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, Fiction, Audiobook, Historical, Romance, Humor, Victorian

207 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

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

May these journals never end!

[Maddie Fisher · Rating 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.

[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!

[Janssen]

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

[Kennedy Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma is THAT girl

[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!

[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.

[Mikayla Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt every emotion reading this book

[Cindy Rollins · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[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!

[Miriam Simut · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We will fight in the shade." 😌

[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.

[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.

[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 🫣

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"My friends do not go to war alone."

Congratulations, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4, for being the first in the series to make me cry.

Oh man, I wondered what it was that made someone I follow here on Goodreads cry, and I should have seen it coming because Emma had written about it in a previous entry, but the revelation hit me almost as bad as it did Emma when she discovered the news. When that happened, I did not think I would cry, but alas I did.

The further in I go, the more I adore Emma and all of her friends, and the support they give her. Niall Pierce, especially, really shined when it came to that situation.
 
Favorite Moments
Pierce decking Evelyn.

Emma: "I see why you have so many friends."
Pierce: "Oh?"
Emma: "You are loyal, Pierce. True friendship, and all that."
Pierce: "If anything, it's self-serving. I like good people. They remind me of what I used to be myself."

[kenzie ❀ (peeta mellark’s version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not expecting to cry over the book my grandma recommended to me 💀

but seriously. this series is a hidden treasure.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. Oh my heart, I loved this! It really solidified my realization that these are more historical fantasy than historical fiction, but I do not care. All the characters we've met so far play their part, and so charmingly! Though Cousin Archibald hardly features (beyond throwing a spoon), Jack has two scenes (thank goodness one favour is over with), and Roland reappeared for a few (I love that guy so much) and Emma's cousin finally popped up. I love the group friendship between Hawkes, Pierce, Islington, and Emma (though I could've shaken the Reprobates) and I loved learning more about Maxwell. That side of the story was so sweet and sad—Pierce took such good care of Emma, though. 💙 But there's still so much humour... I'd have laughed aloud at places, especially the bit about agricultural French, except that I was at my library and had to stifle my giggles. I'm so eager to see what this all leads to into book 5!!!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am officially a part of the Emma Lion fan club. I liked the books before this... loved them a bit too. But now? Now I am all in. They have all been cute so far, but this one was next level. I can't count the number of times that I laughed out loud and I can't believe how emotional I got...many times. The ending of this book was so so good.

Gosh I'm happy about this.

[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.

[Keri Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma M. Lion continues to delight in this 4th volume. She tries to endure some family obligations, as she continues to enjoy her friendship with her tenant. Others continue to gather around her to entertain, frustrate, and support her. In this one she faces a difficult situation, but with the help of friends. These books are gentle, endearing and entertaining.

[Alissa J. Zavalianos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly so so good! I loved the mixture of tender and hilarious moments. This series 🥲

[abigailscupoftea · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Paris (parismaereads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beth Brower is simultaneously breaking my heart and mending it back together

My Quick Takes:
- 5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Language 🤐 mild - a few period appropriate instances
- Spice ❤️‍🔥 none
- Content: Grief, themes of war

It’s getting harder and harder to review these as I’m becoming more and more at a loss for words. The raw grief and budding, yet familiar, found family are two sides of a coin that Brower has reader’s holding onto for dear life.

[Bess Brinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going through this way too fast, probably but it is fun and oh so immersive (also, so far the volumes are quite short, so do not be impressed). The threads established so far start to show a bigger picture of plot and history and it's still very very funny and very very entertaining. Oh Emma, I love you.

And I fully acknowledge I have read way too many trashy fiction of all kinds but I am seeing all these reverse harem vibes, really. It's an emotional, platonic, "clean" reverse harem, but those guys are basically her emotional support collection of boyfriends. And I do not mean it as negative thing, it's adorable.

Edit to add - I take absolutely no responsibility whatsoever if any browser of this review is unaware of "reverse harem" and decides to google it. If you aren't sure, do not google it on my account!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did and do still want to read Christmas books, but, ahem, I did not stop after book 3. 🤣🙈🤷‍♀️👏🏻

[Carmen Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am just loving these so much and reading them all too quickly to try to write reviews for each one.
I love watching Emma figure out life.
Pierce has my whole heart.

This particular one was just the best in strengthening friendships. 🥹

[Cait | GoodeyReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHAT A DELIGHT.

BLOG || INSTAGRAM || TIKTOK

Geez, I love these books. They are so fun!! I love Emma’s voice and I found myself laughing so many times at the dry wit and comical antics that she found herself involved in. Not to mention all of the swoony men in her life?? This is the slowest of slow burn, sub plot romances and I was attached to them all.

I love Emma’s strength of character and ability to make the best of whatever situation has found her. This was another fantastic installment in the series and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Overall audience notes:
- Historical Fiction
- Language: none
- Romance: maybe some subtle flirting?
- Violence: low
- Trigger/Content Warnings: grief depiction