Part 2: A Personal Review of The Mistress of All
A few reasons for my 5-start review are as follows:
3) I really enjoyed reading about new characters and places! Miss Cecelia "Cece" brought richness to the plot, and I found it refreshing to read about a woman of colour in early 19th century England. She was strong, independent, accomplished and broke all stereotypes of the day.
1) This quote from the book is about the evolution of Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship is EVERYTHING!! I bookmarked it, screenshotted it, and exclaimed out loud as I read it (silly, I know, but the perfect quote in a book has that effect kon me)!
"Four months ago, she had rejected him and thrown him out of her life. He had returned when her life was in danger and his mere presence enhanced it. She could hardly call him family, or even a friend. And yet, he was more than both."
**Sigh**
2) Originality and memorability of the premise and plot. I've enjoyed other books with at least some overlap--namely Elizabeth rising in status to rival or exceed Darcy's due to marrying into the peerage. Some of my favorites include Elizabeth Adams' On Equal Ground, Amy D'Orazio's The Best Part of Love, Caitlin William's The Events at Branxbourne. In general, I enjoy this less common trope as it provides a memorable alternative to the tried and true, but sadly, sometimes indistinguishable compromise/forced marriage scenario. The Mistress of All, along with the other books I mentioned, is memorable and in no danger of my mixing it up with others or being unable to recall the finer points of its plot soon after finishing it. So often, on Facebook groups such as Austen Readers, avid JAFF readers will ask questions like, "I read a book awhile back that had something to do with Darcy and Elizabeth...blah...blah...blah....does that ring a bell? What was it called and who wrote it?" I can only imagine that authors dread their books falling into that vague, blurry headspace.
3) Very little Wickham and Lady Catherine. I'm not sure how many other JAFF readers share this perspective with me, but I often find books in which George Wickham and/or Lady Catherine De Bourgh drive the plot to be quite tiresome! That's not to say I dislike books in which they factor heavily, but I do find it refreshing when they take a backseat or solely historical role in the plot.
Their absence left the door open for a new and rather heinous villain, Elizabeth's husband Lord Barrington, as well as a crew of antagonists including his friends and mother. Without personal, family ties to the story's villains, Darcy is free swoop in and, in some instances, take extreme actions to rescue Elizabeth. **Swoon**
It may just be me, but the image I had of Cece in my mind's eye was that of Miss Georgiana Lambe from the recent BBC/PBS adaptation of Sanditon. If you've yet to read the book, I'm afraid you'll likely now see her this way as well when you read it!
As the Mistress of All who was subsequently responsible for numerous estates and charitable holdings including two schools, Elizabeth traveled to visit various holdings across England. Just as I had the mental image of Miss Lambe as Cece, the description of the girls school to which Elizabeth made an unannounced visit bore a striking resemblance to the school Jane Eyre attended as a girl in the 2006 BBC adaptation of the aponymous novel by Charlotte Bronte. The poor learning and living conditions described in MOA provide Elizabeth with the opportunity to demonstrate her innate humanity, compassion, and shrewd problem-solving skills. Having the power to positively impact the lives of those under her protection provides Elizabeth with an outlet for healing from the trauma she faced, and she starts to believe that it may have all been worth it.
In conclusion, if you're looking for your next book to read, I implore you to give The Mistress of All a chance. If you've not read any of Lory Lilian's books, I dare say it might start you down a very enjoyable, angst and romance-filled rabbit hole! You're welcome!
If you've not already, I encourage you to read the first blog post I wrote about this book (Part 1). If you've already read the book, I'd love to hear whether your thoughts align with mine. What other takeaways did you have?
As a reminder, Lory Lillian has graciously offered to give away two eBook copies of The Mistress of All!! I will also be giving away one of my handmade sealing wax Darcy and Elizabeth pendants. The winners will be selected and announced in just over a week from now on November 30.
I really enjoyed reading Mistress of All and many of Lory’s other works. This definitely has a plot line that will not be easily forgotten. I also appreciated that the villains were new characters. I would have said I wasn’t a fan of the trope where Elizabeth is raised to similar or higher consequence than Darcy except I love all the examples you gave, so evidently I do enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. When you really sit down and think about it, you can see this trope rocks when done right!
DeleteThank you, Gina. I am glad you enjoyed the plot line. It was very special to me and a real struggle to write it, but so rewarding to see the readers' wonderful reactions.
DeleteThis was very interesting. I haven’t read the book but the plot seems to be very entertaining and perhaps more adventurous??? I can’t stop imagining Darcy rescuing Elizabeth!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd definitely describe it as adventurous! Your comment is showing as "unknown." If you want to be considered for the giveaway, send me a message on the Jane Austen State of Mind Facebook page so I know who you are :)
DeleteI hope you will read the book - it is also available in KU - and find it entertaining, despite the angst. :-)
DeleteI loved the story, and Darcy was wonderful. Lizzy was strong and very compassionate to those who were mistreated. The story was a mix of angst, strength compassion and finding yourself after a terrible setback. I loved it and Lizzy proved she could be the mistress of all!
ReplyDeleteYou could have written this blog post, since we seem to be on the same wavelength! I'm glad you read it and loved it as much as I did!
DeleteGail, thanks so much for your lovely words! Much appreciated - and I am very glad you enjoyed the story so much.
DeleteGail, you are one of the winners of our giveaway. Email me to claim your prize. I will allow winners to choose which prize they like (either one of two eBooks or a piece of jewelry) in the order that they email me at: blessed1paige at gmail dot com. Congrats!
DeleteThis is going to be on top of my TBR, but I think the diversity bit with an active black character is probably going to be the tipping point for this book. I had enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Other Flavors previously; what I loved about this modern was the diversity factor which was not present just to be present but as an active part of the book. It is not often that active diverse characters show up in Austenesque fiction, so this is going to be extra special. Thank you for posting this review and for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteYes! I think you'll find Cece's character refreshing. She holds so much knowledge and Elizabeth comes to rely upon her heavily as she assumes responsibility for the various estates and charitable holdings.
DeleteJen, it was my first JAFF with a strong, impactful POC as a main character. I did lots of research and I write it with much afection. I loved Cece and I am glad the readers did too :-)
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ReplyDeleteIt was a nice change that the bad guys in this tale were not the usual suspects. Loved Darcy, he was very attentive to our dear girl, who certainly had her hands full dealing with badly behaved sisters, and an inheritance which caused her more work than she ever imagined. But the results were definitely worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this on KU, so thanks for giving us the opportunity to win a copy.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm all for the traditional Darcy/Elizabeth happy ending, I always thought her life as simply the mistress of a grand estate would be a waste of her innate intelligence! Lory's characterization of her in this book shows just how much Elizabeth can achieve when obstacles and opportunities are thrown her way!
DeleteSarah, thank you for the comment . I am happy you liked the story. I love writing new, original characters and a romantic and powerful Darcy :-)
DeleteSarah, you are one of the winners of our giveaway. Email me to claim your prize. I will allow winners to choose which prize they like (either one of two eBooks or a piece of jewelry) in the order that they email me at: blessed1paige at gmail dot com. Congrats!
DeleteCongratulations on this newest book. Thank you for the opportunity to win a copy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and reading! Please consider subscribing if you have not already :)
DeleteThank you for the comment, Pat! Good luck in the giveaway!
DeleteI love Lory's books, and I watched the posts she made regarding MOA. But I had no idea what the story was about. My goodness. MOA just shot up to the top of my TBR! I so enjoyed seeing Lory on the Reader/Writer get together. I was just fangirling all over the place, such a JAFF author celebrity geek. This story sounds so incredible. Has it really been amost a month since it debuted. Congratulations to Lory on this launch. Lory, you are incredible.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new blog, Paige. I just discovered you today and read MOA pt 1, and your bio which is fascinating. I'm looking forward to more, so glad I subscribed to your blog. Best of luck.
I was right there fangirling along with you at the Reader/Writer Get Together. How fun was that? I'm so glad you subscribed! This has become a fun diversion from all of life's serious stuff! Jane's world is my happy place!
DeleteMichelle - thank you so, so much for your kind words and for your constant support! I really appreciated it! Good luck with the giveaway!
DeleteThis was an enjoyable post to read, Paige, and I agree 100% with your points. The intensity of the interactions b/w Elizabeth and Darcy were so real and raw. Your review here is leading me back to another read of the book...
ReplyDeleteA few weeks back I finished (because it was 8 episodes so it took a while) watching the BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit, and so it was Tatty Coram's face I saw in my mind's eye when CeCe was in a scene. We have so few examples of POC in historical dramas which gives us just a few examples to pull from.
Looking forward to your next post!
Thanks, Wendy! I have some good posts of the horizon for sure!
DeleteWendy, that "unknown" reply was me! I was apparently logged into my work Google account instead of my personal one!
DeleteWendy - I am glad you liked the story. I confess I was a little bit nervous to introduce a POC in my jaff story because I wanted it to be accurate for the regency era and I did lots of research. There are indeed many fascinating examples and I found lots of inspiration - for TMOA but also for future stories.
DeleteLoved it...read it on kindle unlimited and will be buying for my For Keeps library. I reread a lot of my favorites and this is a keeper. Thank you and keep writing!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Elizabeth!
DeleteElizabeth, you are one of the winners of our giveaway. Email me to claim your prize. I will allow winners to choose which prize they like (either one of two eBooks or a piece of jewelry) in the order that they email me at: blessed1paige at gmail dot com. Congrats!
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