The plot and the main characters in The Jane Austen Society are fictional, but many of the facts about Jane Austen and Chawton UK, the community where Miss Austen spent the last eight years of her life, are real. The story takes place in Chawton, just after World War II, more than a hundred years after Jane Austen died. The characters are still living with the pain of the world war, but they have the support of each other. This novel honors the value of intimate friendships and small-town life.

The story is about Jane Austen fans, who are obsessed with her books. They read and re-read the novels repeatedly, then compare the characters' lives and values with their own. They have decided to form a society with the purpose of raising money to establish a museum honoring Austen. These fans consist mainly of people who have grown up in Chawton, but a few others, also obsessed with Austen, are brought into the group. Among those additions there is a famous actress named Mimi Harrison and an auctioneer from Sotheby's named Yardley Sinclair. The group ends up with a wonderful mix of expertise, fame and down-home charm. These friends love literature, specifically Austen's books, but also learn to love each other. There is romance in the book as well as barriers to overcome in pursuit of their goals.

The book is charming and fun, but also has its tense moments. I enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Dared to Run by J. J. Clarke

Dared to Run was not the novel I thought it would be, but it was still a fun read. I had expected Kate Anderson to be a law enforcement officer and the story to be about her tracking down criminals. Kate is part of the legal system, but rather than an officer, she is a “bond investigator from Missouri Probation and Parole.” In Kate's case, this means she often represents people accused of crimes. She meets with judges and negotiates the level of their bonds. This is an interesting position, one I was unfamiliar with prior to reading this novel. But Kate's career isn't where she gets into trouble. She is involved with a man who is abusive. This situation is difficult because he is a well connected deputy sheriff who will not leave her alone. As the book progresses, Kate's situation gets worse and she is forced to go underground, hence the title – Dared to Run.

There are many tense moments in the story, but what I liked the most in the book were the characters Kate encountered as she ran. There are people who help abused women hide from their abusers, sometimes using illegal, but necessary means. There are also fun country people, who are warm and kind. There are also quirky characters, such as Dolly Parton impersonators at a funeral. I found her relationships with these side characters to be fascinating.

There are a number of plot issues that remain unresolved when this novel ends, because this is the first book in J. J. Clarke's Kate Anderson series. I look forward to reading the next one.

 

Sharkano does what all good sci-fi stories should do. It takes real science then adds to it and molds it into an interesting and convincing story. T.A. Bound seems to have a good grasp of facts. He introduced me to terms I wasn't aware of, such as “lava tubes” and utilized them to create frightening situations. I'm not a scientist, but I can google terms and I know when a novel's logic is believable. He has created a crazy, life threatening disaster within the pages of his book.

The characters in Bound's novel are realistic and fully developed. Lexi is a teenager whose parents have recently split up. Her mother, Jacqueline, a successful newscaster, has custody of Lexi, but as the story begins Lexi is on her way to Hawaii, to spend the summer with her father. Burke is leading a team of geologists who are studying a volcano on one of Hawaii's small, remote islands, so this won't be the sun, surf and sand vacation Lexi had hoped for. She is bright and self-assured, but has trouble getting people to believe her because she's young, which leads to more problems.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a well-written sci-fi/disaster story with lots of tension.

Broody New Englander by Kenneth Weene

Broody New Englander contains a novella along with two short stories. These are entitled The Stylite, Mothers' Teat, and Hansom Dove. Together these stories paint a picture of life in rural New England from a time prior to World War II to a time closer to current years. The writing shows careful attention to detail in the development of the setting and the characters as well as with Weene's elegant use of language. The stories delve into the thoughts and emotions of these New Englanders, tying together the beautiful, but often harsh surroundings with emotions ranging from disappointment and betrayal to a schoolgirl crush and adult lust.

Here's a sample of the writing:

That special summer day, when the sun fell in patches on the brown duff. At once there was chill and warmth, light and dark. The shadowed browns of cones tossed haphazardly on the ground and the deep odor of pine, not the stingy smell that came in bottles to disinfect, but real pine, the sent of her home when it had first been built.

And another:

How often Jeannine had laughed to watch the chittering chipmunks dart from tree to tree in acorn time? How often had she held close the fluffed blue flowers that grew against the sunny southern wall? How many times had she touched the twin birch that bent along the water's edge and gently, as if trimming a child's nails, cut away the fringes which seemed by magic to appear in their silver-paper skin.

This is a book to dwell on, to learn from. It is a carefully drawn picture of a place and the people in it, a story of disappointment and rage, but also of love in many forms.