Happy #blogmas! | Conversing with Mandy Baggot about Christmas and her new release “A Perfect Paris Christmas”!

Posted Sunday, 13 December, 2020 by jorielov A Perfect Paris Christmas, Aria Fiction, Head of Zeus, Mandy Baggot 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

Today is my second Head of Zeus Christmas interview with an author I’ve learnt more about hosting blog tours for this publisher ahead of being able to source her stories! Let’s give a warm welcome back to Ms Baggot as earlier in the year I hosted another lovely convo with her as well! My converstion today will wrap-up my featured posts, guest features and other delights I get to share and host on behalf of Head of Zeus for 2020! I’ve only been hosting with them off/on for the last two years and I must admit, I’ve had a lot of wickedly delightful moments talking with their authors and learning more about the stories they are publishing every year. This also marks my final Christmassy interview for the season but there is more #blogmas Christmassy content coming until the dawning hours of New Year’s Eve!

This particular story is a Contemporary Christmas Romance set in Paris – a setting I regularly visit in Historical Fiction (generally in war dramas) and a city which I very rarely get the chance to see through a Contemporary lens! My heart has been with Paris though recently especially due to the fire at Norte Dame Catheral and other well known tragedies which have happened in the city. The most heartwarming end cap on the fire for me was when I heard about the bees and how they were unharmed, saved and are still living out their lives as only bees can as they not only survived the fire but they preserved a bit of the catheral which has been a beacon of hope for so many over the generations it has stood as a landmark in Paris.

I happily just found out that “A Perfect Paris Christmas” is currently available via Scribd on audiobook – I did not have the chance to listen to it ahead of my tour stop as I was struck down with a moderate migraine this week however, it renews my hope more titles I desire to read and/or hear in audio by Head of Zeus are inbound to Scribd! For those who read ebooks, there is a copy for you, too! Happy Christmas, dear hearts!!

Why I wanted to host a spotlight & interview
for this new Christmassy story ‘A Perfect Paris Christmas’:

As the founder and host of @SatBookChat – I am constantly seeking to find new stories featuring strong women in the centre of Romance & Women’s Fiction. I read an equal amount of Contemporary and Historical stories within these genres of interest whilst encompassing all the lovely sub-niches of their literary styles as well. This New Year 2020 I am also seeking out Feminist Lit which celebrates the kind of stories I am enjoying to discover as well. All of which I try to champion and showcase in the chats I host on Saturdays – wherein writers, readers, book reviewers, book bloggers and the rest of the bookish community on Twitter get to engage with one another. Thereby as a regular reader of these stories I was delighted to find a #newtomeauthor to start seeking out to read!

I have such a fond affection for Christmas (as a holiday and as a season) to where I love to spend my Decembers with a bit of a reprieve from hosting book reviews and focus strictly on guest features and/or showcases of stories wherein I might have extracts to share OR other #behindthebook insights which will help us all sort out which books are good fits for us as readers and which ones might be best for others instead. I love having my Decembers full of #blogmas posts, however, I believe this year, for 2020 I might have exceeded my personal expectations of what I can feature from 1st to 31st December!

This particular story stood out to me because of the Hope it has for knitting our lives together even when it doesn’t appear the timing is right for anything to go well. Sometimes you have to embrace the serendipitous nature of how our lives can take a circuitous route into our future and at other times, taking a leap of faith chance to go ‘somewhere’ new is just what we need in order to find ourselves exactly where we need to be! I love this about the premise and of course, having two people continuously meeting up with each other in ways that may or may not feel as if it were predestined is my kind of Christmassy Romance as well!

Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy this delightful holiday inspired Q&A!

A Perfect Paris Christmas
Subtitle: Can one handsome stranger show her how to love again?
by Mandy Baggot

Keeley Andrews knows more than anyone that you only live once. So when she receives an invitation to spend two weeks in Paris, all expenses paid, she jumps at the chance.

Ethan Bouchard has had the worst eighteen months of his life. He's ready to give up on everything, including his hotel chain. So when he meets Keeley, it simply isn't the right time.

As Keeley and Ethan continue to bump into each other on the romantic Parisian streets, they can't help but wonder whether this is fate telling them to let go of the past and leap into the future...

Head to Paris this Christmas and fall in love under the lights of the Eiffel Tower with best-selling author, Mandy Baggot.

Genres: Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1838933456

Also by this author: My Greek Island Summer

Published by Aria Fiction

on 1st October, 2020

Published By: Aria Fiction (@Aria_Fiction)
a Digital First imprint of Head of Zeus (@HoZ_Books)

Formats Available: Trade Paperback, Audiobook & Ebook

Converse via: #APerfectParisChristmas, #WomensFiction and #HeadOfZeus

Posted Sunday, 13 December, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, Christmas Romance &/or Holiday Story, Contemporary Romance, Head of Zeus, Reader Submitted Q&A, Romance Fiction, Single Mothers

#Blogmas | feat. #FantasyForChristmas20 showcases | NEW Cover Art & a NEW edition of “Oath of the Brotherhood” (Song of the Seare, Book One) by Carla Laureano *previously published as C.E. Laureano!

Posted Saturday, 12 December, 2020 by jorielov C.E. Laureano, Carla Laureano, Oath of the Brotherhood, The Song of Seare series 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

This is a first for me – a book series I wanted to read and showcased during the [2018] #FantasyForChristmas showcases for Prism Book Tours is going to be re-released through a new publisher and happily available in beautiful hardback editions! Complete with supplemental materials and a few new additions therein – just thinking about that made me giddy! Plus it is lovely to re-feature a series which now has brand-new cover art & which is going to be a limited run of hardbacks! I am not sure if I will be able to purchase these whilst their available as I was still putting my sights on borrowing this series through my local and/or my regional libraries – however, for those who can plan their book buying budgets in six month increments – I think you might find this series agreeable to your budget! (as they seem to be coming every 6mos from 2021 & 2022 until the trilogy is re-released in full)

My idea about finding Sword & Sorcery series definitely was on par with my reading habits because of how I reacted to reading the Gifted & the Cursed this year (book one) + (book two); whilst owning to the fact, I do regularly seek out stories which might fall shy of my comfort zones but if the world-building is solid and there is a compellingly convicting story within the pages of the novel – odds are in good favour I am going to want to be a reader of your tale!

I look forward to seeking out this series at my libraries in the New Year – as I would love to have a solid footing of fetching the stories from #FantasyForChristmas before my 4th year participating comes along in December, 2021! Whenever I find one of these lovelies, you’ll find me blogging about them on Jorie Loves A Story as part of the reason I like showcasing these kinds of posts is to give myself notes and notations about the books, the authors and/or the series which kick-start my memory as to what first drew my eye into reading them!!

The book photo attached to this post was special I felt because of how it showcases the Christmas tree and I loved how each of the writers (or someone close to them – as the photographers were not disclosed) were able to capture a snaphot of the books whilst giving us the impression that we’re all just a short distance away from having these books in our own hands to read!

Curiously – have any of the Speculative Fiction and/or Fantasy series you’ve discovered and have wanted to read become re-issued or re-released before you had the chance to read them the first go round? If so, which authors, stories or series fell into this category for you?

When evil threatens, who will find the faith to fight it?

In an island kingdom where the Old Ways hold fast and a man’s worth lies entirely in his skill with the sword, Conor Mac Nir is a musician and a follower of a forbidden faith—problematic for any man, but disastrous for the son of the king.

When Conor is sent away to a neighboring kingdom to secure a treaty, he learns that his ability with the harp is a talent that traces back to the magical foundations of a once-united Seare. But his newfound home is soon placed in peril, entangling Conor in a plot that has been unfolding since long before his birth.

Only by leaving both kingdoms behind and committing himself to an ancient warrior brotherhood can Conor discover the part he’s meant to play in Seare’s future. But is he willing to sacrifice everything—including the woman he loves—to follow the path his God has laid before him?

Add to LibraryThing | ISBN: 978-1621841494

The Song of Seare series:

ORIGINALLY:

Oath of the Brotherhood (book one)

The Sword & the Song (book two)

Beneath the Forsaken City (book three)

*however!*

Beneath the Forsaken City is now BOOK TWO!

→ forthcoming release, Summer, 2021!

Whilst The Sword & the Song is now BOOK THREE!

*Unless, I somehow confused the order originally?*

Published by: Enclave Escape
an imprint of Enclave Publishing (@EnclaveBooks)

Converse via: #FantasyForChristmas20 or #FantasyForChristmas
as well #Fantasy or #INSPYFantasy or #WyrdAndWonder

Posted Saturday, 12 December, 2020 by jorielov in #blogmas, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Book Spotlight, Fantasy Fiction, Indie Author, Prism Book Tours, YA Fantasy

#Blogmas | feat. #FantasyForChristmas20 showcases | The Dancing Realms series by Sharon Hinck

Posted Friday, 11 December, 2020 by jorielov Dancing Realms series, Enclave Publishing, Forsaken Island, Hidden Current, Sharon Hinck 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

This marks my second featured Fantasy novelists showcasing during the #FantasyForChristmas20 featured posts during my annual #blogmas schedule! I had to reschedule and re-adjust the schedule I had originally to post these lovelies on Jorie Loves A Story due to a moderate migraine (this week) and the stomach flu (last week). Thereby although my posts are a bit more randomised they are going to be showcased before the finale for the #FantasyForChristmas blogosphere event concludes!!

