1932 - Pride & Prejudice Revisited: 2nd Edition - by Karen M Cox

Today I'm happy to be welcoming Karen M Cox back to Babblings of a Bookworm. Karen's books often take Austen's works to other eras, and my personal favourite of her books, 1932, transports Pride & Prejudice to the Great American Depression of the 1930s. Karen has revised and re-launched this book and comes here today with a post about 1930s movies, and a chance for me to share my review of the 2nd edition of 1932 with you. She also brings a giveaway! Read on for more details!

Book Description

“…do anything rather than marry without affection.” 

—Pride and Prejudice

During the upheaval of the Great Depression, Elizabeth Bennet’s life is torn asunder. Her family’s relocation from the bustle of the big city to a quiet family farm has changed her future, and now, she must build a new life in rural Meryton, Kentucky. 

William Darcy suffered family turmoil of his own, but he has settled into a peaceful life at Pemberley, the largest farm in the county. Single, rich, and seemingly content, he remains aloof—immune to any woman’s charms. 

Until Elizabeth Bennet moves to town.

As Darcy begins to yearn for something he knows is missing, Elizabeth’s circumstances become more dire. Can the two put aside their pride and prejudices long enough to find their way to each other? 

1932, Karen M Cox’s award-winning debut novel, is a matchless variation on Jane Austen’s classic tale.  

Winner of the Bronze Independent Publishers Book Award in Romance, 2011

Guest Post from Karen M Cox - Movies

Thank, Ceri, for welcoming me to Babblings of a Bookworm to celebrate the new 1932. As part of the blog tour, I’ve gathered some fun information about the time period of the book, the 1930s. Yes, the decade of the Great Depression had tragedy and suffering, but it also had joy too, shining through like a brilliant smile suddenly appearing in the stoic countenance of a certain Austen hero.

With that in mind, here are the 5 Best Movies Set During the Great Depression. Why are they the best? Well, because I said so, I guess!  Here we go...

• The Sting (1973) Why? Because I've always had a huge crush on Paul Newman.
• O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000) Why? Because it's my dad's favorite movie. And it has great quotable lines, like "I've spoken my piece and counted to three," and "Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity. Two weeks from everywhere!"
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Why? Because Atticus Finch. And Gregory Peck. That is all.
• The Untouchables (1987) Why? Because it's dramatic, and the actors are superb: Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia, Charles Martin Smith, and Robert De Niro just nail their roles in this one.
• Cinderella Man (2005) Why? Because James J Braddock rises like a phoenix above the ashes of adversity. And a man who takes care of his family is sexy as hell.

 Okay, movie buffs, have your share in the conversation—anything I missed?

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1932 - Pride & Prejudice Revisited by Karen M Cox - My Review

1932 is a story based on Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, but moved into Depression-era Kentucky. It doesn’t follow Austen’s story exactly, but takes the characters into another era. When I first discovered the Austenesque genre 1932 was one of the early stories that I found, and I loved it! You can see my review ofthe first version here. 

When I heard that Karen M Cox was planning to release a second edition of 1932 I was equally excited and apprehensive; I am such a fan of the book that I was happy that it was getting some attention, but I was a little worried that the things that I charmed me in the first version might be removed or changed in this one but I still jumped at the chance to read and review it for the blog tour.

One of the things that worries Mrs Bennet in P&P is the insecurity of the Bennets’ situation – they only have Longbourn as long as Mr Bennet lives. In 1932 the economic downturn is what has done for the Bennets’ financial security – Mr Bennet has lost his job, teaching at a university, and some investments haven’t worked out, meaning that he doesn’t have back-up savings. As he hasn’t been able to find another job, the whole Bennet family are going to move to the country, where her maternal uncle, Edward Gardiner is the local vet and still owns the Gardiner family farm, which he offers to the Bennets.

Elizabeth is a university student, but her family will no longer be able to afford the fees. Instead she will have to take a job at her uncle’s surgery to help out the family finances. Her elder sister Jane is found a job at a local store and the rest of the family are going to have to pitch in at the farm. Even so, it will be touch and go as to how they will manage; they are moving at the wrong time of year to plant crops so it’ll be some time before they can stand on their own feet financially.

Lizzy finds the whole situation chafing to her pride; she has moved to a society where she feels like just another poor girl. However, she soon begins to make friends in the town of Meryton, and she begins to attract the notice of a local farm owner, a certain William Darcy, although as his notice towards her doesn’t seem very admiring, she can’t really account for it:

Again, when she looked up, she caught Mr. Darcy staring at her. He turned quickly when she saw him. Elizabeth self-consciously rubbed an imaginary ink smudge from her cheek and returned her attention to Reverend Adams.

Mr Darcy lives with his sister, Georgiana. She has two daughters and there is some mystery surrounding the father of the children, as Georgiana is still calling herself Miss Darcy. Darcy is proud and reserved, but he shows another side of himself in his love for his nieces.

