Tag: jane austen

Book Review: Emma of 83rd Street

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Emma of 83rd Street by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding ~ 384 pages ~ to be published May 23, 2023 by Gallery Books

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this witty and romantic debut novel, Jane Austen’s Emma meets the misadventures of Manhattan’s modern dating scene as two lifelong friends discover that, in the search for love, you sometimes don’t have to look any further than your own backyard.

Beautiful, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse has lived twenty-three years in her tight-knit Upper East Side neighborhood with very little to distress or vex her…that is, until her budding matchmaking hobby results in her sister’s marriage—and subsequent move downtown. Now, with her sister gone and all her friends traveling abroad, Emma must start her final year of grad school grappling with an entirely new emotion: boredom. So when she meets Nadine, a wide-eyed Ohio transplant with a heart of gold and drugstore blonde highlights to match, Emma not only sees a potential new friend but a new project. If only her overbearing neighbor George Knightley would get out of her way.

Handsome, smart, and successful, the only thing that frustrates Knightley more than a corked whiskey is his childhood friend, Emma. Whether it’s her shopping sprees between classes or her revolving door of ill-conceived hobbies, he is only too happy to lecture her on all the finer points of adulthood she’s so hellbent on ignoring. But despite his gripes—and much to his own chagrin—Knightley can’t help but notice that the girl-next-door is a woman now…one who he suddenly can’t get out of his head.

As Emma’s best laid plans collide with everyone from polyamorous hipster baristas to meddling family members to flaky playboy millionaires, these two lifelong friends slowly realize their need to always be right has been usurped by a new need entirely, and it’s not long before they discover that even the most familiar stories still have some surprises.

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Book Review: The Late Mrs. Willoughby

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The Late Mrs. Willoughby (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, #2) by Claudia Gray ~ 400 pages ~ to be published on May 16, 2023 by Vintage Books

Goodreads Synopsis:

The suspenseful sequel to The Murder of Mr. Wickham, which sees Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney reunited, and with another mystery to solve: the dreadful poisoning of the scoundrel Willoughby’s new wife.

Catherine and Henry Tilney of Northanger Abbey are not entirely pleased to be sending their eligible young daughter Juliet out into the world again: the last house party she attended, at the home of the Knightleys, involved a murder—which Juliet helped solve. Particularly concerning is that she intends to visit her new friend Marianne Brandon, who’s returned home to Devonshire shrouded in fresh scandal—made more potent by the news that her former suitor, the rakish Mr. Willoughby, intends to take up residence at his local estate with his new bride.

Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley are thrilled that their eldest son, Jonathan—who, like his father, has not always been the most socially adept—has been invited to stay with his former schoolmate, John Willoughby. Jonathan himself is decidedly less taken with the notion of having to spend extended time under the roof of his old bully, but that all changes when he finds himself reunited with his fellow amateur sleuth, the radiant Miss Tilney. And when shortly thereafter, Willoughby’s new wife—whom he married for her fortune—dies horribly at the party meant to welcome her to town.

With rumors flying and Marianne—known to be both unstable and previously jilted by the dead woman’s newly made widower—under increased suspicion, Jonathan and Juliet must team up once more to uncover the murderer. But as they collect clues and close in on suspects, eerie incidents suggest that the killer may strike again, and that the pair are in far graver danger than they or their families could imagine.

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Book Review: The Murder of Mr. Wickham

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The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray ~ 400 pages ~ to be published May 3, 2022 by Vintage

Goodreads Synopsis:

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a house party, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.

Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. In a tantalizing fusion of Austen and Christie, the unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.

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Book Review: Sense and Second-Degree Murder

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Sense and Second-Degree Murder by Tirzah Price ~ 416 pages ~ published April 5, 2022 by HarperCollins

Goodreads Synopsis:

When eighteen-year-old aspiring scientist Elinor Dashwood discovers her beloved father slumped over the desk of his office study, she knows his death means dire straits for the Dashwood women. To make matters worse, an outdated will entails his estate—including Norland & Company, the private investigation firm where her younger sister Marianne worked as her father’s partner and protégé—to their half-brother and his haughty wife, who waste no time in forcing the Dashwoods out of their home and into a cramped apartment on London’s Barton Street.

But before they go, the Dashwood sisters make a startling discovery that points to foul play, and the killer might be family.

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Books with One-Word Titles

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This was a prompt on an Instagram photo challenge the other day, and I thought it would make for a fun list. I took a look at my shelves, and I pulled a selection of books that have one-word titles. I thought that these would be a bit difficult to find, but I had a lot more than I originally assumed that I would.

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My Favorite Stand-Alone Novels

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We all know that it is exciting to find a great series that you can get into, in large part because you can then dive into that world over the course of multiple books. But, what about fantastic stand-alones? I personally love a great stand-alone since I can get a complete story in one go. Sometimes you don’t want to invest all of your reading time into a long series. This is where stand-alones are the perfect thing to pick up!

Here are some of my favorite stand-alone novels!

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