What do you think?
Rate this book
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion #1-7
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Complete 7 Book Set
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.
Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.
Readers have compared Beth Brower's writing to Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, and L. M. Montgomery.
Set includes all 7 volumes of The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion.
Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.
Readers have compared Beth Brower's writing to Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, and L. M. Montgomery.
Set includes all 7 volumes of The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion.
1543 pages, Paperback
Published August 26, 2023
8 people are currently reading
249 people want to read
About the author
Beth Brower
20 books4,745 followersLike many of my siblings, I would sneak out of bed, slip into the hallway, and pull my favorite books from the book closet. I read my way through the bottom shelf, then the next shelf up, and the shelf above that, until I could climb to the very top shelf, stacked two layers deep and two layers high, and read the titles of the classics. My desire to create stories grew as I was learning to read them.
Subsequently, I spent my time scribbling in notebooks rather than listening to math lectures at school.
I graduated with a degree in literary studies, and have spent several years working on the novels that keep pounding on the doors of my mind, as none of my characters are very patient to wait their turn. I currently live in Orem, Utah, with my wonderful chemist husband, and books in every room of the house.
Subsequently, I spent my time scribbling in notebooks rather than listening to math lectures at school.
I graduated with a degree in literary studies, and have spent several years working on the novels that keep pounding on the doors of my mind, as none of my characters are very patient to wait their turn. I currently live in Orem, Utah, with my wonderful chemist husband, and books in every room of the house.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
December 6, 2025
This is the most delightful series I’ve read by a living author in a long time. It was great fun yet deeper than I expected. I very much enjoyed how the series progressed and can’t wait for the next book.
April 3, 2026
Delightful. Happy!! Edit I didn’t see all the other reviews that said delightful this is literally just a delightful book
September 28, 2024
I LOVE THIS BOOK
Okay honestly after book one I was like "meh" but I'm SO GLAD I kept going. Some of my favorite I read this year
Delightful
Absolutely wonderful
I was so sad to go back to my normal life. I don't know how I'm going to read a book that is as clever as these journals. I wish I was good at writing reviews so you could understand the artwork I just lived in.
Let me know if you read it so we can be happy together ❤️
Okay honestly after book one I was like "meh" but I'm SO GLAD I kept going. Some of my favorite I read this year
Delightful
Absolutely wonderful
I was so sad to go back to my normal life. I don't know how I'm going to read a book that is as clever as these journals. I wish I was good at writing reviews so you could understand the artwork I just lived in.
Let me know if you read it so we can be happy together ❤️
May 19, 2025
I’ve been soaking in this series. Rereading chapters and trying so hard not to fly through them so I can just live in Emma’s world.
She’s such a mess and constantly getting into scrapes but she has a lovely kindness to her.
She’s such a mess and constantly getting into scrapes but she has a lovely kindness to her.
February 6, 2026
She’s up to 8 volumes now. I’ve read them all and hope for more! Delightful and witty escapism with a perfectly flawed heroine.
February 1, 2025
To say that I love this series and its characters would be an understatement. I LOVE IT! The characters and their personalities/histories are revealed slowly and carefully so that you are always wanting more. The adventures/exploits/experiences that Emma has are displayed honestly just as she records them in her journals. I have laughed, cried, sighed, and fumed right along with Emma. My husband and I read this series together and he loved it too. Now, one of the first things I ask someone new is "Do you read?" and if they do I suggest they read this series. This has become a Classic, in every sense of the word. I am anxiously awaiting the next volumes.
April 8, 2026
I came to write my own review - but had stumbled on one that perfectly captured my feelings in the best way possible, and in a manner so much more articulate than I ever could have. Exquisitely done, and cannot be improved upon in any way. Enjoy.
There are books one enjoys, books one admires, and then—on the rarest and most delightful of occasions—books one is entirely *claimed* by. *The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion* belongs most emphatically to the latter category.
From the very first page, I found myself not merely reading, but residing—installed most comfortably—within Emma’s world. It is a place rendered with such wit, precision, and warmth that one cannot help but feel a quiet astonishment at being permitted entry. The rhythms of London society unfold with an elegance that feels at once keenly observed and deliciously exaggerated, as though reality itself had been persuaded to behave just a little better for our benefit.
Emma, in all her sharpness and sincerity, is a triumph. To encounter her mind—so brisk, so perceptive, so gloriously unwilling to conform to expectation—is to be in the company of a dear friend whose every observation one eagerly awaits. And the surrounding cast! Each character arrives not as a mere figure upon the page, but as a fully realized presence, possessed of their own peculiarities, motives, and quiet revelations. I found myself thinking of them when I was away from the book, wondering after their affairs as one does with real acquaintances.
What astonished me most, however, was the effortless way in which I was drawn along—not hurried, never coerced, but entirely captivated. The plot unfolds with a natural grace, each moment building upon the last until I realized, quite suddenly, that I was unwilling to leave. Indeed, I would have happily lingered for several hundred pages more, had such a thing been possible. I reached the end not with satisfaction (which would imply completion), but with a sort of startled indignation that there was not, in fact, more.
To say that I loved every word feels insufficient, though I cannot improve upon it. There is a particular joy in encountering a work that feels so wholly itself—so confident in its voice and vision—that one can do nothing but surrender to it. This series has, without question, become my favorite, and I suspect it shall remain so for a very long time.
In short: I was enchanted, delighted, and entirely undone—and I would most gladly be so again.
There are books one enjoys, books one admires, and then—on the rarest and most delightful of occasions—books one is entirely *claimed* by. *The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion* belongs most emphatically to the latter category.
From the very first page, I found myself not merely reading, but residing—installed most comfortably—within Emma’s world. It is a place rendered with such wit, precision, and warmth that one cannot help but feel a quiet astonishment at being permitted entry. The rhythms of London society unfold with an elegance that feels at once keenly observed and deliciously exaggerated, as though reality itself had been persuaded to behave just a little better for our benefit.
Emma, in all her sharpness and sincerity, is a triumph. To encounter her mind—so brisk, so perceptive, so gloriously unwilling to conform to expectation—is to be in the company of a dear friend whose every observation one eagerly awaits. And the surrounding cast! Each character arrives not as a mere figure upon the page, but as a fully realized presence, possessed of their own peculiarities, motives, and quiet revelations. I found myself thinking of them when I was away from the book, wondering after their affairs as one does with real acquaintances.
What astonished me most, however, was the effortless way in which I was drawn along—not hurried, never coerced, but entirely captivated. The plot unfolds with a natural grace, each moment building upon the last until I realized, quite suddenly, that I was unwilling to leave. Indeed, I would have happily lingered for several hundred pages more, had such a thing been possible. I reached the end not with satisfaction (which would imply completion), but with a sort of startled indignation that there was not, in fact, more.
To say that I loved every word feels insufficient, though I cannot improve upon it. There is a particular joy in encountering a work that feels so wholly itself—so confident in its voice and vision—that one can do nothing but surrender to it. This series has, without question, become my favorite, and I suspect it shall remain so for a very long time.
In short: I was enchanted, delighted, and entirely undone—and I would most gladly be so again.
June 30, 2025
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 stars and a hopeful plea for more)
I can’t decide if I should spend time writing this review… or rereading the entire series immediately. Please, Beth Brower—write faster!
It’s been years since I’ve been so fully transported—back to the feeling I had when I first fell in love with Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë. Jumping into these books feels like sinking into an overstuffed, slightly tattered armchair and disappearing into a world that’s slower, more mysterious, and wonderfully peppered with invitations to tea, curious characters, and the quiet work of coming to know oneself and others.
Beth Brower’s writing has Jane Austen’s humor and wit, but with a modern approachability that makes these books a joy to read with my teenage daughters. The stories are layered enough to satisfy me, yet bright enough to pull in younger readers who are ready to fall in love with a world that values conversation, curiosity, and a well-placed remark.
Every time I finish a book in this series, I find myself scanning the life around me for the same wit and twinkle that Emma so often notices—and I love that.
Beth, if you’re reading this: Please write, write, write! We need more Emma—more invitations, more mysteries, more of those perfectly unhurried moments that make this series sparkle.
I’ll be waiting—with tea in hand.
I can’t decide if I should spend time writing this review… or rereading the entire series immediately. Please, Beth Brower—write faster!
It’s been years since I’ve been so fully transported—back to the feeling I had when I first fell in love with Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë. Jumping into these books feels like sinking into an overstuffed, slightly tattered armchair and disappearing into a world that’s slower, more mysterious, and wonderfully peppered with invitations to tea, curious characters, and the quiet work of coming to know oneself and others.
Beth Brower’s writing has Jane Austen’s humor and wit, but with a modern approachability that makes these books a joy to read with my teenage daughters. The stories are layered enough to satisfy me, yet bright enough to pull in younger readers who are ready to fall in love with a world that values conversation, curiosity, and a well-placed remark.
Every time I finish a book in this series, I find myself scanning the life around me for the same wit and twinkle that Emma so often notices—and I love that.
Beth, if you’re reading this: Please write, write, write! We need more Emma—more invitations, more mysteries, more of those perfectly unhurried moments that make this series sparkle.
I’ll be waiting—with tea in hand.
May 4, 2026
C.S. Lewis writes, "In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets... Hence true Friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend. They can then say, as the blessed souls say in Dante, 'Here comes one who will augment our loves.' For in this love 'to divide is not to take away.”
Beth Brower captures this idea perfectly in the first eight books of Emma's journals. Charming, witty, beautiful prose that fully captures the "alchemy" she writes of in the series. I have loved every minute I have spent reading these books. Not a word out of place.
Beth Brower captures this idea perfectly in the first eight books of Emma's journals. Charming, witty, beautiful prose that fully captures the "alchemy" she writes of in the series. I have loved every minute I have spent reading these books. Not a word out of place.
January 14, 2026
I absolutely love this series! The first book was very short and didn't quite hook me, however, I'm so glad I kept going and gave them a chance. As her journals progressed, I grew to love Emma and her friends and community more and more. They were so delightful to read. For the later books in the series, I listened to the audio versions, and the narrator is phenomenal. Overall, the books are light and fun, but there is also some depth to them. If you like Regency-era books, there's a good chance you'll fall in love with these.
April 9, 2026
“There is no feeling quite like finishing a book that you’ve loved.”
“Something in my heart untwisted when he said the word home.”
“Yes, well, I think we can both agree that damaged items still hold value.”
“We all cast shadows from our past, only how difficult a thing it is to let others see them.”
“The idea that one could live in a world where a friend would invite you to go read in another’s library feels more dream than reality. It bodes well for my life’s prospects.”
“Something in my heart untwisted when he said the word home.”
“Yes, well, I think we can both agree that damaged items still hold value.”
“We all cast shadows from our past, only how difficult a thing it is to let others see them.”
“The idea that one could live in a world where a friend would invite you to go read in another’s library feels more dream than reality. It bodes well for my life’s prospects.”
August 31, 2024
I loved this series. I hope it does not end with book 7. This author is so creative and charming.
I loved that Emma was enchanted with books, she treasured them. It tickled me so much when she went to the strange bookshop and was ushered into a back room filled with leathers and papers and tools for bookmaking. Emma was charmed! I am charmed also. It was delightful.
I loved that Emma was enchanted with books, she treasured them. It tickled me so much when she went to the strange bookshop and was ushered into a back room filled with leathers and papers and tools for bookmaking. Emma was charmed! I am charmed also. It was delightful.
December 2, 2025
I never read a fictional book more than once! I read all of the paper versions, however when the audio versions of this series came out I played the sample and was hooked. I just finished listening to all 8 of them and they are a comfort read. Genevieve Guant does an incredible job with the voices and had me laughing often!! Guant and Brower are a top notch team!
March 9, 2025
I’ve read the first 8 volumes and I don’t know that I’ve enjoyed reading anything more. Beth Brower is a master with words. I laughed nearly every page. But there’s also tears and heartache and the best characters you’ll meet. Emma M Lion is optimism and undaunted and a rapscallion to be sure.
October 31, 2025
I don't usually like Jane Austen-type books, but these are fabulously done! I feel in love with the complex characters. I laughed out loud. The wit and the cleverness is so good. I love that there is love but it isn't a love story. I'm hooked!
February 16, 2026
Completely delightful. Quirky, well-developed characters. I’m a little bit in love with Hawkes 😁. My only complaint is that she really needs to pick up the pace on cranking these books out. At this rate, I’m going to be in my 60’s before the last book is written.
January 17, 2025
These books are absolutely delightful.
April 16, 2025
Love these!! Fun writing and easy reading
October 7, 2025
Absolute perfection. These have become favorite book I want to read again and again.
December 31, 2025
As the audiobooks were released this year I listened to them back to back. What a delight. Wonderful narrator.
January 24, 2026
Great on audible. But I was expecting a resolution at the end of Book 8!! Not the case. More to come.
February 4, 2026
I don't want to finish the series.....what will I read!?
February 5, 2026
Such a fun series! I love Emma! She's hilarious despite her cousin and her life's circumstances.
March 15, 2026
I absolutely adore this series. I finished the series on Kindle and immediately started buying the actual books, I don’t want to live a day without Emma and her Alchemy.
March 28, 2026
Absolutely adored this book series! Never wanted them to end. Also read book 8 and feel like there are more to come. The characters are layered and interesting. Emma is just so funny and clever.
April 3, 2026
I really enjoyed this volume! Some fun and exciting surprises. Looking forward to volume 8!
April 22, 2026
De light ful.
December 9, 2025
Re-read because I’m obsessed
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews