A Writer's Take on Cozy Classics: Pride and Prejudice by Jack and Holman Wang

I saw this title on NetGalley and I just had to download it to see what it was all about. And I must say, for as simple as it is (it is for children, after all), it is absolutely adorable. But of course, as Pride and Prejudice is both my favorite book and movie... of course it is. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Here is a little preview of just how adorable it is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here, in the official "Chapter One" the little reader is introduced to Mr. Charles Bingley and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

 And then they are introduced to Elizabeth Bennet and her elder sister and best friend, Jane Bennet.

 

Jane has a wonderful time meeting good natured Mr. Bingley and dances with him a good number of times before the night is through.

However, upon first meeting Mr. Darcy (as you should all know!), he is very inconsiderate to our dear Lizzie Bennet.

Jane, upon being invited to the Bingley's house, becomes terribly ill. 

Lizzie goes to see her ailing sister.

 

 Mr. Darcy, love-sick and unable to contain his feelings, asks Lizzie to marry him, confessing his undying love for her. Certainly, she'll say yes!

But alas! No, she cannot!

Darcy writes her a letter... (um yeah, like I said, this is an extremely simplistic version of the story).  

Lizzie reads Darcy's letter.

Yay! Things are all cleared up and Mr. Darcy declares his love once more and his suit is accepted!

And as all happily ever afters should, the story ends with a wedding for Mr. Bingley and Jane as well as for Mr. Darcy and our dearest Lizzie Bennet.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To find out more about this board book, click here. 

To find out more about Cozy Classics, click here.  

To buy Cozy Classics: Pride and Prejudice, click here.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I received an eBook version of this board book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

A Writer's Review of “A Tryst With Trouble" by Alyssa Everett

It has been a very very very long time since I've enjoyed a book as much as I enjoyed Alyssa Everett's debut novel, A Tryst With Trouble. 

I know most of the books I read and review on here are from the Christian Publishing Market... but last week I was getting to the point of frustration at not being able to find a book WORTH reading. There are TONS of books out there--but I wanted to read something I would LOVE. This is the very reason I thought I didn't like to read until I accidentally stumbled upon Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca in my high school's lending library at the age of fifteen. Up until that day, I didn't know there were books out there which I would actually ENJOY reading! Well, anyway, on a regular basis I find myself searching high and low for my next captivating read... and more often than not, I become disappointed by only delving into so many "just good enough" novels.

So I turned to my NetGalley account... in hopes of finding something to abate this desire to be caught up in another world. And I'm so glad I did. Gathering that it wasn't an "inspirational" book, I did look it up on Goodreads first to see what was being said about it. Almost everyone who'd read and reviewed it already had it listed as a 5 star novel... "even though it didn't have a sex scene." Well, that last bit was what made me really want to read it. A secular novel getting 5 star reviews without having sex scenes littering the pages? Sounded like something I might like.    

A Tryst With Trouble was nearly perfect and had me bursting out with laughter at times. The author's voice and writing is exceptional... I could read it all day long without ever growing bored of it. Having a story written from the first person point of view of both the hero and heroine isn't something I see a lot of, but whenever I do see it, I love it.  

The ONLY thing that I would have changed about this book was one "rated R" scene (though I must add that it was NOT a sex scene, only... ALMOST one). And once I was through with the novel, I realized it was actually a fundamental part of the plot near the end. The hero and heroine both felt guilty for their actions afterwards, and both strived to do what was best for the other person. Overall it was a rather clean read if you love regency romance/suspense/humor. Even with that one quite racy scene (as well as a few others which were only borderline) I cannot help but give A Tryst With Trouble 5 stars.

I read this as an advance reader ebook from NetGalley and hardly saw a thing wrong with it. And that says a lot since I'm a fellow writer, exceptionally tough critic, and an editor (of words, story and plot) at heart. I already have A Tryst With Trouble pre-ordered at Barnes and Noble because I know this is going to be one of those books I will always be able to turn to when I can find nothing else worth reading. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, Dorchester Publishing went out of business before this book could be published. The author was able to get the rights back and her new publisher will be releasing it September of 2013. 

A Writer's Review of “The Accidental Bride" by Denise Hunter

My favorite books are always ones in which the characters go through struggles to get their happy endings. Well, not really just struggles... but intense, heart-breaking, emotional pain. And this is why I am addicted to Denise Hunter’s writing. 

Her book The Accidental Bride was excellent. I was so exited to see that it was about Shay Brandenberger, a character from Denise Hunter’s first book in the Big Sky Romances series, A Cowboy’s Touch. She was referred to in the first book as a brokenhearted single-mom who was unable to get over her first love, Travis McCoy, who’d left her at the altar fourteen years ago.

