A Year of Orenda: Celebrating 5 Years of Orenda Books @OrendaBooks @mgriffiths163 #50for50 #TeamOrenda

🥳 I can’t believe it is finally here – the launch of a full year of bookish awesomeness. Today marks the fifth anniversary of Orenda Books, whose very first book, The Last Days of Disco by David F. Ross was published in e-book format, five years ago today. And tomorrow marks the ebookiversary of The Abrupt Physics of Dying by Paul E. Hardisty. (The order is reversed for book books just to confuse you all 😉).

A huge happy anniversary to Karen Sullivan and everyone at Orenda Books who make such a special team and have produced some of the best books I have read in my lifetime. 🥳I am thrilled to be even just a small part of Team Orenda, as are many others – don’t believe me – watch this …

A huge thank you to Cole for helping to pull the video together and to all the authors and bloggers who sent their best wishes.

So … “what is this all about” I hear you ask. Well, when Mandie and I first started talking about this ‘project’ of ours, we were really looking at ways of celebrating Mandie’s fiftieth birthday in style. Mandie has always wanted to read all of the Orenda titles and, like me, has every single book in both e-book and tree book format. Now, as part of the lead up to her big day at the end of next year, Mandie’s intention was to challenge herself. One such challenge was the idea of reading 50 Orenda books in her fiftieth year.

Once that idea took root, it was hard to shake it. Being the curious soul that I am, I wondered how we could make it extra special, and that’s about the same time that I realised that Orenda turned five this year. I also realised that of the 85 books and 1 novella Orenda had already released (87 full books now as two more e-books were released last month), I had read all but 13 of them, so thought ‘why not make 2020 the year I read those final books?’ In fact, why not go one better?

Between the books I was planning to read, the books I have read and the ones Mandie planned to read next year, we would have read every single Orenda title. So … why not feature (or re-feature) them all on the blog?

And that is exactly what we are intending to do. Over the course of 2020, in a year long mixture of new reviews, recaps, and some very tempting giveaways, we will be featuring EVERY SINGLE ORENDA TITLE EVER RELEASED!!! That includes the 24 books currently planned for 2020. With six Orenda titles also celebrating their fifth birthday next year, we’ll be throwing in a few bonus birthday surprises and features along the way too.

All of this means that by Mandie’s birthday, one week before Christmas next year, we will have introduced you to all 110 Orenda Books titles and we can’t wait.

Welcome to A YEAR OF ORENDA on Jen Med’s Book Reviews.

Orenda Books will always be special to me. They were one of the first publishers to take a chance on me as a blogger, and Karen was the first ever person to send me book post, which any blogger will tell you is always, always, exciting.

I found Orenda by sheer fluke when I opted to attend Crimefest back in 2016. You’ve Mr James Oswald to thank for that Karen, as if he hadn’t tweeted about Crimefest, I’d never have known it existed.

If I hadn’t gone to Crimefest, I would probably never have started my blog.

If I hadn’t gone to Crimefest I certainly wouldn’t have known about Ragnar Jonasson’s superb Ari Thor series, Michael Grothaus’ quirky but darkly original Epiphany Jones; or Amanda Jennings’ hauntingly poignant In Her Wake, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have latched onto the sunshine noir of Michael Stanley and the Detective Kubu series. Amazing how things work out huh? (Of course Orenda authors may not be as delighted as me as I’ve been stalking them ever since 😆😉)

87 books published so far – can you believe it? Just for the doubters out there, here’s what they all are, along with some handy links to preorder some of 2020’s upcoming releases.

