November of last year I was sent a message by Izzy Meakin asking if I wanted to be a part of her podcast; What the Austen?. I was honored to be asked and agreed.
Izzy had offered a few different podcast topics on Lydia Bennet, Louisa Musgrove, or Lucy Steele. I thought they were all great choices but settled on the best of the bad girls; “L is for Liability: Lucy Steele.” She’s a total mean girl.
We planned to record in January at 10AM PST. I plugged the time into my calendar and looked forward to it.
—Being a Guest on the Podcast—
Now I had been a guest on a podcast before; on P. S. I Love Rom-Coms, so I was slightly nervous but hoping I would do well and not lose my train of thought or repeat myself.
My calendar notified me a few days before the recording date, reminding me that the time was coming up, that Saturday at 12 PM. That day I woke up at 9:45 and started to get ready, when I looked at my calendar notification and started to think was that the right time? Luckily, I had screenshoted our appointment and saw I had imputed the time wrong time in my calendar!
That’s not good.
I had to hurry to get everything set up, with of course my electronics not wanting to work right!
Sigh!
But we were able to work it out, Izzy was understanding and such a delight to record with. In the beginning I struggled a bit with expressing my thoughts, you can hear the pauses in my speech:
From Clueless
But otherwise I had a wonderful time. I enjoyed the format a lot as we delved into the text; along with sharing our own views and thoughts. Izzy has the format very well structured to follow the character from introduction to final interaction, but she also leaves room to let the conversation flow naturally. All together it was a wonderful experience and I loved every moment of it.
—Review of Podcast Episode Disney Villains x Northanger Abbey with Ann from Paper.Hearts.Library
A while back I had planned to post a review of a What the Austen?’s post of comparing Jane Austen to Disney villains but haven’t had a chance to do so. I decided there is no better time than now in this post.
I had seen the posts about the comparing Disney villains with Austen villains. There are several different episodes but I decided to review this specific one as you know I love Northanger Abbey.
I had done something similar in a previous post where I tried to find a Disney story that matched up the closest with the Austen books. However, in this episode Izzy and Ann choose the best Disney Villains that matched up to the Austen villains, regardless of the whether or not the other Disney film characters correlated to the Austen story.
For General Tilney the ladies choose the closest villains to be the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective, Frollo from The Hunchback of Norte Dame, Clayton from Tarzan, andJafarfrom Aladdin. I can see the similarities to all these characters; and I liked all the reasoning behind the choices but I really loved the connection to The Great Mouse Detective. I thought Izzy laid out excellent points out the connection to gothic literature and how Professor Ratigan is so larger than life as a villain, just how Catherine would see General Tilney. I also see Northanger Abbey as a mystery so the it was a great idea to compare her to Basil.
For John and Isabella Thorpe we have Honest John and Gideon from Pinocchio; along with Tweedledee and Tweedledum. I really liked the comparisons, especially Honest John and Gideon as both Thorpe’s take advantage of Catherine and her brother’s naivety to try. The other villain I would add would be the Siamese cats from The Aristocats as Isabella and John also work in tandem to get what they want and only think of themselves. Also like the Siamese cats they don’t have any real skills but rely on cheap tricks.
Also for John is LeFou from Beauty and the Beast. I do agree to that as I see him similar to the cartoon version; bumbling and not quite as high as they would like to be, but also not afraid to name drop. Izzy also chose Sir Hiss, from The Adventures of Robin Hood. I understood her reasoning, but I would disagree as Sir Hiss was very intelligent and good at what he did, he just was never listened to.
The other choices for Isabella Thorpe were Madame Medusa from The Rescuers, Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Assistant Mayor Bellwether from Zootopia, andMother Gothel from Tangled. The one I thought she was most similar to was Mother Gothel with the gaslighting and manipulation.
For Captain Tilney they had the Coachman from Pinocchio, I really liked how Izzy said both the Coachman and Captain Tilney had the characters think they were taking them to Pleasure Island, but instead making a donkey out of them. The other villain I thought he had some similarity to was Ernesto de la Cruz from Coco. Both Ernesto and Captain Tilney are suave and charismatic; and they also don’t care for other people, only thinking of themselves and what is good for them; or caring who they crush in going after what they want.
