Source: Audiobook via Audiobookworm Promotions

An #AudiobookMonth (#JIAM) Review | “The Fall of Mrs Parsons” by Phil Geoffrey Bond, narrated by Jenn Lee

Posted Thursday, 3 June, 2021 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

Audiobook Review Badge made by Jorie in Canva.

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Acquired Audiobook By: I started to listen to audiobooks in [2016] as a way to offset my readings of print books whilst noting there was a rumour about how audiobooks could help curb chronic migraines as you are switching up how your reading rather than allowing only one format to be your bookish choice. As I found colouring, knitting and playing solitaire agreeable companions to listening to audiobooks, I embarked on a new chapter of my reading life where I spend time outside of print editions of the stories I love reading and exchange them for audio versions.

Through hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions, I’ve expanded my knowledge of authors who are producing audio versions of their stories whilst finding podcasters who are sharing their bookish lives through pods. Meanwhile, I am also curating my own wanderings in audio via my local library who uses Overdrive for their digital audiobook catalogue wherein I can also request new digital audiobooks to become added to their OverDrive selections. Aside from OverDrive I also enjoy having Audible & Scribd memberships as my budget allows. It is a wonderful new journey and one I enjoy sharing – I have been able to expand the percentage of how many audios I listen to per year since 2018.

I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “The Fall of Mrs Parsons” via Audiobookworm Promotions who is working with the author, narrator & the Audiobook Empire (of which Audiobookworm Promotions is affliated) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I’ve decided to re-focus a few things on Jorie Loves A Story this Summer – starting with #AudiobookMonth this June! I haven’t had the chance to focus on my audiobook reviews which are on my backlogue list nor have I had the chance to properly showcase my ACLs via LibroFM. There is so much wicked good audio out there I’d like to start representing my own interests in this world of audio plays, narrative story and audio performances to help raise a signal flare of readerly joy for all of us who have come under the spell of audiobook narrators and performers.

To kick things off this month, I’ve started with my first selection entitled “The Fall of Mrs Parsons” which clocking in at fifty minutes, I knew was both a short story and a wonderful beginning to my efforts this month to listen harder to the stories and to dive deeper into the audiobooks I’ve selected to listen too. Fifty minutes might not seem like enough space and time to articulate the emotional depth of a story but as you will soon see in my review, it is not only long enough but the breadth of space within this story is a mark of literary gold. Bond surely knew what he was doing when he crafted the life of Mrs Parsons and the narrator, Jenn Lee brilliantly brought Mrs Parson’s to life in her narration.

This #AudiobookMonth, you’ll be seeing a few carry-overs from #WyrdAndWonder wherein I’ll be spending time soaking into fantastical worlds of enlightenment, whilst you’ll also see me exploring narrative Non-Fiction, short story and a hodgepodge of genres thereafter. Some will be selections I’ve personally earmarked to read and listen too (via my local and/or regional libraries – CloudLibrary & OverDrive) – others will be more backlogue titles from NetGalley or LibroFM; whilst others might be from my personal shelves on Audible. Whichever way the audiobooks were brought into my life – this month is one month I shall look forward to endeavouring to share my journey into the heart of the stories themselves whilst discussing how and why the narrators left the impressions they did as I listened to them narrate the stories.

Without further, adieu, I give you my reactions to The Fall of Mrs Parsons!

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An #AudiobookMonth (#JIAM) Review | “The Fall of Mrs Parsons” by Phil Geoffrey Bond, narrated by Jenn LeeThe Fall of Mrs Parsons
by Phil Geoffrey Bond
Source: Audiobook via Audiobookworm Promotions
Narrator: Jenn Lee

Mrs. Parsons lives a quiet life in a small cottage in the woods on the outskirts of town, having woken next to her husband Lloyd, and has gone about with her normal routine every day for the past 50+ years. But on this most extraordinary day, she will venture out into the world, reclaiming her place in it and, in so doing so, rediscover herself.

In this lush, romantic short tale from Phil Geoffrey Bond, the simple life is revealed as not so simple at all.

