My Lady's Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel: Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris

"Flirtatious repartee!  Scandalous intrigue!  Men in kilts!  And more...

"In this chooseable-path romantic adventure, you are the plucky but penniless heroine in the center of nineteenth-century society, the courtship season has begun, and your future is at hand.  Will you...

• Flip forward fetchingly to flirt with the bantering baronet, SIR BENEDICT GRANVILLE?
• Turn the page to true love with the hardworking, horse-loving Highlander, Captain Angus McTaggart?
• Chase through the chapters a good man gone mad, bad, and scandalous, in the arousing form of LORD GARRAWAY CRAVEN?
• Read on recklessly as the 'traveling companion' of the spirited and adventuresome LADY EVANGELINE YOUNGBLOOD?
• Or choose yet another tantalizing fate?

"Whether it's forlorn orphans and fearsome werewolves, mistaken identities and devious double-crosses, or long lost lovers and pilfered Egyptian artifacts, every delightful twist and turn of the romance genre unfolds at your behest!"


I saw this book as a new recommended reading a few months back from my former (amazing, nationally-ranked) public library.  I take screenshots of some of these books when the librarian's reviews really pique my interest?  A good romance novel?  Right up my alley.  A "choose-your-own-path" romance novel?  Never heard of it...super excited to try it out!  How many readers of this genre sit back and go, "Well I would've certainly handled that differently"?  I can tell you with complete honesty that I've done this more than a time or two.  This book presents a very unique opportunity to do just that!  Not only do you get to pick your path, but your choices determine which of the intriguing, charming suitors wins your hand!  It could be any of the men (or even woman!) noted above...or someone else entirely.  There are more than twenty (yes, you read that correctly) endings you can wind up living.


This book charmed me on so many levels, but I had to learn something very quickly:  THIS IS NOT A SERIOUS ROMANCE NOVEL!!!  It is fun, humorous parody.  The "descriptions" are overly cliché and read like something a novice writer would come up with, but you recognize that that's the point.  It's meant to not take itself seriously.  I can't tell you how many times I laughed while reading this (in a good way, of course).  This is satire at its most playful.  Sir Benedict Granville is a very blatant parody of Mr. Darcy from Austen's famed Pride & Prejudice (with a little bit more explicit behavior, of course); McTaggart is an amalgamation of every single (clichéd) Scotsman existing in romance novels, kilt and all (though I've not read many books with such overly-dramatized Scotsmen, I can certainly see where the parody came from and I applaud the authors -- I found it rather amusing).  Craven and his various story threads (without giving too much away) consist to varying degrees of classic Gothic writing and more modern paranormal romance.  The authors seem to have hit on so many aspects of romance novels set in the Britain in the nineteenth-century and I'm extremely impressed.


As I mentioned, I picked up this book believing it to be more serious than it was.  I adjusted my expectations accordingly (and rather quickly) and ended up enjoying this book quite a bit.  When I realized that it was more satire than serious, I thought I would feel like it was making fun of the genre (and its readers), but I didn't feel that way at all.  What good is being a reader and writer if you can't laugh at yourself every once in awhile?


I finished my first "journey" rather quickly.  Some paths are much more drawn out than others, depending upon your meandering choices, of course.  I did enjoy some threads much more than others, but that's to be expected.  This book hits upon so many aspects of the genre and archetypes that it covers a broad base of readers.  I doubt that anyone out there will adore every single one of the threads.  I caught a few tiny continuity errors (i.e. depending upon the path you chose, there might not actually be statues in the scene, but the next scene you encounter contained statues; however, if you had entered the second scene via a different page, then it all made sense), but nothing terrible.  I feel like this is to be expected when there are so many complex and intersecting plots.  I will caution you that if you're anything like me and you have a burning need to read EVERY SINGLE path this book has to offer...then it will take you a very long, long, long time.  In order to do so, I needed to adopt a complex method of tiny scraps of paper, checkmarks, and tallies.  I accomplished it (and, in the grand scheme of things, it really did only take me two days to get through it all), but it meant I had to be insanely organized and I couldn't stop for any interruptions or I would lose my place.  I didn't want to miss a single thread or ending.  That could just be me and I may just be a wee bit crazy.


