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Making it up as I go along

Making it up as I go along

Tag Archives: Review

Blog Tour – Day 19

12 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

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Blog Tour, Day 19, Review, Snow Sisters

This then is the penultimate stop on the SNOW SISTERS tour.

To be honest, I’d half forgotten this post & in saying this I mean no disrespect to Emma Mitchell over at THE LITTLE BOOKWORM. On the contrary – when she contacted me about the tour she sent a list of potential topics one of which I seized on with glee! Which writer wouldn’t relish the opportunity to discuss the creation process of a specific character? Not least when that character is, to say the least, complex.

I am indebted to Emma – you can read our conversation here.

Allegra 2

Blog Tour – Day 17

09 Monday Oct 2017

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Blog Tour, Day 17, Review, Snow Sisters

The blog tour for SNOW SISTERS is a fairly long – 20 dates in all. I have a huge admiration for the bloggers who bring up the tail so to speak. Assuming you like the book you’re reviewing, there are only so many ways to comment on the story; disclose how it unfolds & examine nuances, the writing & it’s style.

On Day 17 of the tour, KENDRA OLSON has written a succinct & perceptive review & I thank her for it.

“Lovekin powerfully conveys the ways in which women and girls internalise their experiences until they become a part of their psychological make-up.”

You can read the rest of the review here.

3ed72c27e81ebe41e4a098e0491a0855

 

Blog Tour – Day 16

08 Sunday Oct 2017

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Blog Tour, Day 16, Review, Snow Sisters

It is my pleasure to be hosted today by JAN BAYNHAM on her blog, Jan’s Journey Into writing. She invited me to write a guest post & has added a breathtakingly generous review of SNOW SISTERS.

“… a superbly crafted novel, written in figurative language that often borders on poetry …
 … storytelling at its best, delivered in beautiful prose, by a very talented writer.”

You can read the guest post – Second Book Syndrome & Ghost Writing – & the rest of the review here.

snow sisters blog tour poster (2) - Copy

 

Blog Tour Day 15

07 Saturday Oct 2017

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Blog Tour, Day 15, Review, Snow Sisters

I’m running out of appropriate words to express my gratitude to the bloggers on the tour for SNOW SISTERS. On Alison Drew‘s blog today, another wonderful review my book.

“…There are no words to sufficiently describe the beauty of Carol Lovekin’s writing skills. She can weave a tale that lingers in your mind long after you have finished reading it…”

You can find the rest of the review here.

ss 1 (2)

Blog Tour – Day 14

06 Friday Oct 2017

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Blog Tour, Day 14, Review, Snow Sisters

Another wonderful review for SNOW SISTERS – this one on the pretty website of JO LAMBERT.

“…Part of the power of Carol’s writing is that it’s so easy to suspend belief. And that is exactly what happened here. I became totally wrapped up in the events which took place.  A story so seamlessly woven into the main thread of the book that moving from past to present progressed in an uninterrupted flow…”

You can read the full review, plus an extract from the book, here.

Snow Sisters Cover final front only LARGE - Copy (4) - Copy

 

Blog Tour – Day 13

05 Thursday Oct 2017

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Blog Tour, Day 13, Review, Snow Sisters

Lucky for some…

I’m genuinely blown away by this review. On her blog, DRUID LIFE, Nimue Brown has conjured an honest, very perceptive & elegant review of SNOW SISTERS.

“…This is a book I will be reading again. It’s a book I want to put into the hands of other women who are grappling with family legacies. It’s certainly a book I want my son to read. It’s beautifully written, full of wisdom, compassion and a deep understanding of the human heart at its best and worst…”

You can read the full review here.

SS blog tour poster - full list

Blog Tour – Day 12

04 Wednesday Oct 2017

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Blog Tour, Book Bloggers, Day 12, Review, Snow Sisters

And so it goes. Yesterday we had a break – this morning I logged on to discover this perfect, elegant review of SNOW SISTERS from Joanne Robertson over at MY CHESTNUT READING TREE which is, in my view, one of the coolest, cosiest book blog names ever!

