The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, vol. 4

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion #4

by Beth Brower

"It all began very innocently. Truly."

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, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction, Historical, Romance, Humor, Victorian

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 21, 2021

About the author

Like 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.

Reviews

[Brady Lockerby]

each one of these is just more and more delightful than the last! i love Emma, i love St. Crispian’s, i love this mismatched group of unlikely friends, and i just smile my way through every single one! i’m trying to pace myself through the 8 that are out (9th is currently being written 🎉) ((20+planned)) i can’t stop reading them. i was planning on waiting until the end of the series to rate it as a whole, but just know each book is 5 stars
o b s e s s e d

[Maddie Fisher · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

RATING BREAKDOWN
Characters: 5⭐️
Setting: 5⭐️
Plot: 4⭐️
Themes: 4⭐️
Emotional Impact: 4⭐️
Personal Enjoyment: 5⭐️
Total Rounded Average: 4.5⭐️

I love how this story just keeps getting more convoluted with hilarious characters, and deeper with grief and post-war effects. Emma is as entertaining, resourceful, clever, and bold as ever, and the characters around her are as smitten as always.

The structure of these volumes will always be brilliant for me. Journal entries are such a fun way to tell a story and make the reader invested in the characters.

There is nothing more comforting than an Emma M. Lion volume, and I cannot wait to see how Emma's story continues to unfold.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

May these journals never end!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was so brilliant; I want to laugh and cry at the same time. This was my favorite volume so far. I love the friendships that are developing and coalescing. I love the comic bits with the Reprobates Ten and The Drunken Duck. I laughed sooo hard at a Certain Scene. It reminded me of listening to the audiobook of PG Wodehouse’s “Something Fresh” years ago where there was a comic scene that kept me howling with laughter. I love the tragic bits with the deep griefs in the characters’ lives and how beautifully they support each other (even to fisticuffs…what did Evelyn say??). I love the minor characters who add such color and mystery and amusement to the story (Mrs Penury anyone?). I love Emma’s ongoing battle to be her own person…to be learned, to be good, to be free to live fully and well despite many obstacles. Just all around loved. (This review pathetically fails to convey how lovely this series is. Would that I had the Duke’s skill with a pen!)

Omg!! I’m re-reading this already in Dec 2024. Since I last read it a month ago (ha!), I’ve been reading Little Dorrit, and I had noticed some echoes of that story in this one. Sure enough, there’s a reference to Little Dorrit on page 8!

[ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

another BANGER. loved the ending of this

[Christina Baehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, we get a some flesh on Maxwell and Emma’s backstory. It’s very elegantly done, and a lot is only implied, but it’s exactly right and I shed a tear. I’ve been a bit bewildered at Emma’s growing collection of male friends, but this book has an “avengers, assemble” kind of moment where it feels like the collection is complete and a core group has been formed. To what purpose I’m not sure. But I’ll keep reading to find out!

I was a little irked at first at Hawkes’ telling of the story of Thermopylae (a story that every British schoolboy knew backwards), but by the end it had won me over. Leonidas = Lion, and Emma also fights in the shade. When I started this series, I was a bit taken aback by some of the things Emma has been through and insists on making light of, but now I see that this is part of her character. The sparkle isn’t cheap tinsel - it’s the sparkle of sunlight on swords in battle.

[Kennedy Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma is THAT girl

[Janssen]

I think this is the one that really made me fall in love with this series: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAkHaoOt_ZE/

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh. My. Heart.

This latest section of Emma's journals is filled with humor and heart. You might also need a hankie.

Here are five things I absolutely loved:

🦆An unexpected meeting at a dancing hall leads to a sermon that Emma will cherish on the adulterous woman of John 8. Thanks to The Vicar, The Duke is rethinking his high-horse position.

📚 Emma's library contains a volume entitled "Latin Phrases for the Unrepentant" and she takes great pleasure in perusing it for choice comebacks. (Acquired in a raffle at the Dalliance Bookshop in Vol. 2).

🎩 Three men find themselves working together on Emma's behalf: The Tenant, The Duke, and The Vicar. It is heartwarming to see how protective they are.

🖤 Emma's beloved Maxwell is returned to England and given a proper burial. Her mad rush to join in will have your heart breaking as will the accompanying events.

🎃 The American tradition of lighting up pumpkins for Hallowe'en makes its way across the ocean to St. Crispian. Emma's household is tasked with displaying these gutted gourds.

For anyone else like me who is frustrated with long hold lines through their library, I recommend trying the Chirp app. They had a sale on Volumes 1-5 so I chose to buy them in a bundle for the bargain price of $14.95. 🎧🐦

[Mikayla Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt every emotion reading this book

[Youssra {very busy-review slumping} · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love these so much 💖 The funniest but also the most emotional one so far🤧 Emma is, by far, one of my favorite fmcs to read about💖 The men in this series are all so wonderful too; each with a unique personality and I can't choose a favorite😩 I love the budding friendship between all of them and the reprobates ten are HILARIOUSSSS😂

I want to experience an "English Tea" once in my life😂

[Alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

And at some in-between moment, a key fit a lock, a door opened. As if the four of us created a room not having previously been in existence before. Which sounds mad.

This is the volume where a very beautiful little friendship circle starts to take shape: Emma and her tenant and a vicar and a duke… all enigmatic and all wonderful. I loved re-reading it and recognizing those early moments as they recognize the alchemy that’s taking place whenever they get together. Reading it is like being granted access to a delightful secret garden.

Oh yes, and there are also the antics at The Drunken Duck… and Hawkes’ sermon the next day…ah, this series!

[Cindy Rollins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting longer and better. Seeing some interesting threads. But I do so hate Emerson.

[Whitney Newby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I’m officially hooked to this series, and this was my favorite book yet (and I hear they just get better!). The friendships, the dialogue, the character development… it can’t be beat. This one had me in tears. I can’t wait for my daughter to read these in the next few years.

[Miriam Simut · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We will fight in the shade." 😌

[Reggie Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok I’m enjoying these much more now! I want to be besties with Emma.

[Ellery Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This installment was a little on the glum side. I realize the reader needed to peek inside Emma's first and only romance and that she needed closer before she could entertain a real relationship with one of her many possible suitors, but I missed the levity of the previous journals. Also, I am still struggling with her boundless impropriety and how no one but her cook seems to notice that she spends most of her free time with unmarried gentlemen. Her behavior would be the talk of the town! It's great fun to accompany her on her escapades, but I wish they stayed closer to the realm of the believable.

[Hallie (thecommonroomshop) · Rating 5 out of 5]

INFINITY STARS!!!! ♾️💗✨💗!!!! The found family is officially locked in and it may be one of my favorite found families to ever exist. This series feels so LIFELIKE. It’s heartwarming, mystical, hilarious, devastating and full of the slowest and most authentic yearning.

I actually started tearing up just writing that🥹 I feel so lucky to have found these books. They are one of my greatest treasures of 2025!

[abigailscupoftea · Rating 5 out of 5]

me: *scared i won’t find very many 5 star reads this year*
emma: *hold my journals*

[Olivia | Liv's Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily the most funny, yet heartbreaking in the series yet. 🥹🥲

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 4" is a wonderful addition to the series. It features a hilarious scene resolving Emma's first of two debts, balanced by a heartbreaking goodbye. Genevieve Gaunt's expressive narration brings the story to life. I can't wait to listen to the next volume!

[Bailey Mcknight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh how sad I will be when these books are over😭

[Anne (In Search of Wonder) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always unexpected, always a tad unlikely, always highly whimsical, always insightful, often humorous, occasionally emotional... this series continues steadfastly in all the things that make it wonderful!

[Charlie Holmberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have tissues handy.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emma M. Lion’s are cute slices of life that up until this point, I could take it or leave it.

I don’t know if it was the cheekiness of this volume’s tasks along with the fall season it takes place in… but I am now officially hooked.

[Stefani Murdock · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite so far. I laughed and sobbed. Apologies to all those who begged me to read this series sooner 🫣

[Elizabeth Santelmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay I give up… I’m addicted. These books are so charming. It’s the perfect combination of enough action, but slow reading I’ve been needing for this stage of life.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obsessed

[Sarah Therèse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emma M Lion has my heart.

It is so whimsy, raw, exciting and cozy. Part of me wants to slow down a bit thru these books as I find they may keep me warm during the Fall/Winter season.

The first book is quite slow, the second much more interesting and now finishing this one, I am absolutely hooked.

Highly recommend these books, don’t sleep on them!

[Flor · Rating 5 out of 5]

They just keep getting better. And this one? The most emotional so far. The range it delivers in fewer than 200 pages? Superb. It dives into grief and loss while still finding space to be light and fun. I just love everything about this series.