#ChocLitChristmas feat. #PocketChocLit | #JorieReads a bit of ChocLit *before!* Christmas! Portable editions of Romance novellas perfectly trimmed for your ‘pocket’!

Posted Thursday, 22 December, 2016 by jorielov , , , 1 Comment

#MidnightChocLit banner created by Jorie in Canva. Book Photography Credit: Jorie of jorielovesastory.com.

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

Acquired Book By: I am a regular reviewer for ChocLitUK, where I hand select which books in either their backlist and/or current releases I would like to read next for my #ChocLitSaturdays blog feature. As of June 2016, I became a member of the ChocLit Stars Team in tandem with being on the Cover Reveal Team which I joined in May 2016. I reference the Stars as this is a lovely new reader contribution team of sending feedback to the publisher ahead of new book releases. As always, even if I’m involved with a publisher in this sort of fashion, each review is never influenced by that participation and will always be my honest impression as I read the story. Whether the author is one I have previously read or never had the pleasure to read until the book greets my shelf.

I received a complimentary copy of “You’re the One that I Want” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

How a ChocLit girl like Jorie conceived #MidnightChocLit:

Pocket ChocLlit novellas, ChocLit tee, novella purse collage by Jorie. Book Photography Credit: Jorie of jorielovesastory.com.

Jorie’s #ChocLitChristmas surprise parcel:

*Six!* ChocLit novellas released into PRINT for the first time!

My very own #ChocLit tee! & a novella purse for travelling with #PocketChocLit! My endearing name for these portable ChocLit stories!

As most of you know by now, I’m an American bourne British writer – whose writerly voice is writ in AmeriBrit rather than American English (full story on My Bookish Life) – who just happens to have fallen in LOVE with reading British Romance novels published by an Indie UK publisher! For more insight into my writerly endeavours please read my essay about winning Nanowrimo via Priya’s Lit Blog!

My love of the novels themselves sparked a Twitter chat (#ChocLitSaturday | @ChocLitSaturday) and a regular blog feature (#ChocLitSaturdays) where reviews & guest features by ChocLit authors populate on my blog! My participation expanded a bit in the Spring of 2016 by joining of the ChocLit Stars Team to help give readerly insight into book covers & other wicked sweet pre-pub particulars.

I think you can see why I elected to feature my American star-tattooed teddy – in lieu of myself – as apparently the super soft & comfy tee is most appealing to bears inasmuch as thirty-something singletons! He even planted himself on my brushed soft denim (which I love to pair with the tee when I’m not in my comfy blues), put his bear paw on the novella purse & helped me select which novella to kick-off my #MidnightChocLit readings!

To read the ‘pre-reading’ excitement over You’re the One that I Want  – direct your attention to this post in which I talk about what the Stars did ahead of publication! I feel like Annie – where I could pinch myself realising that I am on the cusp of reading *ChocLit novellas!* for the first time – a bookish wish of mine was finding these available in print and/or audiobook! I knew the wait would be a longer one than awaiting the Digital First Novels but ooh! My ChocLit bookish heart couldn’t help but think one day these lovelies would be available in a format suited to my bookish eyes!

You might be wicked curious – how did a ChocLit girl like Jorie conceive #MidnightChocLit to ring in a #ChocLitChristmas!? To be honest – I dreamt up the idea in the last *24 hours!* because I’ve been itching to break into my ChocLit novels (four new lovelies to devour!) all month long whilst my mind simply couldn’t settle into them properly due my heart, mind & soul being focused on my Dad. (see also Dad’s Stroke)

This led to an impromptu book photo shoot & *boom!* #MidnightChocLit was bourne out of a desire to read a bit of ChocLit ahead of Christmas! I adore the authors of ChocLit who know exactly how to pen an uplifting tale of Romance for today’s Romance reader!

They write convicting & realistic Romantic Fiction across the sub-niches of the genre itself – whilst providing you with sweet little extras such as these wicked new #PocketChocLit’s! If you’ve signed on for their publishers’ ChocLit Treats you already know how awesome they can handle ‘small spaces’ for giving you the dose of Rom your seeking!

Join me whilst I read *six!* ChocLit novellas Christmas Week & New Year’s – as we read through the holidays with a ‘pocket of ChocLit’ in our hands! Remember: I’m tweeting LIVE as I read ahead of posting these reviews! Tweet me your reactions & add your commentary on the posts!

