I know some people have been waiting for this post. Well wait no longer. Today I'd like to talk about Emma Hox's book "Longbourn's Unexpected Matchmaker". This book is Pride & Prejudice revisionism. Normally I have issues with P & P revisionism. I don't understand why you mess with perfect story like P & P, but there have been some exceptions and one of them is definitely Ms. Hox's novel.
I have spoken before about how everyone turns P & P into an extreme drama. There are rapes and murders and kidnappings and who knows what else. This is very un-me or un-JA. I wrote about people and about their lives. Great characters and Ms. Hox stays true to them, which I like. The story unfolds and there are some Lydia elopes moments, but love triumphs.
I bought this book for my kindle and will say one part I did not enjoy were some of the typos. Now this is not something that happens in Ms. Hox's book alone. I have read many Kindle books with typos where there were not typos in the print copy. I am not sure why this happens, but at times it took away from my enjoyment of the novel. Hopefully subsequent editions will have this fixed.
There were some surprises in Matchmaker, but I will not ruin them for you. I'll let you read the book yourself, which I highly recommend you do.
As a side note, I do hope Ms. Hox writes more. I'd like to see a few other revisionisms besides just P & P or see how she handles a sequel. I'm dying to know what fate befalls Georgiana. So far I have only read one sequel where I like what happened to Georgiana and that was "Conviction" by Skylar Hamilton-Burris.
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ReplyDeleteI just received my copy in the mail last Friday and spent the weekend reading it.
I completely agree with your review, what a refreshing read.
I could see the countryside as Elizabeth sat in the treetops at Oakham Mount. I could hear Lydia's girlish voice spill the secret of Wickham's intent in the carriage. I could feel Darcy's happiness as his fondest wishes and dreams were coming true.
The Matchmaker was quite a unique premise. Who better person than... I really enjoyed that twist. One of my favorite parts being the gardens at the Netherfield Ball. Shotgun wedding indeed.
Being a shopping enthusiast myself, I really enjoyed the descriptions of shopping and gowns. The addition of Jonathan to the novel was a breath of fresh air, I really liked him.
To have Lady Matlock and Madeline Gardiner as such dear friends was an unexpected but fun addition.
Most of all though, I had tears in my eyes as I read what I consider the best paragraph in the whole novel, Lord Matlock's anguish as he had to do the unthinkable.
Bravo Emma Hox, Bravo. I cannot wait for future books from her.