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Review: Evermine by Hailey Edwards

Susan S. — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:08:11 +0000

Reviewed by Susan S.

An enthralling and passionate love story amidst danger and magick. A definite re-read!

Summary: Daughters of Askara Series, Book Two

Then

Have you ever heard the Shakespearean line, “Parting is such sweet sorrow?” Well, Emmaline (Emma) Gray and Harper Delaney had a five-year parting that was anything but sweet. It was sorrowful and agonizing. She thought him dead, and Harper’s re-entry into Emma’s life has been extremely difficult to assimilate.

Now

The new Askaran Queen, Nesvia, is missing. In order to find her, Harper and Emma will need to: face their past, join forces with an evil spell crafter, shake-off a Sereian magickal enchantment, avoid the desert’s sand traps, and keep Harper from imprisonment, yet-again. And all while fighting a sexual hunger that’s quickly becoming damn-near impossible to resist. The question now is who’ll stop resisting first?

Review: I enjoyed the characters’ motivation (the driving force behind their every action), Hailey’s writing voice, and the potency of the love between the characters. As I’m reviewing a novel, I generally take notes. Next to favorite scenes, I’ll draw happy faces. Big ones. I’m not joking! At novel’s end-there were lots of happy faces.

Recommendations: Mega Mass-Appeal for Readers 18+

Evermine has elements that’ll appeal to a wide range of readers. First and foremost, it’ll speak to romance readers. The main characters have sacrificed so much for each other. And their love is both palpable and potent. What romance reader wouldn’t appreciate that in a story?

Secondly, the novel will call to fantasy readers. This story begins in a primary world (the Earthen Colony) and then moves to a secondary world (in the Askaran Realm). I suppose, this too will appeal to sci-fi lovers.

I’m now speaking to anyone with a weakness/fondness for damaged/scarred heroes. Oh-yeah! That sexy Evanti demon, Harper, will have you volunteering to lick every…single…one of his scars. Reader Beware: To get your tongue anywhere near him you’ll need to fight off an Askaran demoness named Emma, but it’ll be worth the fight. Now please stand behind me. I’m first in line!

Do you like the friends-to-lovers tropes? The hero and heroine are. Like dark secrets, do you? Harper has one that may or may not hinder his chance at love. Any paranormal readers out there? This novel has demons and magic users. And if you purchase a novel hoping it’ll give you a HFA, let me say, “Evermine's
happily-forever-after is profoundly touching.” The story will also charm anyone who’s ever wished star-crossed lovers a well-deserved happiness.

My Favorite Character: The Hero!

Harper is everything you’d want from a hero. He’s strong, sexy in his demonic form, and he’ll sacrifice everything for the love of “his” woman. He’s also passionate and he’s got wings. Not the angelic type, either. The leathery kind you’d expect from a demon. I love when they turn crimson when he’s aroused, when he uses them to fly, when they enfold Emmaline, and when he uses them to cover her like a blanket.

Favorite Scenes:

Scene #1: The tub scene. Oh-no! That’s all I’m divulging. You’ll have to savor that scene without my spoilers.

Scene # 2: Evanti males like Harper are claimed by their mates. Emma’s a half-breed Askaran demoness who doesn’t have the first clue how to claim him. I love when he enlightens her!

Scene # 3: An Askaran female’s in heat. And Harper reacts “strongly” to the pheromones she’s emitting. But she’s not the female he wants. Love how sexually intense he reacts around Emma. Especially what he says when he grips her thighs. Again, I’m not divulging!

Others in the Series: Everlong (Daughters of Askara, book one).

What’s Next? Book three in the series is titled, Eversworn. No release date, yet. Let’s hope it’s soon!

Disclaimer: I received this novel free of charge in exchange for my honest review.

Review-O-Meter Rating:

Buy: Evermine: Daughters of Askara, Book 2

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Review: Accused (Pacific Coast Justice Series, Book 1) by Janice Cantore

Susan S. — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:46:19 +0000

Reviewed by Susan S.

Accused is a powerhouse of suspense!

Summary: Pacific Coast Justice Series-Book One As a law enforcement officer, C. Edwards, has always upheld the law and followed her agency’s protocols. And prior to becoming a divorcée, she was also the faithful wife. No one would categorize Carly’s life as perfect, but at least it has a semblance of stability. Now all that’s about to change!

As Carly searches for answers regarding who murdered Mayor Teresa Burke, she’ll uncover deeply protected secrets. Secrets those in power would kill to keep. With body counts rising, Carly will find herself in a race to stay alive! She never would’ve guessed it, but she’ll have to rely on the two people she’s been avoiding the most. Her ex-husband (Nick) and God.

Review: Janice Cantore is a new-to-me author. And the first thing that impressed me was the flow of the story. Everything flowed perfectly! There were no abrupt and jarring scene changes. It was one continuous smooth storytelling. Secondly, the suspense is top-notch. Furthermore, as a former police officer, Cantore’s uniform dispatch signals were accurate. As a civilian, I also found her descriptions of police procedures insightful.

Recommendations: Recommended for readers who enjoy police stories and inspirational tales of faith and hope.

What I Enjoyed:

Element: I liked the police officers’ sobriquets: Carly is Crash, Joe is Control, and Nick is Face.

Scene: There’s a scene where an officer risks his life for another. I wept copiously! I wouldn’t say I used an entire box of tissues, but it was close!

Extras: After the story there’s an author interview; that was a novel element.

Disclaimer: I requested this novel from NetGalley because of my interest in police stories.

Rating:

Buy: Accused (Pacific Coast Justice)

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Review: Pretty Persuasion by Olivia Kingsley

Carla F. — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:47:17 +0000

Reviewed by Carla F.

At the age of 10, Lady Georgiana Montford is introduced to her betrothed, Robert Balfour, who will one day be the Earl of Sheffield. Robert is already a young adult, but he treats Georgie with kindness. A friendship develops, and Georgie falls in love with Robert. She is then devastated to discover Robert in the arms of another woman. Robert is unaware that Georgie saw him, and can’t understand why she is being so cold to him. However, he soon goes off to his father’s Caribbean plantation. Georgie tells no one what she saw, but she is determined to not marry the “Rat” when he returns, and she will take control of her life and destiny.

Things I liked: The story of Robert’s time on the plantation is sad, but shows why he had changed from the happy, more carefree man that Georgie once knew.

It is very sweet that Robert wants to regain Georgie’s friendship even if they will never be married.

The May Day scenes where Georgie washes her face in the dew in an attempt to get rid of her freckles, and the one with her bumping into Robert which causes him to miss the target in the archery contest and lose the prize of kissing the May Day Queen.

The heat in the picnic scene is not caused by the weather!

Things I didn’t like: Georgie was way too headstrong for me. While I admire her decision to not let others particularly her parents run her life, her choices led to other people being hurt.

Georgie and Robert were caught in compromising positions (or intimate discussions) way to many times by family members.

Rating:

Buy: Pretty Persuasion

Review: Wife by Wednesday by Catherine Bybee

Keira — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:17:24 +0000

Hero: Blake Harrison needs a wife, yesterday, in order to complete the terms of the will of his late father. They never saw eye to eye and this is just one more thing he’s being manipulated to do, but Blake has a plan. He’s going to hire himself a bride because the last thing he needs to do is marry somebody and have them get the wrong idea. At first, any gal who understood the game plan would have been good for him, but when he meets the heroine all bets are off.

Heroine: Samantha Elliot is the owner of an elite matchmaking firm that caters to the wealthy. She guarantees to find you the right match for you at this time in your life plans. When Blake turns down her three perfectly good matches with women just like the women he usually dates she’s curious. Then he offers her ten million dollars for a one-year marriage contract... but only if she’s the bride. Can she return to the life of privilege she knew once before or will scandal rear its ugly head?

Review: This was a cute, fast paced read (it has to with only 220-some pages). There’s sex in the story so don’t equate cute with clean/sweet romance. Cute means the story is adorable and well-done. I liked the premise for this marriage of convenience story, sure it’s been done before (lots of departed family members like to decree weddings in their last will and testaments) but I thought it was handled nicely. I really liked when Blake gets outmaneuvered again by his departed dad with another caveat in the will that only appears after certain criteria was met. Bybee has a good use of the mean-spirited ("evil") ex. Could have done without the mentally ill sister though.

Recommended: If you like MOC romances, contemporary romance, Dukes, and category romances.

Rating:

Buy: Wife by Wednesday

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YA Contemporary Romance Series: A Girlfriend’s Guide to Boys by Stephanie Rowe

Sharon S. — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Guest Post by Sharon S.

Back in 2003 Stephanie Rowe became a published author for the first time with her teen romance Putting Boys on the Ledge under the name Stephanie Davis. She has decided to re-release it along with three others in the series as ebooks.

Do you remember your first real kiss? That fluttery feeling in your belly, the anxiety of not doing it right? Well, Stephanie Rowe sure does and she brings it to life in this wonderfully funny series about growing up, best friends, first love and discovering that the way to happiness is being yourself.

I don’t read a lot of Y.A., but I had the opportunity to read all four books in this series. Each novella is written in first person POV from one of the four best friends. Stephanie uses a quirky story telling voice that made this read laugh out loud funny and charming. The stories all have a HEA and are appropriate for middle school girls and older (even us middle age girls You might as well buy all 4 at one time because once you meet these girls you will be cheering for all of them to find their own personal happiness first and then still getting the guy.

Here are the opening lines from Blue’s story, Putting Boys on the Ledge:

The only way to survive boys is to put them on The Ledge as often as possible.

Allie Morrison's older sister, Louisa, the resident expert on men, was the one who told us about The Ledge.

See, The Ledge isn't a real place. It's an emotional place. It's about making boys suffer, about putting girls in control. Louisa knows all about The Ledge, and she's quite the expert on putting men there. I think she said she had about forty-seven guys on The Ledge, at last count.

Oh, right. What's The Ledge and how do you put boys there?

These books are a nice change of pace from all the dark and emotionally heavy YA paranormal books out there. While we all love the dark and brooding vampire/angel/shifter guy, it is nice to read a flirty, fun and humorous story of girl meets boy.

Rating: - Applied to the whole series.

Putting Boys on the Ledge (A Girlfriend's Guide to Boys Book #1)

Meet Blueberry Waller, whose name is the only interesting thing about her life. Until now.

Not only is Blue dealing with the worst name in the world, crazy parents and a clingy younger sister, she just got a part in the school play. And now she’s acting with Heath Cavendish, total crush-worthy senior. He would never give a second look to a girl like Blue. Except he has.

Her friends say Blue should play it cool, put Heath on the Ledge so she can keep the upper hand. Trouble is, she doesn’t know how to be clever around boys. Thankfully her pal Colin offers his help in teaching her how to get the guy. But he’s just being a good friend. Isn’t he?

Suddenly the wallflower is getting all the attention. But will being in the spotlight keep Blue from making the right decisions...for her?

A Girlfriend’s Guide to Boys: For these four friends, understanding the world of boys is only half the battle.

Buy: Putting Boys on the Ledge (A Girlfriend's Guide to Boys)

Smart Boys & Fast Girls

Meet Natalie Page, the girl all the boys love. As a friend.

When Natalie makes the varsity cross country team, she's certain she’s about shed her reputation as a social zero. Hey, the captain of the boys’ team has started driving her home from school and she’s getting invited to senior parties, right?

There’s just one problem.

Failing geometry? How utterly uncool. If she doesn’t get her grades up she’s off the team...and back to being a high school nothing. Matt, her new tutor, is making the nightmare even worse. He's totally hot, but he thinks sports are idiotic and that Natalie’s a flake.

Now Natalie finds herself in even more trouble. To get her parents off her back she’s told them she’s dating Matt. But he’s already got a girlfriend, and being linked with a geek isn't going to help her social life.... or is it? The rumors are about to spin out of control, and Natalie better figure out how to outrun them. And fast.

A Girlfriend’s Guide to Boys: For these four friends, understanding the world of boys is only half the battle.

Buy: Smart Boys & Fast Girls (A Girlfriend's Guide to Boys)

Studying Boys

Meet Frances Spinelli, the girl with her nose buried in a book. Except when she's noticing a certain very bad boy…

Homework has always been her top priority. That and crushing on the wrong guy, then doing nothing about it. So when Frances’s friends blackmail her into stepping out of her comfort zone she does them one better. She goes totally out of control.

Dancing with a football-playing senior at a night club. Lying to her parents. Getting grounded... probably for life. This isn’t the Frances she wants to be. But she certainly doesn’t want to go back to being a total geek.

So what’s a bookworm to do? After all that time studying for midterms, maybe Frances really just has to learn how to study boys.

A Girlfriend’s Guide to Boys: For these four friends, understanding the world of boys is only half the battle.

Buy: Studying Boys (A Girlfriend's Guide to Boys)

Who Needs Boys?

Meet Allie Morrison, the girl every boy wants to date. Every boy except one, that is.

This was supposed to be the best summer of Allie's life. Instead, she's lugging vegetables around at a farm stand, partnered with a boy who thinks she's useless.

Sure, she's noticed that Tad has the best smile. Yes, she's a little jealous of how well her friends get along with him.

But that's okay, right? She wants a mature guy. Preferably someone in college, certainly not some random high school sophomore who doesn’t even have a car. And she has never wasted her time on a guy who isn't interested.

Except her friends think Tad is perfect for her, and Allie is beginning to agree. Problem is, she has no clue how to win over a guy who thinks she's invisible. What’s a girl got to do to get herself a boyfriend?

A Girlfriend’s Guide to Boys: For these four friends, understanding the world of boys is only half the battle.

Buy: Who Needs Boys? (A Girlfriend's Guide to Boys)

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Review: That Voodoo You Do by Jodi Redford

Susan S. — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:36:12 +0000

Reviewed by Susan S.

Was it a voodoo queen’s black magick which lured me into the story, or a white witch dabbling with a 24 hr. spell? Who knows?! But what I do know is that Ms. Redford’s novel is not to be missed. It was spectacular! I read it in “one” day, and am now jonesing for more. Got a have…more!

What’s Inside? There’s a very B-A-D wolf who’s uber-hot and knows it, a sexy tiger who growls while engaging in steamy sex, and a witch who won’t let anything/anyone stand between her and her man!

Summary: Book One in That Old Black Magic Series

Jemma Finnegan has kept her feelings for Griffin Trudeau under lock and key for ten very long years. As for Trudeau, keeping his feelings in check has been his own personal hell. Involving himself with his best friend is against the rules. Not because they’re friends, but because he’s her familiar. He knows what the rules are. What he doesn’t know, is what will happen if the rules are broken. Well, he’s about to find out!

Breaking the rules has never felt so right, or so…wrong. How could one beautiful night of lovemaking turn into such an unimaginable hell? A dead voodoo queen has just unleashed a legion of zombies, and they’re after one thing: Jemma’s blood. Does Finnegan know how to stop a zombie apocalypse, use her magick, keep her man, and stop the National Alliance of Witches from banishing the man she loves? Hell, no! But her coven mistress, Clarissa, has some ideas. Perhaps a sexy werewolf named Logan may be of help.

Review: With new-to-me authors I never know what to expect. But after reading That Voodoo You Do, I’m an instant Jodi Redford fan. I’m inclined to believe she owns a magickal scale to place over her manuscripts because her literary elements are perfectly balanced. I loved her characters, hated her antagonist, cranked the A/C through the sex scenes, and the happily-ever-after just warmed my heart. Book two, here I come!

My Favorite Scenes:

Scene #1: When Griffin “has” to ask Logan to help him seduce Jemma. (Smile).

Scene #2: Every scene where Griffin uses the endearment baby.

Scene #3: Every time Logan says sugar.

Scene #4: When Griffin and Logan make her fantasy come true. What starts in the kitchen with some novel uses of sauce, will end on the counter of a hardware store. Trés hot!!!

Recommendations: Mega Mass-Appeal for everyone 18 and older.

If you’re drawn to paranormal romance, this novel has all the paranormal characters you’d want and expect. Erotic romance lovers: the intimate scenes are cranked to extra double-boil. Erotica readers, we have some M/F/M encounters. Oh, you want romance do you? Check. And the HEA will keep you smiling for days. If you enjoy the friends-to-lovers tropes, this book has it. Into zombie reads? (Hello, sister dear!) There’s plenty of the undead to make you scream!

Disclaimer: I won this novel at a TRS (The Romance Studio) party. I loved it so much-I felt it was my duty to review it. Didn’t have to/wasn’t asked to/simply wanted to.

Others in the Series:

Book two titled, The Seven Year Witch, is available now.
Book three titled, Maximum Witch, is also available now for your reading pleasure.
Book four called, Getting Familiar with Your Demon, has a release date of Feb. 2012.

Rating:

Buy: That Voodoo You Do

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Review: Darn Good Cowboy Christmas by Carolyn Brown

Susan S. — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:44:13 +0000

Reviewed by Susan S.

Carolyn Brown's Darn Good Cowboy Christmas is a sizzler; like bacon on a burning hot frying pan. A darn good love story for the holiday season!

Spikes & Spurs Romance Series: Book Three

I’m as shocked as the next reader; I made it on Santa’s good list. Can you believe it? Oh. You can’t? Well…I did! And he fixed my busted review-o-meter. Whoo- Whee! I’ve really missed that ticking noise. Let’s have a look-see. Wow! It’s red, it’s steaming, and the pointer’s on the number five.

Summary: Liz Hanson, heroine, is a fortune teller who’s traveled all her life with her carnival family. She loves them very much and enjoys what she does, but has always felt an unrelenting desire to settle down. To own a house, and to just enjoy the stability that others seem to have. Which explains her speedy acceptance to Uncle Haskell’s offer. He’s giving her what she’s always wanted; her own home. Moving into Haskell’s place was an expected event, after all, she agreed to move in. What Hanson didn’t expect, was to run into her childhood crush, Raylen O’Donnell.

Raylen will awaken her womanly desires, and have her wanting to share her stability with him. Her carnival family on the other hand, insists her restless heart needs to travel. Liz is at a crossroads. Stay in Texas, or leave and travel.

Will Liz’s crystal ball foretell misery, or show her a happily-forever-after?

Review: If you’ve read a Carolyn Brown novel, then I’m just preaching to the choir, because you know how wonderful they are. But, if you haven’t, Darn Good Cowboy Christmas is the perfect place to start reading. Don’t fret new readers; Brown’s novels are stand-alones. She does a great job of cluing you in.

I really enjoyed all the heart-to-heart conversations between Liz and Blaze (who’s like a brother to her). During the dialogues I felt I was sitting next to the characters…listening. No, I wasn’t having auditory hallucinations (laughs). I simply meant the author writes them so expertly.

The story itself is touching and heartwarming. It’s about a woman finding the courage to follow her heart and realizing…that happiness means taking chances.

Recommendations: Recommended for all romance readers regardless of favorite subgenres. You’ll really enjoy it if you like the friends to lovers trope, happily-ever-afters, stories about meeting your soul-mate, and novels about rekindled love.

Cameos and Updates Galore: This Christmas is a cameo celebration. I spied with my little eye hunky Slade Luckadeau (hero from One Lucky Cowboy) with his granny Nellie and her sister Ellen. Jane (heroine also from One Lucky Cowboy) gets her fortune told. An update you won’t want to miss!

The author also updates us on Wil and Pearl, as well as Rye (Raylen’s brother). Because this is Raylen’s story his family plays front and center: sisters (Gemma and Colleen), brothers (Dewar and Rye), parents (Cash and Maddie), and his grandparents.

Lucy from Red's Hot Cowboy also pops into the Chicken Fried Café. She’s been one busy gal!

What’s Next? Book four, One Hot Cowboy Wedding, has a release date of April 2012; it’s the story of Jasmine and Ace. Someone’s going to Vegas, baby! And just you wait until you see the cover for this novel. Beautiful, I tell you. Absolutely. Beautiful!

Review-O-Meter Rating:

Buy: Darn Good Cowboy Christmas, Darn Good Cowboy Christmas (UK)

Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc., Romance, Copyright Oct. 2011, Mass Market Paperback, Print Pages 379. ISBN# 978-1-4022-6157-2.

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Review: Happy Ever After (Bride Quartet, Book 4) by Nora Roberts

Keira — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:44:00 +0000

Narrated by: Angela Dawe. The narrator sounded like Parker, but overall she bored me. I continued to listen because it was easier once I had it to listen to the book in the car than it was to go grab the novel from the library.

Series: Bride Quartet, Book 4

Series Background: Four best friends create a wedding business together called Vows. This series is how they go from planning other brides’ weddings to planning their own.

Series Strengths: The friendships between Parker, Emma, Laurel, and Mac are what make this series – that and the crazy brides!

Series Weaknesses: Bogged down in wedding minutia and tame conflicts.

Summary: Parker Brown is the last of her girlfriends to find someone. Of course what she thinks she wants is not what she gets. Malcolm likes Parker’s uptight, Type A, controlling behavior; it makes him want to get under her skin. It’s something he’s particularly good at! *wink wink, nudge nudge* Parker’s not sure where their relationship is going but she’s certain it’s not to the altar.

