The #Friday56 | A special guest post by M.A. Phillips featuring “River Magic”!

Posted Friday, 27 November, 2020 by jorielov M.A. Phillips, Rituals of Rock Bay series, River Magic, Shadow Spark Publishing 0 Comments

The #Friday56 is a meme hosted by Freda’s Voice

A weekly meme about page 56 or 56% of ereading/audiobooks:

You’re meant to share a quote from the 56th page of a novel in print and/or a quotation at the 56% of an ebook or audiobook; from your current reads, recently read or a story you’ve slated to reading – whilst talking about the selection you’ve highlighted and a few thoughts about the story or the scene*. This last bit I’ve added as otherwise its a lot of random words & quotes without definition.

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I LOVE finding new ways to interact with authors on blog tours – which is why I selected to feature a new meme for my tour stop this week. I’ve noticed the #Friday56 over the years but I’ve never participated in the meme until today. What I liked about the meme was from a different perspective than it was created – rather than readers selecting the extracts from the stories they are reading, I felt it would give authors a chance to disclose an extract from their story which would have a bit of depth towards becoming introduced to their characters and their world-building; hence why I asked a few interlinking questions this week for the #Friday56!

Similar to the special guest author #TopTenTuesday’s I’ve hosted recently (ie. Ghost Punch, Secrets behind “The Tobacconist’s Wife” and the Verin Empire) – this is a new way of hosting authors on Jorie Loves A Story whilst creating new content to work with the book blogosphere meme’s and giving my readers and visitors a like something different to enjoy whilst their on my blog. I’ve loved creating these features this Autumn and you can look forward to more of them throughout the next year, 2021!

When I first learnt of the premise behind “River Magic” I was quite intrigued – it isn’t everyday I come across stories which focus on Earthen Magic and Spirituality. I have a fierce appreciation for the natural world and I love stories which have either an ecological or environmental spirit within them whilst at the same time, the lead character in “River Magic” sounded like a girl in the midst of better understanding who she was and what she was meant to do with her life. In that regard, I love coming-of age stories and/or stories about characters undertaking a journey wherein they either learn more about who they are or they discover a path they are meant to be walking.

I loved how the author approached my prompt for today’s #Friday56 – how she reflected about her own beliefs as a Druid and how she inserted a bit of her own path and beliefs into the backbone of “River Magic” whilst also giving us something to chew on when it comes to numbers and numerology. I don’t study it myself but I have noticed there are certain numbers which seem to percolate themselves into my life at different intervals – you can notice numerical patterns in your life even if you are not studying the numbers themselves. I always found it interesting how that works out.

Today it is an honour to host a new blog tour with Storytellers on Tour – a blog touring company whose championing Indie Storytellers and giving us all a lovely chance to feature their collective works. I am looking forward to working with them as oft as I can and I look forward to the conversations and features which hosting will inspire to bring to my readers on Jorie Loves A Story!

Brew yourself a cuppa and let’s find out more about River Magic!

River Magic
Subtitle: A Rituals of Rock Bay novel
by M.A. Phillips

Budding clairvoyant Lacey Moran seeks to understand her dreams and find her life’s purpose along the St. Lawrence River. If only her visions of silver arms and Cian O’Connor’s blue eyes were easier to understand! The pieces begin coming together when she encounters a mermaid in the river, joins a group of Druids, and opens herself to romance with an old friend.

Can Lacey overcome her doubts, or is she in over her head?

Genres: Fantasy Fiction, Magical Realism

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 979-8552896707

Published by Shadow Spark Publishing

on 24th October, 2020

The #Friday56 | as it applies to RIVER MAGIC:

by M.A. Phillips

This is artwork featuring “Lacey” from “River Magic”.

Topic for this week’s #Friday56 as suggested by Jorie:

Share a quote of “River Magic” from page 56 and talk about what went into creating the scene or dialogue found on that page and what inspired the choices you made in creating this particular portrait of the story. Likewise, do you find numerology has any presence in your life? Maybe reoccurring numbers pop up every so often or you find yourself drawn to certain numbers? I felt compelled to ask as this prompt focuses on the fifty-six page rather than any others in the stories being featured.

Posted Friday, 27 November, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Book | Novel Extract, Book Spotlight, Bookish Memes, Earthen Magic, Earthen Spirituality, Fantasy Fiction, Indie Author, Parapsychological Gifts, Parapsychological Suspense, Storytellers on Tour, The Friday 56

#SciFiMonth Space Opera Anthology Review | “Far Orbit: Apogee” (Speculative Space Adventures) edited by Bascomb James (by World Weaver Press)

Posted Thursday, 26 November, 2020 by jorielov (Editor) Bascomb James, Far Orbit: Apogee, World Weaver Press 0 Comments

Acquired Book by: Did you ever grow curious about a new publisher who produces science fiction, fantasy, and horror genre selections in both novel length and short stories? Did you ever decide to enquire with the publisher you’ve found to see if they were open to book blogger requests to read and review their selections!? This is the situation I found myself in as I was quite mystified by the offerings of World Weaver Press! Such a delightful discovery on my behalf [in 2015] with a website full of inspiring reads across SFF!

Since I started reviewing with World Weaver Press [in August, 2015] there has been a changing of the guard behind-the-scenes where there is a new owner & publicity team. I am wicked happy to see the legacy and tradition of WWP has been carried forward by this lovely new team! I am honoured to work with them continuing to showcase World Weaver Press through reviewing their titles and hosting future guest features by their authors! Except to say when my personal health afflictions and adversities overtook my ability to concentrate on the stories with successive delays in posting my reviews suddenly became the norm, I withdrew making new requests from the publisher as much as it pained me to admit I was falling further behind. I enjoyed the time I had as a reviewer for this publisher and I will continue to seek out the stories by the authors I’ve discovered along the way. I especially want to continue to gather the anthologies by Rhonda Parrish to round out my collection!

I received a complimentary copy of “Far Orbit: Apogee” direct from the publisher World Weaver Press in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I’ve been dearly keen on reading this lovely Anthology:

It is fair to say, one of my favourite sections of Science Fiction are the realms within Space Opera & the infinite array of how we can not only explore Spacer lifestyles but delve into the myriad dimensions of how evolving life in Space can become for intrepid explorers, traders & colonists who dare to live offworld. It’s a place where due to the variety of entrances you can make as a writer – the reader, can become treated to different perspectives of life in Space inasmuch as the complex complications which go along with interstellar travels.

I originally wanted to read this during #RRSciFiMonth 2017 – as that is when I last updated the draft for this review. However, it was the year my father recovered from his stroke and the following year [2018] I had over 10+ months of health afflictions and a higher frequency of my chronic migraines. Last year [2019] was the first year I started to find relief from the migraines but also, the first year I could re-address my backlogue reviews whilst self-motivating myself through a few challenges which help re-inspire our self-directed goals such as #BeatTheBackList.

I made some positive enroads towards that personal goal of mine of erasing my backlogue of reviews, however, to be fair, I had less migraines this 2020 but more adversities to overcome as well. Such as the medical emergencies of my parents which included two ER visits in March (non-covid related) wherein I was alerted to be prepared if my Mum might have had a TBI and that would have left me as the carer of both my parents for the foreseeable future. She had sustained a series of bad injuries in an accident and thankfully after a few months recovered and healed from them all. It was an unexpected blessing and one we cherished receiving – yet, from January to May I was migraine-free only to have them return May-October.

I realise now my backlogue goals were set a bit too high to reach and thereby I’ve reset my goals to simply be “pick up a book on the backlogue, read it, sort out my thoughts for the review and let time be the chooser of when it is erased”. It speaks to how sometimes our goals are more long-term than short-term and how sometimes if you have health afflictions, you can maintain your optimism but sometimes you have to be more realistic with how quickly you can accomplish the goals you dearly want to achieve. Thereby, it is a pleasure of JOY being able to share this review during #SciFiMonth 2020! *whew!* What a long, long route I took to diving into FAR ORBIT: Apogee!

