Book Club : A Fall from Grace

[@MarloweDash]

Sir Lucious is just fine! You are writing in the best Heyer tradition!!! I felt right at home with your story and completely ‘get’ your characters! keep Up the good work😊

[@mysikind8076]

First time I'm listening to one of your books. I enjoy having the Authors have their own channel where I'm happy to tolerate ads because the Author hopefully is benefitting. Sally Britton is a favourite, I'm hoping you will become one of my favourites too. 😉

[@JennieGoutet]

Thank you! Sally is awesome. :) We do eventually benefit from the ads. I've just qualified for it but it takes a couple of days to review my channel. Thank you for being so supportive.

[@magnhildmaggiharral3718]

A Fall From Grace is the first of your books that I've read and I knew I would like it within the first five minutes. The main reason for that is that you get right into the story and the characters. I appreciate the simple style of writing, which is a compliment. I've read some books that are complicated to follow and it's too taxing. On style of writing, I think you have a great vocabulary and very good word pictures. You make the reader feel present in the story, not as an observer, but as one of the characters. Yes, I definitely got the Cinderella-vibe, but that was ok, because that's one of my favorite stories to read/watch spin-offs of. I did get very annoyed with Lady H and Rebecca at one point, cause I felt like they were just extremely mean and rude, almost to the point of being unbelievable and a little too extreme. I think Sir Lucius' character stayed true to himself, actually, by not coming forward to her aid at the ball. It makes sense to me that he needed to figure out where he stood for himself before going public, especially since there were many other intrigues/considerations going on at the same time. I thought it was a great twist that Rebecca was both the seductress and the charge. ;) I liked this book a lot and will recommend this book and this channel to others!

[@JennieGoutet]

Thank you so much Maggi. This is very encouraging to read, and I hope you continue to enjoy the other books.

[@KateHoodTheBigPieceofCake]

I listened to these books (in just a couple of days!) from the lens of classic literature in which the male love interests are usually pretty self absorbed and not particularly kind to a woman until they have the motivation of being in love. I mean, if you apply modern standards, Mr. Darcy is the worst! A while back, when I was re-reading (listening to on Audible) some of my old favorites, I started a list of funny thoughts that came to me about the male leads. It wasn’t super complimentary 😂. There’s usually a best friend or brother who provides some balance with a less selfish and often jolly disposition. Until recently, most romantic leads in books, movies, etc. followed this formula, so I wasn’t too distracted by Lucius’ bad behavior. And at least we were able to get into his head and see some of the logic behind his choices. In retrospect, I definitely see the flaws in that as well. You can’t say you don’t care what people think about your choices and then dither over standing up for a woman because of how it might be seen as a declaration. But honestly, we ALL have had moments of rationalizing ourself into contradiction. As for Selena’s refusals, I honestly saw it as part of her practical nature. Again - she provides clear rationalization for why she said no. And she really had a far more modern perspective than Lucius. She speculated on a future where she would ultimately be re-traumatized by rejection when her husband grew to resent her. But I also attributed some of that to pride - which would be in character given how she was raised as a lady. I have to admit that I’m a pretty easy audience when I like something - so while immersed in the story, I didn’t overanalyze. Did you read The Other Bennett Sister where Mary was the protagonist? Would be interesting to do something like that with Maria! I’m always a little curious about the sibling that everyone hates LOL.

[@JennieGoutet]

Oh my gosh I loved your analysis. And I don't think I've ever thought about it that way. But when I really started to examine some of the classics, I actually couldn't find the Darcy formula before P&P. I think Darcy is quite unique in being the first of the "aloof man to be won over" protagonist. I looked at Gaskell and Dickens, Vanity Fair, Trollope, even Tolstoi, Dostoevsky (I won't count Hardy who had no romance in his life), and even Austen's other heroes. It seemed they were mostly the long-suffering hero, noble and quiet, waiting for his lady love to view him in the right way - or more common, waiting for circumstances to open up so he can pursue the heroine. But I'm sure I'm missing great examples. If any spring to mind, will you remind me of them? I haven't read The Other Bennett Sister - I've only read one Austen adaptation before as it's not my go-to genre, but it's always interesting to get the misunderstood protag's POV. I think that's something I like to do when writing. Include less-than-perfect characters, but let us into their heads to see why. Thank you so much for listening and giving me your thoughts. It really got me thinking and that's what's so fun about book club!

[@lauriehoffman1061]

Just listened to the entire “Philippa Holds Court” while driving to and from Philadelphia this weekend - I loved it! I had intended to just start the book, but really got into it and finished the whole book - love the youtube - so easy to bring up on my phone, and the person reading had a perfect voice for this genre!

[@JennieGoutet]

@@lauriehoffman1061 I am so happy to hear that! I'm glad this can be easily available for you!

[@i.am.10vely]

I really enjoyed this book. No character or book will be loved or understood by all, and that's normal. But in my case I really enjoyed the story and the characters and understood their thoughts and actions. I thought they made sense when taking into account what their life experiences had been. That said, thanks anyway for sharing your thoughts and books with us. I had a lot of fun listening to this series

[@deannadent8111]

Will you ever get the rights back to those books so that you can do with them as you wish.

[@JennieGoutet]

I will one day because Cedar Fort does not plan to continue publishing fiction books. But because the books are still selling well through them, I don't plan to ask for them back. I would have to pay to get the rights back and it's not worth it at this stage - for them or for me.

[@deannadent8111]

Patience is a virtue. At least they are still selling well

[@susandixson5830]

Hummmm