Jan 5 2013
Darcy is on sale (if only, right?) along with other historical romances
Only Mr. Darcy Will Do by Kara Louise. $0.99
Jacket Copy
Her worst fears come true…
After her father’s death, Elizabeth Bennet goes to work as a governess. Little does she know the Willstones are social acquaintances of the Bingleys and the Darcys, and Elizabeth finds herself once again drawn into Mr. Darcy’s orbit. To make matters worse, Mrs. Willstone’s sister sets her sights on Mr. Darcy. With Elizabeth’s social status even lower than it was before, she knows she must abandon all hope of Darcy renewing his proposals, even as she begins to see him in a completely different light…
Weekend with Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly A | BN | K | S
Loving Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan A | BN | K | S
Darzy and Fitzwilliam by Karen V Wasylowksi A | BN | K | S
Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy by Mary Lydon Simonsen A | BN | K | S
Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman by Maria Hamilton A | BN | K | S
Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange A | BN | K | S
Mr. Darcy’s Secret by Jane Odiwe A | BN | K | S
Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy by Sara Angelini A | BN | K | S
Mr. Darcy Goes Overboard: A Tale of Tide & Prejudice by Belinda Roberts A | BN | K | S
Mr. Darcy’s Obsession by Abigail Reynolds A | BN | K | S
When You Give a Duke a Diamond by Shana Galen. $1.99
Jacket Copy
HE HAD A PERFECTLY ORDERLY LIFE…
William, the sixth Duke of Pelham, enjoys his punctual. securely structured life. Orderly and predictable-that’s the way he likes it. But he’s in the public eye, and the scandal sheets will make up anything to sell papers. When the gossips link him to Juliette, one of the most beautiful and celebrated courtesans in London, chaos doesn’t begin to describe what happens next…
UNTIL SHE CAME ALONG…
Juliette is nicknamed the Duchess of Dalliance, and has the cream of the nobility at her beck and call. It’s seriously disruptive to have the duke who’s the biggest catch on the Marriage Mart scaring her other suitors away. Then she discovers William’s darkest secret and decides what he needs in his life is the kind of excitement only she can provide…
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. $1.99
Jacket Copy
The wellsprings of desire and the impediments to love come brilliantly into focus in Evelyn Waugh’s masterpiece-a novel that immerses us in the glittering and seductive world of English aristocracy in the waning days of the empire.
Through the story of Charles Ryder’s entanglement with the Flytes, a great Catholic family, Evelyn Waugh charts the passing of the privileged world he knew in his own youth and vividly recalls the sensuous pleasures denied him by wartime austerities. At once romantic, sensuous, comic, and somber, Brideshead Revisited transcends Waugh’s early satiric explorations and reveals him to be an elegiac, lyrical novelist of the utmost feeling and lucidity.
A departure from Evelyn Waugh’s normally comic theater, Brideshead Revisited concerns the tale of Charles Ryder, a captain in the British Army in post-World War I England. Unlike Waugh’s previous narrators, Ryder is an intelligent man, looking back on much of his life from his current post in Oxford. He strikes a special friendship with Lord Sebastian Flyte as the setting moves to the Brideshead estate and a baroque castle that recalls England’s prior standing in the world. Ryder falls for Flyte’s sister while families, politics and religions collide. What makes the book extraordinary is Waugh’s sharp, vivid style and his use of dialect and minor characters. This is one of Waugh’s finest accomplishments and a superb book.
Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt. $1.99
Jacket Copy
From the New York Times bestselling author of To Desire a Devil comes this thrilling tale of danger, desire, and dark passions.
A MAN CONTROLLED BY HIS DESIRES . . .
Infamous for his wild, sensual needs, Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire, is searching for a savage killer in St. Giles, London’s most notorious slum. Widowed Temperance Dews knows St. Giles like the back of her hand-she’s spent a lifetime caring for its inhabitants at the foundling home her family established. Now that home is at risk . . .
A WOMAN HAUNTED BY HER PAST . . .
Caire makes a simple offer-in return for Temperance’s help navigating the perilous alleys of St. Giles, he will introduce her to London’s high society so that she can find a benefactor for the home. But Temperance may not be the innocent she seems, and what begins as cold calculation soon falls prey to a passion that neither can control-one that may well destroy them both.
A BARGAIN NEITHER COULD REFUSE
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Jan 05, 2013 @ 12:32:19
Ugh, I got a quarter of the way through Give a Duke a Diamond and had to quit. Not only is the hero always cutting down the heroine, she’s always doing doofus-y things to make him say stupid/hateful things to her. It was too juvenile of a dynamic for me to get into the story. And way too much flouncing around.
Jan 05, 2013 @ 12:36:44
Brideshead: When my best friend and I first read Brideshead Revisited as teens (and saw the miniseries), the only part that interested us was the youthful romance. Just goes to show…something. I wonder if I’d spoil those memories by revisiting it myself from an adult perspective. Maybe now I’d appreciate more of Waugh’s other themes. At a low eBook price, it would at least be worth downloading for a future read.
I did also enjoy the clothing in the miniseries. And the teddy bear…
Darcy, Darcy, Darcy: I dunno. One of my Nanowrimo projects was a (to put it as kindly as possible) subversion of a vampire Darcy sort of character, but I always find myself just sort of vaguely embarrassed when reading P&P fanfic. On the other hand, I loved Lost in Austen, so I’d try out any recs from DA commenters for any superlative titles in the P&P universe.
Jan 05, 2013 @ 13:28:33
I’m not really interested in reading Darcy fanfic, but, that disclaimer aside, there is an incredible webseries doing an updated P&P that I think DA readers might be interested in. It’s The Lizzie Bennet Diaries at http://lizziebennetdiaries.tumblr.com/. They’ve mixed in Twitter and other social media so you can follow the characters online.
Jan 05, 2013 @ 13:51:51
I would second the recommendation on the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Great stuff.
Jan 05, 2013 @ 13:55:39
@JewelCourt: I have been having such fun with the LBD! I enjoy seeing how they have updated things or twisted things to make them more suitable to our era. There have been a couple of things I haven’t loved, but it really is a clever adaptation.
Now to see if I can resist all of those books…
Jan 05, 2013 @ 17:53:29
Thanks for posting about the Lizzie Bennett Diaries. I checked out the first several and they are hilarious.
Jan 05, 2013 @ 18:26:04
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries are super.
Jan 05, 2013 @ 19:13:07
Another Lizzie Bennet Diaries shout out. I caught one or two episodes in the middle and thought, “Oh, that’s cute,” and then moved on until a few more mentions convinced me to start at the beginning, at which point I glommed the entire series in one go. It’s pretty awesome.
I love the way the YouTube videos emphasize the element of female friendship and loyalty – the way Jane & Lizzie love and support Lydia even as they despair over her is just so great.
Jan 05, 2013 @ 21:56:40
Re: Wicked Intentions–”limp”? Dear heavens, that is the last word I would use to describe this book. I’d say it was superbly crafted and blazing hot. I just listened to the audiobook version on my commute and I was afraid my car would spontaneously combust with the angsty longing and sexual chemistry between Temperance and Lazarus. I didn’t find him cruel–tortured or hard maybe, but not cruel. There are chapters devoted to the storylines of other characters, true; I personally enjoyed this time spent on other characters and felt it made the main story deeper and richer.
Jan 06, 2013 @ 00:34:20
I really enjoyed Wicked Intentions as well. I didn’t find the hero particularly cruel and he definitely wasn’t an old school “forced seduction” hero. The heroine and he seemed well matched and she was no innocent wilting violet. I was surprised that her “sin” when revealed actually was something beyond the pale for most heroines yet didn’t make me dislike her.
I just cannot bear any of these Mr. Darcy type books. Same with the Give a Duke a Diamond book, all I could think of was “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.” I just would never be able to take the book seriously.
Jan 06, 2013 @ 11:03:28
I want to say thanks for the Lizzie Bennet diaries. I hadn’t heard of them but watched all the episodes yesterday. It made me completely useless today. But fun!!