I tried to “unplug” from the internet a bit over Christmas. I spent a week or so just playing with my children, enjoying the holiday with my family, and cherishing the time spent with my husband before he went back to Birmingham to stay with his Mum & go earn the pennies to pay for the house we are buying!
Most of the blogging I did during this time was personal, with no “work” on reviews or giveaways, and one post about the amazing gift of a £50 voucher that Halifax gave to me to buy James an extra present for Christmas. With the busy house move, coming down with the flu, and trying to cope with dodgy internet due to the storms, my blog has been feeling a bit neglected last month I think, and I must apologise now for the reviews I owe which are late.
Instead of spending my spare moments writing blog posts, editing photos, or dealing with the surprising amount of administration that comes with blogging, I curled up with my Kindle and I read. Then I read some more. Then, James left, and I read even more in the bed where he was missing. Since the beginning of my Christmas break, I have read 11 books and 3 novellas/short stories.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out what my favourite book is, with two girls called Georgiana and Lydia. Up first, four books that dig deeper into the world Jane Austen created…
Amanda Grange – Darcy’s Diary
Darcy’s Diary: Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of Mr Darcy
I am sure I’m not the only one who watched the “Death comes to Pemberly” series on TV after Christmas and suddenly had a hankering to try reading some books exploring Jane Austen’s world of Pride & Prejudice! I’ve always wondered about sequels to my beloved P&P, but after disliking the popular Linda Berdoll books Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife
and Darcy & Elizabeth
, I was put off for a while.
Happily, I decided to try again, and after browsing the internet for reviews and recommendations, I found this diary style book from Amanda Grange. Darcy’s Diary tells the story of Pride and Prejudice through the private thoughts and opinions of Mr Darcy himself, and provides a whole different point of view on the events in P&P. It even goes a little way beyond the original story, satisfying my craving for more of what I love! As a first foray into the huge world of Austenland, I loved this.
Anna Elliott – Pride & Prejudice Chronicles
Georgiana Darcy’s Diary – Pemberley to Waterloo: Georgiana Darcy’s Diary, Volume 2 – Kitty Bennet’s Diary
This is a three volume collection of diaries, which tell the tale of what happened next to the beloved & well-known characters in Pride & Prejudice. The first two diaries are “written” by Georgiana Darcy, and the third by Kitty Bennet. I really enjoyed these books and thought that the author has developed these minor characters well, weaving story lines that fit nicely into the Austen universe. I would recommend these to any Austen fan who has been hankering to try a P&P sequel!
The first book, Georgiana Darcy’s Diary, is currently free on Kindle. You may as well give it a go!
Lucy Diamond – The Beach Cafe books
The Beach Cafe – Christmas at the Beach Cafe
These are the first Lucy Diamond books I have tried, and I enjoyed both of them. The Cornish setting of these books was well written, and I thought that both the full length book and it’s “Novella” length sequel were fun reads – a nice bit of “chick lit”. I will definitely be buying more from Lucy to try out.
Carole Matthews
Calling Mrs Christmas – Let’s Meet on Platform 8 – Welcome to the Real World – A Christmas Wish
Continuing on from my last Recent Reads post, I have been working my way through Carole Matthews’ books, including the freebie A Christmas Wish short story – billed as a “twenty-minute festive read”. I enjoyed Welcome to the Real World the most, and found all of them pleasant reads.
Alice Peterson
You, Me and Him – Letters from My Sister – By My Side
I read Monday to Friday Man
and Ten Years On
some time last year and enjoyed them, so when I got my Amazon voucher for Christmas, I decided to treat myself to a few more of Alice’s books.
You, Me and Him was the hardest to read, dealing with difficult relationships with both partners and children – it was good but not the most relaxing read! Letters From My Sister was very good, and I loved By My Side. All three of these books deal with “different” people, with spinal cord injury, ADHD & brain damage included.
Katie Fforde – From Scotland With Love
A short fluffy story from one of my favourite authors, this was a fun tale to read in bed. It’s a read-in-one-go type of thing, and I thought it was quite good.
What have you been reading lately?
*all links in this post are amazon affiliate links
Thanks so much for the lovely mention! So happy you enjoyed the books. 🙂
My pleasure! I am a big Austen fan so I am delighted to find someone who has done her characters justice and continued their stories.
What have I been reading lately? Not enough unless you count children’s books. I used to love reading and I am trying to get back in to it. I’ve started with a fluffy book from Katie Fforde (love her books, so easy to read). I started on new years day, currently about 30 pages in (small start but a start none the less).
I find that my kindle has increased my reading loads as it’s so portable and I can just pick it up to read. I have the paperwhite so I can read in the dark too, wish I love.
I really enjoy Katie Fforde books. I think my favourite is Highland Fling 🙂