Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Katie Patchell:Â Dear readers, what I am about to say will have you thanking your lucky stars: if this was a space for spoiler-filled reviews, I would have written a word count of thousands. Fortunately for us all, this shall be as abridged and spoiler-free as possible; a tricky task, as... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Jackson: Jane Austen—that lauded, shrewd observer and chronicler of humanity—was also a skillful sleuth. Or so readers are thoroughly convinced in the fourteenth book of acclaimed historical mystery author Stephanie Barron’s Being a Jane Austen Mystery series, Jane and the Year Without a Summer. Off to the Less-Celebrated Watering Hole... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Patchell:  Who has seen the 1999 Wives and Daughters miniseries, adapted from Elizabeth Gaskell’s Victorian classic? It’s a powerful study of 19th-century life in a small English village, played by a phenomenal cast. Because of the miniseries, I recently devoured the 720-page volume and subsequently forced a family member... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Sophia Rose:  Already a fan of the writing style and careful historical research that is given to romances rich in well-developed characters and plots, I was salivating for this new Belles of London series. Mimi Matthews’ stories are only a recent find for me, but each has presented something fresh... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Jackson: Dear Historical Romance Readers, Are you ready for a heartwarming love story? One that begins with a forced-marriage scenario, involves an apparently incompatible couple whose relationship expands in beautiful ways, and provokes emotions that will stay with you long after you’ve closed the book? You are in for a... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Patchell: Unconventional heroines are becoming more common in Regency-inspired fiction, which is something worthy of applause. Perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the genre’s beloved originator. Jane Austen was the queen of unconventional heroines living in a conventional world; something Elizabeth Bennet, Catherine Morland, and company attest to.... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Tracy Hickman:Â I have been fascinated with history since I was a child. Learning about people and events from the past has helped me better understand my own life and the world around me. While there can be a temptation to look back at a period of history and think that... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Sophia Rose: What would the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic, The Secret Garden, look like if all the main players were adults? That is what author Clarissa Harwood asked herself and a lush, atmospheric, and romantic historical suspense was born. A book from a new to me author and a set up... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Patchell: When I was younger, I hated Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte’s tale of passion and self-discovery seemed a wasteland to my teenage self—bleak in Yorkshire moor and stark in romantic love. I watched every adaptation and read the novel countless times, but the results were the same. Until one day,... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Jackson: In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet impertinently tells Mr. Darcy that his “defect is a propensity to hate everybody” to which he replies that hers “is willfully to misunderstand them.” Austen enthusiasts everywhere delight in this flirtatious battle of wits over the topic of natural defects. With... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Jackson: “There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart,” as Jane Austen once wrote. But when tender hearts are hidden behind protective shields, will their charm ever be revealed? Bestselling author Sarah M. Eden explores the promises and pitfalls of tender hearts in the highly anticipated finale of her... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Jackson: “O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!” said Sir Walter Scott, and such were the words that ran through my mind when I found myself entwined in the uniquely amusing events of A Longbourn Entanglement by prolific Austenesque author Monica Fairview. On the... Continue Reading →
