What an exciting year 2012 was! It brought about a lot of changes for me and Mr. Bingley (my hubby). I’m very thankful for all the blessings and joys of 2012, and I very much am looking forward to discovering what 2013 has in store for us!
For Austenesque Reviews, 2012 felt very eventful – there were so many new releases, new authors, and new friends! I’m so happy to have met even more people who share my affinity for fine Austenesque literature!
Here is a summary of all the big things that happened here in 2012 (in case you missed any!)
September – Went to the Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, GA. Met many online friends and authors in person! What a wonderful and amazing experience!
September – Hosted a second Austenesque Extravaganza with some amazing assistance and support this year from wonderful Team Austenesque members Angie Kroll and Jakki Leatherberry!
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October – Mr. Bingley got a wonderful new job that allowed me to leave my school job and focus on things I love to do (teaching at my studio, reading, blogging, playing piano, and being a wife!)
December – Hosted A Jane Austen Christmas Celebration and was fortunate to work with and spotlight many wonderful Austenesque authors and artisans!
Summary for 2012
Of the 56 novels I’ve read this year, here is the breakdown:
Austenesque Awards for 2012Out of the 56 books I read this year – I rated 22 of them 5 stars. Wow, that’s a lot for me (I only award 5 stars for books that I loved and found little or nothing to quibble about). The crème de la crème!
2012 has been another year filled stellar and commendable Austenesque literature! However, some of these novels I read deserve a little bit more recognition and praise.
~(drumroll)~
…and the awards go to…
Congratulations, Maria! I can’t wait to read Volume 3 in this unique and thought-provoking series!
Congratulations, Barbara! Thank you for such a wonderful series about Mr. Knightley!
Congratulations, Amy! I hope you travel with Austen again! I would love to vicariously visit more countries!
Congratulations, Marilyn! Thank you for the chance to visit Europe and meet such delightful characters!
Congratulations, Karen! This book deserves all the praise and accolades it receives!
Congratulations, Christina! Thank you for taking on Mansfield Park! You did a marvelous job!
Congratulations, Jack! I so loved the many story-lines and characters of this story!
Congratulations, Alyssa! So excited to pick up Austensibly Ordinary this month!
Congratulations, Jane! Thank you for – yet another – magnificent read!
Congratulations, Jan! I’m so happy I’ve discovered your novels! I can’t wait to see what you write next!
Congratulations, Robin! Thank you for such an inspiring series!
As you may notice, some categories have two winners – I just couldn’t decide between the two, both deserve to win this little award! And some categories like Favorite Pride and Prejudice Variation/Alternate Path or Favorite Austen-Inspired Original Novel were very hard decisions!
How about you? What are some of your Austenesque favorites from 2012?
What Austenesque novel would you like to award?
~ Past Awards ~2009 I 2010 I 2011
*The amazing award graphics used in this post were made by the über-talented Angie Kroll! Thank you, Angie!
(General question to all) Do you ever feel that you’ll never get caught up on all of the books you want to read? I think I have 12 sitting on my kindle right now. Glad we have you to help us choose!
YES! Between Christmas, Decatur Book Festival, and many awesome new releases – I have a pile of about 20 books waiting for me to read! LOL! I’m always hoping my reviews will be helpful to someone! 🙂
Wow! Thank you so much for including “The Journey” in your awards. I am humbled to have my book honored from such an amazing list of JA inspired fiction. I truly appreciate it.
My pleasure, Jan! I’m so happy to have your two wonderful books in my collection! They are just fantastic!!!
I have just come across the austenesque genre this year and am having trouble reading anything else! My favourites that I’ve read in the last year would probably be Mr Darcy’s Obsession by Abigail Reynolds for a Regency variation, Persuade Me by Juliet Archer for a modern re-write and Lydia Bennet’s blog by Valerie Laws which is modern in tone but set in the 1800s. Like Bridget Jones in Regency times but funnier.
I am interested to see how many of your favourites I haven’t read yet, so many more lovely books for me to enjoy! I will definitely have to keep a note of what I read this year, I have no clue what books or even how many of them I’ve read in the past month, let alone over a whole year.
Hello Ceri! I know what you mean! I discovered Austenesque novels nine years ago and it dominates the majority of what I read! LOL!
I love the books you named as your favorites! Good choices, indeed! I didn’t know about Valerie Laws’s book! Another book added to my tbr! I love Bridget Jones! 🙂
I read an even dozen Austen related books that included a variety of types from Contemporary to parallel universe to non-fiction including such authors as Alyssa Goodnight, Patrice Sarath, Nina Benneton, Linda Wells, Mary Simonsen, Wendy Sotis, Amanda Grange, Jack Caldwell,Lauren Logsted-Baratz, Jane Austen, and Colette Saucier. They were all good and I look forward to reading through even more Austenesque books in this new year since I have 42 books on my TBR pile.
