Cozy up with a Good Book!

Random musing for you:  has anyone else ever had that moment where you're laying in bed and are just a little cold {like not cold enough for a blanket} and so you just throw a pillow over top your legs and contort your body to make it work? Anyone? Just curious if anybody else's day started off like mine...moving on!

I have already shared two books with you off my AUSTEN-INSPIRED APRIL list, and now I have two more for you. And get excited, people, because I undershot how many books I'd be able to read in a month, so I've added two more books to the original list! I can see your eager faces through my computer screen {really, I can't. It would be creepy if I could.}

First up, we have THE SECRET DIARY OF LIZZIE BENNET by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick.

This book is actually based on a web series called The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. You can find all the episodes on Youtube. It's pretty amazing, actually. Very short episodes {there are 160 total episodes, but they are all, like, three minutes long}. Anyway, the book is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Lizzie Bennet and her sisters, Jane and Lydia, are the central characters whose neighborhood is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious rich med student named Bing Lee, his sister, Caroline, and his snobby friend, William Darcy. The plot of the story follows almost exactly to Austen's original, with some modernizations. Lizzie is a mass communications student, and for her master's project has decided to do a web diary. She chronicles the events in her own life, and as people drift into the camera's lens {Charlotte Lu and Ricky Collins, for two}, we meet the other people in her life. As far as retellings go, this one is spot-on and amazingly well written. By exposing the plot, I feel I would be spoiling the original book as well, and if you haven't read that, well, then what exactly are you doing with your life? {And I'm only mildly kidding...} I thought they did an amazing job of bringing Austen's characters to life in a believable manner. We see more of what a Lydia Bennet would look like in the real world and what her "scandal" would be in modern days.

One word of caution. I read the book through the eyes of a person who had already watched the web series, so honestly, there might have been things that were breezed over or skipped altogether in the novel version. And my second word of caution {because it's my blog and I can change my mind if I want to offer more words of caution}:  if you start watching the web series...it will take over your life! I did it over spring break, and it was torture to try and come back to real life...okay, maybe I'm slightly exaggerating...but still. Also, the web series won an Emmy, so there's that. It's obviously good. Watch it.

Next up, we have UNLEASHING MR. DARCY by Teri Wilson.

This definitely fits into the Austen-Inspired portion of this month's list. Other than the names of the characters and some overarching character traits. this book is definitely not one that is based closely on an Austen novel. The story follows Miss Elizabeth Scott, a disgraced school teacher {seriously, she had some bad problems I never want!} who is trying to break into the dog-show game. At a show in New Jersey, she meets a woman named Sue who is from across the pond {aka, sunny old England} and also stern judge, Donovan Darcy. Elizabeth and Darcy dislike each other from the start {but really, do they?} and when Elizabeth is finally let go from her teaching position, she accepts a job offer from Sue to be a glorified "dog nanny" for Sue's show dogs. Which brings her to the house right next door to Darcy's home in London. I absolutely loved the English details from the story, and this book really made me want to go back to England {lots of things have made me want to go back to England lately...is that a sign?}. I learned a lot about showing dogs--not that Schatzi and I are going to venture into that ring, like, ever. But very, very cute, very fun to read, and a very quick read, too. 

This book was also just made into a Hallmark Channel movie {love me some Hallmark Channel!} in January, I think? And honestly, it was pretty true to the plot line of the book. Instead of taking place in London, it takes place in New York. Instead of being English, Donovan Darcy is American. Not bad changes, just different. I mean, for some crazy reason {maybe I'm as prejudiced as Elizabeth Bennet/Scott}, I have an easier time accepting rich English people than rich American people. When it's a super wealthy Englishman, it's like, "Oh, the estate's been in the family for years, and here's how many people would have to die for me to be king." When it's really wealthy Americans, I think about the Trumps and the Hiltons and the Kardashians. Prince William versus Rob Kardashian...is there a comparison? Also, it was weird to watch the movie at first because the actor who played Darcy looks to me like a conglomerate of all three Jonas brothers at the same time. Does anybody else see it?

If you're looking for another great read, here are some fun ones to check out! I promise you won't be disappointed {and if you are, don't tell me...to quote Linus in the Great Pumpkin film, "I don't wanna know"}.

~Stay Gold!