If you are a regular reader of mine or a frequent visitor, you might have noticed I have always been quite eager to host and devour the Leland Dragon series by Jackie Gamber! I was first introduced to this wicked fantasy series last Autumn, whereupon I read Redheart – a story that set my world afire for the Leland Province and the dragons who nestled into my heart! I have even created a #DragonFiction tag on Twitter to help promote my booklove for dragons as much as to help encourage others to spread the joy of dragons in fiction! I regular converse on the chatter channels of #FantasyChat & #CreatureChat meeting up with like-minded souls who appreciate dragons, gryphons, and all the lovely characters who enchant our minds & hearts in the fantasy realms. I’ll admit I’ve learnt quite a heap from my fellow chatters!
When the Trilogy tour came along for Jackie Gamber, I *knew!* I wanted to be a part of the continued celebration of a series I know I will be re-reading quite a heap in the years to come! The multi-layers knitted into her world-building and the strong characters, both dragon and human make the story and the series evolve inside your mind as you read it; each time discovering something that hadn’t affected you the time before. On Sunday, I will be talking about each of the three stories within the trilogy and my overall recollections of the series as a whole.
Today, I happily invited Ms. Gamber to share her Top Favourite Dragons, which would have been quite keen if I had been able to post this on Tuesday as scheduled as Tuesdays are *always!* wicked happy for Top Ten Tuesday lists! Forgive the slight delay, my migraine would not allow this to appear sooner!
“Top Ten Dragon Favorites by Jackie Gamber”
Artwork Credit: Matthew Perry
Since I’ve been a genre girl as long as I can remember, and since writing the Leland Dragon series, lots of folks ask me, “Why?” And more specifically, “Why dragons?”
The quick answer is, “Why not?” The longer version is a something along the lines of, “I don’t know.”
What I do know is that the road to the Leland Dragon Series has been paved by dragons that have come before, that have either influenced me a great deal, or enhanced my enjoyment because they are dragon-related. I’ve compiled a list of them, as the top dragon-related goodies I have personally enjoyed over the years.
1. Book: “My Father’s Dragon” by Ruth Stiles Gannett,
Random House Children’s Book.
This is very likely the book that started it all, for me. I have cherished this book since I first laid hands on it as a child. The version still on my bookshelf, worn and loved, is the Weekly Reader Book Club edition, copyright 1948.
If I could hug a movie, it would be this one. I think it was my first introduction to the concept of a friendly dragon. It seemed logical at the time to think of a dragon as lovable, and I wanted one of my very own to love. No doubt, this movie made an impression.
I share a joy of Pete’s Dragon as this was one of my favourite motion pictures whilst I was growing up as I simply loved how you could have a dragon as a best friend! I had the same sentiments truly; as I never created the concept that dragons were inherently cruel hearted nor evil; I always felt that although there are bad dragons, there were more good dragons out there to befriend, love, and welcome into my world!
I’m not against bad guy dragons, however. This film has a bad dragon. Much of what I enjoy is more than just the dragon, though, such as a clever maiden trying to disqualify herself for a dangerous lottery by…no longer being a maiden, if you know what I mean. How is she the first girl to think of this?
This is a German book, translated and published in English in 1983. I love the concept of the ‘never ending story’ in the book, which is impossible to duplicate in the movie. Read the book!
Acquired Book By:I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “Gluten-Free Made Easy” direct from the publisher Front Table Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
I originally shared this on yesterday’s tour stop but I felt I should leave this on this tour stop because it still applies as I selected both tours at the same time to host; thereby everything I mentioned yesterday still directly inspired me to read this cookbook too!
I have been embarking on a Quest for living healthier and more vibrantly than I had been before I stumbled across a few culinary disciplines: Macrobiotics, Veganism, Vegetarian, Whole Foods, and Gluten-Free living. I also came across an appreciation for raw juicing as the benefits of drinking vegetable juice as it was intended to be consumed has a strong impact on my well being moreso than always attempting to eat the number of vegetables we all need to have on a regular basis. At my heart of hearts, I am a vegan vegetarian who accidentally became gluten-free! In reality, I am living an omnivore life whilst finding myself Gluten-Sensitive. Circumstances affect all of us from one point in our lives to the next, and although I spent five years eating through the seasons whilst purchasing farm to farmer’s market fresh fruit and veg (all organic or non-chemical grown); last September I had to put that part of my life on hold and switch back.
When I saw this particular cookbook come up for tour at Cedar Fort, I was celebrating the joy of the find because one area of cookery I am always delighted by is *baking!* I daresay, I was a budding baker long before I became a budding chef! Laughs. In truth, I was a lot like Julia Child — I came into my own with the ways of food and the kitchen a bit late in life (my late twenties) which grew out of my passion for eating. I love the experiences food can create and the palette of choice due to different cultural styles of cooking and the different ingredients that can be combined to create a bit of bliss inside of a bite! I rarely meet an herb or a spice that I do not passionately become addicted too (one reason the film “The Mistress of Spices” is amongst my favourites!) and I am forever growing in appreciation for Ancient Grains & Fibers. My favourite resource for picking up these beautiful lovelies to cook with and grow in appreciation for tastes unlike any I grew up knowing so well is Bob’s Red Mill.
Sorting out how to narrow down the choices within the pages of Gluten-Free Made Easy, was not as easy as falling in love with the variety of choice! One thing I had forgotten to mention yesterday on my review of The Secrets of Gluten-Free Baking is that particular cookbook requires a more flexible budget whereas Gluten-Free Made Easy works well for individuals and families on a more tight budget. Also, as I am only gluten-sensitive I paired an element with one of my recipes that someone who has Celiac Disease could not eat themselves; this is simply my journey as a girl who strives to live as healthy as she can whilst eating around her gluten-sensitivities.
When The Secrets of Gluten-Free Baking author Jillayne Clements learned gluten was off the table, her taste buds rebelled. But she soon discovered that gluten-free food can be healthy and delicious! Use her unique whole foods approach to create:
Cinnamon Rolls
Buttermilk Biscuits
Honey Oak Bread
Breadsticks and more!
Whether you're on a temporary or permanent gluten-free diet, learn Jillayne's tips, preferred ingredients, and secret against-the-grain methods to baking delicious food without gluten. This book blends taste and satisfying nutrition into mouthwatering gluten-free recipes your whole family will enjoy.
Christi Silbaugh (seen in the photo) started cooking gluten-free in 2009 when her daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease. Since then, she has created and posted over one thousand gluten-free recipes. Her cooking obsession and love for her family has turned a hobby into a full-time career of blogging and writing. She is the self-educated chef and author of three cooking blogs, including Mom, What’s For Dinner; Gourmet Cooking For Two; and Zero Calorie Life. She writes for foodie media giants Glam Media and Federated Media and works for Fast Forward Events, covering food and wine events in San Diego.
Michele Vilseck is a mother and avid hobbyist who loves to write and loves to live gluten-free. She is always eager to take on new projects, including writing this cookbook. Michele has been eating gluten-free for over ten years. Although brought on by necessity, her passion for food increases daily. Her great how-to tips and tricks throughout the book engage the readers, letting them know they are not alone in this journey. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut with her family.
Before I begin, I want to clarify one thing: because I am gluten sensitive and not suffering from Celiac Disease, I do eat around my triggers. What I might be able to eat myself is not what I know others who have higher levels of gluten intolerance can eat. We’re all individuals and so, as I share my own story and adventures in cookery & baking experiments, please keep in mind that you have to make your own choices which work for you and your family. This is only one girl’s journalling of exploring healthy options and healthier living. Remember only you and your physician can make choices that benefit your own health and wellness. Please be advised I am only sharing personal recollections of cookery & baking books whilst experimenting with the recipes inside.
The authors truly made this a user-friendly primer for anyone who is starting to eat a Gluten-Free lifestyle, not only by their approach to make each category colour coded and vibrant, but they took the time to educate and to lead with suggestions that might have gone overlooked in other cookbooks. I enjoyed looking over the list of hidden gluten foods, as I have already deduced on my own behalf that I need to switch to GF beer! I love dark amber lager but at times I do notice it doesn’t like me very much in return! I’ve checked out the market for GF beer and I must sadly be on the last leg of expansion for distribution! Aye. There are a few brands of beer I can enjoy every odd moon until I can source the GF varieties, but at least I know there are GF beers out there! I have a lovely magazine about this topic near my desk and I promise once I get to dig into it further I’ll be posting a review because it is a topic that interests me!
On the note of soups and cream of soups not being GF friendly, I recently found a quality source for GF Cream of Mushroom Soup which is Healthy Valley. I am unsure if this brand is mentioned in the cookbook, but I find it a great go-to resource to use when wanting to get away from regular “cream soup” to use as a base in cooking. I mention this inside my recollections of cooking two of the recipes, but my go-to pasta is Tinkyana! It is by far the best I have found on the market, not only because the noodles hold their consistency but because the taste is spot-on and brilliant! I love how using their products create a lighter meal and you do not feel as though you had eaten a meal with pasta as a main part of the meal! Instead of using Soy Sauce I have used either Braggs Liquid Aminos (by Braggs), Raw Coconut Aminos (by Coconut Secret), San-J Organic GF Tamari Soy Sauce by (San-J), or even a product I can say aloud but cannot find in google in order to spell it properly! Laughs.
