strange and random happenstance: True Love

Showing posts with label True Love. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Book Review - Stephanie Burgis's Moontangled

Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Five Fathoms Press
Publication Date: February 3rd 2020
Format: Paperback, 71 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

After a fraught beginning Thornfell College of Magic is thriving. The school is opening it's doors for a night of dancing and magic. The first ever class plans to dazzle their guests with a demonstration of their magical abilities after a ball under the stars. As for the school's top pupil, Juliana Banks, she has other things on her mind, other things that she is avoiding through denial and hard work. What's really on her mind is Caroline Fennell. Caroline and her have been secretly engaged for quite some time. Caroline has been trying to establish herself as a politician so they have sacrificed their own happiness for the moment to achieve their happily ever after down the road. But ever since Caroline's cousin Honoria fell from power in the Boudiccate Caroline's letters to Juliana have seemed cold and restrained. Is their love in danger? Now that Caroline no longer has her cousin's protection might she view Juliana as a liability as well? All these thoughts are racing through Juliana's head as her classmates primp her in an effort to show Caroline just what she's missing. The problem is, Caroline knows exactly what she's missing. She hasn't stopped loving Juliana, she's been distancing herself from her in an effort to not let the taint of Honoria's crimes effect her. Because if there's one thing Caroline can see clearly it's that Juliana is thriving at Thornfell. She has new friends and is excelling in her studies. How can Caroline force her to keep their betrothal when there's this whole new world at Juliana's feet and Caroline's prospects have been destroyed? Why force her fiance to stick to the plan when the plan is no longer possible? It would be better to just have a clean break. Both women are willing to do anything for the love of their life, but it will take a dangerous confrontation with a fey to get them to bare their hearts.

Moontangled is a short and sweet love story based around a tragic misunderstanding. It's basically Stephanie Burgis's The Gift of the Magi by way of Emmet Otter. Because, let's face it, Emmet Otter is the perfect retelling of The Gift of the Magi once you realize that Emmet's mother is totally selfish and didn't need that dress. And yes, this review has gone off the rails but I think I can get it back on track. Caroline and Juliana are both willing to sacrifice that which is most important to them to make the other happy. Sure it's not watches and hair or washtubs and tools, but they love each other so much that they are willing to do whatever it takes to make the other person happy all without grasping at first that all that matters is each other. As Doc Bullfrog says, "it appears to me that what you needed was each other." Their love is true because they are willing to sacrifice their own happiness for the other's. Thankfully though neither needs to sacrifice anything because all that was needed was open communication. All people get in their heads too much. They overthink and overanalyze to the point where they've worked themselves into a corner. They think they know the truth because how could they not after they've spent countless sleepless nights working through all the permutations of how things could go in their head. And who among us hasn't been derailed by things going differently than we imagined? Even getting to the point where we're not sure what we've said in actuality or in imagination. But thankfully in Caroline and Juliana's case they have fey intervention. The centuries-old fey guardian of the Harwood woods has vowed to watch and keep Thornfell safe. As she had experienced heartbreak she knew she had to protect the hearts of the inhabitants of Thornfell as well and therefore she staged an intervention and the truth did will out. Caroline and Juliana will have their happily ever after after all.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Ball, Boudiccate, Caroline Fennell, Doc Bullfrog, Emmet Otter, Fey, Juliana Banks, LGBTQIA+, Magic, Misunderstanding, Moontangled, Politics, Regency Magic, The Gift of the Magi, Thornfell College of Magic, True Love

Friday, April 8, 2022

Book Review - Jane Austen's Persuasion

Persuasion by Jane Austen
Published by: Max Press
Publication Date: 1818
Format: Hardcover, 255 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Anne Elliot is to be pitied. It's not just that her father and eldest sister are vain foolish creatures who care only for rank and money, it's that these traits led them to convince Anne to break her engagement to Commander Frederick Wentworth, thinking he would amount to nothing. Seven years later there is finally peace, though not in Anne's heart. She still loves Frederick Wentworth, now a Captain and a wealthy man. Yet she knows she will never be lucky enough to get a second chance to be his wife. He will want someone else, not the woman who rejected him because she was too weak to stand up to her family. Instead she is to move with her family to Bath. They have been forced to give up their ancestral seat of Kellynch Hall due to their straitened circumstances. And in a twist of fate their home is to be let to Captain Wentworth's sister and brother-in-law. What's more, Anne is to spend some time with her younger sister Mary at Uppercross, a mere three miles from Kellynch Hall, delaying the painful separation from home and yet seeing it in the hands of strangers who might have become Anne's family! Mary married Charles Musgrove, whom initially paid court to Anne, and whom Charles's two sisters, Henrietta and Louisa, would have rather their brother had married. It's Henrietta and Louisa who become the center of the social life around Uppercross as Captain Wentworth visits his sister and decides that one of these two fine ladies will become his wife. Not only has Anne lost the love of her life but she must now watch him court another, her own bloom faded. Though the course of love is never smooth, Louisa meets with a tragic accident which tears at the soul of Captain Wentworth while Anne meets her father's heir, her cousin Mr. Elliot, who sets his sights on Anne's heart, a heart that is receptive to his advances at first. Can Anne find love again after so many years being thwarted? And who will win her heart? The old flame or the new?

Coming back to Persuasion after years of being unable to untangle the horribly cast 1995 adaptation from the text due to various reasons, I was struck by how mature Austen's writing had become and all my other issues faded away. This makes it all the more heartbreaking that she died so young seeing what her writing could have evolved into. Her six books are all classics, but with Persuasion we see Austen at the top of her game. She's a more confident writer, willing to take narrative risks and in the end creating what I think is her most approachable book for modern readers. Where this really shines is in the almost stream of conscious panicked flow of her thoughts when she encounters Captain Wentworth again for the first time. Even if Andrew Davies in his introduction hadn't pointed this observation out to me I know I would have latched onto it and other moments like it. There's something about these sections that pulse with life. It captures to an extent not just how you think when under pressure but it's almost as if Austen has perfectly captured what it's like to be in the midst of a panic attack. The whooshing of time and thoughts, the way time expands and contracts, the rushed half composed thoughts just pushing against you: [A] thousand feelings rushed on Anne, of which this was the most consoling, that it would soon be over. And it was soon over. In two minutes after Charles's preparation, the others appeared; they were in the drawing-room. Her eye half met Captain Wentworth's, a bow, a curtsey passed; she heard his voice; he talked to Mary, said all that was right, said something to the Miss Musgroves, enough to mark an easy footing; the room seemed full, full of persons and voices, but a few minutes ended it. Charles shewed himself at the window, all was ready, their visitor had bowed and was gone, the Miss Musgroves were gone too, suddenly resolving to walk to the end of the village with the sportsmen: the room was cleared, and Anne might finish her breakfast as she could." Who couldn't feel for Anne in that moment? And who couldn't help but think, if Austen had just had more time on this Earth to write...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Adaptation, Andrew Davies, Anne Elliot, Bath, Broken Engagement, Captain Wentworth, Injury, Jane Austen, Kellynch Hall, Mature, Mr. Elliot, Panic Attack, Persuasion, Regency Romp, Stream of Consciousness, True Love

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Book Review - Sarah MacLean's The Season

The Season by Sarah MacLean
Published by: Orchard Books
Publication Date: March 1st, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 343 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Alex, Vivi, and Ella are about to have their first season. The gowns have been made, the hair has been coifed, and Almack's awaits! But seeing as they are hiding in an alcove behind a large potted fern to get out of the din of the ballroom, their opinion on the marriage market is quite obviously in direct opposition to most of their fellow debutantes. Opinions Alex has voiced loudly and often to all who will hear, despite all her etiquette lessons telling her to be a delicate flower. These three girls are opinionated, headstrong, curious, intellectual, bookish, and above all, have no desire to be reigned in by marriage. And despite ample parental examples that love exists, only Vivi believes that she will find "The One." But then the most curious thing happens, Alex notices a man with very attractive hair. Who knew hair could fall attractively across broad shoulders? What's more shocking is that the hair in question belongs to Gavin Sewell. Gavin, who recently became the Earl of Blackmoor after the sudden death of his father. Gavin, who has always been palling around with her and her three older brothers her entire life. Gavin who is like another brother to her. She shouldn't be thinking about Gavin's hair in this way. But it's like something has been awaken in her and she's even jealous when he dances with the odious Penelope! Who is this person she is becoming? Gavin will not interfere with her plans to remain unattached no matter how many times her mother threatens a second season if Alex doesn't find a husband in her first. But then the famous Worthington dinner party changes everything. Alex sees that her parents have created a different kind of society around themselves. They aren't like the rest of the ton. They believe in talking about more than the cut of a dress or who was seen with whom. But more importantly, there was an almost kiss between her and Gavin. An almost kiss that later becomes a real kiss. Alex is falling for Gavin, only she becomes aware that Gavin's suspicions about his late father's death might be closer to the truth than he could have ever imagined. Alex will have to save Gavin from a similar fate if they are to get their happily ever after.

The Season is a very solid entry for younger readers into the Regency era. In fact I'm rather surprised that a series didn't arise from this single volume. There was definitely the setup and the storylines to continue, but Sarah MacLean moved onto adult romances and hasn't looked back. And perhaps that's a good thing, because while I enjoyed this book it was very much a "first book." There is so much potential on these pages that brim with witty dialogue that you can't wait for her to evolve. To pick what works and what doesn't, which is why I can't wait to read her next book, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake. I want to see how she's grown. I want to see what became of her potential, and given the success of her proceeding books, she has definitely found what works for her. Here it's all just beginning, more a pastiche than a voice of her own. The Season is very much Bridgerton meets Jane Austen. We have Alex's three overprotective brothers, just like Daphne had, and oodles of Austen, most obviously seen at a certain picnic scene. But beyond these basic building blocks there are sparks of genius. The dialogue rings so true and is just so fun that you almost want the characters to be talking constantly. It reminded me of the very best in Gossip Girl banter, and seriously, I don't know exactly why my mind went all XOXO, but there it is. Maybe it's just that I could see Rufus fixing waffles for all the elaborate breakfasts? I also have to applaud our heroines for not acting like they are in a horror film. These are all Final Girls y'all! But the pedant in me had to find things that got under my skin. Because there are a few glaring historical inaccuracies that while pushing the narrative forward could have been rewritten to not annoy the hell out of me. There is no way that Gavin, an unmarried family friend, would have been an acceptable chaperone for Alex. Oh, and as for Alex, her dress was entirely wrong to be presented at court. And don't get me started on the fact that constables didn't exist in 1815. If that and Blackmoor's name had been changed I would have been fully here for the book. As for why Blackmoor's name? When I read it I read it as Blackamoor, and that's not a good thing. That is very archaic and racist. Names are important people! So let's just stick with Gavin. I don't think Gavin could offend anyone...