The Last Days of Disco David F. Ross	The Abrupt Physics of Dying Paul E. Hardisty	Snowblind Ragnar Jónasson
We Shall Inherit the Wind Gunnar Staalesen	How To Be Brave Louise Beech	The Defenceless Kati Hiekkapelto
A Death In The Family Michael Stanley	Deadly Harvest Michael Stanley	Nightblind Ragnar Jónasson
The Rise and Fall of the Miraculous Vespas David F. Ross	Jihadi: A Love Story Yusuf Toropov	Wicked Game Matt Johnson
In Her Wake Amanda Jennings	The Evolution of Fear Paul E. Hardisty	Where Roses Never Die Gunnar Staalesen
Epiphany Jones Michael Grothaus	The Bird Tribunal Agnes Ravatn	Blackout Ragnar Jónasson
The Mountain In My Shoe Louise Beech	A Suitable Lie Michael J. Malone	The Exiled Kati Hiekkapelto
The Mine Antti Tuomainen	Deep Down Dead Steph Broadribb	Sealskin Su Bristow
Six Stories Matt Wesolowski	Rupture Ragnar Jónasson	Cursed Thomas Enger
Block 46 Johana Gustawsson	Deadly Game Matt Johnson	Faithless Kjell Ola Dahl
The Man Who Loved Islands David F. Ross	Reconciliation For The Dead Paul E. Hardisty	Wolves In The Dark Gunnar Staalesen
Exquisite Sarah Stovell	The Other Twin Lucy V. Hay	Dying To Live Michael Stanley
House of Spines Michael J. Malone	Maria In The Moon Louise Beech	The Last Resort Steph Broadribb
Snare Lilja Sigurðardóttir	The Man Who Died Antti Tuomainen	Whiteout Ragnar Jónasson
CWA Anthology Mystery Tour	Deep Blue Trouble Steph Broadribb	Hydra Matt Wesolowski
Killed Thomas Enger	Blue Night Simone Buchholz	We Were The Salt Of The Sea Roxanne Bouchard
End Game Matt Johnson	The Ice Swimmer Kjell Ola Dahl	Keeper Johana Gustawsson
The Old You Louise Voss	Fault Lines Doug Johnstone	Absolution Paul E. Hardisty
Big Sister Gunnar Staalesen	Dead of Night Michael Stanley	Do No Harm Lucy V. Hay
Overkill Vanda Symon	The Lion Tamer Who Lost Louise Beech	After He Died Michael J. Malone
Trap Lilja Sigurðardóttir	Palm Beach Finland Antti Tuomainen	The Lingering SJI Holliday
Good Samaritans Will Carver	Deep Dirty Truth Steph Broadribb	Changeling Matt Wesolowski
Attend West Camel	Beton Rouge Simone Buchholz	The Courier Kjell Ola Dahl
Inborn Thomas Enger	Welcome to the Heady Heights David F. Ross	Call Me Star Girl Louise Beech
The Ringmaster Vanda Symon	Worst Case Scenario Helen Fitzgerald	Turbulent Wake Paul E. Hardisty
Breakers Doug Johnstone	Wolves at the Door Gunnar Staalesen	The Closer I Get Paul Burston
The Last Stage Louise Voss	A Modern Family Helga Flatland	Blood Song Johana Gustawsson
In The Absence Of Miracles Michael J. Malone	Cage Lilja Sigurðardóttir	Little Siberia Antti Tuomainen
Nothing Important Happened Today Will Carver	Violet SJI Holliday	A Dark Matter Doug Johnstone
The Home Sarah Stovell	Death Deserved Thomas Enger & Jørn Lier Horst	Beast Matt Wesolowski
Deep Dark Night Steph Broadribb	Mexico Street Simone Buchholz	Containment Vanda Symon
I Am Dust Louise Beech	Sister Kjell Ola Dahl	The Creak On The Stairs Eva Björg Ægisdóttir
Ash Mountain Helen Fitzgerald	Blood Red City Rod Reynolds	Fallen Angels Gunnar Staalesen
The Waiting Rooms Eve Smith

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Look at those covers. Aren’t they stunning? 😍😍😍I can’t help but think that Orenda has some of the most distinctive and eye-catching covers out there. Total #coverlove here.

Thanks to Orenda Books, I am a one hundred percent convert to Nordic-noir, first in line when it comes to stalking Amazon for the new Orenda releases (or second on the odd occasion Mandie beats me to it), an obsessive book collector and certified (or certifiable) author stalker and I’m proud to admit it. Two (likely soon to be three) of my books of the year have been from the Orenda stable and I think most bloggers would agree that Karen is one of the most generous publishers out there, and that her team of authors are superb. Not only immensely talented, but bloody amazing people too.

💗#TeamOrenda💜

To celebrate the launch of our Year of Orenda, we are giving you the opportunity to win a copy of the 5th and the 50th books published – it is to celebrate Orenda’s 5th and Mandie’s 50th birthdays afterall. If that’s not enough, you will also win a very, very limited edition #TeamOrenda bookmark – there are currently only 8 of them in existence – and I may even throw in some chocolate! Well, it is nearly Christmas.

To win – all you need to do is comment below with the answer to the following question:

Which book was the fifth Orenda title Mandie read and which one was the 50th Orenda TREE book to be published. Not the e-book – the tree book.

A) The Abrupt Physics of Dying & House of Spines
B) The Last Days of Disco & Hydra
C) Block 46 & The Old You
D) The Creak on the Stairs & The Waiting Rooms
E) Breakers & Fault Lines

If you are looking for a few clues, Mandie had only read 4 books up to the start of November, but plans to have finished her 6th by the end of the week, with a whole Block of new-to-her titles to be read in 2020. Plus there may be one or two (or fifty) hints covered in the post above.

*** COMPETITIONS NOW CLOSED ***

WINNER OF THE BOOKS AND BOOKMARK IS LORRAINE RUGMAN.

WINNER OF THE TWITTER COMPETITION IS RONNIE TURNER

Here’s to a wonderfully bookish year. I hope you enjoy celebrating with us as much as we enjoying sharing the Orenda Book Love with you all.

Jen and Mandie