Loretta Marchize's Blog, page 11

Beyond Her Calling, book release

Hello readers! I’m sure some of you have heard of Kellyn Roth (by now you should since you’re following my blog.) Today is the third day in her blog tour for the latest release in The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy, Beyond Her Calling!

*I’m so excited you don’t even know*

Blurb

At twenty, Ivy Knight feels as if she hasn’t accomplished anything of worth. Her life stretches on before her, empty and pointless. Though her faith in God and her mental abilities have been strengthened, she still doubts herself. Does God have a purpose for a socially awkward, often confused and frightened young woman?

Jordy McAllen has just returned to Scotland after his education in London. Though he has accomplished a lot for a farm lad such as himself, he fears that what everyone has always said about him may be true: he won’t really make a good doctor. Determined to prove himself, Jordy snatches up the opportunity to become the doctor in the village of Keefmore near his parents’ farm.

Helping Jordy with his work at Keefmore seems like the perfect opportunity for Ivy. Still, she doubts herself. Is there a purpose to Ivy’s life?

Today we have the sweet main character of this new release here with us for an interview! First I’ll share a little bit about Ivy Knight.

Ivy is a twenty-year-old young woman from Kent in England who spends her spare time reading and enjoying music. She is also the main character of Ivy Introspective and Beyond Her Calling, and she’s a side character in the other Chronicles of Alice and Ivy books. Her perfect day would be spent inside playing the piano with her loved ones nearby. Find out more at facebook.com/musicofivyadeline

[image error]

Some random facts:

-Ivy’s name has actual meaning. Ivy, the plant, is a symbol of faithfulness and fidelity. Her second name, Adeline, has to do with her twin. Both Alice and Adeline mean ‘noble.’

-Ivy has a form of autism (high-functioning), acute anxiety, and is generally just super imaginative and introverted (which is not related to her being neurologically atypical).

-Ivy is four minutes younger than Alice and was two pounds lighter than her at birth. She’s now three inches shorter.

Me- bold

Ivy- regular

Would you mind introducing yourself for the readers?



Hello, I’m Ivy Knight! I live in England with my parents, but I get to travel to Scotland (again) in this novel! I’m a twin – the younger twin. I don’t know if you heard, but I’ve never been quite like everyone else. Miss Roth would call it “mentally disabled” or “neurologically atypical,” though we don’t have those sorts of terms in my day. The more common terms are “simple” or “idiot” or “mindless.” I love reading and playing the piano.

Let’s dive right into it, have you ever been jealous of Alice?

Oh, no! Of course not. Alice is my favorite person in the world! Well, besides Mama and Peter and Jordy and Violet and … a lot of other people! I love people. Even though a lot of them are scary. Or mean.

But … if I’m honest, sometimes it is hard to not wish I was Alice. I’d like to be like her. She’s a wonderful woman, and she’s so much better than I am. I wish I could be as talented and special and smart as she is.

Who is your role model, and why?

Well, I suppose either Mama or Alice! Or Nettie. I can’t decide which. I love Mama, of course, but I don’t think we’re very like each other. But she always takes care of me, and she loves me more than anyone in the world. Alice, of course, I’ve always wanted to be like, and Nettie is the most wonderful woman in the world. She’s my former nanny, and now she lives nearby, and she gives excellent advice. I’d like to be as calm and collected and brave as she is. I get scared or suffer from anxiety easily, and Nettie never does. At least, I don’t think so.

What was the worst moment in your life?

There were a few moments when I was twelve when I believed that my parents didn’t care about me … well, that no one did. I was absolutely miserable. But it wasn’t very long until I realized that wasn’t true – of course, it couldn’t be true! Of course, it was always hard when I became dangerously ill, but I don’t think being physically hurt was ever as bad as grief or anxiety or other mental issues.

What’s your favorite food?



Ginger biscuits, of course.

If you could tell your author one thing, what would it be?

It’s Miss Roth’s book, so of course, I don’t want to bother her. But … I suppose it might be nice if she could help Violet be a little less confused? I know she can do it. She did it with Mr. Parker and Mama. So just … give Violet a little more God? I mean, I shouldn’t ask Miss Roth to meddle with Violet’s faith … but please do! She needs help.

How do you like to spend your afternoons?

Curled up on a sofa with a good book and a roaring fire! Oh, and a nice cup of tea! Maybe there’d be a piano nearby that I could play when I felt like it.

What are some of your hopes for the future?

Some of them would spoiler my novel, but I will say that I’d like to grow stronger in my faith, read a lot more books, and learn how to handle life situations I didn’t think I’d be able to before my book began.

What makes you excited?

Good books! And people I love. And things that are perfect. And music, of course. I love music.

Thank you for joining us, Ivy!

Now, a little more information on The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy, the author of this fantastic series, Kellyn Roth, and the book itself.

You can buy or view Beyond Her Calling here:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39935008-beyond-her-calling

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J2VYVYJ?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

Enter the giveaway to win a signed paperback copy of Beyond Her Calling here:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/cbb544c910/?

And of course, the author’s bio:

Kellyn Roth lives on an Eastern Oregon ranch with her parents, little brothers, border collies, cats, and a few dozen cows and chickens. Always a lover of a good story, and especially of telling one, she’s been writing since she was seven and published her first novel at fourteen. Now a homeschool grad, she divides her time between penning her next Christian historical novel, creating professionally silly articles at kellynroth.blog, and her actual life. Actual life plays second fiddle sometimes, though.

Find out more on her website: https://kellynrothauthor.com/

[image error]

And last but not least, the blog tour schedule:

Saturday, October 20th

Intro Post // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Author Interview // Molly @ A Sparkle of Light

Review // Lisa @ Inkwell

Review & Character Interview (Jordy) // Amie @ Crazy A

Character Interview (Ivy) // Jo @ The Lens and the Hard Drive

Book Spotlight // Annie @ Letters from Annie Douglass Lima

Sunday, October 21st

Theme Day // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Guest Post by Character (Ivy) & Review // Grace M. Morris

Book Spotlight // Erika Messer @ Maiden of the Pages

Author Interview // Angela R. Watts @ The Peculiar Messenger

Monday, October 22nd

Ivy Day // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Character Interview (Ivy) // Loretta Marchize @ Just Writing

Review // Andrea Cox @ Writing to Inspire

Character Interview (Jordy) // Liz @ Home with the Hummingbirds

Author & Character Interview (Violet) // Julia @ Julia’s Creative Corner

Review & Character Spotlight (Ivy) // Caroline Kloster @ Inside the Autistic Life

Tuesday, October 23rd

Jordy Day // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Author Interview // Faith Blum @ Bookish Orchestrations

Review & Guest Post // Cara @ Jessie Bingham

Guest Post // Lindsi @ One Beginner To Another

Character Spotlight (Ena) // Shannon McDermott @ Shannon’s Blog

Wednesday, October 24th

Violet Day // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Guest Post // Germaine Han @ The Writing Mafia

Review // Jana T. @ Reviews from the Stacks

Thursday, October 25th

Real Life Day // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Book Spotlight // Gabriellyn Gidman @ PageTurners

Author Interview // Sara Willoughby @ Th!nk Magazine

Review // Michaela Bush @ Tangled Up In Writing

Guest Post by Character (Violet) // Peggy M. McAloon @ Peggy’s Hope 4U

Friday, October 26th

Future Day // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Review // Abigail McKenna @ Novels, Dragons, and Wardrobe Doors

Review // Gracelyn Buckner @ Literatura

Review // Katherine Brown Books

Review // Bella Putt

Saturday, October 27th

Wrapup Post // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Character Interview & Spotlight (Jordy) // Kaylee @ Kaylee’s Kind of Writes

Book Spotlight // Abigail Harder @ Books, Life, and Christ

[image error]

A Homeschooler’s View

This post is wayyyyy late, but whatever. It’s my first day of school post. I’ve had it written for ages, but didn’t have time to post until today.

A little more than a month ago, on Tuesday, I had my first day of school. I was totally and completely new to every aspect of school, as I explained to my study hall teacher.

It was late in the day, and we were running through our school schedules with fifteen minutes in each class. Mr. S* was my study hall teacher, all the way down by the fab lab. After everyone made it to class, he asked us what was new today. A few kids answered, and then I spoke up.

“Everything,”

He looked at me doubtfully.

“I used to be homeschooled, everything is new!”

He smiled. Over time I would learn that he smiled a lot, and when he didn’t you knew you had truly done something wrong. But when he did, you knew all was right and you couldn’t help but smile back.

The very first thing that had happened on my very first day of school was that the bus missed me.

Missed you? Are you sure YOU didn’t miss it?

Yup! Positive. At exactly 7:13 in the morning, bus #45 drove right past my driveway. After a few stunned moments, I ran back to the house and my mom called the bus company. It turns out, the driver didn’t have me on his list, so Dad had to drive me in. What a way to start school!

(and no, the bus didn’t miss me on Wednesday!)

After I finally arrived at the school, all the students were sent to the gym, where I found my friend Lily*. Lily was also previously homeschooled, and although I didn’t know her that well, homeschoolers stick together!

The Freshmen were told where to sit, and we sat as a group, although a few of us had to sit on the bleacher steps because we ran out of seats. After the principal, Mr. D, quieted the crowd down, my first public school pep rally began.

Each of the four student groups, Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors cheered on their own and were led by their student council. The Freshmen (us) were very quiet at first, so Mr. D and the teachers gave us a second chance and helped lead the rally.

After the pep rally, we went to our homerooms and got our locker keys, plus were talked at a bit by our teachers. Then we went to a lot of different classrooms and talked about a lot of different things that were pretty pointless, in all honesty. I understand why they do it, but things like appropriate classroom behavior, phone policies, and appropriate passing time behavior are pretty much review. (basic stuff that even I know- a homeschooler!)

Did you do ANYTHING productive?

Well… not really. After lunch, we did do a run-through of our schedules, going to each class for fifteen minutes. My school has five minutes between each class, which as a homeschooler seemed like such a short time… but you can do so much in five minutes!

Halfway through the day, my cross-country team left for a meet, but I didn’t go with them… that’s a story for another day!

*all teachers are one or two initials for their privacy

**all student’s names are changed

Once Upon a Summer

Once upon a summer I flew

Made great leaps and bounds

Once upon a summer I led

Ran ahead

Once upon a summer I dreamed

I’d face the lions and not mind a bit

Once upon a summer I could run and run

Not lose a breath

Then run some more

Once upon a summer

Once upon a summer

Now I fall

Couldn’t get up and stand

Now I drop

No more charging straight ahead

Now I doubt

Could I really start anew

Now is when I fail and learn

Lose my breath

Then start again

Once upon a summer I dreamed it would be easy

Never thought I’d fall so far

Now doubt is placed

And I’ve tried to beat it back

I thought I’d do something new

Be so easy fly right through

Now I’ve struggled to breathe

I wonder how far I’ll go

Before I fall again

But the symbol on my neck reminds me that I’ll never fall too far

Never lose myself

Never lose all strength

And never face a problem too big

Summer draws to an end

The lion rears her head

My breath is lost,

But I will gain it back

The lion will not go undefeated

The mountain unclimbed

I will scale to the top

Catch my breath

Stand up

Start again

 

What I meant by “But the symbol on my neck reminds me:” I wear a little necklace with a cross on it 24/7 now. (yes Gracelyn, that’s new) I started doing it when I started public school. It’s really small, the size of my pinkie nail (and I don’t have very big fingers)

Goldfish Secrets

Sorry for not posting very much, guys! I started public school last week on Tuesday and before that had pneumonia so I’ve been sorta out of commission. I promise I’ll try my best to post more often, but it’s doubtful I’ll get very much posting in.

Four stars

Prose: 4/5

Romance: none

Characters: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Prose:

Fairly good. It’s a short story, so I didn’t feel as if I got a long time to get adjusted to Kellyn’s particular style for this story, but I do like how it depicts Judy. It feels like a child’s voice.

Romance:

None

Characters:

I LOVE the characters! There is such a good portrayal of Judy and her mother.

Plot:

Another thing I loved! I especially like how the plot itself reveals some spoilerishy things about Judy and her mother!

Overall:

A great little story! Very cute and really gives some background to The Lady of the Vineyard.

Content:

The worst thing in there was mentions of a divorced couple and the same woman having a different boyfriend(s) So not really anything.

There’s also a great giveaway and other things going on at Kellyn’s website!

[image error]

Be sure to visit her here: kellynrothauthor.com

[image error]

Sick

So yesterday I came down with a fever and I’ve been sorta out of commission. I don’t have the strength to do a regular blog post today, so I’m just posting this notice. I’ll be back to my normal self by next week- hopefully- so I’ll start posting again then!

