Quick book recommendation...

 

Flamebringer by Elle Katharine White

This is the third book in White's Heartstone trilogy, and I almost didn't read it. Not because I didn't love the first two books,  Heartstone  and Dragonshadow, which I first read back in 2019, but because it had been so long since I'd read them I felt like I'd forgotten too many of the important plot points. Luckily, I decided to give this one a try anyway, and I'm so glad I did. It quickly drew me back into the story of Aliza and Alastair Daired and their dragon, Akarra, and all the dark intrigue and magical battles brewing across their land. I love these characters! And White's writing is so compelling and lyrical. And I love that the first book in this series is a loose retelling of Pride and Prejudice but with magic, swords and dragons. If you're looking for a captivating fantasy series, I absolutely recommend this one. 

Happy Reading!

Create your own Jane Austen adventure...

Title:  Lost in Austen
Author:  Emma Campbell Webster

Your mission:  You get to be Elizabeth Bennet in this choose-your-own-adventure novel.  "Equipped with only your wit and natural good sense, your mission is to marry both prudently and for love, eluding undesirable suitors and avoiding family scandals..."

My thoughts:  This book is fabulously frivolous and fun. It's a basic retelling of Pride and Prejudice, with direct passages taken from the original text, but with a few additions and subtractions. As you read you earn points in five areas: intelligence, confidence, accomplishments,connections, and fortune. They ebb and flow along with the story. As Lizzie, my fortunes quickly fell into negative numbers...and my list of failings and inferior connections grew and grew. (How did she and Darcy ever get together with all that going against her?) But it's the little asides the author throws in as she tells you to add or deduct from your points that make this book so incredibly funny. I laughed all the way through. It's not hard to make the "right" choices as you go, but I sometimes deliberately opted for the "wrong" choice just to see what would happen. (That's when the story really takes some strange and humorous turns.) If you love Pride and Prejudice, you'll like this book. I know I did. It's almost as fun to read as the Pride and Prejudice board game is to play. I even managed to get Lizzie her happy ending, which is all that really matters.

Happy Reading!

Bookish Games

For my birthday this month I received the best present ever: the Pride and Prejudice Board Game. (Great synchronicity considering it's also Austen in August this month.) For any Pride and Prejudice fan, this game is a must. You race one of four couples around the board, from Longbourn to Meryton to Pemberley, collecting Regency Life tokens and answering questions that test your knowledge of Austen's novel (or the filmed version of it starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle). The first player to collect all their tokens and get both their characters to the Parish Church to be married wins.

I can't tell you how much I love this game! Because it was my birthday, I got to be Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. (I even won!) But this game is so much fun to play, I would have been just as happy being Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins. The Regency Life situations that your characters encounter along the way are pretty funny: having to go home to repair a torn petticoat, go to Rosings for  tea, pay off a gambling wager at Netherfield, etc. It's almost like being in the book.

Here's to more Jane Austen this August!

(Pride and Prejudice the Game is published by The Ash Grove Press, Inc.)