It goes without question, I will one day purchase copies of FAR ORBIT (the original collection) and FAR ORBIT: Outpost (if I can find where it was published and when).

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

#FuellYourSciFi
#SciFiMonth 2020
2020 Backlogue Reviews

Posted Thursday, 26 November, 2020 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Futuristic Fantasy, Hard Science Fiction, Indie Author, Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Space Opera, Speculative Fiction, World Weaver Press

#RomanceTuesdays | the return of one of Jorie’s beloved families from #HarlequinHeartwarming (the Blackwells) feat.”Montana Welcome” (Book One: Blackwell Sisters, sequel series to Return of the Blackwell Brothers) by Melinda Curtis [of a five book series!]

Posted Tuesday, 24 November, 2020 by jorielov Blackwell Sisters, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Melinda Curtis, Montana Welcome 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I initially learnt about the Return of the Blackwell Brothers series through being part of the book blogger team with Prism Book Tours run by Tressa @ Wishful Endings. I’ve been enjoying hosting for her since [2016] and especially due to the fact by hosting her blog tours, I had the pleasure of joy of discovering the Harlequin Heartwarming line of stories and series for Contemporary Romance when I needed to fill a gap in my readerly wanderings for that genre! When it comes to the Return of the Blackwell Brothers series – I was signed on as a reviewer for the series wherein I had a bit of leeway to read the stories at my own pace and post my reviews as I read them.

My reviews ran from August 2018 through January 2019 beginning with the first novel by Carol Ross. This year, as I knew we were inching closer to the release of the sequel series for Return of the Blackwell Brothers known as BlackwellSisters, I reached out to one of the authors (Anna J. Stewart) who helped me collaborate with all 5x authors to bring together a special round robin chat via my Twitter chat @SatBookChat whilst coordinating with the authors for me to receive each of the Blackwell Sisters novels to read and review in connection with the chat itself. This review marks the first of those featured reviews which will run throughout November and December 2020.

I received a complimentary copy of “Montana Welcome” direct from the author Melinda Curtis in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

NOTE: Be sure to view my #WaitingOnWednesday announcement post for the #BlackwellSisters series as well as the archives for #SatBookChat for the 14th November chat.

a notation about where we’ve left off with the blackwell brothers:

I remember how I felt when I reached the fifth installment of the Return of the Blackwell Brothers series – it was bittersweet for me as a reader because I had become so hugged inside the series these lovely authors had written for us – those characters and the family of the Blackwells (as quirky as they were!) had become a part of my life and world. It was heartbreaking to realise my journey with them was ending – which is why in small ways I was putting it out there in the universe if there could be ‘more stories’ for this family I’d taken into my heart and hadn’t want to ‘let go’ of – to see if perhaps the authors could flex their writerly muses and sort out a way ‘back into the fold’ of the Blackwells?

I still recall to this day the JOY I had overflowing through me when Ms Webb first broke the good news with me on my blog – about how there was going to be a sequel series which I later learnt would be called the #BlackwellSisters! And, that threw me for a complete loop! As despite my ability to remember most of what I read (as a migraineur) I have lost some gaps of memory (blessed for this blog which houses my readerly memories!) when it comes to series and specific stories overall due to the higher frequencies of migraines I’ve traversed through from 2018-2020. I still remember important bits and bobbles of the stories and the series, but those minute details I love as a reader – sometimes those go by the wayside. Which is why for the longest time I was trying to drum up my memories to recollect just exactly how do we have ‘Blackwell sisters’? As from everything I did remember there weren’t any girls’ in the family!

And, then of course – it took Ms Curtis’s author’s note in Montana Welcome to set me straight and give me such an enriched new appreciation for how these lovely women are collaborating on these series for Harlequin Heartwarming! You see, the key to the whole 10x novels (spilt over 2x five novel series) is “Big E” – the infamous grandfather who meddles in his grandsons and now grand-daughters lives! Yes, you read that right – he has *granddaughters!* and can you just imagine the kind of mischief that might foretell about this new series!? I smirked to the moon when I read the disclosure of connection between the two series as honestly it was such a sweet surprise for me!

This is a series that is both redemptive as it is empowering – as it is about ordinary people who are having these tiny interruptions sprinkled into their lives to where they can choose which direction they wish to take next – do they make a life altering choice or do they play it safe? Do they risk their heart or do they risk something more? I felt fully anchoured every bit of the journey with the Blackwells because each of the writers were bridging the gaps between installments with ‘just enough’ continuity to make this not just believable but realistically compelling. It is the kind of Western dramatic romance series you can’t put down and you hunger after new installments that might never arrive.

-quoted from my review of The Rancher’s Homecoming

Montana Welcome
Subtitle: Blackwell Sisters
by Melinda Curtis
Source: Direct from Author

A bride on the run and a cowboy to show her the way home…

Lily Harrison’s wedding day isn’t quite what she imagined. Not only does her fiancé not love her, she’s just discovered she’s a Blackwell—a member of Montana’s well-known ranching family. Now Lily’s ditched her own wedding for a road trip with handsome cowboy Conner Hannah. But will Lily find her answers in Montana…or lose the cowboy she’s already begun falling for?

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Heartland Fiction, Ranches & Cowboys, Western Romance

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781335889812

Also by this author: The Rancher's Redemption

Setting: Montana

Published by Harlequin Heartwarming

on 1st August, 2020

Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)

Pages: 380

The #BlackwellSisters series:

Elias Blackwell never knew he had a second son. But now that he does, he’s determined to find him and get to know his five granddaughters. But when he shows up at his granddaughter’s wedding…

Some Secrets Lead You Home.

Montana Welcome (book one)

Montana Wishes (book two)

Montana Dreams (book three)

Montana Match (book four)

Montana Wedding (book five)

Read about the series via Melinda Curtis’s page for the Blackwells!

The series which started it all:

With his 80th birthday approaching, family patriarch Elias Blackwell has done some serious soul searching and has come to the conclusion he’s made some mistakes in his life – a lot of them! As a result, the grandsons he raised after his son and daughter-in-law’s tragic death want nothing to do with him, the Blackwell Ranch they’ll one day inherit, and in some cases each other. Elias doesn’t want to go to his grave with regrets. It’s well past time for all the Blackwell men to do a little soul searching of their own. And if they have to come home to do it, so be it. No one ever claimed Elias Blackwell played fair.

Return of the #BlackwellBrothers:

The Rancher's Twins

The Rancher's Rescue

TheRanchersRedemption

TheRanchersFakeFiancee

The Rancher's Homecoming

The Rancher’s Twins by Carol Ross → my review
The Rancher’s Rescue by Cari Lynn Webb → my review
The Rancher’s Redemption by Melinda Curtis → my review
The Rancher’s Fake Fiancée by Amy Vastine → my review
The Rancher’s Homecoming by Anna J. Stewart → my review

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin

Converse via: #ContemporaryRomance, #WesternRomance & #HarlequinHeartwarming

as well as the series tag: #BlackwellSisters and the previous series is now #BlackwellBrothers

This story received my award for BEST Sequel Anchour Story:
(this anchours the Return of the Blackwell Brothers series
to the Blackwell Sisters series with brilliant continuity between both series)

About Melinda Curtis

Prior to writing romance, award-winning, USA Today Bestseller Melinda Curtis was a junior manager for a Fortune 500 company, which meant when she flew on the private jet she was relegated to the jump seat—otherwise known as the potty. After grabbing her pen (and a parachute) she made the jump to full-time writer. A hybrid author, Melinda has over 60 titles published or sold, including 40 works to Harlequin and five to Grand Central Forever, mostly sweet romance and sweet romantic comedy. One of her books – Dandelion Wishes – was made into a TV movie. She recently came to grips with the fact that she’s an empty nester and a grandma, concepts easier to grasp than movies made from her books or jet-setting on a potty.