I loved the expanded section on mixing your own flours, including an easy one for Vanilla Cake Mix! I’d like to sort out if that is a more cost effective alternative to always purchasing a ready-made mix like Betty Crocker’s (of which I used for the Breakfast Bar). The authors and I share a mutual passion and affection for a few brands like: Ancient Harvest (for Quinoa), Bob’s Red Mill (my post yesterday is a good indication of my love!), Glutino, and King Arthur Flour. I was not overly impressed by Udi‘s unfortunately, and although I finally sourced Pamela’s brand for baking flours & mixes, I found the brand a bit pricey.The other brands they listed are ones I want to try as budget will allow: Better Batter, Mina’s Purely Divine, Manini’s Gluten Free, Schar, and Venice Bakery.
Let me share the joy I found whilst experimenting with recipes found within:
The first recipe I knew I wanted to make was actually a baking choice rather than a savory option! When I read the ingredients for the *Raspberry Breakfast Bars* I knew that between what I had on hand and at the ready in my pantry & fridge combined with a few items I could pick up at the grocer’s — this would make a fantastic start to exploring all the lovely and delish offerings inside Gluten-Free Made Easy!
I decided to take Rochelle@NotebkBlogairy (the post where she hosted the first event on 11 August, 2013 which was spontaneous & a heap of fun) up on her idea to host a #GFBakingFest of my own, as she had originally spontaneous created the niche on Twitter when she shared her experiment. I always host a weekly tweetchat at 11am NYC on Saturdays (#ChocLitSaturdays), therefore I started my tweeting for this event around 2pm NYC. (you’ll note, I always denote the time zone via a major city rather than EST or PST) I began by tweeting out a ‘card’ announcement of what would be needed for the recipe, the authors of the cookbook itself, and a bit about the event in general. The card was then attached to this tweet, which I have included on the left! I am so very thankful to StoryDam@StoryDam for originally cluing me into the benefits of using Canva! (canva.com) I was able to ‘photo journal’ my baking experience and easily upload those photo journalling cards to Twitter for everyone to see!
{ the oats were left-over therefore exact brand unknown; eggs on hand }
As you can see, I opted to sub the Raspberry jam for the jam I had on hand in my fridge: Crofter’s Wild Blueberry (Organic) Jam, featured here in front of the cake mix! Oh, my dear stars, this jam made the end result so wickedly addictive to eat, I think the ENTIRE pan was consumed before Tuesday morning! Laughs with mirth. I nailed this recipe so well I’ve been asked for encore appearances! This is always a good way of knowing you’ve hit on something special, and I credit the success of this experience to the authors! Of whom have my heartfelt gratitude for not only giving such awesome recipes that fit flexible and tight budgets, but for giving recipes that do not require a lot of difficult (i.e. pricy) ingredients to source and obtain! They simply rock for providing affordable recipes for those who want to whip up something healthy, Gluten-Free, and divinely succulent!
A note on the ingredients: I am a healthy baker who generally opts for brands to use that are more known for being GF (Gluten-Free), however, I was working on a tight budget for this experiment and was most delighted that the grocer I attempted to purchase a GF Cake Baking Mix from was out of stock but was able to query a neighbouring store whereupon I was able to make the purchase! They were thankful I brought it to their attention they lacked having a GF Cake Mix on the shelf and I thanked them for finding me the last item I needed to bake the breakfast bars! A win-win! I was most surprised to find how much I loved using Betty Crocker’s GF Cake Mix! Yet, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself – what I wanted to say, is that I generally opt for Earth Balance to bake with when butter is required, but in a pinch, Smart Balance is as good as my preferred brand. Likewise, when farm fresh eggs are not in the budget any veg diet egg will surely do just fine! The reason I switched the type of jam I used for this bar is simply due to cost and what I already had on hand to use.
Shopping Trip: Whilst I had quite a lot on hand for the three recipes I selected to make out of this cookbook, there were a handful of ingredients I needed to pick up. A family friend had gifted us a grocery giftcard to help my parents celebrate their Anniversary in late Spring; but given how Spring and Summer flew past us with health afflictions and other things that arose out of the blue, we never had the pleasure of using the giftcard until now! Therefore, I was quite happy that several of the items were either on sale or a Buy One, Get One:
Cauliflower – Buy One, Get One
Mozzarella Cheese – 2 for $5; bought one for $2.50
Parmesan Cheese
Sweet Peppers – Buy One, Get One; bought one red & one orange
Garlic – 2 for $1
GF Cake Mix by Betty Crocker – $4.99
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips – discounted
3 pounds of Yellow Onions – discounted
By substituting the jam I had on hand, I saved instantly by not having to purchase Raspberry jam, and by having other ingredients already on hand such as the following, I saved even more:
The best part about this recipe is that you can do a bit of prep whilst your pre-heating your oven, which is what I explained in this tweet that went out on Twitter. Most of this is self-explanatory with my notes overlaid onto the images themselves, but the one thing I wanted to mention is the Before & After Water pictures. When you first put the jam into a mixing bowl (my preference are glass, but I used to only have plastic; either/or will work) you will notice that by adding the water it changes the consistency of the jam itself. It allows the jam to breakdown a bit and become more spreadable for creating the bar itself.
