Favorite Reads of 2021

Photo by Charl Folscher on Unsplash

The list is a little early this year, but with all the fuss about supply chain, I wanted to make sure you had time to get your hot little hands on any interesting titles (since some of you refuse to buy a Kindle and get your books instantly, no matter what I tell you)!

I recently ordered some copies of my latest books and discovered Amazon has a new strategy: they tell you the delivery date is approximately when Jesus comes again and then surprise you with it arriving earlier! For example, my copies of School for Love and Matchless Margaret were due December 16 (I kid you not--about six weeks after I ordered them), but they came today.  I see what you're doing there, Amazon, and it's very effective.

If you haven't been on Facebook to be bludgeoned by my announcements that I've written my fourth Regency romance, I've written my fourth Regency romance! And it's available now!

A reader emailed me to say that, while The Naturalist is her favorite, she has enjoyed them all. I'm curious to hear the favorite title of other readers. No matter what I write, my favorite book always seems to be the last one I've written, which is a good thing, I suppose. I haven't decided yet if there will ultimately be five or six books in the series--it depends on if I give Hetty a book after telling Edith's story...

Anywho, on to my yearly eclectic list of favorite reads, of which possibly only two were published this year. (And some were published quite a while ago, so, even if you gift it to someone who already read it, they probably read it so long ago that it's practically new again.) May you find something here which appeals to the readers in your life!

Favorite Noir Mystery

I taught another mystery class at Timber Ridge this year, and they do love their mysteries there. The class sent me on a little side trip of noir, and, since I adore Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (and named Matchless Margaret's hero after the author), I gave Raymond Chandler's most famous book a try.

If you've seen the famous Humphrey Bogart movie, you'll be delighted to hear his voice every time Philip Marlowe speaks, and it's also quite interesting to find the book is racier than the movie, given the era in which it was adapted for the screen. I'm not sure the plot makes total sense, but the book is so stylish that you hardly care. Los Angeles in the 1930s! A pornography book ring! Two daughters living high-risk lifestyles! Read the book and then pop some popcorn and dial up the movie.

Favorite Literary Fiction

If you gift this one, there's a danger that your recipient might already have it on the nightstand, since everyone (except my 22YO daughter) read and loved Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See. 

This book is quite the departure, but equally wonderful. We have interlocking stories with multiple points-of-view that cross time (and space). What brings them together is some manuscript of a comic ancient-Greek story. It is absolutely literary fiction, not crowd-pleasing WWII historical fiction (which has become kind of the McDonalds of historical fiction). So beware. If your reader doesn't love books and imagination and even a little sci-fi, they are not gonna love this book.

Favorite Nonfiction Author I Might Now Be a Little in Love With

If I can't marry C. S. Forester for his Horatio Hornblower books, I may have to run off with Ian W. Toll for his naval history books, of which I read THREE in 2021. Which you might prefer depends on if you would rather pick up a Horatio Hornblower book or a WWII history.

Loving both, I couldn't choose. Six Frigates looks at the founding of the U.S. Navy and the War of 1812. War in the age of sail! What's not to love? You'll immediately want to plan a trip to Boston to see the U.S.S. Constitution.

And then Toll has a trilogy about the War in the Pacific, of which I read the first and second volumes and especially loved the first, Pacific Crucible. Pearl Harbor and codebreaking and the struggle upward from such a bad beginning (for the Americans) is absolutely riveting.

Favorite Female Friendship Fiction

I realize I read both "girl" and "boy" books, but if you have women in your life who only read "girl" books, they might love this one, for its humor and pathos and for the female friendship at the heart of it. It was my mom's choice for the Family Zoom Book club.

A big, sad woman goes in search of her dreams and a golden bug in New Caledonia, accompanied by the assistant she didn't know she needed.

Favorite "Memoir"

I put memoir in quotes because Gerald Durrell has taken some liberties with these stories inspired by his family's time on Corfu between the Wars. The book "inspired" (i.e., had almost nothing to do with) the television adaptation The Durrells of Corfu, which I didn't even make it through one episode of because I was being such a disillusioned book snob about it. The Durrell family is hilarious, and little Gerald lives a young boy's dream of a life, exploring the island and collecting whatever fauna catch his eye. His long-suffering mother indulges all her children, really, which, in Gerry's case, means letting him bring home all manner of creatures and neglecting his education. There are three books in the series, all worth reading, but the first is my favorite.