Genres: Literary Fiction, Introspective Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction, Short Story or Novella, Women's Studies



Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ASIN: B092DRBPKX

Published by Audiobook Empire

on 15th April, 2021

Format: Audiobook | Digital

Length: 50 minutes (unabridged)

Converse via: #WomensFiction, #Literary or #audiobook, #loveaudiobooks and #audioreads
as well as #AudiobookwormPromotions OR #TheAudiobookEmpire
+ #AudiobookMonth & #JIAM

About Phil Geoffrey Bond

Phil Geoffrey Bond

PHIL GEOFFREY BOND is an award-winning author, best known for his collection of short pieces, All the Sad Young Men, and the celebrated picture book, My Friend, the Cat, based on the popular stage show.

Often mixing dramatic prose with live theatre, his original pieces My Queer Youth, The Disney Diaries, My Friend, the Cat, My Roaring Twenties and Small Town Confessions have been embraced by a wide range of off-Broadway audiences. As a playwright, Phil has developed work at The Sundance Theatre Lab (The Citadel), and many regional theatres throughout the states. A fixture on the NYC nightlife scene, he is a seven-time MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets), two-time Bistro and one-time Nightlife Award-winner.

Currently, he is the writer/producer/host of Sondheim Unplugged, now enjoying it's 6th year at Manhattan nightspot Feinstein's/54 Below. 2016 will see the release of his debut novel, The Last Year at Low Tide (Chess Books). In 1993, he was awarded the Presidential Medallion from President Clinton on behalf of his work as a young playwright.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #AudiobookMonth
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Posted Thursday, 3 June, 2021 by jorielov in #AudiobookMonth, #JorieLovesIndies, 20th Century, Audiobook, Audiobookworm Promotions, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Indie Author, Introspective Literary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, Widows & Widowers, Women of a Certain Age, Women's Fiction

A #WyrdAndWonder Audiobook Review | “Magical Neighbours” (a #KidsLit audio story about gnomes and the fey!) by Mary Ellen Spencer, narrated by Rosemary Benson

Posted Thursday, 27 May, 2021 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

#WyrdAndWonder Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Audiobook By: I started to listen to audiobooks in [2016] as a way to offset my readings of print books whilst noting there was a rumour about how audiobooks could help curb chronic migraines as you are switching up how your reading rather than allowing only one format to be your bookish choice. As I found colouring, knitting and playing solitaire agreeable companions to listening to audiobooks, I embarked on a new chapter of my reading life where I spend time outside of print editions of the stories I love reading and exchange them for audio versions.

Through hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions, I’ve expanded my knowledge of authors who are producing audio versions of their stories whilst finding podcasters who are sharing their bookish lives through pods. Meanwhile, I am also curating my own wanderings in audio via my local library who uses Overdrive for their digital audiobook catalogue wherein I can also request new digital audiobooks to become added to their OverDrive selections. Aside from OverDrive I also enjoy having Audible & Scribd memberships as my budget allows. It is a wonderful new journey and one I enjoy sharing – I have been able to expand the percentage of how many audios I listen to per year since 2018.

I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “Magical Neighbours” via Audiobookworm Promotions who is working with the author on this blog tour in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

*waves* It is time to reveal my second audiobook story I’ve listened to this #WyrdAndWonder which involves *gnomes!* Remember, earlier in the month when I shared my audio review for The One Great Gnome? You might have caught the *excitement!* I had in listening to select Middle Grade Fantasy stories this Wyrd And Wonder in audiobook – as prior to this lovely, I was truly smitten with the world within The Marvelwood Magicians!

One of my most earnest requests for audiobooks across the board are to have cast & narrator lists – wherein if there is more than one narrator, each voice a narrator represents needs to be given to a listener whilst a cast listing is wicked helpful for dyslexic listeners such as myself who struggle to sort out how a name is properly spelt in the stories we’re listening too. Guess what!? This particular author must’ve have known how helpful a PDF character disclosure would be – as she’s included one with this audiobook!

Not only are there hand-crafted gnome and fairy doors throughout the PDF file but there is also artwork representing the characters themselves as well as how their names are spelt! They each have their own unique personality and the one who graces the cover of Magical Neighbours is known as Hoedown, which I could only conclude before hearing the story was due to her gardening obsession!?

What a brilliant treat to find!! I wish all audiobooks came with a PDF file to accompany the stories wherein each story we listen to would disclose the names of the characters like Magical Neighbours has given us! And, of course, for harder to spell/hear names for settings in stories, that would be most ideal as well.

Let’s find out my reactions to this super short story which has such a big heart!

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A #WyrdAndWonder Audiobook Review | “Magical Neighbours” (a #KidsLit audio story about gnomes and the fey!) by Mary Ellen Spencer, narrated by Rosemary BensonMagical Neighbours
by Mary Ellen Spencer
Source: Audiobook via Audiobookworm Promotions
Narrator: Rosemary Benson

The sudden appearance of a portly gnome on a humdrum, ordinary day definitely threw me for a loop. When this gnome began to speak to me about building him a home in our neighborhood, I know my eyes were as big as saucers, but I tried to appear casual. And I even managed to answer graciously, “Sure, I’d be glad to.” Then other gnomes who wanted to live in my neck of the woods showed up. Fairies, too! They all became part of my world. And their world became part of mine. Life’s been astonishing ever since.

Maybe you’ve never met anyone who lives beyond fairy doors. Well, I’d like you to meet my new neighbors. They’re really quite wonderful in their own magical way. Knock on their doors and have a chat. Make friends with fairies and garden gnomes. Come spend some time with us!

Genres: Fantasy Fiction, Middle Grade Fantasy



Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ASIN: B0932B15V8

Published by One Night Stand Studios

on 21st April, 2021

Format: Audiobook | Digital

Length: 40 minutes (unabridged)

Published by: One Night Stand Studios

Converse via: #Fantasy, #KidsLit and #MGLit or #MiddleGrade
as well as #AudiobookwormPromotions OR #TheAudiobookEmpire
+ #MagicalNeighbours & #WyrdAndWonder

About Mary Ellen Spencer

Mary Ellen Spencer

Mary Ellen Spencer lives in a forested neighborhood near Harrods Creek in Kentucky with her cute husband Hank and her trusty dog Annie. She likes to make things—fairy doors and birdhouses from gourds, men of the forest carved from stone, and woodspirits carved into cedar. She enjoys growing things—like trees and hostas and oak leaf hydrangeas. And sometimes stories spill out.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #WyrdAndWonder
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Posted Thursday, 27 May, 2021 by jorielov in #WyrdAndWonder, Audiobook, Audiobookworm Promotions, Blog Tour Host, Children's Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Indie Author, Juvenile Fiction, Middle Grade Novel, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event

A #WyrdAndWonder Audiobook Spotlight | “Disenchanted” (Book One, Disenchanted series) by Brianna Sugalski

Posted Friday, 21 May, 2021 by jorielov , , , , , 0 Comments

Wyrd And Wonder banner 2021 (Pegasus) provided by Imyril and is used with permission. Wyrd And Wonder banner 2021 (Pegasus) Image Credit: by Svetlana Alyuk on 123RF.com.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Audiobook By: I started to listen to audiobooks in [2016] as a way to offset my readings of print books whilst noting there was a rumour about how audiobooks could help curb chronic migraines as you are switching up how your reading rather than allowing only one format to be your bookish choice. As I found colouring, knitting and playing solitaire agreeable companions to listening to audiobooks, I embarked on a new chapter of my reading life where I spend time outside of print editions of the stories I love reading and exchange them for audio versions.

