Suzan’s Comments (group member since Dec 05, 2016)

Suzan’s comments from the Austenesque Lovers TBR Pile Reading Challenge 2017 group.

I wanted to share this with anyone who's struggling. I'm behind. First, I judged a contest and had to read 5 books in another genre in two months. Also, somehow, I've chosen to read long books that are slightly boring due to the writer's redundancies or ubiquitous side plots and extraneous characters. These are highly recommended, high-review stories, so they must have some redeeming qualities, right?

Here's my "get out of jail free" card advice: sneak in some mild, fluffy novellas to aid the tedium. So I'm reading two slow, long JAFFs after a long, slow three-book story. (Does this count as one or three? I bought it as a package.) I'm starting a third light novella this week. Hahaha!

Any easy-to-read shorts with decent conflict to recommend? I detest stories that have been broken into multiple part-story books under the guise of novella (AKA reader ripoffs), so please, never, ever mention those to me.

Sophia wrote: "Okay guys, fun question.

What do ya think? Do we have a Harlequin P&P retelling or no?


You have to check out the bolded part at the top of the blurb. Eh, ..."
Harlequin Flame or whatever that steamy imprint is would like "The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy" by Sara Angelini or "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star" by Heather Lynn Rigaud. Both are modern, fairly original plots.

Virginia wrote: "Hello!! This is so exciting!

Let's see. I read my first JA novel between my 7th and 8th grade year. I fell in love with Mr. Darcy, who was immediately replaced by Mr. Rochester, and who was then ..."
That part about not disclosing your username for JAFF is like a cliffhanger! I'm dying to know if I know your stories! I'm redhead on most boards.

Teresita wrote: "Hi! I'm Teresita, Tere for short, and I live in Sonora, in Mexico. I will try to make this challenge this year.
I translate from English into Spanish for a living and love all of Jane Austen's sto..."
Tere, I spend my winters in Mazatlán. If you squint, you will see me waving to you!

Hello! I'm Suzan, and I read 61 books so far in 2016, of which I estimate 90% were Austenesque, so I decided to aim for 51 Austenesque and 70 books total this year! The 19 extra are allowing for Regency Romance and writing advice books. I'm including Austen-related non-fiction in my aim for 51.

Anyone in this group looking for a good place to start can consider reading my books: Alias Thomas Bennet (mature, non-explicit SV, V), Then Comes Winter (I have a modern short story called Delivery Boy in this romance anthology) or the multiple category bestselling, Amazon Kindle top 809 Letter from Ramsgate (teen rated, angst). All my stories are P&P inspired, 4+ star rated, and have a D&E HEA.

I'm Suzan and I have been reading Austen and everything related since 2009. Yeah, I was nearly 50 years old when I first read Northanger Abbey and was hooked. Since then, I became an Austenesque author, with unpublished works on AHA and DWG and two published novels (one a bestseller) and a story in a published anthology. I also study Regency history and costuming and best practises in writing fiction, and I beta edit for several authors, meaning I've had significant input into 8 published novels by others.

I'm ill, and a few years ago, my ability to concentrate was so poor I could barely read 10 books a year, so last year I aimed for 25 Austenesque and hit 61 total books, of which most were Austen-related. I admit about half a dozen of them weren't completely read since they weren't good enough to keep my attention, but that's factored into my plans. This year, I'm aiming for Emma Woodhouse.

Please excuse me if I write with few contractions. It's because I write Regency and got into the habit. I don't talk that way!

I love the Austenesque world because of the huge number of virtual friends I've made. I've met a good dozen of them, and even attended the wedding of my plot beta in NOLA, quite a long distance from my home on Vancouver Island. I look forward to meeting more people as new authors, readers, and reviewers join our happy groups!