Favorite Adventure/Survival Book

This one also came from a Timber Ridge class I taught called "The Adventurers," and everyone loved it. An oldy but a greaty. 

Alfred Lansing follows Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated trans-polar expedition that didn't even make it to Antarctica before getting ice-locked. You know I love people facing frostbite and shipwreck and abandonment. You'll come away from this amazing story admiring Shackleton's leadership and the endurance of the crew of the Endurance.

Favorite Microhistory

Absolutely fascinating history of one of the world's most famous diamonds. Knowing nearly nothing about the diamond, the Moghul empire, the history of Afghanistan, and the history of the Punjab, this was all news to me and just about putdownable. (Warning--it's also quite violent and features lots of people and governments and rulers behaving badly and people being literally blinded.)

The sorry tale of Sikh child-maharajah Duleep Singh handing over the diamond to the British East India company was no shining moment for the British empire, but I was interested to see that his interesting and tragic story has been made into the movie BLACK PRINCE, which is streaming on Netflix currently.

 And certainly another visit to the Tower of London to see the crown jewels is in order. You never know when the world might get upside-down enough that international courts decide that, yes, Britain should honor the Taliban's demand to return the jewel to them! (Out of all the groups claiming the Kohinoor, this was the most ridiculous, since Afghanistan stole it from India, and one doubts the Taliban would put the funds to the best use.)

And, finally:

Favorite Trash Classic

My book club added this particular subgenre this year after getting tired of YA. (Our fatigue probably has a lot to do with raising teenagers ourselves. Do we have to read about them, too?)

Not only did we resurrect the trash classic V. C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic and add The Clan of the Cave Bear to the to-read pile, but I finally got to read Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls.

 This book has aged so well! Its themes of fame, wealth, career, the pressure on women not to age, the pressure on women to be beautiful and thin, substance abuse--all still so timely and so worth discussing.

 And the funny thing is, because it was written in 1966, it's pretty darned tame now. Frank, but tame. (You don't realize how used to graphic sex we are until you read what used to be considered trashy.)

 

Hope you found something here, and may 2022 be another good reading year! This is the first year I think I'm not going to complete my Goodreads challenge because I spent so much time writing, but tomorrow is another day.

Cover Reveal for Matchless Margaret! Pre-Order Now

 

Whose "fine eyes" are these?

Dear readers, I'm happy to announce Matchless Margaret is just about finalized, and I've set her up for pre-order on Amazon! There will be both Kindle and paperback versions, and I managed to get Matchless Margaret down to 99,000 words so that you won't feel like you've committed to War and Peace.

Matchless Margaret's birthday will be Thursday, November 4, 2021, and, as promised, we will celebrate with a tea party and walk through early 19th century Bath in person (and over Zoom) on November 20. More on that later.

If you haven't gotten around to starting my traditional Regency romance series, the kickoff book The Naturalist is going to be a mere $0.99 on Kindle this weekend! (Or read it as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription.)

Just $0.99 on Kindle (10/21-24)!

Matchless Margaret is the fourth book in the series, but they all work as standalones, too, so don't be daunted. It just adds to the fun to know everyone's story and to see people at different points in their lives.

All righty. On to the cover reveal! My designer Kathy Campbell did her usual impeccable work, combining the lovely person of Elizabeth McEuen Smith and a period illustration of Milsom Street to create this wonderful book cover:

Won't you join her in Bath this winter?

Pre-order now by clicking here! And thank you for your faithful readership.

Margaret on Milsom Street

Oh, happy day, I have finished the rough draft of the next installment of my Hapgoods of Bramleigh series! Four years have passed since the events of the first three books (because I can't marry Margaret off at age 15-16), but only one year in my writing time, which must be something of a record for me. This is what a nearly-empty nest and COVID remoteness have done for me! Cover design for Matchless Margaret is underway, and I'm starting to kick around launch plans.

But first,

Question: What do I, as an author, have in common with J. K. Rowling?

If you answered mind-boggling book sales; untold wealth; side hustles of amusement parks, movie adaptations and merchandise; or red hair, you're wrong.

Correct Answer: My books get longer and longer.