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

 #ChocLitChristmas feat. #PocketChocLit | #JorieReads a bit of ChocLit *before!* Christmas! Portable editions of Romance novellas perfectly trimmed for your ‘pocket’!You're the One that I Want

What if you didn’t want to fake it any more?

When Sarah, a teacher from Cornwall, and Matt, a businessman from Nashville, meet on a European coach tour, they soon find themselves in a relationship …

Except it’s a fake relationship. Because Matt is too busy for romance, and Sarah is only trying to make her cheating ex-husband jealous … isn’t she?

As Matt and Sarah complete their tour of Europe, they do all the things real couples are supposed to do – from visiting fairy-tale castles in Germany to recreating the scene from Romeo and Juliet in Verona. And, of course, for every picturesque destination there’s a loved-up selfie and Facebook post to match.

But as their holiday comes to an end, Sarah and Matt realise that they’re not happy with their pretend relationship. They want the real thing.


Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

Find on Book Browse

Book Page on World Weaver Press

ISBN: 978-1781893548

on 4th November, 2016

Pages: 160

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)

Available Formats: Pocket Paperback + Ebook

Converse via: #Contemporary & #Romance + #ChocLit

OR #PocketChocLit (Jorie’s idea!)

Put some ChocLit,

in your pocket!

#PocketChocLit

(little rhyme I came up with to celebrate these editions!)

About Angela Britnell

Angela Britnell

Angela was born in St. Stephen, Cornwall, England. After completing her A-Levels she worked as a Naval Secretary. She met her husband, a US Naval Flight Officer while being based at a small NATO Headquarters on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. They lived together in Denmark, Sicily, California, southern Maryland and London before settling in Franklin, Tennessee.

Angela took a creative writing course in 2000 and loved it so much that she has barely put her pen down since. She has had short stories and novels published in the US. Her novel Sugar & Spice, won Choc Lit’s Search for an American Star competition and is her UK debut.

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo. Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #WYChristmasReadathon
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Posted Thursday, 22 December, 2016 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Romance Fiction

Blog Book Tour | “The Breedling and The City in the Garden” by Kimberlee Ann Bastian

Posted Friday, 9 December, 2016 by jorielov , , , 9 Comments

Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography (Creative Commons Zero).

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a part of the blog tour for The Breedling & the City in the Garden hosted by iRead Book Tours. I was blessed to be able to receive a print copy of this novel in order to review it for the blog tour as I cannot read digital copies of novels due to chronic migraines; I do offset my reading ques now with audiobooks which is working brilliantly towards lessening the onset of them. This was a surprise for me – to be able to read and review the novel, as I originally thought I could only interview the author. Truly blessed by the author’s kindness. Secondly, I am thankful for the author’s grace in understanding why I had to push my review forward and why reading whilst blogging took a backseat in my life since Black Friday. iReads was one of the touring companies I work with who was able to accommodate a change of schedule last minute, for which I was full of gratitude as well.

I received a complimentary copy of “The Breedling & the City in the Garden” direct from the author Kimberlee Ann Bastian in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

I am drawn to curiously curious genre-benders of a certain variety:

Three stories came immediately to mind whilst I was setting my sights on participating on this particular blog tour – they were as follows: To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Merriweather Lewis by Andra Watkins (see Review); The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (see Review); and Angel of Losses by Stephanie Feldman (see Review). They are united in their individuality and their unique literary voicing of both their characterisations and of the layers of world-building their writers spun into their pages. They also happen to be three of the books I loved reading (despite my indifference to which ‘category’ of literature Angel of Losses was classified) which did not quite as ring as wicked brilliant to other readers – they were either a big hit or a bit of a miss with readers I’ve encountered of late – with the exception of Wecker’s novel, which seemed to gain the most traction overall. I’m one of the few readers whose anxiously awaiting her ‘next chapter’ of the Jinni in 2018!

I love finding stories which etch out their own niche in literature whilst curating an experience within an adventure which truth be told are set to their own wicked beat of literary exploration. There are other stories I’ve read (some I’ve even blogged about!) which fit within this nifty niche of stories, too – however, these three percolated in my memory because of how interestingly unique they were imagined and how their writers craftly write Speculative stories within quasi-mainstream genres or at least, which were recognisd by quasi-mainstream genres! lol I personally love different designations of genres in literature – not so much as a be all / end all route of where I will go visually through literature as my mind expands itself around the sphere of a story but rather, a bit of a road map of where I’d like to travel at any given point of time in my reading life. I love sorting out the different variances of how genre can become bent (in theory, you already know dedicated readers how much I love seeing how ‘time’ is bent: i.e. time shift, time travel and time slip are all readily explored on my blog!) whilst seeing how wickedly inventive writers are at curating their own spin on an established genre by re-creating what is plausible within it’s folds.

