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 “Grand Designs” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
#MidnightChocLit No.3: a #newtomeauthor & a girl’s love for her Royal
Jorie’s preferred method of #amwriting her novels & stories: a vintage Royal typewriter from the late 1930s & early 1940s
There is a wicked sweet story *behind!* how I came into possession of this incredible machine – my dearly loved Royal, however, tonight I wanted to share my love of *typewriters!* and my growing aversion towards using traditional technologist resources to write stories! It began by a succession of computers which not only died behind the infamous ‘blue screen of death’ but due to the fact I never understood the best method towards ‘saving’ a backup of my files until I became a book blogger!
Remember: I’m old enough to remember *floppy!* 5 1/2 discs and their cousin, the 3 1/2! I am sure other GenX writers out there know what I’m referencing, too!
Then, there is the whole connective connection to writing by typewriter vs. a computer – mind you, I will always have a computer in my life, but the advantage of having a typewriter is complete immersion into the writerly process without the distractions of social media (which ahem! sometimes distracts me as a blogger!) or the curiously curious features that comes with a Win10 upgrade! I’ve gone through bouts of gaming since October, collecting ‘apps’ (oh, dear!) and had a serious addiction to “behind-the-scenes” of new tv dramas via the Win store, too! (oy, oy) A girl can get properly addicted to these new lovelies due to how user-friendly they are and how much you can honestly do on them.
I am unsure which method of writing Ms Mitchelmore used to compose her words inside her novella or in her novels, but all my future stories will be composed on my Royal and a few more retrofitted vintage typewriters I have yet to collect! There is a growing sub-culture of writers who are wicked addicted to typing their stories rather than using a more 21st Century method – the #Typosphere is calling me, too. Where you literally ‘type’ your blog posts? I will be exploring that sometime in the future – I simply need to get my Royal serviced, spruced up a bit and gather a small collection of necessary items, such as INK + PAPER. Laughs.
Trivia of Jorie: She began writing on an electric typewriter not a computer when she was writing her Science Fiction novel as a teenager – however, her earliest writings as a child were on a Commodore owned by her maternal grandfather.
I picked Ms Mitchelmore’s series to begin next as one thing I have enjoyed over the course of *2016!* is becoming further introduced to serial ChocLit! My readings of To Turn Full Circle begin in January – thus, imagine how keenly happy I was to spy this novella in my #ChocLitChristmas parcel of joy!? An early ‘preview’ if you will of an author I have been eagerly awaiting to read!
IF your just joining me for #MidnightChocLit and want to know why I conceived this wicked #awesomesauce of a readathon – please direct your attention to #MidnightChocLit No.1: You’re the One that I Want.
Join me whilst I read *six!* ChocLit novellas Christmas Week & New Year’s – as we read through the holidays with a ‘pocket of ChocLit’ in our hands! Remember: I’m tweeting LIVE as I read ahead of posting these reviews! Tweet me your reactions & add your commentary on the posts!
Grand Designs
Subtitle: You can change the house but can you change the man?
You can change the house but can you change the man?
Carrie Fraser is an interior decorator and cannot believe her luck when she is invited to work at Oakenbury Hall – a beautiful manor house in the heart of the English countryside. Nor can she quite get over the owner of Oakenbury – the gorgeous (not to mention, completely loaded!) Morgan Harrington. Morgan appears to have it all, but his previous life is clouded with sadness and heartache, which Carrie can relate to only too well. He is intent on running away from his troubled past to a glamorous, celebrity-filled existence in Cannes, but there’s a problem…
Morgan is bound by his late father’s wishes to keep Oakenbury Hall within the family and have children, and the more time Carrie spends with him, the more she yearns to be the woman to fulfil this wish. But the likes of Carrie Fraser could never be enough for a high-flying businessman like Morgan … could she?
Places to find the book:
Book Page on World Weaver Press
ISBN: 9781781893579
on 4th November, 2016
Pages: 128
Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLituk)
Available Formats: Pocket Paperback + Ebook + Audiobook
Converse via: #Contemporary & #Romance
#RomSusp OR #RomanticSuspense + #ChocLit
OR #PocketChocLit (Jorie’s idea!)
Put some ChocLit,
in your pocket!
#PocketChocLit
(little rhyme I came up with to celebrate these editions!)
About Linda Mitchelmore
Linda has had over two hundred short stories published worldwide. She has also won many short story writing competitions – Woman’s Own, Woman & Home and Writespace to name but three. In 2004, Linda was awarded The Katie Fforde Bursary by the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and has a story in their 50th Anniversary Anthology. Linda also won Short Story Radio Romance Prize 2010. Having started her writing career doing a short story course with Writing Magazine, she has now come full circle and is a preliminary judge for their short story competitions. Linda lives in Devon and is married with two grown-up children.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- #WYChristmasReadathon
Blueprint for Love
You're the One that I Want
Talk to Me