Acquired Book By:I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “The Secrets of Gluten-Free Baking” direct from the publisher Front Table Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
I have been embarking on a Quest for living healthier and more vibrantly than I had been before I stumbled across a few culinary disciplines: Macrobiotics, Veganism, Vegetarian, Whole Foods, and Gluten-Free living. I also came across an appreciation for raw juicing as the benefits of drinking vegetable juice as it was intended to be consumed has a strong impact on my well being moreso than always attempting to eat the number of vegetables we all need to have on a regular basis. At my heart of hearts, I am a vegan vegetarian who accidentally became gluten-free! In reality, I am living an omnivore life whilst finding myself Gluten-Sensitive. Circumstances affect all of us from one point in our lives to the next, and although I spent five years eating through the seasons whilst purchasing farm to farmer’s market fresh fruit and veg (all organic or non-chemical grown); last September I had to put that part of my life on hold and switch back.
When I saw this particular cookbook come up for tour at Cedar Fort, I was celebrating the joy of the find because one area of cookery I am always delighted by is *baking!* I daresay, I was a budding baker long before I became a budding chef! Laughs. In truth, I was a lot like Julia Child — I came into my own with the ways of food and the kitchen a bit late in life (my late twenties) which grew out of my passion for eating. I love the experiences food can create and the palette of choice due to different cultural styles of cooking and the different ingredients that can be combined to create a bit of bliss inside of a bite! I rarely meet an herb or a spice that I do not passionately become addicted too (one reason the film “The Mistress of Spices” is amongst my favourites!) and I am forever growing in appreciation for Ancient Grains & Fibers. My favourite resource for picking up these beautiful lovelies to cook with and grow in appreciation for tastes unlike any I grew up knowing so well is Bob’s Red Mill.
Originally when I requested my place on the tour, I felt for sure I could bake at least two or three of the recipes, because I always happen to have quite a few ingredients on hand which makes gluten-free baking quite easy to do. However, somewhere between then and now, we had an epic blackout (in late July) and clearly that experience erased my memory of the consequences of having your power off for over 18 hours! I had remembered walking to neighbour homes around 9pm and asking if space could be borrowed in their refrigerators; the part I had forgotten? The loss of most of our stock for baking supplies – including the beautiful Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour from Bob’s Red Mill!
I cannot bake the recipes at the moment, but what I can do is not only celebrate my joyous impressions of what Ms. Clements included in this primer for anyone who wants to start baking through gluten-free methods, but give my own thoughts on the ingredients she is referencing to use as a living standard to thrive!
When The Secrets of Gluten-Free Baking author Jillayne Clements learned gluten was off the table, her taste buds rebelled. But she soon discovered that gluten-free food can be healthy and delicious! Use her unique whole foods approach to create:
Cinnamon Rolls
Buttermilk Biscuits
Honey Oak Bread
Breadsticks
and more!
Whether you're on a temporary or permanent gluten-free diet, learn Jillayne's tips, preferred ingredients, and secret against-the-grain methods to baking delicious food without gluten. This book blends taste and satisfying nutrition into mouthwatering gluten-free recipes your whole family will enjoy.
Jillayne Clements hold’s a bachelor’s degree in family and human development from Utah State University and is an author of both fiction and nonfiction books, including Deadly Treasure: A Novel, The Diet Rebel’s Cookbook: Eating Clean and Green, co-authored with Michelle Stewart, as well as an upcoming novel.
After being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, she studied the importance of whole foods cooking and began creating her own recipes. She has taught classes in her community and at the Young Living Farm, including their yearly Lavender Days events, and has catered for some of their essential oil conventions. She has also made whole foods deserts on both Good Things Utah and on Studio 5.
Jillayne resides with her husband and children in the shadows of Mt. Nebo, where she enjoys writing fiction, four-wheeling up mountain trails, and growing a lot of her own produce.
