Tag: AnneMarie Brear

Top Ten Secrets Behind the Tobacconist’s Wife this #TopTenTuesday | a clever list of #behindthebook insight by AnneMarie Brear!

Posted Tuesday, 17 November, 2020 by jorielov , , 5 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday blog banner created by Jorie in Canva.

#TopTenTuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Topic of the Week: Pet Names based on Books/Tv/Films

It would not surprise anyone I’ve found a heap of inspiration in naming my pets after favourite stories across the mediums I enjoy the most – especially of course from tv series and films! However, I wanted to focus on a different topic of interest today and get into the secrets #behindthebook of a Historical Fiction novelist I enjoy reading and hope to read more of in the future!

Jorie’s topic for AnneMarie Brear:
Top Ten Secrets Behind the Tobacconist’s Wife

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Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I have been enjoying creating special guest features for #TopTenTuesday this Autumn wherein different authors get the chance to delight us with their guest posts during the book blogosphere’s faovurite meme every Tuesday! I have been taken a bit of a backseat in composing my own entries for awhile as I haven’t quite felt as inspired as I have previously to respond to the topics at hand and have given authors I want to be reading the chance to showcase their stories instead. I am wicked thankful for the visitors and my readers alike who have been enjoying these sequences as it has inspired to me continue to seek out whys to have more guest authors become featured on Top Ten Tuesday in the future whilst I will also continue to add my own responses as I feel motivated to undertake the topics of the week.

Today’s guest author is Ms Brear – a Historical Fiction novelist I crossed paths with originally through hosting and reviewing for ChocLitUK. When I first read “Where Dragonflies Hover” I must admit, I was truly enraptured by how she wrote the story and how the story resonated with me once I had concluded it. I knew I had found a wicked brilliant new voice in Historical Fiction and I have been following her career over the years, sorting out which of her releases I want to be reading next and trying to find ways to host her again on my blog.

I hadn’t realised her second release by ChocLit I wanted to read went into a print release, so I’ve now added “Where Rainbows End” to my gathering list as it was a story I thought I would enjoy reading at the time I showcased the cover reveal. Today, however, she’s with Lume Books – another Indie Publisher in the UK I haven’t yet had the chance to discover and am delighted I get to feature a new-to-me publisher inasmuch as her latest release which is “The Tobacconist’s Wife”!!

Brew yourself a cuppa and let’s find out more about this story!

And, I hope this will give you a wonderfully keen insight into Ms Brear’s writerly process as she dives into both the story and her process to write it.

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Top Ten Secrets Behind the Tobacconist’s Wife this #TopTenTuesday | a clever list of #behindthebook insight by AnneMarie Brear!The Tobacconist's Wife
Subtitle: Dark Secrets Lurk Behind the Shop Facade
by Ms AnneMarie Brear

Having lost her father, Thea Goodson is alone in the world.

It is true she has a husband, but Ernie is a brutal man, more inclined to use his fists to keep Thea in line than to build on their marriage. And besides, Ernie Goodson has secrets – secrets that even his wife cannot share.

But in Victorian Yorkshire, appearances must be kept up, so Thea goes on powdering her bruises and forcing a smile as she toils in Ernie’s home and tobacco shop. There seems to be no other option.

That is, until a handsome and well-bred stranger arrives to set up shop next door…

Can Thea escape her misery and break from the conventions of society? Or will the clutches of her abusive husband confine her forever?

The Tobacconist’s Wife is the latest book from AnneMarie Brear, the highly acclaimed author of bestselling The Slum Angel. Perfect for fans of Catherine Cookson, Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical Women's Fiction



Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1839012174

Published by Lume Books

on 12th November, 2020

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The stories by Ms Brear on my radar:

Where Dragonflies Hover by AnneMarie BrearWhere Rainbows End by AnneMarie BrearThe Tobacconist's Wife by AnneMarie Brear

Where Dragonflies Hover (see also Review)

Where Rainbows End (see also Cover Reveal)

The Tobacconist’s Wife *newly released!

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Published by: Lume Books (@lume_books)

Converse via: #TheTobacconistsWife, #AnneMarieBrear, #HistoricalFiction or #HistFic

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Top Ten Secrets Behind the Tobacconist’s Wife

by AnneMarie Brear

Inspiration from Jorie for this Topic: a lovely list of things we might not have realised go on behind the book for a writer to create the setting, characters and ambiance of their Historical Fiction narrative whilst potentially giving us a few secrets about the novel before we read it!

Author’s Response: Thank you for having me.

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Posted Tuesday, 17 November, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Book Spotlight, Bookish Memes, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, Love Books Tours, Top Ten Tuesday

#TopTenTuesday No.5 | Top Ten #NewToMeAuthors I loved #amreading in 2017!

Posted Wednesday, 3 January, 2018 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

"Top Ten Tuesday" hosted by The Broke & the Bookish

[Official Blurb] Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature / weekly meme created by The Broke & the Bookish. The meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke & the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your Top 10 Lists!

[Topic of 2nd January, 2018: Top Ten #newtomeauthors of 2017]

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Today’s entry was inspired by Trisha Jenn & Imyril respectively

I’ve been a bit reclusive from participating in the lovely bookish memes I’ve discovered these past four years as a book blogger; mostly due to lack of time and/or inspiration whilst the topics were making their rounds in the book blogosphere. Likewise, my visiting days have been equally remissive, as despite finding wicked #awesomesauce bloggers who share my passion for reading and blogging their readerly lives, my visits have been fleeting at best to make my rounds through the blogs I’ve come to love and appreciate.

Hence why one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to participate in the #Commenting365 Challenge – except I’m not just doing it the way in which it was intended. I am commenting on the blogs involved in the challenge directly; re-visiting the bloggers I personally follow and/or have befriended since becoming a book blogger whilst adding to the fact, I have found nearly 365 book bloggers to follow on Twitter (even made a List!) – clearly, I need to draw myself out of my cocooned state and get back out there & be my lively chatty self!

In regards to what I was relating to Imyril on her blog tonight: I have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this particular meme, as there are been many topics I’ve felt inclined to toss my hat into the fray of the conversation but pinning my particular interests into a ‘top ten list’ has been less than stellar in regards of sorting out how my reading life choices ‘fit’ within the scope of the singular space of each list! Ergo, I had contemplated forgoing participating in this meme altogether, but then, there are moments such as today, where I stumbled into a bookish friend’s List and thought to myself, “This is inspiring me to sort out my own inclinations!” (this was Trisha Jenn’s influence) Thus, this list was bourne as soon as I could carve out a niche of space to blog my responses!

I have decided to make a run at this meme and see where it takes me. I also gave myself the liberty of choosing how I want to answer the prompted topic in a similar fashion as I’ve augmented my own responses to #WWWeds + #10BookishNotBookish memes! Let’s see where this lovely re-entry into the book blogosphere meme entries will lead me to traverse throughout the coming months of 2018!

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You’ll immediately notice there are *11* entries here – with a few honourable mentions below them. As one of my ‘favourite’ new authors is actually a series of authors contained within an anthology – I decided since that is a particularly non-traditional selection to ‘add’ one more novel to round out individual books aside from the one anthology where I found more than one author of whom I am eager to continuing reading more stories of,… all of these stories are listed in the ‘order they were read’ throughout [2017].

*NOTE: all of these stories were sent to me in exchange for honest reviews

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You’re the Cream in My Coffee by Jennifer Lamont Leo

You're the Cream in my Coffee by Jennifer Lamont Leo

You simply get swept away into this novel: from Dot’s flapper lifestyle to Ms Corrigan’s journey back to centre and the emergence of what became of Jack; you’re truly settled into the flowing narrative of how one woman chose to take the reigns of her life and do something rather incredible with her time.

Especially brilliant, is through her dedicated research she was able to bring to light, the incredibly fast-paced life of working at Marshall Field’s. In of itself, those passages were some of my favourite because the author truly tapped into how working in a popular department store is both tiring and endlessly engaging in how to keep up with the customers! There are so many wonderful passages – of where Ms Corrigan is realising who she is for the very first time and of the mistakes that come from daring to live outside your comfort zones.

Ms Lamont Leo has etched out a heroine you want to rally behind and learn more about in successive volumes of a series you can only hope has first sparked to life in You’re the Cream in my Coffee. A most enjoyable reading experience was being curled up inside this beautifully lovely debut novel, of which I hope will become the guiding light towards deepening the appreciation of Ms Corrigan’s adventures in successive installments of the series. Mind, I hope it does readily become a full-on series of novels, because the foundation laid down in the shoes & mind of Ms Corrigan are to be treasured!

Truly, a sweet novel for those who love Inspiring HistFic with a glimmer of a pinch of Romance set in an exciting period of history whilst coming alive with a coming-of age story that is simply not meant to be missed! Definitely my first #unputdownable read of the New Year: 2017! Such a blessing to have been on this blog tour!

As an aside, the truer blessing was having such an inspiring read on hand whilst I fought my way back into the joys of reading once again. This was a beautiful story to get lost inside and feel your spirit renew itself against the pages of drama evolving in and out of Ms Corrigan’s search for individual truth & the path she was meant to walk. -quoted from my review of You’re the Cream in My Coffee

Note: I did receive confirmation the series is alive and well. New installments are forthcoming! Such as the following: ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ – the second novel to be released TBA March, 2018!

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Posted Wednesday, 3 January, 2018 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Top Ten Tuesday

Book Review | “Where Dragonflies Hover” by AnneMarie Brear #ChocLitSaturdays

Posted Saturday, 8 July, 2017 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

ChocLitSaturdays Banner Created by Jorie in Canva.

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!

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

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

I received a complimentary copy of “Where Dragonflies Hover” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I wanted to read this lovely new release:

When this title was initially released (Digital First), I do remember I was charmed by it’s premise – to find an older estate and an diary of a life lived during WWI through the eyes of the nurse who has such a strong connection to the same house? It felt like it had a lot of the components and elements I enjoy finding in this particular niche of #HistFic which brokers into #timeslip or even #timeshift – where you are moving between more than one time in the narrative whilst having the full pleasure of being anchoured equally into the shoes of the characters who are pulling you in and out of their time-line! These are gems because we can re-walk through History, from a unique perspective whilst finding there is a plausible curiosity about having a portal such as a journal or diary carting us back into a specific time and place where a particular story or ‘truth’ hidden from sight needs to be unearthed, understood and brought forward into the light where it can reside without a shroud.

In regards to nursing fiction, I started finding Midwife stories I liked in Amish Fiction, short story or novella INSPY collections or stand-alone releases as well as a few selections in Historical Fiction across theme or sub-genre. One in particular was the discovery of the Bess Crawford Mysteries (see also Review) wherein I found a delightful new heroine! This series is one I want to re-address when time allows me – as I would LOVE to be able to re-read it straight from the beginning through to the latest installment! Secondly, sometimes you find nurses are strong characters within an established series, such as ChocLit’s #ChartonMinster series wherein I truly felt hugged close into Rose’s situation during the war sequences within the chapters of The Silver Locket (see also Review).

Having said this, there are moments where I feel Nursing Fiction can walk the fine line between being realistic and being a bit over the edge of where I can handle Medical Fiction. I never know until I get into the throes of a story where the line will be walked but I had caught a reader’s takeaway about Where Dragonflies Hover ahead of reading it myself, which made me wonder – oh, dear my! I think I might be in for a few scenes or sequences which could top my bookish sensitivities!

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Notation on Cover Art Design: When you really pull this image into a larger context of viewing, you can see how the timeines are equally spilt between the war era and the Contemporary find of the estate! I love how each is a slice of the story but also, how each half of the timeline visited int he story is pivotal to the understanding of the story as a whole!

Book Review | “Where Dragonflies Hover” by AnneMarie Brear #ChocLitSaturdaysWhere Dragonflies Hover
by AnneMarie Brear
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Berni Stevens
Source: Direct from Publisher

Sometimes a glimpse into the past can help make sense of the future…

Everyone thinks Lexi is crazy when she falls in love with Hollingsworth House – a crumbling old Georgian mansion in Yorkshire – and nobody more so than her husband, Dylan. But there’s something very special about the place, and Lexi can sense it.

Whilst exploring the grounds she stumbles across an old diary and, within its pages, she meets Allie – an Australian nurse working in France during the First World War.

Lexi finally realises her dream of buying Hollingsworth but her obsession with the house leaves her marriage in tatters. In the lonely nights that follow, Allie’s diary becomes Lexi’s companion, comforting her in moments of darkness and pain. And as Lexi reads, the nurse’s scandalous connection to the house is revealed…

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Historical Fiction, Time Slip and/or Time Shift, War Drama, Historical Romance



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Book Page on ChocLitUK

ISBN: 9781781893739

Also by this author: Where Rainbows End (Cover Reveal)

Published by ChocLitUK

on 7th June, 2017

Format: UK Edition Paperback

Pages: 320

Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLitUK)

Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #ChocLit & #HistFic + #TimeSlip OR #WhereDragonfliesHover

About AnneMarie Brear

AnneMarie Brear

AnneMarie has been a life-long reader and started writing in 1997 when her children were small. She has a love of history, of grand old English houses and a fascination of what might have happened beyond their walls. Her interests include reading, genealogy, watching movies, spending time with family and eating chocolate – not always in that order!