“…I tend not to read any books with a supernatural theme but Snow Sisters was so much more than I ever could have expected. It cast a magical spell over me so that I was completely overtaken by the lives of all the women here and the mysteries surrounding them...”

This makes my heart sing.

To read Joanne’s review in it’s entirety, go here.

ss 1 (2)

#BookBloggersRock

 

Blog Tour – In which Day Four takes it’s rightful place!

24 Sunday Sep 2017

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Blog Tour, Day Four, Review, Snow Sisters

Indulge me, dear reader – as I explained in my previous (a mere few hours ago) a book fair kept me away from social media yesterday so two posts have to share today’s limelight. Day Four of the blog tour, is courtesy the lively & innovative Susan Heads of The Book Trail fame & includes another lovely review for SNOW SISTERS. Here.

I am particularly touched by this paragraph: “This is one of those books that is an absolute joy to read – writing which reminds me why I love reading and why the simple things in life such as the grass or the shadows can become something so emotional in the hands of a brilliant writer. The strong writing doesn’t over shadow the plot in any way, it just strengthens it, and the whole novel is one symphony of music, with highs, lows but an atmosphere that is split between foreboding, nostalgic thoughts, dreams, hopes and redemption.”

5 WINDOW

My sincere thanks to Susan for her review & for agreeing to be one of the hosts on the blog tour.

Follow more fascinating author trails at: http://www.thebooktrail.com/book-trails/

Blog Tour – Day Three mash up!

24 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

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Blog Tour, Day Three, Guest Post, Review, Snow Sisters

Yesterday, SNOW SISTERS made her first live outing & went to a book fair. She looked very pretty & behaved impeccably.

narberth 2

While we were hanging out & having fun, in a galaxy far away, the charming Annie (THE MISSTERY) hosted Day Three of the blog tour here. And she left a generous review for me to come home to.

Annie also offered me a guest post. She gave me the freedom to write what I wanted & when the sometimes vexed question concerning ‘IDEAS’ cropped up, it gave me the opportunity to take a sideways look at it.

“The Nature of Glimmerings & the Unanswerable Question by Carol Lovekin

If I could choose a genre in which to place my books, it would be Quirky. Since authors aren’t allowed to pick and choose let’s call mine ‘contemporary fiction’ with hints of magical realism. (Which isn’t at all the same as fantasy, let’s be clear.) My stories are firmly rooted in reality. I explore possibilities: the fine line between the everyday and the world of enchantment.

I’m a feminist and my stories reflect this too. I explore family relationships: how people, women in particular, respond to loss and how they survive. My books have ghosts, although there are no clanking chains or blood-chilling wails. All it takes to embrace my ghosts, and the magic I conjure, is a temporary suspension of disbelief.

Enter my loyal reader, with her penchant for a quirky ghost story and a liking for strong women. And her question: ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’

Until I began writing seriously I would have claimed my ideas came out of ‘nowhere’ which is of course nonsensical. Ideas, however obscure, have to come from somewhere. And yet, paradoxically, the notion that a story must stem from a single concept is absurd.

It’s the word ‘idea’ itself I find problematical. It posits the notion that the genesis of a novel lies in an idea per se: a definable moment the writer can recall.

The origin of most stories is, for me at any rate, a random gathering of scattered thoughts; glimmerings as slender and obscure as a line in a poem or novel triggering a sideways digression. And as I forget most of my night dreams the moment I wake up, I’ve never dreamed a story into existence. Any I do recall are rarely logical – and I don’t write fantasy remember – so my dreams are unlikely to serve me on any level whatsoever. Day dreaming however is another thing entirely: it’s where glimmerings evolve, the ‘what if’ moments and barely discernible fragments that come out of left field.

Singular words have always appealed to me. I collect them: words like cwtch which is Welsh for hug. And more often than not, a single word can entice me and suggest a theme for a scene, or present me with an unexpected tangent.

