It's Not Jane Austen, But It's Really Good

[Sophia]

While we love our Jane Austen, most of us read a variety of books, topics, genres, etc and we like to share about them with our fifty best reading buddies. Here is a place where you can recommend non-Austenesque books or start a discussion about non-Austenesque books. I do ask you to please remember to be courteous b/c everyone has their own tastes and please limit discussion/recommendation of Non-Austenesque books to here. Thanks!

[J. W.]

1. How the Duke Stole Christmas
https://www.annaharringtonbooks.com/c...

My review: ttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2215577...

2. Christmas at the Castle
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[J. W.]

Faith based freebie... it is short at about 81 pages:

Shaken: A Contemporary Christian Romance

Book 2 is $0.99 and a stand-a-lone and 100+ pages: Matchmaker: An Inspirational Christian Romance. The Amazon cover is different than this one.

[Anji]

Sad news for those of us who also love sci-fi/fantasy.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/23...

[Sophia]

Ahhh, and I still haven't read any of her books. Tough to lose a literary star.

[J. W.]

Not Austenesque but free...

Protect Me, Cowboy

Book 1 in the Marshall Ranch Series: 31 reviews: 58% at 5-stars: 39% at 4-stars.

[J. W.]

Reduced price: was $4.99... now $0.99

My Fair Princess

The Improper Princess Series: 126 reviews: 55% at 5-stars: 28% at 4-stars.

[Sophia]

Cowboys! I love cowboy stories. Thanks, Jeanne!

[J. W.]

Yeehaw!!

[J. W.]

Free... for lovers of Beauty and the Beast stories like moi.

Enchant: Beauty and the Beast Retold

I think this may be for MA: mature... adult themes. Although the 428 reviews are high... 59% 5-stars and 26% 4-stars... the first review shown is pretty strongly a 1-star rate with discussions of the mature adult themes... so caution.

[Sophia]

I do love fairytale retellings, too. Thanks, Jeanne!

[Georgiana]

I just finished an amazing book, The Chocolate Tin. A wonderful historical romance. I just couldn't put it down. A real treat! <3

[Sophia]

Very nice... thanks for sharing about it, Georgiana. New to me author. I'll have to check it out.

[J. W.]

Free
Kiss of a Dragon book 1 in a 10 book series [so far]. It is supposed to be a modern Beauty and the Beast... he's a dragon-shifter. Shows 307 reviews: 65% at 5-stars and 24% at 4-stars.

Book 2 is $0.99 Heart of a Dragon.

[J. W.]

Free...

To Tame A Lady book 2 in the 'Reluctant Bride' Series. Of the 330 Reviews: 52% at 5-stars & 32% at 4-stars. There are four books in the series so far.

[Sophia]

Thanks, Jeanne!

[J. W.]

Freebie in the Christian Romance Category:

Promise of Forever: Inspirational Pioneer Frontier Romance Novella

Not sure for how long...

[Debbie]

Just finished reading a soon-to-be published book through netgalley. Regency romance, mystery, adventure and excellent writing. The Innkeeper's Daughter. Haven't gotten my review up yet, but it'll be 5+ stars. Clean read with characters leaning on God without getting all preachy and annoying. I think it'll be out March 1.

[J. W.]

Sounds great!

[J. W.]

I just requested it. I shall enjoy reading it. Thanks for the recommend.

[Debbie]

Debbie wrote: "Just finished reading a soon-to-be published book through netgalley. Regency romance, mystery, adventure and excellent writing. The Innkeeper's Daughter. Haven't gotten my review up..."

My review is done:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Anji]

Some of my friends here have already discovered this but I thought that everyone else who's also a North and South fan should know about this gorgeous short story that Nicole Clarkston has shared on Janet Taylor's More Agreeably Engaged blog. Oh, and there may be more than one picture of "that kiss" involved!

https://moreagreeablyengaged.blogspot...

[Mary]

Anji,I've just read it. For some strange reason I didn't get an email from Janet's blog so I'd have missed out on this wonderful story if you hadn't shared the link. Thank you! ☺️❤️

[Marlene]

Long before I started writing reviews, I read Before the Season Ends: A Novel of Regency England. It was the first Christian Regency romance I'd ever read, and it may be the first one that was ever published. The author is rereleasing it with some minor edits. I gave it a 5 star rating back then, and I really loved it! Anyway, I highly recommend this book. It's one of a handful of books that I plan to reread at some point.

[J. W.]

Thanks Marlene... I put it on my wish-list... I have so many ahead of it... I'll watch as the others publish and will probably wait until the series [trilogy] is complete.

[Anji]

I've been having a little break from my physical Austenesque TBR pile and been reading one from my North and South pile.

In Consequence: A Retelling of North and South by Trudy Brasure⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thoroughly enjoyed it and the "what would happen if Margaret had accepted John Thornton's first proposal?" scenario. Some of the subsequent plot points remain the same, others don't. One of the things I liked was that Ms. Brasure took Margaret and John to places in Yorkshire that I'm familiar with (Scarborough and Saltaire). She also cleverly wove in a couple of incidents from the BBC dramatisation that weren't in the book. The railway station scene sadly isn't one of them but there are other equally satisfying scenes to make up for it.

[Mary]

So glad you enjoyed Trudy's book,Anji. Seeing as you're a N&S fan I wonder have you read Pack Clouds Away or True North??? They're both wonderful stories that I highly recommend.

[Anji]

Mary wrote: "So glad you enjoyed Trudy's book,Anji. Seeing as you're a N&S fan I wonder have you read Pack Clouds Away or True North??? They're both wonderful stories that I highly recommend."

I haven't read either of those, Mary. Sheila once sent me a link to Pack Clouds Away at C19 but I have to confess that I've never got around to following it up. Is True North at the same site?

[Debbie]

Even though I didn't care that much for North and South, I did read and enjoy Nicole Clarkston's No Such Thing As Luck: A North and South Variation. I keep thinking I ought to read her Northern Rain: A North & South Variation, but I've already got SO many Austenesque books TBR!!

[Sara]

Debbie wrote: "Even though I didn't care that much for North and South, I did read and enjoy Nicole Clarkston's No Such Thing As Luck: A North and South Variation. I keep thinking I ..."

Trudy Brasure has some beautiful books too. I love her A heart for Milton book more than In consequence. Trudy Brasure

[Anji]

Debbie wrote: "Even though I didn't care that much for North and South, I did read and enjoy Nicole Clarkston's No Such Thing As Luck: A North and South Variation. I keep thinking I ..."

No Such Thing is on my physical TBR pile Debbie, and Northern Rain is wonderful. There's one scene, which I won't give any more detail about, which made me melt into a puddle.

[Debbie]

OK, Anji. You convinced me. Just snagged Northern Rain: A North & South Variation with K.U.

[Mary]

Anji-yes both stories are on C-19!!

[Debbie]

Not Jane Austen, But It's Really Good - the men's U.S.A. curling team!!! Never really got into watching curling until this Olympics, but something about this team caught my attention in earlier rounds. Love that they won Gold!!

[Debbie]

Miracurl on Ice!!

[J. W.]

OMG!! I was channel surfing and came across their match, I had never seen curling before. I had not idea.

[Ahnya]

I have been in love with curling ever since the 2002 SLC games. The curling was held at my university's rink. It is so intense! So happy for the USA boys.

[J. W.]

Debbie Macomber fans... $0.99 deal... 9 days left.

Reflections of Yesterday

[Patricia]

Melanie Dickerson spies of regency England series is good.

I'm actually going to include her first book to Austen challenge. I'm seeing hints of mansfield park and sense and sensibility to it.

[Marlene]

Patricia, that's good to know! She's on my list, but I haven't tried that particular series.

[Chelsea]

I recently finished reading Beauty and Her Boss and really enjoyed it. It's a modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

[Debbie]

Oh, those sound good! Thank you, Chelsea and Patricia!

[J. W.]

FREE: 1st in the Borrowed Brides Series:

Golden Chances

The 60 reviews are pretty strong: 72% at 5-stars, & 15% at 4-stars. There are 4-books in the series. A couple of them sounded cute.

[J. W.]

Price drop Now $0.99 was $4.99

A Midwinter Ball

Book 2 in the Timeless Regency Collection
A collection of 3 Regency novellas by 3 different authors. I love the cover.

[Marlene]

Thank you, J.W. I try to grab these Timeless collections when they're on sale. :-)

[Marlene]

Debbie wrote: "Not Jane Austen, But It's Really Good - the men's U.S.A. curling team!!!"

On our movie night a week ago, we watched the Olympics. Because of your post, I told Dan I wanted to see curling. He actually picked it accidentally, but I kept us going until the end, again, because of your post. We often switch to another sport when the kids get bored! (We record all of the Olympics and then watch it as we have time.)
My kids were so psyched! So thanks! :-)

[Debbie]

Goodness! Thanks for sharing that, Marlene! So glad that you and your family enjoyed it, too. I found it so interesting as I caught on to the rules of the game. The strategies were fun to hear. Strange sport- I remember watching it briefly many years ago, and the sweepers used actual brooms to sweep the ice back then!

[Debbie]

Don't you just love the story of how that team got to the Olympics? Great lesson in the importance of persistence!

[Marlene]

Don't know the story at all! Can you give it in nutshell? We skip the discussions and the commercials to save time.

[Chelsea]

Marlene wrote: "Debbie wrote: "Not Jane Austen, But It's Really Good - the men's U.S.A. curling team!!!"

On our movie night a week ago, we watched the Olympics. Because of your post, I told Dan I wanted to see cu..."

I recorded a lot of the figure skating with my DVR and still have a lot of it in my DVR that I need to watch or delete. I saw some of the curling as well but not a lot. I don't really understand what they are doing though.