#the unselected journals of emma m. lion

[fictionadventurer]

Reasons to read The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower

They're written in the style of the great light classic novels. The promo material says people have compared them to Austen, L.M. Montgomery and Jean Webster, and they're right, though the strongest comparisons I see are Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, and Georgette Heyer.

They're (as the title indicates) presented as a series of journals by Emma M. Lion, a twenty(?) year old orphan who has recently come to live at Lapis Lazuli House in the quirky London neighborhood of St. Crispian's where she meets all kinds of colorful characters and gets into wild scrapes.

So far, there are six books in the series, with a seventh on the way, and a plan to have lots and lots more. Each book covers two months and kind of reads like episodes of a television show or an ongoing serial.

And that's basically all I knew before starting, and part of the joy of this series is uncovering the surprises along the way, so if you don't want to read any further, that's okay, but I'm still going to talk about more details under the cut.

More Plot Details

Lapis Lazuli House is technically Emma's, because it's been willed to her, along with a living that should allow her to live at a modest but respectable level of comfort. Unfortunately, she hasn't reached her majority yet, and for now, the house comes with a horrid Cousin Archibald who resents Emma after the incident that gave him The Scar, so he forces her to live in a garret bedroom and refuses to provide her allowance. Emma's money troubles have a lot of twists and turns that lead to lots of different adventures that I won't spoil here.

Emma has an ongoing quest to build up her personal library. She had to sell off her father's books to pay for her education, and she can't use libraries because she wants to scribble in her books, so getting books is VERY important. (As all the best people understand). She's constantly engaging with different books, and adding books to her library provides some of the best moments of the series. (Each volume ends with a list of the books Emma now owns).

Those are the biggest (and least spoilery) overarching plot points of the series, but the true draw is Emma's interaction with

The Characters

Emma interacts with a sprawling cast of oddballs, including:

Cousin Archibald, previously mentioned Horrid Person, obsessed with clothes and with assuming Emma is the Personification of All Evil

Arabella, her beautiful, wealthy cousin who is expected to make a good match in The Season

Aunt Eugenia, her wealthy aunt who talks exactly like Wilde's Lady Bracknell, and who recruits Emma to attend high society social events as The Foil to make Arabella look good in comparison

Mary, a School Chum who makes a living as a typist

Jack, the con man Mary has hired to pretend to be her cousin so she can get free time away from her strict "respectable" boarding house

Young Hawkes, the handsome, fashionable, mysterious vicar who spends half his sermons reading poetry

The Redoubtable Ten, a group of Hawkes' rowdy Cambridge buddies (Hawkes is technically the tenth) who heckle him during most of his sermons and admire Emma for getting into scrapes even wilder than their own

The Tenant, also known as Niall Pierce, who rents the garret on the other side of Emma's bedroom wall. They pass notes through a crack in the wall and share a cat. He has a mysterious past, which includes years living in America even though he is Not An American.

The Duke of Islington, St. Crispian's only resident nobleman, who is Very Proper and Disapproves of Emma's wilder scrapes, but who secretly has a very poetic soul

Roland Sutherland, Emma's childhood nemesis who has grown up into a handsome, charming, and wealthy Sun God

Saffronia March, a thirty-something spinster artist who knew Emma's parents and brings Emma in contact with the art world

Mrs. Penury, the wife of Emma's banker, who hasn't spoken for ten years because she decided she had said everything she wanted to say

The other draw of the series is

St. Crispian's

A quirky London neighborhood with many oddball traditions and magical-realism happenings.

There's an ancient Roman ghost that the inhabitants are very fond of.

A yearly tradition of a highly-competitive scavenger hunt to score tickets to the local production of Julius Caesar.

A phenomenon where items go "wandering" from houses, only to be found in random places in the neighborhood (and a local cafe where people can bring found items to be picked up).

Among many others

All these oddities are presented as a normal part of life, no matter how strange outsiders might find them. Though, be warned, St. Crispian's is very fond of its traditions, and its odd rules can cause problems.

Other Thoughts

This series strings you along with book after book of Witty Banter and Silly Misadventures, until suddenly it sucker-punches you with moments of Sadness and Deep Emotions

These characters, even when they're comic archetypes, have deeper layers of complexity and history.

Emma's friendships, especially with the men of her neighborhood, develop into really strong bonds.

There are threads of romance, but they're overshadowed by the platonic relationships.

They take place in what's supposed to be 1883, and take advantage of some actual historical events, but it mostly feels like a light history-flavored fantasy because people don't really act much like historical people. Like, the amount of time that Emma spends alone in the company of unmarried men late at night is scandalous. But it's okay, because you don't expect realism here any more than you expect realism from P.G. Wodehouse.

Aside from some mild cursing from one character (and the stuff in the next bullet point) there's literally no objectionable content in this series.

The series has a really weird relationship with spirituality. Characters are technically Christian, but they take it casually and don't seem to know much about their faith. Hawkes is the Worst Vicar Ever who doesn't give any actual Christian advice (I'm still waiting for a reveal that he's not a real vicar). The magical realism parts are taken more seriously than actual religion. Yet there are some parts that do interact with actual Christian ideas. I'm not crazy about it, which you'd think would be a reason not to recommend it, but I don't think it overrides the good parts of the series, and I need to discuss it with someone, because it's an issue with a lot to explore.

These are some of my favorite books I've read this year, with several of my favorite characters and moments, and I need to have someone to talk to about them.

#books #the unselected journals of emma m. lion

[isfjmel-phleg]

December 2023 Books

AG Christmas stories: Addy's Surprise by Connie Porter; Samantha's Surprise by Maxine Rose Schur; Kirsten's Surprise by Janet Beeler Shaw; and Felicity's Surprise, Josefina's Surprise, Kit's Surprise, and Molly's Surprise by Valerie Tripp (reread)

Discussed elsewhere!

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 7 by Beth Brower

I found this one more difficult to get through the most of the previous installments, mostly because it introduced a romance that does absolutely nothing for me.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (reread)

Annual reread.

Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

I got this book mostly because it contains the Christmas mystery short stories that should be annual rereading and it's more convenient to bring along while traveling than separate anthologies. The Doyle, Chesterton, and Sayers stories are all old favorites, but the rest of the stories in the collection were less interesting--or it could have just been that I wasn't reading them at the right time.

Switching Well by Peni R. Griffin

A girl from the present day (...in the 1990s) is switched in time with a girl from 1890s San Antonio. I have a passing acquaintance with some of the places described, so that was fun.

The Eleventh Trade by Alyssa Hollingsworth

I was not expecting this story to rip my heart out the way it did.

Tenthragon by Constance Savery (reread)

I get a hankering for this one around Christmas for no particular reason, and it was so worth the reread.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (reread)

I read this for the first time on a plane and it was magical and I was traveling last month and felt like this was exactly what I needed to read on the plane again.

Adam's Common by David Wiseman

A timeslip story of sorts? It was good. I have nothing intelligent to say about it.

Comics

Stephen McCranie's Space Boy Omnibus 1-3

I love this series. A lot more than I was expecting to, and I can't wait to get the next volume (yes, I know it's all online, but there's something about encountering it in physical book form). I love the complexity of the characters, and the plot twists are captivating.

Everything pertaining to Damage and the Ray (reread/skimmed)

You all know how I feel about my boys. There's a lot of analysis yet to come.

Everything pertaining to Triumph

Apparently this character was ridiculously unpopular, with everyone from the readership to DC staff, mainly because he threw off the Sacred Origins of the JLA and because he's an unlikeable jerk. Even his writer has described him as "the hero you love to hate." But I'm approaching this from a literary standpoint, and it's very clear that he's a superhero version of The Tragic Hero, and it works. I'm fascinated by the complexity that Priest gives him.

Really, guys, 1990s DC writers did not have to go that hard with their characterization but they did and I have so much respect for it.

#random personal stuff #a lot of rereads this month

[angieville]

#emmamlion #theunselectedjournals #bethbrower #bookreview #angieville #historicalfiction #magicalrealism #victorian #novella

[fictionadventurer]

🪅, 🐿, and 👒, please?

🪅 A book that came as a complete surprise to you

I was astonished by how enthralling (and fun) the narrative voices were in The Moonstone, and even more astonished by how much I loved Marian Halcombe (probably my favorite character I've encountered in Victorian literature) in The Woman in White.

🐿 A series you'd like to have more and more and more of

I'd like to have more and more books in the Emma M. Lion series, and since we're only on Volume 7 on a planned 24, it sounds like we're going to get it.

👒 A book that you like, but not for the reason most people do

I love Anne of Windy Poplars (partially) because of the letters between Anne and Gilbert, not in spite of them.

#answered asks #wilkie collins #the woman in white #the moonstone #the unselected journals of emma m. lion #anne of windy poplars #l.m. montgomery

[fictionadventurer]

The curse of reading indie books strikes again, because I desperately need to discuss the Emma M. Lion series with you, but no one will know what I'm talking about.

#books #random thought of the day #the unselected journals of emma m. lion #i read five of these books in three days #utterly delightful and full of so many things i love #along with some things that i don't #and i want to dig into all the nitty gritty analysis of why these books are so lovely #and the ways in which the worldview is a bit skewed #and how the two interact #plus just all the fantastic characters and worldbuilding details that are so much fun #but there's a 99.999% chance no one here has read them and i am in distress #though on the off chance that i'm wrong please please please let me know so we can have discussions

[fictionadventurer]

I find it oddly satisfying that the Emma M. Lion series takes place during Chester Arthur's presidency. It has zero bearing on the story, but it's a fun point of contact between two of my favorite stories of the summer.

#random thought of the day #presidential talk #the unselected journals of emma m. lion

[fictionadventurer]

Fortnight of Books: Day 1

Overall - best books read in 2023?

Of new-to-me books, the standouts of my year include (in rough chronological order of when I read them):

Endurance by Alfred Lansing: Thrilling and harrowing account of Shackleton's South Pole expedition. It made me very grateful as I went through my day-to-day life--no matter how bad things were, at least I had eaten things that weren't seal meat.

Daisy Miller and Washington Square by Henry James: Short, sad little novellas that drew me in with their compassionate realism and added a new name to my list of favorite classic authors.

A Field Guide to Mermaids by Emily B. Martin: Beautifully illustrated book that provides a detailed world of mermaid species and provides lots of interesting facts about the natural world. Child me would have loved this.

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell: I hated the ending, and the structure was very weird, but this was a look at a side of Victorian London I rarely see in literature, with some great characters and a really interesting dive into the issues in the background of North and South.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin: It gave me an obsession with Lincoln's Cabinet. I still sometimes stop and think, "I need to read about some Seward shenanigans."

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard: Extremely readable history book that provided a lot of food for my obsession with James Garfield's and Chester Arthur's presidencies.

The Q by Beth Brower: Victorian Ruritanian fiction about a female newspaper tycoon that has a murky plot but also one of my favorite romantic couples of the year, one of the best tributes to autumn I've read, and most importantly (the real reason it's on this list), introduced me to the author of my favorite series of the year (more below).

Desire and The Good Comrade by Una L. Silsberrad: Forgotten turn-of-the-century women's fiction with some great female leads trying to find a place in society. Desire is a bit more literary while The Good Comrade is a bit more fun, but both were just the type of story that tends to make my list of favorites.

The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy: Fun sister story with some fun romances. Very easy to read and provided a fascinating look at the world of Victorian photography.

The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins: I was so invested in the main character, a woman who would overcome anything that tried to stop her from helping her husband.

The Heir of Redclyffe by Charlotte Mary Yonge: The prose is dense and the author's too preachy, but this had some of my favorite characters of the year (Charles Edmonstone my beloved).

Best series you discovered in 2023?

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion. If it weren't for this question, it would be at the top spot in the last list. They hit so many sweet spots for my perfect comfort read--Victorian England, memorable characters, lightly fantastical setting, fun narrative voice, friendships and comedy and heartbreak and literature and just so much fun.

Best reread of the year?

Definitely The Lord of the Rings. I had liked the series after my first read, but my appreciation was mostly bolstered by the fact that I'm surrounded by a huge fandom for it. This year's reread made me truly appreciate it for the masterwork it is and made it a cornerstone of my interior life.

If it weren't for that, this spot would go to A Christmas Carol, because I was shocked to find that it really is good enough to earn its dominant place in pop culture. The descriptions of Christmas are some of the best things in literature.

#fortnight of books 2023 #books #i wanted to start on the first but alas #i think i'll try to catch up over the next few days

[fictionadventurer]

Fortnight of Books 2023: Day 10

The book I read but have already forgotten

Even though I (of course) liked the prose, I remember next to nothing about The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge, which really disappoints me.

I can't remember anything about the mystery in Lonesome Road by Patricia Wentworth.

Yesterday's Tides by Roseanna M. White is almost completely gone from my brain.

I forgot almost everything about The Europeans by Henry James pretty much the moment I finished it.

All the Lost Places by Amanda Dykes had fairy tale atmosphere and lush prose and Venice and books and a quirky bookseller and a guy who had lost his visual memory, but I have no clue what the story was.

Tournament of Ruses and Guardian of Ruses by Kate Stradling were interesting enough while reading them, but when I try to remember the story, I come up with almost nothing.

Book with a scene that left you reeling

Catherine standing up for herself at the end of Washington Square. I'm not sure I knew sadness could be so triumphant.

A very harsh scene toward the end of Anna and the Swallow Man that makes the book much darker and pretty much ruined it for me.

The moment in the middle of Land of Hills and Valleys by Elizabeth Grace Foley when it suddenly comes out that the very slow beginning has been setting up a very twisty plot that the heroine is now entangled in.

The story of Seward's almost-assassination in Team of Rivals

Finding out in Grant's memoirs that his twelve-year-old son was with him throughout the Vicksburg campaign.

Emma meeting Jack's mother in The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Volume 5

Several redemptive moments in Break the Beast by Allison Tebo.

The ending of The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson (not in a good way)

The plot twist with Phyllis' suitor in The Romance of a Shop made me shout in surprise.

The scene with the prayer beads ("for the queen") in The Painted Queen by Monica Boothe.

The moment in Chase the Legend by Hannah Kaye where the heroine genuinely considers killing the captain (I did not expect a light Christian fantasy to get so real.)

The reveal in Yours, Constance by Emily Hayse that made me want to reread the whole book.

#fortnight of books 2023 #books

[fictionadventurer]

Fortnight of Books 2023: Day 3

Book you recommended most to others in 2023?

Probably The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. I loved them so much and have no one to talk to about them, and I needed to fix that problem.

Book you most anticipated this year?

Mostly due to lack of knowledge of new releases, The Beggar Prince by Kate Stradling was the book I most looked forward to. A "King Thrushbeard" retelling, from Thrushbeard's perspective, written by Kate Stradling, and it's a comedy? Sign me up! Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed.

#fortnight of books 2023 #books

[fictionadventurer]

End-of-year book asks: 3, 11, 17

3. What were your top five books of the year?

A lot of ways to answer this question, but for now I'll say my top five were:

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volumes 1-7

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Daisy Miller and Washington Square by Henry James

Desire and The Good Comrade by Una L. Silsberrad

The Heir of Redcliffe by Charlotte Mary Yonge

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

Since most of the books I read have been out for a long time, I'll just use this as an opportunity to say that I'm glad I finished The Wingfeather Saga. It wound up being much better than I expected from the first book.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

I had written off any American Girl books released after Kit as inferior cash grabs. So I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Cecile and Marie Grace series set in 1850s Louisiana. I think the series needs a structure overhaul to be actually good (namely, it should be all about Cecile, with Marie Grace as a best friend), and it had some hilariously bad errors about Catholicism (a little girl would not get up to sing a hymn during a Latin Mass wedding--and it would never be "Amazing Grace" even today), but the time period, setting and characters were fascinating. The books about Melody set in the 1960s also had surprising layers to the family relationships.

#answered asks #books #the wingfeather saga #american girl #isfjmel-phleg

[fictionadventurer]

Top 5 books read this year, please?

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 1-7 by Beth Brower: These books are just so much fun. They sit perfectly in my sweet spot of historical light fiction, and there's so much humor and heart and so many good characters. Maybe they're not the best books I've read this year, but they may be the only ones tempting me to buy copies for my shelf.

Washington Square and Daisy Miller by Henry James: Two short, sad, delicately-drawn novellas that may have added another author to my list of favorite classic writers.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin: This book started my obsession with Lincoln's Cabinet. I can't in good conscience put it lower (despite a minor qualm that prevents me from seeking out the full version). I'm also going to cheat and include Destiny of the Republic by Candace Millard, which provided me my other history niche of this year about President Garfield and his assassination. And My Dear President for all the fascinating letters offering new insight into the lives of American presidents and their wives.

The Heir of Redclyffe by Charlotte Yonge: Despite some serious issues with the story, this one had some of my favorite characters of the year, and they're going to stick with me for a long time.

Desire and The Good Comrade by Una Lucy Silsberrad: Maybe objectively not the best or even my favorites--I have problems with the plot of both--but I love how she writes Edwardian women trying to make their way in the world and their relationships with men who make them rethink the way they approach the world, and she's another entry on the list of favorite authors discovered this year.

#answered asks #books #valiantarcher #note the clever way in which i included fifteen books on my top five list #i am very sneaky and also bad at making decisions #if i have to pick one from each entry it's #volume 4 #team of rivals #washington square #the heir of redclyffe #and desire #but the other ones round out what i like about each author or category that elevates it on the favorites list #beyond what each book could achieve alone #because there are lots of books that could go on the list #so i prioritized ones that fit into a wider trend #edit: oh actually i was wrong i did buy copies of the james novellas for my shelf #though that's mostly because i first found both of them in the library used book shop #decided to rent instead of buy #and then decided i liked them enough to buy the volume #so they beat out emma m lion on the 'on my shelf' category but not quite in the 'i need them on my shelf' category

[isfjmel-phleg]

Tagged by @lovesodeepandwideandwell and @ellakas. Thank you!

Last Song I Listened To: The radio is playing "Bus Stop" by the Hollies.

Currently Watching: I'm rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender (a favorite!) and Lockwood and Co. (less confusing now that I've read the books and am not dead tired and dozing off while watching). I also recently binged every available episode of My Adventures with Superman, which is very cute, and look forward to the next installment.

Currently Reading: Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones, sort of, but it's on hold now that the Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brewer have arrived through interlibrary loan. I'm on the third book and enjoying them.

Current Obsession: Oh, you know, the usual, if you've seen all the comicsposting and TSG rants.

#tagged #lovesodeepandwideandwell #ellakas #random personal stuff

[isfjmel-phleg]

August 2023 Books

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 1-6 by Beth Brower

Although I had to fight myself a bit to ignore anachronisms, I did enjoy these! The earlier ones more than the later ones, but I will definitely be continuing this series as more come out.

And I know it's setting us up to ship, but am I horrible for thinking that none of Emma's potential suitors are a good fit

Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Goudge

I normally like most of Goudge's books, but I regret I had a hard time getting through this one. As ever, the prose was lovely, but I struggled to get invested in the characters.

Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones

I liked this one on the whole, but it took me forever to finish for some reason! I've started the sequel and am finding that it's more approachable, or maybe I'm just reading it at a better time.

Father's Arcane Daughter by E. L. Konigsburg (reread)

This is a bizarre book, but I love it and keep coming back to it. The characters may not be easy to like, but what's behind it is evident, and the emotion very poignant. There's also a TV film adaptation (titled Caroline? and it's free to stream in a few places) that's pretty close to the book and well-done.

Beyond Authority and Submission: Women and Men in Marriage, Church, and Society by Rachel Green Miller

I don't read a lot of books like this, but someone around here recommended it, and I've been struggling for a while with this issue, so I picked it up. Miller makes a lot of good points and I really appreciated what she had to say (and wish I could share this perspective with some churches I'm familiar with).

The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell (reread)

The initial setup and atmosphere of the book are great, but I regret that I didn't enjoy this one as much on the reread and probably won't be visiting it again.

The Edge of In Between by Lorelai Savaryn (reread)

I reread this one as a refresher while researching the TSG paper and was able to put more of a finger on why this one doesn't work for me, either as a story or as a retelling. It's not just that Savaryn completely changes the themes and focus of the story she's retelling, but the result is heavy-handedly allegorical. Reminders that This Is A Metaphor For Grief are everywhere. Characters feel less like living humans than representations of things. They're oddly self-aware of their problems and all their causes and there's a lot of talking like a grief counseling session rather than ordinary people. It feels like A Message that happens to have a story rather than the other way around. Even in a middle-grade book, there should still be room for the reader to independently think about and analyze the themes rather than have everything spelled out, and I didn't get much of that here.

Wintle's Wonders, Circus Shoes, and White Boots by Noel Streatfeild (reread)

I was in a shoes reread mood, and a bit curious if the British editions (as two of these are) differed significantly from the American editions. White Boots seemed pretty similar to Skating Shoes, but Wintle's Wonders has a noticeable amount of material that's cut from Dancing Shoes. Mostly details that flesh out the world and characters a bit more, but there's also a conversation between Rachel and her uncle about her late father (his brother) that furthers their bond and should have been left in.

I love Streatfeild's protagonists. A lot. Even though most of them are unusually talented in the arts or a sport, they feel very real. Rachel Lennox is important to me because she's a very rare thing: a quiet, shy, bookish fictional heroine who isn't also perfectly nice and sweet but angry and frustrated and understandable for it even when she's mistaken and it's relatable. I want to protect poor exploited child-celebrity-in-the-making Lalla, despite her occasional obnoxiousness. And Peter and Santa's weird isolated upbringing that leaves them unequipped to handle the real world...strikes a chord, even if the way Streatfeild plays out their arcs doesn't always work for me.

Also apparently circuses in the late 1930s did have whole families of performers who lived and traveled with the shows, if the portrait that Streatfeild offers of that life is accurate. It lends a bit of surprising plausibility to the background of a certain famous fictional circus child who debuted in 1940.

Speaking of which...I've read a lot of comics in the last few weeks.

Damage (1994)

A rather obscure series that didn't get to live up to its potential because of an early cancellation. It's got its share of clichés (like a girl whose personality is basically "love interest" and who gets fridged) and dated stuff, but Grant is a compelling character who's worth reading the series for.

Various issues of New Titans

I was just here for pre-Alabama Bart and Grant. No idea what's going on with anyone else, but these boys were robbed of a promising friendship.

Titans (1999) #1-19 plus a few others

I was mostly here for a continuation of Grant's story after he got stuck in canceled-book limbo, but I also got sucked into all the Drama with the five original Titans, who are all on the team when the book begins. There's not a lot of Grant, but what's there is well done. Some weird elements in this series, and some plotlines I didn't love, but I appreciate the overall character-focused approach.

Jason's (re)introduction in Batman, A Death in the Family, and Under the Hood

I knew the gist of all this already but actually reading it all...yikes. Sad about this forever.

Superman: Last Son and The Third Kryptonian

I want to be familiar with all the kids in the superfam, which means I need to meet Chris. More of these to come. So far there hasn't been much done with his character. But he meets Tim at one point and they have some cute interactions, which I appreciated.

The stories that focus on the action aren't so much my thing, but I like that sometimes the series slows down to allow the characters to take a breather and bond. There's an issue that's just the family going to a beautiful other world/dimension to have a picnic and chat...and that's basically all that happens, and it's refreshing.

The Life Story of the Flash

Silver Age comics were wild. What even were some of those storylines. But the narrative does its best to ground the mythos's established ridiculousness in the humanity of the characters, which works.

Why don't we have any adaptations that give us this book's characterization of Barry? He's analytical, methodical, scientifically-minded, and a neat freak. He proudly wears bow ties, a crew cut, and a pocket protector. He's a certified Iowa boy and a comics nerd. He doesn't want a reporter to take his picture after he solves a case at his civilian job because he isn't the story. He considers himself boring and when his girlfriend tells him she finds his analytical mind attractive he coughs an entire lemonade through his nose. He's late to everything except the time he shows up five minutes early to a date because he's going to propose (on top of a Ferris wheel, no less). Bless his heart. Very different from the reckless, hyperactive speedsters who would succeed him, and the tension between his temperament and his powers is a fascinating contrast. The recent TV series was sleeping on some excellent material to work with.

#random personal stuff

[constantvigilante]

http://www.bethbrower.com/emma-m-lion-vol-1

Look. This series is a gift. The word that keeps coming back to me, and to my roommate who’s been tearing through them while I work, is charming. Emma is mostly good-hearted, witty but less educated than she’d like, and an unfortunate magnet for trouble (sometimes disaster). The characters are distinct and vivid. The Avenging Angel tenant. The abstracted, uncanny young vicar. The cousin, goddess divine. The former nemesis. The rowdy Cambridge back-pew-sitters. The banker’s wife. They’re all so good and I love them so much, except Cousin Archibald who is genuinely the Worst (though still well-written). St. Crispian’s is a delightful, quirky neighborhood with matter-of-factly supernatural twists. Lovely worldbuilding.

I got the first one for Christmas and have already ordered and read the other four. I still have a stack of books I got for presents but I needed the rest of the series ASAP. They’re good. I’m kind of in love with Young Hawkes.