Tag: Debbie Macomber

#TopTenTuesday No.6 | Top Ten Books I’m Looking Forward to In 2018

Posted Tuesday, 16 January, 2018 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday blog banner created by Jorie in Canva.

[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! In January, 2018 this meme is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

[Topic #370 originally shared on 26th December, 2017] *elected to rewind, rather than stay OT

I shared this post for today’s topic linky – as I wasn’t sure if the original blogger who hosted this was going to archive their blog now that they have stepped down from blogging. (see List)

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Today’s entry was inspiring to me for the following reasons:

I’ve wanted to sort out which stories I want to read per each new year for *decades!* However, despite all the bookish feeds I read, consume and try to digest per annum, I am the girl who is constantly and consistently *surprise!* by which stories are published per year! Try as I might, I either get wholly consumed by #currentreads to notice #newreleases and/or I’m distracted by life itself – as all of us live full lives outside our reading queues!

This year, however, I was a bit ahead of the curve! I knew about several releases I was wicked itching to read! What fun, eh!? I also found a few new ones before January – somehow, the one thread of literature I source every year the easiest are the stories within the realms of *Historical Fiction* as let’s be honest – Jorie loves travelling through the historic past! (smiles) If there were a story out there set during a timeline of History I haven’t yet visited, there is a strong variable of interest for me to dig inside it and take the journey!

The two veins of interest I am most under-read are Science Fiction & Fantasy as well as INSPY Fiction (see my 70 Authors Challenge, which resumes this 2018!). Slowly but surely I shall re-inspire myself to bring these stories back into my life with the same gusto I have for #HistFic! It’s just when it comes to the past, of stories which are set elsewhere in time – I’m as giddy a girl watching a hot air balloon ascend into the heavens to see what the world looks like from above! #HistoricalFiction allows us to re-align our world-view, of re-examining History and of setting ourselves into the footsteps of characters who re-theorise the lives of those who lived prior to us. This is why it’s addictive to consume and why my heart flutters it’s joy every year I find myself happily alighted ‘somewhere’ in the timelines of History!

In regards to #MGLit (Middle Grade) and #YALit (Young Adult) – truthfully, I get so distracted throughout the year, I forget to *read them!* as they come into the library! I quite literally always put these novels on ‘hold’ to be in queue or I am one of the ones happily queuing them into a purchase request status – either way you slice it, when it comes to Children’s Lit, I’m falling dearly behind on my mission to #readDEEPER into these realms!

Ergo, this List is mostly aligned for releases within the first months of the year – with some extensions into Summer; though, I haven’t taken a critical eye to notice ALL the stories which will publish this year,… generally speaking, this is one reason I made my presence on Twitter my sole haunt online outside of my blog. I love being caught up in the netherspheres of conversations wherein the bookish and readerly spirits alight – everyone is happily chattering about ‘this or that and why this has to be seen to be believed or why this one touched their bookish soul in such a wicked sweet way, etc, etc’. To be in the timeline of #readers and #bookbloggers whilst interacting with #writers who are #amwriting our #nextreads whilst celebrating their #currentlypublished tomes of joy – this is where I like to spend my hours whilst I’m not #amreading my own #currentreads or #amblogging my readerly life here on Jorie Loves A Story!

In other words,… you’ll see me gush like the chattastically joyful tweeter I am throughout the year when I spy a #mustread I simply MUST find a copy of in which to disappear! Generally this means I will be sourcing through my local #Library though on occasion, I do purchase hardbacks and paperbacks which are a few years out of Pub (on discount) or I find backlist lovelies at local bookshelves (think: Little Free Libraries movement) or I am gifted a book from my Mum and Dad which grants me invaluable joy for their knowledge of how bookishly inclined I am!

I do wonder – how do you approach a NEW YEAR of STORIES?

I love to JUMP and DIVE into a New Year — with some stories in my mind to seek out, leaving the vast majority to be the unexpectedly blissful journey which unfolds before me,..

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Posted Tuesday, 16 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

#HolidayReadathon : 4th Annual Holiday Reading Celebration!

Posted Sunday, 8 December, 2013 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments



When I first received the happy news about this readathon, I instantly was thrilled being that I have always appreciated seeking out the spirit of Christmas in novels at my local library! Each year, since 2009 I have had the pleasure of finding a heap of choices specifically in the romance genre & children’s picture books! I have always focused on these two areas of story-telling as Christmas starts to spruce up our lives with a bit of an extra dose of joy! You know this time of the year is starting to arrive, whilst noting the decorations alighting in your neigbhourhoods as much as the streetlights donning their holiday lighted decorations! Tree lighting ceremonies and walkabouts by luminaries are planned. Festive hearts are seen wherever you go. Everyone feels caught up in the light and heart of the season. Even if everyone is celebrating differently, there is this congenial mindset to where each person you bump into wishes you warm joy and mirth!
I began at a very young age reading holiday romances, as I had settled into the Regency Christmas novella collections of which Mary Jo Putney was a contributor. The Christmas balls and galas swept me into the heart of the season as much as the joy of the celebrations in Regency England! I love the creative touch writers give the Christmas spirit aglow in their stories! I like reading romances because they highlight the unexpected paths our lives can take us and many a-time lead us to who we are meant to be with as we walk through life. Romance and Christmas for me are a natural companions. I think I will even appreciate reading them more whilst bundled up in warmer clothes, sitting by hearth or wood-stove, with snowflakes floating down outside — as I’ve spent all my Christmases in a Southern state whose temperatures barely drop past 80 degrees! I’m too used to 100 degrees in November and high 90s in December! A few times, our weather patterns will treat us to the low 40s and 50s, but those moments are too rare for me! I think this is why I have always appreciated reading the Christmas romances that I do! Always plenty of snow! Plenty of windows into a colder clime and the bliss of seeing a change in the season which is evident as soon as you duck outside crunching into snow & see the fir trees!

My Holiday Reading Selections: 2013!

  1. The Christmas Promise by Donna VanLiere
  2. The Christmas Pearl by Dorothea Benton
  3. Peiling and the Chicken-Fried Christmas by Pauline Chen
  4. A Covington Christmas by Joan A. Medlicott
  5. Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber
  6. The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber
  7. There’s Something About Christmas by Debbie Macomber
  8. Christmas Wishes by Debbie Macomber
  9. Home for Christmas by Jan Brett
  10. Tales from Christmas Trains by James F. Kaserman
  11. Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas
  12. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’Nan
  13. Christmas at Holly Hill by Martha Rogers
  14. A Christmas Ball by Jennifer Ashley
  15. A Nantucket Christmas by Nancy Thayer
  16. Nancy & Plum by Betty Bard MacDonald
  17. The Story of Holly & Ivy by Rumer Godden
  18. An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor
  19. Mistletoe and Molly by Janet Dailey

& Christmas Picture Books:

  1. The Friendly Beasts by Anna Voitech
  2. The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg
  3. The Little Drummer Mouse by Mercer Mayer
  4. Merry Christmas, Merry Cow by Kathi Appelt
  5. Christmas at the Toy Museum by David Lucas
  6. Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon
  7. Yoon and the Christmas Mitten by Helen Recorvits
  8. The Christmas Tugboat by George Matteson
  9. The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore;
    retold & illustrated by Rachel Isadora

I wonder who will be joining the Twitter party for the Holiday #Readathon, 8th December 2013 at 9pm!? I had originally intended to read on Friday night & during the day on Saturday, but I suffered a bit of a hiccup in my plans to that regard! I am thankful that whilst conversing with Ms. Wiemer that even if my plans didn’t go as I hoped, I could still be a part of the joy of the Holiday Readathon! :)

Shabby Blogs

I plan to read books from these chosen selections
between 8th December through Twelfth Night (5 January 2014)
A “Twelfth Night Readathon”! {inspired by the “Holiday Readathon!”}

TwelfthNightReadathon

About the Readathon:
The Twelfth Night Readathon was created by Jorie of Jorie Loves a Story and Christine of Readerly Musings to promote the reading of Christmas and Holiday stories. We noticed there were a few readathons this time of year, but none were dedicated solely to Christmas and Holiday readings. While this readathon started out being between two bloggers wanting to share their Christmas and Holiday cheer with the bookish blogosphere, anyone is welcome to participate! With one stipulation: they must be willing to read Christmas and/or Holiday themed books throughout the readathon! The number of books they read is up to them!

This readathon will run from 8 December, 2013
until 5 January, 2014 (Twelfth Night).

| The Bloggers |

Jorie of Jorie Loves a Story @JLovesAStory
Christine of Readerly Musings @ReaderlyMusings

All of these links lead to the bloggers’ master posts for the readathon.

| Special Topical Posts Forthcoming |

{SOURCE: Holiday Readathon badge provided by WhoRuBlog to show support for participants! Twelfth Night Readathon Badge created to show support for those who participate each year!}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

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Posted Sunday, 8 December, 2013 by jorielov in Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Children's Literature, Holiday Readathon, Library Find, Library Love, Picture Book, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Romance Fiction