Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT The Darcy Monologues #Anthology @JenettaJames

Today’s Team review is from Judith, she blogs here http://judithbarrowblog.com/

Judith has been reading The Darcy Monolugues anthology by various authors

My Review:

I chose this anthology both out of curiosity and because I’m short on time at the moment so reading short stories suits me. I’m so glad I did. The Darcy Monologues is a collection of fifteen short stories told from Darcy’s point of view and is an outstanding read. The book is divided into two;  The Regency’and Other Eras, I found it difficult to decide which section I liked best.

I don’t give spoilers, especially in this case. I think it would be unfair to pick out individual stories to review and not others as, from my perspective, they are all excellently written, Some are portrayed from the first person point of view of Darcy, others from a third person viewpoint. Unusually the reader accompanies Darcy into various eras, various places and various predicaments. There is some humour, some pathos, some – quite a lot, obviously – romance. I loved each and every one. The slants on all the tales are clever and absorbing and threaded throughout is that one issue; that one age-old theme; two people who move inexorably from dislike to love. I’m sure Jane Austen would approve of these diverse stories of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet .

I would definitely recommend this anthology to lovers of Pride and Prejudice and all readers who enjoy short stories.

Book Description

“You must allow me to tell you…”
For over two hundred years, Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy has captivated readers’ imaginations as the ultimate catch. Rich. Powerful. Noble. Handsome. And yet, as Miss Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” is established through Elizabeth Bennet’s fine eyes, how are we to know his mind? How does Darcy progress from “She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt me” to “I thought only of you”?
In this romance anthology, fifteen Austenesque authors assemble to sketch Darcy’s character through a series of re-imaginings, set in the Regency through contemporary times—from faithful narratives to the fanciful. Herein “The Darcy Monologues”, the man himself reveals his intimate thoughts, his passionate dreams, and his journey to love—all told with a previously concealed wit and enduring charm.
Stories by: Susan Adriani * Sara Angelini * J. Marie Croft * Karen M Cox * Jan Hahn * Jenetta James * Lory Lilian * KaraLynne Mackrory * Beau North * Ruth Phillips Oakland * Natalie Richards * Sophia Rose * Joana Starnes * Melanie Stanford * Caitlin Williams

Goodreads | AmazonUK | AmazonUS |

 

THE WINNERS! #TuesdayBookBlog #RBRT Bookreview team presents: The Gold & Silver 2016 Book Awards

The Winners!#RBRT Rosie’s Book Review Team presents: The Gold & Silver Rose Awards 2016

 

*Cough* … On behalf of my team, I’m delighted to announce the winners and runners-up in the #RBRT 2016 book awards!

Books were selected from the several hundred submitted to our team for review over the past year, with the 24 finalists voted for by the reviewing team. These finalists were then offered up to the public for voting. Congratulations to the 8 winners and runners up!

A click of the book’s title will take you to Goodreads, where you can see reviews, and also leads to the Amazon, etc, buy links.

 

Fantasy / SciFi/ Horror

Winner: The Prince’s Man by Deborah Jay

Runner-up: Passing Notes by D G Driver

Historical Fiction

Winner: The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

Runner-Up: Back Home by Tom Williams

Mystery Thriller

Winner: On Lucky Shores by Kerry J Donovan

Runner-Up: Rack & Ruin  by Carol Hedges

Contemporary

Winner: The Disobedient Wife by Annika M Stanley

Runner-Up: Scotch On The Rocks by Lizzie Lamb

 

Congratulations to all the following finalists:

The Black Orchid by Celine Jean-Jean

Blood Of The Sixth by K R Rowe

Flesh by Dylan J Morgan

The Final Virus by Carol Hedges

La Petite Boulain by G Lawrence

When Doves Fly by Lauren Gregory

Jasper by Tony Riches

The Code For Killing by William Savage

Trust Me I Lie by Louise Marley

Wings Of Mayhem by Sue Coletta

Murder at the Lighthouse by Frances Evesham

Trust Me by Earl Javorsky

What Jennifer Knows by Wendy Janes

The Bad Girl by L Donsky-Levine

Silent Water by Jan Ruth

The Brazilian Husband by Rebecca Powell

Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT THE ELIZABETH PAPERS by @JenettaJames #SundayBlogShare

