Books

Book 1,072: Sense and Second-Degree Murder (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #2) – Tirzah Price

Book cover of "Sense and Second-Degree Murder"In for a penny, in for a pound, right? After reading Pride and Premeditation, I figured I should go ahead and read Sense and Second-Degree Murder before conquering Manslaughter Park and I’m glad I did. Although they’re not intricately tied together there are definitely mentions of Lizzie in this book and I’m part of the way into the third and Lizzie, Darcy and Charlotte actually make an appearance and the Dashwoods are mentioned.

For the most part, I enjoyed this adaptation of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Price did an excellent job with sticking to the core character traits of Marianne and Elinor, and even gave Margaret a bigger role which I could appreciate as I always forget there’s a third sister. If there’s one thing I didn’t like about the adaptation it was that Colonel Brandon became Mr. Brandon. And it made sense for the story, but EVERY time I read it I was like “Bah! What is this nonsense?!”

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Books

Book 1,070: Henry Tilney’s Diary (Jane Austen Heroes #6) – Amanda Grange

Book cover of "Henry Tilney's Diary"So, I was vaguely aware that a series of novels written from the male protagonists’ perspectives of each of Jane Austen’s six novels existed, but I’d never sought them out. I was more focused on finding LGBTQ adaptations or contemporary adaptations.

That was until I randomly decided in February I was going to read a new-to-me adaptation of each of the novels for Austen’s 250th birth year. And when I was looking for a new-to-me adaptation of some of the less-frequently adapted novels (Northanger AbbeyPersuasion, and Mansfield Park) these were on the list of some of the best adaptations/inspired by regardless and so here we are.

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Book 1,069: The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King – Harry Trevaldwyn

Book cover of "The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King"Have you ever read a book and had a moment of “Oh shit, was this me in high school?” I thought this for a millisecond, and then I remembered a friend in our friend group and was like, “OMFG close call, I wasn’t quite this dramatic.

I loved the title of this one, so when the publisher reached out with a galley last October, I jumped at it.* It only took me five months to get to versus the much longer wait many of the others I’ve finished recently. This was the last one though, I’ve officially cleared my galley/ARC TBR pile.

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Book 1,068: The Rules of Royalty – Cale Dietrich

Book cover of "The Rules of Royalty"Imagine the Princess Diaries, but gay, with a few more edits and that’s what you get here, and I loved it. I accepted this galley at some point last year and finally got around to it on vacation in March.*

Seriously, imagine on your 17th birthday your adoptive mother is like oh heyyyy remember how I’ve been open with you about your mom. Well your mom actually wanted me to keep all of this LIFE CHANGING INFORMATION FROM YOU. As if you weren’t going through enough issues as a gay teen, throw in that you’re apparently also a crown prince of a small European country, yeah oof.

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Book 1,066: The Lost Story – Meg Shaffer

Book cover of "The Lost Story"What happens when you take the Christian allegory out of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, modernize it and add a little queer joy and some millennial/gen-z humor—I’m not lying I legit rolled my eyes at booping death on the nose? Meg Shaffer’s The Lost Story is what happens and it was a delightful fantastical journey that I very much enjoyed.

The publisher reached out with a review copy in early 2024 and I finally got around to it just over a year later and it was worth the wait.* When I got to the passage that the publisher included in the outreach email I gasped and was like “THIS is why I requested it!” (I 100% did not re-read that email before starting this on vacation, I just knew exactly what it was and verified it afterward.)

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