Ringing Out the Old~My Book Awards of 2012 and New for 2013

 

It's the end of the year and time for me to choose the favorites of the books I've read this year.  I actually read more than I was able to review for you here, but I'm going to

keep the selection to ones you'll find reviewed on the blog, and which you can search for on my sidebar to the left or under the large picture topics above.

 

I hope you've enjoyed the reviews throughout the year.  I've appreciated your comments so much.

 

These are my favorite books...

 

For general fiction/suspense:  "The Exceptions" was fantastic.  David Cristofano is a genius of a writer getting into the psychology of his characters, and tapping into their hearts, as well.  I just loved this book which I couldn't put down.  If you have one book to read that both men and women would love to read, this is the one.  Ages 20 ~ adults of all ages.

 

For Historical Fiction hands down it was "Bring Up the Bodies."  As I said in my review, I was skeptical because "Wolf Hall" had already won the Man Booker Prize and then this one was up for it

as well.  But Hilary Mantel is a fabulous author who can take you into the life and

times of Henry VIII and his court.  This is a not to be missed book/series.

 

Without exception my favorite "back in the stacks" audiobook.  "The Lace Reader" is a tale

of love and mystery with a psychological foundation that will tear at your heart.

Please take time to read my review on this one.

It's so well worth the time to listen.

A classic in general fiction and somewhat a contemporary twist on Salem, MA and witches.

 

The very best in new authors, Jillian Medoft's "I Couldn't Love You More" is a stand out novel

about a step-mother who one day turned her back for a moment in time

and that changed life for her and her new family forever.

Rich in details about the struggles of being a

step-mother, this is a wonderful book.  I'm dying to read Jillian's next contribution!!

Please read this review and find a copy of this book, soon.  I think you'll love it.

It's literature, not fluff.

 

 

 

 

 

I loved this book.  Which I consider to be under the category of Women's Fiction.

The story of a feminist, abolutionist-minded wife during the Civil War who is institutionalized

by her husband for her free-thinking.  This is a book that shakes you up and stirs the emotions.

I loved it, and hope to read more from Kathy Hepinstall in the future.

 

 

This book tore at my psyche and emotions.  It takes place in the backyard/next town from where I raised my own children, and tells the story of a teenager in dire trouble with the law.  His parent's angst is so real it weighs on the reader!  A reading experience I will never forget.  I love this book

and highly recommend it.

 

 

 

BEST VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR GROUP:

 

HISTORICAL FICTION VIRTUAL BOOK TOURS

here is the link to their site:  http://hfvirtualbooktours.com

 

 

 

 

BOOKS  I DIDN'T GET TO BUT WILL SOON (Written in 2012):

 

1.   Gone Girl

2.  Tilt

3.  The Art Forger

4.  The House of Velvet and Glass

5.  Where'd You Go Bernadette

5.  The Middlesteins

6.  The Age of Miracles

7.  Tell the Wolves I'm Gone

8.  Several YA Novels

9.  Blackberry Winter

 

 

BOOKS I'M OPENING 2013 WITH:

 

 

"

"Happiness at someone else's expense came at a price. Tia had imagined judgment from the first kiss that she and Nathan shared. All year, she'd waited to be punished for being in love, and in truth, she believed that whatever consequences came her way would be deserved.""Five years ago, Tia fell into obsessive love with a man she could never have. Married, and the father of two boys, Nathan was unavailable in every way. When she became pregnant, he disappeared, and she gave up her baby for adoption. Five years ago, Caroline, a dedicated pathologist, reluctantly adopted a baby to please her husband. She prayed her misgivings would disappear; instead, she's questioning whether she's cut out for the role of wife and mother. Five years ago, Juliette considered her life ideal: she had a solid marriage, two beautiful young sons, and a thriving business. Then she discovered Nathan's affair. He promised he'd never stray again, and she trusted him. But when Juliette intercepts a letter to her husband from Tia that contains pictures of a child with a deep resemblance to her husband, her world crumbles once more. How could Nathan deny his daughter? And if he's kept this a secret from her, what else is he hiding? Desperate for the truth, Juliette goes in search of the little girl. And before long, the three women and Nathan are on a collision course with consequences that none of them could have predicted. Riveting and arresting, "The Comfort of Lies "explores the collateral damage of infidelity and the dark, private struggles many of us experience but rarely reveal.

 

 

"Perfect for fans of Debbie Macomber, Kristin Hannah, Beth Hoffman, and Kate Jacobs, this luminous novel from the author of "Friendship Bread "follows""a group of fascinating women who form deep friendships through their love of scrapbooking--as memories are preserved, dreams are shared, and surprising truths are revealed. Welcome to Avalon, Illinois, Pop. 4,243 At Madeline's Tea Salon, the cozy hub of the Avalon community, local residents scrapbook their memories and make new ones."