Meeting Miss Elizabeth Bennet has taken Darcy by surprise; she has entered into his well-ordered life and he can’t get her out of his head. He doesn’t want to love, having seen what misery it can bring but he is quite bewitched by Elizabeth and is very attracted to her. He feels compelled by this attraction to propose marriage. He doesn’t offer her love, but what he does offer her is an escape from her family life. This would be a way to ease the burdens on her family’s finances. This is an Elizabeth who has little hope for the future, so she decides to take a gamble on improving the short-term future rather than hold out hope of getting a better long-term future. There is another motivation for her gamble though:

She looked up at him and the words died in her throat. He was watching her with an intensity that was unnerving at worst, and at best–well it was somewhat stirring.

A marriage of convenience between two proud people who are both keeping secrets from each other… what could possibly go wrong?!

So, what is it that I love about this book? Firstly, I love the fact that this is set in a different period. I think that the options for women in those times were limited, although obviously there were more options than in a Regency setting.

I like the way that that author took text from Pride & Prejudice and worked it naturally into the different setting:

She had accused him of being too quick to judge others based on outward appearances, but was she not just as guilty as he? Until this moment, she had never truly known herself, and the knowledge she had gained was troubling.

What I love most about this book is the feelings, particularly on Darcy’s side. He thinks he is infatuated with Elizabeth and has offered her a marriage based on compatibility and sense. When he realises that he feels more for his new wife than he has professed, he doesn’t have much hope that things will improve:

He was in love with the new Mrs. Darcy, and the pain of it was acute, because he knew she didn’t return his feelings.

When I started reading this second edition I didn’t know how comprehensive the changes were, whether I’d even notice them. However, in addition to minor amendments there were also several scenes added, some of which gave more of a flavour of the pre-marriage period, showing the building relationship between the couple, and also giving more insight into one of the secrets Darcy is keeping from his wife.

For those who like to know about these things, there are some sex scenes in this book. In this sort of marriage of convenience scenario, this kind of intimate scene can highlight for the reader the state of a relationship. I was glad to see the notable sex scene of the wedding night made it from the first edition into the second. It’s notable to me as so often first sex scenes between inexperienced people seem highly romanticised, and this one seemed more real!

It’s also worth noting that there is a ‘sidequel’ to this story - The Journey Home which looks at Georgiana’s story. I would read 1932 first and then move on to The Journey Home.

In summary, I loved the second edition of 1932 just as much as the first; the changes made between the editions only enhanced the story for me. It was already a story that I re-read, but I will enjoy my reads all the more now! This is a definite 5 star read for me.

Author Bio

Karen M Cox is an award-winning author of five novels accented with history and romance, a novella, and several short stories.

Karen was born in Everett WA, the daughter of a United States Air Force Officer. She had a nomadic childhood, with stints in North Dakota, Tennessee, and New York State before settling in her family’s home state of Kentucky at age eleven. She lives in a quiet town with her husband and works as a pediatric speech pathologist.

If you would like periodic bits of authorly goodness delivered to your inbox, be sure to get Karen’s News and Muse Letter. Updates, sales, book recommendations, etc. are yours for the asking. 

Social Media and Publicity Links: Website / Instagram / Twitter / Facebook / Tumblr / Pinterest

Buy Links

1932 is available to buy now in both paperback and ebook, and is also available in Kindle Unlimited - Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Add to Goodreads shelf.

The sidequel, The Journey Home is also available to buy now in ebook - Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Add to Goodreads shelf

Giveaway Time!

1932 Tenth Anniversary Edition Launch and Birthday Party

To celebrate the 10th anniversary edition of 1932, Karen is giving away a signed copy of the book and some Jane Austen swag: fun notecards from The Quill Ink, What Would Jane Do? book of quotes, and Austen coffee mug (if US winner) or an ebook copy of the book and 25$ Amazon Gift Card (if International Winner - cause #shipping :) 

To enter, use the Kingsumo link below:

https://kingsumo.com/g/ezayjm/1932-tenth-anniversary-party

Note Regarding Comments: I love to read your comments, but a few blog visitors have reported difficulties in commenting while using the Safari browser. If you are unable to comment, please try using another web browser, such as Google Chrome, or please contact me and I will add your comment for you :)

Blog Tour Schedule

Feb 10          Karen M Cox

Feb 12          More Agreeably Engaged

Feb 15          My Love for Jane Austen

Feb 16          Diary of an Eccentric

Feb 17          The Reading Frenzy

Feb 17          From Pemberley to Milton

Feb 18          Olga: Author, Translator

Feb 19          My Jane Austen Book Club

Feb 20          Austenesque Reviews

Feb 21          Rosie Amber Book Reviews

Feb 21          Babblings of a Bookworm

Feb 25          So Little Time

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I Could Write a Book by Karen M Cox - Blog Tour, Review and Giveaway

Today the blog tour for Karen M Cox's updated version of 'Emma' drops by with my review of the book and an international giveaway opportunity. I'll share the book blurb with you first, and then let you know what I thought of it.

The Mistress by Sophie Turner - Guest Post and Giveaway

I am very pleased to be welcoming Sophie Turner to the blog again today. Sophie has visited previously with her series of books which starts with a sequel to 'Pride & Prejudice'. 'The Constant Love' series has two books currently available, but Sophie's latest book is a stand-alone volume. Again, it's a sequel of sorts to 'Pride & Prejudice' in that it takes place after that timeframe, but here Elizabeth and Darcy didn't marry. Instead she married another. Meeting up some years later, Darcy thinks hopefully of a second chance at happiness, but Elizabeth is by no means keen to marry again.

Let me share the blurb with you, and then we can move on to a guest post that Sophie Turner has for us to enjoy. There is also a giveaway opportunity; 2 ebooks of 'Mistress' are available for you to win. Read on for more details!

Undeceived by Karen M Cox - Blog Tour & Review

Today the blog tour for Karen M Cox’s latest book, ‘Undeceived’ has a stop here for my review of the book. I’ve enjoyed my previous reads of Karen’s stories (here are my reviews of ‘Sunkissed; Effusions of Summer’, which features a 'Northanger Abbey'-inspired short story by Karen M Cox, ‘Find Wonder in All Things’ which is a modern version of ‘Persuasion’ and my favourite story by her, the US-Depression era 'Pride & Prejudice' retelling, ‘1932’) so I was keen to sign up to read this one.

Sketching Mr Darcy by Lory Lilian - Review and Giveaway

Today I am joined by author Lory Lilian who is offering to give away an ebook of her latest book ‘Sketching Mr Darcy’ to TWO lucky readers here.  I will hand you over to Lory, and then you can see what I thought of the book.

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"Sketching Mr. Darcy" is different from my other books because it is the first one that takes a big step away from the original – it moves from the day after the Netherfield Ball into a forced marriage scenario.

For some reason, all the time as I wrote this story, I had in mind Elizabeth and Darcy’s dance at Netherfield: a battle of wills, with two powerful characters trying to stay strong in a situation which they could not control entirely, struggling to discover the person next door – literally next door, as they slept in separate rooms smile emoticon – and to deal with their own feelings. In a certain way, the entire story is a dance – whose steps none of the characters knew well enough - lasting two weeks and almost 400 pages!

Hope you will enjoy following it to see how the dance ends – and I am sure Ceri’s review will be an excellent guidance through it!

Thanks everyone and good luck with the giveaway!

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Sense & Sensuality by Alicia Quigley

Last year I read an historical romance called ‘A Duchess Enraged’ which focused on the relationship between Adam, the Duke of Gravesmere and Allegra, the young woman he’d been forced to marry by his father. I didn’t warm much to either of the protagonists, but I enjoyed some of the secondary characters more, notably Adam’s widowed sister Caroline (Lady Eskmaine), and the rake causing mischief between Adam and Allegra, Lord Gresham. There was obviously some sort of spark between Caroline and Lord Gresham (Tristan). Caroline was a far better match for Tristan intellectually, they sparred verbally and also enjoyed outwitting each other where possible. Although Tristan tried to cause problems in the Gravesmeres’ marriage, he began to soften his cynical stance towards the end of the story, and you wondered if there was hope for him to change his dissolute ways. 'Sense & Sensuality' is Caroline and Tristan’s tale. Please note that this story is not in any way related to 'Sense & Sensibility' by Jane Austen.

Reconciled for Easter by Noelle Adams

This is the fourth book in the 'Willow Park' series, each following a different couple. They are stand-alone stories, but the characters crop up as secondary characters in more than one book. This is the story of Abigail and her estranged husband Thomas, who is the brother of Lydia, the heroine of book three, ‘Family for Christmas’. Abigail and Thomas are separated, but have been attempting to reconcile. This hasn’t been going very well and they’ve taken a six-month break from counselling. At the end of the six months they are going to make a final decision whether to get back together or divorce.

The Darcy Madness by S J Nixon

I originally read 'The Darcy Madness' as it was being posted on the Jane Austen fanfiction site A Happy Assembly. I signed up for notifications to the post so I'd receive an email telling me when a new chapter was posted so I could read each update as soon as possible. When I saw that the story was available to buy on Amazon I was really pleased because I'd enjoyed it so much, it's always nice to see JAFF that you’ve enjoyed reading available to a wider audience.

The madness in question is a curse, which is the affliction of all male Darcys, though the exact nature of the curse isn’t clear at first. This story is from Darcy’s point of view so we are privy to his private thoughts, hearing just how he’s affected by the curse. Darcy appears to be battling with himself all the time, against the curse within him that has led to so many of his forefathers descending into madness and killing their own wives. With such a frightening future in prospect, Darcy has decided never to marry and therefore let the curse die out. But then he accompanies Bingley to Hertfordshire and meets the alluring Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Darcy quickly recognises the danger she poses to his feelings, and bearing in mind the danger she would be in if they married, he goes out of his way to repel her, making sure she hears him comment that she’s not handsome enough to tempt him. However, fate takes a hand, and during the Netherfield Ball, a faulty library door leaves Elizabeth and Darcy trapped together and in the eyes of society, they must marry.

Stripping the Billionaire by Noelle Adams

This is the fourth book in the Heirs of Damon series, which follow the four nephews of Cyrus Damon. We were introduced to black sheep of the family, Ben, in the last book, which was ‘Engaging the Boss’ but Ben’s story gets told here. There were originally five Damon nephews – Ben had an older brother, but he died in a car crash years ago. In the past, Ben tried so hard to be everything that his uncle wanted, but he never felt loved in return, and when his uncle tried to control Ben’s life and dictate who Ben could date that was the final straw. Ben’s career would have been compatible with joining his uncle’s business, as he is an architect, but his determination to be successful on his own terms and without using the Damon name has led him to cut himself off from his family, even going so far as to legally change his last name. Ben’s attendance at his cousin Harrison’s wedding was a mistake as far as he was concerned, and he is determined not to be part of the Damon scene again.

Ben is not the most sociable of people – probably the only person he can count as a friend is the tenacious Mandy, who lives across the hallway from him.

'If he'd been smart, eight months ago when he'd returned from his cousin's wedding to discover someone new had moved in across the hall, he never would have opened the door to the pretty, smiling princess on his doorstep. 

She'd kept knocking on his door, asking for help with moving boxes and rearranging furniture, asking if he wanted dinner since she'd made too much. At first, he'd tried to discourage her, but eventually he hadn't even wanted to. 

Now he was stuck with her. 

Now he was starting to miss her when she didn't come over.'

Mandy is an interior designer who is just starting her own business. Her parents were rich and she’s inherited a lot of money from them following their untimely death in an accident when Mandy was just 17. Mandy doesn’t need to work but she wants to. The other thing that Mandy wants is a family of her own. Her guardian did his job financially, but offered nothing emotionally, dealing with business transactions on Mandy’s behalf but not really welcoming her into his family. Mandy is determined to find a husband and not waste her time dating men who aren’t serious about settling down, however, being a friendly and loving type of person she enjoys being on good terms with her neighbour, including Ben, who Mandy feels must be pretty lonely. Ben is decidedly not Mandy’s type. He’s not husband material, he’s not interested in settling down, he’s a little on the slobby side, pretty grumpy, and Mandy laughingly refers to him as a ‘hulking Neanderthal’. Mandy has been starting to have feelings towards Ben which she needs to stifle, as no matter how fond of him she is, he isn’t going to fit into the husband-shaped hole in her life. Ben is also very attracted to Mandy, but she is everything that would fit straight into the world of the Damons, and that’s a life that Ben has left behind him. Since Ben has a history of being a people-pleaser he doesn’t want to take a chance on taking on a partner who wants him to change into something he doesn’t want to be.

When Ben leaves town to do some renovation work on his mother’s house, in his hometown, Mandy begs to go with him to have the experience to add to her design portfolio.  But Ben still wants to keep his identity a secret, and they both need to fight against the attraction they feel as they want different futures.

I thought this was a really enjoyable, easy reading romance. Mandy was a loveable, sweet heroine, who just needed to relax her inflexible requirements. Ben was more of a mess, he had walls that he needed to let down to allow anybody else near him. You would need Mandy’s impressive level of tenacity to stick with him! I liked that he was a little different from a lot of romantic heroes, we need more hairy, grumpy romantic male leads if you ask me, I far prefer Ben to some bossy alpha male!

In this series, each book has led on to the next, like you’d expect in a series. As this was the last book in the series I liked the fact that this book dealt with Ben, whose brother was involved in the accident that caused the fallout that was resolved in book 1 of the series, it felt like the series came full circle.

Please note that there are a number of sex scenes in this book and some swearing, so if those things are not for you, steer clear.

I’ve really enjoyed this series. They have all been entertaining, light reads, perfect to whip you away from reality for a couple of hours without being too taxing. I’d rate this one as 4 stars.

Blog Tour - Review - Longbourn to London by Linda Beutler

I'm so pleased to be part of the Longbourn to London blog tour celebrating Linda Beutler's latest book release. Today I am sharing with you my review of the book. At the bottom of the post you can find links to other stops on the tour where you can read more about the book and the author, and even win yourself a copy. There are both ebook and paperback versions up for grabs. 

Longbourn to London isn’t a variation or a sequel per se, but instead looks at a part of the story that Austen skims over pretty quickly, the betrothal period of Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. This book picks up a week into the betrothal of our beloved couple and follows them through to the first week or so of their marriage, so it spans around 6 weeks:

“...which to some might appear uneventful. These weeks were, in fact, full of countless small adjustments to their understanding of each other.”

I’d read a book by this author before, The Red Chrysanthemum (you can see my review of that here), which is an Austenesque variation where we see a different type of courtship between the couple, followed by their married life with a particular focus on Elizabeth’s sexual awakening, so I was expecting a sexual element to the book, but it’s actually the key theme of this book. Here Elizabeth grapples with the feelings that Darcy incites within her, and frets about her ignorance of marital relations, a fear which is fuelled by vulgar Aunt Phillips:

“I do feel especially sorry for you Lizzy, as I think Mr. Bingley can be managed, but how you are to control a man who looks at you as Mr. Darcy does, well I am sure I do not know.”

There are a number of additional social engagements due to the betrothals and Elizabeth and Jane find themselves beset by local matrons trying to frighten them with stories of how the marital bed will be for them. After one of these events, where Mrs Bennet does nothing to protect them, Lizzy is unable to sleep. Realising the source of her distress was a lack of knowledge, Lizzy wonders how she can learn of the facts rather than continue to worry in her ignorance and remembers some books she found, years ago in a drawer in her father’s study that she was forbidden to look into. Creeping down to study the books in the middle of the night she is found, but luckily only by Jane, who decides that she is going to try not to worry about things and trust that Mr Bingley will be kind to her. Unfortunately that passive course of action doesn’t recommend itself to Elizabeth, and she decides that she will make a study of the books. She even frankly informs Mr Darcy of her fears, and the books’ existence the next day. Unable to dissuade her, Mr Darcy instead informs Mr Bennet of the issue and Mrs Gardiner finds herself in receipt of several letters all asking for help with Lizzy.

Due to an argument with her husband, Mrs Bennet practically washes her hands of Elizabeth and is pretty unkind to her at every opportunity. This is a fairly harsh portrayal of her, which I always think is a shame, as in Pride and Prejudice I always got the impression that although Lizzy challenged her mother and was her least favourite child I never doubted Mrs Bennet’s love for all her children. I also think that since Lizzy had made a stellar match that Mrs Bennet would be anxious to stay in her good books, as Lizzy would be in a better position than Jane to save Mrs Bennet and any unmarried daughters should Mr Collins turn them out into the hedgerows! I enjoyed the portrayal of Mr Bennet in this story as a loving father to his Lizzy, telling Darcy tales of her childhood, and watching them together to reassure himself of their compatibility.

Although the change from maiden to wife is a big jump Elizabeth is not only going to be doing different things physically, but will be expected to take on the role of being mistress to Darcy’s country estate and town house, both of which would be much larger than what she was used to. In addition to this, she would be changing her social circle not only because she is going to live in a different area, but also in a different social sphere, knowing that some people will be less than welcoming to her. Although I don’t see Lizzy as a character particularly prone to worrying I think it’s likely that if she were to worry about the unknown she would have worried about or at least considered all of this, but in this book her focus is solely on the upcoming changes to their physical relationship, it seemed a little imbalanced to me.

Lizzy and Darcy’s relationship grew really nicely in this book, it was lovely to see how close they were. From the beginning Lizzy was confiding in him, and he was open with her as well. This is just how I see them as a couple, they had already had experience of sharing their secrets regarding Wickham so they had already shown a high level of trust in one another and I think that they would have been very close. The author makes the argument in her foreword that Mr Darcy is just as much of a tease as Lizzy, as evidenced by their repartee when Elizabeth was staying at Netherfield, amongst other times. It also seems likely that he had a good sense of humour, as a humourless man wouldn’t have been attracted to Elizabeth unless he was entirely oblivious to her character, like Collins! I really liked Darcy’s humour in this book, as we got to know him better:

“It makes proposing much easier, I find, if one’s aunt has revealed that one will be accepted in advance of taking the risk.”

If you prefer your Austenesque reading without sex scenes I think you may struggle with this one. The sex scenes are not that graphic, but there are quite a few of them, and there is a level of sensuality though the book, even the parts with no sex scenes. I would say the main theme of the book is the transformation of maiden to bride in an emotional but also in a physical sense which is the type of thing that some readers prefer to avoid. However, if you don’t mind sex scenes and the heavy emphasis on the sensual side of Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship then perhaps you should give this one a go. I find this author’s style is very readable, and I enjoyed the book, although I would have preferred it to focus on a wider range of the changes to Elizabeth’s life rather than just in the bedroom (or in several of the bedrooms as it turns out!).

I received a copy of this book (which by the way is a gorgeous slinky matte version) from Meryton Press via Leatherbound Reviews for my honest review as part of the Longbourn to London blog tour. Thank you so much for letting me take part!

Would you like to win a copy of Longbourn to London or read an excerpt or guest post more from the author, Linda Beutler? Of course you would! So make sure you check out the other stops on the blog tour.

Past Stops:

• Interview and double giveaway - My Jane Austen Book Club
• Excerpt and giveaway - More Agreeably Engaged
• Guest post - Laughing with Lizzie
• Review - Wings of Paper
• Interview - Little Munchkin Reader
• Excerpt and giveaway - The Calico Critic
• Review - Diary of an Eccentric
• Guest post and double giveaway - My Kids Led me Back to Pride and Prejudice
• Interview and giveaway - The Darcy Obsession

Upcoming:

• Guest post - My Love for Jane Austen
• Review - Songs and Stories

Would you like more info on this author? You can connect with Linda Beutler here:

Author Blog - Facebook - Twitter

One Night with Her Boss by Noelle Adams

This is steamy novella in the ‘One Night’ series of novellas by Noelle Adams, which explores how everything can change in just one night. Here, Anne has been working for ex-professional surfer Jake as his personal assistant for the last seven years. For the last two of those years she has been madly in love with him, but sees no reciprocation on his part. Whether he isn’t interested because they work together or he just isn’t interested full stop she doesn’t know.

“She’d worked for him for years, and he’d never showed her the slightest sign of real interest. An intense look now and then didn’t mean anything. Besides, he was her boss, and he would never make a move on her – simply because of that.”

However, today things have changed; Marketing graduate Anne wasn’t able to get a job in Marketing when she graduated because of the downturn in the economy which is how she ended up working for Jake, but now she’s just been offered just the type of job she wants. The only downside for her is not being able to see Jake any more, but she can’t hold back on her career just for that:

“Anne nodded, feeling better and determined now to give notice this afternoon, to make it real, to get it over with. “It’s about me. And a great job. And finding a guy who actually wants me.”

When Anne tells Jake that she’s resigning he seems desperate to keep her as his assistant, which doesn’t bode well for Anne’s feelings towards him. She knows that Jake prioritises his business over everything else and this just underlines her determination to leave. Jake and Anne have to go out of town on business that evening, and she finds that her roommates were correct, Jake does see her as more than just part of the office fixtures and fittings...

I’ve enjoyed all of this series and this one was no exception. Anne was a loveable lead and Jake quite the emotionally repressed alpha male until he realised what he was about to allow to slip through his fingers. This is a quick read, but if you wanted a quick, steamy read then I’d recommend it, and in fact any of the others in the series.

The rest of the One Night novellas can be bought separately or in a combined volume, ‘One Hot Night’:

One Night with her Bodyguard is about Claire's night with her bodyguard. Claire has extreme social problems; she describes herself as shy but I would say it’s more than that. The bodyguard has been part of her life for six years and knows her well, but she barely knows him at all...

One Night in the Ice Storm introduces us to Rachel, who was heartbroken by being dumped with no explanation by David 8 years previously. She's visiting her family and he is still friends with her brother and has dropped by to pick something up. The storm closes in quickly, leaving them trapped overnight, and giving Rachel a dilemma. She is still very attracted to David, despite how he let her down. Can she resist him? Only minor thing re. this one is that I felt that something would have been said between them sooner, although to be fair reasons are given as to why nothing was said by either of them. Of the three stories in the collection this story stayed with me the longest afterwards.

One Night with her Best Friend - This story sees Kate and her best friend Aaron. Kate's early life was chaotic; she hates change and tries to control all aspects her life. Can she come to see that not everything needs to fit into her life plan and try and take a chance on something unexpected?  I really enjoyed this story, both Kate and Aaron are likeable protagonists, although she has been missing what's been right under her nose for years! This is a novella I’ve read quite a few times, I can’t give much higher praise than that.

These three stories are all enjoyable, only thing I would say is that if you read them in one sitting there are some similarities but they are all about the same theme so that makes sense.

Passion and Propriety by Elise de Callister

William, Viscount Blackthorn has lived a horribly unhappy life. He was born to a cursed family, meaning that his mother died giving birth to him, like the previous 5 or so generations. His father was a lecherous alcoholic and had nothing but hatred and venom for his son.  The neighbourhood despised and feared the family and he met with kindness only from the servants in his house and his only childhood playmate. As soon as possible, William was sent off to boarding school. There, he was ostracised by his peers for the curse.  Not wanting to pass on the curse to future generations William determined never to marry, and therefore was able to make a career choice generally not available to firstborn sons – he joined the army rather than come home and tend to his estate after his father’s death. The Blackthorn curse is thought by many to have cursed the district too. Many families have moved away, both to avoid this, and to try and find a better landlord, because William’s steward has kept the harsh rules that the previous Lord Blackthorn imposed and William has never intervened. William is battleworn and battle scarred and in fact is gravely injured. Refusing to let his injured arm be amputated William has instead come home to die.

