Genre: Gothic Literature

#ChocLitSaturdays | Author Q&A feat. Christina Courtenay’s #newbook “The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight” w/ an exclusive extract from the novel!

Posted Saturday, 15 October, 2016 by jorielov ChocLitUK, Christina Courtenay, Shadows of the Past series, The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight 0 Comments

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of hosting Ms Courtenay’s Cover Reveal for this title, as I was quite smitten with the idea that the series I began to read starting with “The Silent Touch of Shadows” has been accumulating in titles leading up to to this wicked fourth release! I happen to fancy time slips, ghost stories and atmospheric psychological suspense novels – of which is happily residing inside this series, as it’s a combination of factors from the Rom Suspense genre intermixed with Paranormal Rom that whet such a thirst of interest inside me to read! I find that it’s such a wicked good read, you simply cannot stop at reading just one, but will happily delight in residence as you proceed through the series!

Being time slips, you know your in for an incredible ride, because you’re about to ‘slip’ through time’s arrow – anchoured to two individually unique eras of time, whilst being enveloped inside a riveting story-line that will quite literally put you on the edge of your seat! You never know quite what will unfold as you take those tentative steps to alight next to the lead characters, of whom are not always realising their walking such a unique path between the veils! There is a subtle nature to how the stories unfold – as you truly have to allow yourself to ‘let go’ of particulars – the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ and simply get caught up inside the moment of discovery! Be willing to ‘go there’ with the characters and you’ll find yourself fully intrigued by what will happen next!

I had the opportunity to expand today’s exclusive extract with an impromptu author convo which I am most delighted about featuring, as I love this splice of loveliness inside Romance – it’s hard to pin-point what I love more, which is why I was inspired to launch a discussion about this series parlaying into the theme of today’s #ChocLitSaturday chat “Soul Mates, Ghosts & Time Slips in Romance”! Join us at 11am EST / 4p UK to discuss Ms Courtenay’s series & encourage the lively exchange of how this topic can be explored! Be sure to follow @ChocLitSaturday to get in on the chat, whilst keeping your eyes on our hashtag #ChocLitSaturday!

Celebrating the Paranormal Romances of Christina Courtenay
& her “Shadows of the Past” series

Read the author’s thoughts on writing Time Slips via her Guest Post
(which focuses on this series)

The Silent Touch of Shadows began the series

The Soft Whisper of Dreams is the sequel to The Secret Kiss of Darkness

& The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight is the fourth in the series to release!

On my Connection to Ms. Courtenay:

Two years ago, on the 26th of April, 2014, I created #ChocLitSaturday a weekly Rom chat to celebrate the novelists of ChocLitUK but also, to expand to include book bloggers, readers and writers of Romance who have a penchant for the genre as a whole. Ms. Courtenay started to become a regular fixture, and her encouraging conversations & ability to inspire others to converse freely throughout the chats put me at ease in my new role as a ‘Hostess’. She always seemed to know how to either start a topic or how to best suggest something to break the ice! I was always so very grateful to her and I am thinking I might have forgotten to tell her directly how much gratitude I had for her in those earlier chats! Over the weeks that have followed, I have found myself attached to each of my ‘regular’ chatters during the hour, and I consider Ms. Courtenay a bookish like-minded soul, as we tend to appreciate the same types of stories!

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Courtenay through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I host #ChocLitSaturday the chat and having previously read her time slip novels. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time or continuing to read their releases as they are available.

Posted Saturday, 15 October, 2016 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Cover Reveal, Book Spotlight, British Literature, Castles & Estates, ChocLitUK, Gothic Literature, Gothic Romance, Indie Author, Modern British Literature, Paranormal Romance, Parapsychological Suspense, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Supernatural Fiction

Double-Showcase | Book Review w/ a Cover Reveal (for the sequel!) feat. the Moonfall Mayhem series by A.E. Decker!

Posted Thursday, 25 August, 2016 by jorielov (Illustrator) Cary Vandever, A.E. Decker, Moonfall Mayhem series, The Falling of the Moon, World Weaver Press 0 Comments

I love unexpected surprises, don’t you?

You can imagine then, my earnest surprise to have learnt the novel I was about to be featuring during my #FuellYourSciFi showcases leading up to #RRSciFiMonth this November has not only a *sequel!* but a lovely re-designed concept for it’s cover imagery! Remember when I said I would be resuming where I left off with my reviews showcasing *World Weaver Press*!? whilst announcing the upcoming September release for “Murder in the Generative Kitchen”?

As that was in July, I felt I would happily find World Weaver Presses stories alighting on my blog throughout the month – until of course – I learnt that despite my best intentions, circumventing (*extreme!*) lightning storms, my personal life & the ramifications of technical woes extending out of said lightning storms is not quite as easy as it would appear to be on the surface! My computer & ISP are driving me battier than bananas spoilt too soon before they can baked into a divinely tasting bread! You know how vexing that is, don’t you? You have a lovely batch of bananas right at the ready to whip into a hearty batch of banana bread, repleat with walnuts, shredded coconut and either dried fruit or chocolate pieces – only to find that your horrid humidic temperatures destroy any chance to bake it!

Ergo, sometimes blogging is like baking! You have to roll with the unexpected & happily look forward to the hours you can soak inside the stories! Even if your hours wick off the clock – remain calm – your time to duck into a ‘new’ author’s imagination is right round the corner! This has been my mantra this Summer, as I still grieved the loss of my equipment & hours from last Summer’s EPIC 90 days of lightning which wasn’t something I was keen on repeating! I’ve managed to keep online more regularly this year due to a new ISP but sometimes, even your ISP can become flummoxed by surges, power outages & a quirky habit of your connectivity *not responding* to their tech support interference! Laughs. There’s a lesson in this, you know! Sometimes you have to find more patience than you feel!

This isn’t the ‘unexpected surprise’ I am hinting towards, as being the kind I ‘appreciate’ and ‘love’ to find alight in my life! No, the kind of surprise I’m referring too – is a sequel is about to debut continuing a story you’ve looked forward to reading! The fact the cover has been re-designed in order to cross-coordinate with the sequel is even sweeter! The only thing I truly miss about the old cover is this lovely bat-cat (Moony) on the back cover! The expression on that cat was quite spectacular! Although, I suppose I should confess – I *loved!* the purpleness of the cover’s colour, too!

Notation on Cover Art: The tree stood out to me as it reminded me of the trees in the Fantasy films I grew up watching as a child! Think along the lines of “The Neverending Story” (1984) or the television version of “Babes in Toyland” (1986) starring Drew Barrymore & Richard Mulligan! Yet it’s the expression on (Rags-n-Bones) face that truly held my attention! That is seriously speaking volumes towards what could lie behind this cover in regards to the story and the suspense of something brewing!

#PubDay is 25th October, 2016 | Cross-Releasing in Trade Paperback & Ebook!

ISBN: 978-0-9977888-3-9 | Page Count: 337

Cover Art Designer: Cary Vandever | Twitter

Meddlers of Moonshine on World Weaver Press

Something is rotten in the town of Widget, and Rags-n-Bones knows it’s all his fault. Ever since he snitched that avocado from Miss Ascot’s pack, things have been going wrong. Armed with a handful of memories he never realized he had, Rags-n-Bones searches for a way to put right whatever he did to Widget in the past. If only he knew what it was! Unfortunately, the only person who seems to have answers is a half-mad youth that only Rags can see.

Widget is also suffering from a ghost infestation that has the townsfolk almost as spooked of outsiders as they are of actual spooks. While Rags-n-Bones seeks answers in the past, Ascot offers the town leaders her service as an exorcist, only to be handed an ultimatum: banish the ghosts or be banished herself!

Who’s meddling with Widget? To catch the culprit, Ascot and Rags-n-Bones must match wits with a shifty sorcerer, a prissy ex-governess, and a troublingly attractive captain before the town consigns itself to the graveyard of history.

If you ask me, there is more than meets the eye in this series!

This is one of the beautiful new promo badges created with an excerpt of the story!

Isn’t it lovely how you can see the secondary characters & get a vibe for the context?

Ah! Now, then, what did Jorie think about the 1st book in the Moonfall Mahem series?!

Posted Thursday, 25 August, 2016 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Cover Reveal, Book Spotlight, Cats and Kittens, Coming-Of Age, Fairy Tale Fiction, Familiars, Fantasy Fiction, Father-Daughter Relationships, Folklore, Folklore and Mythology, Genre-bender, Ghost Story, Gothic Literature, Indie Author, Speculative Fiction, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, Supernatural Fiction, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, Upper YA Fiction, Vampires, Vulgarity in Literature, World Weaver Press, YA Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction

Blog Book Tour | “The Secret Language of Stones” (Book No.2 of Daughters of La Lune series) by M.J. Rose

Posted Wednesday, 10 August, 2016 by jorielov Atria Books, M.J. Rose, Simon & Schuster, The Daughters of La Lune, The Secret Language of Stones 0 Comments

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “The Secret Language of Stones” direct from the publisher Atria Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

On why I wanted to continue reading the Daughters of La Lune:

I previously hosted Ms Rose during her blog tour for The Collector of Dying Breaths, whereupon I also interviewed her for the same tour. I had a fascination inside me about the Reincarnationist series, but it ended up my heart was attached quite dearly to the second trilogy making up the volumes of: The Book of Lost Fragrances, Seduction, and The Collector of Dying Breaths. I went into details about this on my previous M.J. Rose book review, but what intrigued me about returning into her next novel is how it was set to life in Paris itself.

The layers she knitted into the story to encourage a back-drop of suspense mixing inside Gothic Lit undertones and the possessiveness of a long-dead master of darkness, was imploring as I wanted to see how this story would balance most of what I’ve come to love inside an M.J. Rose novel! I was thinking this was in-part a departure from her Reincarnationist series as much as an extension of the passionate drive her characters have for not only their pursuit of joy but their pursuit of how to live their lives without the attachments which might not allow them to live as freely as their soul desires. Rose tends to write convicting fiction where her characters are seeking ‘something’ in relation to who they are at their innermost core whilst giving the reader a depth of back-story to soak inside whilst the characters thrive through the journey they undertake. – as related on my review of The Witch of Painted Sorrows

I have become quite intrigued by Ms Rose’s style for crafting her stories through sensory awareness, as I also made a footnote about on my review for The Witch of Painted Sorrows, stated as follows:

Rose has a spirit about the writer’s craft in her novels, I appreciate the touches of prose she stitches inside them because she wants you to be sensory aware of each key moment that triggers a deepening connection of ‘time and place’ for her characters. I noticed this in The Collector’s of Dying Breaths as much as I have inside The Witch of Painted Sorrows; as she endeavours to have you carried through what is nearly tangible by taste, smell, and a sixth sense attribute.

It isn’t so much that your merely reading an MJ Rose novel, your experiencing the full breadth of what she’s etching into the background of the story itself. Providing you with a portal of intrigue which defies time and catapults you through history’s mirrored door. I was quite spellbound by the first Daughters of La Lune novel and I have been eagerly awaiting the sequel, to see where Ms Rose is going to further takes us throughout the trilogy!

The Secret Language of Stones
by M.J. Rose
Source: Publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

As World War I rages and the Romanov dynasty reaches its sudden, brutal end, a young jewelry maker discovers love, passion, and her own healing powers in this rich and romantic ghost story, the perfect follow-up to M.J. Rose’s “brilliantly crafted” (Providence Journal) novel The Witch of Painted Sorrows.

Nestled within Paris’s historic Palais Royal is a jewelry store unlike any other. La Fantasie Russie is owned by Pavel Orloff, protégé to the famous Faberge, and is known by the city’s fashion elite as the place to find the rarest of gemstones and the most unique designs. But war has transformed Paris from a city of style and romance to a place of fear and mourning. In the summer of 1918, places where lovers used to walk, widows now wander alone.

So it is from La Fantasie Russie’s workshop that young, ambitious Opaline Duplessi now spends her time making trench watches for soldiers at the front, as well as mourning jewelry for the mothers, wives, and lovers of those who have fallen. People say that Opaline’s creations are magical. But magic is a word Opaline would rather not use. The concept is too closely associated with her mother Sandrine, who practices the dark arts passed down from their ancestor La Lune, one of sixteenth century Paris’s most famous courtesans.

But Opaline does have a rare gift even she can’t deny, a form of lithomancy that allows her to translate the energy emanating from stones. Certain gemstones, combined with a personal item, such as a lock of hair, enable her to receive messages from beyond the grave. In her mind, she is no mystic, but merely a messenger, giving voice to soldiers who died before they were able to properly express themselves to loved ones. Until one day, one of these fallen soldiers communicates a message—directly to her.

So begins a dangerous journey that will take Opaline into the darkest corners of wartime Paris and across the English Channel, where the exiled Romanov dowager empress is waiting to discover the fate of her family. Full of romance, seduction, and a love so powerful it reaches beyond the grave, The Secret Language of Stones is yet another “spellbindingly haunting” (Suspense magazine), “entrancing read that will long be savored” (Library Journal, starred review).

Genres: Gothic Literature, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, War Drama

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781476778099

Also by this author: The Collector of Dying Breaths, The Witch of Painted Sorrows

Series: The Daughters of La Lune

Also in this series: The Witch of Painted Sorrows

Published by Atria Books

on 19th July, 2016

Format: Hardcover Edition

Pages: 320

Published By: Atria (@AtriaBooks)
{imprint of} Simon & Schuster (@simonschuster)

Converse via: #DaughtersOfLaLune, #SecretLanguageOfStones & #MJRose
Available Formats: Hardback and E-Book

About M.J. Rose

New York Times Bestseller, M.J. Rose grew up in New York City mostly in the labyrinthine galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park and reading her mother’s favorite books before she was allowed.

She believes mystery and magic are all around us but we are too often too busy to notice…books that exaggerate mystery and magic draw attention to it and remind us to look for it and revel in it. She is the author of more than a dozen novels, the co-president and founding board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.

(Biography updated August 2016)

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

2016 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Posted Wednesday, 10 August, 2016 by jorielov in 20th Century, Art, Blog Tour Host, Crime Fiction, During WWI, Earthen Magic, France, Ghost Story, Gothic Literature, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Mystery, Historical Romance, Historical Thriller Suspense, Jewelry & Jewelry Design, Mediums & Clairvoyants, Multi-Generational Saga, Parapsychological Gifts, Parapsychological Suspense, Premonition-Precognitive Visions, Psychological Suspense, Supernatural Fiction, The World Wars, War Drama

Book Review | “Some Veil Did Fall” (Book No.1 of the Rossetti Mysteries) by Kirsty Ferry #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 30 July, 2016 by jorielov ChocLitUK, Kirsty Ferry, Rossetti Mysteries, Some Veil Did Fall 0 Comments

Why I feature #ChocLitSaturdays (book reviews & guest author features)
and created #ChocLitSaturday (the chat via @ChocLitSaturday):

I wanted to create a bit of a niche on Jorie Loves A Story to showcase romance fiction steeped in relationships, courtships, and the breadth of marriage enveloped by characters written honestly whose lives not only endear you to them but they nestle into your heart as their story is being read!

I am always seeking relationship-based romance which strikes a chord within my mind’s eye as well as my heart! I’m a romantic optimist, and I love curling into a romance where I can be swept inside the past, as history becomes lit alive in the fullness of the narrative and I can wander amongst the supporting cast observing the principal characters fall in love and sort out if they are a proper match for each other!

I love how an Indie Publisher like ChocLitUK is such a positive alternative for those of us who do not identify ourselves as girls and women who read ‘chick-lit’. I appreciate the stories which alight in my hands from ChocLit as much as I appreciate the inspirational romances I gravitate towards because there is a certain level of depth to both outlets in romance which encourage my spirits and gives me a beautiful story to absorb! Whilst sorting out how promote my book reviews on behalf of ChocLit, I coined the phrase “ChocLitSaturdays”, which is a nod to the fact my ChocLit reviews & features debut on ‘a Saturday’ but further to the point that on the ‘weekend’ we want to dip into a world wholly ideal and romantic during our hours off from the work week!

Acquired Book By: I am a regular reviewer for ChocLitUK, where I hand select which books in either their backlist and/or current releases I would like to read next for my #ChocLitSaturdays blog feature. As of June 2016, I became a member of the ChocLit Stars Team in tandem with being on the Cover Reveal Team which I joined in May 2016. I reference the Stars as this is a lovely new reader contribution team of sending feedback to the publisher ahead of new book releases. As always, even if I’m involved with a publisher in this sort of fashion, each review is never influenced by that participation and will always be my honest impression as I read the story. Whether the author is one I have previously read or never had the pleasure to read until the book greets my shelf.

I received a complimentary copy of “Some Veil Did Fall” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. It should be noted ‘Some Veil Did Fall’ was requested prior to the two teams I joined on behalf of ChocLitUK. I simply have become more active with the Reveal Team & begun my journey as a ChocLit Star in-between receiving this novel and the day my review posts.

Why Jorie has such a hearty penchant for time slips & ghost stories:

For as long as I can remember, I have entertained a healthy appetite for the paranormal – especially in regards to Southern Gothic Literature, Paranormal Romance and Ghost Stories most definitely being at the top of the list of ‘must reads’ for my literary wanderings! It has taken quite a long while to sort out which authors truly whet a thirst of interest for me to read, as when I found the Ghost Harrison series by Heather Graham, I was truly thankful for the respite I found inside my ‘first!’ Graham novel: Ghost Walk set in New Orleans! Imagine my good fortune!? A ghost story and a romance all in one!

When I came to find out that Edith Wharton wrote ghost stories, I must say, I was rather chuffed to have found a copy of her paranormal stories through my local library’s ILL catalogue! As you can tell by the review I composed, I was quite wicked happy for the readings! More recently, I explored why I find the supernatural so very alluring when I reviewed Southern Haunts, an anthology series of Southern Gothic stories set in the realms of the paranormal! There simply is something to be said for that ‘elsewhere’ vibe to stories that bend time, setting, place and living history behind the backdrop of what cannot be seen but can surely be felt as being as real as the breath you see catch in a Wintry sky.

Now, when it comes to time slips, I’m equally motivated to soak inside a story that is hinged between timescapes and/or generational time intervals where characters or circumstances are equally tied together. One of the best impressions I had of how time can slip and affect characters so substantially as to directly affect the reader was within the story A Fall of Marigolds. If you want to read a story by an author whose conquered this genre with equal dexterity for writing convincing paranormal attributes into their back-stories, look no further than Christina Courtenay! My first reading by her was of The Silent Touch of Shadows wherein I was pleasantly taken for a wicked twist of an ending!

More recently I explored this theory in practice by my reading of The Memory Painter, where I was only slightly disappointed for the direction of the story’s core of heart, as it was the predictable route to go rather than the route less taken where I had hoped I’d venture instead. What gets me invested in both styles is the curious ‘unknowns’ that occupy the spaces between understanding what is physically happening to the character and how the mind can entreat inside an experience far outside the scope of where physical reality or science can explain it. This is one reason why I love watching episodes of The Ghost Whisperer as it’s a whole series in full pursuit of what walks between the veils of what is seen and unseen.

Notation on Cover Art: I shrank this image down for my readers – as the copy of the cover art to use on my review is such a blaring bright pink, it hurts your eyes in the larger format! The interesting bit is that IRL the book is lovely to hold & to look at as it’s not glaring! I even loved how it’s a combination of hot pink with blocked black imagery – I know it’s a particular style of art but for the life of me it’s eluding me right now to remember what it’s called! Laughs. I’m not a pink girl either – so hats off to Ms Stevens for creating a cover that made me smile!

Some Veil Did Fall
by Kirsty Ferry
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Berni Stevens
Source: Direct from Publisher

What if you recalled memories from a life that wasn’t yours, from a life before…?

When Becky steps into Jonathon Nelson’s atmospheric photography studio in Whitby, she is simply a freelance journalist in search of a story. But as soon as she puts on the beautiful Victorian dress and poses for a photograph, she becomes somebody quite different…

From that moment on, Becky is overcome with visions and flashbacks from a life that isn’t her own – some disturbing and filled with fear.

As she and Jon begin to unravel the tragic mystery behind her strange experiences, the natural affinity they have for each other continues to grow and leads them to question … have they met somewhere before? Perhaps not just in this life but in another?

Genres: Gothic Literature, Ghost Story, Romantic Suspense, Thriller

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Book Page on ChocLitUK

ISBN: 9781781891612

Also by this author: The Girl in the Painting

Published by ChocLitUK

on 1st November, 2014

Format: Paperback Edition

Pages: 288

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)

Available Formats: Paperback, Audiobook, Large Print & E-Book

Order of Sequence of Rossetti Mysteries:

Some Veil Did Fall | Book One | Read more on Author’s blog

The Girl in the Painting | Book Two (Synopsis) | Read more on Author’s blog

Converse via: #RossettiMysteries + #ChocLit

About Kirsty Ferry

Kirsty lives in the North East of England with her husband and son. She won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition in 2009 and has had articles and short stories published in Peoples Friend, The Weekly News, It’s Fate, Vintage Script, Ghost Voices and First Edition.

Her work also appears in several anthologies, incorporating such diverse themes as vampires, crime, angels and more.
Kirsty loves writing ghostly mysteries and interweaving fact and fiction. The research is almost as much fun as writing the book itself, and if she can add a wonderful setting and a dollop of history, that’s even better.
Her day job involves sharing a building with an eclectic collection of ghosts, which can often prove rather interesting.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads

Posted Saturday, 30 July, 2016 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 19th Century, 21st Century, Art, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Britian, British Literature, Castles & Estates, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Deaf Culture in Fiction, England, Equality In Literature, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Ghost Story, Ghosts & the Supernatural, Gothic Literature, Gothic Mystery, Gothic Romance, Green-Minded Publishers, Haunting & Ethereal, Indie Author, Modern British Author, Modern Day, Paranormal Romance, Parapsychological Suspense, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, the Victorian era, Time Slip

Cover Reveal | There is a #newbook publishing in a #printbook release by Christina Courtenay this October! (The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight) Isn’t that wicked grand!?

Posted Tuesday, 5 July, 2016 by jorielov ChocLitUK, Christina Courtenay, Shadows of the Past series, The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight 0 Comments

If your a regular reader or frequent visitor of Jorie Loves A Story, you know I’ve been smitten with the novelists who publish their relationship-based Romances with ChocLitUK for a good two years now! I love being on the cusp of learning about a ‘new release’ whilst I remain patient to see if the Digital First new ChocLit novel will make it to a print release further down the road of it’s lifetime. I don’t mind the gaps between the ebooks and the print editions – as it’s always given me the pleasure of balancing my ‘next ChocLit reads’ to include both Front List and Back List offerings. Thus, I am enjoying being a member of the Reveal Team at ChocLit whilst it gives me a chance to introduce my readers to a variety of sub-genres within Romance I appreciate picking up to read!

On my new position as a ChocLit Star member: Whilst I am part of the ChocLit Reviewers having brought reviews & guest author features to Jorie Loves A Story for the past two years, I have recently become a part of the Cover Reveal Team, as disclosed when I hosted the first Reveal on behalf of Sheryl Browne’s ‘Learning to Love’. This new team works with ChocLit providing honest feedback on ‘projects’ such as title & book cover design choices as well projects in development on behalf of the publisher. I accepted being a ChocLit Star as I felt my love of the stories would be a good fit to give in-depth responses to the projects pitched to the Stars. Therefore, when I blogged about the cover for “Revenge is Sweet” it was the first reveal where my input as a ChocLit Star helped the reveal become possible!

Celebrating the Paranormal Romances of Christina Courtenay
& her “Shadows of the Past” series

Read the author’s thoughts on writing Time Slips via her Guest Post
(which focuses on this series)

The Silent Touch of Shadows began the series

The Soft Whisper of Dreams is the sequel to The Secret Kiss of Darkness

& today’s cover reveal is about the fourth story next in sequence!

I’ve been wanting to soak back inside this series for the past two years – time & tide kept keeping me away from the story’s heart, I must admit! It’s partially why I was inspired to spend 2016 focusing on the serial fiction by ChocLit authors, as I knew I had two series by Ms Courtenay I wanted to be reading next in queue in-between my next review choices – her Kinross series & Shadows from the Past are far too tempting to let time continue to slip through my fingers!

The interesting bit to note is that it was ‘The Silent Touch of Shadows’ which first introduced me to the collective works of Ms Courtenay, and what a blessing it was to disappear inside this world she created for us to wander around – as it was both alluring as it was cautionary! I was on the pins of my nerves for most of the novel as you simply had no way of knowing how it would pan out in the end & if the ending was one you could live with finding as the resolution!

I knew from that moment forward I would want to travel through her bibliography – seeing how she would tempt me into the historical past but also, how your Young Adult novels might be ones I could appreciate as much as her PNR stories. I look forward to spending more hours inside her novels, but today, it’s simply a wicked sweet joy of mine to be helping to ring in the next novel in sequence for a series that simply charmed me at first meeting!