September 2017 QuickLit

Hi friends! Today I’m linking up with Anne Bogel at the Modern Mrs. Darcy to share what I’m reading right now. Imagine my surprise when she posted her link up yesterday, a day early! So I feel like I’m handing in a late term paper by getting this post up today. Good thing there aren’t any grades here!

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier – I’m reading this for the Readers Imbibing Peril (RIP) Challenge this year. Of all of the du Maurier’s that I’ve read, this one seems to be the most explicitly romantic. I’m curious to see how much detail she goes into, ha! Mary Yellan is a young woman who moves in with her aunt after her own mother dies. Her aunt is married to the innkeeper at Jamaica Inn, a falling down old bar and hotel on the moors of England. Her new uncle, Joss Merlyn, is a brute and has pushed Jamaica Inn into its ruin. He’s a smuggler and is involved in some very dangerous “business” practices, and those exact practices are unveiled to us in a drunken fit.

Mary meets Joss’ brother, Jem, and instantly hates him due to his similarities to Joss. But there’s something about him that intrigues Mary and their relationship quickly develops into something more than expected.

This has been a slow read, but I’m finding that du Maurier tends to be that way for me. But I AM enjoying it — the dark and gothic descriptions are simply delicious. I’m just savoring this story more than some others, which is all right by me!

Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead – I’ve only just started this and am about 20 pages in, but I’ll tell you what I know: Joan is a professional ballerina who finds herself pregnant with her high school sweetheart’s baby. She recently helped the two principal dancers in her company defect from Russia and she happened to fall in love with one of them, but he broke her heart in a spectacular fashion once the other Russian made it to the States.

Due to her pregnancy, Joan has to give up ballet and feels as though she has given up everything that she’s always worked for. She marries and moves in with the father of her baby, who is a PhD student in Chicago. And that’s as far as I’ve gotten! But this one has pulled me in and I can’t wait to read more about the ultra-competitive world of ballet and how the author ties this all together given the way it’s started!

(Also, Astonish Me is on sale on Amazon right now for $4.99!)

Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James – I can’t believe that I’ve never read a PD James novel, but here I go! I downloaded the audio version from the library yesterday and haven’t actually started it, but I know that there was a TV series released a few years ago. I tried to watch it, but I was in the throes of having a newborn and I think I fell asleep every time I turned it on.

But this is Lizzie and Mr. Darcy after they’ve married and moved to Pemberley together! Here’s the blurb from Amazon:

“It is 1803, six years since Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Darcy’s magnificent estate. Their peaceful, orderly world seems almost unassailable. Elizabeth has found her footing as the chatelaine of the great house. They have two fine sons, Fitzwilliam and Charles. Elizabeth’s sister Jane and her husband, Bingley, live nearby; her father visits often; there is optimistic talk about the prospects of marriage for Darcy’s sister Georgiana. And preparations are under way for their much-anticipated annual autumn ball.

Then, on the eve of the ball, the patrician idyll is shattered. A coach careens up the drive carrying Lydia, Elizabeth’s disgraced sister, who with her husband, the very dubious Wickham, has been banned from Pemberley. She stumbles out of the carriage, hysterical, shrieking that Wickham has been murdered. With shocking suddenness, Pemberley is plunged into a frightening mystery.

Inspired by a lifelong passion for Austen, P. D. James masterfully re-creates the world of Pride and Prejudice, electrifying it with the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly crafted crime story, as only she can write it.”

I canNOT wait to dive into this one!

(oh, and it’s ALSO on sale for $4.99 on Amazon today!)