Good Morning fellow Janeites,
Welcome to From Pemberley to Milton’s first post of 2017!
I hope you all started this new year with your right foot and that you are as excited as I am to discover which new books our dear authors will present us with this year.
2016 was a particularly hard year for me in terms of time. I had an increase of activity at the office in the middle of the year that consumed much of my free time, so I could not dedicate as much time as I would like to From Pemberley to Milton. On the other hand, the increase of work stress led me to take reading as a refuge that allowed me to relax, so I pretty much read in every single moment I had free, meaning I ended up reading more than I thought I would.
I’m probably not a fast reader, and certainly I’m not capable of reading as many books as most of you, but I’m quite proud of myself for finishing 2016 with 45 new books read. I re-read some great books this year, but I’m not including them on this list.
Just like last year, I thought it would be nice to give a shout out to some of my favorite books from 2016. This list is not based on published books in 2016, but on the books I actually read in 2016. I thought this would be fair because I don’t always read books on their release year, and it would not be fair not to include them amongst my favorite just because their publication year was prior to the year I read them. Unfortunately I decided I would only select 10, or I would have no criteria whatsoever, but it was hard and some books that are not in this list come immediately to my mind as The Coming of Age of Elizabeth Bennet, Northern Rain, Miss Darcy’s Companion , Shadows Over Longbourn and A Fine Stout Love and Other Stories. But I should stop, or I’ll just continue mentioning books I loved… So, without further ado, my favourite 2016 reads are, without no particular order, the below:
Darcy’s Hope – Ginger Monet
Publication year –2015
Number of Pages – 278
What I loved about it – The writing, the surroundings, the historical aspects, the romance, the intensity, Darcy and of course, Thornton 🙂
Mr. Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter – Joana Starnes
Publication year – 2016
Number of Pages – 322
What I loved about it – The growing stout love, the intimacy, the intensity, Darcy and of course, the angst!!!
The Courtship of Edward Gardiner – Nicole Clarkston
Publication year – 2016
Number of Pages – 182
What I loved about it – Little Lizzy, Little Fitzwilliam, Little Bingley and Madeleine! Overall the entire feeling the book transmitted 🙂
Review link – Coming soon…
Darcy By Any Other Name – Laura Hile
Publication year – 2016
Number of Pages – 662
What I loved about it – The humour, the complicity and intimacy, the romance, Darcy and angst! OMG, the angst!
The Elizabeth Papers – Jenneta James
Publication year – 2016
Number of Pages – 210
What I loved about it –The writing, the writing and the writing! I love the tone Jenetta James transmits in her books and this one was just breathtaking!
Love Never Fails – Jennifer Joy
Publication year – 2016
Number of Pages – 348
What I loved about it –The intensity and sadness of the first chapters, the humour in the next chapters, Elizabeth and Mrs. Bennet!
Remembrance of the Past – Lory Lilian
Publication year – 2011
Number of Pages – 432
What I loved about it – ODC’s journey throughout the book, Darcy’s honour, Darcy himself and Elizabeth’s jealousy 🙂
When Mary Met the Colonel – Victoria Kincaid
Publication year – 2016
Number of Pages – 98
What I loved about it – Mary, Mary and Mary! And the Colonel of course 🙂
No Such Thing as Luck – Nicole Clarkston
Publication year – 2015
Number of Pages – 326
What I loved about it –The entire journey, but the ship scenes…sigh… They were worth the entire book! I should say that this is a favourite “in exequo” with Northern Rain, but I could only add one 😦
Review link – Coming Soon
The Best Part of Love – Amy D’Orazio
Publication year – 2017 (I read the ARC copy)
Number of Pages – To be disclosed
What I loved about it – The stout love, the intensity and the angst!! I’m ready to re-read this book and I just finished it last week 🙂
Review link – Coming soon
Amazon link – Coming Soon
Are any of these amongst your favourites too? And which amazing reads am I missing? I have seen some people talk about their favourites in the last days and I know for sure that I probably didn’t read some truly good books that are amongst the hearts of my fellow Janeites, so any suggestion is welcome 🙂
2017 will be a true challenge because I don’t think I will be able to read as many JAFF books as I did this year, especially because I do want to read other genres this year, but I’m also very curious to see what is coming, and which books will carve my soul 🙂
I have a TBR pile that keeps growing, particularly because every time someone suggest a really book I tend to read it leaving my TBR pile exactly as it was, so this time I decided to make it public! Maybe this way I will feel obliged to stick to it and actually read the books I had chosen to read 🙂
So, you are all my witnesses, this year, I must read these books:
To Be Read JAFF & NSFF
Darcy and Elizabeth – A Promise Kept – Brenda Webb
Sketching Character – Pamela Lynn
Pulse and Prejudice: The Confession of Mr. Darcy Vampire – Colette L Saucier
Love Letters from Mr. Darcy – J. Dawn King
Master of Her Heart – Julia Daniels
The Rainbow Promise – Lory Lilian
The Darcy’s of Pemberley – Shannon Winslow
The Sheik of Araby – Lavinia Angell
***
To re-read JAFF & NSFF
Disappointed Hopes – Cassandra Grafton
The Second Chance – Joana Starnes
Mr. Darcy’s Diary – Amanda Grange
A Heart for Milton – Trudy Brasure
***
Non JAFF:
The BookThief – Marcus Zusak
The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill – Julie Klassen
The Little Paris Bookshop – Nina George
Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami
Bucky F*cking Dent – David Duchovny
Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
What about you? What are your reading plans? Would you like to suggest anything, JAFF or Non-JAFF?
I know this was an extensive post, but I hope you have liked it and that you’ll keep visiting and talking to me about JAFF 🙂 I have some news that I’m looking forward to share with you, so speak to you soon 🙂
From Pemberley to Milton 
What a fabulous list! #ILoveBestOfListSeason Thank you so much all you reading and reviewing! Best to yo in 2017!
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Thank you for inspiring us Christina! By the way, I loved the hashtag!
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What a super happy surprise to find the Best Part of Love on your list! 🙂 You go a long way to calming the pre-release nerves of this newbie author! Thank you for that!!
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It had to be present Amy! The question was to add it to the 2016 or 2017 list 🙂 The book is absolutely fantastic and I’m eager to review it in the upcoming tour :)))
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Oh, Rita, I am touched that you included Darcy By Any Other Name on your favorites list. Thank you so much.
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I absolutely loved Darcy By Any Other Name Laura! Even if this was only a top 5 list your book would have to be present, it is perfect in every way 🙂
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Dear Rita, thank you. My response to all this excitement has been to drink way too much coffee. Am I awake? Is this real?
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I love lists! And it’s even cooler being in one 😀 Thank you, Rita!
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You deserve it Jennifer :))
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Ah! Thanks so much. What an honour to have Darcy’s Hope ~ Beauty from Ashes included on your list! Such a pleasure working with you : )
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Thank you Ginger. I loved Darcy’s Hope – Beauty From Ashes and I’m eager to read volume 2!!!
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I’m pretty sure you’re going to love the second Darcy’s Hope book, as much as if not more than the first, Rita. As you say, the first one was one of the best of 2016. In my review on Goodreads, I’ve already said that any other JAFF books are going to have to go several extra miles to beat Darcy’s Hope at Donwell Abbey into second place.
Like you, I don’t always read a book in the year it was published – one of the perils of having a TBR list the size of a small moon! Some of my favourites from 2016 that were published earlier are: Bluebells in the Mourning, Haunting Mr. Darcy, Villa Fortuna and Emma & Elizabeth.
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Oh, I can’t wait to read it Anji!!! Hopefully I’ll be able to start it next week :)) I’ll search for your review in the meantime: )
I loved Bluebells in the Mourning and Haunting Mr.Darcy is probably in my all time favourites list!!! I read it before having the blog 🙂
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Rita,what a fantastic list of books on your top ten! 📕😉
I’m in the happy position of having read quite a lot of them but must add one of two that slipped through the net!
The books on your TBR list are very impressive and I hope you enjoy them!
If you’re in the form for a ‘pick-me-up’,or a quick read that will cast a ray of sunshine over a gloomy day,then I can recommend ‘Thaw’ by Boogima. It’s a series of letters penned by Lizzy to Jane and to say that they’ll gladden your heart,is an understatement!! It’s unpublished fan fiction available from AHA and can be read in less than two hours. I adored it.
On that note I’ll take my leave! Happy reading Rita! 😌
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Thank you for the suggestion Mary, I will read it! I’m sure I will like everything you recommended me 🙂
And thank you so much for all you your support in 2016 🙂
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Wow, this is a first for me- appearing TWICE on a year-end list! Thank you for all of your kind words and support this year, Rita, I am absolutely thrilled that I got to know you and your lovely blog. I just adore chatting with other P&P lovers who are also hopeless N&S addicts!
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It was a though call to decide between Northern Rain and No Such Thing as Luck Nicole, so I guess you can say you are present 3 times :))
Thank you for giving me so many pleasurable moments with Darcy and Thornton :))
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Great list, Rita! I’m glad you were still able to enjoy so many wonderful stories in 2016!
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Thank you Claudine! Many of these were recommendations from you, so I’m eager to see what you will recommend me this year 🙂
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Love the list Rita. I know what you mean about reading books late, a number of those I read this year ate older ones that I saw mentioned . I have a number of books on my kindle that I must read in 2017 including Darcy by Any Other Name, Legally Darcy, Pride Prejudice and the Perfect Match and The Whisky Wedding which I just bought today. Then I am waiting for the new books by Lory Lilian, Joana Starnes, L L Diamond and Cat Gardiner and hopefully Linda Wells will have one of her books ready to publish this year. I will also be reading The Best Part Of Love when it appears on Amazon I think. Then on February……….LOL. Seriously there are so many books and not enough time, especially as I do love to re read my favourites. Happy New Year Rita 🎉
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You got me thinking about all the books I would like to read and all the authors I’m hoping will publish this year Glynis 🙂
I would also like to read The Whisky Wedding and Legally Darcy. By the way you might have some news regarding Legally Darcy if you stay tuned to FPTM :))
Happy New Year Glynis 🙂
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Yes, a great list and I just finished ‘Darcy’s Hope’ this evening. Still have to write my review but boy was it good! Thank goodness I can order the next one! I would have to say your list is spot on! The ones I loved from this past year have shown up on yours except I still have to read Nicole’s novella and which is on my radar for this month. I hope to try her N&S books too this year. I too have a number of non-JAFF to read in my TBR pile as well.
Happy New Year!
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Isn’t Darcy’s Hope just electrifying? I was completely fascinated by it when I read it and in agony to think I would have to wait until January to read volume 2.
Nicole’s novella has a very special tone, I loved it and honestly I wasn’t expecting to love it so much, but it is really very good. You should try her N&S books, I’m sure you will love them too, the love story is a little similar to P&P and Nicole is able to create the most wonderful Thornton!
Do we share any Non-JAFF on our TBR list? Or are our tastes in that area very different?
Happy New Year!
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I’ve enjoyed so much your thoughts on books throughout the last year and appreciate it moreso knowing that you had to juggle your blog with work and other things.
Neat to see so many I also enjoyed on your list. This was my first year to read four on your list of favorites. There are two books I have and still need to read. You helped me discover N&S FF this past year. 🙂
Those are good books on your new reading list. I still have several from earlier that I need to read, too. I’m not sure what I can recommend that you probably don’t already know about, but there are so many others who can.
Happy New Year, Rita!
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Hi Rita! Lovely list! I love checking out everyone’s favorites. 🙂 Great that you had some older reads this year on your list! Some of my favorite were published a few years ago as well. We share 2 favorites together this year – The Elizabeth Papers and Darcy By Any Other Name, but out of your 10, there are 7 books I have not yet read! Those 7 are definitely ones I’ll be putting on my wishlist and TBR pile if they aren’t there already! Thanks for sharing your reads and thoughts with us! I loved the Goodreads graphic!
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Thank you Meredith!
I also like to see other people’s favourites as I usually find some I haven’t read yet and that end up in my TBR pile 🙂
You have 2 on your list that I absolutely loved to read in the past years: A Fair Prospect and Longbourn’s Songbird, they might actually be in my all time favourite list, but you also have a couple I haven’t read yet and I might need to work on that :))
Thank you for visiting and commenting 🙂
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45 new books read is a stunning achievement! Well done, and I enjoyed reading the list!
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Thank you Cassandra 🙂
I’m hoping to have a new book from you on my 2017 list :)))) Please say you are already working on a new one :)))
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What a great list! So happy to see we share several favorite books from last year. Happy New Year!
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Thanks Anna! It’s curious to see how despite our different tastes there are always some books that seem to carve everyone’s hearts isn’t it?
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You have read and reviewed so many books Rita! I’m so glad that you liked The Elizabeth Papers enough for it to be in this list with many excellent series and authors – so thank you:-) Happy new year…
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Thank you Jenetta 🙂
Suddenly Mrs Darcy was amongst my favourites last year too which means I’m really eager to see what you will write in 2017 :)))
Happy New Year to you too 🙂
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Since you and I are both professed angst lovers, Rita, it comes as no surprise that you took the leap to add “The Best Part of Love” ahead of release. Well-deserved accolades for A. D’Orazio! I love all your selections. Congratulations to my friends whose excellent novels made this list, as well as all the others whose books were in the back of Rita’s poor mind as she had to choose from so many great novels this year.
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Yes, it is always hard to highlight some in detriment of other amazing books, but I confess I have a soft spot for the angst books :))
The ideal will be to great a list of favourite per category…but I’ll need to read more to do that 🙂 I tend to focus my attention to regency variations
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Loved When Mary Met the Colonel – Victoria Kincaid
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Thanks EVER so much for listing Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter among your 2016 faves, Rita, and for the shout-out for Miss D’s Companion! I’m over the moon that you liked them!!
So sorry I’m late to the party (but I guess you got used to me always doing that 😀 ). I’ll tell you all about the trip to Wales when we meet. YAY! Not long now!!! Can’t wait! Hugs xx
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Love love “Remembrance of the past” currently reading “The rainbow promise”. Disappointed Hopes ,The Second Chance, Mr. Darcy’s Diary great although haven’t read the last in ages. Lovely post, happy reading 🙂
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Yay, I read four of those books from your list and they are definitely some of my favorite last year!
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I was just catching up on some emails which led me to your post. I feel your pain at reduced reading time. Loved the format of the post and your picks! I hope this year brings you lots of good things including lots of good reads 🙂
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