Blog Book Tour | “Letters from a Patchwork Quilt” by Clare Flynn

Posted Tuesday, 1 March, 2016 by jorielov Claire Flynn, Cranbrook Press, Letters from a Patchwork Quilt 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “Letters from a Patchwork Quilt” direct from the author Claire Flynn in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Old World Arts & Crafts and a joy of letter-writing:

When I originally read the synopsis for this novel, I was hoping the title would yield to a revelation of how letters and quilts would come together to unite the story! I wasn’t entirely sure how Flynn would pull this off, but as I started to read the Prologue something quite wicked happened: the letters and the quilt were stitched together as one, thus lends the precursor glimpse into how Letters from a Patchwork Quilt picks up the story-line and the reader’s heart-centred attention! As who wouldn’t want to read a novel where a character discovers hand-written missives stitched protectively inside an heirloom quilt?

This is a nod towards old world arts and crafts and the joy of letter-writing, of which I happily am a fond appreciator of both on equal terms. I love the mystery of the premise inasmuch as the allure of how the letters were purposely and lovingly placed underneath the patchwork in order to be secured safe for time’s arrow to reveal them at a point in the future they were meant to be read again. Isn’t it a wonderfully delish premise that gives your mind a lot to ponder even before you open the pages inside Chapter One?! This is how I found myself on the precipice of the story and the intrigue of where Flynn would take me once I was fully ensconced inside her prose!

Letters from a Patchwork Quilt

In 1875 England, a young man, Jack Brennan, from a large and impoverished Catholic family refuses to be pushed into the priesthood and runs away to fulfill his dream of becoming a teacher.

Jack falls in love with Eliza Hewlett, but his dreams and plans are thwarted when his landlord’s daughter, Mary Ellen MacBride, falsely accuses him of fathering the child she is expecting.

Rather than be forced to marry his accuser, Jack decides to run away to America with Eliza. Just as they are about to sail, Jack is arrested and dragged from the ship, leaving Eliza alone en route to New York with just a few shillings in her pocket.

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9780993332418

on 1st October, 2015

Pages: 360

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Tuesday, 1 March, 2016 by jorielov in 19th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Britian, Bullies and the Bullied, Catholicism, Coming-Of Age, Content Note, Fly in the Ointment, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, History, Indie Author, Passionate Researcher, Prejudicial Bullying & Non-Tolerance, Time Slip, Vulgarity in Literature

Blog Book Tour | “Daughter of Destiny: Guinevere’s Tale No.1” by Nicole Evelina

Posted Saturday, 27 February, 2016 by jorielov Daughter of Destiny, Guinevere's Tale, Lawson Gartner Publishing, Nicole Evelina 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “Daughter of Destiny” direct from the author Nicole Evelina in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

A note about how the author enscribed my copy:

The first thing which struck my fancy to notice is the red seal with a crown inside the wax which was quite cleverly affixed next to the author’s signature on the title page of this novel! The reason such a gesture from the old world signified such delight in me, is because I’m a letter-writer whose appreciation for all things papery and postal extend back into my childhood. Seals, waxes and emblems have bewitched my writerly heart for awhile now, and the hardest part to sealing wax is getting it to behave in such a manner as you can be certain of where it shall affix and how the look your hoping to gain will be presented exactly as you intended it.

This was definitely a special surprise for me, as it gave a bit of a definitive nod of the novel’s heart etched out of both history and lore entwined together. I definitely think the author gave me a strong impression on how to greet your book blogger ‘at hallo’ and give them a wink of a surprise as they settle inside your story! It is always the small things that inspire the most happiness, I find, and this small gesture of yesteryear was wicked brilliant!

Daughter of Destiny
Subtitle: Guinevere's Tale Book One
by Nicole Evelina
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Jenny Quinlan (JennyQ)
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

Before queenship and Camelot, Guinevere was a priestess of Avalon. She loved another before Arthur, a warrior who would one day betray her.

In the war-torn world of late fifth century Britain, young Guinevere faces a choice: stay with her family to defend her home at Northgallis from the Irish, or go to Avalon to seek help for the horrific visions that haunt her. The Sight calls her to Avalon, where she meets Morgan, a woman of questionable parentage who is destined to become her rival. As Guinevere matures to womanhood, she gains the powers of a priestess, and falls in love with a man who will be both her deepest love and her greatest mistake.

Just when Guinevere is able to envision a future in Avalon, tragedy forces her back home, into a world she barely recognizes, one in which her pagan faith, outspokenness, and proficiency in the magical and military arts are liabilities. When a chance reunion with her lover leads to disaster, she is cast out of Northgallis and into an uncertain future. As a new High King comes to power, Guinevere must navigate a world of political intrigue where unmarried women are valuable commodities and seemingly innocent actions can have life-altering consequences.

You may think you know the story of Guinevere, but you’ve never heard it like this: in her own words. Listen and you will hear the true story of Camelot and its queen.

Fans of Arthurian legend and the Mists of Avalon will love Daughter of Destiny, the first book in a historical fantasy trilogy that gives Guinevere back her voice and traces her life from an uncertain eleven year old girl to a wise queen in her fifth decade of life.

Genres: After Canons, Arthurian Legend, Feminist Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Historical-Fantasy, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Women's Fiction

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-0-9967631-0-3

Also by this author: Nicole Evelina (Guest Post: Camelot's Queen), Camelot's Queen, Been Searching For You, Madame Presidentess, Mistress of Legend

Also in this series: Camelot's Queen, Mistress of Legend

Published by Lawson Gartner Publishing

on 21st December, 2015

Format: Softcover Edition

Pages: 327

Published By: Lawson Gartner Publishing

Book No. 2 Camelot’s Queen releases 12th of April 2016

Book No. 3 Mistress of the Legend releases late 2016/early 2017

Formats Available: Softcover, Audiobook and Ebook

About Nicole Evelina

Nicole Evelina is an award-winning historical fiction and romantic comedy writer. Her current novel, Been Searching for You, a romantic comedy, won the 2015 Romance Writers of America (RWA) Great Expectations and Golden Rose contests.

She also writes historical fiction. Her debut novel, Daughter of Destiny, the first book of an Arthurian legend trilogy that tells Guinevere’s life story from her point of view, took first place in the legend/legacy category of the 2015 Chatelaine Awards for Women’s Fiction/Romance, and was short-listed for the Chaucer Award for Historical Fiction. Later this year (2016), she will release Madame Presidentess (July 25), a historical novel about Victoria Woodhull, America's first female Presidential candidate, which was the first place winner in the Women’s US History category of the 2015 Chaucer Awards for Historical Fiction.

Nicole is one of only six authors who completed a week-long writing intensive taught by #1 New York Times bestselling author Deborah Harkness. Nicole has traveled to England twice to research the Guinevere’s Tale trilogy, where she consulted with internationally acclaimed author and historian Geoffrey Ashe, as well as Arthurian/Glastonbury expert Jaime George, the man who helped Marion Zimmer Bradley research The Mists of Avalon.

Nicole is a member of and book reviewer for the The Historical Novel Society, and Sirens (a group supporting female fantasy authors), as well as a member of the Historical Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Romance Writers of America, the St. Louis Writer’s Guild, Women Writing the West, Broad Universe (promoting women in fantasy, science fiction and horror), Alliance of Independent Authors and the Independent Book Publishers Association.

Author biography was updated July 2016.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Saturday, 27 February, 2016 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 6th Century, After the Canon, Apothecary, Arthurian Legend, Avalon, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Britian, British Literature, Bullies and the Bullied, Coming-Of Age, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Earthen Magic, Earthen Spirituality, Folklore and Mythology, Herbalist, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, History, Indie Author, Inspired By Author OR Book, Mythological Societies, Naturopathic Medicine, Parapsychological Gifts, Passionate Researcher, Prejudicial Bullying & Non-Tolerance, Premonition-Precognitive Visions, Re-Told Tales, Sewing & Stitchery, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Supernatural Fiction, Superstitions & Old World Beliefs, Warfare & Power Realignment, Women's Fiction, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage, Writing Style & Voice

Special Event | LIVE Author Q&A with Aaron Blaylock, debut novelist of “The Land of Look Behind”!

Posted Thursday, 25 February, 2016 by jorielov Aaron Blaylock, Bonneville Books, Cedar Fort Inc, The Land of Look Behind 28 Comments

Late last year, whilst the blog tour for The Land of Look Behind was being assembled, I was exchanging ideas with Mr Blaylock on behalf of what I could host in regards to a ‘guest author feature’ on my blog in conjunction with my review for his debut novel when I mentioned hosting a LIVE Author Q&A wherein we could invite everyone to visit my blog during the day of the interview to leave questions behind for him to answer in the afternoon and evening. This has been done a few times in the past on Jorie Loves A Story, much to the happy delight of attendees and authors alike!

I welcomed the chance to host another event like this one, as it allows a real-time interactive conversation between the bookish and the author whose story is gaining traction with readers. It’s a great way to attend an author event outside of the twitterverse and bring everyone together in a good old fashioned social gathering where the comment threads become the spirit of the party!

I must admit I was quite surprised by the resolution of The Land of Look Behind as I think like most readers, I had a different impression of where the story might lead us on this quest Gideon undertakes for himself, but it’s how Blaylock wrote in a curveball which ultimately changed the course of Gideon’s life which held salt. I even appreciated the ending pages of the novel itself as they were so beautifully composed and expressed; an ending befit of the core of this novel’s heart but it was so much about the journey a soul takes to understand it’s path whilst it’s travelling through a lived life here on Earth.

You will find the questions I wanted to highlight ahead of the LIVE Q&A tonight, which I am hoping will help you formulate your own questions, comments and curiosities! I am hopeful those who are on the blog tour will drop by inasmuch as fellow book bloggers, readers, and writers who want to contribute to the evolving conversation! I look forward to seeing your enquiries and chatting with you, tonight! I composed a few ‘click to tweets’ to help you pass on the word of this event via Twitter; which you will find at the end of this interview!

Welcoming Aaron Blaylock

to Jorie Loves A Story,

for an Interview

**ahead of the LIVE! Author Q&A!**

FULL DETAILS:

Jorie interviews Mr Blaylock ahead of the 6:30pm (EST) | 4:30pm (MST) live commenting blog event which will take place in the comment threads of this post! IF you are unable to drop back during the time in which Mr Blaylock will be responding to reader comments, questions, and compliments please make sure to leave your response *early!* in order for him to respond! All comments are still moderated by Jorie, who will be on hand during the live event making sure all comments get through! Once approved you will have the ability to post a direct response without waiting.

Readers of Jorie Loves A Story, visitors on the blog tour route, fellow book bloggers and writers can easily leave a comment by using Email, WP, Google+, Facebook & Twitter interfaces without the stress of captcha as I do not use that service! *Remember!* return back to this page at 6:30pm (EST) | 4:30pm (MST) to make sure you do not miss Mr Blaylock! I do recommend subscribing to the comments in order to keep in the loop! The author will be on hand to respond LIVE for a block of two hours!

Posted Thursday, 25 February, 2016 by jorielov in Author Interview, Blog Tour Host, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, Interview & Live Author Q&A

Blog Book Tour | “Emmy Nation: Undercover Suffragette” by L. Davis Munro My second reading of Feminist driven Historical Fiction wherein I am championing the spirit of women who fought for our right to have Equality!

Posted Thursday, 25 February, 2016 by jorielov Emmy Nation series, Emmy Nation: Undercover Suffragette, L. Davis Munro, Self Published 2 Comments

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a part of the blog tour for “Emmy Nation: Undercover Suffragette” wherein I received a complimentary copy of “Emmy Nation: Undercover Suffragette” direct from the author L. Davis Munro in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

I am appreciating reading Feminist Historical Fiction:

I believe part of me was drawn into this sub-focus of historicals long before I cued the titles into my reading queues as I fondly recall seeking out strong female characters where the arc of the stories were not only focused on their lives but focused on how women could succeed in a highly dominated men’s world. For a girl who arrived on the scene and grew up in the decades where Working Girl and Baby Boom attempted to make a point about how successful a woman could be if she thought outside the proverbial box and/or wrote her own lifepath out of what was generally expected of her – you could say I was growing up in a potboiler of a new generation of Feminism without realising it!

What I find most inspiring by digging through the historical past via authors such as I am finding now, is this whole new plethora of stories wherein the women who rose out of the shadows to “effectively turn the tides of change” are brought so beautifully to life and within their characters journey we see bits of ourselves; where we can ascertain a focal point in history where women started to say ‘No’ and started to voice not only their opinions but their rights – to be wholly whole and true to themselves without having to back down due to socioeconomic pressure, familial protocol or society’s expectations which held them under a drowning sea of expectations.

I definitely am akin to reading more Feminist Historical Fiction and anxiously await where my next read will generate itself – this is to say, I can find a third author who whets my palette of thirst before either Ms Flynn (the Rebellious Times series) or Ms Munro (Emmy Nation series) complete their next books in sequence of their debuts!

Emmy Nation
Subtitle: Undercover Suffragette
by L. Davis Munro
Source: Author via iRead Book Tours

Being an independent woman in 1913 London is certainly empowering, but Emmy Nation is tired of the inescapable damp seeping through her worn shoes and the hopeless grumblings of her stomach.

When she receives an offer from Scotland Yard to boost her typist income by spying on the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), Emmy jumps at the chance. But as she grows closer to the WSPU women the lines begin to blur, and when a painful part of her past resurfaces Emmy begins to question her choices.

How far are you willing to go to secure your equality?

Genres: Feminist Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction, Women's Studies

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781517529673

Also by this author:

Published by Self Published

on 22nd November, 2015

Format: POD | Print On Demand Paperback

Pages: 336

About L. Davis Munro

L. Davis Munro holds a master’s degree with a focus on women’s suffrage theatre and works in theatre and dance. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with her husband and her dog.

