Publisher: ChocLitUK

Book Review | #ChocLitSaturdays (a feature of #JLASblog) | “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” a fast-paced Romantic Suspense which will keep you anxious to unravell the plot! Writ by Amanda James

Posted Saturday, 10 January, 2015 by jorielov , , , 2 Comments

#ChocLitSaturdays banner created by Jorie in Canva

Acquired Book By:

I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” from ChocLit via IPM (International Publisher’s Marketing) in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. 

On being an enthused ChocLit Reader:

Soaking inside a ChocLit novel is a lot of joy for me, as I know going in a few things I am going to enjoy finding are strong female and male lead characters, a stirring drama or a rib breaking comedy with a high concentration on relationships and the entanglements we find ourselves tied up inside when we elect not to trust the person we’ve anchoured our lives too. In Somewhere Beyond the Sea the pages evaporated before my eyes, as I was moving at such a clip to consume this novel, I daresay, I did not leave my comfy cosy reading nook til nearly reaching the last quarter of the novel!

I was on page 150 when I realised I hadn’t even written anything down to explain the intensity of what had me rooted to the page, whilst hoping against hope this could have an ending that I could handled being revealed! It is the type of suspense novel that pulls you into it’s vortex, giving you a fullness of the fright and the fear that Karen Ainsworth is attempting to forestall knowledge of (both to you, the reader and to her husband, Tristan) whilst everything in/around her life is starting to spiral a bit out of control!

It was at a luncheon with my Mum and Da, I started to become a bit animated talking about this story, the evoking of psychological suspense against the back-drop of a cat-mouse game of personal identity and past anguish from domestic violence intermixed with bullying. The further you delved into the heart of the novel, the more curiously inspiring it was on one level (as Karen’s life is anything but predictable nor dull) and a bit stomach churning on the other, as I am thankful after reading this story none of my bullies from childhood came back to haunt me as an adult!

At one point, as we had dined out that day, I took to notice those who were eating near us had become quite quiet, and I have a feeling they were eavesdropping on the conversation! I am not sure what they thought of what I was relaying, as if they hadn’t heard the bit about ‘the book’ or ‘my recent ChocLit read’ they could quite literally think it was ‘just another current news story going viral’. Ironically, I always smile when someone asks me, “Did you just say you read chocolate?” To which I love responding, “Yes! I most certainly do read ChocLit! I prefer it over most ChickLit!” Their facial expressions are quite priceless at that point!

Book Review | #ChocLitSaturdays (a feature of #JLASblog) | “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” a fast-paced Romantic Suspense which will keep you anxious to unravell the plot! Writ by Amanda JamesSomewhere Beyond the Sea
by Amanda James
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Berni Stevens
Source: Direct from Publisher

When love begins with a lie, where will it end?

Doctor Tristan Ainsworth has returned with his family to the idyllic Cornish village close to where he grew up. The past has taught him some hard lessons, but he’ll do anything to make his wife happy – so what’s making her so withdrawn?

Karen Ainsworth daren’t reveal her true feelings, but knows her husband has put up with her moods for too long. A chance to use her extraordinary singing voice may set her free, so why shouldn’t she take it? Surely her past can’t hurt her now?

As a tide of blackmail and betrayal is unleashed to threaten the foundations of their marriage, Karen and Tristan face a difficult question. Is their love strong enough to face the truth when the truth might cost them everything?

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Also by this author: A Stitch in Time

Published by ChocLitUK

on 7th April, 2014

Format: Paperback

Pages: 288

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLitUK)

Formats Available: Paperback & Ebook

Converse via: #ChocLit & #SomewhereBeyondTheSea

NOTE: Did you see the “Public Library” link? Along with “Add to Riffle” these are new additions to my blog! They will slowly populate through the archives, however, “Public Library” re-directs to the holdings of each book on WorldCat! The world’s largest public library directory (and one of Jorie’s favourite haunts!) per where you’re located you can see if there are holdings nearby to borrow from your local library system! Quite wicked, eh? For instance there are listings for this novel in: Virginia, Ohio, Texas, New York, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and California! If your local library (for those readers of mine stateside) allow you to ILL (inter-library loan) outside your city and state, you can borrow “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” today! Fireworks of cheers are surely exploding, right!? IF you cannot ILL outside your city/state, remember: SUBMIT a purchase request for books you want to read! I always do! This helps your library grow and your collection to become quite eclectically reflective of the booklovers in your community!