Review: I love that Malcolm calls Parker “Legs.” I hate that they shorten his name to “Mal.” Bleck. Parker was the one I was looking forward to the most, but she has turned out to be too perfect – She works out all the time (Everyday, without fail, for hours just after she wakes up to perfect her already perfect body. If she wasn't doing it, I bet her friends wouldn't be exercising nearly as much either as she's their ringleader. So can I hit her? Please? I want to feed her a dozen sugary donuts... but to get back on track:) I did like their story, though I’m not sure why Parker fights her attraction to Malcolm all the time. Malcolm makes the book which surprised me, because like Parker in the beginning I wasn't so sure he could pull his weight let alone hers. Over all it’s not a shabby way to end a series.

Rating:

Buy: Happy Ever After (Bride Quartet, Book 4)

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Review: Just Like Heaven (Smythe-Smith Quartet, Book 1) by Julia Quinn

Keira — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:24:55 +0000

Ah, those dreaded Smythe-Smiths! they lack any musical talent and yet they persist in destroying the hearing of the London ton with their dreaded annual musical quartets.

Heroine: Lady Honoria Smythe-Smith plays the violin and she’s awful, but at least she knows it. This year she’s determined to marry and get a man to come up to scratch because she’s ready for a family and home of her own.

She’s one of my new favorite heroines. You got to love a girl willing to contrive the following plot to snag a man: steal a shovel, create a mole hole, pretend to fall in it and cry out for help! Of course the only man watching all this is the hero. Haha.

Hero: Marcus Holroyd is the Earl of Chatteris. He loves chocolate and desserts as much as Honoria. (There’s lots of cute food moments for any foodies out there.) A long time friend of the family, he’s been petitioned by Honoria’s brother Daniel to make sure she doesn’t wed some idiot. Lately he’s coming to find that the only acceptable match for her is him!

Marcus is a fabulous beta hero. One of his best moment’s is coming to Honoria’s defense right at the end of the book. I’d jump his bones!

Trope: Friends to Lovers. If you know me, I hate this trope, but I actually enjoyed it this time. That’s because neither one of them pined for the other growing up. There was no little girl crush or secret school girl crush on Honoria’s behalf for Marcus and he certainly only saw her as Daniel’s little sister - that is until he gets dreadfully sick and Honoria forces her mother to come with her to his family estate and attend to him. You see, Marcus is an only child and has no living family. That’s why he’s always loved the Smythe-Smiths - there’s so many of them that he could slip into their lives and be part of their family.

Dislikes: The long focus on Marcus sickness - as a book I could skim it and get through it faster but as an audio book it seemed to last forever and is the book’s only serious downer.

Narrator: Speaking of the narrator - she was excellent!

Rating:

Buy: Just Like Heaven

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Review: Darcy’s Voyage by Kara Louise

Keira — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:11:40 +0000

How can you get Lizzy and Darcy to meet each other without prejudice? Take them out of the country of course! By sticking them on a ship bound to the Americas, Kara Louise gives them a chance to see them for themselves... well sort of There’s still some obstacles and misunderstandings.

Two years before the voyage Darcy and Lizzy met on a carriage ride out of London. (Darcy was on this hired carriage because the family one was being repaired.) They have a great conversation which sticks with both of them long after they separate. They just forgot one thing - to get each other’s names!

Darcy’s going to America to retrieve Georgiana after her governess takes ill and can’t return to England. There’s no way he’s letting her go by herself!

But that’s just what Mr. Bennet allows Lizzy to do. She’s traveling to America to be with her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners. Jane decided not to go because she gets seriously sea sick.

When Elizabeth falls ill after taking care of the women and children in steerage, Darcy chucks convention overboard and gets on bended knee. Lizzy is too out of it to really see that his “Marry me and you get a nice bed out of steerage, I promise this is totally platonic, you’ll be saving me from marriage minded barracudas, we’ll get it annulled back in England later” really means “I want to marry you, it will save me from marriage minded barracudas, can we please share a bed? I want you and I don’t want an annulment.”

Of course he keeps by his vocal promise, which leads to misunderstandings and an angst ridden separation. Poor Lizzy and Darcy. They really need to work on their conversation skills and learn to say what they’re really feeling and not assume the other can read their mind.

Rating:

Buy: Darcy's Voyage: A tale of uncharted love on the open seas (Pride & Prejudice Continues)

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