When it comes to choosing which stories within Fantasy I am most likely to feel as if I’ve gone back ‘home’ are the kinds of Epic Fantasy stories which have not just convicting backstories & histories but have a firmly built world behind the journey of the characters. This is duly important across all genres I regularly read but with Fantasy, if the world-building isn’t ironed out and adds a layer of credible believability I am not always able to suspend myself inside the world for as long as I would prefer. This is why I like seeking out worlds of Fantasy like this one – which talks about being an ‘island world’ and thereby expanding the kinds of worlds I have explored in Speculative Fiction!

It is lovely to dive into a world you haven’t always explored – seeking out its perimeters and truly taking stock about how the writer set the world to function as much as how everyone interacts within the world’s structures and/or confines due to culture, tradition or expectations of society. Sometimes those are a bit looser in context and tone but others are more firmly structured. I love the random discoveries – the ones where worlds give you something to chew on and consider as you’re reading the writers’ words and delving closer to their vision for the world you’ve become transported inside.

I love how nature plays an active role in this Fantasy as well – the first time I ‘met’ trees which were menacing was in the Drew Barrymore film “Babes in Toyland” which I believe was in theory a remake! I remember watching it several times as back then they offered a special dvd copy of it with your Happy Meal at McDonald’s which I felt was a complete upgrade to the usual toys! Thinking back on that childhood experience and all the readings I’ve had as a middle grade reader, a teenage reader and now an adult reader of Fantasy – I am quite intrigued to see how the natural world continues to offer a presence in Fantasy which can either be benign or slightly darker than the stalwart guardians we consider them in our realms.

And, there is that whole bit about saving one half of the world but forsaking your own return? Still. My. Heart. I am going to need gobs of tissues for this one I suspect as just the heart pull of that choice and the weight of what is at stake! I am such a lover of drama but sometimes the more guttingly realistic the dramatic story I read – the harder I find myself to put aside my emotions! Although, I am forever grateful for the experience – if you consider #ArmyWives as a baseline of proof!

Curiously – do you regularly read INSPY Speculative Fiction stories? Are you a newbie like I am and are happily surprised by the kinds of Fantasy stories you’ve found within the world of INSPY? Which authors and/or series have you currently read? For me, I’ve enjoyed Morgan L. Busse (see also Review) and am going to be reading “Kingdom Above the Cloud” before December concludes which I spotlighted earlier in Spring.

On an uncharted world, happiness is effortless and constant…
but can true joy exist without sacrifice?

The people of Meriel have long believed their island world floats alone in the vast ocean universe, so they are astonished when another island drifts into view. With resources becoming scarce, Carya and Brantley quickly volunteer to search the new land for supplies.

After navigating a barrier of menacing trees, the pair encounter a culture of perpetually happy people who readily share their talents and their possessions. But all is not what it seems. At the core of the island is a horror that threatens everyone, including Brantley and Carya.

Freeing the villagers of the bondage they’ve chosen may cost Carya and Brantley more than they could have imagined. Even if the two succeed, they’ll have to find a way to return to Meriel quickly … or be cut off from their home forever.

Add to LibraryThing | ISBN: 978-1621841357

The Dancing Realms:

Forsaken Island (book one)

Hidden Current (book two)

Published by: Enclave Escape
an imprint of Enclave Publishing (@EnclaveBooks)

Converse via: #FantasyForChristmas20 or #FantasyForChristmas
as well #Fantasy or #INSPYFantasy or #WyrdAndWonder

Posted Friday, 11 December, 2020 by jorielov in #blogmas, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Book Spotlight, Fantasy Fiction, Indie Author, Prism Book Tours, YA Fantasy

#FuellYourSciFi Book Spotlight | The Flyght series by S.J. Pajonas with the author discussing how she’s included Sign Language into the series!

Posted Friday, 11 December, 2020 by jorielov Flyght series, Onigiri Press, S.J. Pajonas 6 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

When I first signed on to this blog tour, I wanted to host a guest feature in order to delve a bit more into the series and to seek out a bit more information about how the author approached writing it. Uniquely, the author had a few topics already in mind and one of them stood out to me because I have been wanting to become more fluent in Sign Language since I was in high school. I first learnt my ABCs in ASL (ie. American Sign Language) off my classmates and from there, I learnt more signs through a church program to teach limited conversational sign language when I was in my early twenties. I was a quickstudy and thinking this was a blessing it turnt out to be a hardship as I wasn’t able to stay in the class. I apparently learnt the signs and conversational combinations too fast for the class to keep up with me!!