Author Links Updated: January, 2018

Website | Blog | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Thursday, 25 February, 2016 by jorielov in 20th Century, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Britian, Debut Author, Debut Novel, England, Feminine Heroism, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards, Self-Published Author, the Nineteen Hundreds, The Writers Life, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction, Women's Rights, Women's Suffrage

Book Review | “Shivers and Signposts: The Journey Continues” by Len Richman

Posted Wednesday, 24 February, 2016 by jorielov Friesen Press, Len Richman, Shivers and Signposts 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a part of the blog tour for “Shivers and Signposts: the Journey Continues” hosted by iRead Book Tours. As I signed up for the blog tour, I realised the book being featured is a sequel to “Raindrops Glimpses Moments” which is why I requested to see if I could read both together rather than to enter the narrative without knowledge of the former. I received a complimentary copy of “Shivers & Signposts: The Journey Continues” direct from the publicist at iRead Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

This continues my entreaty into a duology of memoirs by a Canadian author who has found clarity and personal re-collective insight in his retirement years wherein he has devouted time to recount and digest everything that percolated inside his mind’s eye. Bookended together, these are volumes of personal living truths and the insights of a well-lived life wherein the author directly highlights and engages his readers into self-examining their own living truths as they take the sojourn with him back through his own passages of time.

Shivers and Signposts
Subtitle: The Journey Continues

Shivers & Signposts: The Journey Continues is Len Richman’s second exploration of a life measured out by a distinct rhythm of his own devising. Picking up where his first memoir, Raindrops Glimpses Moments: An Unconventional Memoir of an Unplanned Journey, left off, Richman shows in Shivers & Signposts that he still has much to do, and much to say.

Richman attacks life with uncommon vigour. Never motionless, he moves forwards - and sometimes backwards - suffusing each manoeuvre with unique energy…vitality and constant evolution.

Shivers at the thought of growing old, of becoming stale…occasional alienation and loneliness, Richman, is driven onwards by “a pressing need to redefine and redirect his innermost self”, a self that he continually re-evaluates through the lens of modern technology, literature, theatre and film.

These are the signposts that guide him through his fascinating quest for renewal of spirit and self…Let us hear his decisive commentary on modern social and cultural mores, his unapologetic tackling of issues from racism to materialism to present-day psychoanalysis. Let us listen to the music of Richman’s own Love Song, about the love of a life well-lived – and still well-worth living. Let us be challenged, through Richman’s examination of his own life, to ask of ourselves: How should we presume?

From the “Introduction” by Stuart Lubarsky, M.D.

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781460269534

on 13th August, 2015

Pages: 184

About Len Richman

Len Richman has a long history with the Thomas More Institute of Montreal: student, course designer/ leader, Board of Directors member, and Chair of the Accreditation Committee.

He holds a teaching certificate from McGill University’s MacDonald College; a B.A. from the University of Montreal (Literature); an M.A. in education from Concordia University (Outdoor Education), and a post-graduate Comprehensive Certificate from TMI (Culture and Identity Studies.)

Travel, work and field background continue in parts of Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, South Pacific, and Canada’s northern communities. An educator in the areas of literature, wilderness/ outdoor pursuits, adult learning programs, international and multi-cultural studies for decades, a “redirection” of interests after 60 resulted in his becoming engaged in the performing arts: acting, directing, producing and writing. He is presently associated with Quebec Drama Federation (QDF), Black Theatre Workshop (BTW), Advisory Board of Pointe Claire Library, English Language Arts Network (ELAN), Quebec Writers’ Federation (QDF), Playwrights’ Guild of Canada (PGC), and Alliance of Canadian Cinéma Télévision & Radio Artists (ACTRA).

Born, bred and residing in and around Montreal (his favourite city next to New York, Prague, Budapest, and Dawson City, Yukon), he and his wife have three sons who have provided almost “free entertainment” with six grandsons and two “bonus” granddaughters from six to twenty-six years of age. He hopes to maintain sharing his wondering and wandering from his previous book, Raindrops Glimpses Moments: An Unconventional Memoir of an Unplanned Journey, to the present Shivers and Signposts: The Journey Continues, and beyond.

Website | Goodreads

Posted Wednesday, 24 February, 2016 by jorielov in 21st Century, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Indie Author, iRead Book Tours, Journal, Memoir, Modern Day, Non-Fiction, Self-Published Author, The Writers Life, Vignettes of Real Life

About Nicole Evelina

Welcoming Aaron Blaylock

to Jorie Loves A Story,

for an Interview

ahead of the *LIVE!* Author Q&A!

FULL DETAILS:

About L. Davis Munro

About Len Richman

**ahead of the LIVE! Author Q&A!**