The reason I referenced I had ‘accidentally’ become gluten-free is because when your baking vegan, you’d be plumb surprised how difficult it is to get a good rise out of your baking experiments without using an All-Purpose Flour which is Gluten-Free! My personal preference of course, is Bob’s Red Mill, as this particular resource is my mainstay for sourcing all ingredients that I can possibly afford to purchase in order to cook or bake to my heart’s delight of joy! The only other curious tidbit I had to learn in vegan baking is that the rise is also connected to having either more baking powder OR Xanthan gum; personally I was never too keen on using Xanthan gum even though I did notice a considerable difference in how baked items would appear more like their normal selves than a modified result. At least everything I bake is edible on some level, even if the precise result is not always on par with my idea!
I want to focus today on the opening bits of The Secrets of Gluten-Free Baking, because when I first opened this baking book, this was the section that had me grinning from ear to ear! Finally! I had found someone else out there who was uncovering the same pieces of information and using that knowledge to not only empower their own life but to share the nibblements with others too!
Before I begin, I want to clarify one thing: because I am gluten sensitive and not suffering from Celiac Disease, I do eat around my triggers. What I might be able to eat myself is not what I know others who have higher levels of gluten intolerance can eat. We’re all individuals and so, as I share my own story and adventures in cookery & baking experiments, please keep in mind that you have to make your own choices which work for you and your family. This is only one girl’s journalling of exploring healthy options and healthier living. Remember only you and your physician can make choices that benefit your own health and wellness. Please be advised I am only sharing personal recollections of cookery & baking books whilst experimenting with the recipes inside.
Starting in Section Two, Ms. Clements starts to talk about the benefits of whole foods, scouring, and sprouting; of the three, sprouting is the one part of having a living kitchen I intend to implement in the future as next to growing my own herbs and having a bounty of a backyard garden, sprouting is most definitely where I want to procure my own ingredients! Whole foods are not a hard sell for me to conceptualise nor to accept as having beneficial properties because I have already started to incorporate whole foods into my own diet. In Section Three she talks about what to find in her personal pantry, and this is the section I felt the happiest in reading; even if I disagreed with a few choices of hers, I realise we all will have different selections for our own pantry: for starters, some of us are going Gluten-Free for intolerance reasons, others seek better health, and for the majority it is the only way they can survive.
The Ancient Grains she mentioned are: Teff, Quinoa, Amaranth, Sorghum, and Millet. I disagreed with her on the taste of Teff, Quinoa, and Amaranth as these are the grains I have used the most in the past. In fact, I have a most excellent and delish recipe for Amaranth Bread with either currents OR raisins that is simply so divine you can eat the whole pan right in one sitting after it comes out of the oven! I find Amaranth to taste like a seed and when combined into a baked bread which you can then cut into slices and re-bake a bit to gain a toasty end result before you put on a bit of jam is most divine! I have a preference for using Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil (not only due to its high set point but due to its medicinal properties for health) from Kelapo (quite literally the fourth or fifth brand of choice; all previous ones went out of business due to high demand).
For Teff, I personally adore the breakfast cereal which can be eaten morning, noon, or night — it is quite addictive, but the recipe I use is actually for ‘Teff Pudding’ but for me? If it looks in texture and tastes like cereal, why not just say ‘cereal’? Adding in a bit of locally harvested wild flower honey (local honey is my go-to resource to discourage seasonal and environmental allergies; which she mentions in the book) or Agave syrup is the best way to make Teff a wicked addictive treat! Throw in some raisins and you’ll think your having desert! Laughs. I wasn’t sure how to relate to her notes about Teff, as I had personally not experienced those issues.
I came across this beautiful short documentary about Ancient Grains last year from Bob’s Red Mill, and I thought if my regular readers and new visitors from this blog tour were as curious about where the grains originated as much as a bit about their history or nutrition, I’d be foolish not to share it! Take a moment to appreciate the film before continuing on with this review!
Converse on Twitter: #ILookedForTheOneMyHeartLoves & #FranceBT
Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “I Looked for the One My Heart Loves” virtual book tour through France Book Tours. I received a complimentary ARC copy of the book direct from the publisher Open Road Media, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Anne and Alexis are separated by war as children and reunited later by destiny. A powerful and dramatic love story that spans decades in spite of its seeming impossibility.
Anne, 9, and Alexis, 11, grow up together in the Montmartre area of Paris. While she has a major crush on him, he merely sees her as his friend’s little sister. After WWII begins, the two are separated as their families flee Paris to avoid the German occupation. When they say goodbye, Alexis promises to always protect Anne.
Anne holds on to this promise for years as she constantly thinks of Alexis, wondering where he may be. Anne grows up, finds works in an art gallery, and marries a kind, devoted man with whom she has two children. But her heart still belongs to Alexis and she never stops looking for him. Their paths cross fatefully one day in Brussels many years after they were separated.
Alexis, living in Canada and soon to be moving to San Francisco, has a family of his own; a wife in constant depression and a son. Despite their responsibilities to family and the geographical distance that keeps them apart, Anne and Alexis find a way to love one another, secretly yet passionately.
