Author: Lena Coakley

Blog Book Tour | “Worlds of Ink and Shadow” by Lena Coakley The Brontes arrive on #JLASblog, in this aptly atmospheric and wicked emotionally dramatic inspired-by young adult novel!

Posted Sunday, 24 January, 2016 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sergey Zolkin.

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Chapter by Chapter, where I receive opportunities to host Cover Reveals & Author Guest Features on behalf of the Indie Publisher Month9Books. I began hosting another Indie Publisher: Rebelight Publishing of whom I love the stories by their Middle Grade & YA authors during 2015.

This time around, it’s a new publisher who offered the chance to read an exciting new young adult novel inspired by the Brontë siblings: Charlotte (of whom I’m reading ‘Jane Eyre’), Branwell (of whom I never knew existed!), Emily and Anne. I am appreciating the diversity of choices being offered through Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours, as I am not only getting the chance to become introduced to new Indie Publishers but new writers of wicked good fiction for young readers! This is most inspiring as I love re-connecting with this generation of stories directly being crafted to readers of MG & YA from a Prospective Adoptive Mum and current Auntie of nieces/nephews point of view; inasmuch as a reader who found herself re-inspired by what she found inside the novels!

I received a complimentary copy of “Worlds by Ink and Shadow” direct from the publisher Amulet Books in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

A note about Charlotte and why I love Gothic Lit:

For a girl who has not yet finished her proper first reading of Jane Eyre it might seem a bit shocking to learn that Charlotte Brontë is amongst my favourite Classical authors to read! I appreciate a wide spectrum of literature as a rule, however, when it comes to the structure of Gothic Literature (both in Classical Lit and in Southern Gothic Lit) there is an undertone of suspense that lends itself towards the psychological analysis of fear and what can be perceived as fear by those who are placed inside a story whose narrative is meant to surprise it’s reader in more than one vein of thought.

I appreciate Mystery, Suspense, Thriller and Psychological Suspense (including those stories that are bent more readily towards Cosy Horror) in equal measures due to the nature of how intricate the writers who craft stories inside these layers of genre endeavour to take you on a visceral journey you may or may not imagine outside of their own vision. Gothic Lit for me is quite well suited to my appreciation for the mysterious and to be suspended inside a story that brokers itself to be equal parts fantastical and psychologically spellbinding.

I like to see where writers will take a Gothic tale – will they yield to the suspense within the hidden in-between or will they break my tolerance levels and go a bit too hard into the visual realms? I am quite Hitchcockian in wanting to keep quite a bit outside of view and fully feel the emotional anguish and the undercurrents of suspense by what can only be imagined. It isn’t oft I am in a position to explore a work of Gothic Lit, which is why each time I am able to pick up a work of narrative that befits this arm of literature, I am beyond delighted for the respite inside it’s story.

Notation about the Cover Art: I’ve blogged and actively tweeted about how ‘cover art’ by itself doesn’t sway me one way or another to read a novel; to be honest, if the premise of a story isn’t fetching in of itself, the cover art will not be the swing vote to convince me to read it. I have to feel something before I read a story: be that curiosity or a perk of interest towards seeing where the journey of a character takes me, *something!* must yield a flickerment of earnest desire to ‘know’ what happens as I open the pages of a novel. Stories are such personal experiences – however, I normally do not cross-compare a cover to another cover. Except to say, I truly much prefer this one on the Canadian edition over the American one I received:

Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley

Simply because I think it warms you to the spirit of the character of whom it’s based upon; Charlotte is such a well-known authoress who has inspired readers throughout centuries of literary wanderings. It provides a proper rooting of the narrative’s voice; and goodness! how clever too, with the dual portraits within the whole of the frame? I love cross-overlays and curious nods to narratives! The cover art on the American one is a bit too vague, but I do give them full props of gratitude for making the interior pages so very enticing to turn! Especially if your a writer who appreciates old world things such as ink wells, parchment paper, wax seals and those blessed ‘ink splotches’ from quill pens!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Blog Book Tour | “Worlds of Ink and Shadow” by Lena Coakley The Brontes arrive on #JLASblog, in this aptly atmospheric and wicked emotionally dramatic inspired-by young adult novel!Worlds of Ink and Shadow
Subtitle: A Novel of the Brontes
by Lena Coakley
Source: Publisher via Chapter by Chapter

Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne. The Brontë siblings have always been inseparable. After all, nothing can bond four siblings quite like life in an isolated parsonage out on the moors. Their vivid imaginations lend them escape from their strict upbringing, actually transporting them into their created worlds: the glittering Verdopolis and the romantic and melancholy Gondal. But at what price? As Branwell begins to slip into madness and the sisters feel their real lives slipping away, they must weigh the cost of their powerful imaginations, even as their characters—the brooding Rogue and dashing Duke of Zamorna—refuse to let them go.

Gorgeously written and based on the Brontës’ juvenilia, Worlds of Ink & Shadow brings to life one of history’s most celebrated literary families.

Genres: Canadian Lit, Cosy Horror, Genre-bender, Gothic Literature, Historical Fiction, Metafiction, Suspense, Time Slip and/or Time Shift, YA Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781419710346

Published by Amulet Books

on 5th January, 2016

Format: Hardcover Edition

Pages: 352

Published By: Amulet Books

an imprint of Abrams (@abramskids)

a division of La Martiniere Groupe

Cross-released with HarperCollins Canada (@HarperCollinsCa)

Converse via: #WorldsOfInkAndShadow & #YALit OR #CanLit
Available Formats: Hardcover and Ebook

Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards Badge created by Jorie in Canva. Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

About Lena Coakley

Lena Coakley

Lena Coakley was born in Milford, Connecticut and grew up on Long Island. In High School, Creative Writing was the only course she ever failed (nothing was ever good enough to hand in!), but, undeterred, she went on to study writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in Toronto, Canada. Witchlanders was her debut novel.

Photo Credit: Emma-Lee Photography

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Sunday, 24 January, 2016 by jorielov in 19th Century, After the Canon, Anne Bronte, ArchDemons or Demonic Entities, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Cover | Notation on Design, Bookish Discussions, Branwell Bronte, Brothers and Sisters, Canadian Literature, Castles & Estates, Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours, Charlotte Bronte, Childhood Friendship, Classical Literature, Coming-Of Age, Cosy Horror, Crime Fiction, Death of a Sibling, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Emily Bronte, England, Fantasy Fiction, Father-Daughter Relationships, Folklore, Good vs. Evil, Gothic Literature, Gothic Mystery, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Haunting & Ethereal, Historical Fiction, Inspired By Author OR Book, Inspired by Stories, Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards, Metafiction, Siblings, Sisters & the Bond Between Them, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, Supernatural Fiction, Superstitions & Old World Beliefs, Suspense, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, the Victorian era, YA Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction