Book Review | “The Wedding Cake Tree” by Melanie Hudson #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 9 April, 2016 by jorielov ChocLitUK, Melanie Hudson, The Wedding Cake Tree 0 Comments

Acquired Book By:

I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “The Wedding Cake Tree” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I choose this for a holiday weekend:

I wanted to read something light for Easter weekend with a strong focus on life and love (as this is what the holiday is best meant to celebrate!) – when I read the premise of The Wedding Cake Tree I immediately wanted to read it! Of course, being stateside I had to wait my turn as the print releases come after the Digital First editions and even then, there is a slight wait-time for the novels to make it across the Pond. I don’t generally mind the waiting periods, as in-between reading the new releases I get the luxury to read the backlist of titles ChocLit has been producing since it began. To me, this is an incredible blessing as I get to ‘meet’ the authors from whence they began their ChocLit tenure.

I have a particular fondness for Epistolary novels – as I’ve regularly mentioned on my blog, I’m a letter-writer IRL who loves postal mail correspondences, thus whenever I have the pleasure of finding a novel which highlights letters (or written exclusively through them as in Letters from Skye), postcards, petit bleus (as viewed inside Moonlight Over Paris) or other gestures of communication sent in transit from one sender to a receiver is true joy for me! I try to keep my eyes peeled for new stories which include bits of mail inside them, but sometimes, they arrive as if they’ve found me before I found them! (a bit of a nodding towards why I included a self-quote on my Twitter banner!) All the stories I’m reading are threaded through my Postal Mail & Correspondences category in case your keen to view them!

When I first saw “P.S. I Love You” I hadn’t realised it was based on a novel, nor was I thinking I’d one day have the chance to interact with the author via a chat on Twitter or start to collect her novels, as none of us know which doors will start to open as we seek out stories which truly attach themselves into our heart. I personally loved the character journey of the film – it was such a clever one, very non-traditional and highly emotionally charged; it’s not for watching if your under high stress in other words!

I personally love stories where mementos are left behind – such as why I am enjoying interviewing authors from Bookouture as my conversation with Renita D’ Silva in April will reveal. She used a journal to connect her characters whereas Hudson has selected using letters left behind from her heroine’s Mum. You can gather deeper inside the mind of a character by seeing their reactions to letters inasmuch as their approach to writing them; letters give us a raw honesty with ourselves and those we’re writing.

When I watched the unexpected journey Orlando Bloom’s character took inside the film “Elizabethtown” on the larkspur suggested road trip by Kirsten Dunst’s character – you could say I have an attachment to serendipitous story-lines encouraged by people who get you to ‘walk outside your comfort box’ in order to discover a period of new growth and enlightenment.

Imagine then,

my delight to dip inside The Wedding Cake Tree?

The Wedding Cake Tree
Source: Direct from Publisher

Can a mother’s secret past provide the answers for a daughter’s future?

Celebrity photographer Grace Buchanan has always known that one day, she’d swap her manic day job for the peace and quiet of her beloved childhood cottage, St Christopher’s – she just didn’t expect it to be so soon.

At the reading of her mother’s will, she’s shocked to learn that she hardly knew Rosamund at all, and that inheriting St Christopher’s hangs on one big – and very inconvenient – condition: Grace must drop everything for two weeks and travel the country with a mysterious stranger – war-weary Royal Marine, Alasdair Finn.
Caught in a brief but perfect moment in time, Grace and Alasdair walk in Rosamund’s footsteps and read her letters at each breathtaking new place. As Grace slowly uncovers the truth about her mother’s incredible life story, Alasdair and Grace can’t help but question their own futures.

Will Rosamund’s madcap scheme go to plan or will events take an unexpected turn?

An emotional, fun-filled and adventurous journey of a lifetime.

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781781892244

Published by ChocLitUK

on 19th August, 2015

Format: Paperback Edition

Pages: 384

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLitUK)

Formats Available: Paperback, Audiobook and E-book

Converse via: #ChocLit

For a smidge of a pinch of Hudson’s humour, read this blog post of hers!

View a description and photo of a ‘Wedding Cake Tree’ (otherwise known as the Giant Dogwood)

About Melanie Hudson

A Yorkshire lass first and foremost, Melanie left her native county in 1994 when she joined the Royal Air Force as an Air Traffic Control Officer.

Melanie enjoyed the nomadic lifestyle awarded by her military career. In addition to working at several air stations throughout the UK, she experienced an operational tour in the Balkans during the Kosovo Crisis in 1999, and served as air liaison officer with the British Army during their insurgence into Iraq in 2003.

In May 2004 she transferred to the Royal Navy Air Traffic Control Specialisation, the highlight of which was an exhilarating stint in HMS Invincible. Melanie had a son in 2007, before retiring from military life in 2010, after which she moved to Dubai temporarily where she finally found the time to pursue her passion for writing. She wrote the majority of her first novel, The Wedding Cake Tree, while sitting in a Japanese tea shop overlooking the Burj Kalifa.

Melanie is happiest when wandering in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands (pretending to be all mysterious and romantic). Melanie lives in Devon.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads

Posted Saturday, 9 April, 2016 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 21st Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Britian, British Literature, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, England, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Fly in the Ointment, Green Publishing, Indie Author, Life of Thirty-Somethings, Life Shift, Military Fiction, Modern British Author, Modern British Literature, Modern Day, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Postal Mail | Letters & Correspondence, Romance Fiction, Scotland, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction

Author Interview | Renita D’ Silva writes a compelling Epistolary novel set in India #Bookouture

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

Blog Book Tour | “Dragonfly” by Alyssa Thiessen

Posted Wednesday, 6 April, 2016 by jorielov Alyssa Thiessen, Dragonfly, Peasantry Press 1 Comment

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Chapter by Chapter, where I receive opportunities to host Author Guest Features on behalf of the Indie Publisher Month9Books and review for Indie Publisher: Rebelight Publishing of whom I love the stories by their Middle Grade & YA authors! As 2016 started, I received more opportunities to read and review Canadian authors through Chapter by Chapter. I love being able to discover more #CanLit whilst appreciating the beauty of the stories I am discovering through this touring company.

I received a complimentary copy of “Dragonfly” direct from the publisher Peasantry Press in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Small Press Canada:

It was with a happy heart of joy, I discovered this About the Publisher page wherein I learnt a few things about Peasantry Press which added to the joy of having this title in front of me to read! I have blogged quite openly about my love of #CanLit and Canadian authors – my continue pursuit to read more Canadian Lit throughout the year (as each new one arrives) and how happy I am I can host the authors from my northern neighbour through Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours as well as iRead Book Tours – as they both feature Canadian authors on a regular basis.

The interesting bit to note is that the author [Alyssa Thiessen] is a part of the Indie publisher and they are focusing on POD print runs for novels as well as circumnavigating the ebook trade. For me personally, I am thankful they embraced the POD side of the ledger, as due to chronic migraines I am a traditional reader of books in print!

The fact they encompass a nice bracket off literary offerings is quite keen to observe:

Adventure | Drama | Historical Fiction | INSPY

Mystery / Suspense | Romance | Science Fiction | Urban Fantasy & Young Adult

It’s their mission statement which struck a chord with myself – about whom the writers are representing on the ‘outside’ from the world of Major Trade that truly rung a level of truth with my own writerly heart. It’s something I’ve been contemplating of late and I think they rocked a mantra a lot of wicked good writers can personally relate too who are writing the stories they believe in even if those stories fit outside the norm of the trade and market. Stories which defy genre or re-invent an established vibe of a genre, whilst giving readers a new threading of narrative, character journey and an overall read that tries to take a reader somewhere new from a fresh perspective. This in of itself is inspiring.

The main reason I elected to become a part of this blog tour is because I have the tendency to seek out stories ‘from outside’ my natural wanderings – look no further than my *End of the Year Survey, 2015* to find out how oft I do this and how well I am succeeding at finding certain authors who catch my eye and give me something to chew on! In this continued pursuit of mine – Dragonfly stood out by it’s premise and by the fact I felt it was Urban Fantasy derived.

The secondary reason I appreciated finding Dragonfly is because the publisher is focusing on ‘clean fiction’ which fits well with my aversion to vulgarity in literature! One of the Urban Fantasy YA novels I’ll be reading this Spring was inspired by readers who like me, appreciated the premise of the context of the story (and series) but were not happy about the words – I’m referencing Trinity Stones and the joy I will have in reading the YA edition. I don’t mind a small blink of a strong word in reference but if it’s sprinkled so heavily it’s similar to eating too sinful of a chocolate cake due to it’s sugar content, then it goes from being healthy to something less desired. If Peasantry Press has found a common ground and middle road between genre, language and content – they have my gratitude! I can only hope others will follow in their stead!

This genre is one of the particularly particular genres I read wherein I am open to read the story but the story has to convince me to love it. It’s hit or it’s miss with very little wiggle room in-between because I have a particular reason for seeking out the stories that fit this niche and the mark of expectation is a bit on the higher end. I find this genre a bit over cluttered with ‘sameness’ so when I find a plot that feels pulled together in a fashion I feel behooves the genre, I’m more than game to read it, taste it and find out what makes it stand out.

I’m seriously wicked happy for discovering another Indie Press in Canada!

Dragonfly

Eighteen-year-old Joshua Miller is great at being invisible, despite the four, large, insect-like wings protruding from his back and his knack for high-rise robberies. He can remember almost nothing of his life before Nik found him and taught him his trade. Now he’s alone, and he likes it that way.

When Joshua unexpectedly meets Lexi on a job, his simple, uncomplicated existence shifts. Although he intends to remain uninvolved, something about her captivates him and he begins to let her in. As he navigates the strange nuances of a relationship with a girl as desperate to be different as he is to be ordinary, he becomes increasingly aware that he is not who he wants to be for her. Confronted by the past he’d forgotten and a family he didn’t know existed, Joshua must decide for himself where he belongs and who holds the key to his future.

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9780994021007

on 8th June, 2015

Pages: 156

Published by: Peasantry Press (@PeasantryPress)

Available Formats: Paperback and Ebook

*note: I marked my copy as an ARC as there was a miss spelt word

which was corrected in the final copy

Converse via: #PeasantryPress or #AlyssaThiessen

About Alyssa Thiessen

When she's not donning her secret identity and saving the world, Thiessen keeps busy writing her next novel, reading something beautiful, teaching high school English, drinking coffee, cycling, and hanging out with her family - husband, kiddies, and miniature schnauzer.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads

Posted Wednesday, 6 April, 2016 by jorielov in ARC | Galley Copy, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Canadian Literature, Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours, Coming-Of Age, Domestic Violence, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Literature for Boys, Modern Day, New Adult Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Upper YA Fiction, Urban Fantasy

2015 End of the Year Reading Survey : The stories behind #JLASblog’s 2nd Year!

Posted Thursday, 31 March, 2016 by jorielov Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Story 2 Comments

The Questions for the 2016 End of the Year Survey are posted by Jaime @ the Perpetual Page Turner, who created this survey as a personal reflection of her year of bookish wanderings and readings, and never thought it would turn into a book blogosphere yearly event! I am thankful she encourages us all to participate as I would have last year but felt I hadn’t yet sprouted my bookish wings as I have this year!

2015 Reading & Posting Stats:

Number of Re-Reads: 0 | definitely something I should work on resolving!

Number of Classical Fiction: 0 | #epicfail | lest I say more?

Number of Novellas and/or Short Story Collections: 3

2015 was a definitive year where I fell head over heels in love with *shorts!* So much so, one of the collections wasn’t able to be read/reviewed by year’s end (‘Scarecrow’) and it’s closely followed by two more from World Weaver Presses *awesome!* releases: ‘Frozen Fairy Tales’ and ‘Far Orbit’!! I was unexpectedly delayed from posting the rest of my reviews for this beautiful publisher. They resume this Spring, starting in April 2016.

Number of Books Read of a Publisher (Top 5):

{ full listing of publishers I review as I read }

(1) Small Trade | Indie Pub/Press | Self-Pub or Hybrid = 54 Books (mix of fiction & non-fiction)

I elected to combine every which way to Sunday an author can be an ‘Indie Author’

(2) Cedar Fort Publishing & Media = 35 Books (mix of fiction, non-fiction & cookery)

I reviewed quite a few non-fiction and cookbooks in 2015 ontop of the fiction releases

(3) HarperCollins Publishers = 16 Books

William Morrow and the P.S. Editions still remain my most read choices

(4) ChocLitUK = 6 Books (of multiple sub-genres within Romance)

My reading queue was lower this year due to health & those lightning storms!

(5) Penguin Random House = 6 (should have been 7 with The Little Paris Bookshop)

I find the break-downs per year the most interesting; especially as my inclinations to read Indie Authors increases each year. Mind you, I love Major Trade and I think if I could reach the point where I read 50% of both Indie and Major Trade markets per year, I’ll be quite happy indeed! I’m a hardcore Indie girl / reader, but I cannot dismiss the fact I still *love!* Major Trade!

The publishers where I read less than five were as follows:

Simon and Schuster | Hachette | Kensington | MacMillian | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Number of Blog Tours Hosted: 83
(individual blog tours – some had multiple posts spilt between reviews & author guest features)

Novels: 88

Short Stories: 20

Inside “Corvidae” (review)

Whistles and Thrills by Kat Otis
The Rookery of Sainte-Mère-Église by Tim Deal
Raven No More by Adria Laycraft
The Tell-Tale Heart of Existence by Michael M. Rader
Sanctuary by Laura VanArendonk Baugh
Flight by Angela Slatter
The Valravn by Angela Slatter
Visiting Hours by Michael S. Pack
A Murder of Crows (a poem) by Jane Yolen

Inside “Rift in the Sky” | blogged on 1st Trade Pact (review)

Stonerim III

Inside “A Thousand Words for Stranger” (review)

Brothers Bound

Inside “FAE” (review)

Rosie Red Jacket by Christine Morgan
Antlers by Amanda Block
Only Make Believe by Lauren Liebowitz
The Cartography of Shattered Trees by Beth Cato

Inside “Darkness with a Chance of Whimsy” (review)

The Assurance Salesman
Fade
Do Better
Inner Strength
Starter Kit

Non-Fiction: 13

Cookery: 9

Pages read: 34,073

(+1) Alaina Claiborne | I only was able to read the opening chapters

(+1) Devil in the White City | listened to the audiobook and read the hardback (a quarter of the book)

(+1) The Barter | read the opening chapters (in-progress late December)

Let’s break this down a bit further, shall we?

You can use this as a ‘preview guide’ of how to use my Story Vault.

Posted Thursday, 31 March, 2016 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, End of the Year Survey, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story

Author Interview | Conversing with #HistFic novelist Natalie Meg Evans on her writerly technique to bring the past to life! #Bookouture

Posted Wednesday, 30 March, 2016 by jorielov A Gown of Thorns, Bookouture, Natalie Meg Evans 2 Comments

I have a penchant for items which curate a story out of the historical past, as there have been a few incredible pieces of historical fiction stemming out of an article of clothing – A Vintage of Affair by Isabel Wolff (a hidden gem discovered at my local library!) and A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner (of which I happily had the pleasure of reviewing!) come to mind instantly! One features a boutique of vintage clothes and the other, has a story threading through the history of a scarf – both have a particular strife attached to their back-stories, as the clothes of the first go back to the World War era and the scarf tackles a modern tragedy and the Shirt Waist Industry from the early Nineteen Hundreds.

Meissner anchoured her story with a duality of plots which fascinated me and emotionally gutted me at the very same time! Wolff entranced me by how the ‘clothes’ slipped the past into view, front and center. Between the two novels, I realised I have a passion for how objects and ‘things’ can become transportative whilst giving us a plausible step ‘backwards in time’!

This is why I continue to seek out stories which parlay on the same general themes as A Gown of Thorns the latest of which I will be reading next is The Black Velvet Coat by Jill G. Hall whilst I continue reading my challenge reads (Summer & Fall) on behalf of BookSparks this Spring. It is also why I was so wicked happy to be in a position to interview Ms Evans on her new release A Gown of Thorns as you will see in our conversation how invested I am in this topic and thankful our convo became a lively one where we explore the context of her story!

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!

From the multi-award winning and bestselling author, comes a bittersweet romantic story set against the backdrop of the French Dordogne valley.

Hidden within the wardrobe’s embrace, she rifled through the folds of cloth until her fingers stopped at a gown of violet, lavender and silver-grey pleats. She lifted it off its hanger and turned towards the mirror…

Shauna Vincent arrives in the little French village of Chemignac after accepting an offer to be an au pair to the grandchildren of an old family friend.

As she begins to explore her new home at the ancient Chateau de Chemignac with it’s beautiful vineyards, she discovers a locked tower room where she unearths a treasure trove of exquisite vintage dresses. One gown feels unsettlingly familiar.

When Shauna falls asleep one afternoon in a valley full of birdsong, she has a strange dream of a vintage aircraft circling threateningly overhead. So when she suddenly awakes to find charming local landowner Laurent standing over her – Shauna wonders if he might be just the person to help her untangle this unexpected message from the past.

A Gown of Thorns draws you into a richly evocative world steeped in secrets that will mesmerize fans of Rachel Hauck’s The Wedding Dress, Kristen Hannah’s The Nightingale and Adriani Trigiani.

I love hidden secrets which unravel a portraiture of history stitched inside a historical narrative – in many ways, this is why I loved reading A Vintage Affair by Isobel Wolff because the article of clothing is a tipping stone towards the heart of the story. How did you approach developing the setting of the back-drop of your story against the gown which is the link to the past inside A Gown of Thorns?

Evans responds: An interesting question. What came first, the backdrop or the gown? When I am musing over a new story, I rarely think it out in a linear way. I tend to get a whole picture all at once. In the case of Gown of Thorns, the sun-scorched vineyards of the Dordogne simply arrived in my head and I knew I wanted to make the backdrop a wine estate. Grape growing and pressing is a piquant and lush affair, and the scents and colours of the region add layers of richness.

The dress, the Gown of Thorns, of the title slipped into my head when I envisaged a stone tower that housed a dress whose history was checkered and passionate. That it was a Fortuny Delphos gown was established after I had looked at many, many photographs of vintage evening dresses on line. It jumped out at me as a style of dress that was so alluring and simple, that it was entirely believable that three generations of women should fall under its spell. Read More

Posted Wednesday, 30 March, 2016 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Bookouture, Fashion Fiction, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, Reader Submitted Author Interview, The Writers Life, Vintage Clothes & Boutiques, Women's Fiction, Writing Advice & Tips, Writing Style & Voice