New Cover!

Hello everyone! I have very exciting news! So most of you know that I made the cover for the Fairy Tale Chronicles ages ago when I was just figuring out graphic design. Obviously, I’ve gotten a LOT better! So I decided to re-make the covers for FTC! Today I will introduce all three, and the first one will go up on Goodreads and Amazon as soon as my proof copy gets here. The others will go up later. (currently undecided)

E-book/front cover

[image error]

And the full cover is AMAZING

[image error]

Isn’t this exciting???

Onto the next book, The Princess Ambassador.

The full cover:

[image error]

And the e-book/front cover!

[image error]

Last but not least, possibly my favorite book of all, A Princess at Heart.

[image error]

Aaaannddd (drumroll, please)

The full cover! (I LOVE the rose picture)

[image error]

That’s all for today! Comment with any questions and feedback on the covers!

[image error]

WWW Prompt #3

From now on these are going to be called “Wednesday Weekly Writing Prompts” abbreviated to “WWW Prompts” for ease of naming!

[image error]

Ten spoiler- free facts about A Princess at Heart

Hi everyone! So I’m pre-scheduling this post. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, there’s a blog tour going on for my book A Princess at Heart. Gracelyn is running it, and you can check on it over at her blog, Literatura

[image error]

The facts

I actually began APH five months ago, while I was still writing The Lost Princess. I eventually decided to postpone it until after The Princess Ambassador.
I like APH way more than my other books. (shhh, don’t tell!) Part of that is because I like Cilla better, but again, don’t tell! (we wouldn’t want Ivory and Lily getting jealous!)
I cried while I was writing this??? I don’t really cry that often, and not about my own writing, but yes I cried. (it wasn’t even that sad???)
I made the book cover and blurb wayyyyy before I even started writing. Oops.
This is the first novella I’ve ever actually outlined. Because I sorta had no idea where I was going.
I had a couple people tell me they shipped Cilla with someone else (#nospoilers) but I already had plans for this novella so I was always brushing them off. #nopeI’vegotnoideawhatyou’resaying
Editing went a lot better with this one, and I actually remembered to get alpha/beta readers in time!!! Yay! So I feel like it’s a lot better than the other two overall.
When I initially began this it was all fluff… look what it turned into…
There were so many little moments that connect the book to Cinderella that make me want to squeal! I included so many little things that you wouldn’t necessarily notice unless you were paying attention.
the last fact

[image error]

Here’s the schedule:

Friday, August 3rd

Gracelyn Buckner (Literatura)- Spotlight

Saturday, August 4th

Abigail Harder (Books, Life, and Christ)- Spotlight

Sunday, August 5th

Loretta Marchize (Just Writing)-  Ten Spoiler-Free Facts

Rosalyn Rooney (Goodreads)- Social Spotlight

Monday, August 6th

Kellyn Roth (Reveries)- Review: The Lost Princess

Rosalyn Rooney (Goodreads)- Social Spotlight

Tuesday, August 7th

Chloe (Purely By Faith Reviews)- Review: The Lost Princess

Wednesday, August 8th

Allyson Kennedy (Authoring Arrowheads)- Review: The Lost Princess

Thursday, August 9th

Gracelyn Buckner (Literatura)- Review: A Princess at Heart

You can find the Kindle version of A Princess at Heart here: e-book

The paperback version will be available on August 9th. I will add the link to my website after I get back from working at Fort Wilderness!

Blog tour + Cool Things

 

Currently, there’s a blog tour running for my latest book, which releases August 9th, and you can find out more here A Princess At Heart- blog tour and at Literatura

So today I’m actually gone, volunteering at Fort Wilderness, so I’m going to do a quick pre-scheduled post by sharing some of my Pinterest boards!

Note: I just started a new account for Just Writing, previously I just had a private account. So I’ve been on Pinterest for a while, but not publicly as Loretta.

I’ve been slowly chipping away at stocking writing pins here:

And I’ve been looking at hairstyles here: (because I love braiding)

Enjoy!

Also, my book will be officially published on the 9th, although the e-book version is available for pre-order now on Amazon here!

Writing Prompt #2

I’m back with the second writing prompt! This is one that I’m very interested in the outcome.[image error]