Anji’s Comments (group member since Dec 02, 2019)

Anji’s comments from the Austenesque Lovers TBR Challenge 2020 group.

J. W. wrote: "Congratulations, Anji to your son and his new wife! Blessings to you and your family. Hope all goes well for next spring. Stay safe and healthy."

Thanks, Jeanne. We're crossing everything we can for next year. The pessimist in me fears that 70 will still be too many, especially if things go badly this winter. We were supposed to have had family from Australia and our son's godfather from Hong Kong coming. From what we've heard from Down Under, Australians aren't allowed to leave their country except in emergencies and that's likely to be the case for at least the next six months. Hong Kong is in another lockdown, apparently. The furthest that anyone came to last month's wedding was around a couple of hours drive.

Scary times, as I've said many times. The flu season will be starting soon, too. I hope you've all had your flu jabs.

Sophia wrote: "Hey, Anji!

Good to get your newsy update and to hear you're climbing out of your reading slump and had a nice church wedding for your son. :)"

Thanks, Sophia. I've got a handful of books to add to my list, which I'll do in the not too distant future, I hope.

Sheila wrote: "Good to hear from you, Anji. Glad you, at least, had some sort of ceremony for your son and his wife. This COVID is a nasty thing and so many here are not taking it seriously as you can see by the ..."

Sheila, it's the same here. Social distancing seems to have gone out of the window for a good number of people and cases are rising here, too. We're expecting our Prime Minister to announce some new restrictions on Monday. Economically, another full lockdown would be a disaster but it may yet have to happen as we head into winter and the flu season. Trevor and I have been fortunate financially so far, as he's retired and, as a community pharmacist, I'm a key worker. Our son has been working from home since our full lockdown started in March and his company have decided to carry in with that for the forseeable future. Our daughter-in-law works with horses and they've been living at the property where she works for several years now. It's in a small village a few miles from us, so they're away from the hustle and bustle of our home town.

Stay safe, my friend. I've been thinking of you, even though I've been awol.

Hi friends! It's been a long old time since I was last here (May, I believe) but I am still around! Real Life has been getting in the way of many things, including reading. Added to that, I've had a major reading slump affecting all three formats (paper, ebooks and audio) and haven't looked in on any of the blogs either. Hopefully....hopefully, that's coming to an end now. I picked up my Kindle for the first time in ages a couple of days ago, only to find that the battery had totally died! It's fully charged now and I've just started A Wilful Misunderstanding: A Pride & Prejudice Variation by Amy D'Orazio. Then this morning, I had a request to put on my "British beta" hat once again. So...all cylinders now firing (I think!) and raring to go!

In personal news, our son finally got married on the 18th of last month. It was very much a Covid-19 wedding, though. Maximum number allowed in the church was 30 and everyone except vicar, bride and groom had to wear masks and keep a social distance of 2 metres between households. No wedding breakfast though, as other indoor gatherings are a maximum of 6. Had it been a week later, we'd have only been allowed 15 at the church, as tighter restrictions came in just a few days later. Still, the legal bit is done and we're crossing everything for circumstances to allow a church blessing and breakfast with the original guest list of 70 next spring.

Hope everyone is managing to keep well and stay safe. At some point, I'm hoping to catch up and read through all of the posts and comments I've missed. Not exactly promising to manage it all, however. Have to see how much time allows!

APRIL SUMMARY

These figures aren't strictly just April, they're up to date as of today, 8th May.

Published (ebooks) = 3
Audiobooks = 4
Unpublished on GR = 0
Unpublished not on GR = 3
Non-challenge books = 4

TOTAL = 10

YTD = 44

Currently reading: beta/proofread
and following Hidden Stitches by Lady Jaeza and Longbourn Math by WadeH on fanfiction.net
Next up: another beta/proofread, and an ARC

Currently listening to: One Love Two Hearts Three Stories: A Pride & Prejudice Anthology by J. Dawn King and
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
Next up: President Darcy: A Modern Pride and Prejudice Variation by Victoria Kincaid


Another eventful few weeks. I may, or may not, have had the dreaded Covid-19 but spent eight and a half days in isolation just in case. You might have expected the above numbers to be higher under those circumstances, but I found concentration quite hard at the beginning and I also had a book to beta for one of our lovely Austenesque writers. Another treat in store for you there, friends. Got two more coming up this month, so I'll be under the radar for a while. I'm also behind on reviewing, which will have to wait until I've finished my beta and ARC commitments.

Sadly, our son's proposed wedding day came and went without a wedding taking place. They still regard themselves as married even wothout the piece of paper that makes it legal. They exchanged some vows in front of their best friends (who'll be best man and matron of honour eventually), via video phone call, and are now wearing their wedding rings. Fingers cross for 18th September!

Time for a quick update. I'm in the middle of a series of beta reads, so don't have much time to spend here just now. So most of what's listed below are audiobooks. I'm also behind on reviews but will try to catch up once I have more time.

41. Particular Attachments by L.L. Diamond ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
audiobook performance by Leena Emsley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

42. Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged by Carrie Bebris ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The second volume of the radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings #2: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ was as enjoyable as I remembered it being from years ago. My only real quibble is the choice of Robert Stephens as the voice of Aragorn. I honestly wasn't keen on his voice way back then in the 80s and I'm still of the same mind. Of course, we were spoiled much later on by Viggo Mortensen's portrayal in the film trilogy. Now he was exactly as I'd imagined Aragorn to look when I first read the book in the mid 70s.