“His death would put an end to the curse that had plagued his family for generations, and it seemed fitting for that to occur at the place where it all began.”

Passing the local church on the way William is attracted by the music being played and he goes in to listen. He recognises the woman playing the music as his former childhood playmate, the vicar’s eldest daughter Hannah, the sole bright spot of his youth.

Hannah is having a very bad day. It is her twenty seventh birthday, which means she is now officially an old maid. She has had a busy and useful life for the past few years, helping her father tend his flock and raise her sisters after the death of her mother, but she would like a family of her own. She is trying to accept that her dreams of marriage and motherhood are going to remain just that – dreams. Later that day she goes to visit her mother’s grave and finds William has collapsed in the graveyard. She immediately goes to help him, but finds herself in a dilemma. The steward of the estate has dismissed nearly all the staff and is currently away on a ‘business trip’ so there is nobody to pay for medical care for William and nobody will go there from kindness due to the curse. Hannah decides to go and care for him herself with the naive hope that her status as an old maid will protect her reputation, and the reputation of her sisters by association. It probably would have made more sense for her to have nursed him in the vicarage, but she doesn’t realise how little assistance she will have at Blackthorn Manor.

William has been sorely lacking in tender care in his life, and becomes very fond of Hannah’s company. This is in addition to finding her extremely attractive, a feeling that is mutual. In these times unmarried men and women couldn’t really be friends and William can’t offer anything more, though he finds himself wishing that he could. When circumstances intervene William and Hannah find themselves thrown together once more, but will he be able to continue to resist her?

I thought this was a very entertaining read although there were a few times I had to suspend my disbelief a bit, I really don’t think he could have returned home from war abroad with his arm as it was and I also believed that if people were as happy and relieved to get servant work as they appeared to be they would have been more discreet – if they’d been my servants I’d have got rid of them all and rehired! Nothing is kept secret, and even allowing for servants gossiping things which they were never told somehow get to be common knowledge.

I really liked both the hero and the heroine. I deeply pitied William for how sad and unloved his life had been. Only in the army had he found acceptance, when he could leave his horrible family and the memory of the curse behind.

The thoughts of both William and Hannah are often really amusing, and I enjoyed their dry humour. Here is William with a hangover:

“He was clearly suffering some terrible, life-threatening malady.....There was no point to Hannah catching whatever dreaded disease had claimed him.” 

Their attitudes in some respects seemed to be a little too modern in my eyes, particularly their attitudes to sex. Although some reasoning is given for this, considering both of them are virgins they seem to know an awful lot about sex and are happy to openly discuss it with just about anybody! There were a few words and phrases which jumped out as being too modern, or American, e.g. ‘darned’ and things such as William making a reference to his disabled left hand only noticing when he has to cut his food but it would notice anytime he eats because the custom in Britain is to have the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right at all times, not just when cutting food. I also am not sure whether a ‘sulky’ is a carriage that would have generally been found in England at the time, I would have thought a gig or phaeton would be more likely, depending on what class of person was driving, but these are small quibbles in the scheme of things.

There are some interesting secondary characters introduced in this novel, too. Hannah’s friend, Grace Daniels is the illegitimate daughter of a lord, who was cast out by her stepmother after her father’s death. She now provides apothecary care and herbal tinctures to the community and she was instrumental in saving William’s life by her work on his arm. She gets off to a very poor start with William’s new steward, and it’s a real mystery as to why, but Grace’s story seems set to be told in the second book in the series, Duty and Desire, due out in early 2015, which I'd certainly like to read. I thought Passion and Propriety was a very entertaining book and it was a lovely way to while away a rainy Sunday! This is better than a 3 star read but not quite a 4 for me.  Please note, for those of you who prefer to avoid them, that this novel contains sex scenes.

*Many thanks to the publisher of this book, The Writer's Coffee Shop, for allowing me to have an e-ARC copy via Netgalley for my honest review. 

In Consequence by Trudy Brasure

This is a variation on North and South by Mrs Elizabeth Gaskell, which is one of my favourite books. If you’ve never read it I would heartily recommend it. Margaret Hale’s family relocates from the countryside, in the south of England to an industrial town in the North of England, a fictional place called Milton in ‘Darkshire’. Here she comes face to face with some harsh realities of life, sees want in its more unpleasant forms and meets young mill-owner Mr John Thornton. Margaret doesn’t appreciate Mr Thornton’s point of view on many things, including how he deals with his workers. Over time both of their viewpoints change – he starts to see the viewpoint of his workers, and takes a more humanitarian view, and she starts to better understand some of the pressures he works under, and gives him the credit he deserves for being such a strong and honourable self-made man.

I was a little thrown when Margaret’s hair colour was changed in first line of the prologue to be red instead of black, but I soon felt a bit more at home with the characters. This story picks up around the time of the riot. The mill workers in Milton are striking for more pay and Thornton has brought in mill hands from Ireland, which causes his workers to riot in protest. In the original Margaret goads him into going outside to face the mob to explain his viewpoint as she naively believes that he wouldn’t be in danger, being one man against many. In North and South Margaret realises her mistake when she sees people in the crowds with stones, and she rushes out to protect Thornton, as one human defending another, nothing more, and she gets injured. Here, although she attempts to protect Mr Thornton, he is the one who gets hit by the stone. He is momentarily knocked unconscious, and Margaret starts to see Thornton’s vulnerability much sooner than in N&S, so the scene the next day when he visits her unfolds differently. I am not sure that it follows that their visit would have gone so differently as in this variation, but I went with it!

Margaret and John’s relationship unfolds in a very different manner from canon following this initial change. One of the things I love about variations is the ripple effect, where a change doesn’t just change things initially but other things not directly connected with the variation. In this case, aside from the obvious differences to John and Margaret, Margaret’s relationship with Higgins is affected, Thornton’s relationship with Higgins starts at a different time, things also go differently for Boucher (the man who threw the stone and caused the strike to end), Margaret’s parents and even Thornton’s business affairs changed. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book.

On the downside I felt that there was some repetition in the scenes between John and Margaret – I know we needed to see their relationship develop but there were a series of scenes that dragged a bit for me because they were all variations on him being full of feeling for her and not wanting to scare her off and her vacillating between not being sure how she feels for him, and being ashamed of being affected by him. I would have liked to see a little more variety in their interaction. I also felt that the book could have done with a bit more tension, as it was a very smooth ride – some people may prefer this, and I don’t like angst for the sake of angst but it felt a little flat to me. It picked up pace towards the end, but in some respects I felt this was a bit rushed, I would have liked to have seen a bit more detail on how some of the other relationships developed (sorry to be vague, but I’m trying not to put spoilers in!). The ending itself was entirely satisfactory all round, there were no loose ends or things that I’d have liked to have seen changed.

Although this isn’t quite in the style of Mrs Gaskell, being generally more sensual, I enjoyed this author’s style. The dialogue didn’t feel too modern and though the spelling was generally US English there were only a few American words. There are some sex scenes, but they are not particularly graphic. One thing which I found a bit off-putting was that Mr Thornton was often referred to as ‘The Master’ out of context – it’s fine when he’s being the master of the mill, or he’s being thought of as the master of the mill even though he’s doing something else but out of context it was just odd.

On the whole, I enjoyed my first foray into North & South-based reading outside of non-published fan fiction. In Consequence is not this author’s only book based on North & South, and I’ve added her other book, A Heart for Milton to my wishlist.

The Red Chrysanthemum by Linda Beutler

This is a 'what if' variation on Pride and Prejudice.  The story begins at Lambton when Mr Darcy goes to see Lizzy.  In P&P she's just finished reading a very distressing letter from Jane, but in this book the letter doesn't contain any alarming news and Mr Darcy gets the opportunity to speak to Elizabeth. She and the Gardiners are invited to Pemberley, get to know Mr Darcy and Georgiana better and Mr Bingley is made aware of Jane's feelings towards him.

One of the big themes in this book is the language of flowers.  Each flower has a meaning, and Darcy and Georginana prepare a nosegay for Lizzy that would hint to Darcy's continuing feelings for her.  In return, Lizzy leaves a floral message for Mr Darcy which is a bit more coy, but the centre of it is a red chrysanthemum, which means 'I love'.  Unfortunately, the stem is cut too short and it falls out of the arrangement so he doesn't see it at the time. Lizzy knows that Darcy has feelings for her but feels that she can't expect a man she rejected so vehemently to propose again, and Darcy knows her feelings have softened somewhat towards him but can't trust that they've changed enough to risk a second proposal. Some things are too important to leave to the language of flowers...

I enjoyed this romance although I felt that the characters were more open with each other than I felt was likely - Georgiana's near elopement was known by pretty much everybody rather than being the closely-guarded secret that it was in Pride and Prejudice, and the characters were also more touchy-feely than I felt was likely. I also felt that it was unlikely that after so much encouragement on both sides that either Elizabeth or Darcy would have doubts in relation to the other's feelings. Aside from these quibbles I found the characters amusing and engaging.

I would add in a warning for those people who don't like sex scenes, the last section of the book following the wedding deals with Darcy's lustful thoughts and Elizabeth's sexual awakening in some detail, so for those people I'd advise skipping the last 60 pages or so and going straight to the epilogue.