What I've Read This Week

What I've Read This Week . . .

Brightsea by Jane Gillespie -- Jane Austen spinoff

A companion to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, this book is about Miss Nancy Steele, sister to Lucy Ferrars (nee Steele). Nancy is 40 and unmarried and bounces from relative to relative, sponging off them and earning their contempt because of her ill-bred manners and selfishness. Nancy is offered the position of chaperone to a young lady of quality at a seaside resort. She's delighted with the opportunity to be independent and earn some spending money and thinks the job will be easy. She doesn't count on the fact that her charge, Louisa, is bookish and headstrong. Louisa wants nothing more to continue her studies but Nancy insists on living a high society lifestyle. They reach a compromise and adventures and romantic entanglements ensue. The writing is true to Jane Austen's style but I really couldn't like Nancy or Louisa and the rushed ending didn't make me like the book anymore. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. It's worth a read if you're a fan of Sense & Sensibility and wondering what happened to Nancy.

Dartwood's Daughters by Rebecca Baldwin -- Regency Romance

Light comedy of manners modeled after Pride and Prejudice. Amy and Eve Dartwood are identical twins of more than 20 summers and had never been separated until 18 months ago when the impetuous Eve went with Papa to dig up antiquities in Naples. Eve had a grand time in Naples visiting with royals and falling in love with a handsome poet, but her "twin sense" tells her that her sister is unhappy so she races home. When she discovers that their formidable aunt has bullied Amy into accepting the hand of the loathsome Lord Barras, Eve decides it's up to her to rescue her twin. Mayhem and madness ensue. Though the plot was entirely predictable and I disliked Amy and both the men, the plot is funny and I really enjoyed it.


Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George - YA fairy tale
A retelling of the fairy tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." Long ago, Queen Maude made a bargain with the mysterious and evil King Under Stone and now her daughters are paying the price by dancing at a midnight ball in the King Under Stone's underground lair. Their father, the King of Westfalin, discovers the princesses' worn dancing slippers and invites all the princes of Ionia to come and figure out the mystery. Each prince leaves without solving the mystery. Young soldier turned Under Gardner, Galen, is determined to rescue Princess Rose and her sisters from their terrible fate. This thrilling story kept me turning the pages until it was done. Each of the princesses has a distinct personality and none of them want to sit around and wait for someone to rescue them and none of them want to get married any time soon. The story is well-written and includes darker elements of a Grimm's fairy tale along with humor and romance. A great read! (Plus that dress on the cover is gorgeous!)