I think it has a lot to do with how I personally write my own fiction (something I explored in an essay via Priya’s blog [originally written in 2015] wherein I talked about being a ‘writer’ whose moonlighting as a book blogger) – I like to see where my muse can lead me and how the stories ‘talk’ to us as we’re creating the words to paint the palette of where our stories are guiding us to traverse.

It also speaks to my bookish heart firmly attached to Speculative Fiction – as first and foremost, the very first manuscript I dreamt into existence was Science Fiction based on Science Fact. I lean towards what is futuristically possible by what could be considered improbably impossible today – whilst keenly invested in the imaginative innovation of where our creativity can take us through the written vortex of worlds spun out our imaginations daring to ask the questions of ‘what if’ and chart new horizons where readers can continue to travel with us on this journey through stories.

This is one reason why I love participating in Sci-Fi November and the Sci-Fi Experience – even if my participation can get off-track due to illness or life’s unexpected emergencies – the joy I have for the Speculative heart of fiction is hardcore. I love finding the dreamspinners of inverted and invented genres who provide an unknown niche of literature by how their stories transcend through the needle of time in proportion to character driven literature. This is simply my ‘next find’ in a lifelong pursuit of originality and bookish joy in discovering the niche makers.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Blog Book Tour | “The Breedling and The City in the Garden” by Kimberlee Ann BastianThe Breedling and the City in the Garden
Subtitle: The Element Odysseys : Book One
by Kimberlee Ann Bastian
Source: Author via iRead Book Tours

Absolute obedience, servitude, neutrality.

​These were the laws that once governed Bartholomew, an immortal soulcatcher, until one ill-fated night when he was forced to make a choice: rebel against his masters or reveal an ancient, dangerous secret.

He chose defiance.

Imprisoned for centuries as punishment for his decision, Bartholomew wastes away—until he creates an opportunity to escape. By a stroke of chance, Bartholomew finds himself in the human world and soon learns that breaking his bonds does not come without a price. Cut off from the grace that once ruled him, he must discover a new magic in 1930s Chicago.

Armed with only a cryptic message to give him direction, Bartholomew desperately tries to resume the mission he had started so long ago. Relying on the unlikely guidance of the streetwise orphan Charlie Reese, Bartholomew must navigate the depressed streets of the City in the Garden. But in order to solve this riddle, he must first discover if choice and fate are one in the same.

Genres: Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, Magical Realism



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781945769047

Also by this author: The Breedling and the Trickster

Also in this series: The Breedling and the Trickster


Published by Wise Ink Creative Publishing

on 20th September, 2016

Format: Paperback Edition

Pages: 280

 Published By: Wise Ink Creative Publishing (@Wiseink)

Quite fittingly, I started 2016 by reading ‘Becoming George Washington’ by this publisher and I am now featuring a second title by them in the closing chapter of December. How wicked is that!?

 Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook

About Kimberlee Ann Bastian

Kimberlee Ann Bastian

Kimberlee Ann Bastian has a love affair with American nostalgia, mythology, and endless possibilities. When she is not in her writer's room or consuming other literary worlds, she enjoys hiking and cycling around the bluffs of her Southeastern MN home and catching up on her favorite pop culture. The Breedling and the City in the Garden is her debut novel.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • 2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
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Posted Friday, 9 December, 2016 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Death of a Sibling, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Folklore and Mythology, Genre-bender, Good vs. Evil, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, iRead Book Tours, Magical Realism, Orphans & Guardians, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, Supernatural Fiction

Narrator (Audiobook) Interview | Conversing with the narrator of “The Egg & I” and memoir series of Betty MacDonald: Heather Henderson!

Posted Thursday, 8 December, 2016 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Audiobook Narrator Blog Banner made by Jorie in Canva.

