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. I received a complimentary copy of “You Think You Know Me” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
How Jorie almost made a blunderment in regards to #DeathByChocLit + the London & Cambridge Mysteries:
I am the reader who loves to do her due diligence and research – the kind of book blogger who reads a heap of data about authors before she composes one question for an interview – and like most bubbly happy bookish souls, she makes mistakes! Somewhere in the pursuit of reading more serial ChocLit this year, and keeping a keen eye on everything connected to #DeathByChocLit — I, unfortunately connected a dot that simply is not there to be seen! I mistook You Think You Know Me as the first part of #DeathByChocLit’s signature debut which is A Stranger’s House! I hadn’t noticed something quite telling until I started to sit down with this novel, noting at long last You Think You Know Me is the start of the London and Cambridge Mysteries *however!* A Stranger’s House is the start of the Ruby Fawcett & Nate Bastable Mysteries! (read this blog post on Ms Chase’s blog!)
*Except to say* what I mistook as a separate series is actually quite the ingenious second half if you will of the London & Cambridge series itself! Let me explain a bit further – my original understanding was actually the one I should have trusted: both You Think You Know Me and A Stranger’s House are part of #DeathByChocLit as they are equal halves of the London and Cambridge Mysteries series! You see, Ruby Fawcett & Nate Bastable are characters on the ‘Cambridge’ side of the ledger not a wholly new series altogether! It’s simply how you approach looking at this that may or may not alter your perception! Ergo if you read it literally ‘London and Cambridge Mysteries’ you might not recognise the fact it’s a compound series title – half the stories are set in London whereas the other half are set in Cambridge! All of which can be celebrated as stand-alones and/or read in serial sequence! Isn’t that fab?
*There is another post by Ms Chase which explains it quite well!
This is a lesson in trusting your first instincts and realising sometimes a book series is separated by locale but has an internal threading of complementary sequencing! In this case, Ms Chase has written a clever series whose components (of how the stories are styled & shaped) intertwine but whose characters and settings are separated a bit at the same time!
This in no way disappointed my zeal of joy to read You Think You Know Me because I have longed to read this since it debuted in [2015] as I love spine-curling romantic suspense novels that keep you on the very edge of your seat as you attempt to survive the events right alongside the lead character(s)! I love #RomSusp but as I had recently blogged about on another review, finding Romantic Suspense authors I can curl up inside and take a lovely respite in their world is a work-in-progress.
What attracted me to read Clare Chase’s novels actually stems from our friendship which has developed through our conversations threading through #ChocLitSaturday! I started to notice patterns of conjoined interest in our reading habits but also, what attracts us to characters, depth of heart centred in stories and the brilliance being caught up inside a brilliantly conceived mystery or suspense novel that has all the components your dearly seeking to find! I felt if our tastes ran so parallel together as readers who loved sharing our reading lives in my weekend Rom chats, I had a sneaking feeling she’d be the writer behind Romantic Suspense novels I’d find unputdownable!
Therefore, despite what I feared might have been misguided cross-promotions between You Think You Know Me and A Stranger’s House my intentions were not only well-placed but *on point!*, as I had it right all along! I decided to be up front about this confusion as I noodled out the series in case my readers were equally confused trying to sort out #DeathByChocLit! I think I was primed to be overly excited to read a #DeathByChocLit novel inasmuch as I am to read my first #DarkChocLit novel every since I posted the *big reveal!* double-interview showcase on their behalf!
The best thing to takeaway from this is knowing I am dearly passionate about the books I am discovering! Including a heap of awesomesauce joy in being able to read new stories by #newtomeauthors who are penning stories I am thrilled to be reading!
On my Connection to Ms Chase:
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 Chase and I started to notice our reading habits were aligning with each other, and her conversations were happy editions to my week as I liked finding someone else who liked the same types of stories I was gravitating towards myself. We continued to ‘chat’ about our reading habits even outside of #ChocLitSaturday, which was a blessed joy for me.
I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Ms Chase through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I host #ChocLitSaturday the chat and privately as well. 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.
You Think You Know Me
by Clare Chase
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Berni Stevens
Source: Direct from Publisher
Sometimes, it's not easy to tell the good guys from the bad...
Freelance journalist, Anna Morris, is struggling to make a name for herself, so she's delighted to attend a launch event for a hip young artist at her friend Seb's gallery.
But an exclusive interview isn't all Anna comes away with. After an encounter with the enigmatic Darrick Farron, she is flung into the shady underground of the art scene - a world of underhand dealings, missing paintings and mysterious deaths...
Seb is intent on convincing Anna that Darrick is up to no good but, try as she might, she can't seem to keep away from him. And as she becomes further embroiled, Anna begins to wonder - can Seb's behaviour be explained away as the well-intentioned concern of an old friend, or does he have something to hide?
Places to find the book:
Book Page on World Weaver Press
ISBN: 9781781892541
Series: London and Cambridge mysteries
Genres: Action & Adventure Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Modern British Literature, Romantic Suspense, Suspense
Published by ChocLitUK
on 19 March 2016
Format: Paperback Edition
Pages: 320
Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)
Available Formats: Paperback & E-Book
Converse via: #LondonAndCambridgeMysteries, #RomSusp, #RomSuspense + #ChocLit
About Clare Chase
Clare writes fast-paced romantic mysteries, using London and Cambridge as settings. Her influences include JD Robb, Janet Evanovich, Mary Stewart and Sue Grafton.
Brought up in the Midlands, she went on to read English at London University, then worked in book and author promotion in venues as diverse as schools, pubs and prisons. More recently she’s exercised her creative writing muscles in the world of PR, and also worked for the University of Cambridge. Her current day job is at the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Her writing is inspired by what makes people tick, and how strong emotions can occasionally turn everyday incidents into the stuff of crime novels. It would be impossible not to mix these topics with romance and relationships; they’re central to life and drive all forms of drama.
When she’s not reading or writing, Clare enjoys drawing, cooking and trips to the Lake District. Closer to home, she loves wandering round the pubs, restaurants and galleries of Cambridge, where she lives with her husband and two teenage daughters.
The Legend of the Gypsy Hawk
