Once Upon a Bookshelf

Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy have gotten married. Instead of heading to the lake district as planned, their wedding tour takes them to the continent – first to France, then over the Alps, and on to Italy. And among all the new things for Elizabeth to see (as it turns out that Darcy has already been there numerous times, and actually owns real estate in all places), Elizabeth finds that there is danger at every turn. Not only do Darcy’s friends and family not completely approve of their marriage, but she soon finds that there is something dark and sinister out there – a being so evil and so ancient, one that she had laughed at the tales of when she was younger. Along with this evil threat, Elizabeth also learns that Darcy is not exactly who he has always said he was – he is, in fact, a vampyre.

I don’t like doing bad reviews for books that I get sent by the publishers… but in all honesty I was very indifferent to this book while reading it. I had heard that there were going to be about a half dozen vampire books set in the P&P universe coming out within a year’s time, so I was curious. Wanted to see what the appeal was, and I’m still not entirely sure what it is. P&P&Z was fabulous because it was hilarious and unexpected, but vampires…. well, vampires are just so overdone in general now, and we’ve already seen a P&P book with monsters of some sort in it. So the concept feels a little tired for me.

But I understand that the premise of something like this happening in the P&P universe would draw a whole bunch of readers. A plethora of readers, even. But… this book would’ve worked A LOT better for me if it wasn’t Elizabeth and Darcy in it. I found that the characters didn’t seem very true to themselves. Not just because half of them are vampires, but, well, some of the characteristics weren’t consistent with the original book. It would’ve come across so much better if I didn’t already have these specific images of the characters in my head. So maybe people who aren’t huge Jane Austen fans would love this. Maybe it’ll bring vampire lovers to get to know Austen… But I would’ve enjoyed this book much more if it had not been about Lizzy and Darcy.

So I spent the majority of the time reading it pretending that it wasn’t about those characters, that they just had the same names. And that made it more enjoyable for the most part. As said above, vampires are overdone. But this wasn’t the worst of vampire novels that I’ve read in the past few years – nothing really to make it stand out, but not horrible. There were some parts that were exciting, and it was cool to see Venice, Paris and other areas through the eyes of an era of elegance character. But it wasn’t enough to make it a must-read in my eyes.

The Bottom Line: It was alright, if you don’t mind the fact that it is so not the Elizabeth and Darcy that you love. Personally not one of my favourite books based on P&P. It’s not something I will read again, and I think I’ll be safe avoiding other vampire novels in the P&P ‘verse.

I read so many Jane Austen adaptations last year and the year before that I thought I was going to avoid them this year, but apparently not. (After this one, there are at least two others that I need/want to read soon!) Jane Austen in Scarsdale is a retelling of Persuasion. In this version, Anne Ehrlich is the head guidance counsellor of a high school in Scarsdale. She comes from a family that was at one point in time very wealthy, but the situation has changed drastically – she even has to sell the family home in order to cover her father’s debts. In walks Ben Cutler, Anne’s former boyfriend, who she broke up with many years ago at her grandmother’s urging. At that point in time he wasn’t wealthy, and was working at a local travel agent. Now, however, he is a best-selling travel guide author who is engaged to a beautiful Danish woman. Unfortunately for Anne, she still has feelings for him – he was the only man she ever loved, and is the only man she believes she ever will love…

I almost walked away from this book after the third chapter. I did not enjoy it at first. Thought it was too silly, a little boring, and the main characters didn’t seem very interesting… but I stuck it out, and goodness am I happy that I did. It turned out to be A LOT of fun. In fact, after the first few chapters I may have been giggling through the whole thing. I don’t know if I was supposed to, but I certainly was.

Let’s face it – I really hope that the author meant the narration to be cheesy. I really do. Because it’s hard to take it seriously when the book talks about how “the injuries of time had laid bare the beauty of their affection.” It was all quite corny, but it kept me giggling and that’s part of what made it so enjoyable. And enjoying it is what really counts, right?

The book also wasn’t without a few moments of well-placed irony, which seemed (to me) to poke a little bit of fun at the fact that this is a retelling of Persuasion:

Life isn’t a Jane Austen novel. It’s one thing to be long-suffering in a story, where the author can make it worth your while, but in real life, who’s going to make sure it ends happily?

And there were all of the secondary characters. The main ones themselves didn’t do too much for me – Anne was a tad bit boring and Ben just seemed like a faint echo of the wonderfulness that is Captain Wentworth… but the smaller bit-characters? Jonathan was a kindred spirit (in that he prefers books to the company of people that he doesn’t find interesting), Winnie was a darling grandmother, and the students that Anne works with every day provided endless entertainment. Even Anne’s father was so amusing in his ridiculousness. (I especially enjoyed his birthday speech.)

The Bottom Line: Definitely a good summer read. It’s quick, it’s fluffy, and there are some great moments to laugh over. I don’t know if I’m going to keep this or pass it on quite yet, and I don’t know if I’ll read Cohen’s other books, but I enjoyed this for what it was.

Jackie Harrison is a civilian working for the US Air Force Academy. She loves her job and her office, but then discovers that she will have to share her office as soon as the new history teacher starts at the Academy – a Lt Col Joseph Gallagher. Jackie is most annoyed by this new development, but both her annoyance at and her fascination with Joe grow as they spend more time in their office together.

When her anonymous blog gets mentioned on the news, Joe’s obsession with this blog (and the blog’s author) begins, and Jackie is worried that he’ll discover she’s the blogger behind The Cubicle Next Door.

The past two weeks have been absolutely insane, and I haven’t really had a chance to even read. Thursday evening I needed a quick read for escapism. As I remembered Rachel mentioning that she got through this in one sitting, and as it looked like complete fluff where I wouldn’t have to think about at all while reading, The Cubicle Next Door won out over all my other possible reads.

Yes, I did get through it in one evening. And I didn’t have to think while reading it. So it was a successful read. Though under different circumstances, I don’t know if I would’ve liked it.

As far as chicklit goes, it wasn’t too bad. The characters were all fairly likable. Jackie was relateable, and her grandmother and grandmother’s friends were completely charming – in fact, I would go so far as to say that the moments that made the book for me involved her grandmother and grandmother’s friends. The main guy, Joe, was alright, but he just seemed to be lacking a little bit of a spark for me. Also, for some reason he actually reminded me greatly of Lt Col Cameron Mitchell from SG-1 (which certainly was not a bad thing).

As far as premise of the book goes, it wasn’t exactly believable. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why the main character’s blog was so popular or why it made it onto the local news. Even for a humanities story. It didn’t seem realistic, and goodness knows I wouldn’t read it if it were a real blog (though most of the blogs I all read are very topic-specific – books, graphic design or geek culture, so perhaps I’m not the best person to judge that). The blog entries were the weak point in the book and lacked the wit of the rest of the book.

Then there was a bit too much mention about God and religion for my liking. Some Christian books can pull it off well, in that it’s not too in-your-face (like Susan Meissner’s The Shape of Mercy), but in The Cubicle Next Door, it was mentioned so frequently, and characters automatically assumed that other characters were Christian, and it just so happened that they all were – which just came across as completely unrealistic to me.

But other than that, it wasn’t too bad as far as chicklit goes. It was predictable, but it was pure fluff, which is exactly what I needed.

The Bottom Line: It’s not something I’ll read again, and I don’t know if I’ll attempt any of Mitchell’s other books, but it was a good escape from a crazy week.