Today’s team review is from Liz, she blogs here https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/

Liz has been reading The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

The Elizabeth Papers is both a gentle romance set in modern day London and Derbyshire and an intriguing mystery that takes us back in time to the early 19^th century. The name Mr Darcy instantly indicates that the Elizabeth of the title is Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice, but don’t dismiss this novel as a parody or bandwagon follow up. The plot is original and the modern characters, private detective, Charlie Haywood and talented young artist Evie Pemberton, are distinctive and well developed. Their relationship has parallels with that of Elizabeth and Darcy but their adventure leads them into different avenues.

It took me a while to feel at home with the characters of Elizabeth and Darcy, but then time has passed and they have been married for several years, so of course their relationship would have changed somewhat. The issues raised in Pride and Prejudice still cause problems but with a very different outcome. Although you don’t need to have intimate knowledge of that book, it certainly enhances your enjoyment of this novel if you do.

Book Description

“It is settled between us already, that we are to be the happiest couple in the world,” said Elizabeth Bennet at the conclusion of “Pride & Prejudice”—but was it true? 
Charlie Haywood is a London-based private investigator who has made his own fortune—on his own terms. Charming, cynical, and promiscuous, he never expected to be attracted to Evie Pemberton, an independent-minded artist living with the aftermath of tragedy. But when he is hired to investigate her claims to a one hundred and fifty year old trust belonging to the eminent Darcy family, he is captivated. 
Together they become entwined in a Regency tale of love, loss, and mystery tracing back to the grand estate of Pemberley, home to Evie’s nineteenth century ancestors, Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy. As if travelling back in time, a story unfolds within their story. All was not as it seemed in the private lives of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, but how can they ever uncover the whole truth?
How could they know that in 1817 Elizabeth Darcy began a secret journal? What started as an account of a blissful life came to reflect a growing unease. Was the Darcy marriage perfect or was there betrayal and deception at its heart?
Can Evie and Charlie unearth the truth in the letters of Fitzwilliam Darcy or within the walls of present-day Pemberley? What are the elusive Elizabeth papers and why did Elizabeth herself want them destroyed? 
“The Elizabeth Papers” is a tale of romance and intrigue, spanning the Regency and modern eras, reminding us how the passions of the past may inspire those in the present. 

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

About the author

Jenetta James is a mother, lawyer, writer, and taker-on of too much. She grew up in Cambridge and read history at Oxford University where she was a scholar and president of the Oxford University History Society. After graduating, she took to the law and now practises full-time as a barrister. Over the years, she has lived in France, Hungary, and Trinidad as well as her native England. Jenetta currently lives in London with her husband and children where she enjoys reading, laughing and playing with Lego. She is the author of Suddenly Mrs. Darcy which was published by Meryton Press in April 2015. The Elizabeth Papers is her second novel.

Twitter @JenettaJames

Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT THE ELIZABETH PAPERS by @JenettaJames #Austenesque #HistFic

Today’s team review is from Jenny, she blogs at http://jennyworstall.wordpress.com

Jenny has been reading The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber’s Review Team.

The Elizabeth Papers is an intriguing romantic suspense novel that flashes seamlessly between the lives of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy once they are married, and Evie and Charlie in the present day.

I was drawn to it immediately as Elizabeth Bennet is my favourite Austen heroine. I don’t think it is possible to capture completely the chemistry between Darcy and Elizabeth nor Elizabeth’s brilliantly witty and teasing speech patterns unless your name is Jane Austen, but in my opinion this book stands up with the best of the sequels to Pride and Prejudice and for this reason I have given it five stars.

The attention to detail is faultless, both in the historical settings and in the present day world of art and detection, but the tale really becomes interesting when Evie and Charlie, the present day characters, make a visit to Pemberley and the two worlds collide…but no, I can’t spoil the mystery for you! I thoroughly recommend this book – but make sure you put some unbroken time aside because once you are hooked (in the very first chapter) you will have to read on and on until the mystery is solved.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com also available free from Kindle Unlimited

Rosie’s #BookReview #Team #RBRT THE ELIZABETH PAPERS by @JenettaaJames #Austenesque #HistFic

Today’s team review is from Noelle, she blogs at http://saylingaway.wordpress.com

Noelle has been reading The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

The Elizabeth Papers is a book in the genre of the Eyre Hall Trilogy by Luccia Gray and Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James. But it does more than just extend from the end of a classic Regency novel – it combines with modern story line in a perfect blend.

At the end of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are blissfully married. At the beginning of The Elizabeth Papers, Darcy writes to his solicitor of his wishes to establish a trust for his female descendants, based on his observations of the uncertain futures of his wife’s four sisters. His marriage is chronicled in the diary of the pregnant Elizabeth, who begins by recounting the joys of a happy marriage and a family of two daughters. The author then jumps to 2014, when one of the female Darcy descendants, the greedy Cressida Carson, hires an investigator, Charles Haywood, to determine if some of the Darcy female descendants are falsely collecting from the trust. She wants him to find evidence that Victoria, fifth daughter of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam, was not actually their daughter, based on a one hundred and fifty- year-old rumor. This will increase her share of the trust. One of Victoria’s descendants in Evie Pemberton, a young artist just coming into her own, and Charles misrepresents himself to her to begin his search.

The segue back to 1819 is smooth and the reader once again becomes entwined in the lives of the Darcy family: Wickham, the amoral husband of Lydia, Elizabeth’s sister, dies and Lizzie gives birth to yet another girl. This outcome weighs heavily on Lizzie’s mind since she knows her husband needs an heir.

All of the characters in Pride and Prejudice return in this book, fully realized, and the modern characters are drawn with insight and warmth. I would describe more, but I don’t want to spoil the story for potential readers.

Remarkably, the novel transitions smoothly from the intimacy of Lizzie’s experiences, written in the first person, to the third person narrative of Charles’ and Evie’s growing relationship and their ultimate trip to Pemberley Hall in their search for the evidence of Victoria’s birth. I loved tension at the end of each chapter, not wanting to change eras, as the story moved back and forth. The introduction of an old portrait of Lizzie surrounded by her five daughters, painted by an eminent portraitist of the time, is a jewel tying the two stories together. Kudos to Janetta James for making being able to use these disparate mechanisms work so well in writing this highly literary and entertaining novel.

Was there deception in the Darcy marriage? Can Evie and Charlie find Lizzie’s diaries in the walls of present-day Pemberley? Was Victoria a legitimate daughter? You have to read The Elizabeth Papers to find out, and I highly recommend you do so!

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com available free from Kindle Unlimited

Rosie’s Review Team #RBRT THE ELIZABETH PAPERS by @JenettaJames #Austenesque #SundayBlogShare

Today’s team review is from Jessie, she blogs here http://behindthewillows.com

Jessie has been reading The Elizabeth Papers by Jenetta James

“Finis.”

I read the last line, sighed happily and mentally hugged the digital book to my heart (It’s a true downfall of e-readers, they just don’t snuggle like paper does).

This novel flipped between excerpts from Mrs. Darcy’s diary (yes, that Pride and Prejudice Mrs. Darcy) and the 2014 hunt for the lost diary. On the surface that sounds like it could be, well, boring.

It wasn’t.

The chapters switched between time frames in a way that I was never lost in one time yearning for another. I loved the romance, (of the happy sighing kind) and the hard to put down suspense of it all (I know, lost document suspense, believe it!). My only regret is that e-readers just don’t accept hugs like paperbacks do.

Would I recommend it? I have already told everyone who’s been willing to sit and listen that they should read this and you should too! If you’ve ever shown even a passing interest in Pride and Prejudice, historical fiction, sweet romance, contemporary drama or detective stories, try this book! I absolutely loved it and have moved the authors other book to the top of my “to be read” list!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com available free from Kindle Unlimited