43. Darcy Interrupted: A Pride and Prejudice Steamy Variation Demi Monde ⭐️⭐️
audiobook performance by Piers Ryman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Giveaway win - glad I hadn't spent an Audible credit on it. Very short, too. A case of the performance being better than what was being performed.

44 The Cottage in a Cornish Cove by Cass Grafton 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Dawn wrote: "Hi Anji,
I recently watched "Love and Friendship" on Amazon about Lady Susan Vernon, so I am going to choose Darcy, Lizzy and Lady Susan: A Pride and Prejudice Regency..."

Many thanks, Dawn.

Anji wrote: "Trawling done! I've decided instead on Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged by Carrie Bebris. It's been sitting on my Kindle for ages, as have..."

Finally got around to reading this! Really enjoyed it, too.

Sophia, it was a hard choice. In the end it came down to a toss up between nos 1 and 2. The coin came down in favour of Disenchanted, though if you'd prefer Recipe for Persuasion, I won't object!

Link to an analysis of the first volume of P&P. Although it didn't tell me anything I hadn't already realised, it's an interesting article anyway

https://www.econlib.org/were-all-very...

Sophia wrote: "Checking in with my little stack of April reads. Lovely group of books.

TBR: 15/50 books


4.5 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"

Just read your review of MBDD, Sophia. Good to see you enjoyed it, especially as it was the audio version with yet another sublime performance by Stevie Zimmerman. I'm not reading your other two reviews, as they're both in my future and I don't want to pre-judge them.

Many thanks for telling us about all of these offers, friends. And because my TBR list just isn't big enough, I've just added four more to it!

I know virtually nothing about them, Patricia. I found them on my Kindle and guess I probably got them as freebies or at very reduced prices.

Most of us are eating your dust right now, Kirk! Excellent progress.

Thanks for those, Chelsea. The 2nd and 3rd intrigue me greatly, as they say they're "A Jane Austen Space Opera" and I'm a huge sci-fi geek. And especially as one mentions that it's a mashup with Firefly, you can't go wrong. They've got pretty high ratings on Amazon.

OK, I'm in! These are the letters I've got missing from my book title alphabet challenge. I've had to be a bit creative with X and Z.

G. Georgiana Darcy: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by Alice Isakova

I. It Started with a Kiss: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Beth Wood

J. Jewels on the Water: A Pride and Prejudice Sequel by Rachel Elizabeth

K. Kellynch: Sequel To Jane Austen's Persusion by Kwen D. Griffeth

Q. Quite the Opposite: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Jadie Brooks

U. Under the Harvest Moon: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Sophie Lynbrook

V. Veritas: A Retelling of Jane Austen's Emma by Alma Kelleher

W. When They Fall in Love by Mary Lydon Simonsen

X. Miss Darcy's Beau'X': A Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Pride and Prejudice continuation by Eliza Shearer

Y. Young Wickham by Alexa Adams

Z. Darcy, Li'ZZ'y and Lady Susan: A Pride and Prejudice Regency by Barbara Silkstone

Elin wrote: "51. Spy, 61k, AHA,
http://meryton.com/aha/index.php?show... 3,75*
52. Inspiration, Maria Grace, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43... 3*
53. Pride And The Billionaire, http..."

Excellent progress Elin, but a very mixed bag of ratings. As for no. 74........words fail me!

Elin wrote: "I am so glad you are feeling better Anji and what a romantic gesture by your son and his fiancée."

Thanks, Elin. I spoke to my sister on the phone today and we both had a tear in our eye when I told her what they were planning.

Ceri wrote: "Glad you're out of isolation, Anji. Sorry your son's wedding had to be postponed. Take care of yourself."

Thanks, Ceri. Isolation was a bit of a weird time and whatever the virus I had was, it's left me feeling rather tired but otherwise OK. We knew the postponement was coming but until the lockdown was officially extended past 1st May, we couldn't actually say so.

Rose Fairbanks has a website called The Reading Reticule with a compilation of titles that are free, on countdown, on sale or $0.99.

https://readingreticule.com

Probably best to double check the prices before buying, as whilst most of the prices/deals applied in the UK, not all of them did. That may be because the date stated on the website said 11th April.

J. W. wrote: "Anji, so happy you are out and about. Blessings as you regain your strength. Your son has decided a handfast will work until they can make it official. That is too cool."

Thanks Jeanne. I was back on the front line once more yesterday. It's a little early to say but it looks as though the frantic working days that started last month are starting to settle down a bit. "Handfasting" is a lovely way of describing what our son and his fiancée are planning. I'll make sure to mention that next time I speak to him.

Kirk wrote: "Congrats on being out of isolation! Lovely thought about celebrating on the 1st as planned. "

Thanks Kirk. I felt quite emotional when he told us what they were planning.

Sophia wrote: "Glad you're out of isolation, Anji.

Aw, that is a lovely idea your son and his fiancee are doing to commemorate their wedding and not let the virus win."

I was glad to get out, Sophia! Our son is working from home right now and though there's not going to be a wedding in two weeks time, both of them are still taking the day off and having their own little celebration.

Sheila wrote: "I applaud that decision and wish them all the happiness in the world..."

Many thanks, Sheila, as do we.