Genre: Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction

#Blogmas | feat. #HarlequinHeartwarming | “A Christmas Proposal (Texas Rebels, Book Ten) by Linda Warren

Posted Saturday, 5 December, 2020 by jorielov A Christmas Proposal, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Linda Warren, Texas Rebels series 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

This #blogmas on Jorie Loves A Story you’ll find a lot of hearty varieties of stories being featured as I look into the genres I regularly love to read and have started to seek out finding #newtomeauthors within those genres I can look forward to reading in the New Year. As you might have already suspected the Harlequin Heartwarming imprint by Harlequin Books is one of my top favourites – year round without fail! I love setting my heart & mind into their series and one-offs, as the authors I find penning these stories are curating a wonderful landscape of relationship-based Romances which are my favourites to seek out! They write them with a heap of heart, a grounding of family and/or community (or both!) whilst giving me a lovely realistic backdrop of a story to soak inside!

There are loads of lovely Harlequin Heartwarming authors I haven’t yet had a chance to read and/or feature on Jorie Loves A Story. This December, I found a few I can spotlight and draw attention to during #blogmas and this is my first author I wanted to mention as my showcases this month start to get underway in full force. My readings have been a bit hit/miss as December began but I’m hoping before the middle of the month, I’ll be able to share some new reviews & discuss the stories I am currently reading and/or listening via audiobook as we move towards the Christmas and holiday season in full earnest.

What drew my eye to this story and the series which it is set inside is actually the *length!* of the series itself – 10 books strong!? Imagine!! I get as giddy as my Mum whenever I find a series which is fully in-progress and has been making keen strides with readers throughout the duration of the series. Longer series are a sweet joy for me because it means you can spend more time with the writer and their characters whilst getting to know every inch of their setting, community and which of the characters are going to come and go as new installments arrive in the series itself. It makes for a lot of lovely hours of reading and series as big as this one are a sweet find indeed!

Plus, I have a soft spot in my bookish heart for Christmas Romances & stories set at Christmas! After all, it wasn’t too many years ago where I first started to read the Coffeehouse Mysteries by Cleo Coyle by picking up “Holiday Grind” and finding myself so wholly enthused by what I found in that mystery that I immediately started to backread the whole series starting with “On What Grounds”. It is still a project I am undertaking today along with my readings of Aunt Dimity by Nancy Alterton as I discovered both series during the same year of 2008.

I find sometimes reading a Christmas installment in a series is a good footing on the development of the series and of where you expect to find the writer shifting the series forward. Sometimes their just a hoot to read and give you a bit of holiday licence to break your own mainstay preference (like mine!) of reading series in order! I know if I see this lovely at my library I’ll be picking it up to read!!

Curiously – when you come across a book series such as the Texas Rebels one I’m featuring today – do you get as wicked excited as I do about finding a series already in-progress where you can binge read the series OR would you prefer to find series which are just starting to gain traction within the first 1-3 stories?

A child’s Christmas wish…

Gives love a second chance

Becky Tullous has never forgiven boy-next-door Bo Goodnight for breaking her teenage heart. Now the SWAT sergeant is back in Horseshoe, Texas, and getting far too attached to her three-year-old daughter. Becky never wanted Bo in Luci’s life, but her developmentally delayed little girl is making great progress with him around.

Will Bo prove he’s worth a second chance this Christmas?

Add to LibraryThing | ISBN: 978-1-335-88998-0

This series has 10 books inside it including:

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

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks)
an imprint of Harlequin Books

Converse via: #ContemporaryRomance &/or #ChristmasRomance
as well #HolidayReads or #ChristmasReads and #HarlequinHeartwarming

Posted Saturday, 5 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

#Blogmas Author Interview | Conversing with Josephine Templeton about her story “The Christmas Mistake”!

Posted Friday, 4 December, 2020 by jorielov GenZ Publishing, Josephine Templeton, The Christmas Mistake 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I am wicked happy to present my second interview during #blogmas today! I had fun discovering this quirky and light-hearted Christmas Rom-Com in the announcements for upcoming new releases for Christmas Romances this year! Sometimes I like to divert away from reading dramatic stories and/or suspenseful ones – giving me some time to spend with a lighter story which still has a pack of heart and soul inside it! This one in particular stood out to me as I had a feeling there was a ‘story’ behind the plot of this Christmas Romance – as to me that is what makes a story most intriguing to read overall; what is happening between the synopsis and the conclusion!

Happily the author loved chatting about Christmas and her characters with me – whilst we both *share!* a particular Christmas music tradition, together! Ha!! It is wonderful to put together these Christmassy interviews during #blogmas whilst getting the chance to get to know a bit of #behindthebook trivia about new Contemporary Romances and the writers who were inspired to write them. I love interviewing authors during @SatBookChat but I equally love interviewing them throughout the year on Jorie Loves A Story. Between sharing my reviews of the books I am reading and conversing with the authors – I have curated a lovely road map of how the stories and the authors have crossed my paths these past seven years – which is a wicked feat in of itself and one that continues to humble me knowing how long I’ve been sharing my bookish life on my blog.

If you’ve missed my first interview this #blogmas, be sure to visit the conversation I had with Nancy Barone! Be sure to watch for my special Christmassy interview coming up this month with Mandy Baggot!

The Christmas Mistake
by Josephine Templeton

Dressed in nothing but Christmas lingerie, Carina has a bellhop deliver her in a gift box to her fiance’s hotel room, but the last thing she expects when she is unwrapped is to see a sexy stranger in holiday boxers who looks like he just stepped off a magazine cover – definitely NOT her fiancé! How in the silver bells was she delivered to the wrong room?

As the owner of a small flower shop, Carina’s surrounded by romance on a daily basis. Her workaholic fiancé has been distant for the past several months, so she decides to drive from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to surprise him on Christmas Eve. However, that distance between them has brought loneliness, and the mere thought of the sexy stranger plucks at her mistletoe. When she discovers the reason for her fiance’s lack of attention, will she put him on Santa’s naughty list and take the stranger for a sleigh ride?

Genres: Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance, Contemporary Romance

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1952919060

Published by GenZ Publishing

on 1st December, 2020

Published by: GenZ Publishing (@genzpub)

Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook

Converse on Twitter via: #HolidayReads or #ChristmasReads as well as #TheChristmasMistake

About Josephine Templeton

Josephine Templeton has six published novels that range from historical romance to urban fantasy. She has been to numerous conferences, including Heather Graham’s Writers for New Orleans, as well as a former member of Romance Writers of America.

Posted Friday, 4 December, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Blitz, Book Spotlight, Christmas Romance &/or Holiday Story, Contemporary Romance, Indie Author, Reader Submitted Author Interview, Xpresso Book Tours

#Blogmas Book Spotlight | “A Wedding Night in Twinkle Falls” (Twinkle Falls series, Book Two) by Freda Ann

Posted Thursday, 3 December, 2020 by jorielov A Wedding in Twinkle Falls, Freda Ann, Self Published, Twinkle Falls series 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

As you know, I have a hankering for finding new Christmas Romances & Christmas stories every December – this particular story was an interesting find because it is a series in-progress and the extract I have to share with you brought back memories of a tv series I am currently binge watching which had seven seasons. I am currently in the fourth year and moving into the fifth. The hardest part of the series for me is the emotional upheavals you feel as you’re watching it because it is set and rooted in our modern world & life; especially in the current events of the past decade and a half to where you can directly relate to the events happening in the series.

I love finding series which seek to talk about the condition of living through modern life but also how much courage it takes to find strength in the midst of the most unthinkable news being given to you as a mother and as a father. This series has truly tested me throughout the seasons I’ve been watching it because of the clarity of its scope for story and how well it has continuously followed the lead characters’ lives – each in turn, having their own set of adverse situations and circumstances to work through and always finding solace, serenity and friendship at the heart of what helps them heal through it all.

This particular novel touches on a moment I’ve lived out in the series I’m watching as I just went through the hardest hitting sequencing of episodes this far into it – where you just feel shattered and gutted because of how well the series was written, acted and produced. I hope the characters in this series of Twinkle Falls has the kind of support system the ‘Army Wives’ have themselves or if through the extract I am about to share with you, perhaps they can unexpectedly start to form a support system together.

Here’s to continuing to celebrate my wicked sweet adventure finding new Christmas Romances and stories set at Christmas throughout #blogmas 2020! Happy reading!

A Wedding in Twinkle Falls
Subtitle: A Twinkle Falls Novel
by Freda Ann

The couple you fell in love with in Christmas in Twinkle Falls (book one) are on their way to a HEA…or are they?

In this sweet, clean Hallmark style love story, you’ll get plenty more of the characters you fell in love with in the first book, to include Shelby the smart rescue dog!

After swoony Air Force Sergeant, Liam James, proposes to the love of his life, preparations for a wedding in two short months begin. But no wedding goes off without a hitch.

As Sophie starts planning, her son Cam, on the autism spectrum, experiences events that threaten the black and white world he lives in. Trying to maintain a peaceful existence for her family, Sophie’s world is rocked to the core once again when her fiancé leaves town.

Will she muster the strength to bring her future family back together so they can have their forever happiness?

Genres: Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance, Contemporary Romance, Romance Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 979-8572472554

Published by Self Published

on 27th November, 2020

This is a Self Published novel and series.

Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook

Converse on Twitter via: #ChristmasReads, #HolidayReads, #CleanReads
as well as #ChristmasRomance and #TwinkleFalls

About Freda Ann

Freda was born in southern New Jersey but grew up in Florida. She has loved writing her entire life. After retiring from a career in law enforcement, she knew it was time to fulfill her lifelong dream of being a published author.

She's the author of The Hawaii Series, proudly named from her love of the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. It's a three-book series with all of them written as standalone books.

Freda loves her large family, horses, dogs, cat, and close friends. She hosts monthly family dinners at her home in the country, which she shares with her husband.

She loves baking (she owned and operated a cupcake business for years), cooking, yoga, crocheting, nature and traveling with the love of her life.

What helps her write? Music makes her happy! If music doesn't give her the right motivation, she puts on a romantic movie, usually from the Hallmark Channel, which she can't get enough of!

Freda speaks her mind and pushes perfection to its limit. She strives to be her best, most positive self she can be in life. With time, determination, and practice, she believes anything is possible.

Posted Thursday, 3 December, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, Book Blitz, Book Spotlight, Christmas Romance &/or Holiday Story, Contemporary Romance, Indie Author, Xpresso Book Tours

#Blogmas Book Spotlight | “O Night Divine” (anthology) by Dragonblade Publishing

Posted Wednesday, 2 December, 2020 by jorielov Dragonblade Publishing, O Night Divine 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

As you might have already guessed by the featured #blogmas posts which were arriving a bit early-on this year ahead of December, I sort of went overboard sorting out new releases and new authors or stories to be featured throughout December! I also plan to be *reading!* and talking about my #holidayreads as well, so in case this isn’t your favourite season of the year OR holiday, you might want to take a break from my blog until January! lol I’ll be reading my backlogue of #SatBookChat authors in case Women’s Fiction or Romance are your jam — for the most part though, this December I’ve decided to go ‘all in’ when it comes to seeking out Christmas Romances & stories set during Winter.

This anthology was a bit of a curious one for me – I hadn’t realised it was digital first when I signed onto the promotional tour and I had hoped it might yield a chapter sampler for those of us waiting a different format to read the anthology – but all that aside, what I thought was quite interesting is how each of the writers wrote about a different entry point which works well with the anthology’s overall theme!

Not to mention the fact, with such a wide range of voices, styles and writers – you are bound to find more than a handful of new authors to chase after to read more of their collective works; and this is singularly why I love finding new anthologies to read! The chance to have a bit of a ‘tasting’ if you will of an author’s style and in some cases (as I was visiting their websites/blogs) – some of the authors were extending their series already published with a new short story or novella which is included in this anthology! Imagine that!?

If Christmas anthologies are something you love as much as I do – perhaps this one will be a wicked good fit!? You’ll have to let me know in the comments!!

O Night Divine
Subtitle: A Holiday Collection of Spirited Christmas Tales

A MASTERPIECE OF HOLIDAY STORYTELLING...

Enjoy this stunning holiday collection from some of your favorite Dragonblade Publishing authors in this collection of never-before published seasonal tales!

Imagine, if you will, that it is Christmas Eve.

The candles are guttered, one by one, and a hush falls over the parlor. The children have gone to bed, and a tall, gloriously decorated Christmas tree looms in the shadows of the hearth’s dying embers. A tattered copy of Charles Dickens’ masterwork, “A Christmas Carol” sits, cold and lonely, upon a table nearby.

A small gust of wind, hurling from the seam of an ill-fitting window, blows the cover open. The first chapter appears… “Marley’s Ghost”…

The clock on the wall chimes midnight.

Now, the magic happens.

From the gaily bedecked halls of Regency England to the cold and crisp air of the Scottish Highlands, and everything in between, enjoy the magic of a holiday collection that has drawn inspiration from Charles Dickens’ most beloved literary works. Where the ghosts of Christmas, the incandescent spirit of a tiny disabled boy, and the joy that is the very heart of the Christmas season come alive.

USA Today and Internationally bestselling authors
bring you their version of a Dickens’-inspired holiday in O NIGHT DIVINE.

Genres: Anthology Collection of Short Stories and/or Essays, Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance, Historical Romance, Short Story or Novella

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ASIN: B08F5LSDN7

Published by Dragonblade Publishing

on 17th December, 2020

Published by: Dragonblade Publishing (@dragonbladepub)

This is a Digital First Release – ebook only!

Converse on Twitter via: #CharlesDickens retell #Anthology + #AChristmasCarol
as well as #HolidayReads or #ChristmasReads

Posted Wednesday, 2 December, 2020 by jorielov in Anthology Collection of Stories, Blog Tour Host, Book Blitz, Book Spotlight, Christmas Romance &/or Holiday Story, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Novellas or Short Stories, Romance Fiction, Xpresso Book Tours

Happy #blogmas, Author Q&A | “No Room at the Little Cornish Inn” by Nancy Barone

Posted Tuesday, 1 December, 2020 by jorielov Aria Fiction, Head of Zeus, Nancy Barone, No Room at the Little Cornish Inn 4 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

Happy December, Happy #blogmas, everyone! Each year, for the past several years I’ve been engaging with you during this special month of posts which are inter-connected to either Christmas or a genre of interest which is being celebrated during the chase up to Christmas and/or New Year’s. I have been enjoying curating the guest features, spotlights and other showcases each year I’ve participated in #blogmas and this year, is no exception! I have a wonderful sequencing of posts for you – including a few author interviews featuring Head of Zeus authors which I’m quite excited about!

Today kicks off my Head of Zeus Christmas interviews with a #newtomeauthor, Ms Barone whose written a delightful Contemporary Christmassy Romance whose title first winked a dash of curiosity for me to pursue! I’ve since learnt this is one of three novels set round a theme of interest in ‘Cornish’ – whilst my conversation with Ms Barone tucks into the story a bit as we discuss her characters whilst I also wanted to broach a few questions about Christmas as a season and as a holiday we mutually love to celebrate.

I hope this will become one of the stories I can read next year for Christmas as it is strictly digital first right now for those who read ebooks! Once the titles I’ve featured by Head of Zeus go into audiobook editions, I have a better chance of finding them – as I am grateful Scribd carries their stories. Right now for those who read ebooks the first two stories of Little Cornish are available on Scribd for you. If they don’t go into audio, I’ll have to wait for the print editions to read them.

Why I wanted to host a spotlight & interview
for this new Christmassy story ‘No Room at the Little Cornish Inn’:

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 a soft spot for stories set before, during and after the Christmas and/or New Year holidays – every year, I love to binge watch Christmas movies on tv (esp Hallmark or Lifetime) as much as I have small collection of beloved Christmas movies on dvd which I also love to binge watch every December & January. For me, Christmas extends to Twelfth Night in January and even a bit beyond – as I generally get into the festive spirit the week of Thanksgiving and have it until just before the start of February. Winter also marks my favourite season of the year – when the humidity is finally gone and I can pull out my sweaters and long sleeved shirts whilst enjoying the brisk colder air!!

What stood out to me of course is the overlay from “the” original Christmas story into a Contemporary Christmas Romance such as this one – where the story moves from having no place to stay to having a corporate woman on holiday with her son having to sort out why this particular Inn is malfunctioning. I’ve seen this played out a few times in Hallmark movies (ie. starring Brennan Elliott and/or Candace Cameron respectively) and I’ve always enjoyed them. There is something to be said for someone coming into a business at the moment its faltering and struggling to right its sails – you never know if it will fold, merge, sell or re-stablise and there is joy in the journey towards the ending seeing how hearts spark to life and sometimes in the midst of that kind of chaos romance can bloom!

This is why I was keen on learning a bit more about this story and why I am truly grateful I could interview the author during her blog tour this December.

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

No Room at the Little Cornish Inn
by Nancy Barone

Rosie Anderson was hoping to whisk her young son Danny away for a lovely Christmas with family, far from the hustle and bustle of her life in London. But then her boss at the head office – aka Susan the Sacker – suddenly assigns her to go in incognito and save a tiny inn in Cornwall from being closed permanently. Rosie doesn't know why The Old Bell Inn is performing so badly but it's on her to sort it out!

Hours in the car later, Rosie arrives at the inn to find she's been double booked – there are no rooms left. And she isn't there for more than a minute before she's butting heads with the manager, Irishman Mitchell Fitzpatrick. He seems to dislike her on sight, so it's confusing that he seems to get on so well with Danny... But if he's as terrible as his reputation, Rosie will have to be the one to fire him.

This really isn't the Christmas Rosie was dreaming of. But maybe, just maybe, it could be a whole lot more...

A sweet and uplifting Christmas romance, No Room at the Little Cornish Inn is perfect for fans of Philippa Ashley, Holly Martin and Jenny Hale.

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

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ASIN: B0888WT8S5

Published by Aria Fiction

on 5th November, 2020

The Little Cornish series of stories:

[ although I am unsure if this is a dedicated series, all the stories involve ‘Little Cornish’ ]

New Hope for the Little Cornish Farmhouse (book one)

No Room at the Little Cornish Inn (book two)

Dreams of a Little Cornish Cottage (book three) ← forthcoming, 2021!

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

This is a Digital First Release!

Converse via: #NoRoomAtTheLittleCornishInn, #WomensFiction and #HeadOfZeus

Posted Tuesday, 1 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