Through hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions, I’ve expanded my knowledge of authors who are producing audio versions of their stories whilst finding podcasters who are sharing their bookish lives through pods. Meanwhile, I am also curating my own wanderings in audio via my local library who uses Overdrive for their digital audiobook catalogue wherein I can also request new digital audiobooks to become added to their OverDrive selections. Aside from OverDrive I also enjoy having Audible & Scribd memberships as my budget allows. It is a wonderful new journey and one I enjoy sharing – I have been able to expand the percentage of how many audios I listen to per year since 2018.

I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “Disenchanted” via Audiobookworm Promotions who is working with the author on this blog tour in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

Quite happily #WyrdAndWonder has become a wicked #awesomesauce event, four years running this 2021 – Imyril, Lisa and I are wicked humbled by how everyone has started to catch our passionate joy for hosting fantastical content during a month where Fantasy can be a celebrated joy amongst us all. Finding out a 100+ adventurers were joining us this May was beyond humbling when you consider the roots of how we began this wicked wonderful Wyrd And Wonder journey – which happily launched its own community.

As previously stated, when it comes to Dark Fantasy – I have a slight aversion to most stories which fall into this category and am extremely particular and picky when it comes to sorting my way through this niche of offerings because I’m definitely what you’d consider a sensitive reader who has a few things which trigger her bookish turnoffs and take her out of a narrative. Having said that – similar to how I finally found a Dystopian writer who is penning a series I find wicked brilliant and intriguing – I am starting to find certain Dark Fantasy novelists (ie. Marcus Lee) who are intriguing me into a area of Fantasy I am dearly under-read but still a bit curious to seek out.

Previously I was caught inside the works of Stephanie Burgis, Jamie Robin Wood, Rebecca J. Greenwood and Sarah E. Boucher. As you can see, I am seeking out certain aspects of darker fantastical worlds but which evoke a sense of what I love about my regular Fantasy wanderings – where it isn’t too dark where there isn’t any light and where its not graphically violent – though in that note, Burgis pushed me a bit in ‘Congress of Secrets’.

Last May, I hosted an interview with this author via Storytellers on Tour – a blog touring company whose championing Indie Storytellers and giving us all a lovely chance to feature their collective works. This was why I was entering into this audiobook with a lot of healthy expectations – but as you will soon read, the audiobook itself wasn’t a good fit for me as a listener. I am not giving up on this story (just yet) but next time I’ll definitely be seeking this out in a printed edition before I finalise my thoughts on its behalf.

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A #WyrdAndWonder Audiobook Spotlight | “Disenchanted” (Book One, Disenchanted series) by Brianna SugalskiDisenchanted
Subtitle: A cursed princess A crestfallen killer And a witch who can save them both
by Ms Brianna Sugalski
Source: Audiobook via Audiobookworm Promotions
Narrator: Krys Janae

A Breton princess at the peak of the French Renaissance, Lilac lives prisoner in her parents' castle after a wicked secret is revealed on the eve of her tenth birthday soirée. Years later, her coronation ceremony looms, and between the riotous townsfolk and scheming nobleman bent on snatching the throne, Lilac prepares for the worst... Until a mysterious letter arrives from The Witch of Lupine Grotto, detailing a curious offer to cure her darkness forever.

Lilac begrudgingly trades her coronet for a cloak and ventures into the forest Brocéliande in pursuit of the impious enchantress at the edge of town. With only the protection of an inherited dagger— and unsolicited help of the sardonic stranger who inserts himself on her quest—she must traverse Brocèliande and return in time to claim her rightful position as sovereign monarch.

This is the story of a cursed princess, A crestfallen killer,
The town that wants them to burn,
And the witch that can save them both.

Genres: Fantasy Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Historical-Fantasy, New Adult Fiction, YA Fantasy



Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 979-8621445461

ASIN: B092FZFBVV

Published by The Parliament House

on 15th April, 2020

Format: Audiobook | Digital

Length: 15 hours and 18 minutes (unabridged)

Pages: 456

Published by: The Parliament House (@parliamentbooks)

Converse via: #Fantasy, #DarkFantasy, #YAFantasy
as well as #AudiobookwormPromotions OR #TheAudiobookEmpire
+ #Disenchanted #BriannaSugalski & #WyrdAndWonder

About Ms Brianna Sugalski

Brianna Sugalski

Born and raised in Hawaii, Brianna Sugalski is a Dark Fantasy author who prefers to explore the more ominous — disenchanting, if you will — undertones of romance, history, and the arcane.

Her debut novel, YA Fantasy DISENCHANTED, released with The Parliament Press on March 4th, 2020; the sequel, DISILLUSIONED, is in progress as of January 2021.

Sugalski is also a SF/F developmental editor under Crit & Pen Editorial. She currently lives in Maryland with her husband and two little korrigans of her own.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #WyrdAndWonder
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Posted Friday, 21 May, 2021 by jorielov in #WyrdAndWonder, Audiobookworm Promotions, Blog Tour Host, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Indie Author, New Adult Fiction, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, YA Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction

An Audiobook Spotlight w/ Notes | “The Adventures of Tom Finch, Gentleman” by Lucy May Lennox, narrated by Duke DeFoix, Duchess DeFoix, Olivia Featherton and Earl Tyrone

Posted Monday, 30 November, 2020 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Audiobook Spotlight banner created by Jorie in Canva.

Acquired Audiobook By: I started to listen to audiobooks in [2016] as a way to offset my readings of print books whilst noting there was a rumour about how audiobooks could help curb chronic migraines as you are switching up how your reading rather than allowing only one format to be your bookish choice. As I found colouring, knitting and playing solitaire agreeable companions to listening to audiobooks, I embarked on a new chapter of my reading life where I spend time outside of print editions of the stories I love reading and exchange them for audio versions.

Through hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions, I’ve expanded my knowledge of authors who are producing audio versions of their stories whilst finding podcasters who are sharing their bookish lives through pods. Meanwhile, I am also curating my own wanderings in audio via my local library who uses Overdrive for their digital audiobook catalogue wherein I can also request new digital audiobooks to become added to their OverDrive selections. Aside from OverDrive I also enjoy having Audible & Scribd memberships as my budget allows. It is a wonderful new journey and one I enjoy sharing – I have been able to expand the percentage of how many audios I listen to per year since 2018.

I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “The Adventures of Tom Finch, Gentleman” via Audiobookworm Promotion who is working with Lucy May Lennox on this blog tour in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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Why I took a chance on “Tom Finch”:

I love finding different routes into History and of finding stories of Historical Fiction which focus on different eras whilst giving us a new sub-interest to explore History through a lens we might not otherwise meet if the writer hadn’t addressed the plot they’ve written. For me, it felt like this was one story that would combine both humour and comedy in a way that would lend itself into an interesting portal into this side of the 18th Century.

The fact it was an audiobook with a larger cast than most seemed most intriguing as it is interesting to hear how multiple persons would approach narrating the story but also curate a way to entertain us as well as this is one of the longest audiobooks I’ve undertaken to listen to as well.

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An Audiobook Spotlight w/ Notes | “The Adventures of Tom Finch, Gentleman” by Lucy May Lennox, narrated by Duke DeFoix, Duchess DeFoix, Olivia Featherton and Earl TyroneThe Adventures of Tom Finch, Gentleman
Subtitle: 18th Century Opera Comes to Life
by Lucy May Lennox
Source: Audiobook via Audiobookworm Promotions
Narrator: Duke DeFoix

London, 1735. Covent Garden offers a world of pleasures and diversions, even for a blind man. Tom Finch approaches life with boundless good cheer and resilience, whether he’s pursuing a musical career or pursuing women. And as for his blindness, to him it’s merely an inconvenience.

Join Tom for a picaresque romp through high and low Georgian society among rakes, rovers, thieving whores and demi-reps, highway robbers, bigamists, and duelists, bisexual opera divas, castrati, mollies, and cross-dressers, lecherous aristocrats, and headstrong ladies. This meticulously researched, witty and lively tale overturns stereotypes about disability and revels in the spectacle and excitement of 18th century opera.

Genres: Historical Fiction



Places to find the book:

Published by Self Published

on 10th October, 2020

Format: Audiobook | Digital

Length: 14 hours and 56 minutes (unabridged)

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Formats Available: Trade Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook

Converse via: #AudioReads, #Audiobook and #AudiobookwormPromotions

as well as #HistoricalFiction or #HistFic

About Lucy May Lennox

Lucy May Lennox loves immersing herself in various historical periods and imagining the lives of people who don't usually make it into the history books.

A lifelong lover of classical and folk music, she has performed as a chorus member in operas and concerts in three countries, and once won first place in a sean nos (traditional Irish singing) contest. She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest USA with her husband and children.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Monday, 30 November, 2020 by jorielov in 18th Century, Audiobook, Audiobookworm Promotions, Blog Tour Host, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, Self-Published Author

An Audiobook Spotlight w/ Notes | “The House Called Hadlows” by Victoria Walker (Clayton), narrated by Kim Bretton

Posted Thursday, 8 October, 2020 by jorielov , , , , , 0 Comments

Audiobook Spotlight banner created by Jorie in Canva.

Acquired Audiobook By: I started to listen to audiobooks in [2016] as a way to offset my readings of print books whilst noting there was a rumour about how audiobooks could help curb chronic migraines as you are switching up how your reading rather than allowing only one format to be your bookish choice. As I found colouring, knitting and playing solitaire agreeable companions to listening to audiobooks, I embarked on a new chapter of my reading life where I spend time outside of print editions of the stories I love reading and exchange them for audio versions.

Through hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions, I’ve expanded my knowledge of authors who are producing audio versions of their stories whilst finding podcasters who are sharing their bookish lives through pods. Meanwhile, I am also curating my own wanderings in audio via my local library who uses Overdrive for their digital audiobook catalogue wherein I can also request new digital audiobooks to become added to their OverDrive selections. Aside from OverDrive I also enjoy having Audible & Scribd memberships as my budget allows. It is a wonderful new journey and one I enjoy sharing – I have been able to expand the percentage of how many audios I listen to per year since 2018.

I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “The House Called Hadlows” via Audiobookworm Promotion who is working with Kim Bretton on this blog tour in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Why I was wickedly enchanted by my journey
into the Sebastian & Melissa series:

Walker plunges you into this world of mystery and magic with such an ease of alignment, you wonder why you’ve not yet traversed through her lens of enchantment sooner! From the nuanced details about the ways in which she built Sebastian’s world – to the foods his cook prepared for him to the more curious details how his life and world was now co-merging into another world’s dilemma. You found connection through the details but she also encouraged you to think further outside the box of what is unthinkable and plausible to imagine. She acts as the guide to give your imagination good folly to exercise its limits and I love her for it!

As I was listening to the story – I saw moments of familiarity within the story – of how it was being told and some of the entanglements of the magical bits of the world. I felt it had a brilliant cross matching of themes and events which could be pulled straight out of The Neverending Story and Jumanji and yet, I wasn’t sure if those stories were writ first or second to this one. Whichever way round, the beauty of course is recognising certain themes and story threads whilst finding a wonderful new world to entreat inside which plays by its own rules.

As Bretton describes the background of Sebastian’s world you can gather he’s living in a rather bustling community but it is how he absently walks through this towne and how he arrives where he is meant to be rather than where he was intending to be is what gave me the most smirks! As isn’t that just as real and humbling honest about our own lives? We sometimes make discoveries we aren’t meaning to make but still find all the same?! I love how he was walking without much direction and finding himself more in the way of others than enjoying the adventure of being outside. By the time he reaches the old furniture shop memories of visiting antiquarian book shoppes and early attic stores came back to mind! I loved those visitations in my childhood as they were great fodder for an emerging writer – as the objects and items for sale were futile ground for my imagination.

The descriptive details about Sebastian’s discovery of the mirror was pure joy! I loved how Walker leant into the scene to pull us closer to Sebastian’s widening eyes as he drew a more curious astonishment about what he was seeing – you can feel what Sebastian felt in that moment and it was awe-inspiring! Especially as the mirror itself was serving as a portal into a different world as much as Bastian’s book served him. The cat he encounters reminded me of the felicity of finding cats in places I had unexpected to find them and how their nature drew you towards them even if you had other things on your mind at the time.

As Sebastian starts to speak with Melissa, she helps him understand how her world and his can merge together – with one keen exception, she cannot cross into his world! When it came time for Sebastian to enter Melissa’s world I was so caught up in the moment with Sebastian, I, too, had forgotten to notice there had been a shifting of worlds – of where his and hers suddenly had merged together and he had taken such a keen step forward into the unknown! The cat (of course) plays a strong role in how he can make this transition as much as the magical object he hadn’t realised he was in possession over – yet, when it came time to visualise this transitional scene, Walker illuminated it with the childhood curiosity and wonderment you could sense and taste as an adult reader who still has the innocence of youth.

I liked how the story was ahead of its time showcasing the differences in boys and girls – and how girls should be seen on equal grounds with each other. Whilst at the same time, I liked how cheeky the fourth wall was broken in some places like when there is a point in the story where the focus is off of Sebastian and Melissa and the reader is acknowledged. I love how subtle this was done and how well those moments fit within the context of the story itself.

One of the best blessings though is her command of language and phrases – she has such a firm presence of wordsmithing this series into a wonderful display of descriptive narrative and sharp bursts of dialogue – the whole story simply feels alive on its own accord. You can almost feel the leaves which are part of Autumnus and you definitely feel like giving a big hug to each of the Seasonal Guardians Sebastian had met on his journey.

-quoted from my review of The Winter of Enchantment

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An Audiobook Spotlight w/ Notes | “The House Called Hadlows” by Victoria Walker (Clayton), narrated by Kim BrettonThe House Called Hadlows
by Victoria Walker (Clayton)
Source: Audiobook via Audiobookworm Promotions
Narrator: Kim Bretton

The sequel to The Winter of Enchantment and the return of Mantari the magic cat.

Sebastian and Melissa would never forget their arrival at the house called Hadlows. The long drive through the neglected park and woodland, the lake glimpsed through trees, the house, with its "thousand windows" looking down on them and the great hall, empty but for the portraits covering the walls. Hadlows held a secret, of that they were sure.

Genres: Children's Literature, Middle Grade, Classical Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Middle Grade Fantasy, Portal Fantasy



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781906123024

ASIN: B08D26C1X3

Also by this author: The Winter of Enchantment

Published by Victoria Clayton Limited

on 22nd July, 2020

Format: Audiobook | Digital

Length: 5 hours and 34 minutes (unabridged)

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The Sebastian & Melissa series:

The Winter of Enchantment by Victoria WalkerThe House Called Hadlows by Victoria Walker

The Winter Enchantment (book one) | see also my review

The House Called Hadlows (book two)

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Formats Available: Trade Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook

Converse via: #AudioReads, #Audiobook and #AudiobookwormPromotions

as well as #KidsLit, #ClassicFantasy, #MGFantasy or #MiddleGrade and #Fantasy; #PortalFantasy

About Victoria Walker (Clayton)

Photo Credit: Kim Bretton Photo is being used with permission.

Victoria Walker was twenty-one when she wrote The Winter of Enchantment in 1968. A second story about Sebastian and Melissa, The House Called Hadlows, was published in 1972. In 1973 she went to Cambridge University to read English and married immediately after finishing her degree. Two children followed and two decades passed before she began to write under her married name of Victoria Clayton. She lives with her husband in Northamptonshire.

Photo Credit: Kim Bretton

(photo is the original illustration by the author on behalf of her series)

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Thursday, 8 October, 2020 by jorielov in Audiobook, Audiobookworm Promotions, Blog Tour Host, Children's Classics, Children's Literature, Classical Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Indie Author, Juvenile Fiction, Middle Grade Novel, Portal Fantasy, Self-Published Author