Happy New Year!
What a nice mix, Sophia! Oh my your tbr pile is larger than mine! LOL! I just added a book by Lauren Logsted-Baratz called Little Women and Me to my amazon wishlist. I’ve never read anything by her before.
Happy reading in 2013!
Ohhh, Meredith!! Thank you so much for including A SUMMER IN EUROPE in your 2012 awards list — I’m truly honored! And I *love* the graphics (yay for Angie :)! What a thrilling way to start out the New Year — thanks again!!
After hearing such wonderful things about ASiE for many months, I’m so glad I got to read it and share my own praises! Such a great adventure!
Yes, Angie astounds me all the time with her amazing talents! These graphics are just so pretty, she really did an awesome job with them!
Your awards are awesome, as are your reviews, which I always enjoy. Thank you so much for all you do in the JAFF community. Jen Red
Thank you for such kind words, Jen! I’ve read so many wonderful novels this year, it was hard to decide which ones I liked best! I’m glad you enjoyed this post, it was a lot of fun for me to put together! 😛
Oh my goodness! Thank you Meredith! I am so honored. What an incredible way to start the year! Thank you!
Thank you for publishing your lovely series! I’m so happy so many authors want to keep these characters alive! Love the new cover for Volume 3! I can’t wait!
Meredith, I am truly blown away. Thank you so much! I don’t think I’ve ever been so honored, and it is especially wonderful to be included with such a talented group of authors.
*blushing* Thank you, Robin! I’m so glad you feel honored by my little award! Your series is truly magnificent and very deserving a praise!
Meredith, I am so thrilled to be in your honours list with Seartching for Captain Wentworth – I absolutely love the graphic-I want one-a 3D version! Thank you so much for including me and for all your support throughout 2012 – as ever! I appreciate it so much!!!
Thank you, Jane! I’m so extremely happy and delighted by all these exceptional novels I’ve read this past year!
Angie, did such a lovely job with these graphics! When she sent me her first mock-up all I wanted to do was stare at it! LOL!
Wow, Meredith — This is a fabulous list of books — and I’m so thrilled you’ve included All Roads Lead to Austen here! I’d definitely love to take Austen to some other countries — I wonder which ones would interest Austen readers most?
Amy Elizabeth Smith
Hi Amy! I’m so glad I was asked to review your book! I loved the adventure you took us on!
Great question! I am going to Colombia at the end of this month to meet my husband’s family – so I guess I would pick that country and maybe some others in Central and South America that would be new for you! 🙂
56 Austen-related books in 2012? Wow; that’s impressive. You’ve raised the bar for 2013 🙂 Do you have a goal for this year?
I need to get reading if I want to catch up. I think I’ll start with your award winners. I’ve only read 5 of them, so thanks for some great recommendations to get me going.
Happy New Year, Meredith!
Hi Heather! LOL! I’m very single-minded, aren’t I? (Although 6 of them were non-Austenesque) Last year my goal was 60 and I didn’t quite make it…so I’m going to try for that one again. Hopefully this time I will be more successful!
Sometimes I never feel like I can catch up! So many wonderful Austenesque novels coming out each month!
So glad you found this post helpful! Happy New Year to you!
Wow, Meredith! Love your end of the year review. I see we enjoyed a lot of the same books. My top favorites were Searching for Captain Wentworth and The Journey!!
Thank you, Kelli! I had a lot of fun working on this post. I love reflecting and analyzing the past year! That’s awesome that you have those two books as your top favorites! Excellent choices! 🙂
What a gorgeous layout and review. I’ve never seen you do it that way before. Just stupendous! I’m not sure about my favorites I have so many this year. I loved your selections.
Hi suzan! I’ve missed you! I hope you are doing well! Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts! I’ve done this post at the end of each but never with such beautiful graphics! It definitely looks more official (and gorgeous) with these lovely awards! Sounds like you had a lot of good reads this year! 🙂
Meredith 🙂 I’m so honored to be included in your group for 2012! This is a good time, too, to express all my appreciation for your work on the blog, the Extravaganza, your professional reviews, and most of all, for your positive, sunny self. It was a blast meeting you in Decatur this year. Thanks again!
My pleasure, Karen! Thank you for all your kind words! I greatly enjoyed meeting you too! I hope our paths will cross again!!!
I loved Searching for Captain Wentworth, too. And so glad to see Lend Me Leave make your list, since I’m reading it right now!
Wasn’t it just wonderful? I’ll be curious to hear what you think of Barbara Cornthwaite’s series! I just adored it! I love Mr. Knightley and I thought she did a magnificent job telling the story from his point-of-view! Look forward to your review!
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