AnneMarie grew up in Australia but now lives in the UK.

Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo. Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • 2017 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
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Posted Saturday, 8 July, 2017 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, 20th Century, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, ChocLitUK, Content Note, Debilitating Diagnosis & Illness, During WWI, England, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Family Drama, Family Life, Fly in the Ointment, France, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Inheritance & Identity, Life Shift, Medical Fiction, Mental Health, Military Fiction, Nurses & Hospital Life, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Story in Diary-Style Format, The World Wars, Time Shift, Time Slip, Unexpected Pregnancy, Vulgarity in Literature, War Drama, War-time Romance, Warfare & Power Realignment, Women's Health

Cover Reveal | NEW #ChocLit #HistFic by AnneMarie Brear “Where Rainbows End”!

Posted Wednesday, 24 May, 2017 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Stories Sailing into View Banner created by Jorie in Canva.

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

I remember when Ms Brear’s debut novel was released Digital First and hoping to find it was going to make into a print run as it felt like the kind of Historical novel I would enjoy to read. Where Dragonflies Hover is happily being released in print for the first time this JUNE whilst Ms Brear’s sophomore release with ChocLit is being released right now in MAY! Isn’t that lovely!? I am thankful I am able to help celebrate her second release today (she has multiple stories published outside the scope of ChocLit by the way) by revealling the cover art and the joy I had in helping to choose the artwork which graced the cover itself.

However, shortly ahead of getting onto my blog to set this post to go live (originally I worked on this late in the night on the 22nd) – I came across the newsfeeds and tweets surrounding the tragedy in Manchester and it was with a heavier heart, I wrote these words. I also worked on the final edits for a Guest Post about Bonnie and Clyde which was just as difficult to work through as my heart was reaching across the ocean to offer the comfort of prayer to those families who are affected. I think the hardest part truly was learning the families were separated; where children and parents had trouble reuniting afterwards but how kind it was for everyone in Manchester offering their support. Truly a somber day, indeed for bookish news when such tragedy affects so many.

I was betwixt knowing if I should run my posts – although I was up at an hour which would lend itself to contact the publisher (ChocLit) if they were considering to pull the announcement for this release or not, part of me just felt the full breadth of the tragedy; as I could personally self-relate to close-knit connections between Mums and their daughters; as much as the heartache of being in a place where there is sheer panic and you just want to do ‘something’ to help ease other people’s anxieties. There are so many things going on right now which affect Women’s Rights and this just felt multilayered when you realise it’s a concert where young girls and their Mums predominately attended moreso than any other concert goer. I cannot even imagine being there – either solo or with my Mum, nor of how to handle the aftermath. We are each given different circumstances to survive and different adversities to live through; but last night, I just felt as if I were there with them in Manchester due to reading the live tweets across all the trending tags and watching the live video uploads by the survivors. When I stumbled across the homeless man who helped the girls’ ahead of the EMS arriving, it felt like the quote circling from a beloved children’s programme host from my own childhood now had living proof of the words behind the sentiment (referencing ‘look for the helpers’ by Fred Rogers; see also Tweet).

I must say, even when adversity affects my own life – there is some comfort in stories and the hours we give to reading. It make take us a bit to get a rhythm going to resume the joy of reading but overall, I have found my own spirit renewed countless times this past Spring by digging back into reading after my father’s stroke last Thanksgiving. In many ways, the books which cheered my spirit the most were ChocLit titles – as they have such a heap of hope and light running through them, to where you cannot help but feel the joy of the romances filling your imagination each time you pick up one of their novels to read.

I am looking forward to starting to read Ms Brear’s novels, as I do have a hearty penchant for Historical Fiction – something I never truly gave much consideration about until I became a book blogger! lol I seem to adore residing in the historical past more times than the contemporary alternatives; the pages which brim to life yesteryear and of the traditions of eras which sometimes can become lost to time if we do not reacquaint ourselves inside their worlds.

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Posted Wednesday, 24 May, 2017 by jorielov in 19th Century, Blog Tour Host, Book Cover Reveal, Book Spotlight, ChocLitUK, Family Drama, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Romance Fiction, Western Romance