wyrd And Wonder is my exploration of Fantasy where I set sail into different subniches of genre and new inventive worlds to seek out as I continue my adventures into Fantasy as a whole. And, that dear hearts has me itching with excitement! Plus, we have a lot planned behind the scenes as a team of hosts and I am even more eager to see what we as a collective community of Wyrd And Wonder will be doing this year, too.

Read More

Divider

Posted Sunday, 27 April, 2025 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, The Sunday Post

#TheWriteReads blog tour | “The Half-Life Empire: An Alien Apocalypse Novel” (Half-Life Empire, Book One) by Shami Stovall

Posted Tuesday, 22 April, 2025 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

Audiobook Review banner created by Jorie in Canva.

Borrowed Book By: I found out about this novel via The Write Reads who was hosting a blog tour in April, 2025. I decided to check to see if an audiobook copy was available to purchase via Audible as I have a subscription to their Plus Catalogue. I was surprised to find it is included in the Plus Catalogue, thereby, I was able to ‘borrow’ or listen to a copy of the audiobook via my subscription without having to purchase the audiobook at this time. 

Thereby, this is a self-listen of mine and I was not obligated to post a review. I am sharing my ruminative thoughts for my own edification and for continuing to share my readerly life on Jorie Loves A Story. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Why I wanted to step outside my zone of comfort for this audiobook:

I have been in such a readerly rut lately – too much on my heart/mind to properly focus on STORIES. Sad yet true. I knew I needed to pull myself out of this FUNK and guess what? The Half-Life Empire is just the kind of STORY I need right now. I discovered the writings of Ms Stovall with the novels Time-Marked Warlock and Chronos Warlock – of which are future reads and reviews of mine. If the last few weeks were different – the first novel of that series would have been happily consumed and reviewed already. However, if you read over the top anchour of my #BestBooksOf2024 post you’ll understand what has been going on IRL for Mum and I.

Try as I might, I’ve been finding myself pulled out of reading and the stories I want to be attached inside of late. I know what caused the detachment but how to restart reading again when you can’t find yourself able to focus? Wells. Sometimes you have to read something radically outside your normal wanderings and reboot your readerly life. For me, that was choosing a story that was within one of the main genres I regularly read but perhaps not a subniche of the genre I’ve previously read. Towards that end – I was grasping at straws as they say to find such a book and to find a writer I who could hold my attention.

Then, quite unexpectedly this lovely blog tour was announced, and I looked up the story and felt it might kick me out of my readerly funk! Especially considering I know NOTHING about Post-Apocalyptic worlds and rarely do I read stories about aliens overtaking worlds. Science Fiction is one of those delightful segues of interest in my regular wanderings and one that I want to delve deeper into exploring this year which is why I have a stack of Sci Fi Reads in queue. This particular story felt wholly new to me, and I felt would offer a new perspective on a genre I still feel like I’m in the early days of discovering.

Sometimes you just have to take a chance – find a story and buckle up for the ride it gives you! And, for me, the story held my interest for a long while until I reached a point where I wasn’t sure I could continue with the story. Although this ended up becoming a DNF for me – I have a lot of notes and thoughts to share about the story, the lead character (Kita) and the performance of the narrator – in case anyone else feels this is a better fit for them and know they can finish the journey I started with The Half-Life Empire.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

#TheWriteReads blog tour | “The Half-Life Empire: An Alien Apocalypse Novel” (Half-Life Empire, Book One) by Shami StovallThe Half-Life Empire
by Shami Stovall
Source: Audible | Subscription
Narrator: Diana Richardson

From the Dragon Award–nominated author of Astra One young woman leads a ragtag band of survivors across a fractured, post-alien-invasion America.

Hacker Kita Yamasaki would do anything to escape the post-apocalyptic landscape that was the result of the Forever Winter. But for a normal person, the only options are the war-hungry nation-state of Ex Cathedra or the isolationist United California. Fortunately, Kita is anything but normal.

When she finds a faded brochure for the BC Oasis—an underground greenhouse capable of sheltering a quarter million people—she jumps at the opportunity, even going so far as to steal a fission battery the oasis requires to operate at full capacity. There’s just one problem . . . The battery belongs to the ruthless judges of Ex Cathedra.

Now Kita finds herself the target of a deadly chase. In her race to safety, she picks up three fellow Dallas; his mute daughter, Crouton; and Bishop, a junk hunter. But will they betray her and take the battery for themselves? Is one of them a member of the cultist Iron-Blooded who worship the few remaining alien invaders scattered across Earth’s wasteland?

Faced with certain death if they’re caught by the judges’ power-armored soldiers, Kita must put aside her suspicions and make a headlong dash for sanctuary—and the promise of a new life.

Genres: Science Fiction



Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ASIN: B0CJ441FPM

Published by Podium Audio

on 17th October, 2023

Format: Audiobook | Digital

Length: 15 hours and 49 minutes (unabridged)

BBNYA Finalist Badge 2024 provided by The Write Reads and is used with permission.

Published by: Podium Audio (@podiumentertainment) via Instagram

About Shami Stovall

Shami Stovall

Shami Stovall is a multi-award-winning author of fantasy and science fiction. Before that, she taught history and criminal law at the college level and loved every second. When she’s not reading fascinating articles and books about ancient China or the Byzantine Empire, Stovall can be found playing way too many video games, especially RPGs and tactics simulators.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com Read More

Divider

Posted Tuesday, 22 April, 2025 by jorielov in Action & Adventure Fiction, First Contact, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction