I had no intentions of reading this book (or the entire series) even though I’m already looking ahead to Manslaughter Park, the adaptation of Mansfield Park I’ve decided to read this year.
HOWEVER, the cruise we went on in early March had an honest-to-god library. Like an entire room with books you could take out and read on the ship and we just happened to sit right beside this and it was too much of a coincidence to NOT read it.
I stuck to my plans and finished up two ARC’s prior to starting, but the second I started I flew through this one thanks to my familiarity with the source material and Price’s great adaptation.
When the publisher reached out about this one they referred to it as “cottage core fantasy” and I was like OMFG I am here for this.* One of my favorite game streamers does cottage core Minecraft and I may have been watching it at the time. This was back in January of 2024 (SHAME ON ME I KNOW) and after a wild year last year I finally picked this one up and it was lovely.
What an interesting novel. I had no idea what to expect going into this. I knew it was famous, I knew it was Brookner’s most famous novel and I knew it won the year I was born. That’s about it.
OMFG. I can’t believe I waited as long as I did to read this. I accepted an ARC ages ago from the publisher, but then school and life got in the way and I blew past the publication date.* Then there were so many MM Holiday Romances I just had to read, and this is where we ended up me reading it in January 2024, six months after publication, and then finally getting the review posted almost a year to the date after publication (six months after I read it but back-scheduling). OH, THE SHAME.
I’m actually making an effort to clear my TBR shelves whether it’s my physical bookshelf or my Kindle, so there are going to be some random books showing up over the next few months.