I did try to seek out private instruction and tutors – however, in my local areas and regions, I couldn’t find a teacher willing to teach me to where I could be conversational fluent including seeking out resources for the deaf as apparently if you didn’t immediately know if you wanted to be translator and/or seek a University degree in Sign, you weren’t able to study it. I still have the passion for signing and I can get by a bit by what I originally learnt but it always has bothered me I never could take the short skills I had and develop them into being fluent in a language outside of my own.

Linguistics was a field I felt I would go into as an adult as I loved hearing different dialects and I felt learning languages would be wicked fun as a learner who likes to challenge herself. However, the one key issue I never felt I’d have as a roadblock is being dyslexic and finding that language itself was an uphill climb throughout all the years I went to school. Even as a writer, I had to develop my own short-cut through a written style wherein I combine certain language usage and phrases from both American and British origins – to where I call this mash-up AmeriBrit.

Thereby, when I saw the author had written about her own history with Sign Language and how this plays a strong role in the series she’s written, I knew this was the guest feature I was meant to share for the blog tour! It simply spoke to me and I wanted to share it because even in my early forties, I still hold out hope I’ll be able to master the art of ASL and become better prepared to converse with those who are deaf or partially deaf as I am only able to do so now in limited capacity. I hope you’ll enjoy this guest feature as much as I did and perhaps it will give you a reason to seek out the series to read!

First Flyght
Subtitle: The Flyght series
by S.J. Pajonas

Her future is brighter than the stars. But one betrayal will change everything…

Vivian Kawabata can’t wait to claim her privileged destiny. But when the heir to the family agricultural empire finds her bank account empty while shopping for expensive shoes, she’s horrified to discover that her own brother has financially stabbed her in the back. To stand a chance of restoring her rightful place in the universe, the honest and rule-following Vivian may have to break a few intergalactic laws.

After securing an old ship from her aunt, Vivian takes on two new roles: a sexy heiress collecting eligible husbands and a hard-nosed captain rebuilding a lost fortune by any means necessary. Completely out of her depth, she’d be sunk without the help of a relationship broker, a handsome ex-boyfriend, a hacker with a heart of gold, and the other potential partners she meets along the way. With a business that runs the razor’s edge between trade and smuggling, can the former high-society socialite get the money she needs or will her brazen ambition lead to a deadly crash landing?

FIRST FLYGHT is the first book in the Flyght Series of sci-fi reverse harem romance. If you like action-packed space operas and a universe full of twists, then you’ll love S. J. Pajonas’s interstellar adventure.

Note: This is a slow-burn romance series!

Genres: Feminist Science Fiction, Romance Fiction, Science Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1940599571

ASIN: B07V6LN2YW

Published by Onigiri Press

on 6th September, 2019

→ IF you can read ebooks, check out the SURPRISE announcement the author kindly shared with me about how to get a digital copy of “First Flyght” on the 16th of December!! ←

Converse on Twitter via: #ScienceFiction, #SciFiRomance
as well as #ScienceFictionRomance and Reverse Harem

About S.J. Pajonas

Stephanie (S. J.) is a writer, knitter, amateur astrologer, Capricorn, Japanophile, and USA Today Best Selling author. She loves foxes, owls, sushi, yoga pants, Evernote, and black tea. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing or spending time outside, unless it’s winter. She hates winter. Someday she’ll own a house in both hemispheres so she can avoid the season entirely. She’s a mom to two great kids, one feisty dog named Lulu Ninja Assassin, and lives with her husband and family outside NYC. When it comes to her work, she writes about everyday women and uncommon worlds.

Posted Friday, 11 December, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Blitz, Book Spotlight, Indie Author, Lola's Blog Tours

#Blogmas | feat. “Roping Christmas” (Rodeo Romance, Book Eight) by Shanna Hatfield

Posted Thursday, 10 December, 2020 by jorielov Rodeo Romance series, Roping Christmas, Shanna Hatfield, Wholesome Hearts Publishing 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

This spotlight is for a #newtomeauthor who is writing Western Contemporary INSPY Romances! I haven’t yet dipped back into reading INSPY Westerns as I’ve been super focused and happily entrenched inside my favourite Western Roms from Harlequin Heartwarming these past several years – which are considered ‘sweet & clean’ if audiences and readers are seeking a romance which are not focusing on scenes or language which might prove offensive to their readerly sensibilities. However, I also know those who read INSPY are not all hybrid readers like I am who read between both mainstream & INSPY markets of publishing. We all have to choose what we will read and what our readerly limits are within our genres of interest. For instance, I had to take a firm step back from the grit and realities of war and focus more on the humanistic stories set within war dramas than being placed inside the battles & descriptive narratives of most war dramas as they are regularly told today.

When it comes to reading Western Romances, what encourages my heart the most is the setting! I love horses & riding – ever since I was a young girl – which is why whenever I am lost in the chapters describing life on a ranch and/or in a Western Rockies community and towneship, I find myself wickedly delighted in the joys of ‘living this life’ as seen through the eyes and hearts of the characters who live there themselves. Now, of course, outside of the Western half of the United States there are other places you can set a Western Romance – as some states still have a lot of rural communities and agricultural heritage within their borders. We also have Eastern mountains on the East Coast which are a fine compliment (if albeit slightly less grand!) to the Rockies, too!

I believe to be a Western Romance it has to have a certain spirit about it – a certain legacy of familiarity built upon Western themes of interest and of course, *cowboys!* are surely a must as much as women who can be independently self-supporting of both themselves and the families they are raising on a ranch or other Western location. I love the ease of soaking into the natural world through a Western lens of influence as well – where you get to see the larger animals roaming free on the range and/or in the forests, whilst you have herds which need to be looked after (ie. cattle especially) and/or you have a horse farm which has its own set of standards and layers of hard-work woven into it as well. And, then of course there is the aspect of ranching life and the responsibilities of being self-reliant and sustainable however which avenue can turn a profit for the ranch.

In essence, I am in love with Western Romances from the start of the first chapter and I love the hours we can spend in the saddle next to the heroes and heroines which make this genre such a wicked delight to be reading! The closeness of family, the importance of hearth & home and the fabric knitted out of neighbours & friends alike is what helps shape a well-rounded Western for me! And, if there is a Western Romance set during Christmas!? Eek. *goosebumps!* As I consider Christmas Romances a special niche of joy in my Romantic wanderings every year!!

Curiously – do you *love!* reading Western Romances as much as I do? I’ve been reading and reviewing a heap of lovely series by my beloved Harlequin Heartwarming novelists over the past several years – from the Rocky Mountain Cowboys to Return of the Blackwell Brothers & this year’s sequel series the Blackwell Sisters to the Sweetheart Ranch series! There are so many wonderful Western Rom authors who are traditionally published as much as there are Indie Authors – either self-publishing their stories/series or are with an Indie Publisher or Press. I love focusing on Indie & Self-Published authors as much as traditionally published authors which is why featuring Ms Hatfield’s series is such a joy for me! I’d love to find more authors like her writing in a genre I dearly love devouring!

A focused cowboy, a distracted executive,
and a hilarious quest make for an unforgettable holiday . . .

Wyatt Nash is a professional tie-down roper, a good ranch hand, and not too shabby when it comes to attracting women. But according to his five-year-old niece, he needs to work on both his roping skills and his dating game. His sister thinks he needs to settle down. And don’t get him started on the advice he gets from well-meaning friends. When his rodeo sponsor, billionaire Jon Sinclair, asks for his assistance in tutoring a clueless city girl about Sinclair Industries, Wyatt doesn’t feel like he can say no. Then he discovers he’ll be teaching none other than the one woman on the planet who wants nothing to do with him.

Ashley Jarrett would do almost anything to turn her small publicity firm into a huge success. When Jon Sinclair expresses interest in working with her, she readily agrees to his crazy idea to have her learn about his company through hands-on projects. Not only is she forced far outside her comfort zone, but the man documenting every bumbling misstep she takes is an infuriating cowboy she’s determined to ignore.

Packed with small-town charm and the wonder of falling in love, Roping Christmas is a sweet holiday romance sure to bring laughter and infuse hearts Christmas cheer.

Add to LibraryThing | ISBN: 979-8691116568

This series has 8 books inside it including:

Be sure to visit her FantasticFiction page to find the full listing!

Published by: Wholesome Hearts Publishing

Converse via: #ContemporaryRomance &/or #ChristmasRomance + #SweetRomance
as well #HolidayReads or #ChristmasReads and #INSPYRomance + #WesternRomance

Posted Thursday, 10 December, 2020 by jorielov in #blogmas, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Book Spotlight, Christmas Romance &/or Holiday Story, Contemporary Romance, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction