Seven Days of Austen: Emma by Jane Austen

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Publication Date: Originally published 1815
Publisher: 2008, Random House
ISBN:  0099511169
Age Group: Adult/Young Adult
Genre: Classic/Romance
Source: Bookshelf
Lootability: ***

Emma is wealthy, beautiful, accomplished and a self-proclaimed matchmaker. When Emma meets Harriet Smith, a young girl of unknown parentage, Emma is convinced she can find Harriet a suitable husband. But, in her quest to find Harriet the perfect match, Emma jeopardizes Harriet's happiness and, much to her surprise, her own happiness too.

The last of my 'favourite' Austen novels, I can never really decide if I like Emma more or less than Sense and Sensibility. More, I think, probably because Emma Townsend and George Knightley are far more interesting, and possibly more dynamic than any of Austen's other romances.
George was a teenager when Emma was born and has always acted as more of a guardian than a lover, until a rival for her attentions arrives on the scene turning their lives upside down.

Seven Days of Austen: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

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Publication Date: Originally published in 1811
Publisher: 2008, Random House Publishing
ISBN:  009951155X
Age Group: Young Adult/Adult
Genre: Classic/Romance
Source: Bookshelf
Lootability: ***

Elinor is as prudent as her sister Marianne is impetuous. Both sisters must learn from the other after they are forced to leave their home and enter into the contests of polite society after the untimely death of their father. The charms of unsuitable men and the schemes of rival ladies mean that their paths to success are stocked with disappointment, but together they attempt to find a way to happiness.

Seven days of Austen: Persuasion by Jane Austen

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Publication Date: Originally published 1818
Publisher: Oct 1st, 2008 Random House Publishing
ISBN:  0099511177
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Classic/Romance
Source: Bookshelf
Lootability: *****

Eight years ago Anne Elliot bowed to pressure from her family and made the decision not to marry the man she loved, Captain Wentworth. Now, circumstances have conspired to bring him back into her social circle and Anne finds her old feelings for him reignited. However, when they meet again Wentworth behaves as if they are strangers and seems more interested in her friend Louisa.

7 Days of Austen: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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Publication Date: Originally published 1813
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
ISBN:  0679783261  
Age Group: All Ages
Genre: Classic/Romance
Source: Bookshelf
Lootability: *****


What is it about Pride and Prejudice that makes it such a successfil and romantic love story? Why do Elizabeth (Lizzy to her friends) Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy appeal to us, and make such a dynamic duo?
I first read P&P when I was fifteen and spending the last two weeks of my summer holidays trying not to look like a dunce in literature by reading classics. I expected to struggle, to miss the fantasty realms I was used to, what I didn't expect was to fall head over heels in love with this book.

Wards of Faerie by Terry Brooks

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Publication Date: August 21st, 2012
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
ISBN:  0345523474
Age Group: Young Adult/Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Source: ARC provided by Edelweiss
Lootability: ***

When the world was young, and its name was Faerie, the power of magic ruled—and the Elfstones warded the race of Elves and their lands, keeping evil at bay. But when an Elven girl fell hopelessly in love with a Darkling boy of the Void, he carried away more than her heart. Thousands of years later, tumultuous times are upon the world now known as the Four Lands. Users of magic are in conflict with proponents of science. Elves have distanced their society from the other races. The dwindling Druid order and its teachings are threatened with extinction. A sinister politician has used treachery and murder to rise as prime minister of the mighty Federation. Meanwhile, poring through a long-forgotten diary, the young Druid Aphenglow Elessedil has stumbled upon the secret account of an Elven girl’s heartbreak and the shocking truth about the vanished Elfstones. But never has a little knowledge been so very dangerous—as Aphenglow quickly learns when she’s set upon by assassins. Yet there can be no turning back from the road to which fate has steered her. For whoever captures the Elfstones and their untold powers will surely hold the advantage in the devastating clash to come. But Aphenglow and her allies—Druids, Elves, and humans alike—remember the monstrous history of the Demon War, and they know that the Four Lands will never survive another reign of darkness. But whether they themselves can survive the attempt to stem that tide is another question entirely.