Yes, folks, so far Margaret's story is clocking in at 115,838 words, which is about 25,000 words longer than School for Love, which was longer than A Very Plain Young Man, which was a whopping 25,000 words longer than The Naturalist. In brief:

Margaret............................115,838

School.................................93,121

Young Man.........................91,805

Naturalist............................66,263

However, unlike Rowling, I am putting out my own books and really cannot afford to be so prolix when the word count determines how many pages the paper book will be and how wide the spine and how much the darned thing will cost to print. (If I could get all my readers to move to Kindle or reading on their phones/tablets, I could give Gone With the Wind a run for its word-count money if I felt like it, but not so with physical books.)

I love Margaret's story. I hate to think of cutting any of it, so I'm giving myself a couple days to let it sit before I start hacking away. Maybe I'll even keep a copy of the original for my e-book readers who might be interested in the "director's cut" later--although I've often thought director's cuts aren't as good as the theater versions. It never hurts writing to be gone over and gone over and pared down for economy and elegance.

While I ponder, I've been drinking my "Jane Austen Blend" tea that I bought in Carmel (delicious) at the charming Jane Austen at Home shop.

Speaking of Jane Austen at Home, I've also been re-reading Lucy Worsley's bio of Amazing Jane that happens to have the same title.

I actually have no memory of having read it before, but Goodreads tells me I gave it a star rating in 2017, and Goodreads never lies.

Much of Matchless Margaret takes place in the beautiful city of Bath, England, and the husband and I had planned to visit again this fall on an empty-nest, hooray-COVID-is-over trip. I'd even picked out the hotel I wanted to stay this time, just a hop, skip, and a jump from where Margaret lodges in Henrietta Street. 

[Pardon me while I weep a little while...]

Well, as long as the U.S. requires a (negative) COVID test before flying home, this trip is off the table. We both work, and his is the kind of job (pastor) that does not allow him to get stuck in foreign countries for weeks at a time. 

Which makes me think that, when I launch Margaret on the world, the launch parties (both the in-person one and the Zoom one) will include a virtual "walk through early 19th century Bath"! After I've spent all that time poring over old maps and peering at old engravings and reading excerpts from odd little random books, I'm taking you readers with me.

So mark your calendars for sometime in November or January and we'll go for a stroll on Milsom Street:

and grab tea and a scone at the Pump Room:

More to come. Thank you, dear readers.

Launch Day of SCHOOL FOR LOVE

 Yesterday, while on a walk with my youngest, I ran into a woman who asked if I was still writing. When I said yes, and that my book was coming out this Friday, she said, "That's great! Who's promoting it?"

Good question. Just like I discovered I can get parenting short-timer's disease (ask my youngest how much I've helped with school, college apps, or getting a hold of her counselor this year), I've also found I can get Marketing Short-Timer's Disease. Meaning, it's hard to motivate. I answered her, "Uh...no one. Not even me."

Fortunately, these arrived in the mail an hour later:

Yes, paperback and Kindle versions are now available. And professional reviews will be forthcoming (late December and early spring--because I waited too long to ask!!!), but I hope you will read in the meantime. Click here (I hope) to go to the Amazon page.

We're all sick of the present, right? Come join Hugh and the other Hapgoods and my Rosemary in 1808, if you need a mental getaway.

We'll see if I whomp up more enthusiasm for an online thing, but this is my marketing burst for now.  :)

School for Love now available for pre-order!

Hip hip hooray! School for Love, the third in my Regency romance series The Hapgoods of Bramleigh, is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

Had enough of 2020? Need a little escapism? Then this is the book for you. If any of you read the second book in the series A Very Plain Young Man, you'll remember that Hugh Hapgood, the widowed cousin of the squire, proposes to Elfie but (spoiler) loses out to Frederick. Not many of you readers spared any pity for the rejected Hugh (one reader even made a face when I said the third in the series would feature him), but I hope he can win you over when we get to dive deeper into his story.

I've chosen November 5 as my release date for three reasons:

1. The draft is complete, but I need a little more time do to a final revision.
   
   
2. In a normal year, my husband and I would do a "Literary Night" at our church the first Friday in November. COVID took care of that tradition, so instead I'm releasing a book.
   
   
3. November 5 will be my 26th wedding anniversary, so what better day to launch a romance?

My favoritest cover designer in the whole world Kathy Campbell has come up with another winner and was able, even after the six-year hiatus, to channel that Hapgoods of Bramleigh vibe she came up with the first two times around. Don't you agree?