I found this episode and her podcast extremely enjoyable. I definitely recommend it for Jane Austen fans.
So after you watch every single version of Jane Austen movies, what do you have to watch next?
Hmm…I don’t know!
That’s why I started this list, to have non-Austen films that Austen fans can enjoy.
I can’t stop watching!
And since it is Christmas Eve, why not a Christmas Non-Austen Film for Austen Fans?
Eve (Lana McKissack) and Lacey (Kimberly Daugherty) are sisters; Eve loves Christmas and Christmas films, while Lacey is not a fan of either. Both of them aren’t having a wonderful Christmas as Lacey was ghosted by another jerk, Eve’s boss doesn’t know her name and won’t consider her for graphic design, and the heat is broken in their apartment.
This Christmas Eve, Eve tries to add more Christmas spirit in the apartment to the chagrin of her older sister, and it accidentally blows the lights. With a cold and dark apartment the two sisters decide to instead go out and look at the Christmas lights. As they do, they run into a Santa with a red kettle and Eve makes a wish that she could have a Christmas movie Christmas.
The next day the girls wake up in a strange picturesque town, a cute little cottage, with an adorable elderly woman who claims to be their grandmother. Yes, they are now in a Christmas Movie!
Eve immediately takes to this and loves it, with three possible “Christmas movie” plots to choose from. Lacey, on the other hand, doesn’t like the silly town and all the free stuff she is getting (why? I’m not sure).
Eve ends up choosing move plotline number three, the ruined Christmas Festival. She teams up with the local innkeeper Dustin (played by the handsome Ryan Merriman). The two grow closer as they plot a way to fix everything on a budget, while Eve also discovers that she is dating the international pop star by none other than Eve’s favorite actor Chad Matthew Munroe (Randy Wayne).
How sweet!
Everything is going great until Dustin’s ex Noelle, comes to town and tries to win him back; along with her messing up all their plans for the festival. Will Eve be able to fix everything in time? Will she be able to choose her perfect leading man or end up with no one?
Hmm…?
Meanwhile, the realistic Lacey is having a hard time living in a “picture perfect movie” town. While Eve blossoms, doing well at everything and experiencing the “Christmas movie Christmas”; Lacey does not. She visits a bakery one day and meets the baker Paul (Brant Daugherty), who’s cute and wants to be her friend-or boyfriend if he’ll let her. He makes her cute cards, and tries to bring her into the “Christmas movie Christmas” fun. Will Lacey try something different and join the Christmas fun, or will she remain a Christmas scrinch (Scrooge + Grinch)?
I really enjoyed this film and it reminded me a lot of Sense and Sensibility. Both havesisterswhere the elder one (Lacey and Elinor) are realistic and sensible, while the younger sister (Eve and Marianne) are romantic and pulled into things by their feelings.
Like Marianne, Eve also has two men interested in her. One of them is very romantic, shallow, and seems like her dream guy; while the other love interest is deep, makes his interest known from the beginning, and also is a romantic character.
How sweet!
Besides that this film is fun and full of Holiday cheer. It laughingly uses all the different Christmas movie tropes and is enjoyable from beginning to end. I strongly recommend it.
If interested, this film is on tubi and YouTube.
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!
For those of you who don’t know what that is, Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month is celebrated in the USA and starts on September 15th and ends on October 15th. Unlike most national months, these specific dates were chosen to honor the days that many Latin American countries received their independence; along with incorporating Día de la Raza which falls on October 12th.
I’ve been planning this post for a while and since telenovelas are a big part of Latino culture, I thought what better day to post it than today.
So every July for my Blogiversary I post questions in my Instagram stories and then I post the answers that people gave along with my own thoughts sprinkled in. One of my questions this year was “What is a Jane Austen Themed Tradition, Oddity, or Eccentricity You Have/Have in Your Family?” One of my answers was that I have given all the characters of Mansfield Park a Latin name. It all started as a joke, you see being Latina whenever I read Mansfield Park or talk about it I always pronounce Maria as the Spanish form (mah. – ree. – ah) instead of the English way (mah-rye-ah). Since she is Maria, I stated saying Tomás instead of Thomas, pronouncing Julia as the Spanish form (Hoo. – lyah), and even Fanny as Francesca sometimes. Most of the time I just say Edmund, but occasionally I call him Edmundo as well.
On Instagram rackelbaskcally commented that after reading that she now started looking at Mansfield Park as a telenovela. And that got me thinking, which Jane Austen novel would make the best telenovela?
Hmm…?
Before I begin, I would like to say that I am not an expert on telenovelas, and this post is a reflection of my personal experiences in watching them and familial views. Back to the post!
Telenovelas are often described as Latin soap operas but are really much more. While soap operas are often not seen as “good TV” to a lot of people (most will call them a “guilty pleasure” rather than admit they are a major fan of a melodrama); telenovelas, on the other hand, watching them isn’t something to be ashamed of. Yes they can have outlandish plots, be extremely illogical, and have problematic themes (they aren’t perfect); they also combine comedy, drama, passion, and romance; along with commentary on serious issues such infidelity, betrayal, drug/alcohol abuse, discussions regarding education/the educational system, one’s struggle to find their place, etc. Most telenovelas revolve around a main character who is of lower economic status trying to improve themself and achieve job success; with of course along the way marrying a handsome and rich person.
And every telenovela that I have seen involve our main characters triumphing, and our villain getting their just desserts.
So now that we have had a little backstory on telenovelas (sorry for going overboard) which book would be the best to translate to a telenovela? I think you could make a case for all for all of them as the themes in Jane Austen’s books are easily relatable to the Latino community. A lot of the issues the women face, Latina women are going through today-just slightly different.
Hmmm…
Now I know there is one telenovela based on Jane Austen; Orgulhoe Paixão (Pride and Passion) from Brasil. I haven’t watched it (I’m still trying to find where it’s available to stream), but which book is your pick?
Hmm…?
First of all my top pick is Mansfield Park, as we have our heroine Fanny, the one from a lower economic status, being put in this wealthy world and having to navigate through her rude relatives. Not to mention we have issues of money in the Bertram family as Tom/Tomás is gambling away the fortune. To really up the drama in our telenovela adaption you could have that a person is pursposely trying to steal away Mansfield Park and cheating Tom/Tomás out of everything they have. If we wanted to modernize it, Mansfield Park could also be a company instead of just a home.
We also have the appearance of the Crawfords and the destruction/unmasking of the Bertrams they bring (as like Jane Austen’s work most telenovelas have characters that are not all good or all bad). With them we have Henry Crawford making a play for all three female cousins, Maria cheating on her husband, Fanny’s banishment when she wouldn’t marry Henry, and Tom/Tomás’ near death experience. This would make a great telenovela!
And if we further wanted to up the drama in our telenovela we could even have where Henry is trying to cheat them out of Mansfield Park, only to change his mind when he wants to marry Fanny; but alas by then it’s too late she has discovered his sinister plot and that he slept with her married cousin. ¡Ay, Dios mío! Oh the drama!
My second choice would be Sense and Sensibility, as it too has drama, passion, terrible relatives, losing your home and fortune, etc! We have our heroines, Elinor and Marianne, who have lost their fatjer and discovered with the will hardly anything has been left to them. Unbeknownst to them, thier brother John has promised to take care of them, but after their father died he and his villainous wife, Fanny, have decided to give them nothing. In true telenovela fashion there should be a second will that they destroy to keep the Dashwood sisters from inheriting anything.
Not to mention Fanny Dashwood would be the perfect telenovela villain, everything she does is beyond terrible. Keeping an inheritance from her sister-in-laws, saying they are not even family because they are half siblings, keeping Edward and Elinor apart, and even taking Lucy with them instead of John’s sisters. She’s perfect!
Willoughby and Colonel Brandon would be a great telenovela men, although in a telenovela Colonel Brandon’s ward would really be his illegitimate daughter or niece, not just the daughter of a friend of the family and he’s caring for her; only for it to be revealed that the woman Colonel Brandon loves has been dating the man who deserted his ward/illegitimate daughter/illegitimate niece.
And not to mention the plot line where Elinor is in love with Edward, Fanny tries to keep them apart, only for is to discover he’s been secretly engaged this whole time!!! ¡Ay, Dios mío! Oh the drama!
So what do you think? Which one would you pick? Comment below!
So for those who haven’t been reading my posts or may have forgotten, this is the worst Jane Austen adaption I have ever seen.
