Welcome to Litsy!

One more #PemberLittens post!

A comment on the poll asked how the voting works, and since the voting form doesn‘t collect emails, I‘m not sure who to respond to.

As a reminder, every two months we vote for:

1) a book by Austen

2) a retelling of an Austen work OR a book (fiction or non) about Jane Austen and/or her family, and

3) a book by another female author.

Each time we vote, we alternate between the two options for number 2 above. ⬇️

The alternative title for this book is Pride, Prejudice and Dragons. That being said, any Jane Austen purists probably shouldn‘t read this. It was a cute, if draconian, retelling of an amazing novel and I look forward to reading the next. I just hope it‘s the same main characters and not gonna hop to another sister. That would be rather irritating.

This was an excellent high fantasy adaptation of P&P. Dragons, beast riders, and man eating mythical creatures abound in a world where gender is not a barrier to fighting to save humanity.
An engaging read with a very interesting world, and improvements to the characters established by Austen makes this book one of my favorite P&P adaptations. 5/5 stars. Read this if you love Pride and Prejudice & definitely read this if you enjoy high fantasy.

More bookmail: This was the other one Booktok made me buy. A retelling of Pride and Prejudice but with dragons. I'm in!!

Another P & P retelling in my #12Booksof2021. #July

#BookReport #WeeklyForecast

A Spool of Blue Thread was a so-so read for me. What a hard sad life Lucy Grealy had as written about in Truth & Beauty. As I looked into a little more about Lucy I read her sister was unhappy about Ann‘s book or at least the timing of it. What struck me the most was the lack of Lucy‘s family during the Ann years. I will eventually read Lucy‘s book. Loved Heartstone! 5🌟. @Cinfhen

Pride and prejudice but with dragons 🐲 umm... yes please!
It's the same story you know and love but with gryphons, wyverns, trolls, and a giant battle scene.

I enjoyed the world building, especially the fact that women were not excluded from becoming Riders and are depicted as strong equals. I also liked the characters more. They were less obnoxious than in the original story and easier to like, especially the Bentaine family.

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

1- The Switch, The Other Bennet Sister, This is Your Brain on Parasites, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2- Heartstone series (tagged)
3- Hot Tea or a White Claw

My #AVAH #AVeryAustenHoliday swap arrived today! Thank you @kspenmoll for this lovely package which was well worth the wait ❤️ I‘m SO excited to have a copy of Heartstone! My son wants to read it also because Dragons 🐉 ... might just be a gateway to reading Austen. 😂

The hummingbird ornament is so beautiful in my favorite color! Plus tea, caramels, Jane coasters & a lovely two-sided bookmark with Northanger Abbey quotes. ⤵️

For me this one a big yes. Fantasy and Pride and Prejudice! Interesting plot, string female characters, not all about getting married, and romance! I really enjoyed 4 ⭐️s

#PLHeartstone #Pemberlittens This one ended with a bang! Huge battle betweenythic medieval creatures and the riders and raiders. Love that the women are the heroes as much as the men. Also, that Leyda was so much more than Lydia. Feminist and romantic without being over bearing! With a happy ending to boot. If you like fantasy and Austen this is the book for you. I will be reading the next is the series, eventually!

I really enjoyed this retelling of Pride and Prejudice with dragons. The characters were quite good and entertaining and there were dragons, which tend to improve most books 🐉 16pts
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
#PLHeartStone @MicrobeMom
#Booked2020 #BottomOfYourTBR @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage
#Scarathlon2020 #TeamHarkness @StayCurious

Absolutely phenomenal! Who could ever say no to Mr. Darcy AND dragons? 😅😅😅

This is my #bookspin (Number 9) for the month, @TheAromaofBooks and another for #bookspinbingo 😊

This was also my P&P adaptation for #PemberLittens I personally think Alastair Daired is just as dreamy and broody as Mr. Darcy 😅🥰

This book is going entirely too quickly for me. The plot is really churning in the past few chapters. Aliza is visiting Gwyn meeting the famous forger that also works with Heartstones. Daired both insults and proposes to Aliza. She denies him. She returns home only to leave again with her aunt and uncle to serve as an assistant to her her Herbalist uncle that must heal Aliza‘s great aunt. The great aunt lives near Pendragon! 👇👇

My new favorite mask and a new favorite P&P retelling. I love the fantasy setting, the similarities to P&P and the differences- Dragon Riders, hobgoblins, healing herb gardens. This has some violence and redemption in harsh ways. Do recommend it if you like fantasy. #pemberlittens

#HeartstonePL #pemberlittens 📷 Geoffery if Monmouth Heartstone Buddy Read Update Chapters 8-15. So much going on to summarize here. So I will list likes and dislikes!
Likes:
Anjey is healed
Aliza doesn‘t marry Cudred
Cudred not as bad a Mr. Collins truly loves Gwyn
Lady Catriona is fierce and way more awesome than Lady Catherine
Daired clearly ♥️s Aliza
The Forgemaster
Rya great little sis
Dislikes:
Brysney awol
Daired aloofness
👇👇

Heartstone Buddy Read Update. Ch 1-7: Well I am not sure if it is because I am a huge lover of fantasy but I am loving this spin on P&P. Aliza Bentaine lives in Merrybourne Manor which has been plague by gryphons. Riders with wyverns are hired to kill the gryphons. Aliza runs into Daired, a rider, who it rude and aloof. From there, Aliza and her older sister Angie meet the rider and get asked to show them where the gryphon lair is. 👇👇👇👇

1. Pride and Prejudice and Dragons.
2. What counts as a bare essential these days? I could not go a day without reading, but that seems pretty essential. Coffee, also very essential, maybe my tul brand pen? Only somewhat essential 😊
3. 1550? I would love to be here before the Native population was devastated by invaders. #wondrouswednesday Thanks @rubyslippersreads tagging @AmyG @sharread @KatieDid927 @ElizaMarie @Laughterhp

#pemberlittens #PLHeartsone The Heartstone buddy read starts today. I am excited to get into this one! @quietjenn @Chrissyreadit @TheAromaofBooks @mollyrotondo @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm @BookwormAHN

Thanks to everyone that was interested. If you unsure that you can commit, no worries. Give it a try and post when you can. Below are the suggested buddy read dates. Each week I will post a short summary and buddies can comment for discussion. If you post please use both the #pemberlittens and #PLHeartstone hashtags! Also feel free to tag us buddies! Looking forward to reading this with you all. Still open if anyone wants to join!

Hey #pemberlittens as we finish up P&P this month, I will starting the P&P reimagining Heartstone. Is anyone interested in a book club? I just bought the book and will be willing to run it if anyone is interested! Let me know. We will beginning Oct 1. All are welcome. You don‘t have to be a pemberlitten! Tagging those that expressed interest.

Yay!!! Thank you so much @magyklyXdelish !!! I've been wanting to read Pride & Prejudice plus dragons for quite some time!! And these pens are fabulous!!!

Thanks for hosting, @BennettBookworm !! Such a fun & simple swap - I loved it!!

#SeptemberSwap

I do love a good collective noun!

(and for anyone playing along at home, yes, this does mean I've started another new book rather than finishing ones I've already started, still #sorrynotsorry! I'm loving this one, about 100 pages in.)

It is literally Pride and Prejudice with dragons. Pride and Prejudice meets Pern. And it's quirky and bizarre and really a lot of fun!

#MidyearRush @Clwojick
Book 11/6

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks
Square 4 ✔️

#cyoreadathon @Sace
Book 5/3

A Pride and Prejudice Retelling with dragons?!?!? How have I missed this? @sprainedbrain have you read this? @cobwebmoth have you? @mabell ?#pemberlittens

3.5/5⭐ White does a fantastic job of taking the Pride and Prejudice template and transforming it into the context of a lush fantasy world that's interesting and complex all on its own, making the template feel fresh. The added danger and action helped too.

I disconnected from a chunk of the middle that seemed to lag, but once Aliza visited Daired's estate and the family started to settle into its fun dynamics, I fell back in love.

Small or large, no honest art is unimportant.

📕Tagged. Because I don‘t want to decide which Harry Potter book 😂 (Prisoner of Azkaban)
🖊Kat Howard
📺 Haven
🎤 Halsey
🎶 HeavyDirtySoul - TwentyOne Pilots

#ManicMonday #LetterH

I guess someone decided my to-read-next pile wasn't getting enough love (and it's not, since I'm focusing on #bookspinbonanza right now) and it needed a good knocking over and rolling on session. Mission accomplished. #catsoflitsy

Day 4 - Favorite Reads is 2019 #AdventRecommends

Pride and Prejudice Retelling with Dragons - that is all you need to know! 🤣😄

Pride & Prejudice with dragons + hot tea making Monday morning bearable today.

Described as Pride & Prejudice with dragons 🐉

Too predictable for me. Not a series I‘ll continue. Did like the mythical creatures and how they were woven into daily life. Aliza was ok but Alistair made a horrible first impression and never recovered. He later apologized and said he wanted to be better, but it felt manufactured. Some characters stay with you long after you finish the book, but none of these will stay with me. Fell flat overall.

Thanks for the tag @wanderinglynn

1. Aliza Bentaine
2. 💚💚
3. I really loved Aliza because she was a strong woman character in the story. Even though she didn‘t have the same skills she really wanted to help people when the giant monster attacked.
4. I‘m doing this late, so whoever hasn‘t played!

#whatwouldyoudo

Pride and Prejudice with dragons? Yes, please!

1. Basically any historical romance novel
2. Going to watch the Orchestra play the Harry Potter movie. Sunday- my in-laws are coming over for husbands bday dinner. Monday - I have off! So likely reading and grocery shopping.
3. Tagged
4. Um, no... 😂
5. 👋🏻👋🏻

#friyayintro

Officially calling it. I‘m not going to finish a book today.

A pretty good start to the year!

My Fav Reads this month:
Tagged book
The Song of Achilles
My Lady Jane
An Ember in Ashes

Officially my favorite read of 2019 so far! And it‘s only January! I think 2019 is going to be a great year for reading!

The only thing I‘m going to say about this book: Pride & Prejudice Fantasy retelling with Dragons! There is a lot of fighting, death and different creatures! 💚💚💚💚💚

#readingwomenchallenge - book borrowed in 2019

Ahh!! I can‘t stop requesting books from the library!! There are so many books I want to read right now!

And they are all for challenges!

#Booked2019 - Female Detective
#ReadingWomenChallenge - A Novella
#ReadingWomenChallenge - Book borrowed in 2019 (just because I really want to read the tagged book P&P Retelling with Dragons 🐉)

Pride & Prejudice with dragons for $1.99? How am I supposed to resist that? 😱🐉

I loved this book and sped through it! Threads of Pride and Prejudice, combined with mythical creatures, lots of adventure, and a heroine I could really relate to...I highly recommend it.

New books for me! My husband brought home some books he‘s had on his shelf in his office and we went through them. I‘m super excited about Heartstone.

Doing lots of book-grazing right now, waiting for something to really capture me. Saw that there was a sequel to this coming out, so thought I'd finally try it.

@CoffeeK8 These goodies are incredible! I am going to have so much fun with these gorgeous bookmarks. I've never heard of Heartstone before, but it looks super interesting! Thank you so so much!!!
Thanks to @sprainedbrain and @mabell for organizing!
#janeaustenswap

An interesting take on Pride and Prejudice, this is pretty much Pride and Prejudice with dragons - which is what I had expected, and I wasn't disappointed. There were some very creative twists I appreciated, and a mystery that is left hanging. I'll probably pick up the second book at some point to see if that mysterious subplot resolves.
#fantasy #romantsy

3.5 ⭐️ for me. It‘s a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but until the end I thought it was too much a copy of the original in a different setting. The characters and places even had similar names. She did make some solid adjustments, particularly to the Collins character, that I liked. On its own it was a decent story. I liked the dragon element & it wasn‘t terrible. Just overall too copycat for my liking.

Day 23: Fierce #ReadingResolutions

I have the whole day to myself (husband golfing, kids at in-laws) but instead of doing anything I've managed to procrastinate the whole morning away. One of the very few things I did was make a pile to go back to the library. I desperately needed to whittle down my stack. Maybe another time, my lovelies.

After ballet bike riding for the five year old. Attempted reading for the mom (I didn't actually get any reading done.)

Trying this again. I started it a few weeks ago but after a chapter I wasn't feeling in the mood for a P&P retelling. Maybe this time!

I take pictures of flowers to take my mind away from the world.

Also I'm on my second book this weekend. Yay for how quickly fantasy reads.

My last book protector (this one is called a biff) came & once again I am in love. The color is bright and the sushi is cute & fun (although it is making me kind of hungry for some sushi 😂).

This one come from BizzzyLittleB

Pros: fun, fluffy, and the Pride and Prejudice parallels are clear. Plus she gives some of her female characters more credit (for example, Lydia is battle-crazy instead of boy-crazy). A good book to beat a reading slump.

Cons: the world building is superficial at best and lazy at worst. There were a lot of missed opportunities to flush out the intricacies of the time and the complexities of the characters. Definitely felt like a debut.