Whilst happily celebrating my 9th Blog Birthday for #JLASblog today!🥳Of the years I've been blogging, I found 2022 the hardest by far and I'm grateful after a rough start to Summer, I can start to return to both #amreading & #amblogging!😁💜🦝 pic.twitter.com/cWfvrp25wc
— Jorie, the bookish #WyrdAndWonder elf 📖🧝 (@joriestory) August 6, 2022
[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 of 28th January, 2020:
The Top Ten Most Anticipated New Releases for 2020! (thus far!);
Today’s entry was inspiring to me for the following reasons:
I’ve been wanting to showcase the STORIES I’ve had my eye on reading for quite a few years now; as each New Year when #TopTenTuesday is hosting one of these lovelies, I’ve wanted to dive into the topic and settle my thoughts on a selection of stories I would most desire to read or would be planning to read in the timeline of the topic’s originating post.
This year is quite special as I came to find out about several #newbooks by already beloved authors which are coming out in early 2020. Some are #newtomeauthors carried forward from [2019] and others are #newtomeauthors arriving in my bookish life in [2020!]; uniquely enough! (big smiles) Several are past, present & forthcoming featured guests on @SatBookChat (the Romance & Women’s Fiction chat I host on Saturdays semi-weekly – at least twice monthly) – whilst one release in particular is a celebration of one author’s adventurous journey in Japan whilst healing and recovering from Cancer.
Each of these stories attracted my eyes for different reasons – which I’ll be happily discussing and revealling throughout the post. Kindly let me know in the comments if I’ve struck your own keen eye of interest and if perhaps we share any mutual #mustreads for 2020 in common OR have any authors we share in our readerly lives we’ve previously discovered!?
I’ll be re-routing through the original post for #TopTenTuesday when this topic originated whilst including it on this week’s linky for everyone to seek out to find.
Let’s all have a rockin’ blast this first half of 2020!
Stay bookishly curious
& may your readerly adventures be as blissful as my own!
DUE NOTE: all the authors and books on this list are a combination of the stories I have the pleasure of meeting as a book blogger (ie. blog tours, publicists, publishers or direct from authors themselves) with the exception of Kate Elliott, of whom I discovered as a seventeen year old who joined the Science Fiction Book Club (it was mail-order book catalogue club) and found “King’s Dragon” (Book One of the Crown of Stars Saga). Two of these authors are #newtomeauthors – both of whom are upcoming guests during @SatBookChat – Jenni Fletcher and Emma S. Jackson.
Each of the books represented here are stories I hand-picked to be of interest to my own readerly wanderings this first half of 2020 – the press materials featured were given to me to use on this post to celebrate the stories themselve with full permission of the authors who wrote the stories.
In regards to my personal connections to these authors, I have maintained contact with Kate Elliott off/on via Twitter whilst keeping my eyes on her current series and releases; inasmuch as the fact that I had the pleasure of getting to know certain ChocLit authors as we communicated and shared our bookish and writerly lives through my chat (@SatBookChat) – Christina Courtenay, Clare Chase and Janet Gover. With Ms Kaine, I have tried to keep in the loop with her releases but I haven’t had the chance to interact with her as much as the other writers I’ve mentioned.
Susan Spann and Jennifer Silverwood I’ve considered friends over the years where their path and mine have continued to cross. I originally met Ms Spann in @LitChat before reading the very first Shinobi Mystery which was “Claws of the Cat”. Silverwood and I have the same literary wanderings and interests as fellow readers and writers which is why we forged a friendship due to so many mutual interests we have shared. Ms Bacarr and I remained in contact between my first meeting with her during #HistFicChat and after I had read her novel “Christmas Once Again” – happily having her as a featured guest on @SatBookChat this past November, 2019.
I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with these authors through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I host #SatBookChat and having previously read their stories. 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 or continuing to read their releases as they are available. This also applies to when I am discussing their stories outside of featuring a review.
The Lawson Sisters by Janet Gover
20th January, 2020 (Digital First Release)
A heartfelt and compelling story of family, secrets and second chances, set in the heart of the beautiful Hunter Valley of NSW, from an award-winning voice in Australian fiction.
Family, fortune and holding on to what counts…
For many years Elizabeth Lawson has battled single-handedly to run the family’s historic horse stud in memory of her beloved father. But a devastating loss puts her dreams at risk. With no options left, Liz is forced to turn to her estranged sister Kayla for help.
Kayla has built a new life in the city as a wedding planner, far removed from the stable yard sweat and dust of her rural upbringing. She never thought she’d go back. But when Liz calls out of the blue, Kayla forms a plan that could save their childhood home.
Kayla’s return forces Liz to confront her past … and her future, in the shape of Mitch, her first and only love, who still watches over her from the other side of the creek.
But Liz still hides a terrible secret. When Kayla learns the truth, will the Lawson sisters find common ground or will their conflict splinter the family once again?
When it comes to ‘Jane Eyre’ – one could say I’ve had a unique connection to both the original novel & the [1996] adaptation; being that the version of the story I knew best all of these years was the film adaptation rather than the novel! I started reading the novel in [2013] as there was a readathon which was really quite cleverly assembled whilst I also found the Books of Eyre reading challenge shortly thereafter. The only trouble of course, is the fact I was pulled in and out of the context of the story multiple times – the most of what I shared ended being the first half of my readings of Eyre.
My main takeaways were the following from that initial reading of JANE EYRE:
In walked Jane Eyre, as calm as a willow bending in the wind,…
or should I say, that attribution belongs to another, a Ms. (Helen) Burns, of whom, Ms. Eyre draws a readily acquaintance and confidence as she’s removed from Gateshead and placed into custody of Lowood Institution for Oprhans! No, pray give leave, to express that Ms. Eyre is a firecracker of unrequited internal rage and admonition for her plight as thus handed down to her in life, as her parents are long since dead; her last surviving relation put to rest in the grave prematurely, and she is left to the dealings of her Aunt, [Sarah Reed, of the late Uncle Reed, her direct relation] of whom, is presented rather apt to reflect Angelica Houston’s character in “Ever After”, as she presides such blatant disregard for her niece, Eyre! It’s only in the reflections of Jane, as an older self, that we find a disconnect between the younger Eyre’s presumption of what was occurring and the wiser Eyre’s imparted understanding, that not all was as first known when the story starts to unfold!
The edgings of the story are wantonly haunting, as the world around Ms. Eyre is draped in grey tones, rain sodden exteriors, and the atmosphere of Gothic underpinnings, as there is rumours of a potential haunting of her Uncle, whilst alive was tender and kind towards Jane, but in whose death, wrecked a miserable state of affairs to unfold and befell her! I was quite appalled at her nephew’s extensive violence towards her, [in this regard, young Harry Potter lived comparatively comfortably!] and her Aunt’s diffidence not to correct the improper and unkind behaviour! Such grievances I can only try to attempt to tolerate, as I know the resolution of the story in-full, but that does not make it any easier to read or rather, observe her humble and caustic beginnings! If anything, it sets up in my mind how far Ms. Eyre had to transmorph into the resolute and strong adult she became!
As Brontë, deftly brings to life the under kernels of Eyre’s hardening and the porticoes of her knowledge that if she were to embark down certain pathways, she might not soon return! Much less, would she want to be such a creature!? To walk through this world, fully hardened and affaced to all the goodness that surely must still be present!? I can sympathise with her on this level, as when your day-to-day existence is presented in a continuous imprisonment of harsh punishment [solitary confined to the nursery, never allowed outside or downstairs, always finding reprimand rather than nurturing, and an absence of time being measured by usual perimeters!], I can understand her reasonings and her deepest of questions regarding not only the state of her personal affairs, but her state and place in the world itself! How angst ridden we should all feel, to have no Hope, no Light, and no perceivable exodus of our allotted circumstance!?
What staid with me throughout the entirety of the opening chapters, is the elucidation of Ms. Brontë, who thus effused her fictional work with counterparts of reality at each turn! She mastered the ability to absolve and absorb what weighed heavily on her heart, pouring out her grief and emotional keenings into the breath she gave Jane Eyre! She took the tragedies of her own life [her elder siblings died as a result of a school similar to Lowood!] and gave them a proper tomb to cleanse herself of feelings she most likely could not dissipate otherwise. I believe, its through her pen, she tapped into a greater purpose that gave her life meaning and worth, than anything she could readily achieve in her everyday life. She suffered greatly by her own experiences, as I read she and her sisters [Anne and Emily] were afflicted by anxiety disorders, but with her pen, she cast aside all of this, in order to cast into the world a tome of her intellect and wisdom.
As it would happen – when it comes to reading the *original canons!* of literature, despite being a newly renewed member of the #theclassicsclub – in the past, whilst I was still a slightly defunct member of the club, I fared better focusing on *after canons!* or sequels, re-tellings or ANY story inspired-by a work of Classical Lit rather than say “reading the original”? Quirky, yes? Cheeky, even? Check. This remained true of Eyre – I found myself happily consumed by the character & the world stitched out of “Keeping Kate” whilst I was moved dearly by the poetic voicing within the verse structure within “Jane and the Bertha in Me”.
Noting a juxtaposition from an after canon to the original within “Keeping Kate”:
From the first moment Kate Evans walks across the page, I felt a tightening in my heart towards her, as her spirit of self-awareness and of place within the folds of her life were very true to course! Kate is the kind of character I am oft-times in search of uncovering; not merely in Classical Lit but within the Contemporary realms as well! She has a captivating way of giving you just enough of a pause of thought on what is happening to her as to ground you within her scope of the story itself. She hasn’t had the easiest of lives but she’s not despondent about it either! No! She’s as bold and direct about her circumstances fate has dealt her as Eyre with the moxie of her predecessor for digging deep into her faith and placing a firm foothold into a future that surely must lead to something not quite as darkening as her childhood!
Rather than being taken to a Gothic estate set far away from active society, Kate is led to a small mountain towne in Utah, where the community she felt she would uncover would be quite ordinary turnt into an extraordinary settled development where estates were more regular than cabins! Tucked away from most conveniences, her new dwelling was a far cry of being the center of modern life and had a more natural bent towards embracing the natural world of which surrounded the ranch where she was accepting employment.
Thornfield Hall is turnt into ‘Thorne Field Ranch’, where Adele becomes Addie, and Mrs. Fairfaxes name receives a change of ‘firsts’. The ambiance of the place remains intact, to where opulence and finery outweigh sensible style and pleasure. Rochester has surely met his match in Mr. Thorne! I never thought you could quite elicit out a duality of whom Rochester was in both origin and spirit, but Tyler Thorne has nailed him in such a justifiable way as to honour him through reincarnation!
The main difference of course, is that instead of a dark secret in the attic that causes the most angst in the climax of Jane Eyre, in Keeping Kate Tyler Thorne is betwixt knowing how to shift forward in life after his wife abandoned him, claimed infidelity, and straddled him with a child of whom she insisted was not his own. Yet dealing with the reality of this situation and the layers in which are knitted into the in-between moments where Kate and Tyler find themselves quite bemuseful of each other’s company, therein lies the best choices Farnsworth gave the novel!
She doesn’t allow this to be a ‘quick fix’ nor does she make the situation feel ‘contrite or predictable’. She took the harder road — to show realistic choices, raw human emotion, and levelled it with honesty about the depth of the human heart. The pace of the story is the most beautiful aspect of Keeping Kate because it allows you to let the tides of the narrative wash over you, lull you into the shoes of the main characters, and take a reprieve from your own affairs.
Whilst I peered into the darker corners of ‘Bertha’ through poetic verse:
| Vintage Bertha Triptych : The Gothic Grotesque |
Segmented into three equally telling installments of Bertha’s psychological state, Martinez taps inside Bertha as she had lived and how her actions were precipitated by her awareness of how despairingly dire her need to free herself from her imprisoned state (as she saw it). For her, the only solution was to transcend the physical world and opt-out of this existence that was taking out her will to survive – she was shut-off from everything and everyone, completely isolated and left undone. Bertha could no longer conceptionalise reality much less equate out a living she could conceive that would stand her back on solid ground. Her choices were set in motion by the loss of her life long before she died – she was an empty husk of a woman who was no longer the girl of her younger years.
In this poem, her desolation is perceptively acute and her state of unwellness is keenly portrayed by a woman whose unravelled her mind to where nothing else matters but the release of the pain which has become her living hours. It’s a sobering snippet of a woman’s life whose lost the battle to gain wellness in the face of an obstacle she could not surmount. I felt Martinez expertly gave Bertha a voice in this poem, and granted a bit of new insight into her state of mental health at the time of the fire itself.
All of this was preparing me in many regards to seeking out “The Other Wife” and uniquely towards a passage back into “Jane Eyre” itself. On Friday, the day and night before #SatBookChat, I re-entered the realm of JANE EYRE through the audiobook adaptation by Naxos Audiobooks with the narrator Amanda Root. It was through this listening period I started to shift into the darker corners of Rochester’s life with Bertha as previously I hadn’t reached the point in the novel where her presence was more pronounced, explored & brought to the foreground of Jane’s own journey at Thornfield Hall.
I knew JANE EYRE was a darker tale – somewhere in the back of my mind, however, the film adaptation painted the portrait of this being a darkly lit romantic tale with unknown suspenseful elements that worked well with the Gothic undertones. If anything, for me, having come through the film adaptation first – it felt more like a Dark Romantic Suspense rather than what it truer is shaping up towards being which is a keenly insightful & dark work of Women’s Fiction. The difference was only seen as I started to shift forward past what is known (to me) and what was yet unknown – where the layers are being peeled back a bit further – to where Rochester is being seen slightly differently than I remembered him in the film – where you took pity on his character for his plight and how it seemed to be unravelling into a grimly dark romance with a spark of hope at the end of the dark tunnel.
I also knew THE OTHER WIFE would be equally as dark – as not just owning to the canon, as this is a tale “inspired by” rather than strict re-telling, sequel or re-imagining of the original – I wanted to explore the components of what made this Contemporary tale uniquely different before broaching into a book discussion with its co-authors: Ms Alison May & Ms Janet Gover.
I wanted to develop a unique interview with them as the writing team of “Juliet Bell” as a precursor to the discussion which would arise through #SatBookChat – thus giving everyone who wanted to attend the chat a solid idea about what THE OTHER WIFE involves and what kinds of inter-related topics could be broached during the chat itself. I decided to keep their responses intact as they gave them to me – as I wanted this to be a bit of a round robin interview – where I would pitch the same questions to each of the authors & they in turn would respond. You’ll find this is one of the more interesting conversations I’ve shared – as it has a duel perspective attached to it whilst it gives you a keen insight into collaborative writing styles & the inspirations to telling the stories which motivate our writerly hearts to write.
You’ll also note I left this informal rather than formal – as I never actually have an interview where I don’t mention an author’s last name in the response lines – however, this was organically knitted out by the authors themselves and I liked how it flowed through the conversation. I decided to keep it authentically honest as it developed & share the conversation as it moved into the harder hitting aspects of JANE EYRE whilst it also talks about what separates THE OTHER WIFE from the canon.
Kindly brew your favourite cuppa & grab something to eat as you settle into the convo!
Be sure to follow our chat’s tag #SatBookChat | use it to contribute to the discussion
Starting @ 11a NYC | 4p UK – follow @SatBookChat for updates!
On my connection to the authors:
From approx. January 2014 – June 2018, I was a reviewer for ChocLitUK whilst I hosted a bookish chat featuring ChocLit novels & their authors entitled #ChocLitSaturday (@ChocLitSaturday). The chat was renamed @SatBookChat in January, 2018. During this period of time, my path crossed with a lot of authors publishing with ChocLit and I had the grace of being able to read nearly all of the Coorah Creek novels during that experience, however, I did not have the chance to read “Little Girl Lost” which is the latest Coorah Creek novel outside of the Christmas novella (a Digital First release) which correlates with the series itself. Coorah Creek was the series penned by Ms Gover whereas in regards to the works by Ms May – I was able to feature a spotlight on her Christmas novellas which were re-released into an anthology in print – an edition I had sought to read and review but didn’t get the proper chance to do so. I also was keenly intrigued by her after canons for Shakespeare as I love the Bard & the original stories he gave us to enjoy. These stories are part of my TBR of ChocLit novels, novellas & pocket stories which I look forward to one day being able to read properly (either in print or audiobook).
I am disclosing this connection to you as I have maintained an active connection of communication with the authors I’ve read through ChocLit whilst being a conversationalist on Twitter – either for the chat I hosted and/or outside of it. Even if I have a connection to an author, I am still able to feature their current stories, their backlist titles or any other projects their developing hereafter as I approach each story separately from the ones I’ve read or experienced in the past. I go into each new story with an open mind and thus can give my honest impressions on its behalf.
The Other Wife Subtitle: Beautiful places hide terrible secrets by Juliet Bell
Outback Australia, 1981
After a terrible childhood, Jane comes to Thornfield as nanny to the adorable Adele, watched over by the handsome and enigmatic Edward. Plain and inexperienced, Jane would never dream of being more than his hired help. But swept up in the dramatic beauty of the Outback, she finds herself drawn to Edward. And, to her surprise, he seems to return her feelings.
But Jane is not the first woman Edward has pledged to make mistress of Thornfield.
As a child, Betty was taken from her English home and sent for adoption in Australia. At first, no-one wanted her, deeming her hair too curly, and her skin too dark. Until the scheming Mr Mason sees a chance to use Betty to cement a relationship with the rich and powerful Rochester dynasty…
When Jane discovers Betty’s fate, will she still want to be the next Mrs Rochester?
#Classics Retold OR Stories Inspired by #ClassicLit; #CharlotteBronte or #Bronte200 & #Brontes
As you have re-imagined two Classical stories thus far along “Wuthering Heights” and “Jane Eyre” – how do you select the stories you’re going to re-tell and re-imagine? Is there a process to it or is it a bit more serendipitous? What pulled you in the direction of co-writing these kinds of stories as well?
Janet says :Wuthering Heights was my choice. It has always fascinated me. It’s a dark and violent book – not a romance at all, despite what some people would say. I always wanted to explore the how passions and emotions of the characters would evolve in a different, but equally tumultuous time.
Alison says :Wuthering Heights was the easier choice of the two – Janet suggested it and I felt very connected to the setting and the time period we chose for our adaptation. Jane Eyre was trickier. In some ways it’s the obvious follow on from Wuthering Heights, but it’s a subtler, less in your face, book in a lot of ways. What drew me to it though was still that question of ‘is this a romance?’ And if not, what makes people think that it is? Read More
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!
On my new position as a ChocLit Star member: Whilst I am part of the ChocLit Reviewers having brought reviews & guest author features to Jorie Loves A Story for the past two years, I have recently become a part of the Cover Reveal Team, as disclosed when I hosted the first Reveal on behalf of Sheryl Browne’s ‘Learning to Love’. This new team works with ChocLit providing honest feedback on ‘projects’ such as title & book cover design choices as well projects in development on behalf of the publisher. I accepted being a ChocLit Star as I felt my love of the stories would be a good fit to give in-depth responses to the projects pitched to the Stars. Therefore, when I blogged about the cover for “Revenge is Sweet” it was the first reveal where my input as a ChocLit Star helped the reveal become possible!
Celebrating the Coorah Creek series by Janet Gover
This is one of those lovely series which simply sweeps you into it’s heart and never quite let’s you go once you’ve become entrenched into the lives of the residents of Coorah Creek! This charmingly small Outback towne is on the outskirts of everything but holds within it’s folds the beauty of community & the togetherness of family which extends itself into your life through close-knit friendships with people who genuinely care about your well-being. It’s the kind of place where you can take your baggage from life and find a caring place to heal whilst you transition forward into a new chapter where everything becomes possible again, simply because you’ve changed your setting & taken a chance on a towne that has more going for it than meets the eye.
My love of Coorah Creek has been widely blogged & tweeted about since I first laid eyes on ‘Flight to Coorah Creek’ (see Review) two years ago – as it gave me such a sweet hankering for a Contemporary Western Romance within the setting of this amazing place in a country I’ve been charmed by since I was a young girl! I grew up with Westerns – in both films and stories, fully in love with the companionship & workmanship surrounding horses, whilst enjoying the reprieve from reality getting caught inside the lives of those who either fought to carve out a new life on the wilds of the Frontier or tried to homestead their way into a new chapter of their ancestral saga.
Coorah Creek marked the first foray I had into Australian Outback fiction – granting me a new appreciation for Australian Literature, and a heart-warming story that treated me to such wonderfully crafted characters by an author who dearly knows how to capture everything you hope to find inside of a Contemporary story whilst anchouring you to the natural beauty surrounding her setting. It’s such a deeply enriched balance – it makes returning to Coorah Creek so wicked sweet for me, as the only story in the series I have thus far gone without reading or listening too is ‘Christmas at Coorah Creek’ which is not yet in audio or print.
I do elude to how Ms Gover treats us diehard series readers to inside information about this novella as she firms together the missing bits inside the second installment ‘The Wild One’. Thus, I consider this new title the third book in the series, but the fourth story of the overall saga. I dearly hope to have a good listen to the novella one day (*fingers crossed* it goes to Audiobook!) whilst re-reading the series start to finish; not that I am ever quite prepared for ‘the final chapter’ of Coorah Creek; I am sure at some point, there will come the time where the last chapter is revealled. It’s just hard to find characters such as these and a setting you feel so dearly attached too – this is one reason I have a penchant for serial fiction; you don’t have to retreat & leave everyone so quickly as you do in one-offs!
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!
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. I received a complimentary copy of “The Wild One” from ChocLit in exchange for an honest review! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I fell in love with Coorah Creek:
To fully capture my initial excitement about learning this series was going to continue, you can click to view the first tweet I shared! I have a soft spot for Westerns – stemming out of my love for horse-back riding but also, because I fell in love with the country having spent equal portions of my life between city and rural environs. Being close to the natural world and being cognisantly aware of wildlife and the natural habitats which play such an important role in our cyclic health on Earth has left an impression on my heart, mind and imagination.
I started reading Westerns as a young girl – curled up inside Cowboy fiction and the Americana of the Western Frontier is one way I spent a happy afternoon engrossed inside the pages of novels whose spirit of the West and of a particular kind of lifestyle championed a spark of joy inside me. This is why to this day, I love seeking out Westerns – either straight-up traditional historicals or the Contemporaries who are breaking new frontiers as they bring us a new endearing locale to frame our minds around a setting which can resonate as readily as the historical past!
This is one reason you’ll find more of these stories emerging on my blog as time moves forward, because I have two favourite authors (Liz Harris and Janet Gover) who write the novels I am seeking from ChocLit but also, because I have stories on my TBR List (of whom I need to add to my Leafmarks!) which are my ‘itching to read next’ choices! If you’ve caught sight of my reviews on behalf of the novels of Carolyn Steele (Willow Springs andSoda Springs) you will recognise instantly what I love about modern day Western authors! Even MK McClintock has a heap of lovelies I want to explore whilst finishing my stay inside her Alaina Claiborne! (see this conversation I had with her last year) Even Carla Kelly endeared me to her style as soon as I stepped through the pages of Softly Falling! It is an incredible time to be a reader of Western fiction!
When it comes to Coorah Creek, I was happily surprised by what I found inside the novel, so much so, I ached for a sequel long before I ever realised one was being breathed into life! Here is a sampling of my review on behalf of the first story which I did not want to end:
Creating a realistic impression of the Australian Outback is Janet Gover’s gift:
I honestly could not stop reading Flight to Coorah Creek, and in doing so, left myself at a bit of a loss as to how to properly leave behind my esteem and love of the story! I simply did not want to leave my comfy chair and make my way to my keyboard! I absorbed myself so fully into this story, as I had ached to get into the heart of it for most of Spring & Summer, that by the time I found the pages flying past my fingers, there simply was not one second to spare! I was thankful to soak into a light medical drama which did not affect me as medical dramas generally do these days (ooh, how I miss reading them!), as I was quite fascinated with Gover’s ability to take research & first hand experience (as she had disclosed in a #ChocLitSaturdays : chat on Twitterthat she had experienced an air ambulance service) and turnt it into such a believable and commendable tale of second chances, new beginnings, and atonement!
The subtle way she included what I would generally think of as a ‘third’ character: the Australian Outback itself was an alarming treat for your senses! And, how interesting that most of what was spoken about are part of the natural beauty I appreciate myself, even if the frying in the laser sharp heat of the sun might not be as keen, it was how she turnt the natural world into a visual backdrop I appreciated the most. The Outback was also quite the character, as the winds would shift and reveal a few things about where all of these lovely characters had settled into a sense of home and stability of calm. I honestly cannot wait to read another novel where she takes me on another epic journey of an adventure!
I have seen many a motion picture which involves drama on a plane, but I must say, Gover had me on the very edge of my seat and I nearly forgot to breathe whilst reading the passages where the flying was anything but routine!
Sadly, there is anchour to this story, a novella which is currently only available in ebook format (Christmas at Coorah Creek) rather than being released into print or audiobook. It’s my mission to gather the audiobooks by ChocLit for the novellas and/or any novel that doesn’t make it to print but goes into audio release! I would love to say one day I have a lovely bookcase full of ChocLit paperbacks and audiobooks on CD! Until then, I gather in my mind which ones I wish to collect and hope for the best!
For those of you whose thirst for this series is intrigued to seek out the stories, let me share the synopsis for the novella! Remember this follows the time-line straight after Flight to Coorah Creek!
What if you don’t want to be home for Christmas?
Spending Christmas away from home is one thing but English nurse Katie Brooks is spending hers in Coorah Creek; a small town in the Australian outback.
Katie was certain leaving London was the right decision, but her new job in the outback is more challenging than she could have ever imagined.
Scott Collins rescued Katie on her first day in Coorah Creek and has been a source of comfort ever since. But Scott no longer calls the town home – it’s too full of bad memories and he doesn’t plan on sticking around for long.
Scott needs to leave. Katie needs to stay. They have until Christmas to decide their future …
The Wild One Subtitle: A Coorah Creek Novel
Can four wounded souls find love?
Iraq war veteran Dan Mitchell once disobeyed an order – and it nearly destroyed him. Now a national park ranger in the Australian outback, he’s faced with another order he is unwilling to obey …
Photographer Rachel Quinn seeks out beauty in unlikely places. Her work comforted Dan in his darkest days. But Quinn knows darkness too – and Dan soon realises she needs his help as much as he needs hers.
Carrie Bryant was a talented jockey until a racing accident broke her nerve. Now Dan and Quinn need her expertise, but can she face her fear? And could horse breeder Justin Fraser, a man fighting to save his own heritage, be the one to help put that fear to rest?
Sometimes, the wounds you can’t see are the hardest to heal…
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About 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.