Denise Hunter weaves an amazing story between these two—a story that had my heart hurting for both of them continually throughout the book. But don’t think it’s a downer of a book—it certainly is not. It is a book about a deep, undying love between seemingly star-crossed soul-mates. It’s about a love that wins in the end despite Shay and Travis’ very real fears and apprehensions caused by their past experiences—a love that wins despite everything standing in its way.  

This book is part of Denise Hunter’s Big Sky Romances series, but can also be read on its own or even in reverse order. 

NetGalley (with permission from Thomas Nelson Publishing) supplied me with an electronic version of this book as an Advanced Reader’s Edition (which means it was an uncorrected proof and not the final interior of the novel) in return for my honest opinion of the book. I give The Accidental Bride 5 stars. 

If I had this book in paper form I would pass it around to everyone I know and insist that they read it.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Accidental Bride right now, click here.

A Writer's Review of “The Guardian Duke" by Jamie Carie

I have the Kindle app on my iPhone. But you see, my iPhone’s screen is quite small, so therefore I don’t generally look forward to reading any of the (100+) books I’ve downloaded (mostly for free). Well, that was until I figured out NetGalley (earlier this week) and downloaded The Guardian Duke, the first book in Jamie Carie’s The Forgotten Castles series.
I signed up to review up and coming books for NetGalley back in March. But because of my utter lack of knowledge pertaining to GETTING their ebooks onto my Kindle app, it’s taken nine months for me to actually read one. And boy did I read it. On my iPhone.

Jamie Carie is one of those authors who have a style all her own, no matter what specific genre she might dive into next. If I remember correctly, all of her books generally go from one distinct time in history to the next. With this particular book, I was excited to see the word “duke” in the title. The first book I ever read by Jamie Carie was The Duchess and The Dragon—which was also about a Duke in the Regency Era but was set, for the most part, in Colonial America amidst a Quaker community.

Anyway, I read The Guardian Duke in a matter of days, as I said, on my iPhone. I literally could not put it down. When I had to, I made sure I turned my phone off with the Kindle page I was on ready to go. The Guardian Duke wasn’t quite written like any book I’ve ever read. Every other chapter detailed the life of the Duke St. Easton/Gabriel Ravenwood of London and Lady Alexandria Featherstone of Holy Island, and how their lives were “just about” to intersect. I kept thinking, these two HAVE to meet SOON!!!!!! And yet they didn’t, for the most part, except through their lovely telling letters to one another.

Well, they did meet. And it was awesome. Just as I would have planned out myself, only I’d not gone so far to think of the ball as a masquerade. The Guardian Duke, in general, actually reminded me very much of one of my favorite authors (and master of the Recency Era time period), Georgette Heyer. And if anyone can write a Regency that comes anywhere near being like Georgette Heyer—you know that author has talent.

One of the things that I don’t like about ebooks is that I have no real idea of how far I am in a book. I knew Jamie Carie had written this book as the first in a series of three—but I didn’t realize that all three books were about the same Lady and Duke!!! Until I got to the last page on my Kindle download... and I kept trying to turn the page without any luck.

There HAD TO BE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom was sitting next to me and I could tell she thought something was terribly amiss. People just don’t usually, frantically keep poking their iPhone saying, “No!!!!!! That can’t be all there is!!!!!”


Well I do, and I did. And five seconds later, I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized I’d also downloaded Jamie Carie’s second book in The Forgotten Castle’s series, The Forgiven Duke from NetGalley. And to my immense delight, it started right up where the first left off. Now, all I have to do is read all the way through it in expectation that I will still have to read the third book in the series, A Duke’s Promise, before I can see this AMAZING couple (who are certainly worth three books, in my opinion!) happily together.

I loved this book for so many reasons. I think the main reason is that I just plain LOVE the way Jamie Carie is able to write a story. Her characters are deep and they stick with you, even years after reading of them.

As I said before, NetGalley (with permission from B&H Publishing Group) supplied me with an electronic version of this book as an Advanced Reader’s Edition (which means it was an uncorrected proof and not the final interior of the novel) in return for my honest opinion of the book. I give The Guardian Duke 5 stars.

All three books in The Forgotten Castles series will be published in 2012. And NetGalley BETTER supply me with A Duke’s Promise soon, or I might have to write my own Regency just to get my fix.

If you would like to watch the video book trailer for The Guardian Duke, click here.  
     
The Guardian Duke, February 1, 2012
The Forgiven Duke, July 1, 2012
A Duke’s Promise, Autumn/Winter 2012

Here are a few sneak peeks at what the cover of the third book might look like.