On paper this show sounds great, four of the Austen heroines (Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, Elizabeth Bennet, and Emma Woodhouse) have been set in modern times and all are friends with each other. Mr. Knightley, Mr. Collins, Mr. Darcy, Colonel Brandon, and Edward Ferrars are in this as well. Should be fun right?
The problem is that the show’s plots have little to do with the plots of Jane Austen’s books. The episodes are all pretty boring, and it does the unthinkable-it actually makes you hate Mr. Darcy.
Yes, this is truly, truly, truly terrible and I really regret ever watching it. But I’ve started it and now I have to finish it. So here we go…
Quick recap – Austentatious is the story of Elinor, Marianne, Emma, Elizabeth, and Mr. Knightley being friends in modern times. Elinor is an accountant, Marianne a Smoothie Barista, Emma a divorce lawyer, Elizabeth a real estate agent, and Knightley/Grant I don’t know.
As I have said before the plots resemble little from the novels but this is where each character is at:
Elinor received a promotion and met IRS agent Edward Ferrars. The two have a lot in common and she had a crush on him, but it turned out he is already in a relationship. He apologized in the last episode if he ever made her feel uncomfortable or if he crossed a line, and Elinor became heartbroken that he isn’t single. She also held a mouse killing party and went on a date with Collin (Mr. Collins) who was only trying to pump her for info on Lizzie. Also she knows Grant’s (Mr Knightley) secret that he is in love with Emma.
Marianne moved in with Elinor and the two always fight/argue. She was looking for a job and worked with Darcy and Emma for a bit until she found a job at the smoothie shop. She met Brandon (Colonel Brandon) when her skin was turning blue/purple and he likes her. She doesn’t seem super interested, but has reached out to Grant (Mr. Knightley) about how to keep a guy as she never seems to get a second date.
Emma is British (the only one) and a divorce attorney. She works with Darcy and the two fight a lot. She goes on a series of terrible dates set up by her friends (revenge for her terrible setups) and then went on a date with a former client only to realize that wasn’t the best idea.
Elizabeth was hired by Collin (Mr. Collins) to help him find a house but it turned out he was just trying to spend time with her to ask her out. Then she was helping Darcy find a house for “a special lady” but he was annoying and horrible and those episodes made me hate him. She also had to plan family photos, had acrylic nails and found life too difficult with them, and bought an exercise bike that she made the boys put together. Also she knows Grant’s (Mr Knightley) secret that he is in love with Emma.
Grant (Mr. Knightley) is supposed to be a main character but is really a supporting one to council the girls. I don’t know what he does for a living or anything about him other than he’s friends with the ladies and is in love with Emma. His best friend is Brandon who he called and brought into the plot when Marianne was turning blue. Elizabeth and Elinor know he is in love with Emma but he hasn’t told her yet.
Brandon was introduced late in the series, the episode where Marianne was turning blue. He was instantly attracted to Marianne, but hasn’t wanted to ask her out until they get to know each other better, as revealed in the “putting the exercise bike together” episode. He’s the only character I really enjoy as he is the only one that feels like he’s based off the source material. He also is the only character who when they are a part furthers the original plot.
But here we go, last episode everybody!
Lizzie and Marianne are hanging out shopping online as Lizzie wants to treat herself after having to deal with Darcy (can’t say I blame her as in this adaptation he is a total jerk). Elinor warns her she should wait until the sale has completely gone through, but Lizzie is very confident as Darcy wanted the perfect house for his “special lady” and finally found it.
Elinor and Marianne are intrigued with who this lady could be, and it turns out so is Lizzie. I know it is Georgiana Darcy (his sister), but the ladies try to guess is it sister, cousin, or wife? Lizzie is like family members don’t just buy houses for each other, (but some do), and thinks there is a romantic connection although she doesn’t seem that happy about it. But I don’t know why she would like him as they have hardly had any nice scenes together.
Elinor is moving Marianne’s heavy box out of the hallway and trips and drops the box on her foot. Marianne then calls Brandon to come and check if it is broken or not. Yay! I love Brandon, he’s the only good character in this.
