Katherine Harbour's Blog - Posts Tagged "jane-austen"

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
Monty is a lord in the 1800s and is about to embark on a grand tour of Europe with his brainy sister Felicity and his best friend and fellow aristocrat, Percy.
The tour falls apart and becomes an adventure and a desperate attempt to retrieve an alchemical device that might save one of the three from a devastating condition and fate in a sanatorium. The French court, racial injustice, pirates, Venice, parental abuse, and unrequited love make for a fabulous narrative.
The three young protagonists learn to become heroes. Every character has a story. The romance is epic. A perfect read for anyone who likes a dash of history and romance with their adventure and Jane Austen.

Jane, Unlimited
This is a book about possibilities. Jane is invited to her friend's mansion Tu Reviens. Jane has just lost her aunt, who was raising her. Jane's hobby is making umbrellas that reflect her moods.
Tu Reviens is inhabited by a group of eccentric people preparing for a gala.There are the knowledgeable servants, the mysterious brother and sister, Patrick and Ivy, and the best friend's brother, Ravi. There's the reclusive millionaire father and others who have secrets. Although the story seems contemporary, there are hints, in paintings and frog rains, that things are not quite as they seem.
Jane is presented with five choices throughout the story.With each path she chooses, there's a different outcome and a different genre. It's an amazing feat of writing, weird and wonderful, with a protagonist who has the best qualities of the pluckiest Austen heroines.

Sorcerer to the Crown
Zacharias is an outcast among the Royal
Society of Unnatural Philosophers, but he is also Sorcerer Royal. Rescued from an African slave ship by Sir Stephen, once Sorcerer Royal and his faster father, Zacharias is soon dealing with conspiracies from his fellow sorcerers and a few murder attempts, all while dealing with a dark secret of his own, racism, and a prodigal young sorceress-it's improper for women to use magic for anything serious-and a political crisis involving fairies and the lamiae of another country.
It's a dazzling alternate Regency England. Zacharias' apprentice, Prunella Gentleman, is a Becky Sharp boldly making her way in a strangling society. I loved her and Zacharias, who is a polite and practical man, not one of those broody heroes.
For anyone who loved Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell.

The Dark Days Club
Lady Helen lives in Regency era London, where a secret society called The Dark Days Club have been fighting monsters for centuries. When she meets the infamous Lord Carlston, she learns she can do extraordinary things. Filled with interesting details about life in Regency England, and Lovecraftian demons, the story is interesting, as are the two main characters, Helen and Carlston. I just wished they'd come up against a villain to equal their intelligence, so maybe in the sequels:)
If Jane Austen wrote Buffy the Vampire Slayer...