92. Netherfield Park Revisited, Book 3

By:  Rebecca Ann Collins
Rated 4 Stars
From:  Library

Like I said, I am addicted now.

The third book in the bestselling Pride and Prejudice sequel series from Australia."A very readable and believable tale for readers who like their romance with a historical flavor." Book NewsLove, betrayal, and changing times for the Darcys and the BingleysThree generations of the Darcy and the Bingley families evolve against a backdrop of the political ideals and social reforms of the mid-Victorian era.Jonathan Bingley, the handsome, distinguished son of Charles and Jane Bingley, takes center stage, returning to Hertfordshire as master of Netherfield Park. A deeply passionate and committed man, Jonathan is immersed in the joys and heartbreaks of his friends and family and his own challenging marriage. At the same time, he is swept up in the changes of the world around him.Netherfield Park Revisitedcombines captivating details of life in mid-Victorian England with the ongoing saga of Jane Austen's beloved Pride and Prejudice characters."Ms. Collins has done it again!"

91. The Women of Pemberly, Book 2

By Rebecca Ann Collins
Rated 4 Stars
From Library

I decided to continue on with this series.  While still a little dry it is becoming slightly addictive.

The Women of Pemberley follows the lives of five women, some from the beloved works of Jane Austen, some new from the author’s imagination, into a new era of post industrial revolution England, at the start of the Victorian Age. Vast changes are in motion, as they were throughout this dynamic century. The women, like many of Jane Austen’s heroines, are strong, intelligent individuals, and the depth and variety of the original characters develop into a series of episodes linked together by their relationship to each other and to Pemberley, which is the heart of their community. The central themes of love, friendship, marriage, and a sense of social obligation remain as do the great political and social issues of the age. "The stories are so well told one would enjoy them even if they were not sequels to any other novel."

90. Second Time Around

By:  Marcia Willett
Rated 4 Stars
From:  Library

Marcia Willett is very much a hit and miss author with me.  Fortunately this book was a hit.

LIBRARY SUMMARY:  Mathilda Rainbird bequeaths her home to three unknown relatives: twenty-two-year-old Tessa, who misses her dead parents and brother but has learned to live alone; Will, a widower, who is drawn to Mathilda’s housekeeper, Isobel; and Beatrice, a retired prep-school matron who thinks the idea of living with her cousins is preposterous.Deeply moving and utterly real,Second Time Aroundfeatures the shining honesty that Willett’s fans have come to love.

89. The Pemberly Chronicles Book 1

By Rebecca Ann Collins
Rated 4 Stars
From:  Library

Overall I would recommend it for any Austen fan. It did kind of drag a little because there was a lot of  detail given to the political and economic situation of Regency England. Jane Austen herself chose to ignore the world events of her time: i.e. Napoleonic wars but these were important factors in a rich landowner's life  and the author researched very well.  This book certainly wasn't the steamy kind of read many authors have chosen when writing a P&P pistache, I myself enjoyed it.  It left Jane Austen's characters with their dignity intact.

PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY:  "Those with a taste for the balance and humour of Austen will find a worthy companion volume."-Book News The weddings are over. The guests (including millions of readers and viewers) wish the two happy couples health and happiness. As the music swells and the credits roll, two things are certain: Jane and Bingley will want for nothing, while Elizabeth and Darcy are to be the happiest couple in the world! The couples' personal stories of love, marriage, money, and children are woven together with the threads of social and political history of nineteenth century England. As changes in industry and agriculture affect the people of Pemberley and the neighboring countryside, the Darcys strive to be progressive and forward-looking while upholding beloved traditions. Rebecca Ann Collins follows them in imagination, observing and chronicling their passage through the landscape of their surroundings, noting how they cope with change, triumph, and tragedy in their lives. "A lovely complementary novel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Austen would surely give her smile of approval." -Beverly Wong, author of Pride & Prejudice Prudence

88. The King's Daughter

By Sandra Worth
Rated 4.5 Stars
From:  Library

Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth of York trusts that her beloved father's dying wish has left England in the hands of a just and deserving ruler. But upon the rise of Richard of Gloucester, Elizabeth's family experiences one devastation after another: her late father is exposed as a bigamist, she and her siblings are branded bastards, and her brothers are taken into the new king's custody, then reportedly killed. But one fateful night leads Elizabeth to question her prejudices. Through the eyes of Richard's ailing queen she sees a man worthy of respect and undying adoration. His dedication to his people inspires a forbidden love and ultimately gives her the courage to accept her destiny, marry Henry Tudor, and become Queen. While her soul may secretly belong to another, her heart belongs to England…

87. The Time of Singing

By:  Elizabeth Chadwich
Rated 5+++++ Stars

Absolutely wonderful!

FROM ELIZABETH CHADWICK WEBSITE:  In 1173, Roger Bigod is heir to the vast and powerful earldom of Norfolk When his treacherous father, Hugh, loses the family lands and castles in a rebellion against King Henry II, Roger finds himself in reduced circumstances and dogged by a bitter family dispute with his half brother over the remaining crumbs. Whilst trying to resolve the matter, he encounters Ida de Tosney, the King's young mistress. Seduced by Henry, Ida's gaze is now drawn to Roger in whom she sees a chance of lasting security beyond the fickle dazzle of the court. But she has to navigate a careful path between her dearest wishes and the King's reluctance to part with her. Every fulfilled wish has its price, and that price is losing the son she has borne to Henry. When King Richard comes to the throne, Roger is restored to his family's lands and becomes a great earl, and one of the richest men in England. He builds a great castle at Framlingham for himself and for Ida, but life is still riddled with uncertainty as Richard goes on crusade and the men left to govern the country quarrel their way into civil war. Ida struggles to come to terms with their new future...

86. Crossroads

By Belva Plain
Rated 2 Stars
Purchased in Train Station

Something to read on train.

Plain's tepid latest focuses on two women—privileged but plain Gwen Wright and beautiful but poor Jewel Fairchild. Their lives occasionally intersect, and eventually Jewel marries a wealthy man and discovers that money can't buy happiness. Gwen, meanwhile, marries a poor but honest man—but she still finds herself drawn to Jewel's husband, and the foursome is soon tangled in a web of deceit. Unfortunately, Jewel and Gwen don't evolve throughout the novel; Gwen is a character that some readers might find intolerably perfect—smart, privileged, shy, well-spoken, with simple needs and a tragic past—but any irritation that one might have with her is eliminated by the calculating and shallow Jewel, who is too pathetic to be a legitimate antagonist and too tragic to really be hated. It functions well as a simplistic morality tale.

85. The Elfish Gene

By:  Mark Barrowcliff

Rated 4 Stars

From:  Purchased

My ten year old Great Grandson was very impressed that I was reading this.  He told me that for a Great Grandmother I read interesting books. 

--BOOK JACKET.  "In the summer of 1976, twelve-year-old Mark Barrowcliffe had the chance to be normal. He blew it. While other teenagers were being coolly rebellious, Mark - like twenty million other boys in the 1970s and 80s - chose to spend his entire adolescence pretending to be a wizard or a warrior, an evil priest or a dwarf. He had discovered Dungeons Dragons, and his life would never be the same. No longer would he have to settle for being Mark Barrowcliffe, an ordinary awkward teenager from working-class Coventry; he could be Alf the Elf, Foghat the Gnome or Effilc Worrab, an elf warrior with the head of a mule." "Armed with only pen, paper and some funny-shaped dice, this lost generation gave themselves up to the craze of fantasy role-playing games and everything that went with it - from heavy metal to magic mushrooms to believing your bike is a horse named Shadowfax. Spat at by bullies, laughed at by girls, now they rule the world. They were the geeks, the fantasy wargamers, and this is their story."

84. The Hour I first Believed

By Wally Lamb

Rated:  One Star

From:  Purchased

This book was at least well written but way to depressing for me to enjoy.

Relocating to a family farm in Connecticut after surviving the Columbine school shootings, Caelum and Maureen discover a cache of family memorabilia dating back five generations, which reveals to Caelum unexpected truths about painful past events.

83. A House in Fez

By Susanna Clarke

Rated 5 Stars

From:  Purchased

http://riadzany.blogspot.com/2007/11/house-in-fez-book-launch.html