Okay, now for a little FAQ:

Q: Do I have to have read The Naturalist and A Very Plain Young Man first?

A: Nah. This isn't Harry Potter. You can jump in at any point. Though there is plenty of overlap between books of characters and even timelines, they stand alone fine. (Or you could use the month ahead of you to read the first two in the series!)

Q: Why is it only available to pre-order on Kindle right now? 

A: Because it's easiest and cheapest, and I don't have a publishing house behind me! Kathy made me a paperback cover, and I may tackle a paperback version when I have more time, but that time is not now. And, while I'd have to charge you $11.99 for a paperback, because they're so much more expensive to produce, a Kindle version can be $5.99.

Q: What if I don't have a Kindle?

A: You can read on your phone or computer or tablet--anywhere you can download the Kindle app. OR, you could buy yourself a Kindle for like $50 or less on Amazon Prime Day (Oct 13-14 this year). I love my Kindle and keep it in my purse so I always have dozens of books to read, and, in these COVID days, it's nice to download books from the library for free with no hassle. We are a five-Kindle family, actually, so bonafide, card-carrying members of the Evil Empire. 

Q: What is a pre-order?

A: You pay now, and, on the release date, the book automatically downloads to you. 

Q: Will there be a launch party or a reading?

A: Sigh. No Regency dancing and negus for us this time around (see "2020"). But I may do an online reading or giant Zoom book club (we could all "attend" with our best Regency hairstyles, like Rosemary's on the cover), with questions submitted in the chat. And I would always be happy to Zoom in for your book club. 

Thanks for reading and sticking with me on this journey. I so appreciate it and all your encouragement. One more time: click here to pre-order!

Back from the Dead

What can I say? Raising teenagers and going back to work took it out of me, and I didn't write for quite some time. But now, with two in "college" (that is, studying remotely) and a job that is now homebound (thanks, COVID), I found myself inspired again. Heck--if Stephenie Meyer can put out Midnight Sun fifteen years after Twilight, what's a six-year wait?

I've got two works in progress: the next installment of the Hapgoods of Bramleigh series, School for Love, and another contemporary novel, with the working title of Andrea.

I'm hoping to finish School for Love and get out a Kindle edition before the end of this benighted year 2020. This installment picks up right before where A Very Plain Young Man left off. We circle back to the squire's cousin Hugh and family and see what happens to them after Elfie chooses her own adventure. Funny thing is, I was a few chapters into writing Andrea when I decided to re-read The Naturalist and A Very Plain Young Man. Diving back into that world was such fun that I shoved Andrea to the side and went back to revisit the early chapters of School for Love that I'd drafted back in 2015.

Stay tuned. Oh--and maybe get yourself a Kindle or other e-reader. What with COVID and all, I don't think I'm up to a print edition this go-round, and I'm guessing book launch parties will be out for a while...

Emily of Deep Valley Prep Questions (Mother-Daughter Book Club)

School is out, and it's time to kick off reading for the Mother-Daughter Dim Sum Book Club! If you're participating virtually, here's the info I sent out to our little circle of participants. It's a pretty sweet, simple read, so I hope they all enjoy it! My 14YO is hip-deep in Gone with the Wind right now, so Emily will probably seem pretty retiring after Scarlett O'Hara, but Emily picks herself up and dusts herself off as much as Scarlett does, and with a heckuva lot less collateral damage!

***********

 
EMILY OF DEEP VALLEY is a pretty short book, written in 1950, but set back in 1912. The author, Maud Hart Lovelace, wrote several books inspired by her own life and the lives of friends she grew up with.  So although the book was technically historical fiction by the time Lovelace wrote it, she was writing about a time she lived through herself.

When we read, here are some things to consider:

Title. Why did the author call it what she called it? What significance is it where Emily is from? How would Emily feel about being called "Emily of Deep Valley" at the beginning of the book? How would she feel about it by the end?

Setting. When and where is the book set? Why does that matter? Do the time and place have any impact on the options available to Emily? Look at the micro-settings, too. How does Emily feel about her home? Her cousin's home? The slough? Where, in Deep Valley, does she belong or not belong?

Characters. Who are the main characters in the book? How do they see Emily, and how does she see them?

Character Development. How does Emily grow and change, over the course of the story? What triggers these developments? How does her view of herself and of Deep Valley change?

Conflict. The conflict is what drives the story. What's at stake. If there's no conflict, there's no real plot. The conflict in Frozen, for example, is, can Anna save Elsa and their country from the destructiveness of Elsa's own powers, and can she restore their lost relationship? What is the conflict in EMILY? What might happen to Emily, if she cannot overcome/resolve the conflict?

Themes. Look at some of the recurring ideas in the book. Old-fashioned versus modern. Growth versus stagnation. Insider versus outsider. Defining yourself versus letting others define you. Do you notice any others, as you read?

Symbolism/Foreshadowing. These are standard literary devices, where an author uses one thing to represent or hint at something else. Look, for example, at "Decoration Day." Why have it twice in the book, near the beginning and at the end? What is the same, and what is different? How is Emily's attitude the same or different? Also look at when Emily is at Roxey's drugstore and sees "an attractive-looking girl" in the mirror, who turns out to be herself! How does this moment represent what is going on with Emily?

Allusion. An allusion is a reference to another book or work of art. Lovelace alludes to the Slough of Despond from John Bunyan's PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. How does that add to our understanding of the story?

And finally, a paragraph question, for some writing exercise! Pick one:

1. Emily picks a Shakespeare quote as a self-motivator: "Muster your wits; stand in your own defense." Why is this appropriate for her? If she has to defend herself, who are her accusers? What would they accuse her of?

2. What is the significance of Emily's slough, geographically and symbolically? How does it compare and contrast with Bunyan's Slough of Despond?

**********

And a last little reminder: hope to see some of you at University Book Store Bellevue this Saturday (6/28) at 5:00 p.m. for some Regency readings and ramblings!

Links for a Launch Party

Get those dancing shoes ready! I have books in hand, and Lucy and I have been practicing up our dance moves. If you haven't gotten your evite, message me at christinadudley@gmail.com because all are invited!

When: Thursday, May29, at 7:30 p.m.

Where: The Engberg Assembly Rooms (see evite for address)

What: An introduction to my latest traditional Regency...

There will be more orgeat lemonade, a costume contest, and prizes! You don't have to wear a costume, but it sure is fun to dress up and goof off. Nor do you have to dance, but it gives you new respect for all those book heroines. Becoming an accomplished young woman was no cakewalk.

If you want to catch glimpses of our dance, "Auretti's Dutch Skipper," you can watch the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma on Netflix Instant. At 1 hr, 18 min in, when Mr. Elton is snubbing Harriet Smith and Emma is fretting, the dance she and Frank Churchill are performing is Auretti's Dutch Skipper!

And if you'd like to watch ordinary (non-movie) folk giving it a go, here's a YouTube link:

Looking forward to a fun evening!

Da Da Da Bump Da Bum! Introducing A VERY PLAIN YOUNG MAN

Check out this handsome fella!

I am pleased to announce the impending arrival of A Very Plain Young Man, the second in my series of traditional Regency romances, The Hapgoods of Bramleigh.

If you caught the first book in the series The Naturalist, you might remember heroine Alice had an older sister Elfrida, and hero Joseph had an older brother Frederick. There's the hint of an interaction between these two elder siblings in the epilogue of The Naturalist, and now it's time for the full-blown story!

My cover designer and I had our usual to-doing and back-and-forthing, with this delightful result, which captures not only Frederick's most inappropriate handsomeness, but also his and Elfrida's mutual interest in embroidery. So pleased with the result.

Details will follow, but I've got two launch events planned so far:

Thursday, May 29 (evening) will be the likely Regency dance party version

and

Saturday, June 28 (also in the evening) will be the University Book Store Bellevue book signing, promoting both books in the series.

Mark your calendar for one or the other, and in the meantime, here's the back cover blurb:

Miss Elfrida Hapgood is the most beautiful of the Hapgood sisters, as well as the most practical. If she must marry eventually, she intends to choose a husband not with her eyes, nor even with her heart, but with her common sense. He must be respectable and steady--not given to gambling or wenching or idling like her scapegrace uncles. So naturally, Frederick Tierney, the rakish brother of her new brother-in-law, will never do. Not only is his chequered past not entirely in the past, but he is too handsome for his own good and takes delight in unsettling her. But when another offer comes her way which meets all of her supposed requirements, Elfrida finds choosing duty over desire not as simple as she imagined.

Setting Up My 1-800-Psychic Number

So I was reading Paula Byrne's wonderful new biography of Jane Austen, The Real Jane Austen: a Life in Small Things, and received the startling reminder that l'aimable Jane once penned a piece of juvenalia entitled "Frederic and Elfrida." Not that startling to you, perhaps, but since the lovers in my forthcoming Regency romance bear the names Frederick (with a K, mind you) and Elfrida, I was delighted with the cosmic connection. I hadn't read any Austen juvenalia since college, so I wonder if I tucked that morsel away deep in my subconscious! And here I thought I named my Elfrida after the Elfride in Thomas Hardy's A Pair of Blue Eyes.

I must be guilty of a lot of Austen-related morsel-tucking because I made a similar discovery after launching my Austen-retelling The Beresfords on the world. It turns out there is a Colonel Beresford in her unfinished novel The Watsons.

No matter where I go, clearly, it all comes back to Jane. Yikes. But not a bad thing, by any means. Better than discovering all my writing derives from V. C. Andrews or Sweet Valley High books. Oh--wait--my character Caroline Grant in The Beresfords references Sweet Valley High. Scratch that literary dig.

Speaking of my newest venture, A Very Plain Young Man, second in the Hapgoods of Bramleigh series, is heading to production! Check back for cover art, when fabulous Kathy Campbell works her magic. (Seriously--click on that link, and you'll see two of my covers! She's done them ALL.) So Frederick and Elfrida's tale will launch in early May, perhaps?

In the meantime, I am thrilled to announce Austenprose's review of The Naturalist, the first book in the series.

Recognize those eyes from Austenprose's header?

Austen aficionado and published editor Laurel Ann Nattress declares it "a literary feast for any Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer fan" and urges, "If you read one Traditional Regency this year let it be The Naturalist," citing its "original, quirky characters, witty repartee, layered secrets, blundering misunderstandings, and laugh-out-loud humor."

Aahh...music to the author's ears. Really, that's all any writer wants--to tell a story to someone and have them be entertained, moved, amused. Funny that Austenprose suggested a fifth book in the series about a "pedantic Hapgood cousin." He isn't too pedantic, I hope, but I was thinking a new cousin character I introduce in A Very Plain Young Man might deserve his own book before I move on to third sister Margaret...

Did You Recycle A Fraction of Your Allotted Fame?

It's January, and my unofficial writing hiatus is over. For Pete's sake, I've been about 3/4 done with the follow-up to The Naturalist for a month now, but only got going again the last couple days. Heaven knows if the thing still hangs together. I'm still shooting for spring of this year to release A Very Plain Young Man.

In the meantime, if you attended the November dance-mania launch party, I wanted to alert you that, possibly unbeknownst to you, you might have used up 1.5 seconds to 1.5 minutes of your allotted 15 Minutes of Fame. What fame? you ask?

This fame:

An article in The Points Living Magazine! And I do apologize for the laughable picture quality, but I was lucky to even get my hot little hands on a copy because (1) the magazine is solely distributed to residents of Hunts Point, Yarrow Point, Medina, and Clyde Hill (which I'm not); and, (2) the magazine appears only in physical form, with no online links; and, (3) the editor has been on vacation and family emergency since the issue came out. This bootlegged copy came via my daughter's classmate.

As you might see, if your monitor is big enough, they included pics of my lovely reader/dancers, so check for your own sweet self and forgive me for not having any of you sign photo release forms. Hanging with me is a perilous business...

I'll be naming names when I tag you on FB

So, quick! Dig your fraction of fame out of the recycle bin, or go Dumpster diving in Hunts Point, Yarrow Point, Medina, or Clyde Hill blue bins before your Moment in the Limelight gets made into paper towels or whatever. Look for this cover:

For those of you who couldn't make the party and are still huddling in obscurity, don't say I didn't warn you--even though I didn't.

Speaking of recycling, I do have some legitimate content for you, this post. If you loved the Disney movie Frozen, you probably know it was loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale The Snow Queen.

It turns out Disney isn't the only recent recycler of the story because I read a galley of Karen Foxlee's about-to-be-published-any-second Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, and lo! there was that Snow Queen again.

This time the story takes place in a vast and nameless and wondrous museum in some winter-bound country. There are still two sisters, but rather than becoming a Snow Queen herself, the older sister is in danger of being kidnapped by the icy dame. It's up to Ophelia to rescue both her and the mysterious (and pretty danged helpless) "Marvelous Boy." The setting was my favoritest part of the book, and some of the scenes are pretty suspenseful. I'm trying to get my daughters to give it a go, but we're all deep in re-reading Harry Potter. If you don't find yourself in that state, however, I recommend this lyrical tale for readers 10 and over.

That is, if you can tear your eyes from your moment of glory in The Points Living article...

Dance Dance Dance the Night Away

Dear readers, thank you for the most fun launch party to date! As promised, here are the photos of fabulousness from the famed Engberg Assembly Rooms.

A Sampling of Our Excellent Company

Costumes were not required to celebrate my new Regency romance The Naturalist, but for those of us who never outgrew dress-up, they added much to the spirit of the occasion. Out came eBay dresses, bridesmaid dresses, Goodwill dresses, church choir dresses, items of clothing found deep in the closet--you name it, we wore it.

And the prize for Best Costume goes to...

Dear C here, who is also one of my beta readers, outdid herself, being a woman of many talents. Not only did she hem my eBay 60s maxi dress, but she ordered a pattern for herself and MADE the evening gown you see here. Purple satin with an overdress of gauzy stuff, printed with gold butterflies! Absolutely lovely, and worth every ounce of effort because you can see she won a copy of the Keira Knightley Pride & Prejudice, in which Darcy appears in the infamous "man Capris."

A runner-up for Best Costume was surely admirable R, who ransacked her closet and came up with...drumroll, please...MR. COLLINS!!!!

"You must give me leave to flatter myself, my dear cousin, that your refusal of my addresses is merely words of course."

The evening began with book business, naturally,

Lady M handles the cold, hard cash

and proceeded to the prize drawing:

For one lucky, lucky reader

I didn't want anyone to go home empty-handed, in case she hated The Naturalist, so we distributed some "vintage romances" to a few fortunate readers, as well as a vintage "Royalty" magazine, and a coveted Jane Austen action figure.

"Hear ye, hear ye! Photos from 1991, when all the royals were still alive and married!"

We followed with a chapter reading, in which I am happy to report, no one dozed off, even after a glass of negus.

"She ran her hand over his throbbing-- etc. etc."

Look closely: the Honorable Miss D has a hold of the action figure

Speaking of negus (mulled wine), I pity the one woman who apparently took a swig of the spicy sugar syrup, unmixed with any wine. That must have been quite the shock. Many tasters agreed with my husband that the recipe wasn't bad, but it could have used more sugar.

The orgeat lemonade was a universal hit, however, and should you like to serve it at your next Regency party, I used this recipe for the orgeat syrup and these proportions for the individual drinks. For those of you who never danced at Almack's, orgeat is an almond-flavored concoction, touched with a little orange.

And speaking of dancing, Mr. Beveridge's Maggot was a BLAST! Thank you to all the brave souls who squeezed onto the dance floor, braving furniture, moving bodies, an uncovered outlet, and the eyes of onlookers to learn this famous Austen-era country dance.

Lining up with partners (and the back of C's prize-winning dress!)

Recognize this four-across formation from the Austen movies?

Ye olde Left Hand Turn

Everyone "casting" various directions

Really. It was SO MUCH FUN. I'm dying for another opportunity to dance and lay awake thinking how I might better have explained what couples at the very top and very bottom of the room knew what to do next. (I thought of it, but I'll probably forget by the next party.) Seriously, if you have an occasion--a book party, a birthday party, whatever--and would like to have a dance lesson, I am all over it. Thank you again to the folks at Stately Steps for their so-helpful DVD. I also lay awake thinking I would love to launch a Regency Dance Party business because there are enough period fanatics to go a long, long way.

For those of you who did dance, here's the P&P clip again. Note how Elizabeth and Darcy start at the Top of the room as a First couple. They work their way down the room. When they are at the very bottom, they sit out one set of figures (when Sir William Lucas speaks with them). Then they rejoin the dance, moving UP the room, but this time performing the steps of a Second couple, with the symbolic distance between them on the four-across.

Anyway, thank you again, dear readers, for a wonderful evening. Hope you enjoy the book. If you do, do me a favor and tell a friend or leave a review or star-rating on Goodreads or Amazon! Thank you, thank you, thank you.