What if you fly?

I found this inspirational little poem today.

Many others have made posters, t-shirts, Etsy-type stuff out of it, so I can't claim any uniqueness to this creation. However, I felt it was a very appropriate message for my family this month.

One son is getting ready to leave on a mission. Another son is leaving for college at the end of the week. I am starting a new job, my first position as a teacher. My daughter is starting in a new school. So we all feel like the baby bird, balanced precariously on the branch and wondering if we dare take the leap.

So, for my beautiful children, I say... what if you do? Go out, dream big, take a risk.

And what if you fly?

I will be there beside you.

Extreme Book Nerd Reading Challenge 2017

I did not quite finish the reading challenge from the Idaho Falls Public Library this year. They offer 50 categories, with a challenge to read a book in each category this year. I read 50 books, but not quite in 50 weeks (it took me one more week to complete my 50^th), and in some categories I did not finish the book (marked with an asterisk).

I wanted to put together a list of the books I read, as well as some brief comments on some of my favorites. I’ll start with the books that I read more than any other genre (Regency romance and historical romance, of course) then move on to the categories that were more challenging for me to complete. The category is in parentheses afterwards.

Regencies:

1.      Lord John’s Dilemma, by G.G. Vandergriff (A book you’ve been meaning to read)
2.      Miss Whitaker Opens her Heart, by Jennifer Moore (A book with a verb in the title)
3.      A Place for Miss Snow, by Jennifer Moore (A book by an author whose name ends with a vowel) Jennifer Moore’s books are always a treat, bringing me the Regency stories but not always in the typical London/England setting.
4.      Miss Armistead Makes her Choice, by Heidi Ashworth (A book with the military in it)
5.      An Inconvenient Romance, by Charlise Linton (A book written in the first person)

6-8. Whispers on the Moore collection by Sarah E. Ladd

·         The Heiress of Winterwood     (A book you love — read it again)

·         The Headmistress of Rosemere (A book that makes you happy)

·         A Lady at Willowgrove Hall (A book with an illness in it)

9.      One Love, Two Heart, Three Stories, by J. Dawn King (A book chosen because of the title) Three Pride and Prejudice variations
10.  The Abominable Mr. Darcy, by J. Dawn King (no category, I missed recording this one!) Another Pride and Prejudice variation
11.  Romancing Daphne, Sarah Eden (A book recommended by someone you just met). Thank you, kind librarian, for recommending this book so I could fit it in this category!
12.  A Fine Gentleman, Sarah Eden (A book by an author with your name)
13.  For Love and Honor, Sarah Eden (no category—finished this after Christmas so it didn’t count, but it’s sooo good!)
14.  Mrs. McVinnie’s London Season, Carla Kelly (A book with an ugly cover)
15.  A Season in London, by Heather B Moore, Elizabeth Johns, and Rebecca Connolly. (A book that feeds your wanderlust) I would love to visit England just to see all the Jane Austen sites and the museums that feature Regency time period.
16.  An Arrangement of Sorts, Rebecca Connolly (A book you can finish in a day) I read this one because of her short novella in the previous one. She does a good job with Regencies.
17.  The Darkest Summer, Rebecca Greenwood (A book with music in it, very little music, but I had to put it somewhere!) So this was a new release I was excited to read, but the poor editing drove me nuts! It wasn’t self-published, either. The author has incorrectly used commas in almost EVERY sentence. It was supposed to be a retelling of the story of Persephone. Other than that, the plot is driven by “how many things can go wrong on a two-day carriage ride.” A good attempt by a first-time author.
18.  The Fall of Lord Drayson, by Rachael Anderson (A book you own but have never read). So I got dozens of books this year free, or for .99, via Bookbub. I have many more books I haven’t yet read. This just happened to fit this category.
19.  Fairchild, by Jaima Fixsen, (a book set in Europe)
20.  The Silent Governess, by Julie Klassen (no category) Julie Klassen is one of my favorite authors. She writes Christian historical/Regency romance. I’ve read about six of her books, most by checking them out from the library through the Overdrive reading app. They are long, deep, and well-researched books. I always learn something from the epigraphs at each chapter heading, too.

Historical Fiction:

21.  The Lady of the Lakes, by Josi Kilpack (A book published this year)

22.  The Uninvited, by Cat Winters. (A ghost story) This story has a twist to it! I didn’t even guess…

23.  My Lady Jane, by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton (A book with magic in it). I’ve read Cynthia Hand’s angel YA books a few years ago. I have Brodi Ashton’s Everneath (still need to finish it). And this book was a favorite recommended by my friends, the Sher family. So it came highly recommended and I just need to make time to finish it. I loved it! The humor is great and the magical twist on English history is wonderful.

24.  Dead, Mr. Mozart, by Bernard Bastable (a cozy mystery). This story tells of an alternate history for Mozart, who is a struggling composer in England, tasked with solving a murder before his new opera celebrating the coronation of Prinny can debut. It’s set just after the Regency period so I liked the familiar setting and the mystery is pretty tame but intriguing.

25.  The World Within: A Novel of Emily Bronte, by Jane Eagland (A book with a natural disaster in it). I enjoyed this YA fictionalized account of Emily Bronte’s childhood. The story was true to most of the details of her upbringing, and I understand better how odd those Bronte sisters were. (There is a minor natural disaster in the story—an earthquake/landslide, but Reverend Bronte thought it foretold the end of the world.)

26.  Shores of Bountiful by Loralee Evans (A book with death in it). I don’t typically read Book of Mormon fiction, but this story was very compelling and the author does a great job conveying emotion in her story.

Book Club reads:

27.  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford (An author’s debut novel). I’ve read this book before, several years ago, but enjoyed it so much I was excited to read it again with our book club.

28.  The Rosie Effect, by Graeme Simsion (A humorous or satirical book). The first chapter of this book was the funniest. Coming from someone who has an austistic/Aspie child, I found his “lecture” to the Asperger’s group hilarious. The rest of the book was basically how a guy who runs his life via routine can adapt when love compels him too (though the swearing and loose morals were not pleasant to read).

29.  The Optimist’s Daughter, by Eudora Welty (A book with an unreliable narrator). Good writing, interesting people, but certainly an odd narrator.

30.  The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown (YA edition) (A book set in New England). Okay, so most of the book is in Washington, but the races to qualify for the Olympics are in New England. I was running out of categories… I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and even though it was the shorter YA version I learned a lot and have great respect for the athletes who row competitively.

31.  A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman (A book translated from another language). This is one of the rare books in which I laugh and cry in the SAME paragraph! My heart just really went out to this grumpy man who finally let others into his life.

32.  Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear (A book by a British author). Loved this book and plan to read more in the series.

33.  The Natural Laws of Good Luck, by Ellen Graf (a book of essays). Well, they are sort of essays… close enough. A memoir of a Chinese/American marriage and interesting look at class of cultures.

34.  An Unfinished Life, Mark Spragg (A book you would never read). So without the book club selecting this from the few available at the library at the time, I would not have read it. Language, violence, yucky stuff. Yet a look at how a plucky girl manages in a world where the adults are loving but dysfunctional.

35.  *Founding Mothers, by Cokie Roberts (A history book). I didn’t finish this book because time ran out and I didn’t make it to the book club discussion, and the book had to go back to the library. So I can’t technically count it, but the half I read was informational and readable for nonfiction.

36.  *The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan. Another book I only half read so I couldn’t count it.

37.  The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (A book about a culture you’re unfamiliar with). I would have to rank this as the best book I read last year. The story of the clash of cultures, both within Afghanistan and in the U.S., was eye opening. And “For you, a thousand times.” Ah, good tears.

Serious books:

38.  Learning Theories (Schunk, 2016). (A book with a government agency in it). Yeah, it was my textbook, and I’ve cited in in APA style…

39.  Wolf Willow, by Wallace Stegner (published before I was born). Such a great writer. Glad I could take part in the IHC Summer Institute and study Stegner’s writings.

40.  Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner (A book that intimidates you). I’ve read it before, so it was not necessarily the book that was intimidating but the fact that I had to meet with 30 other teachers and discuss our thoughts with professors. Stegner’s writings were some of the most impactful for me last year.

41.  *The Making of Jane Austen (a book from a library display). I didn’t finish it. It’s on my “try again later” list.

42.  The Smartest Kids in the World (and how they got that way) by Amanda Ripley (A nonfiction book). Read it for Learning Theories 6602. Great analysis of how our educational system lacks rigor.

43.  Beyond Blue (a color in the title). Great view of how depression feels and helped me understand my husband and children.

44.  The Book of Mormon. Finished it Dec. 30! (I put this in the “book made into a movie” category, though it was too late to count it.)

45.  Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom (book with a day in the title). Another book I’d put at the top of my list for impactful thoughts, moving writing, and lessons that stay with the reader long afterward.

46.  *The Sea, The Sea, by Iris Murdoch (Man Booker award winner). The prose is beautiful but the book was so slow moving, I never finished it.

Young Adult novels:

47.  Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson (a famous author’s lesser known work). Great YA adventure, and I’ll be reading more Brandon Sanderson. His writing measures up to the renown.

48.  Two Roads, Chris Crowe (an addicted character).

49.  Heartstone, by Elle Katherine White (bottom shelf of the library). A Pride and Prejudice variation with dragons? Yes, yes! I would not have discovered it had I not been scouring bottom shelves of the library.

50.  Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale (a YA book).

51.  The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden. Started this one in October but didn’t finish until after Christmas. A Russian fable retelling; will be reading the next book once it comes out.

“Fluff” books:

52.  Second Chance Ranch, by Liz Isaacson (author never read before)

53.  How to get over your Ex in 90 days, by Jennifer Peel (relation in the title)

54.  Pride and Politics, by Brittany Larsen (book with a US president)

55.  Finding Love in Sun Valley, by Angela Ruth Strong (book with a wedding in it).

So that’s 51 books completely finished, though not by the Dec. 21 deadline, and several more given a good attempt. Now I’m moving on to my giant TBR pile and going forward with 2018’s challenge.

Wallace Stegner and the Consciousness of Place Institute

The Idaho Humanities Council's Summer Institute of 2017

Reflections on Wolf Willow

In Wolf Willow, Wallace Stegner describes the return to his home on the Saskatchewan prairie. Walking into the town he calls Whitemud, he says his visit is to "test memory against adult observation" (6) and revisit the place that imprinted character upon him as a child. "And so it is with mixed feelings of intimacy and strangeness" (12) that Stegner approaches his old swimming hole in the Frenchman river, sniffing out reminiscences and searching for the quintessential force that cemented his memory. "It is the smells that seem to have stayed with me ... the tantalizing and ambiguous and wholly native smell ... called wolf willow" (16-18). Identifying the smell that brings him home, "the present and all the years between are shed like a boy's clothes dumped on the bath-house bench" (19). He remembers; he feels old sensations; he has "recovered" himself. He concludes, "If I am native to anything, I am native to this" (20).

In reading Wolf Willow, I came across passages that "recovered" myself, that reclaimed my childhood and reinforced my native heritage. This connection, forged through words and melded by common memory, has changed me this week. I became conscious not only of who I am, but where I am in the world.

My first instance of connection occurred in chapter two, as Stegner describes how a few bars of a Sunday school hymn can instantly turn him into a child on the old homestead, hearing the birds, seeing the buttercups, feeling the wind. I, too, was transported in reading this description. I was a nine-year-old girl, crossing the field between my house and my grandmother's, following the worn path of silk-dirt through the alfalfa. My uninhibited voice sang "There is Sunshine In My Soul Today," lines memorized from church, and as I walked I celebrated the day that was new and clean and the work contained therein. I could see Mount Timpanogas, the jagged skyward edge so dear and familiar. I could see the sheds, the old truck, the tree that grew at the halfway point down the lane.

This is what the view looked like:

Painting of Elm Crest Farm by Sarah Droegemueller, oil pastels on canvas

This painting was created over two years ago, but it is the image that leaps to mind when I think of our farm. It hangs above my writing desk at home, on my "wall of inspiration." Almost everything else on the wall is some piece of Jane Austen memorabilia (because I have been writing Regency-era fiction the past three years), but this piece, this piece of home, touches me more deeply than any imagined romantic notion from my novels. Perhaps I should clue in to this emotion and write of subjects closer to home as well. 

In any case, the passages from Wolf Willow recalled my home and infused me with a longing for places dear and familiar. One of these places is the "trail," the path that leads from my home to Grandma's and then to the barn. The trail is hard-packed dirt in spring, softest powdery dust in the summer, burning with heat, and pounded-slick ice in the winter. It is a connection, lines drawn to signify familial and territorial joinings. 

Stegner writes of the path at his homestead, "the trail was a thing we had exclusively created and ... it led to a place we had exclusively built." He calls it a "worn border to our inheritance," and "an intimate act, an act like love," (272-73) to mark the earth with his identity. I felt the same way of "my" path, my trail through the alfalfa field. 

Stegner left that family homestead after five years of drought, failed crops, withered dreams. He questions why his mother brought them there in the first place, and replies with "she and hers had been victimized by the folklore of hope" (281). Why did anyone attempt it? Stegner writes, "the pioneers unquestionably passed on to their children, including me, some of their faith in the future." Then he denotes, "hope, it turns out, is heritable" (255).

Hope. In my painting, the unseen ingredient shimmering with nostalgia and history is hope. My great-great-grandfather, Martin Albert Clinger, wrote in his autobiography that the most important things in life, the things that gave him the most hope, were faith, family, and the farm. 

The triumvirate:

• Faith: Faith in Jesus Christ and his gospel. Faith in the future. Faith in the land. 
• Family: My father's work ethic. My mother's nurturing. My five sisters and two brothers and their support through mutual suffering and joy. Learning through work and fun together.
• Farm: A connection with wildness, nature, wilderness. Knowing the value of water, whether rain or a ditch or a canal. Watching a seed that sprouts and grows to bear fruit. 

This is just a glimpse of the connections I made in reading and learning of Wolf Willow. I had more ideas come, helping me understand my complex relationship with the land, after reading "The Wilderness Letter," and Cronon's "The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature."

At the core, however, my "geography of hope" is bounded by the Wasatch Range on the east and Utah Lake on the west. 

I know who I am, because I know where I'm from.

The Objective Correlative in Sense and Sensibility

At the LDStorymaker's conference I attended earlier this month, I learned about the objective correlative. This term was coined by T.S. Eliot who "used this phrase to describe 'a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion' that the poet feels and hopes to evoke in the reader (“Hamlet,” 1919)" (Poetryfoundation.org). 

But what is an objective correlative? It is, in simple terms, the idea of conveying an emotion by attaching it to an object. Julie Daines was the workshop presenter who shared some great insights into this topic in her workshop "How to Show: Say Goodbye to Clenched Fists and Pounding Hearts" on Saturday afternoon. She revealed some great objective correlatives that past authors have used, such as Tolkien's ring in Lord of the Rings, or the books in The Book Thief. As I studied this idea, I realized I had seen a succinct example of an objective correlative, but had never known what to call it, in the Sense and Sensibility movie by Ang Lee, screenplay by Emma Thompson. 

For those poor non-Jane Austen addicts who are not intimately familiar with the book or movie, I will summarize: Sisters Elinor and Marianne are thrown into poverty at the death of their father. They each have a love interest. Elinor is becoming attached to Edward, the brother of her sister-in-law, and Marianne has attracted the attention of two suitors, first Colonel Brandon, an older but steady sort, then Willoughby, a handsome rogue. There is a long portion of the movie where the female leads are separated from their love interests and must work toward being reunited.

During these times of separation, the viewer is reminded of the missing hero by physical items--the objective correlative. The first object is the white handkerchief with E.C.F. embroidered on it. In a moment of grief, Edward offered Elinor this handkerchief to dry her tears. Elinor comes to treasure it after she's forced to part from Edward, and in another scene is sitting near a window, running her fingers over the initials. There's no need to outwardly state "Elinor is feeling sad here and missing Edward, longing for his affection." No, the audience views Elinor’s lingering attachment to his memory in the subtle reappearance of the handkerchief. Even when the memento he promised to personally deliver, the atlas, is sent by mail to younger sister Miss Margaret instead of in person, Elinor longs for his return and pines in his absence. There may be no formal promise or attachment, but the connection is vividly portrayed through the treasure of the handkerchief.


How utterly alarming, then, when Lucy Steele presses her confidential information of a secret five-year engagement with Edward Ferrars. Elinor understandably mutters, “We can’t mean the same Mr. Ferrars,” but then Lucy pulls out of her reticule an identical handkerchief embroidered with E.C.F. 

The reappearance of the objective correlative, now in a situation of betrayal, shows how Elinor feels, rather than tells. Elinor then spends several weeks in Lucy’s company with “the very person whose prior claims ruined all my hopes… knowing myself to be divided from Edward forever.” Austenesque writer Regina Jeffers describes it as "a metonymic device to establish Elinor’s emotional turmoil" (https://reginajeffers.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/sense-and-sensibility-1995-part-2-of-movie-discussion-rewriting-jane-austens-heroes/). First as a reminder of care and concern, then as a reminder of futile love, Elinor's handkerchief lends emotional pull to these scenes. 

Marianne’s final relationship is foreshadowed by the objects given and taken from her. While Brandon is getting to know his new neighbors, he attentively hands Marianne a lawn bowling ball. When cutting reeds, he hands her a knife. After her fall, he brings her “hothouse” flowers. Willoughby also brings flowers and gives her his pocket Shakespeare. He takes a cutting of her hair as a memento. This scene is filmed from the perspective of someone looking in from another room, not hearing any dialogue, but seeing the affection of the couple and watching the clipped section of hair being pressed to his lips and wrapped up to keep for later. 

Not long afterward, he departs with no explanation and Marianne is sobbing. Marianne writes him letters which are never returned or replied to. In the end, Marianne runs into him in London but the reunion is only embarrassing for them both. Willoughby finally replies to her letters by returning all the mementos, including the little lock of hair. The viewer only needs to see the hair folded into the letter to know that heartbreak and betrayal are contained therein. Brandon, however, has not rescinded his affections and has left all his mementos with Marianne. Upon return to Barton Cottage, he additionally gives a book, a much-desired pianoforte, and some music. It is with no surprise that her true, permanent feelings attach to Colonel Brandon and his kindness. 

Can an object convey emotion? Yes, if the appearance of the object is set off in a way that the reader/viewer clearly understands the emotion of the scene. When that object returns or is re-presented, the audience feels the return of that emotion. And, as in Sense and Sensibility, when that object appears in a reversed emotional context, the audience feels an opposite emotion. This is what I love about the subtlety of an objective correlative--you can give your reader "mood swings" just by showing an object again. This is something I look forward to using adeptly in my future writing.

Raspberry Picking

A piece of loose poetry...

My summer was a raspberry patch,
Watered green by the cool, spring rains--
Leaves full bright by June.

And suddenly it was here--the first berry,
Plump and red, filled with sun.
I picked it and eagerly swallowed,
    its sweetness bursting on my tongue.
That first day was freedom, followed by
   sleeping on the trampoline in the cool evening breeze.
The summer days came rapidly, like four berries on a branch.
So full you hardly know they've fallen in your bowl until
   the bare branch snaps back.
Time to go to the next.

Then one especially plump berry fell--
Rolled off the leaves, lost in the tall grass.
I mourned it, although I knew fifty more hung
   ready to pick.
That day we missed, we know not what,
But wish we had it back, all the same.

The moon winked from the cool sky as I gathered berries at dusk.
I could hardly see the color of black-red from green.
I picked nonetheless.
I wanted all I could before the end of the season.
It was quiet and hushed when the last berry fell.
All the heat, water, cloud and sun--
   in my bowl at the last harvest.

There were raspberries missed,
Shriveled and dry, their sweetness longed for
But only a hope remained
For another season.

--Sarah Droegemueller

If you ever feel like summer is going by too quickly, then you will relate to this poem. I thought of the connection as I picked, then dropped, a delicious looking raspberry. I thought, it's like a summer day that you really want to last, to enjoy to its fullest, and then it's gone.

A Poem for my Daughter

By Sarah Droegemueller, copyright 2015

You are a princess, of infinite worth.
You are a princess, God sent you to earth,
To work and to learn, to struggle, to cry,
To want to give up, but then always to try!

You are my princess, beautiful, divine!
You are special, unique, and luckily, mine!
Today as you smile and you give it your best,
Remember your worth, and you'll have success!

This is a poem I wrote for my beautiful daughter when she was having a discouraging week at school. I want her (and every young girl) to know just how special they are in their families and to their communities. As the picture shows, she came through her struggle okay and made the honor roll! She's amazing and I love her dearly!

Austenesque Book Reviews from 2013

Austenesque Book Reviews

I admit it—I am an avid Austen fan. I read her books, watch the movie adaptations, follow some Austen bloggers, and even dream of going to the Jane Austen Society of North America Annual General Meeting someday. (Oh, and did I mention I wrote a Jane Austen-inspired novel? Yeah, I did—it’s called Persuasion. Imagine that.)

Thus, much of my 2013 reading list is made up of Austen-inspired spin-offs and Regency-era romances. I will give a brief review of each, in case there are other readers out there who’d like to know what good reads are ahead. The starred reviews are the best of the year, in my opinion.

⃰ For Darkness Shows the Stars –Diana Peterfreund

I went to a book signing for a wonderful YA author, Cynthia Hand, and in talking with her she recommended this book. I went home and downloaded it to my Nook, and I’m so glad I did! (By the way, read her series, Unearthly—great YA books about angels and set in East Idaho and Jackson Hole. Cool!)

This is another version of Persuasion, but set in a dystopian future England. Seeing as Persuasion is my favorite Austen book, how could I not like it? But this one really had some intriguing concepts that drew me in.

First, the whole setting of a future England that has rejected modern technology and genetic tampering was well thought out. I struggled at the beginning, trying to make sense of her terminology, but as I read on more background was explained and I was sympathetic to the plight of Elliot, the strong, determined heroine.

Then her childhood sweetheart, Kai, returns—with a group of technology-loving sailors. Kai, of course, rejects Elliot now in favor of another girl, and Elliot is forced to watch what seems to be a growing attraction between them. Yet she knows Kai a little too well—and knows that something is not quite right in these returning heroes.

I really enjoyed Peterfreund’s writing style. It was not overly heavy yet not sappy or weak, either. I thought the story was a beautiful retelling, with just enough twists to make it a new story, too. I especially liked the subplot with Ro, a “reduced servant” (someone whom the genetic crisis left in a lower intellectual state). She and Kai had befriended her in their youth, and now she is in need of their protection—and is instrumental in bringing them back together.

I would have to say this is my top Austenesque book that I read last year. I hope you’ll give it a try!

Mansfield Ranch—Jenni James

I was introduced to Jenni James when I read her first teen Austen book, Pride and Popularity. Then I actually met Jenni James (and talked to her several times—what an awesome lady!) at Salt Lake Comic Con in September. I’ve also read a few of her Faerie Tale collection. I went home and started following her on Wattpad.com and was eagerly reading each chapter of Mansfield Ranch as she posted it.

What I like about Jenni James is that she takes the essence of an Austen story, but not only brings it into a modern world, but teenager-izes it, too. I’m all for making Austen’s stories appealing to today’s young audiences, in hopes that they’ll go read the originals as well.

In Mansfield Ranch, the sweet and spunky Lilly Price is struggling with her foster family and her relationship with them. She loves her horse and her older “brother,” Sean. But when she realizes what she feels for Sean is more romantic—and he feels that way, too—it’s just awkward. More awkward is when some rich, stuck up guy, Harrison, moves next door and torments Lilly, seeing as she’s the only girl who seems immune to his charms. Sean is dating Harrison’s sister… Lilly’s foster sister is dating Harrison… it’s a messy, messy triangle. When Lilly is with Sean, you can really feel the tension, sense the romantic undercurrent. She writes some good kissing scenes!

I admit, I wondered where Jenni James was taking this story. How would she resolve it happily? (In Jane Austen’s time, marrying your cousin was quite okay for Fanny Price… in our day, marrying your foster brother still might be too weird.) But when Lilly is asked to come back and live with her biological Grandma, the distance between the two makes the relationship feel more… normal. And Harrison turns out to be a jerk. Good riddance!

There were some parts of Austen’s original that I missed, but all in all, it’s a good Mansfield Park alternative that is a quick and romantic read.

A Darcy Christmas—Amanda Grange, Carolyn Eberhardt, Sharon Lathan

I read this because I could download it for free. It contains three short pieces of fiction, all about Austen’s original characters in a Christmas setting. The first two were great—quick, fun, full of Darcy and Lizzie and “what if” Christmas scenarios—one was a Christmas Carol with Darcy as Scrooge! The third portion, however, I quit reading. Sharon Lathan gets way too involved with bedroom scenes. So if you want a fun Austen Christmas book, I can recommend two-thirds of this one. J

Georgiana Darcy’s Diary—Anna Elliot

With a name like Anna Elliot, how can you NOT be an Austenesque writer? I enjoyed this book a great deal. It was written with language and mannerisms that are true to Austen’s originals. It depicts Georgiana Darcy just coming of age, being trailed by suitors—but her heart was taken years ago, by none other than her cousin and co-guardian, Colonel Fitzwilliam. True, there’s about 15 years of age difference, but she’s been praying for his safety while he’s away fighting old Nappy, and he’s been dreaming of her while on the battlefield. It’s a sweet romance and it ends beautifully—and there’s a sequel I haven’t got around to, yet.

The Kiss of a Stranger—Sarah M. Eden

This falls under the Regency romance heading, so it’s not technically Austen fan fiction—but it’s set in the same era and has the same societal structure that I love reading about.

I read this in a day and a half, so it’s a quick read. It was lent to me by a friend, and I can’t remember the main characters’ names… sorry! But in a nutshell: A young woman, berated and much abused by a greedy uncle, is accosted and kissed by a kind, rich stranger. Well, kissing in those days means marriage, so the greedy uncle forces the marriage to occur. Now the rich, young man has a wife and while debating whether to get it annulled, well, she’s so charming and perfectly suited to him, they fall in love.

The one thing I disliked about this book is that the main characters are so obviously falling for each other, but will either of them say something? Will they even just hint at, “I might be falling for you?” No. But there are a few tender conversations and even more tender embraces that should make them stop and say, hey, I think he/she loves me. But then some ill-phrased comment or misconstrued glance separates them for weeks.

Aside from the frustration of dragging out the will-he-won’t-he tension behind the annulment decision, this was a romance I just devoured. I went on to read two more of her Regency books, Seeking Persephone and An Unlikely Match. I read them both in two days. This author really likes throwing her main characters into impossible love matches, so it’s all very frustrating romantic tension. But for a quick, romantic read, go ahead and indulge.

Edenbrooke—Julianne Donaldson

I got this book for Christmas, and I read it in the couple of days following the holiday. Then I read her next book, Blackmoore. These are books I’ve been wanting to read ever since I’d seen them adverstised, so I anxiously devoured them (as I do most books).

Anyway, Edenbrooke did not disappoint. My very, very favorite part is when the heroine, Marianne, is sitting in an inn, having just carried her shot-up, bleeding carriage driver away from the scene of a highway robbery, and she’s being bothered by a not-so-gentlemanly gentleman. So she pretends to be a dairymaid, and sings this song: “Big cows, lumps of meat, give me milk, warm and sweet!” I laughed so hard at that! Because I know that cows are rather frustrating “lumps of meat” and that little ditty is just genius.

Overall, this story had some hilarious moments, some romantic tension, and a lot of a beautiful manor and a gorgeous gentleman. Plus some really odd but page-turning twists. I think it’s an excellent Regency story, especially since this is her first novel.

*Blackmoore—Julianne Donaldson

Having said that about Edenbrooke, I must say this: Blackmoore is three times better. The book has beautiful allegories woven throughout it, comparing our loving lady to a bird trapped in a cage. The birds and birdsongs of England are described throughout the book. The setting of a windy, rainy moor abutting the sea makes a much more somber mood. And it should be—because instead of giggling like I did during scenes in Edenbrooke, I cried for the last third of this book. It was a heart-wrenching situation where two people who love each other can’t declare it—their families would throw them apart if they did. And in the end, they are apart, anyway. (Don’t worry, it does end well.)

I felt this was a triumphant follow up, and the author really found her strengths in storytelling. It was a different style of story, with many flashbacks used to unfold the reasons behind our leading lady’s refusal to accept her feelings for her guy—or any guy, for that matter. But as the story eventually fell into place, you could really feel how appropriate the bird-in-cage analogy was. I loved it.

One final review:

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

Yes, I read the original Wuthering Heights. It’s not Austenesque but written in the same era. And it was sad. The poor, tortured people who had to live with mean old Heathcliff and his bad temper—I feel for them. To not ever have love turn out like it should, whether love in a family or love between spouses, makes a truly disheartening world.

(Edit: After I first posted this, I remembered two other books I read last year.)
Midnight in Austenland-Shannon Hale -- Good, but not as good as Austenland. And the movie Austenland was great! I'm buying it when it comes out on dvd Feb. 11.
Persuasion-Rebecca H. Jamison -- It's very similar to the book I wrote myself.... and my jealousy that she got published and I didn't prevents me from saying any more.