 

 

No official summary has been made of this book, but it is said to be another one of Ms Oates "gothic" inspired novels.  Anyone who knows me knows she's my very favorite author.  I'd read her dinner napkin notes!!

 

 

"A brilliant, unforgettable, and long-awaited novel from bestselling author Ruth Ozeki "A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be." In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace--and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox--possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao's drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future. Full of Ozeki's signature humor and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, "A Tale for the Time Being" is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home."

---

AND NOW PLEASE

 

SHARE WITH US

 

WHAT YOUR FAVORITES ARE

 

AND WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO READING

 

 

IN 2013!!!

 

 

 

Happy New Year

 

 

Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

 

 

and thanks for reading with me in 2012

 

Read More

"The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet" by Colleen McCullough~AudioBook Review

SUMMARY:

Lizzy Bennet married Mr. Darcy, Jane Bennet married Mr. Bingley - but what became of the middle daughter, Mary? Readers of Pride and Prejudice will remember that there were five Bennet sisters. Now, 20 years on, Jane has a happy marriage and large family; Lizzy and Mr. Darcy now have a formidable social reputation; Lydia has a reputation of quite another kind; Kitty is much in demand in London's parlors and ballrooms; but what of Mary? Mary is quietly celebrating her independence, having nursed her ailing mother for many years. She decides to write a book to bring the plight of the poor to everyone's attention. But with more resolve than experience, as she sets out to travel around the country, it's not only her family who are concerned about her....


PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Audible Audio Edition

Listening Length: 13 hours and 39 minutes

Program Type: Audiobook

Version: Unabridged

Publisher: AudioGO

Audible.com Release Date: January 13, 2009

Whispersync for Voice: Ready

Language: English 

 

Purchase:  Amazon

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 

 

 

Colleen McCullough, a native of Australia, established the department of neurophysiology at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney before working as a researcher at Yale Medical School for ten years. She is the bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Thorn Birds, and lives with her husband on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific.

 

 

A 5 MINUTE RECORDING OF THE FIRST CHAPTER FOR YOU !!!

 

 

 

 

 

THE DAME'S REVIEW :

 

I took a risk.  It's been many a year since I've read anything by Colleen McCullough, let alone listened to anything.  "The Thorn Birds" was the height of a wonder to me in my young adult years, and I couldn't find any of Ms McCullough's books interesting or worthy since that one.  But, along comes this one, and I decided I'd try it on audio, though it's already been out since 2009.  Since this is Christmas Week and dedicated to Jane Austen, I thought it would be an interesting addition. 

 

If you've listed to the excerpt above, I hope you've found as I did, that the narrator is an excellent one.  She has a beautiful British accent and employs it for different characters wonderfully!  I thought she was thoroughly entertaining and set the stage well for McCullough's story.

 

I found the audio version and book, as well, brought mixed reviews on Amazon, but I fell in the stronger segment of them.  First, I didn't find Ms McCullough's artistic license where the Austen characters was concerned at all off-putting.  I loved seeing them shaken up!  It was a bit of a sting to the heart to initially find Darcy and Lizzie didn't end up in marital bliss, but I'm not giving anything away when I say this was an early stage in the novel.  And, Mary is a brilliant character as she's developed here!  I love her new-found spunk!  Lydia is...well, Lydia.  And, you'll find Jane's life interesting and full.  Life isn't stagnant no matter who we are, and why should it be so with the Darcy's and the Bennets?

 

The storyline is a good one with strong plot development except toward the middle.  It lags somewhat and seems contrived when Mary finds herself in a nightmare of a bind....  That particular area is foggy and could have been better conceived.  The character involved in Mary's plight was strange, to me.  I know I'm being vague, but I don't want to spoil the story for you.

 

This is an audio book I absolutely loved listening to while I knitted holiday gifts.  It made the hours fly by.  I loved the whole idea of bringing Mary to the forefront and giving her a feminist nature.  I  highly recommend this one for your Janeite library and for gift-giving to an Austen lover.  While it has received mixed reviews, I think most have been from those who are purists and who can't stretch their imaginations for a good time!  My sense is that Jane would love this one from a brilliant author.

 

5 stars!                Deborah/TheBookishDame

Read More

"Austensibly Ordinary" by Alyssa Goodnight~Interviewed...

SUMMARY : 
Steaming, funky, and thoroughly modern, Austin, Texas, isn't much like the gardened country estates of Jane Austen's work. But there might be a few similarities in its inhabitants. . .

Cate Kendall is no stranger to daydreams of brooding men and fancy parties--after all, she teaches one of her beloved Jane Austen novels in her English classes every year. But as for romance or adventure in her own life, the highlight of most weeks is Scrabble with her cute coworker, Ethan, and he draws the line at witty banter.

But Cate is ready for a change. When she finds a mysterious journal that seems to have a link to the soul of the great Jane Austen herself, she knows it's her chance. And she grabs on with both hands. . .

Before she knows it, Cate has invented an alter ego with an attitude, attended some seriously chic soirees, and gotten tangled up with a delicious mystery man. And she's uncovered enough unexpected secrets about Ethan that her Scrabble partner has taken to brooding looks and unfathomable silences. It's a positively Austenite predicament, and Cate is sure she'll land in hot water and heartbreak--but maybe not with Jane herself to guide her. . .

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Kensington Publishing
Pages:  320
Genre:  Fiction/Jane Austen inspired
Author:  Alyssa Goodnight
Find out more about her here:  Alyssa Goodnight and books


BIO. ON ALYSSA STOLEN DIRECTLY FROM HER BLOG !!!

The lowdown:

I currently live between Houston and Galveston with my husband, two sons, and our adventure dog, Indiana Jones. I do my writing with an ice-cold can of Dr. Pepper and my reading with cake whenever possible. I’m dreaming of the day when I find myself conscripted into a flash mob dance.

The highlights:

1990 Read Pride and Prejudice for the first time in high school British Lit.
1992 Re-read P&P for British Lit at UT Austin, wrote a spot of literary criticism.
1994 Graduated from UT Austin with an electrical engineering degree, started reading Emma in my spare time. Married my best friend!
2000 Became a mom and moved from Austin to Houston. During afternoon naptime, started writing what would become my first novel.
2002 Welcomed baby number two, another boy, and officially became a Boy Mom.
2004 Self-published my Regency historical romance, Unladylike Pursuits, started on the manuscript that would become Austen-tatious.
2007 Read Jane Austen’s Complete Works, became obsessed with Austen sequels and re-writes, and developed a girl crush on J.A.
2009 Signed with Rebecca Strauss of McIntosh & Otis
2010 Contracted by Kensington in a two-book deal, the first, Austen-tatious, to be published in February 2012.

Loves:

haikus, Anthropologie, live oaks, Hitchcock films, soda fountains, summer fruit, aqua, tea cups, chips & salsa, pretty, sparkly things, rooftop gardens, fairy lights, little splurges, books, quilts, journals, juicy color, lemon meringue pie

Find Me…

Email: alyssa@alyssagoodnight.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AlyssaGoodnight
Twitter: www.twitter.com/a_goodnight
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/alyssagoodnight
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/alyssagoodnight




THE BOOKISH DAME IS HAPPY TO BRING MS GOODNIGHT'S INTERVIEW !!!

Hi, Alyssa!   Thank you for taking time over this busy holiday time to answer some questions for an interview.  Your book is a delight, and I know everyone will love getting to know you better. 

With a warm welcome, I give you, Ms Goodnight....

1) First of all, please tell us a special something about what makes you “tick.” When you aren’t writing, what are you doing?

I'm going to assume you'd like my answer to be interesting and not, "forever cleaning up after three boys (one of them my husband) and two dogs." Reading would definitely be my first answer, but I like to quilt too, when I have the time. And I got a cruiser for my birthday last year, complete with wicker basket, and I'm enjoying biking around the neighborhood with the Wicked Witch of the West song running in my head like a soundtrack.

2) We’re always curious about where a writer chooses to write. Could you tell us about your favorite place to write? Describe it in detail…what’s on your desk, what do you see from the window if any…do you have a favorite lucky charm?

I write in the office in my house, where the window looks out, past some landscaping, to my front yard and the street beyond. I have my finger on the pulse of my corner of the neighborhood in there. Basically my desk consists of a PC with wide screen and various stacks of things to do. (Translation: It's a mess.) I have a little card propped up next to a photo of my boys that says, "I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world." I also have a collection of journals and a Jane Austen action figure. My good luck charm is a "Lucky Pisky," a tiny ceramic sprite 'trapped' in a jar that I bought on a trip to Scotland.

3) Bronte or Austen? Hemingway or Hawthorne? Why?

Austen! Definitely. My personality is more light than dark, and I love a good dose of sarcasm. Hawthorne, only because I remember enjoying The Scarlet Letter and disliking The Old Man and the Sea.

4) In your opinion, what makes a book a great one?

The characters, and a sense of urgency that keeps you turning the pages, rooting for them, worrying over them, obsessing over what will happen next.

5) Which author(s) most influenced your love of books?

Arnold Lobel (the Frog and Toad series), Russell Hoban (the Frances books), Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mary Rogers, Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt

6) Read any good books in the past 6 months?

My favorite book of the year was Code Name Verity. I also loved Mr. Churchill's Secretary, The Raven Boys, and the Graveyard Queen series by Amanda Stevens.

7) Choose 4 guests from any era for dinner. Who would they be and what would you choose for a topic of conversation?

Ellen Degeneres, Jane Austen, Eleanor Roosevelt, Cary Grant. I'd ask them what four guests they'd choose as dinner companions.

8) There’s a song that goes along with your book, what is it?

"Crazy Love" by Mindy Gledhill.

9) If you could cast your book for a movie, who would you choose for your 2 main characters?

I would cast Emma Stone as Cate Kendall and Lee Pace as Ethan Chavez.

10) Worst habit you have while writing?

Checking email. When I hear that little chime, I try to resist it, but I wonder if it could possibly be my agent emailing about a movie deal. So far, no luck.

11) How much research did you do before and during writing this book?

Not very much beforehand. Once I got started, I researched a couple of topics everyday in the course of writing. Sometimes I got so involved in the research that I had to shake myself free to get back on task with writing the book!

12) Psychologists tell us the thing we think we’d most like to grow up to be when we’re ten years old is our avocation. What did you want to be?

I honestly can't remember, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a writer. (It was probably a stay-at-home mom!) I was an engineer before I quit to be a stay-at-home mom. The writing came after that.

 

Thank you, Alyssa.  I look forward to reading your new books as they come along in the future.  I have a feeling we're going to hear more from you!

 

 

MY REVIEW OF "AUSTENSIBLY ORDINARY" :

I spent the weeks before Christmas reading several books of my own choosing that would put me in a holiday spirit.  This is one of the books I chose.  Alyssa Goodnight has a light-hearted grasp of  human nature that is akin to Jane Austen, and she is easily adept at sharing the hearts of her characters.  Reading one of her books is up-lifting.  It makes you smile! Just what I needed when the stresses of the holidays started to come in on me.  But this would be a great book to read no matter what time of year it is!

 

The characters in this novel are sexy and saucy.  Cate, a reluctant heroine...a teacher of English lit. who has become stuck in her ways; and Ethan, her handsome but slightly "overlooked" Scrabble-player friend with brooding secrets, makes this the perfect mix for a Lizzie and Darcy mock-up.  I loved the hesitancy and build up that Alyssa gives the story, only to keep us guessing around ever turn.

 

The journal that Cate finds becomes a persona in and of itself, lending a Janeite feel to Cate's predicaments.  And what a wonderful idea this is as a foil.  Beautifully choreographing the moves the characters are afraid to make on their own!  I loved this mechanism and the secret it holds.

 

"Austensibly Ordinary" is a fun and fashionable romp into the world of those who are older than teens; those young people looking for love and wishing they could find the perfect match...just like in Pride and Prejudice.  Alyssa Goodnight makes Jane Austen a sort of absentee "Dear Abby" in the form of a magical journal, making this a wonderfully entertaining book for a cold winter's night!  (Or a cozy night in FL under a fur throw...:]       The perfect gift for the new year... 

 

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!

 

4 stars                Deborah/TheBookishDame

Read More

Author Abigail Reynolds~Jane Austen Christmas Week!

SUMMARY :
Trapped for three days by a flood, and trapped forever by society because of it….

It is a proverbial dark and stormy night when Mr. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth Bennet in the most insulting manner. Just as she begins her famous refusal, a crack of thunder presages the pounding at the door as the residents of the flooded village of Hunsford seek refuge from the storm at the parsonage atop the hill. Even worse, the flood has washed out the only bridge leading to Rosings Park, leaving Darcy stranded with Elizabeth at the parsonage. The river isn’t the only thing that overflows in Hunsford when Darcy and Elizabeth are forced to work together to deal with the crisis under the worst possible circumstances. And it may already be too late to redeem Elizabeth’s reputation….
In this Pride & Prejudice variation, the lane dividing the Hunsford parsonage from Rosings Park has been replaced by one of the flood-prone Kentish rivers. The storms are real – the spring of 1811 was remarkable for numerous thunderstorms in Southeast England.

PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK :
Published by:  White Soup Press
Pages: 238
Genre:  Fiction/Jane Austen inspired
Author:  Abigail Reynolds
Find more information here:  Abigail Reynolds

ABOUT THIS AUTHOR :

Abigail Reynolds is a great believer in taking detours. Originally from upstate New York, she studied Russian and theater at Bryn Mawr College and marine biology at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. After a stint in performing arts administration, she decided to attend medical school, and took up writing as a hobby during her years as a physician in private practice.
A life-long lover of Jane Austen's novels, Abigail began writing variations on Pride & Prejudice in 2001, then expanded her repertoire to include a series of novels set on her beloved Cape Cod. Her most recent releases are MR. DARCY'S REFUGE, A PEMBERLEY MEDLEY, and MORNING LIGHT, and she is currently working on a new Pemberley Variation and the next novel in her Cape Cod series. A lifetime member of JASNA and a founder of the popular AUSTEN AUTHORS group blog, she lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two teenaged children, and a menagerie of animals. Her hobbies do not include sleeping or cleaning her house.


IN WHICH WE ARE PLEASED TO HAVE MS REYNOLDS VISIT US WITH A GUEST POST :

Welcome, Abigail!  Thank you for taking time out in the winter blizzard to stop by for a guest post!
I appreciate your doing this despite your note about losing your computer midst the whole thing....  Wow!  You're a trooper and we appreciate it.  Jane would be very proud.  Thank you so much!
Now, on to the treat you have for our readers...


GUEST POST, BY ABIGAIL REYNOLDS:

"I’ve written eight variations on Pride & Prejudice and have a couple more in process.  Readers often ask me how I can keep coming up with my crazy ideas for variations without getting bored.  Here’s an example I’ve been working on for the last day or two. 

 

It stems from the weather.  You see, I no longer have to worry about whether we’re going to have a white Christmas this year.  A blizzard with 19 inches of snow has crossed that worry off my list.  It’s also the kind of thing that makes me dream up ideas for new variations.  As I watch my daughter becoming antsy the longer we’re trapped in the house, and my son being increasingly cranky due to the lack of internet and cable TV, I start wondering what Elizabeth and Darcy would do if stranded together in a snowstorm.

 

But could it be a story? The first step is to look at whether the scenario has any possibilities.  It needs a plot line, conflict, and character growth, or there’s no point in writing it.  The majority of changes you could make to Pride & Prejudice don’t lead to any significant alteration in the story line.  In this case, if they’re stranded together at Pemberley, they could go out for a romantic sleigh ride, but there’s really no story since there are servants to take care of everything.  If they’re stranded on their own, but already engaged or married, there isn’t any conflict to resolve, and survival skills by themselves aren’t that interesting.  If they’re stranded with people they need to take care of, there could be a great story, but I’ve already written it in Mr. Darcy’s Refuge, where a flood strands Darcy and Elizabeth at the Hunsford parsonage with the refugees from the village.

 

So that leaves Darcy and Elizabeth stranded either on their own or with a few other people who aren’t servants, and it has to begin before they reach an understanding. It also has to be in the winter, which fortunately isn’t a problem since Bingley leaves Netherfield after the ball on November 26, and Elizabeth goes to Hunsford in March.  There’s a significant geography problem, though, since Elizabeth is in southern England throughout that period, and that’s not a likely location for a paralyzing snow storm.  Unless I alter the climate, I need to find a reason for Elizabeth to be in the North.  That’s a manageable issue.

 

Next comes the real question, which is what difficulties they would face if stranded by a blizzard. They’re unlikely to be troubled by a power failure or an internet outage, but they would need shelter, food, heat, and dry clothing.  Now this is a fertile line of questioning!  Somehow they’d have to find an abandoned hut or cave, since neither of them could build a shelter.  The hut or cave would have to be cleaned, but that’s something that most people could figure out how to do, even if they’ve always had servants to do it for them before. 

 

Food is trickier.  Darcy knows how to hunt… at least he does when he has his hunting rifle, ammunition, a loader to load his rifle for him, some spaniels to flush out the game and to return with the killed animal, a gameskeeper to manage the spaniels, and a kitchen staff to butcher the animal.  It’s unlikely he would know what to do with an animal once it’s killed.

 

The actual cooking of the animal would be worse. Splitting logs isn’t likely to be among Darcy’s skills, or knowing the difference between dry and wet wood.   Both Elizabeth and Darcy have probably seen fires lit often enough to have some idea how to do it, at least if they have a hot coal from the kitchen hearth or a flint and steel to provide a spark.  Without those, they’re probably helpless.  Assuming they somehow surmount this challenge, the next step would be the actual cooking.  Mrs. Bennet tells us proudly in Pride & Prejudice that her daughters don’t know how to cook, so Elizabeth can’t save the day there.  They don’t have a lot of options for cooking, either, since pots and pans were valuable commodities in the Regency period, not something that one would accidentally leave behind in an abandoned hut.  That leaves cooking it on a spit, which is more difficult than it sounds unless you happen to like your meat raw, charred, or both. 

 

So far this is just Survivor, Regency Style.  Action is great, but I also need interpersonal conflict. Well, Darcy is accustomed to achieving almost anything with just a word to a servant. He’s not going to like discovering how difficult it is to survive without them, and he especially won’t enjoy looking incompetent in front of Elizabeth, not to mention the guilt he’ll feel if she is hungry and cold.  Elizabeth, meanwhile, will be happily looking for any fault in Darcy, and she’ll have plenty to find.  Then there’s the elephant in the middle of the deserted hut, which is that Elizabeth is now compromised.  Despite what we sometimes say in fanfiction, women didn’t really have a choice between ruin and a forced marriage.  Elizabeth will have a worse dilemma than that, which is not knowing whether Darcy is going to face up to his responsibilities.  She thinks he dislikes her and isn’t particularly honorable, and there’s nothing to force him to offer for her.  Yes, I think there would be plenty of interpersonal conflict!

 

So there you have it, the genesis of another Pride & Prejudice variation.  Will I write it?  Most likely not, since I already have 9 novel ideas ahead of it, and I keep thinking of more of them.  But it’s still fun to play “What if….”.

 

For more information on Abigail's books or to order her latest "Mr. Darcy's Refuge," please go here:
Abigail Reynolds Website


                            MERRY  CHRISTMAS  FROM ALL

THE JANE AUSTEN CHRISTMAS WEEK AUTHORS AND

                               YOUR BOOKISH DAME!

Read More

"The Missing Manuscript of Miss Jane Austen" by Syrie James~Fascinating...

SUMMARY :
The minute I saw the letter, I knew it was hers. There was no mistaking it: the salutation, the tiny, precise handwriting, the date, the content itself, all confirmed its ancient status and authorship…

Samantha McDonough cannot believe her eyes--or her luck. Tucked in an uncut page of a two-hundred-year old poetry book is a letter she believes was written by Jane Austen, mentioning with regret a manuscript that "went missing at Greenbriar in Devonshire." Could there really be an undiscovered Jane Austen novel waiting to be found? Could anyone resist the temptation to go looking for it?

Making her way to the beautiful, centuries-old Greenbriar estate, Samantha finds it no easy task to sell its owner, the handsome yet uncompromising Anthony Whitaker, on her wild idea of searching for a lost Austen work--until she mentions its possible million dollar value.

After discovering the unattributed manuscript, Samantha and Anthony are immediately absorbed in the story of Rebecca Stanhope, daughter of a small town rector, who is about to encounter some bittersweet truths about life and love. As they continue to read the newly discovered tale from the past, a new one unfolds in the present--a story that just might change both of their lives forever.


PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Penguin Group
Pages:  432
Genre:  Fiction/ Jane Austen Inspired
Author:  Syrie James
Find out more here:  Syrie James
Purchase this book:  Barnes & Noble  and Amazon


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Syrie James is the author of five critically acclaimed novels, including the bestseller The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, Nocturne, Dracula My Love, and Forbidden. Her books have been translated into eighteen foreign languages.



A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT THE GHOST OF JANE AUSTEN :

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

While "The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen" doesn't involve the ghost of Miss Austen per se, it does involve the ghostly presence of her letter and the allusion to a manuscript written, read to Cassandra and mysteriously lost.  This mystery makes one think of a Jane Austen still alive in spirit and mourning the loss of her little unfinished book...longing for someone to find it.  This is the stuff of Syrie Janes's mind and her book.  A wonderful premise, and an entertaining book in and of itself. 

Ms James's very fertile imagination is brought to bear in her novel as she guides us from the discovery of a letter suspected of being written by Miss Austen, to the outcome of finding the lost manuscript amidst the vast library of a country manor's library.  I loved the whole intrigue!  The setting of England and surround countryside, the manor itself and the characters she develops are fascinating.

Main characters Samantha and Anthony are delicious together.  The push-pull of their relationship coupled with the mystery of the book they find is beautifully developed. The connection of both the characters in the story and the novel and believable and alive.  Syrie James is a writer who sparks the visual in us as we read.

This is a book a Jane Austen lover cannot miss.  Based on the idea of Austen's lost books and notes, this novel takes a "possible" and turns it around to become an absorbing and fascinating probable.

A thoroughly enjoyable book which I can highly recommend if you can suspend your belief a little!  Ghostly...I can only suspect that Miss Austen haunts more than just Chawton House!

5 stars                     Deborah/TheBookishDame

Read More

Guest Author Nina Benneton~Jane Austen Christmas Week!

SUMMARY :

For anyone obsessed with Pride & Prejudice, it's Darcy and Elizabeth like you've never see them before!

This modern take introduces us to the wealthy philanthropist Fitzwilliam Darcy, a handsome and brooding bachelor who yearns for love but doubts any woman could handle his obsessive tendencies. Meanwhile, Dr. Elizabeth Bennet has her own intimacy issues that ensure her terrible luck with men.

When the two meet up in the emergency room after Darcy's best friend, Charles Bingley, gets into an accident, Elizabeth thinks the two men are a couple. As Darcy and Elizabeth unravel their misconceptions about each other, they have to decide just how far they're willing to go to accept each other's quirky ways...

See my full review of "Compulsively Mr. Darcy" by "Search"ing on my sidebar at the left hand side of my blog!


PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Publisher:  Sourcebooks
Pages:  352
Genre:  Fiction/Jane Austen inspired
Find this author:  Nina Benneton
To purchase her book, find links on her site above!



ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Picture of the author incognito with bookmark: 

Nina Benneton was on her way to save the world and win a Nobel Prize in something, anything, when a rare-bird enthusiast nut whisked her off her restless feet. A flock of beautiful children and a comfy nest kept Nina contented in domestic bliss until one day, she woke up and saw that she was too obsessed with alphabetizing her spices and searching for stray Barbie shoes. A dare and a supportive nudge from her nearest and dearest diverted Nina's obsessive energy into writing fiction. Compulsively Mr. Darcy is her first novel. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.





GUEST POST FROM THE WITTY AND WISE MS BENNETON :

I'm so thrilled to bring you this post today from Nina who is a dear friend and wonderful writer.  I caution you that she is a writer of the absurd and wacky, which is why I adore her!!

I give you Ms Benneton:

Dear Austenesque Author,

Bah, humbug!

Yes, I am quite aware that expression came from the works of another famous nineteenth century writer, that young whippersnapper Charles Dickens, who was a mere child of five and not yet out of leading strings when I prematurely departed to meet my maker. But, no, I am not writing to you to talk about my life-cut-too-short situation.

What I wish to discuss tonight is thievery! Intellectual thievery! Thievery by you, the audacious Austenesque author. You have stolen my characters, my plot, and even my life for your own novels. Have you modern writer no imagination, no innovation, no inspiration of your own? Have you no neighbors, relations, or friends of your own to use as models for your writings?

If I, a genteelly impoverished spinster, who had hardly traveled much except a few trips to Town and to Kent to visit relatives, could write diverse characters such as Lady Catherine and Harriet Smith, how could you, with all your twenty-first century advantages and conveniences, not be able to use all original characters in your novels? Surely, there must be a Mrs. Elton, Mrs. Norris, or Mrs. Jennings in your neighborhood you can acquaint yourself with, and then use later for inspiration?

What's that? You only have Facebook friends and Twitter friends and Instagram friends?

Bah, humbug! 'Tis a shame you are too busy writing to have a life—.

No, you shall not distract me into commenting on the sad state of interpersonal relationships today. I shall keep my focus on helping you find other sources of inspiration.

The tabloids! Such a rich source of real life characters on which to base your fictional characters! Though, may I suggest some creative rearrangement…

Instead of having your fictional Mr. Tom Cruise's fourth wife be some ingénue actress in her twenties, may I suggest pairing him with Mama Boo Boo? Think of Suri Cruise as Emma Woodhouse trying to help her stepsister Honey Boo Boo as Miss Harriet Martin gain some Vogue town-bronze.

Instead of having your fictional Mr. Hugh Hefner (a Wickham, Willoughby and Sir William Elliot combined) marry the fictional Miss Crystal Harris, pair him with Octomom. A rakehell (a much more dashing term than your 'playboy') who's nearly ninety deserves to be stepfather to eight children under five! 'Tis very unlikely that he's still fertile, and thus I think there's very little risk of her becoming a Novemom or Decemom.

Instead of having your fictional Mr. Sean Penn be disappointed in love with a young actresses half his age, may I suggest pairing him with one twice his age. Who else could offer more womanly loving than the indomitable and warm-hearted Betty White, especially to such a brooding Bronte-ish, my mad-wives-never-loved-me hero?

On further thought, may I suggest all you Austenesque authors become Brontesque authors? After all, should you turn your attention to stealing from their works for your sequels, prequels, re-imaginings and so forth, there are three of them to roll over in their respective graves.

I am heartily tired of these constant rollings over in my grave—after having read some of your Austenesque novels, especially the salacious ones.

Yours, etc…

Jane Austen

 

Austenesque author Nina Benneton's first novel, Compulsively Mr. Darcy, was published earlier this year. Though her second novel, Spices of Pemberley, will be released in 2013, she wishes to reassure Miss Jane Austen that not all of her subsequent novels she's currently at work on are Austenesque stories, salacious or otherwise. She's also published in an anthology, Death Sparkles.

Link for Compuslively Mr. Darcy: http://www.amazon.com/Compulsively-Mr-Darcy-Nina-Benneton/dp/1402262493/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356212981&sr=8-1&keywords=Compulsively+Mr.+Darcy

Link for Death Sparkles: http://www.amazon.com/Death-Sparkles-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B009OX9V2W/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top



                          WE WISH YOU A VERY
                   
                             HAPPY HOLIDAY!!!!


Nina Benneton and Deborah/TheBookishDame 

Read More

"The Bad Miss Bennet" by Jean Burnett~ Juicy!

 

Jane Austen Christmas Week!!!

Welcome to day one of our tribute week to Miss Austen with

this review of

"The Bad Miss Bennet:  A Pride and Prejudice Novel"

by Jean Burnett

 

 

SUMMARY :

Picking up where Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice left off, The Bad Miss Bennet takes readers on a wild Regency romp with Lydia Wickham, née Bennet, who finds herself in dire need of a new husband

Lydia was never the most upstanding of the Bennet sisters, but who ever said that moral rectitude was fun?
At least she bested her elder sisters and was the first to get married. She never could understand what all the fuss was about after she left Brighton with her gallant. It is a shame, though, that Mr. Wickham turned out to be a disappointing husband in so many aspects, the most notable being his early demise on the battlefields of Waterloo. And so Lydia, still not yet twenty and full of enterprising spirit, is in urgent need of a wealthy replacement. A lesser woman, without Lydia's natural ability to flirt uproariously on the dance floor and cheat seamlessly at the card table, would swoon in the wake of a dashing highwayman, a corrupt banker, and even an amorous Prince Regent. But on the hunt for a marriage that will make her rich, there's nothing that Lydia won't turn her hand to. In the meantime, she has no qualms about imposing on her sister Elizabeth's hospitality at Pemberly. After all, what is the point of having all that fine fortune if not to aid a poor, newly widowed younger sister?
While Lydia rattles around the continent from Paris to Venice and to the home of the disgraced Princess of Wales in Italy and back again to Darbyshire, you, dear reader, will be greatly diverted by the new adventures of Jane Austen's consummate and incorrigible anti-heroine, who never ceases to delight.

COVER RATING :    A+
As a hard cover novel this one rates right at the top!  It's a beautiful Regency cover with all the best in color and pictoral.  I love the fonts they've chosen, the glossy cover, and even the small text peek into the book inside.  This is one for your library, Austen fans.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK:
Published by:  Pegasus Books
Pages:  405
Genre:  Historical Fiction/Austen inspired
Author:  Jean Burnett
Purchase the book here:  Amazon


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Jean Burnett studied at Exeter University and has a Masters degree from Cardiff University.  She has worked at the University of Bristol and has taught creative writing and written for a variety of agencies and magazines.  Jean lives near Bath, England.


THE BOOKISH DAME'S REVIEW :

Who isn't intrigued with the impulsive Miss Bennet, Lydia?  Which of us didn't wish we had the wherewithall to run away with the handsome and romantic Mr. Wickham?  And, which of us hasn't wondered how Lydia would fare over the years...knowing she surely wouldn't change her spots!?
Jean Burnett has given us a beauty of a book to take us from the years shortly after Mrs. Wickham becomes a widow in her early adult years.... But, Lydia never really grows up, and her escapades are just as to be expected in this wild scheme of a book. 

Without making her the caricature she could easily have done, Jean Burnett brings us a fully developed character in Lydia.  She is true to character from Miss Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" novel, but she is more complex as a more mature young woman.  I loved the insight into her self-serving way of thinking...somewhat socially innocent, but brazen!  Ever the seeker of money and fame, Lydia grounds deeper into the darker side of society and morality in this book.

The addition of the character, Jerry, the highwayman and eventual lover of Lydia, is genius.  I loved his character and thought he was a fully humorous foil to Lydia and her wicked ways.  They are a perfect match for Princes and paupers alike in this novel.  And it seems Ms Burnett may be writing more about them as a couple in the future.

This is a novel that has fun and fantastic adventure.  There are glimpses into courtly homes and manners, into English society and foreign intrigues, into gothic novels of the times, and into the mind of a misbegotten Bennet girl.  Lydia is nothing if not an adventuress and she's perfect as the Bennet sister who is let out of the bottle despite her more refined sister, Lizzie and Mr. Darcy's protestations.  Lydia is irrepressible no matter what dangers and tragedies she encounters in this fun romp of a book!

Not rocket science, this novel is just plain enjoyment and escapism for those who love a fantasy moment or two wondering what may have happened to poor Lydia.  Did she change her wicked ways?  Not on your life!!

4 stars for fun....                   Deborah/TheBookishDame

Read More