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts! I am slowly re-emerging back online since my Dad’s stroke (see this post) and are blessed I was able to re-schedule the blog tours I was marked to participate in during December. This week is quite a joyous one – as my two stops for “The Egg & I” will be posting as well as my review reflections on behalf of Ms Bastian’s novel, of whom I featured an interview of whilst my Dad was still at the hospital. What I appreciated the most during this difficult time for my family was the outpour of kind words, supportive encouragement and the kindness of bloggers who helped re-organise a few stops on the tours to accommodate my return online. On that note, I’ll be finally putting thoughts to words whilst blogging an ‘update’ about my Dad and his transition home as we move forward from here. I have been wanting to compose it for the past week, however, as most will recognise when your going through a family medical emergency, sometimes you have to yield to having your life a bit upturnt for awhile before things even out again.

What appeared to me about listening to “The Egg & I” is the beautiful scope of the story whilst getting to ‘listen in’ to a woman’s life from the 1940s. I hadn’t known the fuller picture of Ms MacDonald’s story (about the tumultuous times she lived through in her personal life) until I put together this interview as I had composed these questions ahead of listening to the story in full and I gained a heap more insight into Betty from the narrator who truly shines as her ‘voice’ in today’s contemporary world.

I think you will find MacDonald’s memoirs are a special treat – as it’s how she relates her life to the reader that I appreciated through the excerpt when I initially signed on for the blog tour. I like to find a few things ahead of listening to an audiobook – for starters, the narrator’s voice and tone – including how they approach the characterisation and narration of the story whilst seeing if the way in which the story is unfolding is a good fit for me, too. Everything I was hoping to find encased in that except led me to this blog tour and the chance to interview the narrator because the words of Ms MacDonald simply resonate with you as you listen to her story.

I am looking forward to continuing to listen to her words and entreat inside her mind whilst composing my thoughts for my review, which is upcoming on Saturday, the 10th. Ahead of reading what I thought as I listened to Ms MacDonald’s life through the voicing of Ms Henderson, I am delighted to give you a chance to get to learn a bit more about Betty & the narrating process.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald; narrated by Heather Henderson

When Betty MacDonald married a marine and moved to a small chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, she was largely unprepared for the rigors of life in the wild. With no running water, no electricity, a house in need of constant repair, and days that ran from four in the morning to nine at night, the MacDonalds had barely a moment to put their feet up and relax. And then came the children. Yet through every trial and pitfall – through chaos and catastrophe – this indomitable family somehow, mercifully, never lost its sense of humor.

A beloved literary treasure for more than half a century, Betty MacDonald’s The Egg and I is a heartwarming and uproarious account of adventure and survival on the American frontier.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

How did you approach settling into the memoir narration of Betty MacDonald? Did you read her memoirs ahead of beginning your narration or research a bit about her life as a whole to ‘get inside her head’ so to speak prior to voicing her life?

Henderson responds: Yes.  :)

To elaborate: Betty MacDonald’s memoirs series was different from most of the narration jobs I do. The way it usually works is that a casting director will ask me if I want to do a certain new title that hasn’t been released yet, I’ll say yes, the clock will start ticking, and when I’m sent the script to start prepping my performance, it will be the first time I’ve read it (and it will probably not be a final draft, because the book is still being edited in advance of release).

But with the Betty MacDonald books, I initiated and co-produced the audiobooks. They were written in the 1940s and 50s and were huge bestsellers in their time, but they’ve fallen into obscurity. I had dreamed of getting them produced (and narrating them myself) for many years. So once I finally found a producer who was able to get the rights (the wonderful Carlyn Craig at Post Hypnotic Press), I already knew a lot about the background and biography of Betty MacDonald, and I’d read the books several times each. The character voices — including Betty’s voice and her personality — were like old friends.

But with every book I do, I definitely research the author and the book — and read it carefully as I prepare my performance and make notes.  (All professional narrators do this.) I’m looking for the heart of the book — the guiding passion of the author — so that I can reflect her energy, emotional tone, cadence, and diction as I narrate. Of course, I’m also deciding on character voices, practicing accents, looking up pronunciations, etc. Read More

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Posted Thursday, 8 December, 2016 by jorielov in Audiobook Narrator Interview, Audiobookworm Promotions, Blog Tour Host, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Vignettes of Real Life

SFN: Book Review | “Nebula Awards Showcase 2015” (edited by) Greg Bear #RRSciFiMonth

Posted Tuesday, 29 November, 2016 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography (Creative Commons Zero).