My study overlooks trees and low hills. Some mornings the mist lies as heavy as sleep and it’s like living on an island. I like to imagine the Avalon barge emerging between the mists to collect me. It never does, and chewing my pencil I sigh, scan a sky full of birds and watch instead for the ones I call my word birds. They circle a tall beech tree, ignored by a big bossy crow – my hunched, feathery muse. (I kid myself it’s the same one every day – shouting kraa from the topmost branch, urging me to stop lollygagging and get on with my work.)

These word birds are my writing familiars; they drop their glimmerings onto my windowsill; leave words and phrases in the edges of my hair. I gather up these offerings and it’s anyone’s guess what they will become. Not all the words make it onto the page and many get away. Or I put them away, because no sensible writer ever throws anything out.

The glimmerings may not at first gift me entire plots or even vague outlines. What they do is hover in a ghost location in my imagination. The place where I wave my pencil wand and cast my story spells; listen for my word birds, in case they have more enchantment for me.

My loyal reader is a gem and I love her. The fact remains, next time she asks me where my ideas come from, I shall have no choice but to answer, ‘I have no idea…’ “

My sincere thanks to Annie. You can read more on her interesting blog:
themisstery.com

 

Blog Tour – Day Two

22 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

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Blog Tour, Day Two, Review, Snow Sisters

Today I am blessed by this generous & perceptive review from Anne Cater, on her blog, Random Things Through My Letterbox. Anne is also the creator of Book Connectors, arguably the best book group on Facebook for writers, readers & reviewers/bloggers.

ss 1 (2)

“Welcome to the Blog Tour for Snow Sisters by Carol Lovekin.  Snow Sisters was published in paperback and ebook by Honno on 21 September 2017.  Thanks to Honno for my review copy.

I have been thoroughly consumed by Snow Sisters for the past week or so. It’s one of those books that pulls the reader in and never really lets go, even when you’ve put the book aside to do other things. The characters swirled around my brain, rather like the April snow storm that the author so cleverly creates as a backdrop for her incredibly beautiful story.

If like me, you are a fan of Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale, or more recently, A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall, then Snow Sisters will be your thing. There are ghosts, broken families, old secretive houses and characters who are so wonderfully imagined that you really believe in them.

Snow Sisters is an intimate and intricate portrait of one family of women.  At the heart and head of the family is Grandmother Mared, and living in Gull House is Mared’s daughter Allegra and her two daughters; our Snow Sisters; Verity and Meredith. Carol Lovekin’s eye for detail with her characterisation is outstanding, these woman are real and the reader will love them, hate them, sympathise with them – whatever emotion they evoke is a testament to her skill.

Nestled between Verity and Meredith’s stories is the voice of Angharad. Angharad died in 1879 and her tragic and heartbreaking story is gently and carefully unwound during flashback snippets in her own voice.

So, not one, or two, but three threads of a story so deftly woven together. The present day as Verity returns to Gull House, and her memories and her sadnesses and her questions, and then the story of her and Meredith as children, battling their self-indulgent mother, and of course, Angharad; that poor young girl whose own personal story forms the backbone to this wonderfully imagined and gracefully executed tale.

Snow Sisters is complex and nuanced. There is tragedy yet there is so much love. This is a book to wallow in and linger over.  Highly highly recommended.”

I’m also indebted to Anne for this vignette about Honno:

Honno Welsh Women’s Press was set up in 1986 by a group of women who felt strongly that women in Wales needed wider opportunities to see their writing in print and to become involved in the publishing process.
Their aim is to develop the writing talents of women in Wales, give them new and exciting opportunities to see their work published and often to give them their first ‘break’ as a writer.
Honno is registered as a community co-operative. Any profit that Honno makes is invested in the publishing programme.
Women from Wales and around the world have expressed their support for Honno. Each supporter has a vote at the Annual General Meeting.

For more information to buy Honno publications, visit the website www.honno.co.uk
Follow them on Twitter @honno  

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