But after all this time, will they ever manage to be truly together, completely?
Dominique Marny was raised in a family that loves art, literature, adventure and travels. In addition to being a novelist, she is a playwright, screenwriter, and writes for various magazines.
A shortened & condensed reading of a World War:
One of the gifts Marny gives her readers is a shortened and condensed reading of a World War, by attaching a full historical enriched scope of the French side of World War II. Knitted into the arc of the chapter which begins in 1939 is an intact re-creation of all the pertinent moments which had the most impact on French families and citizens. She approached this section of her novel with an intensity yet intermixed a warmth of hope and love of family, as she focuses on Anne as a central figure to highlight the discrepancies as you would observe them. By focusing on Anne during this time, we see the war through the eyes of an innocent child whose wishful thinking and dreams are nearly curtailed by the haunting realities of what war can bring into your world view.
Marny does a considerable job at bringing us right into the heat of the bombings flying over Paris to the lesser known anguished moments of separation from school friends and the family members who live too far away to commute to see when living under German occupation. I appreciated seeing everything Anne saw and breathing in a side of the war I had not yet felt touched in other stories.
My Review of I Looked for the One My Heart Loves:
As the story opens centered on a family living in France on the fringes of World War II developing into their lives, we peer into the young life of Anne, of whom we greeted at a cemetery decades later before warming into her years of childhood. The transitional shift left me curious to know not only of whom the grave marker belonged too, but who the curious stranger was in front of her visiting the same grave! As a young child, Anne felt the full measure of anguished sorrow for how a new Great War would impact her life and the ones she cared about the most. She was at the impressionable age where knowing about what feared adults was enough to fear a child. Her brother Bernard was like a typical brother, bent on teasing his sister and tormenting her with either embarrassment in front of their peers or telling her things she would rather not know at all. The two were caught up in the tides of a changing world – where freedom and the sanctity of family would be tested.
The mass exodus out of Paris into safer areas of France is depicted with equal measures of heightened alarm for safety and the arduous tension in walking or biking hours at at time reach a destination. Although I had known Paris and London were left behind for only those who could brave the war which arrived on their doorsteps, I had not yet read of what Parisians had gone through during the developing days leading into World War II. I have oft read war dramas from the perspective of the British during this war, and therefore, am a bit remiss on knowing more about the French. When I read Letters from Skye, I learnt a great deal about the front lines and the intensity of staying hopeful amidst uncertainty. Marny and Brockmole have a way of placing us into the heart of the French people and the plight of France during the war itself in such a way as to feel as though we lived the hours ourselves.
The entire first section of this novel is a beautiful eclipse of how war affects a young girl and how her life is different by living through war as it altered her neighbourhood and disrupted the lives of everyone she knew. She held a candle lit for the young boy she held an infatuation of concern for during the bombings of Paris; never knowing where his family had fled a few years before when Paris was starting to feel the blitz of the bombers. The bond she felt for Alexis and the growing love she knew was in her heart for him is what helped her endure. She cast her thoughts on his own well-being and although they lived apart during the war, her spirit was tied to his.
After the war, Anne started to fuse her passion for art into a passionate career, all the while curious about where Alexis had gone inside his own life’s adventure. She was not one who strove to entertain the idea of marriage, but rather was found in the throes of loving a man who genuinely loved her in return. Her life took on a rhythm part of her choosing and part of choosing to live a life that might become expected of her to curate. Because she elected to make choices in her life based on where society and convention were guiding her to tread, she ended up closing the door on her own heart’s desire. Anne’s life because a swirling sea of art acquisitions and galley showings featuring artists both renowned and starting out to gain an audience. As the years started to encompass her hours, even motherhood did not tether her heart to happiness.
It was always a nudge inside her mind that she had missed something, or rather that she had missed the opportunity to be with someone she always felt was more her equal and her other half. Alexis was only a boy when they departed from each others’ lives, yet the candle that once flickered for him turnt into a fiery flame renewed through happenstance which led them into that daring twist of fate where deciding which path you take in life can either be your downfall or your unexpected blessing.
I was a bit betwixt myself as I read this novel if I agreed with her choice to follow after Alexis; and I credit this vacillation to a previous novel I read in August Lemongrass Hope, of whose thematic of choice parallels I Looked for the One My Heart Loves. In many ways, what left me feeling a bit aghast is that the lead character in Lemongrass Hope found beauty and joy inside being a mother – to consider leaving her children even if she had chosen to live a different life than she dreamt for herself was a cross she was not willing to bear, yet the path she chose to live was one that surprised me in the end. Anne on the other hand is career-driven and is not willed to her children as Kate was to hers and this in of itself shows the differences within motherhood and the connection a mother shares with her children. However, for me personally, I felt Anne came off more self-centered and selfish than Kate, as Kate was caught between fate and true love. Anne never had the luxury of experiencing what Kate had with Ian, and therefore, in this instance I sided with Francois over Anne. On a lot of levels, Francois and Anne were identical to each other: each were dedicated to their professions to where they approached marriage and children second to their career.
