Who Needs Mr Darcy? by Jean Burnett

Everybody knows the story of Elizabeth Bennett but now it's time for her sister Lydia to take the limelight.

Lydia Wickham is recently widowed after her husband was killed during Waterloo. Now penniless, she relies on the generosity of her sister and brother in law. When Lydia announces she wishes to move on to London after staying with Elizabeth and Darcy, they agree to pay her a 'small' allowance. Lydia intends to climb the social ladder but finds herself being drawn into the criminal underworld, befriending a serial adulterer banker, cheating at cards and discovering the body of a strange man on her sofa.

Lydia jumps from one scrape to another, seemingly attracted to trouble. Her family despair of her actions but Lydia doesn't listen and finds them - and their lives - to be incredibly dull. Lydia's own life is far from dull as she meets musicians and royalty and travels across the continent. I found her to be snobbish at times and quite selfish but in a wonderful, amusing way. I loved the historic references, from Waterloo, Lord Byron and the tragic death of Princess Charlotte. The only (very small) criticism I have is I struggled with a few words and phrases as I don't have a vast knowledge of the time period so a bit more of an explanation would have been handy but it didn't really hinder my enjoyment of the book and I looked up a couple of references so learned some new things along the way.

Overall, I enjoyed Who Needs Mr Darcy? and found it to be a pleasant and amusing read while giving an insight into the early 19th century. I would love to know what happens to Lydia next and read about her adventures.


Who Needs Mr Darcy? is out now.

Thank you to Sphere for sending me a copy to review.

In September...

... I read:

• The Confidant by Helene Gremillon
• Ravenscliffe by Jane Sanderson
• Red Ribbons by Louise Phillips
• Who Needs Mr Darcy by Jean Burnett
• Ramshackle by Elizabeth Reeder

... I finished Book 2

Chocolate Macaroons

... was awarded the Booker Award

... interviewed Poppy Dolan and Sophie King

... made Very Chocolatey Macaroons as part of my Saved By Cake Challenge

... My youngest started nursery

... and I got married and went off on my hols to Mallorca

The Most Popular Posts at the end of the month are:

• Yours Truly by Kirsty Greenwood
• Sworn Secret for Amanda Jennings
• Rejection Number One
• Saved By Cake Challenge
• Saved By Cake Challenge - March
• Monsoon Season by Katie O'Rourke
• Birthday & Chinese New Year
• Hello Kitty Bookmark
• TV Highlights of the Week

Saved By Cake Challenge - September

 

 

I have decided to challenge myself to bake a different cake/biscuit from Marian Keyes' book, Saved By Cake, each month, between March and December. I am a beginner at baking and use the same recipes over and over again so it'll be nice to try something new. I will take photos and post them on here each month - the good, the bad and the ugly.

 

Very Chocolatey Macaroons

 

This month's challenge was full of firsts; I'd never made a macaroon before, I'd never even tasted a macaroon before and I'd never separated an egg before. But now I've done all three.

Making the macaroons was very simple, as I've found with all the recipes so far. When I divided the mixture on the baking sheets, it looked like... well, dog poo.

 

 

 

Thankfully they came out looking much tastier (and like the photo in the book), although they were huuuuuuuge.

 

 

 

After allowing them to cool, I made the chocolate buttercream and sandwiched the macaroons. The buttercream was lovely and smooth and gorgeous. Best buttercream. Ever. The macaroons were nice too - crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. As suspected, they were too big and so I could only eat half at a time so next time I'd make sure I divided them up much smaller!

 

 

 

 

For more Saved by Cake Challenges click here 

I'm Back! (Warning: There Will Be Photos)

Just over a week ago, I finally married The Partner (who will now be known as The Husband - I'm inventive like that). The following Sunday we took our girls away to Mallorca for a week of sun.

We had a very simple wedding, with just me, The Husband and our daughters. The witnesses were two (very kind) members of staff at the town hall. None of us wore traditional wedding attire and we let the girls choose their own outfits and accessories. I didn't have a bouquet but The Husband bought me some gorgeous flowers.

 

 

We had a brilliant holiday with gorgeous weather (so it was a shock to come back to a freezing, rainy England). We went to Club Mac in Mallorca, which was huge and full of fun things to do, from pedalos on one of the lakes, swimming in one of the many pools, kids' clubs and activities, family films in the evenings and entertainment shows.

 

 

 

There was a fantastic playground and the surrounding mountains were stunning. One evening, hundreds of guests lit floating candles on the lake and made a wish, which was lovely.

 

 

 

The beach was a few minutes drive away and the hotel provided a free bus service there and back every half an hour.

 

 

 

We've already been to Marineland in Costa Brava but we enjoyed it so we booked a trip to the one in Mallorca. While it's a lot smaller, this Marineland seemed to centre more on the animals rather than the water park which we found in Costa Brava. There are three shows - parrot, sealion and dolphin, which were all brilliant and funny. We had lunch at The French Coffee Shop, which was just outside Marineland and not only was the food lovely but the staff were too.

 

Behind Marineland is a gorgeous little beach and a short walk away (we went the wrong way to the beach) there is a harbour with very big, very posh boats.

 

 

 









The Booker Award

For moi? Thank you, Kate!

This auspicious award targets literary and book-centered blogs and the rules for this one are simple:

1. Post your top five books of all time.

• Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes
• The Animals of Farthing Wood - Colin Dann
• One Hit Wonder - Lisa Jewell
• Babyville - Jane Green
• Matilda - Roald Dahl

2. Post the Booker Award icon.
3. Nominate other bloggers to do the same.
My nominees are:

• I Heart Books
• Books, Biscuits & Tea
• Kyra Lennon
• Shaz's Book Blog
• Sarah's Book Reviews

How Do You Plan Yours Part II

A while ago, I asked How Do You Plan Yours? I seem to planning more and more with each book and hadn't realised just how much planning had gone into Book 2 until I took it out of its file and spread it out onto the table. Here it is:

 

 

Each piece of paper is really a stapled together bunch of papers, ranging from 2-3 pages to 10 pages. I have everything there from the first sketchy outline, a newspaper cutting of a Rose Queen and mayor through to the notes for the third draft.

 

I suspect that in the end, the planning of Book 3 will be even greater. I'm gonna need a bigger file...

A Chat With Sophie King

Sophie King has written many novels, both as Sophie King and Janey Fraser. This week I have reviewed The Au Pair and Tales From The Heart, a collection of Sophie King's short stories. Sophie King has very kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions.

 

 

 

When did you realise you wanted to become a writer?

It was never a sudden dawning. More of an inner knowledge – just like I knew I could talk and walk. However, I did panic when I was a teenager, about how I was going to earn my living. For a time, I dallied with the idea of social work or teaching but then, after uni, I was lucky enough to get a place on the Thomson Graduate Trainee Course for journalists. Then I worked on magazines and started my family so had to put off writing my first novel for some years.

 

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey to publication?

I’ve mentioned a little of this, above. Basically,  I always knew I wanted to write a novel but there wasn’t much time! Then I wrote something called Amersham Wives and got an agent. She was enthusiastic but didn’t sell it.  She suggested I wrote another! To cut a long story short, I wrote a book a year for ten years. Two got taken into editorial meetings by big publishers but were turned down because they were similar to other books which were about to come out. Then I wrote THE SCHOOL RUN under Sophie King. My seventh novel has now just come out, eight years later.

 

You have published full-length novels and now a collection of short stories. Which form of storytelling do you prefer and why?

I love both. They fulfil different needs at different times.  A short story is great if I get a quirky idea and need to write in a short burst. A novel is much more like a long, intense love affair. I can’t do both at the same time as it requires a different mind set so I tend to write lots of short stories in between my novels.

 

Which story from your short story  collection, Tales from the Heart, is your favourite?

The heroine in Other People’s Children. She’s like me. Loves her children but is driven mad by them!

 

Who has been your favourite character to write to date?

Possibly Mel in The Wedding Party. She’s a stunning vicar (ex-advertising) who has to face contemporary problems like infidelity and loss.

What advice would you give an aspiring author?

Write about your passions. Write every day. Give your characters a serious series of problems to tackle. Make the reader laugh. Make something happen in every chapter. Read. Don’t give up.

Finally, what are you working on at the moment?

I also write novels as Janey Fraser so I am working on the next one. I never talk about ongoing stories as it takes away the urge to write them. I’m also publicising the latest Janey Fraser novel THE AU PAIR as well as, of course,  TALES FROM THE HEART.

 

*     *     *     *     *

 

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

 

The Au Pair and Tales From The Heart are out now.