(Biography updated: November, 2020)

Posted Tuesday, 24 November, 2020 by jorielov in Book Review (non-blog tour), Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Contemporary Romance, Equality In Literature, Farm and Ranching on the Frontier, Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards, Romance Fiction, Special Needs Children, Western Fiction, Western Romance

Blog Book Tour | “Dreaming of Tomorrow” (Tomorrow series, Book Three) by Michelle de Bruin

Posted Friday, 20 November, 2020 by jorielov Dreaming of Tomorrow, Michelle De Bruin, Scrivenings Press, Tomorrow series 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquiried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. This is how I came to love discovering the Harlequin Heartwarming authors & series as much as it has been an honour to regularly request INSPY stories and authors. Whenever I host for Prism, I know I am in for an uplifting read and a journey into the stories which give me a lot of joy to find in my readerly queue of #nextreads. It is an honour to be a part of their team of book bloggers.

I received a complimentary copy of “Dreaming of Tomorrow” direct from the author Michelle de Bruin exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I was interested in reading this Historical Romance:

I’ve have a penchant for Historical Romances – however, what makes this series a bit different is the fact the whole series (as it is thus far written) centres round two central characters who are involved in a slow brewing romance. At least from what I can stipulate is the case from the author’s page for the Tomorrow series. I wasn’t able to secure copies of the first two novels in the series – as per my usual preference when it comes to serial fiction (even if the installments are adverted as standalones) – which is why I was thankful for the synopsis of the first two stories ahead of Dreaming of Tomorrow.

It felt the timing was off for Logan and Karen; as they each had their own lives to live and to lead; yet what I was slightly confused by were the book covers as they aren’t traditional artwork for Historical Fiction novels. In fact, the cover for ‘Dreaming of Tomorrow’ felt more like 21st Century than the early Nineteen Hundreds. Not that I choose a book by its cover art nor do I let the art on covers dictate how I will approach reading a story – but in this particular case, it just felt more ‘modern’ bride than historical farmer’s wife who wants to co-lead their community in ministry.

I think I’m spoilt off the covers @JennyQinVA creates as she has created most of the historical covers sported on the books I’ve been reading these past seven years.

What was more interesting is how the author approached making this a bit of a saga and a slow brewed romance series – as I am definitely a girl who can either take a romance resolved in one installment or across a series, if the author has convinced me the two belong together and I find myself caught in the throes of their courtship. Now, the only question mark I had is what separated Karen from Logan? And, what turnt their relationship into a long distanced romance!? I am hoping bits of the first two installments are shared within the third in order to feel better rooted in their life’s story.

On a secondary note, I am a book blogger who loves supporting Indie & Self-Published authors – it has been the backbone of my readerly experience as a book blogger and as a chat host via @SatBookChat. These authors across all genres of personal interest fast become my top favourites because of how they approach writing their stories and the fact I have an Indie writerly soul at heart myself.

Dreaming of Tomorrow
Subtitle: Tomorrow Series Book Three
by Michelle De Bruin
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

Love leads them to a lifetime of commitment where the dreams they have held onto for so long start to come true.

Popular and eligible, Logan De Witt must convince the women in town that he is engaged to be married. A quiet, simple ceremony is what he has in mind for his wedding day, but when the date and time of his bride’s arrival is published in the newspaper, the whole town joins in the celebration proving to Logan and his new wife their sincere friendship and support. Added to the excitement of Logan’s marriage is the question of what the congregation should do with the unexpected donation of an orchard.

Karen Millerson is counting the days until her long-distance engagement comes to an end and she may travel to Oswell City to marry Logan. More than anything, she wants to share in his life as a help and support, but keeping a house and finding her place in the community requires much more work than she ever expected.

Learn, laugh, and love with Karen and Logan as they start a new marriage and work together ministering to the citizens of their small town.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1649170828

Published by Scrivenings Press

on 15th October, 2020

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 318

The Tomorrow series:

Hope for Tomorrow (book one)

Promise for Tomorrow (book two)

Dreaming of Tomorrow (book three)

Published by: Scrivenings Press (@ScriveningsLLC)
co-owned by Shannon Vannatter (@stvauthor)

I was happily surprised to discover this Indie Publisher is co-owned by Ms Vannatter as when I first came across the book blogosphere in (2012) the year before I created and developed Jorie Loves A Story – this author’s blog was one of my mainstays wherein I would read, comment and visit. She is one of the authors’ who has a blog which connects readers to writers and hosts bookaways, too. In the world of INSPY she was one of the authors I enjoyed visiting with due to how she kept her blog and the conversations with authors both approachable but also entertaining to where you learnt something about their stories and their craft for writing. She usually breaks up her blog features into two parts, too which gives you an extra moment to visit with her featured authors.

Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #TomorrowSeries, #HistFic or #HistoricalFiction
as well as #HistRom or #HistoricalRomance,
#IndieAuthor, #IndieChristian, #INSPYRomance + #DTPrism

About Michelle De Bruin

Michelle De Bruin lives in Iowa with her husband and two teenage sons. She has a bachelor’s degree in Religion with a Christian Ministry emphasis, and in Music. Michelle is the spiritual services provider for an organization that offers services for people with mental and physical disabilities. She has been a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) since 2015.

Michelle writes Inspirational Historical Romance about people who live in rural communities. Characters that bring to life the delights of farm and small-town living, whispers of Dutch heritage, and Christian faith make Michelle’s stories distinct. A romantic at heart, Michelle is always on the lookout for glimpses of God’s love through the window of a good story.

Her first book, Hope for Tomorrow, released in 2018. The sequel, Promise for Tomorrow, released November 2019. The third book in the series, Dreaming of Tomorrow, released November 2020.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2020 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Friday, 20 November, 2020 by jorielov in 20th Century, Balance of Faith whilst Living, Blog Tour Host, Content Note, Fly in the Ointment, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction, Small Towne Fiction, Small Towne USA, the Nineteen Hundreds

A Contemporary Women’s Fiction #25PagePreview Spotlight | “Cupcakes & Crumbs” (Berry Lake Cupcake Posse, Book One) by Melissa McClone

Posted Thursday, 19 November, 2020 by jorielov Berry Lake Cupcake Posse, Cardinal Press, Cupcakes and Crumbs, Melissa McClone 0 Comments

I received a complimentary ARC copy of “Cupcakes and Crumbs” direct from the author Melissa McClone in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

On baking and having an aversion to pink and how the latter
didn’t discourage my interest in reading Cupcakes and Crumbs:

I’ve been attempting to dodge a rather keen secret – PINK has never been my favourite colour and if anything, its my least tolerable colour in the whole spectrum of the colour wheel. And, yet, whilst the colour pink has a disservice to me – as it nearly turns me off anything associated with the colour, this particular cover nearly put me off reading the story because I seriously felt it was overly pink. It was the cupcakes which left me curious and the fact this was a work of Contemporary Women’s Fiction. A topic of interest I not only regularly read and discuss on Jorie Loves A Story but one part of the focus of my Twitter chat @SatBookChat! (six years strong!)

Being a home baker and one who LOVES binge watching Great British Bake-Off whenever she swings into streaming NetFlix (as I have the tendency of switching up my streaming life by choosing different apps/streaming services to stream tv every odd moon or month; as you get the best variety this way!) and how she’s started to master the learning curve with more challenging bakes like scones, biscuits and sorting out her path into self-rising flour and bread flour; (without actually baking ‘bread’) – she’s focused more on lime cookies and a stellar alternative solution to the ‘best’ peach cobbler – you could say a baking central focus of a novel was right up her street!

There was a strong interest on the ambrosial and baking delights this novel promised to deliver but in regards to the Women’s Fiction side of the ledger – it has been a long spell since I’ve tucked into an ensemble cast within the genre like this one – outside of the fact I’m nearly entering S3 of “Army Wives” – given the fact Mum and I only started it a week ago and we’ve already cried, laughed and ploughed our way through two seasons of this kickin’ rockin’ Military Women’s drama of a tv serial – you could say I was in the mood for this kind of story long before Roku decided to grace us with the full series for *FREE* this November. It was one of those series Mum and I pushed off to watch – thinking, there will be a better time to see it. Reality? Never a good time to start a soul-crushing dearly dramatic and highly realistic military drama surrounding the lives of wives of the currently deployed and their life on (an Army) post! You just have to breathe, exhale and DIVE – trust me, its worth the emotional upheavals because this is wicked good drama!

You have to realise something else – one of my favourite female vocalists over the last two decades has been PINK. Mind you, her world and mine are so far removed from each other you might blink twice and question that statement – however, despite the fact she’s had a very street and real lifestyle, she has a heart of gold, one powerful voice and writes lyrics which get into your soul. Mind, her name on the other hand made me smirk so much I’ve permanently have burnt my cheeks! Plus, I just love how she’s raising her kids and encouraging them to find their confidence, own their voice and walk their own path in life wherever that might take them. Who wouldn’t want her as a best friend? Which is why I admire her from afar, love her songs and appreciate her interviews as she shares her life with all of us.

Hence – when it came to choosing which blog tours to join and which books I wanted to consider for review, this book cover was a complete turn-off – which I bring up for one fair point – it is not the book covers which get me interested in reading. It’s the synopsis and the potential for the context of the story inside the covers – the topping (ie. cover) is just art – as without a solid story, realistic characters and a plausible reason to feel as invested to sink into the soles and spirits of the lives involved in the plot as any wicked good serial drama on tv can provide; the cover alone isn’t going to sway me to read the book. Or in this instance make me not pick it up as its cotton candied pink.

And, that dear hearts is why I selected *Cupcakes and Crumbs* because you have to take the sweet with the chaos – all our lives give us equal reasons to celebrate life and equal measures of sorrow to grieve the loss of people, companions (ie. animals) and the other bits round us which give measure of grace to our lives. To live is to love and to love is to live in other words. It isn’t always a perfect cupcake but sometimes when your drowning in the crumbs – it is like a flowering plant bursting up through concrete wholly sure of itself and the impossible path it took towards asserting the right to be present for whatever tomorrow might bring along.

Cupcakes and Crumbs
Subtitle: Berry Lake Cupcake Posse
by Melissa McClone
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

After life takes five women on different paths, a death brings them home. But friendship might not be enough to keep them together.

When Bria Landon and her estranged father each inherit fifty percent of a small-town cupcake shop, her dad hires her worst enemy, and first love, to turn the place into a soulless franchise…or sell it.

To save her aunt’s legacy, Bria needs the help of people who love the bakery as much as she does—her old friends who worked there fifteen years ago. Except each woman is dealing with her own problem:

Juliet, who's trying to prove she’s more than a trophy wife; Missy, a widow who fears losing the job she loves; Nell, who's meddling mother won't stop playing matchmaker; and Selena, a life coach who excels at fixing everyone else's lives...but hasn't a clue what's missing in her own.

Each woman wants to believe their friendship can overcome anything. But as the Berry Lake Cupcake Posse reunite to save their beloved cupcake shop, they soon discover the undertaking will bring more trouble than they expected.

Genres: Baking, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Cookery, Women's Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1944777555

Also by this author: Book Spotlight: Sweet Yuletide

Published by Cardinal Press

on 10th November, 2020

Format: Paperback ARC

Pages: 237

Berry Lake Cupcake Posse series:

Cupcakes & Crumbs

Tiaras & Teacups ← forthcoming February, 2021!

Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #CupcakesAndCrumbs, #WomensFiction and #Contemporary

About Melissa McClone

USA TODAY bestselling author Melissa McClone writes heartwarming Women’s Fiction and Sweet Contemporary Romance novels for Cardinal Press, Tule Publishing Group, and Harlequin Books.

When she’s not writing relatable characters and sigh-worthy happy endings, she spends rainy Pacific Northwest reading from her Kindle’s ever-growing TBR, napping, and decorating her Happy Planner. Melissa lives in Washington state with her husband, three children, a Norwegian Elkhound, and three cats who think they rule the house. They do!

Posted Thursday, 19 November, 2020 by jorielov in #25PagePreview, Blog Tour Host, Contemporary Romance, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction