40.Emma and Knightley: Perfect Happiness in Highbury by Rachel Billington

This novel is a sequel to Jane Austen's Emma. It starts a year after the original story ends. Emma and Knightley are still living at Hartfield. Everything is perfect, so perfect that it is a little boring to Emma. Then things go crazy. Jane Churchill (formerly Fairfax) dies in childbirth and John Knightley goes bankrupt. Suddenly Emma is forced to deal with things she never imagined and her and Knightley's love is tested. I liked this sequel because I liked that it showed how hard marriage can be, even between people who love each other, and how important communication is in a marriage. A good read.

37. Colonel Brandon's Diary by Amanda Grange

This is a rewriting of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility from Colonel Brandon's viewpoint. But the first half tells the story of Colonel Brandon's early life. I really like these books. It is kind of like watching different movie versions of the Jane Austen's books. I think it is fun to see others imaginings of the story. The author does a really good job of bringing the characters to life and staying true to Austen's original portrayal. In this novel, I almost forgot that Colonel Brandon is so much older than Maryanne. It is a great, fun read.

26. Captain Wentworth's Diary by Amanda Grange

I think this is one of my favorite Jane Austen retellings that I've read recently. It is a retelling of Persuasion from Captain Wentworth point of view via his diary. It is a fun, quick read. It actually starts before Persuasion does and tells Anne and Wentworth's backstory, when they originally met and fell in love (kind of a prequel to Persuasion) and then follows the story line of the original book. Wentworth seems very likable and the extra characters used to fill out the story are interesting and likeable too. Amanda Grange is great capturing the original story but making some interesting additions of her own that make the whole thing exciting to experience again.

21. Mr. Knightley's Diary by Amanda Grange

This is a retelling of Jane Austen's Emma from Mr. Knightley's point of view. It is told in the form of Mr. Knightley's diary. I really like it. It is a very quick read. I think the diary format lends itself to that. I also think it is fun to see the story from a different view point and this author I think does a pretty good job. She's true to Jane Austen's original story and characters, but adds a few of her own that are interesting. I think anyone who likes Emma will like this novel.

16. Sorcery and Cecelia: The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

At girl's camp a few years ago when I was in Young Women, some of the girls told me about a book series by an author named Patricia Wrede called The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I like fantasy books, especially fun children's ones and these girls raved about these books, so I picked up the first one, Dealing with Dragons. I loved it too. The next summer I read one of them to the girls (Kate and Mary were little at the time). They loved it. I got Kate one of them on tape and she listened to it nonstop for like a year (to the point that I think both John and I had parts of it memorized). Anyway, we really liked that series, but I didn't know of anything else that the author had written.

About a month ago I was wandering around at the library and I saw a new book by Patricia Wrede on their fantasy book display. I was so excited. I picked it up and have finally finished reading it. It was awesome! The novel is a mix between Jane Austen and Harry Potter, just the right mix for me. It is written in letters, a format I really enjoy, and the characters are strong yet funny. I really liked it and probably will re-read it, maybe even purchase it. This one is the first in a three book series and I am excited to read the whole series. I would definitely recommend this book and all of the others by Patricia Wrede. Super fun!!

91. The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman

This is another continuation of Pride and Prejudice, if you couldn't tell by the title. It starts a couple days before the weddings and continues through about the first year of marriage. It is pretty good. The characters all seem pretty true to Austen's characters without being boring. The author seems to have a gift for making even the unlikeable characters likeable. For instance Caroline Bingley ends up tolerable and so does Mr. and Mrs. Bennets' marital relationship. I don't know about her interpretation of Darcy as someone who can't hold his liquor (thus usually avoids drinking) but it does provide some comic relief and I think all authors have to come up with a fault for Darcy to make him a little more human. This was suggestive though. I would definitely rate it PG-13. This actually was one of the more interesting adaptations I've read though and, in the end, I liked the way she treated the original characters. Might be worth a try.

90. Mercedes' Mountain: A Love Story by Jewel Adams

This book tells the story of a black woman who moves from Brooklyn to a cabin in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina. There she meets and marries a Cherokee man. Her father basically disowns her because she married outside her "own" people. The couple also encounters a small amount of prejudice within the Cherokee community. So the question of prejudice within their own minorities was interesting. And the story was ok. At times though, it was a little too cheesy, even for me. This is an LDS book so there was nothing inappropriate in it, but again, it was a little cheesy. I'd say it was ok.

87. Let It Snow by Debbie Macomber

This is a short little romance story. It reminded me of one of the stories you would read in Woman's Day or something. It was cute and really short. It is the story of two people who meet on a plane that gets stranded at an airport. They decide to share the last rental car available and hilarity ensues (or romance or something). I think it was originally put out as some kind of promotional thing at Christmas. I picked it up off the library's Christmas display. I liked it. John would have said that it was very cheesy but I say that Christmas is just the right season for cheese.