Lemongrass Hope matches this novel for exploring the fragility of the human heart and the yearnings of a powerful mind bent on pursuing its own convicting motivation. For me, although I enjoyed reading this novel, I found myself a bit wanton of wanting to dig back into Lemongrass Hope. In a lot of ways I felt Impellizzeri had won me over for how she handled the truism of a conflicted heart and soul. Whereas Marny gave me a breath of insight into the French who survived the war and the carefree approach to living I always felt the French embraced as a celebration for life itself.
On writing a unique Romance set against time, memory, and war:
I appreciated the honesty and raw emotions that Marny stitched into her novel, as she has written a very unique Romance set against time, memory, and war. The initial reactions I felt to the story of Anne and Alexis were two people caught up in each others’ lives who drifted apart out from war. Yet, when I soaked into the story, I started to see the complexity of understanding who we choose to love and who we might have let go from our life without realising they were the ones our heart had chosen to love before our mind even realised the connection. Both of Marny’s characters made choices to marry against their own will in some ways, because neither was quite ready for what marriage would bring into their life.
The honesty within their thoughts and the actions they took after their reconnection warmed me to their story, because life as in fiction, choices can determine the fate of where we end up in our lives. And, not everything is straight-up right nor wrong, there are in-between places as well. The one I felt a bit sorry for in the story were Anne’s husband Francois, who truly loved Anne in a way she could not quite reciprocate. This is not merely a Romance novel but a literary novel centered on human emotions and the conflictions of understanding the line between desire and adultery.
I always appreciate seeing a video about an author I am about to read, and in this one I appreciated getting to know someone who speaks a different language than I do, because through the sub-titles and the way in which Ms. Marny describes the story she’s written, I felt connected in a way that would lend a curiosity to read her novel. I hope you appreciate seeing her inside this short introduction as much as I had originally.
Virtual Road Map for
“I Looked for the One My Heart Loves” Blog Tour:
Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:
via my
{SOURCES: Cover art of “I Looked for the One My Heart Loves”, book synopsis, author photograph of Mr. Malaval, author biography, and the tour host badge were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. The introduction video of author Jean-Paul Malaval by Open Road Media & Bordeaux travelogue by TravelTherapyTV had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Tweets were able to be embedded by the codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Bookish Events & France Book Tours badge created by Jorie in Canva.}
I am highlighting a novel I would like to read in the future which is being released by a new-to-me German publisher, Bastel Lübbe! I came across this lovely publisher through one of the tour companies I work with regularly (JKS Communications), and ever since I marked myself down to host for this blog tour, I’ve been wholly consumed by the publisher’s listing of historical fiction novels found over here on theirForeign Rights Page. I’ve even resorted to ‘stalking’ Barnes & Noble’s website in the pure wish of finding either this novel or the one I am going to be highlighting next a bit lateron in September! I found two delightfully intriguing novels which whet a thirst of interest to read, yet it is quite unfortunate the only copies available to read on the tour were digital / ebooks. I am therefore in hopeful anticipation for a print book to be released and one day I’ll be able to drink in the narrative which has enchanted me!
Book Synopsis:
Originally written in English, this adventure story is about the venturesome life of a planthunter set in the South African tropical forests. It combines the thrilling hunt for a precious flower with unique characters, a cunning intrigue and a heart-rending love story.
Read an Excerpt of the Novel:
“If I write one more obituary, I swear it will be the death of me,” said Jack Grant, the corners of his young, purple-lipped mouth turned downwards in a petulant frown.
The travelling coach and its team of horses rumbled and snorted in reply to the coachman’s whip, ripping a tear through the bleached silence of a November morning on the road from Montréal to Pointe-Claire.
The coachman, sunk down in his greatcoat, watched the road for potholes and signs of ice whilst his two passengers buried themselves in their blankets and mufflers, the interior of the coach offering scant protection from the Canadian winter outside.
Jack gazed across at his father, trying to measure his mood and wondering just how far he could press his point.
Title in German: Eine Blume Für Die Königin
Written by the Author Team: Caroline Vermalle & Ryan von Ruben
{ I highly encourage you to visit her YouTube page! I love watching her videos even though there are posted without English sub-titles and I’m at a loss to know what she is speaking about directly, but she has such a vibrant energy about her; she’s filled with the light of a creative who is happy in their art and represents their joy of what they create by the pulse of energy and passion in their voice! Brilliant! }
What drew my eye into this particular novel and the offerings of the German Publisher:
Being that I am always *excited!* to discover something new in the literary realms, I wasn’t just keen on reading “A Flower for the Queen” but other titles like this one: The Song of the Waterfall *of course its a trilogy, so it would have to be read in order! I was as giddy as a child let loose in a candy shoppe – all the lovely choices of wicked historical stories with heart, depth, and world-building narratives that felt as real as the any lived experience you could hope to alight on your journey! I loved the diversity of choices, the engaging premise per story which gave me an feather of an inkling of what was inside them, and the surge of excitement for finding a new publisher who was contributing the wicked sweet quality of story I find so exhilarating to read! Ironically or not, a lot of their titles were originally published in English, yet scour the internet as much as I do, I’ve yet to find a ‘book shoppe’ on this continent or another who has any copy of these novels in English! Outside of the few I’ve found on the forementioned Barnes & Noble website! I even tried to find them at Powells (my favourite Indie online)!
Here is my initial reaction in a nutshell: I am encouraged finding out about this publisher! Wow. How did we not know about them sooner in the States? Books from England are imported all the time, it is like a hidden well of literature! :) Do you know which online bookshoppes will carry the titles in print? Powells or Barnes & Noble perhaps? I wonder if my library could order them in print!?Apparently in Germany my favourite category is “Landscape Novel” which I think is their equivalency of our ‘epic saga’ or ‘historical fiction’!?
I was thrilled to peach pie I could offer a small ‘excerpt’ of A Flower for the Queen, as I have dreamt of what I’d find inside the pages of the novel for months now! Within this small section of the novel itself, I found myself wanting so much more of where the story is heading and where this excerpt aligns — is this the opening chapter or towards the middle!? And, ooh what delightful fancy – it is set in Canada! I have been wanting to seek out novels set in Canada for a long while now, and this one happily has found my interest!
The Book Cover Art: has such a measure of eloquence and artistry attached to it that I cannot help but gather the sense the heart of the story inside its covers not only matches the artwork but the artwork is a symbol of what a reader can find inside the novel itself! An unexpected grace and expedition of literary delight not always found in the historical fiction genre!
My journey towards securing this novel I’m highlighting today, and the one lateron this month continues! Until then, I hope I have inspired another reader to seek out their mirth of narrative and the joyous discovery of finding ‘new’ historical fiction authors emerging out from a publisher we might never have known about previously!
Video about Bastei Lubbe as a Publisher (in English)
Bastei Lübbe – Wir stellen uns vor by Bastei Lübbe
Inspired to Share: I am always most happy to find a curious & cheeky video uploaded on YouTube by book shoppes (such as the one I shared previously for an Indie in Canada), as much as I’m rather keen to find a publisher creatively using visual media to explain their mission and their publishing interests such as the one Bastei Lübbe has produced here! The vibe in the video is set to the bookishly happy and the quirky bits add a bounce to the publisher’s intent. I might be a traditionalist as far as reading print books in lieu of jumping on the bandwagon for digital, but even I have to give them merit for creating such a gem of a film that introduces English speakers to their publishing house! Cheers, to Bastei Lübbe!
Have you ever stumbled across an author OR publisher whose first language is not your native one and therefore it provides a bit of a language barrier? I remember when I first signed up for this blog tour, I contacted the author & the publisher via Twitter. I had not realised at the time the author spoke primarily in French, and of course, I knew the publisher was German, yet I had hoped one or both of them might know a bit of English and/or have a translator to help them with English-speaking readers contacting them. I never before felt my desire to become fluent in German was ever more important than facing an incompatible way of communicating with a publisher of whose titles I most want to read!
Alas, for French, I might one day learn to interpret the words audibly but to speak French? *le sigh* A feat my dyslexia shall not allow to be! I have an easier time understanding German and learning how to pronounce the words than I do French. French blessedly is a Romantic language and thus, a bit out of reach for me to learn!
Secondly, if I were to learn to ‘read’ in French & German, I could simply order copies of their books in either language and *celebrate!* What blessed joy the day shall be if I reach that point of understanding! Is there a language you read regularly other than the native language you grew up using the most!?
{SOURCES: Cover art of “A Flower for the Queen”, author photographs, book synopsis, book excerpt, and the tour badge were all provided by JKS Communications and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. This video by Bastei Lübbe had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for this opportunity to share such an imaginative exploration with you.}
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I Looked For the One My Heart Loves
Originally written in English, this adventure story is about the venturesome life of a planthunter set in the South African tropical forests. It combines the thrilling hunt for a precious flower with unique characters, a cunning intrigue and a heart-rending love story.