We then switch to Darcy and Emma who are working when Elizabeth interrupts them to see Emma. Darcy seems to be in a better mood, but Emma keeps coughing. Emma and Lizzie discover the girl Darcy bought the house for is named Georgiana, and Elizabeth seems a little too curious about Georgiana’s relationship to Darcy.
Grant then comes to see Emma and offers to take her out after she ended things with “her amazing guy” (he was not amazing). Grant and Brandon talk about this, Brandon revealing he plans to ask Marianne out, but I’m not sure she will say yes. This Marianne is all over the place, in the one episode she seemed into him, but the last she didn’t seem to think of him at all. But Brandon seems pretty confident, and if he is confident in the TV world that means she will say no.
This makes me sad, but at the same time I’m happy we are back on track to the original Austen plot. Thank goodness for Brandon or else I’m sure we would have another mouse killing party episode.
Elizabeth goes to Darcy’s new house after everything has been completed and meets Georgiana. The actress they chose for Georgiana is adorable and does the part perfectly. She’s like a delicate little flower you want to protect.
Brandon tries to ask Marianne out but each time is interrupted or something happens. He’s so cute though. Even though it hasn’t happened how he wanted, he’s still going to try.
How sweet!
Grant shows up at Emma’s work to take her on their “date”, but she is most definitely sick. Grant takes her home instead, makes her tea, orders food in, and they talk about her family and their childhood. They imitate her father and it’s super adorable and all I can think is why wasn’t this in the earlier episodes? Like this is good writing, this is great plot, this show could have been so much better if they hadn’t wasted all the “Austen” until the end.
Elizabeth brought food for Elinor, who’s still resting as her foot bothers her. Elizabeth tells her about how she talked to Darcy and is seeing him different, agreeing to go out with him for Thai food. I don’t agree with this as the awful way they made Darcy doesn’t track with Austen’s depictions. If I was her friend I would have told her to pass on him and his bad attitude, which is the exact opposite of how you want your Darcy to be.
After Elizabeth leaves, Brandon comes over to ask Marianne out, but she isn’t home. He decides to wait but when Marianne comes home she has a giant bomb to drop. Marianne met John Willoughby, a photographer, who invited her to come to Paris with him. Brandon hearing how excited she is, decides to bow out and head home.
We end the episode with Elinor trying to convince Marianne not to run off with a stranger, but Marianne convincing her she needs to follow her dream (she never expressed modeling before, like why is this her “thing” now?)
Marianne also orders another heavy box, a present for Elinor and drops it on her foot. And that’s the end.
I think the crew behind this thought they would be able to make more episodes/seasons, but it doesn’t surprise me that it ended early/after one season. So little happened to make it interesting, and to be honest, all the episodes and scenes without Brandon are not worth watching.
The biggest problem with the show is that there was too little Austen in it. The writers saved most of the plot lines that were based on the source material for the later episodes instead of having them be earlier and interweaving them all.
If I were to do this I think I would start with characters from Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Pride and Prejudice to begin with (later introducing characters from her other works), but to have each season be focused mainly on one particular book. For example I would start with Sense and Sensibility. The first season’s arc’s primary focus would be on how Mr. Dashwood died and left everything to their older half-brother. Marianne would quit college and move in with her older sister to work a bit before she could finish her degree. I also would make the Dashwood sisters biracial, so that could further villianize Fanny Dashwood and it would add an extra tone to her comments “they aren’t really your sisters”. I think Elinor’s story arc would be to meet Edward she likes him, later discovering he’s engaged, and becoming upset at being disappointed by every man in her life. In the end she would seek counseling and that would end her first season story arc, with Edward of course coming back in a later season. With Marianne I would have her not be interested in Brandon because he is too stable and right now the two “stable men” in her life disappointed her (her father and brother). She’s interested in a spontaneous man, getting involved with John Willoughby, who I would make one of those guys who are like I’ll take care of my woman, she’ll never have to do anything, women shouldn’t work, etc.-so Marianne decides to forgo her original college plans; and of course is brokenhearted by the end of it. I like the idea of John being a photographer, director, etc-someone in power who chooses to marry a wealthy woman so that her family money can fund his lifestyle. Marianne’s ending season would be when she decides to focus on herself and agree to one date by Brandon. I would also have the season end with Emma, having encouraged both women, believing that she is the one that brought them to where they are (Elinor in counseling and Marianne dating Brandon), therefore deciding to further her “good works” by directing her attention to two new interns/hires at her company Fanny Price and Harriet Smith. Fanny I would I make her a foster child of the Bertrams, or she is the child of a family friend that they become legal guardians of (so that we don’t have to deal with the incest issue.)
Season 2 would be all about Emma, I see her as being expected as the one to take over her father’s company. I would have had in season 1 that an article come out about her that doesn’t paint her in the best light, or she overhears someone taking about how she is a horrible person and she decides to do some charity work to improve her image. In my head I imagine a character like Taraji P. Henson’s character from Think Like A Man, or Fallon in the new Dynasty. She also believes she’s the one responsible for the resolutions in the Dashwood sister’s lives and decides to try and help others. We could go the sweet Harriet Smith route, or we could do a new depiction of and make Harriet Smith slightly like Eve in All About Eve. I would have Fanny not follow Emma’s “help” but does end up becoming her “real” friend. Also we could introduce the other characters in Emma, such as the Elton’s, be clients of the company. This season could end with her finally finding herself, with her friend Knightley and end with introducing Darcy, maybe a a company party where Darcy and Elizabeth have their interaction and bringing in Emma’s old friend Anne Elliot.
Season 3 would be Pride and Prejudice, this one would probably be the easiest to adapt to modern times as there are a lot of different avenues you can take. End the season with them staring to be together, and introducing Catherine Morland, maybe as a friend of Marianne’s? Season 4 could be one of these ladies, I unfortunately haven’t plotted those out as much as the first three. But they are all easily adaptable to modern times. And there are quite a few different ways to interweave all their stories together.
I kind of hope someone takes another shot at this as it has a lot of potential. You also could make it a rainbow cast and have a lot of different ethnicities in this as well.
So while the potential was there, the series just wasn’t up to it. I don’t not recommend watching unless you wish to be bored.
So it has been a while since I last reviewed one of these chapters from the Choices videogame. Originally I was just playing the game but as I could do that faster than I could review, I ended up deciding to not play another chapter until I finished reviewing what I already had played. Of course things came up and I got distracted by other things on my list to write/review/etc-so now I am getting to Chapter 13 of Book 1, while I think Pixelberry has already created book three or four of this video game.
Anyway, quick backstory since it has been so long. This game is storybook based where you have a story that progresses a certain way, but at times you get to make a choice as to what to do, say, who to fall in love with, etc. Some choices require you to spend diamonds to play, which you can earn every time you play a chapter or purchase from their store. Some “books” have different side quests, like in this one you want to become an accomplished woman and certain choices allow you to gain items.
It’s really fun as you have the power to decide what path the story takes.
This game is set in the Regency time period, and of course is catered toward Jane Austen fans. In this game you are the illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Edgewater, something you discovered on your mother’s deathbed. You met your father and he accepted you and has decided to make you his legal heir, as your half-brother passed away.
You also have an evil stepmother and conniving stepbrother, Mr. Marcastle, who has a dim fiancé, Miss Sutton. They are all plotting against you.
And a lot has happened since the beginning of the book: you have held a garden party (which you rocked), you are currently having a London season, you went to Mr. Sinclaire’s house (a suitor I am all about)-who has a sad Rebecca–esque backstory and he gifted you a book, you visited the Opera St. James where your mother used to preform, went to see an Opera and were stuck with the Duke who is a horrible jerk, took a walk in the rain with Mr. Sinclaire, learned to paint, helped your friend refuse a gross geezer, found out the truth about Mr. Sinclaire’s wife and the Duke, and was able to meet up with your father one last time before he died. On his deathbed you receive one last giant twist: it turns out that your parents were married before you were born! You’re not but yet still are illegitimate.
Now here is where the story isn’t tracking true to actual history. In the game your parents were married and then had an annulment making you illegitimate. But I did some research and it turns out that:
“any children of an annulled marriage become bastards (who cannot inherit or be declared legitimate at the whim of the peer) and likewise outcasts of society.”
So this next conflict of this game is to try and inherit the estate is not something that is possible, unless I can prove that the annulment never legally took place and my stepmother’s marriage is invalid. I don’t know if the game’s creator’s did any proper research, but let’s see what happens next in the game at the funeral.
You start this chapter off with your grandmother, the two of you consoling each other over the loss of your father and her son. But even though Grandmother is sad, she is also still as conniving and concerned about the estate as ever. She eagerly wants me to harpoon the Duke (who we don’t like since he tried to attack me) in order to have a better hold on the estate. I’d much rather have the Mr. Darcy/Maxim de Winter-esque character, Mr. Sinclaire.
Grandmother also warns me not to make a scene at the funeral, and I’ve played enough of these choices game to know that is 100% what my character will do later on-no matter how much I don’t want to.
Oh well…
You have the option to purchase a black gown to wear to the funeral or wear something else that you already have in your closet, and this kind of option is one I hate. I understand the game wants to make money off of you, but sometimes it makes no sense to have them purchase an item and not provide one. It’s a funeral! But whatever. I of course know that it would be clearly uncouth of me to not wear black, so I purchased it.
The time of the funeral has come and we go to church to have it. Your stepmother and stepbrother both refuse to allow you to sit with them. This I also don’t understand, why not just sit with your grandmother? Instead you have the two options of making a little scene or making a much larger one.
I of course chose the more respectful of the two options, the smaller scene-but either way a scene is made and I know grandma will not be happy.
Mr. Sinclaire, a good friend of my father’s and his closest neighbor, also comes to the funeral and pays his respects to me. The two of us have grown closer together but is it enough for a proposal? I feel like when I play Marrying Mr. Darcy, just because you are able to get proposed to you still have a final gamble/roll to take.
The service is beautiful, and Mr. Sinclaire is happy to hear that my father approved of him asking for my hand in marriage. (Things are looking good).
At the end of the service we all say our final goodbyes and the writers wrote this chapter so prettily. These words are so sad and full of emotions, you can really feel the pain and sorrow there.
Afterwards is a reception in which you see Mr. Harper the horseman. He wants to pay his respects but your stepmother is a cruel woman and won’t allow him to. You also speak to the other guests and your stepbrother, realizing that your stepbrother had deep feelings for your father. Could Mr. Marcastle actually have a heart?
Hmm…
Even though I try not to Mr. Marcastle and I make a scene. Oops! It looks like one of these writers just wants all the drama!
You also run into your best friend Miss Parson, your new friend Miss Sutton (fiancé to Mr. Marcastle but she values your friendship more), and Prince Hamid. All are here for you to support and encourage you during this rough time. Each offers you a diamond choice to do something with them.
You also run into Mr. Sinclaire again and he offers to show you his home, Ledford Park, if you are in need of a respite. Now I know this isn’t what one should do in Regency Times (Marianne Dashwood had taught me that), but I’m really curious about his home and I have enough diamonds to purchase the option that I agree.
You go to his home and it is beautiful, very much like Pemberley. The two of you walk the grounds and talk. As Mr. Sinclaire also lost his father, he understands the pain you are going through. Mr. Sinclaire shares about his father and all he says makes him sound even more like Mr. Darcy.
He shares with you a cute story about how his mother would have him throw a coin in a fountain and make a wish when he was sad, this always giving him hope. You decide to try it out, being all cute and romantic together. Aw!
The two of you just sit for a while and Mr. Sinclaire promises to help you in any way he can. Not a proposal, but his friendship is very important and you are a step closer.
How sweet!
The next day you discover that your stepmother is trying to keep you from gaining your inheritance by saying you are not your father’s child and that your father was mentally incompetent. But you have letters to prove your legitimacy, your grandmother knows that it is true, and it doesn’t matter if he was mentally incompetent. I’m not an expert in Regency law but trying to get him to be declared incompetent seems like a weird route to take. Plus we already know that one wouldn’t want to have their family branded as crazy.
Plus Henrietta is all “I’m the widow” people will feel sorry for me-but that doesn’t means anything. History is full of women who were given the shaft. Take a cue from Sense and Sensibility, the only thing that is important is who will get the money. And as of right now that is my character.
We end the chapter with me being trapped in my room. (Someone watched Cinderella.) Again, this is a pretty dumb move as the Dowager Countess, my grandma, is there and will know something is up. She’s very smart and not about to let her son’s last wishes go unhonored. She will be gunning for the Countess I’m sure.
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