Acquired Book By: I am a reviewer for Prometheus Books and their imprints starting in [2016] as I contacted them through their Edelweiss catalogues and Twitter. I appreciated the diversity of titles across genre and literary explorations – especially focusing on Historical Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction and Scientific Topics in Non-Fiction. I received a complimentary copy of “Nebula Awards 2015” direct from the publisher PYR (an imprint of Prometheus Books) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

How I came to learn about ‘Nebula Awards 2015’:

I’ve heard about the Nebula Awards but I honestly haven’t followed them; although this might sound strange coming from someone who loves Science Fiction as much as I do! The truth is I have always picked up Science Fiction quite randomly until I became a blogger – I lean towards finding more Sci-Fi to read now as I blog than I had in previous years – except for the years I was invested into the SFBC (Science Fiction Book Club) which was a mail-order catalogue of the genre by which you could order hardback editions of classic and contemporary Science Fiction & Fantasy authors. I vaguely remember reading about the Nebula Awards in those catalogues as they used to write articles to go with the book selections – you could learn a heap just by browsing and this is how I started to navigate the genre as a whole.

I also gathered quite a heap of books – by various authors – including the Acorna series and a lot of Heinlein whilst focusing on Tolkien and Kate Elliott as well. I never read them save for Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series as I was gathering books to read rather than reading all the books I was gathering. I would classify that point in my reading life as a ‘discovery period’ where I was seeking out certain styles of narrative and certain authors of whom I felt were writing the kinds of stories I wanted to read. I did read the odd book every so many shipments – however, I have this lovely little cache of Science Fiction I one day want to re-open and see what I’ll find inside! I do not remember all the books I collected as it was more of the art of the hunt back then than the devourment of the spoils – I wonder if anyone else has gone through a collecting book stage rather than a reading stage!?

Around the time I discovered Prometheus Books and their imprints of Seventh Street Books and Pyr, I found this curious collection: the Nebula Awards Showcase 2015. I had intended to read it closer to when it arrived but the timing was not right for me until now. What I appreciated about this showcase is how eclectic it was and how varied the stories were inside – as much as it was a wicked good overall of the current offerings of a genre I truly love dearly! Science Fiction holds a special place in my heart – it was the original genre of choice when I first started to write my own stories and to this day, it’s the genre I love to return to read.

I will be following this reading with the 2016 Nebula Awards Showcase lateron this week – as I was blessed to receive both years. Next year, the editor is Julie E. Czerneda of whom I featured earlier this month whilst she disclosed the inside bits on her Web Shifters series!

I would be interested to know if my readers follow the Nebula Awards and if they have picked up any of the Nebula Award Showcases? If this is your first meeting of the showcases (as it is for me), I welcome your feedback as well. I love anthologies – normally reserved for short stories, but in this instance, I love how you get an inside glimpse into a variety of writers and their chosen styles of creative expression whilst honing in on what makes the Nebula Awards such an amazing group of creatives who write about a futuristic world not too far from our own.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

SFN: Book Review | “Nebula Awards Showcase 2015” (edited by) Greg Bear #RRSciFiMonthNebula Awards Showcase: 2015
Subtitle: Stories, Excerpts and Essays

The Nebula Awards Showcase volumes have been published annually since 1966, reprinting the winning and nominated stories of the Nebula Awards, voted on by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

The editor of this year’s volume, selected by SFWA’s anthology Committee (chaired by Mike Resnick), is American science fiction and fantasy writer Greg Bear, author of over thirty novels, including the Nebula Award-winning Darwin’s Radio and Moving Mars.

This anthology includes the winners of the Andre Norton, Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, Rhysling, and Dwarf Stars Awards, as well as the Nebula Award winners, and features Ann Leckie, Nalo Hopkinson, Rachel Swirsky, Aliette de Bodard, and Vylar Kaftan, with additional articles and poems by authors such as Robin Wayne Bailey, Samuel R. Delany, Terry A. Garey, Deborah P Kolodji, and Andrew Robert Sutton.


Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Find on Book Browse

ISBN: 9781633880900

on 8th December, 2015

Pages: 320

Published By: Pyr (@Pyr_Books)

Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook

Read more about Nebula Awards 2015 via the SFF Blog of B&N (Barnes & Noble)

(edited by) Greg Bear ( Site | @RealGregBear )

Converse via: #NebulaAwards + #GregBear

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #FuellYourSciFi
  • SFN Bingo 2016
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Posted Tuesday, 29 November, 2016 by jorielov in Asteroid Science, Blog Tour Host, Climate Change, Ecology, Environmental Conscience, Environmental Science, Hard Science Fiction, Horticulture, Prometheus Books, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction