The Books I Read - Just for Fun - In October

Started 10/26                                                  Finished 11/2  
I’d never read Persuasion by Jane Austen before, but I’ve met her main characters, Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth in a few other variations. I just read one, and I was curious about the original, so I picked it up.

It amazes me how Jane’s writing holds up, over 300 years after it was published. It’s sharp and witty, but so different from today’s novel structure. Jane spent the 1st three or four chapters setting the stage. We’re introduced to Anne’s family – to her father and sisters, to their home Kellynch before Anne and the Captain finally appear together. But it holds up. I’m still reading because I like the way Jane tells a story. 

​Amazon’s Description:
Persuasion is linked to Northanger Abbey not only by the fact that the two books were originally bound up in one volume and published together, but also because both stories are set partly in Bath, a fashionable city with which Austen was well acquainted, having lived there from 1801 to 1805.
Besides the theme of persuasion, the novel evokes other topics, such as the Royal Navy, in which two of Jane Austen's brothers ultimately rose to the rank of admiral. As in Northanger Abbey, the superficial social life of Bath—well known to Austen, who spent several relatively unhappy and unproductive years there—is portrayed extensively and serves as a setting for the second half of the book. In many respects Persuasion marks a break with Austen's previous works, both in the more biting, even irritable satire directed at some of the novel's characters and in the regretful, resigned outlook of its otherwise admirable heroine, Anne Elliot, in the first part of the story. Against this is set the energy and appeal of the Royal Navy, which symbolizes for Anne and the reader the possibility of a more outgoing, engaged, and fulfilling life, and it is this worldview which triumphs for the most part at the end of the novel.
 

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Me as a Reader – This is me, at the lake, reading my kindle. One of my favorite books is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I met it in the 70’s in high school, and I’m still reading it, but now I’m reading the P&P variations that have grown popular over the last 20 or 30 years.

Why do I love this book so much? First it’s the characters Jane Austen created – Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, Jane Bennett and Bingley, Bingley’s sisters Caroline and Louisa, Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, and their other daughters Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. Each one is great in their own unique way!

I also love the plot. For the 1800’s Jane Austen was ahead of her time. Elizabeth isn’t meek and mild. She speaks her mind, and she speaks it to someone as rich and privileged as Fitzwilliam Darcy. But most of all it’s a great romance novel, and it has a happy ending. Two of my favorite things in books!

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Started 10/23
No Pride or Prejudice in this one. It’s all about Persuasion with Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth. I’m fascinated by how the author takes the classic story and weaves her fantasy with dragons around them.  And, she still maintains the important things about their characters and their story. It’s amazing!
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Amazon’s Description:
In order to secure her future, a young lady must marry well. One would think Anne Elliot, a baronet’s daughter, would find the marriage mart far easier to navigate than a more ordinary woman. One would be wrong.

After refusing a poor, but otherwise perfect sailor, on the advice of her friend Lady Russell, Anne finds an unhappy choice before her: marry deathly dull Charles Musgrove or hope against hope that another suitable proposal might come her way before she becomes a spinster on the shelf.

Anne’s disgracefully independent choice to refuse Charles’ offer turns her world entirely arsey-varsey and not in the expected turned upside down sort of way. She begins to see things … hear things … things like dragons. And once one sees dragons, one talks to them. And when one talks to them, nothing is ever the same again. Must a young lady marry well if she hears dragons? A must-read gas lamp dragon fantasy! Jane Austen meets Anne McCaffrey with a touch of Harry Potter!

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Started 10/19                                                         Finished 10/22
This isn’t really an introduction to dragons! It’s an introduction to Elizabeth’s back story with them. Maria will take you back in time to meet Elizabeth as a tween, when she was discovering dragons. She wove details together from her 1st three books to show how Elizabeth became the Dragon Sage of Book 3. Read, and you’ll find out details like how Elizabeth got her fairy dragon April, or how she discovered how to help teething dragons.
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Amazon’s Description:
Nobody had any compassion for dragon lore expert Thomas Bennet’s nerves.  He was reconciled to the fact he was father to some of the silliest girls in the country. However, he had suspected for some time that little Elizabeth was different. When she befriended the old tatzelwurm in the woods, he was convinced.

As much as her father might rant and storm about the need for secrecy and expect that to be the end of it, Elizabeth cannot contain her curiosity about all things dragonic. Nor, would it seem, could she stem the development of her unique and prodigious talent for bonding with the creatures.
 
When Elizabeth discovers an abandoned clutch of fairy dragon eggs, Mr. Bennet finds an unhappy alternative before him. Somehow, he must save the dragon eggs, contend with the jealous estate dragon, and keep it all hidden from his family…or risk exposure of England’s greatest secret and the breaking of the Pendragon Treaty that keeps the tenuous peace between man and dragon.
 
And through it all, can he help his precocious, passionate daughter find her place in a dangerous world that little tolerance for little girls. Jane Austen meets Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern. A must read for Pern fans.

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Started 10/14                                                      Finished 10/18 
Another day, a new book, and a new dragon – Netherfield! He’s stirring the pot, with a little help from Lydia and Wickham. They’re just as self-centered and wicked as they were when Jane Austen created the original P&P. The difference - this time Darcy and Elizabeth must rescue them, plus a dragon or two.

​Amazon’s Description:
Elizabeth Bennet, Dragon Keeper, accidental guardian of Pemberley the young firedrake, and even more accidentally betrothed of one Fitzwilliam Darcy, would beg to disagree. Banished from her home, her marriage indefinitely delayed, and desperate to secure Pemberley’s future, Elizabeth must tame a rogue dragon who is determined that she is the last Dragon Keeper in the world whom he would ever accept.

Darcy cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which upended every expectation he had for his future. That is not to say this particular future with Elizabeth is unwelcome. But he never expected for that future to be stayed whilst he was called so very far away from her, caught in the middle of keeping the fragile peace between dragons and humans. Darcy discovers a treacherous plot against Elizabeth. More shocking, the heart of the conspiracy beats in someone very near and dear to her.

With war on the horizon, time is running out for Elizabeth and Darcy to save the dragons and any hope of a future together. Meryton meets Pern in a fantastical regency romp bound to delight readers of Jane Austen and Anne McCaffrey alike.         
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Started 10/12                                                      Finished 10/14
It took me a week to finish Pemberley, but I’m already 84% of the way through Longbourn. I love travel days & reading!

What amazes me is how the author changed a few minor details to make the plot work with dragons. Would you believe Mary is closer to Elizabeth than Jane? Or that Mr. Bennett values the family dragon more than Elizabeth? But don’t worry! Lady Catherine is up to her usual tricks, and Elizabeth and Darcy don’t disappoint as they find their way toward the altar.

Amazon’s Description:
​A dragon’s imagination is very rapid. It jumps from separation to anxiety, and anxiety to wreaking havoc.

Fitzwilliam Darcy finds caring for a baby dragon more of a fraught guardianship than anticipated. Little Pemberley may have survived a perilous hatching and still successfully imprinted on humans, but she’s pining for one particular human to the point she is fast becoming a danger to herself and others.

Elizabeth Bennet may yearn for baby Pemberley, but she has her own share of misfortunes to manage. Her cousin Mr. Collins, heir to the Longbourn entail, has decided that marrying her will add very greatly to his future happiness. While the estate dragon agrees--and insists she accept him--Elizabeth and the rest of Longbourn's dragons insist he is the last man in the world whom she could ever be prevailed on to marry--a better dragon's dinner than a husband.

​It’s disappointment and spleen all around as Lady Catherine de Bourgh involves herself in the affair after hearing reports of a most alarming nature. There are few people in England besides herself who could make things worse. In that, Lady Catherine is a true proficient. Baby Pemberley’s fate is caught in a deadly tangle of families and fortunes, forcing Darcy and Elizabeth to take the biggest gamble of their lives to win or lose it all. Jane Austen meets Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern. A must read for Pern fans. Book 2 in the Jane Austen's Dragons series.

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Started 10/6                                                         Finished 10/12
I read about 60% of this book by the 7th. Today’s the 9th, and I’ve only edged forward a few pages. I’m looking forward to finishing it on the 11th . . . when I’m back on the road again.

I’ve read Pemberley before, and I bought the next two books in this series. I almost didn’t try it. I’ve read a lot of Pride & Prejudice variations, but I refused to open P&P with Zombies. No way, but I was curious how someone would combine Mr. Darcy, dragons, and Elizabeth.

I was pleasantly surprised! Elizabeth and Darcy were true to Jane Austen’s original story, and I liked how the dragons fit into that plot. Pemberley was well done. No wonder it’s the first book in a series of eight.

Amazon’s Description:
England is overrun by dragons of all shapes and sizes. Most people are blissfully unaware of them and the Pendragon Treaty that keeps the peace between human and dragon kind. Only those born with preternatural hearing, like Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are able to hear and converse with dragonkind. When the first firedrake egg laid in a century is stolen from Pemberley, the fragile dragon peace teeters on collapse. Darcy has no choice but to chase down the thief, a journey that leads him to quaint market town of Meryton and fellow Dragon Keeper, Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth shares a unique bond with dragons, stronger than anything Darcy has ever experienced. More than that, her vast experience and knowledge of dragon lore may be the key to uncovering the lost egg. But Elizabeth can’t stand Darcy’s arrogance and doesn’t trust him to care properly for a precious baby firedrake. After all, he already lost the egg once. What’s to prevent it from happening again? Can he win her trust and recover the stolen egg before it hatches and sends England spiraling back into the Dark Ages of Dragon War?

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​Me as a Reader – This is how I read for fun – with my kindle. I’m usually somewhere in my house, curled up on a comfy couch or chair.

​ I’d rather have a kindle than a real book. I have 297 books on mine. They don’t take up space, and I don’t need to dust them. I don’t need a book mark because I never lose my place. If food drips on it, I wipe it right off. No stain! It’s perfect!

I usually get to read in bits of time here and there., but this week I’m traveling. My husband loves to drive so I get HUGE chunks of time to read. Yesterday I read a book in ONE day. I haven’t done that in like, forever! It was lovely! I dove into the story and followed it all the way to the end. There wasn’t anything to interrupt me. It’s a luxury I don’t often have – so I’m enjoying every minute – while it lasts!

PS – I got to read 58% of my new book today, but we arrived at our destination. Tomorrow I’ll be back to bits and pieces again, but everything is good in moderation. Even books!

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Started 10/5                                                       Finished 10/6
This book is almost a month old. It came out September 8th. I’ve never read it before, but I’ve read the first 4 books in the series. I preordered this one and started it yesterday. It’s a fast read! I just finished it today!

I knew this book would be Jamie’s story. From the beginning there’s been a mystery – what happened to him. By the 2nd or 3rd book I discovered Jamie was a her, that she was married to Kieran MacTavish, that there was a horrible accident with the ship, and that everyone believed Jamie was dead. Now I know the back story Nicole wove through these 5 books. It’s been like following a trail of bread crumbs . . . To a final satisfying ending!
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Amazon’s Description:
Miss Eilidh Fyffe always assumed her life would follow a predictable pattern—meet a charming man, fall in love, marry, and live happily ever after. But when an accident damages her memory, she is left with only questions. Has she already fallen in love and married? If only she could remember . . .

Master Kieran MacTavish has spent six years searching for his lost wife. But, turns out, finding Eilidh alive is only the beginning of the battle. She has no memory of him—no recollection of their courtship, love, or handfasting. Refusing to be discouraged, Kieran relishes the chance to make Eilidh fall for him all over again. Surely he can rekindle the flame of their love.

But the intervening years have changed them both. Eilidh is crippled by grief—the deaths of her father, her younger brother, Jamie, and others overwhelm her. And the more Kieran comes to know this new Eilidh, the more he is haunted by the woman she once was. Throughout it all, one question looms large—Is your love still your love if the person they once were no longer exists?

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