Cover Art Design by: Berni Stevens @circleoflebanon | Writer | Illustrator

About Amanda James

Amanda James

Amanda James was born in Sheffield and now lives in Cornwall with her husband and two cats. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, singing and spending lots of time with her grandson. She also admits to spending far too much time chatting on Twitter and Facebook! Amanda recently left her teaching role (teaching history to sixth form pupils) to follow her ambition to live her life doing what she most enjoys—writing.

Amanda is a published author of short stories and her first novel with Choc Lit, A Stitch in Time was chosen as a Top Pickin RT Book Reviews magazine in the US in July 2013 and won a 2013 Reviewers’ Choice Award from Single Titles.

Read More

Divider

Posted Saturday, 10 January, 2015 by jorielov in 21st Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Blogs I Regularly Read, Bookish Discussions, Bullies and the Bullied, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Contemporary Romance, Domestic Violence, Family Drama, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Fly in the Ointment, Green Publishing, Indie Author, Mental Health, Modern Day, Mother-Daughter Relationships, Oh the Books!, Psychological Abuse, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, School Life & Situations, Suspense, Sustainable Forest Certification, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, Trauma | Abuse & Recovery, Vulgarity in Literature

+Book Review+ A Stitch in Time by Amanda James #ChocLitSaturdays #RRSciFiMonth (time travel)

Posted Saturday, 15 November, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , 2 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

A Stitch in Time by Amanda James

Author Connections: Personal Site | @akjames61Facebook

Illustrated By: Berni Stevens

 @circleoflebanon | Writer | Illustrator

Converse via: #ChocLit & #AStitchInTime

Genre(s): Fiction | Romance | Time Travel

Paranormal Elements | Fantasy Suspense

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

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By:

I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “A Stitch in Time” from ChocLit via IPM (International Publisher’s Marketing) in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. 

Inspired to Read:

I have had an attachment to time travelling narratives for awhile now, as my newly passionate admiration for Doctor Who will account for the fact that I am quite giddy to soak inside a story where the art of travelling through time is championed by the traveller who seeks to help humanity out of the curious nature of time itself. Previously, I have enjoyed seeing forays of time travel through Quantum Leap and Star Trek television series (of the creativity of Gene Roddenberry). Time travel in fiction is a new pursuit of mine — and as I am focusing a bit on this sub-genre of Science Fiction during Sci Fi November, I felt it was only fitting to post this review at such a time as to encourage sci-fi readers to know that even the breadth of Romance can entertain a suspense-filled time travel story arc!

I believe what attracts me the most to the art and style of each writer who conveys how time travel occurs is how variant the science is that expresses the plausibility of travelling through time. Everyone has a different approach, yet there is a level of understanding in each new way to duck through time and effectively change a few things as far as how history was written by the people who lived through the hours of time itself.

+Book Review+ A Stitch in Time by Amanda James #ChocLitSaturdays #RRSciFiMonth (time travel)A Stitch in Time
by Amanda James
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Berni Stevens
Source: Direct from Publisher

A stitch in time saves nine… or does it?

Sarah Yates is a thirty-something history teacher, divorced, disillusioned and desperate to have more excitement in her life. Making all her dreams come true seems about as likely as climbing Everest in stilettos.

Then one evening the doorbell rings and the handsome and mysterious John Needler brings more excitement than Sarah could ever have imagined. John wants Sarah to go back in time …

Sarah is whisked from the Sheffield Blitz to the suffragette movement in London to the Old American West, trying to make sure people find their happy endings. The only question is, will she ever be able to find hers?

Read an Excerpt of the Novel
Genres: Romance Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Time Travel Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Also by this author: Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Series: Stitch in Time,


Published by ChocLitUK

on 7th April, 2013

Pages: 301

Author Biography:Amanda James

Amanda James was born in Sheffield and now lives in Cornwall with her husband and two cats. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, singing and spending lots of time with her grandson. She also admits to spending far too much time chatting on Twitter and Facebook! Amanda recently left her teaching role (teaching history to sixth form pupils) to follow her ambition to live her life doing what she most enjoys—writing.

Amanda is a published author of short stories and her first novel with Choc Lit, A Stitch in Time was chosen as a Top Pickin RT Book Reviews magazine in the US in July 2013 and won a 2013 Reviewers’ Choice Award from Single Titles.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

A theory on time, the traveller who knits it back together, & the reality of time travel:

James reveals the basis of her running theory on the full dimension of being a time traveller and one who intends to not only travel along the meridians of time but on fusing time as a broken structure of record back together again; with a propensity of precision generally relegated to knitters or sewers. I, personally, loved what the time traveller’s mentor and guide is called inside the story (as a Time Needle sounds ever so posh) as ‘needling with time’ simply made a heap of sense to me! Time travellers by definition can either muck up an alignment of the continuum itself OR they can create positive contributions by causing a deviant of order as they re-distribute a level of calm within the chaos. I even liked how she parlayed her theory within the title of the novel itself, by using a Stitch in such a clever execution of a person’s job rather than rely solely on prior knowledge the reader may or may not have had as far as vetting information on the subject for themselves.

Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Divider

Posted Saturday, 15 November, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, Adulterous Affair, Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Novel, Divorce & Martial Strife, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Indie Author, Life Shift, Modern British Literature, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Second Chance Love, Singletons & Commitment, Unexpected Pregnancy, Vulgarity in Literature

+Book Review+ Romancing the Soul by Sarah Tranter #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Friday, 12 September, 2014 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Romancing the Soul by Sarah Tranter

Author Connections: Personal Site | @sarah_tranter | Facebook

Illustrated By: Berni Stevens

 @circleoflebanon | Writer | Illustrator

Converse via: #ChocLit & #RomancingTheSoul

Genre(s): Fiction | Romance | Past Lives

Paranormal Elements | Suspense

Available Formats: Paperback, E-Book

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By:

I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “Romancing the Soul” from ChocLit via IPM (International Publisher’s Marketing) in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. 

Inspired to Read:

The idea of past life regenerations and regressions is a topic of interest of mine for quite awhile now. I haven’t read a story set against the practice but I oft wondered what the ramifications would be if someone went back to a life they were not yet prepared to accept as their own? The idea of finding the one your truly meant to be with the rest of your life by having a marker set in the past which links the two of you together in the future is an idea I’d like to explore! The suspense alone would be brilliant to engage in, whilst the characters are sorting out where they stand and what they can drink in as plausible!

+Book Review+ Romancing the Soul by Sarah Tranter #ChocLitSaturdaysRomancing the Soul
by Sarah Tranter
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Berni Stevens
Source: Direct from Publisher

Your Soul Mate is out there!

Let a past life lead the way

Rachael Jones hasn’t exactly chosen an average career path. She’s a ‘past-life regressionist’ and is now hoping to help her clients find their Soul Mates through reconnecting them with their past lives. But despite her best intentions, there are problems. Rachael made the mistake of regressing her best friend, Susie Morris, who has since been haunted by events that occurred in her past life.

When Susie meets Hollywood actor, George Silbury in unlikely circumstances, she is completely unprepared for her reactions. There’s an intense mutual attraction that neither can explain nor ignore.

Can George help Susie to overcome the sense of desolation she feels as the result of her past-life regression or will history’s habit of repeating itself ruin all chances of her finding happiness?

Genres: Romance Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Reincarnation Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Published by ChocLitUK

on 7th January, 2014

Format: UK Edition Paperback

Pages: 370

In regards to the ‘heat’ of sensuality & sexuality explored in this novel, I felt I ought to let my readers know this one was a bit more intense than your regular Romance novel.

four-flames

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Author Biography:

Sarah Tranter

Sarah Tranter lives in Wiltshire, England with her very supportive husband and her two boys. The family includes Rufus the dog, two cats, five chickens, countless pet spiders and an assortment of bugs (courtesy of her youngest). Sarah has been a Constituency Researcher for a Labour Member of Parliament, a Political Lobbyist and a London Publicist, before turning her career to writing.

Sarah’s novels include: No Such Thing as Immortality and Romancing the Soul (January 2014).

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Past Lives & Past Lives Regressionists & the New Age spin of the novel:

The beauty of the linchpin inside the novel is that it is a measure of transference of belief, faith without evidential support, and the instinctive nature of knowing something you know is true without a foundation of how you came to the conclusion originally. The elemental notations on past lives by definition and by personality alter as you read the novel, as the story is an interjectional conversation from various points of view and by a motley crew of believers intermixed with those who are hedging bets to disprove any of it has any bearing on reality. The premise is quite a bit more New Age and paranormally inclined at the jumpstart, but the further you alight inside the pages, you realise Tranter wrote a very intellectually stimulating narrative that is not quite as it appears to be.

On that level I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was nibbling away in the recess of understanding the methodology used to visualise the transitions and the queues from the past to the present, until a lightbulb went off and I started to process this through a knack for science and the scientific cross-analysations that purported the plot into its truest light. Honestly by approaching a bit of this from the arm of science and threading it back through the Contemporary nature of the Romance genre, I found myself wholly entertained!
Read More

Divider

Posted Friday, 12 September, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, Blog Tour Host, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Novel, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Indie Author, Life Shift, Modern British Literature, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Second Chance Love, Singletons & Commitment, Vulgarity in Literature

+Book Review+ Flight to Coorah Creek by Janet Gover #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 16 August, 2014 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Flight to Coorah Creek by Janet GoverFlight to Coorah Creek by Janet Gover

Author Connections:

Personal Site | @janet_gover | Facebook

Converse via: #ChocLit & #FlightToCoorahCreek

Illustrated By: Berni Stevens

 @circleoflebanon | Writer | Illustrator

Genre(s): Fiction | Romance | Adventure

the Australian Outback | Second Chances

Published by: ChocLitUK, 7 March, 2014

Available Formats: Paperback, E-Book

Page Count: 306

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By:

I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “Flight to Coorah Creek” from ChocLit via IPM (International Publisher’s Marketing) in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. 

Inspired to Read:

Mind you, the mere fact that this story is set inside an area of a far-off continent that has both intrigued me and enchanted me since I was a young child was only partially the reason for my selection of receiving this particular book for review! I will go into my appreciation for the Outback in a moment, but part of what I wanted to relay is that I always loved stories of medical practice until I reached my mid-twenties where a lot of what I was either watching through tv serials, motion pictures, or reading in novels was becoming a bit much for me emotionally. I even attempted to watch a Canadian tv serial (via HuLu): Combat Hospital except I had to bow out after two or three episodes as clearly the series was wrecking my emotional heart.

I’m the girl who dreams of obtaining the first five years of ER (my beloved medical drama of my teenage years) and the ‘Martini’s & Medicine’ special boxed set of M* A* S* H (my beloved medical drama of my twenties) yet being able to re-alight inside medical narratives has been a bit of a difficulty I had not felt I would ever experience. The only solace I had is that perhaps I OD’d on the stories themselves and had to step away in order to return. This is why as I learnt of the inclusion of the air ambulance story thread for Flight to Coorah Creek, internally the wheels of curiosity started to click together and unite. Back in late Spring, whilst hosting the #ChocLitSaturdays chat which is the sister companion to this blog feature, I knew I had made the right choice as Ms. Gover happily gave out tidbits of her research and writing process to stitch the story together. Ever since that lovely conversation I have been attempting to dig back into the heart of the novel and attach myself into the world therein.

Dear hearts, kindly forgive my lack of focus and attention, as the time between late Spring and late Summer were a bit consuming for me personally. I wanted to soak into the story when my heart and spirit could allow me the grace of full attention and focus. I never want to rush a ChocLit novel, and it is a grace for me as a book blogger the publisher has such a kind heart understanding how life can intercede on a blogger’s reading life. Their authors are equally accepting in this regard, which has not only encouraged me but taken away the guilt I’ve had for the lost hours between then and now. Coincidentally, we’re not even going to acknowledge I’m posting this a week later than intended as the previous Saturday was a mixture of computer technical issues and a myriad sea of stress. Notwithstanding all the lightning storms occurring at such a fast clip over the past fortnight or so, to boggle this book blogger’s mind with a fierce vexation!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Book Synopsis: 

What happens when you can fly, but you just can’t hide?

Only Jessica Pearson knows the truth when the press portray her as the woman who betrayed her lover to escape prosecution. But will her new job flying an outback air ambulance help her sleep at night or atone for a lost life?

Doctor Adam Gilmore touches the lives of his patients, but his own scars mean he can never let a woman touch his heart.

Runaway Ellen Parkes wants to build a safe future for her two children. Without a man – not even one as gentle as Jack North.

In Coorah Creek, a town on the edge of nowhere, you’re judged by what you do, not what people say about you. But when the harshest judge is the one you see in the mirror, there’s nowhere left to hide.

Author Biography:Janet Gover

Janet lives in Surrey with her English husband but grew up in the Australian outback surrounded by books. She solved mysteries with Sherlock Holmes, explored jungles with Edgar Rice Burroughs and shot to the stars with Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. After studying journalism at Queensland University she became a television journalist, first in Australia, then in Asia and Europe. During her career Janet saw and did a lot of unusual things. She met one Pope, at least three Prime Ministers, a few movie stars and a dolphin. Janet now works in television production and travels extensively with her job.

Janet’s first short story, The Last Dragon, was published in 2002. Since then she has published numerous short stories, one of which won the Elizabeth Goudge Award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association. She has previously published three novels with Little Black Dress, Flight to Coorah Creek is her debut with Choc Lit and Bring Me Sunshine her first Choc Lit Lite ebook novella.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comThe Bush | Outback as a setting from Australia:

I suppose you could say that I am not unlike most Americans who are deeply curious about the Australian Outback and life ‘Down Under’ as it was regularly referred to in my youth. I grew up on hearty Australian classics such as “Crocodile Dundee” and my beloved horse dramas “The Man from Snowy River” and “Return to Snowy River”; all of which left a deep impression on a young girl’s heart. I always wanted to seek out more Australian Literature, and despite a few start/stops to unearthing authors who penned stories set there and/or were Australian authors outright, I never did get the proper chance to read their stories! One of the goals I had set out for myself as a book blogger was to sort out a way to read all the lovely stories in fiction that had excited my heart and lit a fire inside my imagination. The best gift whilst being a reviewer for ChocLit, is that they have writers submitting stories from different regions of the world. This particular story is a case-in-point as much as my previous readings of The Reluctant Bride (by an Australian author) and Close to the Wind (by an New Zealand author).

The stark and ominous setting of the story is the Outback itself — a holds no bar locale, where even the strongest bloke and gal might find a bit beguiling to encroach a living out of. The Outback is a lot like the American West, a land who never fully gave itself into being civilised anymore than it stopped being wild. The animals and natural make-up of the land has survived without hardly any interference from man nor man’s pursuit of his own endeavours which led him to go there. For myself, I especially love how the Outback was left to it’s natural graces and natural inclinations of evolving into what it was destined to be without the touch of man to muddle it. There are so many beautiful places that we have the tendency to wreck simply by overtaking what is not meant to be conquered that the few places which can shine as their naturally allowed is a celebration to me. I always had a conservation mind-set, and a determined passion for preservation, which is why soaking into this novel was such a leap of joy; to read the passages in the opening sequences where Jess and Adam are flying further into the remote bits of the Outback to save a life.

Visually Gover does a stunning job of descriptive narrative and lends an eye for sight for those of us who have not yet been blessed to visit Australia. She pulls the setting of the locale forward through her story and creates a tangible vortex of an experience for the reader to directly integrate into ‘where’ Flight to Coorah Creek takes them. The reddening of the soil, however, flickered back inside my own memory to the soil I found in Alabama. An enriched red clay that was never beloved by locals but was quite the curious discovery for a girl who grew up on sandy beaches within the breath of the Gulf States!

Read More

Divider

Posted Saturday, 16 August, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, Action & Adventure Fiction, Australia, Australian Literature, Blog Tour Host, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Cookery, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Novel, Divorce & Martial Strife, Domestic Violence, Family Drama, Family Life, Flashbacks & Recollective Memories, Indie Author, Life Shift, Medical Fiction, Modern British Literature, Nun, Passionate Researcher, Psychological Abuse, Religious Orders, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Second Chance Love, Single Mothers, Singletons & Commitment, Small Towne Fiction, Writing Style & Voice

+Book Review+ The Road Back by Liz Harris #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 5 July, 2014 by jorielov , , , 5 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

The Road Back by Liz HarrisThe Road Back by Liz Harris

Author Connections: Personal Site | Blog

Facebook | Twitter | Converse via: #ChocLit

Illustrated By: Berni Stevens

 @circleoflebanon | Writer | Illustrator

Genre(s): Fiction | Romance | Time Shift

Forbidden Love | Drama | Historical

Published by: ChocLitUK, 6 September, 2012

Available Formats: Paperback, E-Book & Audiobook

Page Count: 314

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By:

I am a ChocLit reviewer who receives books of my choice in exchange for honest reviews! I received a complimentary copy of “The Road Back” from ChocLit via IPM (International Publisher’s Marketing) in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. 

On my Connection to Ms. Harris & my inspiration to read this novel:

When I began reading this novel, I was already hosting #ChocLitSaturdays chats on a regular basis. Eleven in the morning of a Saturday, has become a favourite hour for me to exchange conversation and joy with everyone who shows up to participate in a chat centered around ChocLit novels and the Romance branch of literature in general. Ms. Harris and I had exchanged a few conversations ahead of the chats beginning, and during one of those lovely moments she had mentioned to me about how she met Mr. Dexter (the writer behind Inspector Morse). I had an inkling I would appreciate reading this novel ahead of her mentioning that story to me, but afterwards, I knew I wanted to read this sooner rather than later! The fact that this story centers around an adoption story solidified my interest, as I will be adopting in the future myself.

Similar to my previous thoughts I shared about Ms. Courtenay, I have come to appreciate chatting with Ms. Harris, either through #ChocLitSaturdays chats or privately. She is most giving of her time and I have appreciated the opportunity to know the writer behind the stories I enjoy reading! She always shares her happy spirit in the chats too, and her insights into why she enjoys writing the books that speak to her the most.

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Harris through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I host #ChocLitSaturdays the chat as well as privately; 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.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Book Synopsis: 

When Patricia accompanies her father, Major George Carstairs, on a trip to Ladakh, north of the Himalayas, in the early 1960s, she sees it as a chance to finally win his love. What she could never have foreseen is meeting Kalden – a local man destined by circumstances beyond his control to be a monk, but fated to be the love of her life.

Despite her father’s fury, the lovers are determined to be together, but can their forbidden love survive?

A wonderful story about a passion that crosses cultures, a love that endures for a lifetime, and the hope that can only come from revisiting the past.

Author Biography:Liz Harris

Liz was born in London and now lives in South Oxfordshire with her husband. After graduating from university with a Law degree, she moved to California where she led a varied life, trying her hand at everything from cocktail waitressing on Sunset Strip to working as secretary to the CEO of a large Japanese trading company, not to mention a stint as ‘resident starlet’ at MGM. On returning to England, Liz completed a degree in English and taught for a number of years before developing her writing career.

Liz’s debut novel, The Road Back, won a 2012 Book of the Year Award from Coffee Time Romance in the USA and her second novel A Bargain Struck was highly praised by the Daily Mail in the UK.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comGeographically Specific: Ladakh (north of the Himalaya Mountains):

Ms. Harris has a way of capturing the scenery and the depth of locale in such a beautiful scale of visual fortitude! As I was reading the passages expressing the angst and anguish of Patricia’s life in London, England and then, juxtapositioned that life against the life of Kalden in Ladakh, and the imagery is quite startling! She gives the reader such a window into their everyday worlds as if to breathe in a piece of that scenery for the very first time and know that you’ve gone to the location rather than merely ‘visiting’ the locale off the printed page. For Ladakh, she even used local words which would make sense from the character’s point of view to be authentic and true to his identity, as much as writing in the everyday elements I have always appreciated which are stitched into the fabric of the background.

I love how through Kalden’s eyes we are seeing the lush beauty of the glaciers within the Himalayan mountains, as much as we see the stark isolating quiet of being present in a place that has more silence than sound. She gives you the essence of being in Kalden’s shoes, and for that I am celebrating ‘going somewhere’ quite different and alluring from what I have previously read. I love Eastern Religions and Spirituality, and having this story set in a mystical place as a backdrop to the enveloping story was a very special treat.

My Review of The Road Back:

Grabbing you in the heart with her opening bits of narrative to explain the journey Amy is about to embark on to seek out her birth parents now that her adoptive parents have passed on is gripping to say the least! The fact that I am reading this novel as a Prospective Adoptive Mum, of whom is planning to adopt children out of foster care in the future puts the story firmly in the forefront of my mind and heart. I have always had a strong empathic heart for children who either do not know their birth families if removed from their homes as infants or young toddlers, or children who know of their birth families but have been removed as school-aged children. The connective ties of family stitched together become fragmented memories and a heartache of ambiguous loss for the ones who never knew them at all. My heart went out to Amy as she’s on the brink of breaching back into her past, uncovering the secreted mysteries of her birth mother, and wondering if she is brave enough to handle what she discovers.

Patricia is the elder sister of a special needs brother, who was physically affected by the siege of war; her childhood is altered the day her father chooses him over her in his affection. For a young child to realise how a father can choose which child to adore, dot, and love more than the other, has ramifications as the child grows. I felt for her in the sequences where not even her mother was strong enough to stand against her father when he was in the wrong. And, how disconcerting it was to watch as he did not realise how he was affecting his daughter.

Kalden’s entrance into the story is heart-wretching as his position in his family is that of the fourth son, a designation that has him sentenced towards being a monk rather than a husband and father. In his culture, a fourth son cannot inherit land at least not in his family, where the land is divided by three and unable to be partitioned off into fourths. For such a young lad to enter the story, the weight of his heart bleds out of his scenes, giving us a heartfelt grasp of his reality despite the youth of his eight years.

The beautiful irony is that both Patricia and Kalden’s upbringings were a bit similar to each other, in that neither of their families elected to place their needs first or in any measure of importance. They were each self-reliant at a young age, and they each treasured their family’s affection but knew that for whichever reason, they were not the children in the family of whom theirs would consider had worth. Their lifepaths were already on a route towards convergence long before their encounter in Ladakh. Two souls from two very different worlds, and yet on the heart level, their spirits were entwined by the circumstances of their lives.

Tragedy affects people in different ways, and the unique twist in the story for me was in realising that out of the grief for her brother, Patricia turnt her full attention to her father rather than drawing closer to her Mum. Whereas Kalden’s world was tethered and tied to a missionary family whose only hope in life was to bring education to his village; yet the prejudice his village gave them in return shattered his hopes for a familial connection. Each of them were searching for something outside the tangible and outside the scope of what they fully understood. Life is lived forward and understood only in the hours in which we truly take a pause to resolve the angst of our souls.

An emotionally gutting story about two entwined soul mates who are magnetically connected to each other despite distance and circumstances attempting to separate them. My heart was full, my head was wrenched with a desire to know the ending, but it is not an ending you want to rush. You have to go through each step of the narrative, allowing their story (Patricia & Kalden) to absorb into you and become a part of you. Theirs is a love story that lifts up your own soul as you read the passages, and gives new meaning of hope through the transcendence of love set against the greatest odds two people could ever want to survive. This started out as an adopted daughter seeking her birth parents, but in the end, it is about a romance between two people who were forbidden from being together and found solace in their union.

Time Shift rather than Time Slip:

I appreciated the flow of the story being encapsulated inside of a ‘time shift’ rather than a ‘time slip’ sequencing, as it gave a strong sense of each character’s reality as the story was told. The start of the novel itself was with a proposition of unearthing information about Amy’s birth parents, yet it is where her journey takes her to find her birth mother & birth father that has such a confluence of drama and heart;  you will find that you do not want to put the book down! The pacing is set to its own rhythm as each chapter unfolds a new piece of either Patricia or Kalden’s lives, taking us one step closer to understanding who they were as adults. The novel is also broken into two distinctive parts, where the latter of the two is the summation of the whole.

A Note of Appreciation on behalf of the writing style of Ms. Harris:

This is the second novel I have read on behalf of Ms. Harris, and it is her début novel! I am thankful that I have had the honour to read two of her novels now, as her writing style within the heart of the narrative is fully conjoined, as she is a writer who puts her heart into her pen. She writes her heart out, and I will always appreciate that style, as it mirrors my own. I even appreciate the fact that she can move and shift through locations, time sequences, and elements of distinction between where her characters and story are set alive. She has the ability to become a chameleon as she writes one story to the next. This is a quality that is appreciated because she gives us such an intense view of her worlds and characters, with a pulse on who they are and how they lived that each story becomes an experience your willingly thankful to have had afterwards.Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

This book review is courtesy of ChocLitUK,

ChocLitUK Reviewer

Previously I have happily hosted Ms. Harris three times on Jorie Loves A Story:

a book review of A Bargain Struck,

an Author Guest Post on behalf of writing Western Fiction,

and an Author Guest Post on behalf of The Road Back.

check out my upcoming bookish events and mark your calendars!

#ChocLitSaturdays | a feature exclusive to Jorie Loves A Story

*NEWSFLASH* : Each Saturday henceforth onward from here in July shall feature a new ChocLit book review! For the updated schedule, please visit my Bookish Events page! The next novel I will be reading & sharing my thoughts on will be “Flight to Coorah Creek” by Janet Gover!

For those who are unware of #ChocLitSaturdays, the chat, we meet regular @ 11am EST / 4pm London! I created the chat to encourage new readers to discover not only the ChocLit novels I am showcasing & reading through my blog feature of the same name, but to help draw a close knit group of Romance booklovers, writers, and appreciators together for an hour of solid friendship and wicked sweet conversation!

All are welcome to attend! Tweet me or leave a comment in this thread for further details!

{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, and Book Cover were provided by ChocLitUK and were used by permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Jorie Loves A Story badge created by Ravven with edits by Jorie in FotoFlexer. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Divider

Posted Saturday, 5 July, 2014 by jorielov in 20th Century, Adoption, Blog Tour Host, ChocLitSaturdays, ChocLitUK, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Equality In Literature, Family Life, Father-Daughter Relationships, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Modern British Literature, Monastery, Monk, Mother-Son Relationships, Passionate Researcher, Psychological Abuse, Religious Orders, Romance Fiction, Time Shift, Writing Style & Voice