For a lover of the romance genre, this is a great way to shake things up.  The structure and story are so incredibly unique and creative.  To come up with such an idea -- to treat a romance novel like a choose-your-path videogame or comic book -- is sheer genius.  I am so impressed with what this book ended up being and I loved the opportunity to laugh.  It absolutely does not take itself too seriously and it was a fantastic reminder that we shouldn't take our reading material too seriously either.


*Side note:  In researching a bit more about this book, I've discovered a bunch of other choose-your-path romance books!  I'm not sure if they're satire like this one, but I'm definitely interested to look into them.  Happy reading!

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: Lady Fiona Carnarvon, The Countess of Carnarvon

"Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey tells the story behind Highclere Castle, the real-life inspiration and setting for Julian Fellowes's Emmy Award-winning PBS show, Downton Abbey, and the life of one of its most famous inhabitants, Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon.  Drawing on a rich store of materials from the archives of Highclere Castle, including diaries, letters, and photographs, the current Lady Carnarvon has written a transporting story of this fabled home on the brink of war.

"Much like her Masterpiece Classic counterpart, Lady Cora Crawley, Lady Almina was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist Alfred de Rothschild, who married his daughter off at a young age, her dowry serving as the crucial link in the effort to preserve the Earl of Carnarvon's ancestral home  Throwing open the doors of Highclere Castle to tend to the wounded of World War I, Lady Almina distinguished herself as a brave and remarkable woman.

"The rich tale contrasts the splendor of Edwardian life in a great house against the backdrop of the First World War and offers an inspiring and revealing picture of the woman at the center of the history of Highclere Castle."

I originally picked up this book some time ago because it was on a list to read "if you enjoy Downton Abbey."  Unfortunately, I have yet to watch the show (I've been interested in it for a long time, but my schedule hasn't permitted it - I may definitely have to watch it now that I've read this book!), but I thought this non-fiction work might be an interesting read.  I was a touch skeptical because it was penned by the current Countess of Carnarvon, Lady Fiona Carnarvon.  Without sounding too harsh, I wasn't sure that this lady's aristocratic credentials necessarily meant she should be the one to write such a book - her status as a Countess doesn't make her an expert on the topic of her husband's ancestry, nor does it mean she can produce quality writing.  I will follow this up with a statement that I was impressed.  The writing was extremely well done and thoughtful.  The details were beautiful and there was a great deal of care and love put into it.  Any misgivings about the suitability of the current Countess of Carnarvon as an author have been laid to rest.  The history was rich and she really brought Lady Almina and her family to life.  I will say, however, that part of the reason this book took me so long to read was that the beginning dragged a little bit.  A great deal of time was spent on Almina's background (which, having finished the book, I can now see is integral), and this slowed the pace a bit.  It picked back up once Almina and her new husband -- the famous Earl of Carnarvon who, with Howard Carter, discovered the intact tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt -- moved to Highclere after their wedding.  Lady Carnarvon truly makes the house come alive.  She clearly appreciates the beauty and history of the house.


***It took me so long to complete this review that I actually finished watching the entire Downton Abbey  series a couple of months ago!  I hope my reviewing gets back on track now that I'm finally done with grad school (yay!!!).  My biggest takeaway was how much more I feel I appreciated the television series after having read this account of Highclere.  The setting was spectacular and it felt so much more alive.  I have to believe the creators and writers of the series read the current Lady Carnarvon's accounts, worked very closely with her and her family, or did an astounding amount of research.  I saw threads of real people from Lady Carnarvon's book woven into the series and I found myself thrilled each time I caught a reference or tidbit.  I think it's an excellent idea to read this book and then watch the television series; it makes for a much richer experience.


Back to the book review:  Overall, I found the writing easy to read (even if the first few chapters slowed down a little bit - I do encourage you to persevere because it really is a very interesting nonfiction read) and the anecdotes were very interesting.  It breathed life into one of the most stunning houses England has to offer.  It made history come alive, which is one of my absolute favorite things about literature (it's the reason my undergraduate degrees are in English and history).  I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in England, history, WWI, British aristocracy, or the Downton Abbey television series.  I loved the photographs, the stories, and the enthralling history of this stunning house and its fascinating family.  This was a great non-fiction read and I recommend it to fans of history, England, wartime stories, and, of course, Downton Abbey.